Multi Medium

This Just In: Don Imus Still Racist

Lovely:

Wolf: “Defensive back Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones, recently signed by the Cowboys. Here’s a guy suspended all of 2007 following a shooting in a Vegas night club.”

Imus: “Well, stuff happens. You’re in a night club, for God’s sake. What do you think’s gonna happen in a night club? People are drinking and doing drugs, there are women there, and people have guns. So, there, go ahead.”

Wolf: “He’s also been arrested six times since being drafted by Tennessee in 2005.”

Imus: “What color is he?”

Wolf: “He’s African-American.”

Imus: “Well, there you go. Now we know.”

Yeah, putting him back on the air was a brilliant move.  He totally learned his lesson and stuff.

(h/t Jason Rosenbaum)

Add comment June 23rd, 2008 at 06:17pm Posted by Eli

Stay Classy, Republicans!

Anti-Obama button being sold at the Republican convention in Texas:

Rush Limbaugh plays compare-and-contrast:

I look at Iowa, I look at Illinois—I want to see the murders. I want to see the looting. I want to see all the stuff that happened in New Orleans. I see devastation in Iowa and Illinois that dwarfs what happened in New Orleans.  I see people working together. I see people trying to save their property…I don’t see a bunch of people running around waving guns at helicopters, I don’t see a bunch of people running shooting cops. I don’t see a bunch of people raping people on the street. I don’t see a bunch of people doing everything they can…whining and moaning—where’s FEMA, where’s BUSH. I see the heartland of America. When I look at Iowa and when I look at Illinois, I see the backbone of America.

And finally, a Republican Congressional candidate shows his appreciation for high school girls’ sports:

The state champion girls volleyball team of Mercy High School in Cincinnati was in the Senate chamber recently to receive a resolution recognizing their accomplishment.

They had gathered around State Sen. Eric Kearney, D-Cincinnati, causing fellow Sen. Steve Stivers, R-Columbus, to comment that Kearney “attracts all the attractive women.”

Reminded that he had just returned from his honeymoon after marrying the former Karen Tabor two weeks earlier, Stivers backpedaled.

“I’m allowed to window shop, just not buy,” he said.

Awesome.  I don’t know we ever win any elections from the Family Values Party.

1 comment June 17th, 2008 at 11:14pm Posted by Eli

Wanker Of The Day

Bill O’Reilly:

During the June 10 edition of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, purporting to document “more evidence of values problem among American young people,” host Bill O’Reilly reported that seven ninth-graders at Pascack Valley High School in New Jersey have been suspended for distributing topless photographs of their classmates…. O’Reilly… stated: “But it’s an amazing amount of kids involved with this — 20 — in an affluent school district. This isn’t, you know, the inner city; you would think that these kids would have some kind of a values system.” O’Reilly continued: “It’s not that it’s so horrendous. You know, it’s not murder or rape. But it’s so stupid.”

Yes, apparently inner-city kids have no values system whatsoever, and O’Reilly is shocked by the idea that rich white kids could behave immorally or idiotically.  Because that never happens.

Add comment June 12th, 2008 at 07:21am Posted by Eli

Thank You, L.A.!

For not electing an insane white supremacist to the judiciary.

Or Richard Nixon.

(h/t kirk murphy)

Add comment June 4th, 2008 at 11:17am Posted by Eli

Just What L.A. Needs…

Oh. My. God.

If you ever just pick a judicial candidate randomly at the polling place– I mean who really knows one from the other, right– I hope that after you read this, you’ll never do it again. On page 7 of the Los Angeles “Official Sample Ballot” for next Tuesday’s primary is a race for Judge of the Superior Court (Office number 125). The contest hasn’t gotten any publicity. But I want you to read this:

“No person shall be a citizen of the United States unless he is a non-Hispanic white of the European race, in whom there is no ascertainable trace of Negro blood, nor more than one-eighth Mongolian, Asian, Asia Minor, Middle Eastern, Semitic, Near Eastern, American Indian, Malay or other non-European or non-white blood, provided that Hispanic whites, defined as anyone with an Hispanic ancestor, may be citizens if, in addition to meeting the aforesaid ascertainable trace and percentage tests, they are in appearance indistinguishable from Americans whose ancestral home is in the British Isles or Northwestern Europe. Only citizens shall have the right and privilege to reside permanently in the United States.”

The man who wrote that– a proposed constitutional amendment– is asking for our votes for the Superior Court. His name– well he has many names– is Bill Johnson. He also goes by the names William Daniel Johnson, Daniel Johnson and James O. Pace. He’s an attorney, a Mormon, and, as you may have concluded, a white supremacist (and Ron Paulista). The paragraph comes from his 1985 book, Amendment to the Constitution– Averting The Decline And Fall Of America in which he urges the repeal of the 14th (which defines citizenship as well as due process and equal protection under the law) and 15th (which guarantees voting rights for all citizens) Amendments. He advocates deporting tens of millions of Americans within one year. That would include… well, read his little amendment again. American Indians, Eskimos, Hawaiians won’t be citizens but they’ll have to live on reservations.

(…)

This isn’t Johnson’s first bid for elective office. When Dick Cheney resigned from Congress to become Secretary of Defense in 1989, Johnson ran for his House seat in Wyoming. He didn’t win although a GOP front group publication, All the Way, strongly backed him.

The strongest pro-majority campaign in the nation is mounting here with far-reaching implications. Congressional candidate Daniel Johnson is being blasted as a ‘white supremacist’ because he favors repatriating non-whites to Africa and scrapping affirmative action programs.

