One More Brickhead In The Wall

Last weekend former MLB first baseman Keith Hernandez showed his true cholers. The San Diego paper says

He needed just minutes while commenting as part of SportsNet New York's broadcast team to remind us sexism is alive and pitiful, openly questioning the presence of a woman in San Diego's dugout.

The victim of his insensitive remarks was Kelly Calabrese, in her third season as the Padres' massage therapist and the first female to be employed full time in a major league training room. There isn't a person more respected in San Diego's clubhouse, confirmed yesterday as players and coaches charged to her defense. Players who often would not have seen the field if not for her skill. ...

"I won't say women belong in the kitchen, but they don't belong in the dugout. ... I think it's a man's game." ...

[Padres pitcher Chris Young commented:] "It's 2006. Wake up. We have women fighting on our front lines in Iraq. I think they can be in a baseball clubhouse. My wife is in law school. Imagine that. Women can be lawyers, too."

Hernandez issued an apology on air during yesterday's game and yet still couched it by insinuating that major league baseball's rules are strict about which members of a training staff can be present in the dugout.

He is being properly jumped on for this, for example by Feminist Law Professors and by Elayne Riggs. Best of all was the story at The Onion:

Keith Hernandez Narrowing Down List Of Places Women Do And Don't Belong ...

Although he was not specifically asked, Hernandez also took time to speak at length as to what he believed was the proper place for society's Hispanics.

It is very lucky for this remnant of the fading present that he will not still be batting when the first woman player does come up to the majors. She will be a left-handed pitcher. Can you say knockdown?

Welcome To My Daymare

Now permalinked to your right (in accord with my rule: you link me first) is the "aspiring Christian cosmetologist" Sister Nancy Beth Eczema's Edicts of Nancy, which seems to fall in the same school with Jesus' General. I fear I may not stay on her list however, because she added a caveat:

"as long as the bride is a woman and this Acheron person is a man, I'm cool with it".

Imagine her surprise when she learns that Acheron is not a man at all. I quote here my Blogger User Profile (which I removed the code for from my sidebar, since it took up too much space, so it only shows up when someone clicks on my profile if I comment on their Blogspot posts -- if anyone knows how to adjust that, please let me know by email):

To ancient Greeks, the Acheron was the river newly dead spirits were rowed across to Hades. In the play by Sophocles, Antigone was sentenced to death for illegally burying her brother in defiance of a tyrant's orders. Resigned to her death to uphold her principles, she says that she will not wed her fiancée, but will become a bride of Acheron. My website is named in her honor.

The ad is for La Mariée était en noir, François Truffaut's film of Cornell Woolrich's The Bride Wore Black, about a woman widowed on her wedding day who tracks down her husband's killers for revenge. As with Antigone, her adamant determination to achieve justice should serve as a model to us all.

Plotting In The Lunchroom

Swede and Czech responds to a recent quote from our Canard Boiteux:

President Bush today said he had tried to avoid war with Iraq "diplomatically to the max." ...

"Diplomatically to the max?". Like, gag me with a spoon. I can't believe that Sadaam would even think he could sit with us. He's such a dweeb. Hey, let's go invade his ass.

All Hail The Mighty State

Echidne caught this tale from the White Ages, playing now in a suburb near Houston:

Two white teenagers severely beat and sodomized a 16-year-old Hispanic boy who they believed had tried to kiss a 12-year-old white girl at a party in Spring, Texas, authorities said.

The attackers forced the boy out of the house party, beat him and sodomized him with a metal pipe, shouting epithets "associated with being Hispanic," said Lt. John Martin with the Harris County Sheriff's Department.

The two teenagers were jailed....

Prosecutors are considering whether to attach hate-crime charges, but unless the victim dies, the possible penalty would be the same. If the boy dies and it is ruled a hate crime, the attackers could face the death penalty, authorities said.

(For foreigners who don't know, the title of this post is from the Texas state anthem.)

UPDATE: And a little relevant input, found at Feministing, from our Canard Boiteux's new Press Dodger, the Artful Snowman:

"Here's the unmentionable secret: Racism isn't that big a deal any more. No sensible person supports it. Nobody of importance preaches it. It's rapidly becoming an ugly memory."

The Power Of Publicity

Blue Gal of Alabama continues to watch the amusing Gubernatorial candidacy there of Libertarian Loretta Nall, who recently watched the local police seem to shy away from their usual redneck approach to her travelling companions, once they knew who she was. Be amused at A Run-In With the Law.

Flunking Gas

Magpie has found an interesting coincidence, graphically demonstrating something about Bush's ratings and gasoline prices, at "A tale of two maps". It reminds me of an old poem at American Street: "Depressional".

For The Really, Really Least Of These

This is the birthday of Coretta Scott. Don't eat any meat today.

A New Feast For The Lawyers

"I won't be introduced to the pudding, please," Alice said rather hastily, "or shall we get no dinner at all. May I give you some?"

But the Red Queen looked sulky, and growled "Pudding -- Alice; Alice -- Pudding. Remove the pudding!" and the waiters took it always so quickly that Alice couldn't return its bow.

Dining will now be more politically correct in Le boucher de porc au monde:

Chicago has banned the sale of foie gras in its restaurants because city officials think the French delicacy is cruel to ducks and geese.

Under a city ordinance the ban will be imposed by September. Fines will range from 250 to 500 dollars for every day that a restaurant is caught serving the dish.

"It's terrible!" chef Didier Durand, proprietor of Cyrano's Bistro and a spokesman for the Illinois Restaurant Association, told AFP.

"In Chicago they banned smoking (in restaurants) now foie gras - what's next? Sex?"

