What is it, precisely, that you as a person (and by extension we as a nation) stand for and believe in, and what will you ‘stand for’—or tolerate as we attempt to allay (and sometimes) stoke the fears that we collectively face. . . . → Read More: What Will You Stand For?…
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It should come as little surprise that this administration’s first veto is used to stymie science. The administration has had a bone to pick with any science that brushes up against its own notions of morality and sense of manifest destiny from climate change to evolution to biology in the classroom. . . . → Read More: Vetoing Science… Privacy—in and of itself—is a fundamental right. It is our right, and our inherent birth right as Americans. You don’t watch citizens—you watch criminals and mostly only convicted criminals at that. . . . → Read More: Citizens & Other Criminals… Cynics would see this speech tonight as a diversion—pragmatists as further incompetence. Perhaps both. I find it somewhat ironic that those so obsessed with ‘securing the borders’ and protecting ‘our way of life’ care so little for their own boundaries and the decisions that actually undermine that way of life in far more subtle and effective ways. . . . → Read More: Monitoring Borders and Boundaries… Remember, remember always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists. I happened to be in LA on Monday for the demonstrations—in fact one of my meetings was canceled because it was close to the downtown courthouse (near the demonstrations)and I wouldn’t have been able to get through them to make my flight to San Francisco at 5:00 PM in time for my next series of meetings there. The demonstrations have been remarkable. Hundreds of thousands of marched, peacefully, no major incidents, with American flags, demonstrating a love and yearning for America and what it has traditionally represented that I wish more of those of us born here would show. Hell, we can’t even have a St. Patrick’s day parade in New York without dozens of arrests and hundreds of fights, but here, hundreds of thousands can demonstrate peacefully, respectfully, and show not only respect, but veneration for traditional American values and the result is a polarizing change ranging from outright bigotry to claptrap about the language in which our national anthem is sung—from the President. I find that both offensive and ironic given that that same President made speaking in Spanish a staple from his podium in his elections campaigns. The truth is that anti-immigration sentiment has always been little more than a thin veneer, a poor cover, for bigotry and racism. I happen to have a French last name, but my father married an Italian woman, the daughter of immigrants just a generation before, who grew up in the face of bigotry in the 1940s and I identify far more closely with that warm open family. Growing up in the 40s, my mother suffered the prejudices of racism as have most people in this country who can go far back enough in their family history to recall when their families came here in search of a better life and faced down the prejudices and bigotry of those who came before. Growing up, I would occasionally have friends who would make anti-Italian slurs, not recognizing my last name or knowing my mother’s, and so I learned of the closeted nature of bigotry. I recall a group of my father’s colleagues talking about ‘the wops’ in the 60s when after a few moments he quietly states, you’re talking about me, my wife and my children—goodbye gentlemen: I think you’ve said quite enough. Today, they’re easier to spot. Continue reading Immigration: The Sincerest Form of Flattery… The current staff moves of McClellan and Rove are a fig leaf for an increasingly concerned Republican majority facing re-election and a desperate attempt the change the subject away form Rumsfeld’s fate. It’s not sufficient to the task and the disorder won’t be sufficient to placate Americans or focus the attention off of the lack of results form this administration. Disorder followed by incompetence seems to abound in the administration these days. I’m not just talking about the recent spate of General officers who have criticized the administration, though they are certainly a significant part of this. Disorder and distractions followed by insufficient response is the hallmark of this administration. Instead of focusing on the people who attacked us and the real threats—Al Qaeda, Iran, North Korea, they recklessly attacked Iraq that was not a threat simply because they could—and then they did a poor job of that, leaving a destabilized state tilting towards civil war that can’t quite manage to put together a workable government. Our nation has been living in a fearful somnolence, drunk on a wine of vengeance of our own making, and like most drunks we are angry, fearful, incoherent in our rants and short sighted in our objectives. Worse, we willingly surrender our principles, our essential freedoms, our dignity, our character and any real meaningful action for another nip of the draught that has become the focal point of our lives. . . . → Read More: Grapes of Wrath Aged in Casks of Fear… If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees. Google’s decision to fight the Bush administration’s subpoena insisting that the company turn over its database information comes at the same time that Rove and the administration have decided to go on the offensive with the domestic wire tapping controversy, under the debatable notion that domestic spying is a winner for the administration and something the nation will ultimately approve of. I’m not convinced. In the Google case, the government is seeking to prove something that should be blatantly obvious to every person who even casually uses a computer—there’s a lot of porn out there. No kidding. What this shares in common with the government’s defense of domestic wire tapping is an overzealous belief that the government is entitled to know virtually everything about the activities of adults in full control of their reflecting faculties for whom there is no probable cause to suspect of wrong doing. Probable cause is a slippery judicial construct generally based upon whether the enforcement officer had reasonable grounds to believe the law was being violated, and the facts should be laid out such that “a reasonably discreet and prudent man would be led to believe that there was a commission of the offense charged, there is probable cause justifying the issuance of a warrant.” Bush is feeling a bit like Napoleon after Waterloo and needs to be cheered up by Turdblossom about as much (Sure, it hurts to be defeated by a guy with a first name like “Beef”, but now you can take that vacation on a nice secluded island, now you won’t have to listen to any more short jokes, now you can stop wearing that ridiculous hat, NOW comes Miller time). . . . → Read More: Splitting Heirs: Harriet (and) The Spy… |
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Fighting Them Here (in New York) So We Don’t Have to Fight Them There (in Wyoming!)…
In perhaps the most stunningly stupid move since the Trojans said—hey, cool horse, let’s bring it inside the gates!, Michael Chertoff has decided that the DOHS (pronounced Doh!–like Homer Simpson) doesn’t really need to defend New York. . . . → Read More: Fighting Them Here (in New York) So We Don’t Have to Fight Them There (in Wyoming!)…