People can be so unfair sometimes.

Aside from being active in Ron Paul’s campaign, he is also a Minuteman activist and exactly the kind of person made to feel empowered by CNN resident xenophobe Lou Dobbs. Johnson’s campaign manager, Holly Clearman is also state coordinator for the Ron Paul for President campaign and is herself is a candidate for the Republican L.A. County Central Committee. They are counting on Paulistas to put him over the top. Fortunately, there are legal community newspapers that actually do the research on judicial candidates. In L.A. we have the Metropolitan News Enterprise, which dug up a lot of the facts on Johnson’s multiple identities.

Oops, looks like Paul withdrew his endorsement, but it might be (conveniently) a little late.

Um, if you’re in L.A., please don’t vote for the crazy racist man, and tell all your hip L.A. friends not to vote for him either.

1 comment May 29th, 2008 at 11:38pm Posted by Eli

Wankers Of The Day - Religious Right Edition

Shooting at Democrats is hilarious!!!

Yes, that’s right - Mike Huckabee finds the idea of an assassination attempt on Barack Obama amusing.  I’m sure Jesus made assassination jokes all the time too.

But hey, at least he doesn’t think Jews have “dead souls” and that the Holocaust was actually a good thing:

In his 2006 book “Jerusalem Countdown”, [notorious McCain endorser Pastor John] Hagee proposed that anti-Semitism, and thus the Holocaust, was the fault of Jews themselves - the result of an age old divine curse incurred by the ancient Hebrews through worshiping idols and passed, down the ages, to all Jews now alive….

(…)

In the following audio sermon, which I have put into a video [and that includes other viciously anti-Jewish statement from John Hagee], Hagee says:

- Jews are not “spiritually alive”.I have a copy of John Hagee’s “Prophecy Study Bible”, which makes quite clear Hagee is talking about all Jews now living - whom Hagee singles out, from among all other non-Christians on Earth, to note that they specifically do not have living souls. Indeed, Hagee says the souls of all Jews now living are dead. Dead souls. McCain endorser John hagee says Jews have dead souls.

- Hitler and the Nazis were sent by God, to chase Jews back to the land of Israel. Because that’s where God intends them to be. So, the Holocaust was a gruesomely inefficient system of divine “persuasion”, and Hitler and the Nazis were doing “God’s work”. But Hagee also depicts this divine ethnic cleansing imperative as a future project: it will happen [see bolded section of transcription, below].

- In Hagee’s 2006 “Jerusalem Countdown”, Hagee says anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust, were and are the fault of Jews - a divine curse for worshiping idols.

Shorter Hagee: Ethnic cleanliness is next to godliness.

Ya know, if there ever is a Rapture which comes and takes all the right-wing fundamentalists away, they won’t be heading in the direction that they expect.

1 comment May 16th, 2008 at 07:06pm Posted by Eli

Co-Wanker Of The Day, Part I

Mike Norman:

Marietta tavern owner Mike Norman says the T-shirts he’s peddling, featuring cartoon chimp Curious George peeling a banana, with “Obama in ‘08″ scrolled underneath, are “cute.” But to a coalition of critics, the shirts are an insulting exploitation of racial stereotypes from generations past.

(…)

Just down the street from Marietta’s famous Big Chicken, Mulligan’s has carved a provocative niche in an increasingly multicultural area, thanks to its owner’s ultra-conservative political views. If you live in Marietta, it’s impossible not to know what’s on Norman’s mind, as he posts his views on signs in front of Mulligan’s.

Among his recent musings: “I wish Hillary had married OJ,” “No habla espanol — and never will” and the standard “I.N.S. Agents eat free.”

“I’m saying out loud what everyone in this town whispers,” Norman said in an interview before Tuesday’s protest.

Whatever residents think of the signs, organized opposition to his blunt commentaries — ongoing for 16 years — had been nonexistent. No longer, says Pellegrino, who, though familiar with Norman’s politics, said he was still surprised by the stark imagery of the Obama T-shirts.

“There’s a lot of people hurt by this,” he said.

Norman said those offended are “hunting for a reason to be mad” and insisted he is “not a racist.”

Norman said he sees nothing wrong with depicting Obama as Curious George. “Look at him . . . the hairline, the ears, he looks just like Curious George,” Norman said. He said he did not design the shirts himself but bought them through a Web site.

He said he views it as just coincidence that the character on the T-shirt is a monkey. Norman also said proceeds raised from sales will be donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Oh yeah, that totally looks like Obama, nothing racist about that at all, nope.  Plus the proceeds are going to fight muscular dystrophy, which makes Norman a total humanitarian, and the protesters hateful, horrible people who want everyone with muscular dystrophy to just die.

(h/t Blue Texan)

Add comment May 13th, 2008 at 08:50pm Posted by Eli

After The Lovings

Another American hero gone:

Mildred Loving was a black woman who married a white man in Virginia, which was against the law in the state. She took her case all the way up to the Supreme Court, which struck down interracial marriage bans in the 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision. Today it was announced that she has died at the age of 68. But what her AP obituary doesn’t mention—hopefully others will correct the oversight—is that last year Mildred Loving came out foursquare for marriage equality for same-sex couples as well, and insisted you should, too. Here was her statement:

We didn’t get married in Washington because we wanted to marry there. We did it there
because the government wouldn’t allow us to marry back home in Virginia where we
grew up, where we met, where we fell in love, and where we wanted to be together and
build our family. You see, I am a woman of color and Richard was white, and at that
time people believed it was okay to keep us from marrying because of their ideas of who
should marry whom.