Wait! Does that mean they now have sex in Chicago restaurants? I seem to have missed that on my last visit there.

Expanding Constituencies

According to Libertad Digital:

The Spanish Socialist Party will introduce a bill in the Congress of Deputies calling for "the immediate inclusion of (simians) in the category of persons, and that they be given the moral and legal protection that currently are only enjoyed by human beings." The PSOE's justification is that humans share 98.4% of our genes with chimpanzees, 97.7% with gorillas, and 96.4% with orangutans.

The party will announce its Great Ape Project at a press conference tomorrow. An organization with the same name is seeking a UN declaration on simian rights which would defend ape interests "the same as those of minors and the mentally handicapped of our species."

According to the Project, "Today only members of the species Homo sapiens are considered part of the community of equals. The chimpanzee, the gorilla, and the orangutan are our species's closest relatives. They possess sufficient mental faculties and emotional life to justify their inclusion in the community of equals."

Ah, but if we're going to recognize rights of other creatures, why do so only on the basis of mere genetic similarity? Isn't that inherently, well, not racist exactly, but speciesist? Why not use intelligence as the basis? That would certainly include chimps, but indications are that cetaceans should also make the cut. Of course that might put a stop to those Navy programs teaching dolphins to carry mines....

The Canary Of Our Urban Disaster

CBC reports

Toronto-based urban critic and author Jane Jacobs died Tuesday morning. Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and most recently, Dark Age Ahead, was 89.

You should read all her books, especially that first one.

A Better Day

Dos Centavos reprints an editorial supporting the proposed boycott:

On May 1, a cross section of Latino activists is calling on students, workers and people of all races to stay home from work in "a day without immigrants" - a statement of resistance to repressive legislation and the vigilantism that has become part of civil society.

I have an even better idea. Let's convince another group that they can show us how vital they are to the economy by not showing up on "A Day Without Republicans". Then, when the bosses don't appear, and we're all in charge, we'll make a few changes....

How To Lose Your Lunch Dept.

The Lake Jackson Democrat makes this nighmarish observation:

Don't assume that because Bush's ratings are crashing by the day that Tom DeLay couldn't put together a presidential campaign.

Bush's 2000 election proved that all things are possible.

Aw, Vaffanculo You!

This is the birthday of Talia Coppola. Hit your family up for a job.

Immanentizing Tuesday

In dishonor of our Canard Boiteux commenting about the impact on his foreign policy of his close personal friend, God, I have done another Parodic Post at American Street. This one badly abuses Pete Townshend's work, in suicidal pursuit of snark. You may peruse it at From "Quadroparousia".

Gullible Travails

Jon Swift proposes, modestly,:

I think a new Vietnam War is one we could actually win. Vietnam has not fought a war since it invaded Cambodia 30 years ago, while we have had a lot of practice. We would certainly have the advantage of surprise. It would prove to the world that we are interested in more than just oil (although some liberals might accuse us of "trading blood for rice"). And I think it would give the Swift Boat Veterans the sense of closure they so desperately need.

Pf Is For Pformulaic

Today is Sue Grafton's birthday. Be glad she didn't grow up writing in Rotokas.

Ownership Of Gored Oxen Dept.

Today I received a no doubt well-intended email which began:

If Net Neutrality is gutted, advocacy and non-profit groups either pay protection money to dominant Internet providers or risk that online activism tools don't work for their members. Commercial entities like Amazon and Google will either pay protection money or risk that their websites process slowly on your computer. That's why these high-tech pioneers are joining the fight to protect Network Neutrality -and you can do your part today.

It goes on to urge people to read about a campaign by MoveOn at this link, which links on to an on-line petition you can sign, if you choose. I was driven to recall words from a now-old novel (Part 2, Chapter X):

"You can't do that! You're a common carrier! You have no right to discriminate against me! I'll report it to the Unification Board!"

Cats Don't Seem To Like Me

This is the birthday of Simone Simon. Don't let anyone wreck your lover's toys.

Heteronormativity Scene

[In honor of this day:]



And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Corporate America, that all the world should be educated.

And all went to be schooled, every one into his own legacy university.

And George also went up from Andover, and out of the city of Milton, into Connecticut, unto the college at New Haven, which is called Yale; (because he was of the house and lineage of Eli:)

To be educated with Bar his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in sexual roles, and raised him all a-macho; because there was no room for wimps among the men.

The Emperor's Enablers

Bush's minions displayed the real reason they were upset about the Falun Gong reporter at the gushing photo op with China's head killer this week:

During yesterday's court hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela George argued that Wang's statements were not protected by the First Amendment.

"She was yelling at the president," George said.

It wasn't embarrassing the U.S. -- which would be a shameful enough charge, if calling an organ-harvesting murderer on his crimes is an embarrassment to this government. It was lese majeste toward the Maximum Leader here.

But there was an even worse instance of sycophancy by the abused.

Before the Secret Service escorted Wang from the media platform, a cameraman pulled the banner from her hands and tried to quiet her by placing his hands on her mouth.

The media not only lies for him, and lies about or ignores his critics; it now has sunk to even physical assault on those who question him.

Jefferson once said if we had to choose, we would be better off with newspapers and no government, instead of a government and no newspapers. He didn't foresee a day when the papers would still exist, but become nothing but willing tools of the ruler.

I say again: check your passport, and start learning a foreign language. Quickly.

It Fakes A Village

Yesterday (gee, thanks again, Blogger) was the birthday of Ekaterina II of Russia. Do it in the stables and scare Senator Santorum.

Not Delusional Or Anything Like That

Katherine Harris continues as the ever-renewing source of arrogant clueless stories for the Florida media. Take this latest wild tale:

A defense contractor seeking help from Rep. Katherine Harris for $10 million in federal money last year took her to one of Washington's most exclusive restaurants, where he paid for a meal that may have cost as much as $2,800 and offered to sponsor a campaign fundraiser for her. ...

In her interview Wednesday, Harris acknowledged for the first time that Wade had paid for the dinner at Citronelle, reversing a statement from her congressional spokeswoman earlier this year.

But in the interview, Harris also said her campaign had, at some point, "reimbursed" the restaurant.

When asked how she could have reimbursed a business that was owed no money -- Wade paid the bill that evening -- she abruptly ended the interview and walked off.

Her spokesman called back an hour later and asked a reporter not to publish anything Harris had said Wednesday night about the dinner.

On Thursday, Harris' campaign released a two-paragraph statement that differed from her explanation a day earlier. It stated that Harris thought her "campaign would be reimbursing" her share of the meal but later found out that hadn't happened.

To resolve any questions, the statement said, "I have donated to a local Florida charity $100 which will more than adequately compensate for the cost of my beverage and appetizer."

The agenda of the Florida press is clear: they want her to withdraw from the race, so some Republican with a chance to win can run instead. Unfortunately, her pledge to give $10 million to her own campaign has scared away any potential winning Republicans. They'd have to raise that much to beat her in the primary, then that much more to beat the Democrat two months later. Fageddabout it.

She's not crazy, though. She knows she doesn't have to win this fall. All she has to do is keep the race close enough for software to steal it.

The Tie That Binds

Yesterday (gee thanks, Blogger -- see post below) was the birthday of Mary Phelps Jacob. Help save the whales by inventing improved undergarments.

Look At The Teeth On That Gift Horse

Yesterday Blogspot was acting strange. When I tried to put up posts, I got strange messages about databases. When I tried again, it claimed to be working, and even took two posts. Then I noticed that one from the day before that was missing. I entered it again, and looked to find the missing one was back too, so now I had a duplicate -- but my two new ones from yesterday were now gone. I deleted the duplicate and gave up. This morning there is no sign of the missing two, so I'll reenter my daily birthday snark from yesterday. I assume this has something to do with the "upgrade" the night before that.

Blogger's free, and it's easy, but you can understand the people who keep switching to paid web hosts in hope of avoiding such recurring glitches. The bad news is, sometimes the new place is even worse. Look what happened to the American Street this last year. They got a new, non-free host -- and began months of having to reboot frequently. They finally replaced that vendor with a more user-friendly one (so far, so good), but lost lots of regular visitors during the period of frustration. Blogger may mess up now and again, but at least they're not evil.

How To Be Buried In The Basilica

This is the day that Queen Christina died. Force a French rationalist to wake up early every day until he catches pneumonia.

Why We Don't Fight

Jessica at Feministing spotted this fascinating legal tale from Israel:

Idan Halili, just 19 years old, has written a feminist critique that has astounded established feminist voices around the world. Her analysis takes the form of a letter sent to the Israeli army asking for exemption from compulsory service, based on a feminist rejection of militarism. Last December, having spent two weeks in military prison because of her refusal to serve, Halili was exempted from conscription; her views, she was told, deemed her "unsuitable".

"The army is an organisation whose most fundamental values cannot be brought in harmony with feminist values," she wrote in her request for exemption. Halili argues that military service is incompatible with feminist ideology on several levels: because of a hierarchal, male-favouring army structure; because the army distorts gender roles; because of sexual harassment within the army; and because of an equation between military and domestic violence. ...

"We argued that, although Halili's case against serving was 100% feminism, her ideology of feminism also meant she was a pacifist, objecting to any military system," says her solicitor, Smadar Ben-Natan.

The committee did not grant Halili exemption on the basis of conscientious objection. But the outcome was none the less some form of an indirect admission. "The committee said that her feminism, not pacifism, seemed more dominant and that, on the basis of holding such views, she would be unfit to serve," explains Ben-Natan.

This raises several fascinating questions. The grounds for getting an exemption from the draft in the U.S. were long ago extended to include people with strong religious beliefs even if they were not in traditional pacifist churches (though with a strong burden of proof). This would seem to extend that even further to strong beliefs even if not based on religion at all. Of course, contrary to right-wing rants, the Supreme Court will not consider this case from Israel a precedent here, but it shows the evolution of legal thinking, which eventually can come to America as well.

Another thought: all of what she is saying about "feminist beliefs" could be accepted by male feminists as well. If this precedent stands, would feminist men be able to claim the same exemption? If not, then there is no equal protection of the law. Not that any of that matters to my own personal opposition to any draft, period, of anyone, regardless of sex. (I'm not a pacifist; just a feminist who hates involuntary servitude.) This is just a delightful sign that humanity is growing up, gradually continuing to recognize more individual liberty for all. Good for the committee that authorized this.

Rock Around The Crock

Shakespeare's Sister has the word on Bush's new image-building single record. To the tune of "The Wanderer" by Dion and the Belmonts, it starts like this:

Well, I'm the type of guy who will always let you down
Where Rummy critics are, well, you know my disdain will abound
I hate 'em and ignore 'em, 'cause to me they're all the same
I hate 'em and ignore 'em; I don't even know their names
They call me The Decider, yeah, The Decider
I spin around around around around around...

Go sing along with the lyrics of "The Decider".

Hope Springs Anew

South Texas Chisme dreams a semi-possible dream:

Also, Rove to relinquish some duties. To me, this is a signal that Rove is about to be indicted by Fitzgerald.

Metastasizing....

Dallas' useless Republican Congresshack Pete Sessions seems to have stepped in the same cow pile as his colleagues. The tale is at Group files Justice Department complaint against Texas congressman. Remember that his Democratic opponent this fall is former Judge Will Pryor. This news should improve Pryor's odds for this fall.