When Richard and I came back to our home in Virginia, happily married, we had no
intention of battling over the law. We made a commitment to each other in our love and
lives, and now had the legal commitment, called marriage, to match. Isn’t that what
marriage is?

Not long after our wedding, we were awakened in the middle of the night in our own
bedroom by deputy sheriffs and actually arrested for the “crime” of marrying the wrong
kind of person. Our marriage certificate was hanging on the wall above the bed.

The state prosecuted Richard and me, and after we were found guilty, the judge declared:
“Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed
them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there
would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.” He sentenced us to a year in prison, but offered to suspend the sentence if we left our home in Virginia for 25 years exile.

We left, and got a lawyer. Richard and I had to fight, but still were not fighting for a
cause. We were fighting for our love.

Though it turned out we had to fight, happily Richard and I didn’t have to fight alone.
Thanks to groups like the ACLU and the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund, and
so many good people around the country willing to speak up, we took our case for the
freedom to marry all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And on June 12, 1967, the
Supreme Court ruled unanimously that, “The freedom to marry has long been recognized
as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free
men,” a “basic civil right.”

(…)

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that
I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to
have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the
“wrong kind of person” for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no
matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over
others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court
case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so
many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the
freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.

Two things jump out at me here:

1) Mildred Loving is awesome, and she recognizes that prohibiting same-sex marriages now is the same kind of injustice as preventing mixed-race marriages was then.

2) Since when is “God created the races separate” any kind of recognizable or acceptable legal argument?  I thought our system of law was supposed to be based on the Constitution and not the Bible.  I wish there were a way to remove judges when they demonstrate themselves to be manifestly unqualified or unfit for their positions.

2 comments May 5th, 2008 at 09:31pm Posted by Eli

Rush Limbaugh Continues To Be Not At All Racist, Nope

Lovely.

Today, Rush Limbaugh appeared on Fox News to discuss to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) joke that he has a crush on her. Limbaugh responded with a story about how President Bill Clinton once allegedly tried to hit on his date. He said that Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who was with Clinton, distracted him, because he wasn’t sure if Villaraigosa was a “shoe shine guy” or a “Secret Service agent”:

I understand now why Bill Clinton hit on my date about a year ago at the Kobe Club in New York. I was minding my own business and Clinton came in. And the short version is he used the mayor of Los Angeles to distract me, while hitting on my date. […]

He came over three or four times, had Ron Burkle with him and the mayor of Los Angeles, who I thought was either the shoe shine guy or a Secret Service agent.

What a card.  This guy should be getting the Imus treatment every week, if not every day.

(Cartoon from Married To The Sea)

Add comment May 5th, 2008 at 07:19pm Posted by Eli

Did I Miss It?

Has anyone compared Rev. Wright to Sister Souljah yet?

And how come Republican candidates are never obliged to denounce right-wing crazies to reassure Americans about how reasonable and moderate they are?

2 comments April 30th, 2008 at 11:22am Posted by Eli

Macacantucky

Maybe The Tall Man should be the new KY-GOP spokesman…

U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, a Hebron Republican, compared Obama and his message for change similar to a “snake oil salesman.”

He said in his remarks at the GOP dinner that he also recently participated in a “highly classified, national security simulation” with Obama.

“I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,” Davis said. “He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country.”

I did not just read that, right?  He did not just call Barack Obama “boy,” right?  My God, what is wrong with these people?  What year is this?

(Davis apologized and said it was “a poor choice of words.”  Big whoop.)

But wait, there’s more:

“The people we’re fighting against now are worse than Adolf Hitler and Nazis. And we don’t know where they live, half of them,” [Kentucky Republican Senator Jim] Bunning said.

Well, I suppose it’s refreshing to see a Republican compare someone other than liberals to Nazis for once.  Let me know when the Islamofascists’ victims number in the millions, okay?

1 comment April 14th, 2008 at 07:47pm Posted by Eli

This Just In: Pat Buchanan Continues To Be Racist And Insane

What the hell?  I mean, What. The. Hell???

According to Buchanan, WWII was a bad war because Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev were all even worse than Hitler, and if there hadn’t been a war, there wouldn’t have been a Holocaust(!).  Yes, I’m sure if we had left Hitler alone and let him have Poland and whatever other countries he wanted, he would have left everybody alone, including the Jews, and I’m sure all the countries he took over would have been much better off under the Nazis than the Soviets.

Also, Japan’s occupation of China was actually a good thing, because it prevented Mao’s disastrous rise to power.  When we foolishly took down the Japanese empire, there was nothing to prevent Mao from taking over China.

It’s true that WWII probably teaches us some lessons about unintended consequences, and possibly opened some doors for amoral opportunists like Stalin and Mao, but to argue that it was actually a bad war, you have to essentially argue that the Nazis and the imperial Japanese (and the HOLOCAUST) were really not so bad, and certainly better than the alternative.  You also have to argue that, left to their own devices, the Nazis would never have attacked France or Great Britain or the Soviet Union, and the Japanese would never have attacked the U.S.