Mommie Direst

Today Bush's press sycophant announces he is resigning. Most folks are going to assume it's part of that "new face on the same old hockey mask" transformation to show how flexible Our Last President can be. Hogwash. I say it's the same old family vengeance they've practiced for years. This is payback for Scotty's mother running against Perry the Puppet. Dominoes fall all over the place. Assume the misadministration will be passing out all sorts of goodies to Texas this fall, with Goodhair prominently featured at the announcements.

Stepping Out

This morning I've put up a guest post over at the recently new-server-equipped American Street. I've used an Ian Anderson meter in vain to drub a deserving demagoguess of the right. Click on over and take a look at "Token Michelle".

Things Of Beauty

B and B blog reports they have just returned from a trip to the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas for bird watching. Among other sights were these incredible Green Jays, which they report as impossible to miss there. I confess I have never seen one of these beautiful creatures before. I wonder if they are as aggressive and obnoxious as the equally lovely-looking Blue Jays in my yard?

The Power To Plunder

annatopia explains just what is really happening here in Texas lately with power outages and rate increases in dream of californication. She points the finger of blame just where we would expect.

Tell Me Another One

Liz at BlondeSense spotted this tale:

Former federal terrorism investigators say a piece of luggage hastily checked in at the Portland, Maine, airport by a World Trade Center hijacker on the morning of Sept. 11 provided the Rosetta stone enabling FBI agents to swiftly unravel the mystery of who carried out the suicide attacks and what motivated them.

A mix-up in Boston prevented the luggage from connecting with the plane that hijackers crashed into the north tower of the trade center. Seized by FBI agents at Boston's Logan Airport, investigators said, it contained Arab-language papers revealing the identities of all 19 hijackers involved in the four hijackings, as well as information on their plans, backgrounds and motives.

Let's see, you're planning to highjack a plane and crash it into a building, destroying it, you, and the entire jet. What are you going to make sure you do before you go to the airport? That's right, pack a bag with all the evidence of your crime, and a list of your co-conspirators, because you just know that no one will ever happen to pick your suitcase for a random look-see, and you're certain that it won't fall off a cart and break open in front of baggage handlers. Color me unconvinced.

The papers discovered in the hijackers' luggage were bolstered by other evidence gathered against the conspirators by the FBI, the former federal prosecutor said. "These guys left behind a paper trail," he said. "They had bank accounts. They rented cars. They had to show what they were doing in the United States. ..."

Show whom? Were they planning to submit receipts for reimbursement?

After the funeral, he said, he fell into conversation with a young FBI agent he had helped train in the New York office. The agent, working on the Sept. 11 investigation, told him about the luggage. ... The young FBI agent, who has since left the agency, works in private industry and is reportedly in Dubai. He could not be reached for comment.

I do believe that.

Medieval Disobedience

Gratis at Gray Does Matter points out a new horror story, of pharmacists in Washington state who are refusing to fill prescriptions for antibiotics or for pre-natal vitamins, when issued by a clinic known to perform abortions. If you might have had an abortion, they hope you die of infections. If you even consult a sometime-abortionist seeking to bear a healthy child, they hope it is born with birth defects, because that is what you deserve, you evil patron of baby-killers. No, those are not the things the druggists said, but those are what they meant. As Lucretius said, Hell does exist -- in the lives of fools.

Digging Up The Old Ones

SUGAR LAND (AP) -- Prereformologists announced here today that they have pieced together the skeleton of what may have been the largest money-eating polisaur ever found. The monster, with a claw spread capable of reaching as far as Austin, has been named Cunctatorsuarus Tomasae.

The scientists noted signs of social behavior in these ancient creatures. The excavation found a pile of hundreds of the monsters, indicating that they may have hunted in packs. One scholar cautioned, however, that there were indications that they also were chewing each others' bones in this deposit, so they may have turned on each other when cornered. This short-sighted cannibalism might have hastened their demise.

Speculation is that these giants preyed on the biggest known fundosaur, the now extinct Sociedadanónimasaurus, a border-straddling people-eater. When those were finally banned and hunted to extermination after the Great Uprising, that left no cash source sufficient to support these newly-found huge predators.

A Family Affair

This is (by some people's calculations) the birthday of Lucrezia Borgia. In her dishonor, sing this to the tune of "Band Of Gold":

Now that you're wed,
All he fears is your ring of gold;
All he hears is its mistress bold,
With a hand so cold,
Could just do him in, and not think it sin,
To be free -- to love her kin.

He took you -- for a dowry, not for romance,
Knowing others' fate.
But he still took the chance,
And no matter how it looks,
His food is -- by his own commands --
Prepared by separate cooks.

You twist your hair in frustration into knots,
Concocting schemes, making plots,
Planning soon that he'll slip,
And take a sip
From a cup touched by your fingertip.

Now that you're wed,
All he fears is your ring of gold;
All he hears is its mistress bold,
With a hand so cold,
Could just do him in, and not think it sin,
To be free -- to love her kin.

One More To Turn Your Stomach

Lifted from South Texas Chisme, complete with its local suggestion:

Tony Goolsby (R-Dallas) is introducing a Texas House Resolution to honor Karl Rove. Please call your rep and barf on the phone. Thanks to PinkDome for the link.

Harriet Miller is running against Goolsby. Think about helping her campaign.

Dream No Small Dreams

Okay, I confess I must be an old softy after all, because this on-line video made my eyes water. Kevin at The American Street spotted it at "George Bush zingt Imagine". (Don't worry, it's all done in English.)

Out Of Coffee Grounds

This is the birthday of Karen Blixen. Don't forget the penicillin.

Vocab Surprise

Just accidentally stumbled across the word "fylfot" in the dictionary. Does the world really need another term for "swastika"? I guess we could use it for variety in describing the signs at anti-immigrant rallies....

L'homme Universel

Yes, Victor Hugo is my favorite poète Français, and my favorite novelist in any language, but I had no idea.... Avedon Carol points out that this year's science fiction awards nominees include this revealing piece:

Paul: As you know, the Hugo Awards are named for the father of modern science fiction - that tireless self-promoter, prolific journalist, pioneering inventor of television and the steam-driven automatic pencil, and editor of the world's first real f-s magazine: Victor Hugo.

Kim: Born in 1802, Victor Marie Hugo is little-remembered for his comparatively rare excursions into fiction, though connoisseurs rate highly his 1862 dystopian vision, Les Misérables, in which everyone lives unhappily under the jackboot of the tyrannical Frère Énorme ...

Paul: ... and, of course, for younger readers, there's the enchanting tale of a gypsy girl, her pet goat and a flying alien from another dimension, The Jet-Pack of Notre Dame.

Kim: But Hugo's real achievement was his founding, in 1879, of the quarterly periodical Histoires Étonnaments, whose first number modestly bore the legend 'le journal meilleur de fiction-scientifique dans le monde entire'....

There Will Your Heart Be Also

Of course, one reason I haven't posted more parodies lately, is the same impulse that caused the retirement of Tom Lehrer. He used to make Mark Russell seem like a bumbling amateur, but "retired in 1973, saying that the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Henry Kissinger had made satire redundant." On my best day, I could not have been subtle enough to imagine these mind-boggling actual words from Katherine Harris, announcing she was giving ten million dollars to her own Senate campaign in Florida:

I am willing to take this widow's mite, this pearl of great price, and put everything on the line.

Fortunately, Fred Clark, our self-sacrificing parser of the wretched Left Behind series, was not left speechless by this, and used his Biblical expertise to dissect it at length:

But the "pearl of great price" is not the thing you give up, it's the thing you give up everything for. ... That's a fairly creepy declaration of ambition. It only gets creepier if you take Harris' statement at face value and accept that she is willing to trade the "pearl of great price" itself (i.e., the kingdom of God) for a Senate seat.

The former reading sounds like Lady Macbeth. The latter sounds like Milton's Satan. However you read it, though, what you have here is a candidate for the U.S. Senate openly declaring that she will trade anything and everything for power. ...

So Harris claims she's giving everything she has, but really she's not. In other words, she isn't the widow, and she isn't the pearl merchant. She's Sapphira.

A Spy In The Land Of The Living

A Tiny Revolution is upset by the latest ploy of The Enablers Of Evil:

David Sirota points out here that the Brookings Institution has launched something called "The Hamilton Project" led by Robert Rubin.

Looking at it, you can tell right away who the Hamilton Project is for: Wall Street Democrats. Or as I like to call them, "The Party of Gay Investment Bankers and Corporate Lawyers Whose Grandfathers Worked in the Roosevelt Administration." (In fact, by my count, its advisory council includes twelve investment bankers.) They're people who should naturally be Republicans, but just can't bear having to hang out with Pat Robertson. ...

Times are tough for rich people who aren't completely insane. They understand the insane rich are ascendant and well on their way to destroying everything. In fact, this is probably the longest-running debate in American history:

Insane Rich: Let's kill everyone and take their money!
Non-Insane Rich: I like the way you think. I really do. But if we keep them alive and working for us, we'll make even more money in the long run.
Insane Rich: You communist!

Still, it might be nice if the Democratic party didn't get all its ideas from people who hate Democrats.

(Spotted at UFO Breakfast Recipients; the title comes from Ms. Millay's masterpiece.)

Dondequiera Que Estes

This is the birthday of Texas' own Selena Quintanilla. Don't turn your back on your fans.

Uplifting Alabama

Deeper in the old slavocrat states than we are, Alabama this year features that Ten Commandments in the courthouse jerk, Roy Moore, running for Governor as a Republican, against an incumbent in his own party who tried to raise corporate taxes. Into this madness creeps a Libertarian candidate who has gotten some publicity based on her anatomy rather than her ideas. Pam's House Blend has the story:

Women of ample cleavage must stick together; the assumption that boobs=stupid, boobs=slut or boobs=return to mommy's teat surfaces all too quickly -- and openly -- as we see here in completely inappropriate, irrelevant ways. Are "the twins" always what matters first to these folks?

I'm all for Libertarians getting on the ballot and running, because they tend to take votes away from the theocratic Republicans. So let's hope the sexist media continues to belittle her. The publicity (and the reaction to it) can only help split off GOP votes.

It's Either The Apocalypse Or A Revolution

Patrick Franklin is a candidate for the Texas House of Representatives. He reports on his blog:

Today, I spoke at a rally on the steps of Longview's City Hall. The city's three main gay rights organizations -- Metropolitan Community Church of Longview, P-FLAG East Texas, and Stonewall Democrats of East Texas sponsored the event. Representatives of the Unitarian Fellowship, Texas Democratic Women of Gregg County, and the Chairman of the Gregg County Democratic Party also joined the event.

At this rally, we demanded to be heard on the issue of employment non-discrimination. We officially asked the Longview City Council to add sexual orientation to its employment non-discrimination policy.

That's Longview, the east Texas oil town that is even more Republican than its neighbor Tyler. A place where only a few decades ago Klan rallies were held openly. A part of the world from which gays have traditionally fled if not killed or driven to suicide. Yet I haven't seen any news about all of these people at the rally having crosses burned on their lawns.