IANAH (I am not a historian), but my sense is that while Japan might have left us alone if we promised them a free hand in the Pacific, there’s no way Germany was not going to try to take over all of Europe at the least.  Indeed, by forcing the issue, the Allies forced Hitler to overextend and play defense rather than just picking off countries at his leisure - he was also denied the opportunity to fully deploy fighter jets, ballistic missiles, and possibly nukes, which would have been huge difference-makers.  Without WWII, all of Africa, Europe, Asia, and probably Australia would be split between Japan and Nazi Germany, and the only Jews left on the planet would be in the Americas.  I just don’t see how any of that would be a good thing.

If it were written by someone other than Buchanan, I would think the whole thing was a setup, to trick us liberals into giving conservatives ammunition for their why-Saddam-had-to-be-destroyed-immediately arguments.  But crazy and racist and evil as he may be, Buchanan is as opposed to the Iraqupation as we are.  I think he sees parallels to WWII, but to him they’re a reason to stay out.

(h/t dakine)

Add comment April 9th, 2008 at 08:04pm Posted by Eli

Reassurance From Kung Fu Monkey

For those of us who were starting to feel a twinge of concern:

Attention, Fellow White People:

There seems to be some cultural panic initiated by the recent Rev. Wright controversy. One e-mail sent to us recently asked :“I don’t understand! We let between two to three hundred black people become incredibly rich in professional sports and pop music! Why are some of them still so angry?!”

We sympathize with your confusion, but wish to clarify –

If Senator Obama becomes President, we will still run everything.

Everything.

Please remain calm and return to your assigned duties. Thank you.

Phew! That’s a relief! I was pretty worried for a while there.

3 comments March 23rd, 2008 at 09:35pm Posted by Eli

Obama Denounced By Expert On Intolerance

Oh, this is just beautiful.  The opening paragraphs of a Guardian hit piece on how Rev. Wright has thoroughly destroyed Barack Obama’s political career:

Listen for a few minutes to Joey Vento, owner of a south Philadelphia institution that serves gut-busting sandwiches through a takeaway hatch, and the scale of Barack Obama’s problems become apparent. Obama is having the worst week of his campaign. It is, some believe, a week that threatens his chances of becoming president.

“That minister, that was terrible, all his sayings. He’s preaching hatred,” Vento said. “The thing I didn’t like about Obama; you’re telling me for 20 years you been going to that church and you never heard that?”

Vento, 68, was speaking about Obama’s former pastor and spiritual adviser, Jeremiah Wright, whose sermons have been aired repeatedly on US television denouncing the US as racist.

Joey Vento, Joey Vento… cheesesteaks… Now why does that sound so familiar? Oh wait, now I remember:

The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations held a public hearing Friday to address a controversial sign at the popular Geno’s Steaks that has garnered worldwide attention.

The hearing was scheduled after allegations were made accusing Geno’s Steaks of discrimination for posting a sign that reads: “This Is America. When Ordering Speak English.”

Geno’s owner Joey Vento said it is “free speech” and defended his policy during Friday’s hearing.

“This country is a melting pot, but what makes it work is the English language,” Vento told the commission during a hearing that lasted more than six hours….

Oh yeah, he’s the perfect guy to interview about hate speech.

1 comment March 22nd, 2008 at 08:51pm Posted by Eli

Rupert Murdoch’s Hate Sites

Hey, remember when Bill O’Reilly called Daily Kos a hate site, and said it was the KKK(!)? Like, repeatedly? Well, um, about that…

[Rupert] Murdoch owns FOX, for whom O’Reilly works. Murdoch also owns MySpace.com. Therein lies the problem. An astute observer pointed us to some of the users of Mr. Murdoch’s site. There are numerous users of MySpace.com in states that sponsor terrorism, like Iran, Syria and Sudan. That alone should warrant intervention from O’Reilly using his own standards for doing business with terrorist nations. But, that’s not the biggest problem. It’s the Web sites honoring terrorist organizations that give us pause:

There is the self-described “Offical Hezbollah MySpace” page.

There’s a page for Hamas…

There’s also a Death to Israel” site.

There are many other similar sites on MySpace, like this one that honors Ayatollah Khomeini and contains a number of other troubling-looking videos….

O’Reilly has a very strict standard for accountability from others, even when they’re not really responsible for the hate that may appear on their Web sites. Let’s see if Bill O’Reilly and FOX News hold Murdoch’s MySpace to that same standard of accountability.

Too much of a reach? Okay, how about some filth from Fox News itself:

The Factor has turned their attention away from attacking Daily Kos over and over again so that Bill O’Reilly could embark on a sick crusade against the Huffington Post over anonymous comments posted on Arianna’s blog. BillO had his team of producers harassing her at the Take Back America conference yesterday before she went on a panel. You know, coming after her, yelling, “why do you allow these to appear on the HuffPo?” Well, with billions of dollars at NewsCorp’s disposal, what’s Ruppert Murdoch’s excuse for these kind of posts to find their home on FOX, Bill? From this post:

Comment by THayne843

March 19th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

Wow! Jan L. nailed it right on the head! Reparations? I’m waiting for my thank you! You blacks would be naked and eating bugs if it weren’t for white people. Name ONE successful society started by blacks. Any sign of civilization in Africa was started by Europeans. Any city in America with predominately black leaders is a cesspool. Look at New Orleans, Philadelphia, D.C., Detroit�

Comment by David Tucker
March 19th, 2008 at 5:47 pm

I am sooo tired of hearing how the black man has been mistreated since he was shipped over here to help build America! All I hear is them groveling over being victims. They are the ones making themselves the victims with their attitude that whites owe them something for bringing their ancestors to the best country that has ever existed. All my life I have only witnessed the blacks with their hands out to the government expecting it to give them everything they want and shouting racist if they don’t get it! No wonder most whites have the opinion that blacks are worthless, lazy sloths who know only how to make more babies and steal everything not nailed down. Barak Lenin Obama, the big eared Muslim, is only fostering this “wo is me” attitude with his obvious prejudices. I, for one, like my white race over that of any other, so does that make me a racist? I don’t thing so. The black man will not break free from his self-imposed shackles until he picks himself up, dusts himself off and begins to provide for himself just like every other race has done who came to this country. Before the blacks can do this, however, they have to rid themselves of the likes of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Farakan, and the good reverend Wright.

Pretty insane comments. H/t to Mike who alerted me to this and as he pointed out from FOX’s rules:

please note that all comments are moderated and therefore may not appear immediately after submission.

So these were deemed acceptable? Most liberal bloggers with open comments try their best to weed out horrible anonymous comments, but we miss some. If we had millions of dollars at our fingertips to hire a huge staff to make sure outrageous stuff never appeared then they probably wouldn’t. Now that FOX News is sanctioning them, I guess the media will consider it a non-issue. What say you, BillO?

Jebus. That sure looks like “hate site” material to me. But the Fox mods don’t seem to mind. Worth noting the “may not appear immediately after submission,” which suggests that their mods have to actually release comments before they appear. So did someone at Fox News actually read those two comments above and said, “Okay, yeah, this totally meets Fox News’ exacting standards of discourse”? Or is it more of a filtered deal, where only comments containing certain key words go to the moderation queue?

Even so, shouldn’t someone have read those comments at some point? Anyone have any stories of liberal comments being instantly pulled by Fox mods? If they’re hypervigilant against liberals and laissez-faire towards racists, that makes the “hate site” case against Fox a slam-dunk.

Add comment March 20th, 2008 at 08:07pm Posted by Eli

Quote Of The Day

Nicholas Kristof on Obama’s speech on race and Jeremiah Wright:

All of this demonstrates that a national dialogue on race is painful, awkward and essential. And that dialogue needs to focus not on clips from old sermons by Mr. Wright but on far more urgent challenges - for example, that about half of black males do not graduate from high school with their class.

That’s pretty much the crux in a nutshell. The Republicans and their pet media want to talk about how Jeremiah Wright is a Crazy Angry Black Man and therefore so is Barack Obama, when the real story is what Wright and Obama are actually talking about. If you dismiss Wright and/or Obama as Crazy Angry Black Men, then you never have to worry about whether maybe, just maybe, people of color in this country have legitimate grievances and genuine disadvantages.

My personal belief is that America has succeeded in almost completely eliminating racism… on paper. Now we just have to eliminate it everywhere else.

Add comment March 20th, 2008 at 06:09pm Posted by Eli

The Obama Speech

It took me a while, on account of distractions, but I finally got a chance to read all of Obama’s instantly-famous speech on race. It’s good stuff, and he makes some very important points that I was really glad to see. Specifically:

o He makes the point that while working-class whites and minorities are in competition for jobs, neither is primarily responsible for the other’s lack of opportunities. The real problem is the corrupt economic system which has been gamed by the wealthy to their own advantage at the expense of everyone else.

o His fundamental message on racism is, essentially, “I know Americans are better than this.” That won’t move the hardcore racists who flat-out hate minorities, but I think it will resonate with the milder racists who think in racial stereotypes and maybe feel a little guilty about it.

o Even more importantly, he explicitly calls out conservatives and Republicans for using racism as an electoral strategy. Combine this with the previous point, and and he’s basically saying, “Republicans think Americans are all bigots, but I know we can rise above that.” Hopefully this will stay in the back of everyone’s mind if he wins the nomination and the inevitable Republican race-baiting attacks begin in earnest.

o He emphasizes the importance of education and healthcare and opportunities; not just for minorities, but for everyone. He doesn’t explicitly address it, but the local funding of schools is one of this country’s greatest injustices, and an excellent strategy for keeping the poor poor, and the rich rich.

That’s by no means a comprehensive inventory, just the stuff that jumped out at me. And given my early-morning grogginess, probably not even a comprehensive inventory of that.

Add comment March 19th, 2008 at 07:35am Posted by Eli

Black Privilege

Rush Limbaugh, 6/28/03:

I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn’t deserve. The defense carried this team.

Chris Matthews, 1/9/08:

Let’s not forget — and I’ll be brutal — the reason she’s a U.S. senator, the reason she’s a candidate for president, the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around. That’s how she got to be senator from New York. We keep forgetting it. She didn’t win there on her merit. She won because everybody felt, “My God, this woman stood up under humiliation,” right? That’s what happened.

Geraldine Ferraro, 3/7/08:

If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.

What the hell is wrong with these people??? How can anyone honestly believe that the world is just handed to minorities or women? Any preferential treatment at all (i.e., affirmative action) is far outweighed by the prejudices and disadvantages that it’s supposed to (ineffectually) counter. Can you really look me in the eye and tell me that if you were an unborn spirit floating in the void, and you wanted to be President Of The United States, or attain some other prestigious (okay, formerly prestigious) position, that your first choice would be to be born as a black man, or a woman who gets very publicly cheated on?

I sure as hell don’t think so. This kind of bullshit doesn’t surprise me coming from Rush or Matthews - as well-paid and well-fed white guys, the system’s worked out just great for them, and they don�t want to see it change one bit. At least not in a direction that might eventually result in Rachel Maddow or D.L. Hughley taking their jobs (wistful sigh).