I guess the remaining reactionaries will blame the media for the new mindset. South Africa wouldn't allow television for decades; once they did the walls came tumbling down. Hatred doesn't work as well when you can bring the world into your living room.

Keep Your Head Down Low

Following up on the frightening concept of a musical about Bill O'Reilly, World O'Crap contributes a marvelous song to the tune of an old tear-jerking classic: "Billy, Don't Be a Dimwit".

In the comments there, someone does a version of a better lament (especially considering the holiday season):

Yet, if she said she'd sue me
I'd be lost, I'd be frightened
I couldn't cope
Just couldn't cope
I'd scream "Shut up!"
Cut off her mic
Send Fox security
She scares me so....

It looks like I need to post more parodies; there seems to be more demand than Mad Kane and I are supplying by ourselves.

Hopping Down The Bunny Trail

Echidne of the Snakes has posted her own Easter plans:

I'm going to dress up as a humongous snake egg, with frightening patterns painted all over the surface. Then I'm going to roll right past fundamental churches, all the time making little chirpy snake baby noises.

Regina serpens, laetare, alleluia:
Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia, ...

Oh, wait, what's Latin for "hatched"?
Never mind, I'll just emulate Henry Dobson:

It began as a prayer,
But my Latin's not fluent.
It set out with a flair,
And began as a prayer,
But grammar's not fair
To all those who were truant;
It would have been a prayer
(Or just something congruent).

Something For Income Tax Day

This is Elizabeth Montgomery's birthday. Wiggle your nose and make that 1040 form go away.

Geology Lesson

Charles at The Fulcrum posts the most beautiful piece I've seen yet about the Shame of the Northern Plains. Amidst his lovely prose is this horrible, but inspiring fact:

Not a single doctor in South Dakota will perform an abortion, which is why Dr. Miriam McCreary has come out of retirement.

Once or twice a month, the 70-year-old grandmother takes a 45-minute flight from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to perform abortions at the last clinic in the state willing to offer the procedure.

Go see the earth move at "Signs of Erosion".

Gnostic As You Want To Be

Jed at Days spotted the newly-found Gospel of Scooter:

Here are the true revelations about Lewis Called Scooter, whom Pontius Patrick has charged with betraying the secret name of the Plame Woman, causing shame and obloquy to be heaped on the head of Lewis Called Scooter, a good and faithful servant of Our Lord George and Vice Lord Dick.

Now, the Plame Woman had sent her husband, Joseph, to the Land of Niger in search of the Secret of the Yellow Cake. ....

Go be enlightened.

Not A Soul Is In Darkness

This is Anne Sullivan's birthday. Like Thales, begin everything with water.

The Grating Game

Jeff Wells of Rigorous Intuition describes himself as a satirist. Let's hope so.

A quick review of the teaser of the nuking of Iran before they roll out the feature presentation.

First of all, the target isn't Iran, though of course it will be Iranians who may die by the hundreds of thousands should nuclear weapons be greenlighted for Washington's latest McGuffin. But Iran is no more the target than Japan was for Fat Man and Little Boy.

The principal target demographic for the atrocity still on storyboards is Russia and China. The nuking of Iran will be a blockbuster remaking of the demonstration events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which announced to the Soviet Union and all comers that the American Aeon had arrived. At least that's how it will appear, and how it's being sold in the boardroom of America Inc.

Cockeyed Optimism?

The Truffle points to what may be the triumph of hope over reality, at "Impeachment Does NOT Mean Cheney Will be President":

That anyone would even begin to think that Cheney would come out of the impeachment process uncharged and unscathed is mistaken, sorely mistaken. That one would think to impeach Bush without Cheney, and Rumsfeld and the others, is short-sighted... maybe blind. We'd get Hastert as president, but we're waiting at the door for him, too, to impeach him for his taking bribes.

Well, maybe. But there is a simpler solution to make sure that Lynne's beard doesn't get both the job and the title:

Dysangelism

This is the birthday of Madalyn Mays. Do not say grace at dinner tonight.

Putting Faces On The Straw Men

Former Dallas County Democratic Chair Ken Molberg gets personal about immigration laws and the march in Dallas.

Mr. Rendon used to dig the graves at St. Mary’s Cemetery in my home town. He buried a lot of my kinsmen and maybe some of yours.

Until I rounded the corner onto Akard Street last Sunday, just one of several hundred thousand on the way to City Hall, I hadn’t thought of him in years. Mr. Rendon spoke some English and his wife spoke only Spanish. That wasn’t unusual to me. After all, out of the seven houses in my area, there were only two people who did not regularly speak German in their conversations with each other: me and my mother. ...

It's very good. Go read it all at "Walking For Eduardo".

Ce Qu'on Ne Voit Pas

Fried Green al-Quedas gives us some Texas notes from underground:

There's a new tourist attraction today in Midland, Texas, with the grand opening of the George W. Bush Childhood Home. ...I wondered how this modest restoration could have possibly cost 1.8 million dollars. The answer is simple - we didn't get to see any pictures of the downstairs, which is really the nicest part of the house..

For example, this is the president's childhood bowling alley. ... There is much more to see in the Bush childhood home - the wine cellar, the basketball and tennis courts, the underground horseshoe pit....

(The title of this post comes from M. Bastiat.)

All The Things She Was

This is Helen Fogel's birthday. Try to fill Billie Holliday's shoes.

Moral Calculus

The Veep of Darkness comes to Waco (and fails to raise as much money this time as he did two years ago for the Republican Congressional candidate who is going to lose to Chet Edwards). Reporting on the bothersome people that don't know their place who were there to un-welcome him, an article spotted by Common Sense contained this quote:

Cheney also drew about 25 anti-war protesters who, led by the Waco organization Friends of Peace, criticized his role in the Iraq war. One sign proclaimed, "Impeach Cheney,' and another blamed the vice president for "lies — war — torture."