But Ferraro should know better. She’s fought through irrational discrimination and hostility all her life, she knows what it’s like. Why on earth would she think that a black politician like Obama hasn’t had to do the same? I’m nowhere near qualified to compare the relative evilness of sexism and racism, but I know enough to recognize that they’re both Very Large Evils, and that neither one trumps the other.

I genuinely do not have a preference in this race (I’m pretty underwhelmed by both candidates), but this shit is just stupid. And while I admit I have not been keeping rigorous score, my gut impression is that there’s been a lot more aggravating crap coming from the Clinton campaign and Clinton surrogates than there is coming from Obama or his surrogates. Not necessarily racial, just aggravating, like her charming comment about how she and McCain are qualified to be commander-in-chief and Obama isn’t. I actually think she probably would be a marginally better president than Obama, but saying that the Republican candidate would be too is just beyond the pale.

Am I saying Obama didn’t say nice things about Reagan, or that one of his advisers didn’t call Hillary a monster, or that he doesn’t exploit the enthusiasm of the netroots while offering them little in return, or that he’s been some kind of courageous progressive crusader in the Senate? Hell no. I’m just saying that on balance, his campaign doesn’t gross me out nearly as much as Hillary’s does. Mark Penn? Terry McAuliffe? Eurgh.

2 comments March 12th, 2008 at 08:15pm Posted by Eli

It All Depends On What The Meaning Of “Freedom” Is…

The Sons of Confederate Veterans remind us what the Civil War was all about:

The citizen-soldiers who fought for the Confederacy personified the best qualities of America. The preservation of liberty and freedom was the motivating factor in the South’s decision to fight the Second American Revolution. The tenacity with which Confederate soldiers fought underscored their belief in the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. These attributes are the underpinning of our democratic society and represent the foundation on which this nation was built.

Um, yeah. ‘Cuz if there’s one thing I associate the Confederacy with, it’s freedom, democracy and human rights. Okay, three things. I’ll come in again.

And now there’s a Republican state rep who wants Florida to sell Confederate flag license plates to fund these SCV bozos:

A Panhandle lawmaker wants a “Confederate Heritage” license plate to join the 109 specialty tags already available in Florida.

The extra $25 motorists would pay for the tag would go to educational programs run by Sons of Confederate Veterans, graveyard maintenance and museum exhibits.

Rep. Donald Brown, R-DeFuniak Springs, filed the bill (HB 1007) last week. The plate would feature a shield displaying the rebel battle flag symbol surrounded by several flags from the Civil War era. He says it would give motorists a way to show pride in their heritage.

Fantastic. For every Florida motorist “showing pride in their heritage,” I reckon there will be two or three others cringing in embarrassment or outright horror.

(h/t Stoller)

2 comments February 25th, 2008 at 07:57pm Posted by Eli

Racism Is Dead! Hooray!

So, apparently we’re in a “post-racial” era now. That whole racism thing just up and went away. Who knew?

I am so sick of hearing “post-racial” bleated in the MSM over and over, seemingly in a desperate attempt to see Barack Obama’s successes so far in garnering diverse support as a sign that somehow, voters are looking beyond race. If you listen to NPR’s Daniel Schorr’s “A New, ‘Post-Racial’ Political Era in America,” you’ll sit there with your jaw on the table. There’s no transcript up yet, but trust me, Mr. Schorr makes some broad assumptions from the results in Iowa and South Carolina.

The short version: “post-racial” means 1) the rejection/diminution of traditional civil rights leadership; 2) the younger generation drawn to Obama is if not color-blind, color-blurred; 3) this election cycle will see less of a focus on race.

Awesome. So how’s that working out, then?

Alec Baldwin shared this bit of business being published in his local (East Hampton, NY) right-leaning paper, The Independent.

On the heels of Barack Obama being endorsed for the presidency by the normally close-to-the-vest Caroline Kennedy, whose invocation of her father’s enduring legacy carries, in some people’s hearts and minds, more weight than any ten such endorsements by others, please read what the local Republicans in my home town are thinking, and publishing, about Senator Obama. This is, quite clearly, not to be believed.

This is what passes off as satire:

“The truth is, I don’t know many black people, but my advisers have drafted a strategy to reel in the black vote:
1) Call everyone ‘Brother.’ Blacks, I am told, do this even if most of their real brothers are in jail.
2) Talk Jive. Brothers want to hear jive. During my speech I told the crowd, ‘We be, you know, sick of whitey supressin’ and congestin’ so, you know, we won’t denigrate or sophisticate but emulate and populate, you know, the system is, like, broken, y’all!’”And, in reference to Hillary Clinton:
“Ultimately, if she gets too close, one of my New york advisors has advised me to ‘Bitch slap that ho.’ White women, I am told, like that.”

(…)

What I am saying is that the underlying reason for promoting “post-racial” (note you don’t see many blacks tossing that around) is more about wanting it to be true so badly so that race doesn’t have to be dealt with. It cuts both ways.

Note you will see folks on the right (and the Clinton camp) complaining that they “cannot talk about race” in regards to Obama. No, they feel they cannot successfully use the familiar political dog-whistles that evoke fear without getting called on it.

It all goes back to the fear of being labeled “racist.” It’s almost as if we need to come up with another term that doesn’t conjure up visions of Klan Night Riders, lest whites recoil at the mere thought that they can hold ingrained biases through no fault of their own by growing up in this culture.

You know, the Glorious Post-Racial Golden Age sure is looking an awful lot like the Pre-Post-Racial Era that preceded it. Hillary and her surrogates may be using dog whistles, but the right is still using air horns. If Obama wins, get ready for A Thousand Points Of Macaca. (And if Hillary wins, get ready for A Thousand Points Of Bitch.) It will not be subtle, but it will be laundered through surrogates to preserve the Republican nominee’s deniability. I’m hopeful that the sheer volume and shamelessness of it will generate a massive backlash among decent, non-racist voters, but they could just as easily stay home in disgust.

Pam’s assessment of the underlying reason for the “post-racial” meme is spot-on, I think. If you declare victory over racism, then you don’t have to fight it anymore. One of the cruel ironies in this country is that, as far as I can tell (and I am admittedly not an expert), racism has been almost completely eradicated… on paper. Jim Crow and miscegenation laws have been struck down, there are equal opportunity and desegregation and anti-discrimination laws, there’s even affirmative action. (Even in the case of immigration, the laws themselves are technically focused on country of origin rather than race or color; it’s the enforcement and rhetoric that are saturated with anti-Latino hatred.)

And yet, somehow, incredibly, actual not-on-paper, in-the-flesh racism is still alive and well. But the fact that it’s been wiped out on paper means that the white powers-that-be can say, “Hey, we outlawed racism; what more do you want from us? We’ve gone as far as the law will allow, so we’re done now. Mission accomplished.” But of course it’s not accomplished, because laws can’t touch the heart or the mind or the soul, and laws are worthless when they’re ignored, or enforced with malicious intent.

So that’s where we are now. Racism is over because we say it’s over. Next we’ll declare that sexism is over, homophobia is over, poverty is over, and the Iraqupation is over, and we’ll all live happily ever after.

Welcome to the Potemkin Post-Racial Era.

3 comments January 30th, 2008 at 07:07am Posted by Eli

Thought For Martin Luther King Day

Upon reading this Bill Moyers piece about LBJ going out on a limb to pass the Civil Rights Act, with Martin Luther King providing both pressure and cover, I found myself first thinking what a good thing it was that Dubya wasn’t president back then, and then wondering how many other presidents or prospective presidents would have done the same thing. Certainly no Republican ones. I can see Jimmy Carter at least making the attempt, although I’m not sure he would have had the clout to actually pull it off. Other than that, I can’t really see anyone who would be willing to stick their neck out to do the right thing. And this is 44 years later.

It probably says as much about the political courage of today’s so-called “leaders” and the Republican co-option of our media as it does about the persistence of racism. Which I reckon would be even worse now if the Civil Rights Act had never happened.

So bravo to MLK and LBJ. Thank you both for being where and when we needed you, and having the guts to do the right thing. I only wish that LBJ had listened to MLK on Vietnam, too.

Add comment January 21st, 2008 at 11:04pm Posted by Eli

Hell’s Getting A Bit Nippy…

Chris Matthews actually apologized for saying that Hillary was only elected to the Senate because Bill messed around. Not so much for all the other terrible things he’s said about her and other women, though - which is why the firepits are still bubbling and churning away.

Now, if Rush were to get fired for his repulsive “spade” and “hoe” digs at Obama, then Hell’d be looking a lot like Lambeau Field this weekend.

Add comment January 17th, 2008 at 07:54pm Posted by Eli

Wanker Of The Year

Yeah, I know it’s early, but this is just pure evil:

Limbaugh:…Obama is holding his own against both of them–doing more than his share of the “spade” work. Maybe even gaining ground at the moment. Using not only the spade ladies and gentleman—that when he finishes with the “spade” in the garden of corruption planted by the Clinton’s, he turns to the “hoe.” And so the spade work and his expertise using a hoe.

What a truly, perfectly horrible person. He will, of course, simultaneously claim that he didn’t have any racial undertones in mind and that it was just a joke, and liberals have no sense of humor.

The man makes Imus sound like Martin Luther King.

1 comment January 15th, 2008 at 10:20pm Posted by Eli

Pop Quiz

Who has scarier friends, Beagle Eyes or Bunny Ears?

I’m really struggling with this one, but I think I have to give Bunny Ears a slight edge.

2 comments January 6th, 2008 at 11:10pm Posted by Eli

A Modest Proposal On How To Achieve Immigration Reform

It’s very simple, really. Latinos need to start telling pollsters that they love Republicans and intend to vote Republican, and in fact actually do so in states and districts that are not up for grabs (maybe not quite so much in blue states - best not to take chances)… In other words, make it appear that Latinos are now a core of reliably Republican voters.

Once that idea has been established, I guarantee that the GOP will swallow its inherent hatred of brown people, and move heaven and earth to fast-track the citizenship process to bring in all those new Republican voters. At which point Latinos can go back to voting against them and openly hating their guts. Hot damn, that would be a beautiful thing.

(Note: This strategy could potentially be used to stop the disenfranchisement of black voters as well.)

Add comment December 20th, 2007 at 11:22am Posted by Eli

Why The Wingnuts Scare Me

I saw a couple of items in the past couple of days that, shall we say, gave me pause. The first one was about Romney ramping up attack ads against Huckabee (and what an ugly sectarian grudge match that’s shaping up to be), but no mention of Wayne Dumond. I kinda thought that the Republican presidential candidates would be falling all over themselves to “Willie Horton” Huckabee, especially now that he’s looking like more and more of a threat, but it just hasn’t happened.