"We should not be killing innocent Iraqis to the degree we have," said Jim Goodnow, a 66-year-old protester from Terlingua, Texas.

And just how many innocents should we be killing? Careful -- don't want to sound too radical now.

Sometimes The Good Gals Win

In the Texas Runoff yesterday, the chronic non-campaigner Gene Kelly (suspected of being a Republican plant by the state Democratic Chair), lost again for U.S. Senator, this time to a good candidate, Barbara Ann Radnofsky. For Lieutenant Governor, the aging former judge and state representative Ben Grant lost to younger veteran's activist Maria Luisa Alvarado. The two women will both be vastly overmatched in funding, but are respectable additions to the ticket, and able to serve well if events carry in the whole ticket on a landslide.

Best of all, the down-ballot races will not suffer from the terrible break in stright-party voting that Kelly atop the ticket would have caused. It seems the party establishment did learn their lesson from 2000, when they let Kelly's anti-coattails kill local candidates, including at least one here in Dallas. The state Chair, both candidates for Governor, and party leaders and elected officials across the state actually got involved in supporting Radnofsky. Thanks to all of them.

Both women got similar percentages, 59.80 for Radnofsky and 57.60 for Alvarado. In Dallas County, we once again gave Kelly an even lower vote than he got statewide. In the 2000 Runoff that Kelly won, he only got 29.91% here; this time he only got 20.05%. Travis County (Austin) did even better, giving Radnofsky an astonishing 92.15%. This massive margin meant that much smaller county gave her more votes than we did (7520 to our 7501).

Barbara wasted no time in taking after her incumbent opponent, saying of the Senator who once talked of serving only two terms, "Just as aging prom queens need to get out of the way and move over for the new crop, the new blood, I think it is time for her to move on." (Spotted by Capitol Annex's Vince Liebowitz, who contributes an appropriately Photoshopped picture of the ex-TV reporter.)

Meanwhile, Burnt Orange Report finds good news in the legislative runoffs, where five of the six backed by our present pathetic Speaker were defeated.

But there is something strange about the statewide results, and I wish someone would dig into them further. Since Radnofsky won anyway, that probably won't happen, but it smells suspicious to me.

Turnout was pathetic almost everywhere, and for both parties. It was for the Primary too, but this was much worse. But it wasn't evenly bad for both candidates for Senator. Radnofsky won the biggest counties in the state, but the turnout there was pitiful. The percentage of registered voters who showed up was less than 1% in the counties containing Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth. Austin's county was barely better, at 1.49% She did atypically better in El Paso (5%) and Corpus Christi (6%). But overall, with a few exceptions, Radnofsky did best in counties with lower percentage turnout in the Runoff.

Not counting the tiny Maverick County (where Radnofsky's name was not printed on the early voting ballot at all - a scandal predictably involving ESS which Vince covers), and a handful of places she and Kelly tied (mostly with small numbers like 15-15 in Coke County, or 16-16 in Hall), Kelly won only 45 counties of the 254. But in only 4 of those was the turnout less than 1%. She won only 63 with 1% or better. Now that doesn't look so bad, Radnofsky gets 63 of the counties with 1% or more turnout, Kelly gets 41. That's close to her overall state percentage.

Try upping the number. Of those counties with a turnout of 4% or more, Kelly got 31 to her 21. Increase it still more. Of counties with a turnout of 7% or more, Kelly got 28, and Radnofsky only got 11. Of counties with a 10% or better turnout, Kelly won 19 to Radnofsky's 8. Yes, she did barely win the one county with the highest percentage in the state, Jim Hogg (though there's something very strange about its incredible 49% figure, with an unprecedented majority of the votes being early), but most of the other big percentage turnouts went for Kelly.

Why? Was there an effort by some outlying Republican county chairs to push Kelly votes to help Hutchison this fall? Would someone who can do fancy statistics look at the county-by-county figures at the Secretary of State's web site and do an analysis? I would really like to be reassured this wasn't some highjack attempt that just failed.

I Knew Something Was Missing....

Today is Louise Lasser's birthday. Sulk in your dressing room and refuse to rehearse your opening monologue.

Situation Normal, All FEMA'd Up

In which we learn from zuzu at Feministe, based on this experience of the Katrina debacle, just why Bush wants the military to take over future disasters:

Mary told us that she'd been denied a FEMA trailer at first because one of her houses (she owned two on the street) had been determined to be livable. However, when she asked when that determination had been made, since she hadn't let anyone in her houses to inspect them, the FEMA people said 9/3. So Mary said, "Did someone swim in? Because the house was under 10 feet of water on 9/3." Turns out FEMA had done a flyover and determined that any house with a roof was livable regardless of what was in it. Mary finally got a FEMA trailer after getting her Congressman, Bobby Jindal, involved

(my sister had a similar experience in 1995, when her Navy base housing went up in flames while her husband was not only out to sea but underwater on a sub, and she was dicked around and blamed for the fire (even though it was due to faulty wiring) until she called her senator in Hawaii, Daniel Inouye. Within 16 hours, her husband's sub was ordered to surface and he was on a flight home, and she was in front of the commandant, explaining why she went over his head (um, because she was a civilian and had rights and her friend was in the house when the fire started)).

Radicals Revealed!!

Well, I guess all the bigots who warned us must have been right about how dangerous all the marchers were here on Sunday. The proof? Look at this picture:



You see? Not only was there an actual *gasp* Mexican flag in the parade (cleverly hidden amongst a huge collection of US flags -- obviously there only for disguise!! -- but they are even carrying a poster with quotations from a dangerously radical manifesto, which goes on to proclaim a right to revolution! Oh, yes, these people are a threat to us all!