Which makes me wonder: Is it because Huckabee wrangling the parole of a serial rapist over the objections of his victims and their families just isn’t that big a deal to the supposedly law-and-order Republican base? Is it because Dumond is white and therefore not Scary Boogeyman material? Is it because Dumond raped a Clinton relative, meaning that he was only in prison as part of the Vast Insidious Clinton Conspiracy? Or even if he really was guilty and even if he did rape and kill at least one woman and probably another, it was still a good thing because it was a poke in the Clenis’s eye?

Admittedly, I’m speculating. But after the smears and dirty tricks Dubya’s primary campaign used against McCain in 2000, and Huckabee’s question about whether Mormons think Satan is Jesus’ brother, it’s hard for me to believe that Republicans have any sense of restraint when it comes to primary contests. Which is why I think Romney has calculated that Republican voters wouldn’t consider Huckabee’s role in Dumond’s parole to be a bad thing.

The second item is about the wingnut reaction to the Crazy Minuteman Guy’s endorsement of Huckabee:

Malkin is gob-smacked. Larison is slack-jawed:

I can’t express to you all how little sense this makes. It’s baffling, like so much else associated with Mike Huckabee lately. The only thing more bizarre would have been if Gilchrist had endorsed McCain. How does the founder of the Minutemen endorse Huckabee? What parallel universe have we fallen into that this is happening? I mean, Gilchrist essentially has to ignore everything that the man said or did regarding immigration for the last decade. Apparently the take-away lesson is that shameless pandering works. Before much longer maybe Huckabee will land Tancredo’s endorsement.

So think about that for a moment. Huckabee picks up an endorsement from a right-wing racist nutcase, and the wingnutosphere reaction is not, “OMG, what is Huckabee thinking, getting an endorsement from such a repulsive kook?”, but rather, “OMG, what is Gilchrist thinking? Huckabee is totally unworthy of his valuable endorsement!”

To riff on Bill O’Reilly’s idea, it’s as if Rudy got an endorsement from the ghost of Jeffrey Dahmer, and the wingnuts went ballistic that Dahmer would endorse someone who kills and eats people so infrequently.

So yeah, I think their values system might be just a teensy bit messed up.

(h/t Julia and Blue Texan)

Add comment December 12th, 2007 at 11:47pm Posted by Eli

The Republican Holy Grail

The Washington Times tries to link illegal immigrants and Islamic terrorists:

The nation’s largest intelligence training center changed security measures in May after being warned that Islamist terrorists with the aid of Mexican drug cartels were planning an attack on the facility.

Fort Huachuca changed security measures after sources warned that possibly 60 Afghan and Iraqi terrorists were smuggled into the U.S. through underground tunnels with high powered weapons to attack the post, according to multiple confidential law enforcement documents obtained by The Washington Times.

You have got to be kidding me - this is just pure unadulterated Crazy.

I sure would love to know who those “sources” were… (Can someone check Lou Dobbs and Tom Tancredo’s phone records?)

2 comments November 25th, 2007 at 07:34pm Posted by Eli

Racism At ICE?

Well, it’s certainly nice to know that our top immigration official is as sensitive and well-attuned to racial concerns as she is qualified:

The Department of Homeland Security will investigate a Halloween costume party hosted by a top immigration official and attended by a man dressed in a striped prison outfit, dreadlocks and darkened skin make-up, a costume some say is offensive, the department’s secretary said.

Julie Myers, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and host of the fundraising party, was on a three-judge panel that originally praised the prisoner costume for “originality.”

Yeah, the idea of a black man in prison is real original. Bravo to Mr. Creative. As Paddy says, “‘Some say’ is offensive?”

Possibly even more disturbing is the flood of apologist trolls in the comments saying, “So he dressed up as a black guy, big deal. Lighten up, it’s Halloween!” Most of them pointedly ignore the fact that the guy dressed up as a prison inmate. Why not just go as a white convict? What’s the value added by licking the third rail of blackface?

And to get back to the main point, how can we expect an agency headed by someone who thinks blackface is clever to treat illegal (or legal) immigrants with any kind of respect or human decency? Oh, right, WE CAN’T.

Add comment November 6th, 2007 at 09:31pm Posted by Eli

So Much For Progress

Sigh. I had such high hopes.

Has it really only been six months? It seems like just yesterday that we had Don Imus to kick around… and his racist and sexist remarks about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team seem as freshly offensive today as they did when he made them last Easter. Now, to no one’s surprise, the self-styled “I-Man” is back, courtesy of the Citadel Broadcasting Corporation, which has announced that Imus will return to radio December 3 during morning drive time on WABC-AM in New York - the same city where he was unceremoniously banished from the airwaves last spring.

So that’s it, is it? Say something appallingly racist and sexist on the air, and you lose your job FOR SIX MONTHS! That will totally teach Imus a lesson.

It probably is worth noting that MSNBC isn’t putting him back on TV, at least not yet. Also worth noting that it’s Citadel that’s putting him back on the air. They love them some Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and the whole deranged Melanie Morgan KSFO crew, so I can certainly see where they would find Imus’s schtick appealing.

Add comment November 2nd, 2007 at 08:45pm Posted by Eli

Memo To CBC Institute & Black Voters

They’re just not that into you.

I know it’s hard to believe, but just trust me on this.

1 comment October 30th, 2007 at 04:25pm Posted by Eli