You can find this and other photos at DFW blogger Arvin Hill's Carnival of Horror, which also contains a link to his own account of what he saw in the march, showing that poor soul was also hopelessly misled by the alien propaganda.

Stop Me Before I Overkill Again

The Houston Chronicle finds huge untapped gall reserves:

Critics argue that anti-smuggling laws already are comprehensive and that Sensenbrenner was intent on cutting off humanitarian assistance to illegal immigrants. ...

While not giving in on that point, Sensenbrenner conceded that a provision making illegal immigrants felons was "overkill." But he blamed Democrats for blocking his efforts to lessen the penalty.

Jesus And The Alamo

The Rev. Eric Folkerth is married to a Democratic Judge in Dallas County, Dennise Garcia. They took part in the march here Sunday, and he gives a truly Christian perspective on it at this web page, complete with pictures. Some highlights:

Today was Palm Sunday. ... It's widely believed by Biblical scholars that the Palm Sunday crowd that acclaimed Jesus with cries of "Hosanna" was not made up by the elites of that society, but by the marginalized. The elites wanted Jesus to make everyone shut up and go home. ...

I thought about that a lot today after church, as Dennise, Maria and I took part in the "MegaMarch" downtown... It can now be said with confidence that somewhere around 500,000 people flooded the streets of downtown Dallas today. That's not only the single largest protest in the history of Dallas, it's the single largest protest in the history of Texas. ...

And even as we left, we could see folks STILL streaming into the area around City Hall for the first time...the march was still going on....THREE HOURS after it started!!!

Everyone in the crowd wore a white shirt, to symbolize peace. And almost everyone of the huge crowd waved American flags. I have never seen so many people in one place, and never seen so many American flags in one place. ...

As we approached the stage at City Hall, we saw that there was a huge replica of the Statue of Liberty on the stage, and the song Neil Diamond's "America" was playing on the loud speaker. ...

The bill out of the House would have made it crime to give aid to an immigrant who was here illegally. That House bill specifically referenced churches and clergy, and said that they too would be subject to a arrest should they aid illegal immigrants. ...

Such legislation is anti-Christian. ... In fact, several times in the Gospels, the local folks get really ANGRY at Jesus precisely BECAUSE he tells them to help those who are from foreign lands!! ...

Imagine if this law had been in effect at the feeding of the five thousand. ... Just after Jesus gets done feeding these people, the authorities arrive:

"Um...I'm sorry Jesus...we're going to have to take you in....you've just given fish and bread to some illegal Samaritans. You have the right to remain silent...anything you say can be used against you...."

The part I liked best in his post is this story about his wife the Judge:

When Dennise was in Junior High in Irving, she had to take Texas History, as we all do in Texas public schools. And she came home one day and her Mom, "Ma, we're learning about the Alamo in school!"

To which her mother said, "Oh! You had relatives that fought at the Alamo."

So, the next day, Dennise returned to school and gleefully told her teacher, "I had relatives that fought at the Alamo!!!" To which the teacher asked her, "Which side?" Well, Dennise had never considered this. As an Irving girl her whole life, she'd never thought about "which side."

So, she went home to ask her mother, "Ma, which side?"

To which her mother told her, "Oh, Mija, the side that won."

It's That Resurrection Time Of Year

The Witlist gets into the Easter spirit:

Supporters Hold Candlelight Prayer Vigil for Tom DeLay

Vow to employ 'heroic measures' to resuscitate political powerbroker

...After watching a videotape of DeLay's announcement, Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist questioned whether the Congressman's career was truly in a deathlike coma. "He certainly seemed to respond to visual stimuli," said Frist....

Late last night President Bush returned early from a 16-week vacation at his Texas ranch to sign an executive order declaring Mr. DeLay a West Indian Manatee, making him eligible for protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

One Of These Things....

Mrdankelly observes an aesthetic convergence well worth your perusal. (Spotted by Wealth Bondage.)

Vow Of Chastity, Anyone?

World O'Crap bravely continues her dissection of coprolites:

Anyway, while Rumsfeld may be incompetent, at least he's studly -- per K.Lo and Midge. Midge will explain what this means to our society.

Lopez: What does it say about our culture today — and about American women (of all ages!) that Rumsfeld's become a sex symbol?

Decter: What Rumsfeld's having become an American sex symbol seems to say about American culture today is that the assault on men leveled by the women's movement, having poisoned the normally delicate relations between men and women and thereby left a generation of younger women with a load of anxiety they are only now beginning to throw off, is happily almost over.

Yes, it's time for the return of the manly men --guys who can, with a swagger and a few drinks, casually decide to invade other countries!

May God have pity on our souls.

Every day we should be thankful that she engages in this forensic investigation and returns with the lowlights, so that we won't have to get our own eyes in the toxic waste.

Making Sport Of The Man, Or Pre-Men, Or Something....

Doghouse Riley gets irked at David Brooks, who issued this idiocy re the supposed North Carolina lacrosse team rape:

Several decades ago, American commentators would have used an entirely different vocabulary to grapple with what happened at Duke. Instead of the vocabulary of sociology, they would have used the language of morality and character.

Riley surgically skewers him:

And several decades ago, whites could simply murder blacks with impunity in many areas of the country. So maybe that's not the best place to go looking for tales of morality laid low.

But beyond that, and leaving aside how easy it is to say and just how much proof Brooks offers, what is this supposed to mean, "the language of morality and character"? Isn't the amply demonstrated racism on the part of some members of the Duke lacrosse team a matter of morality and character? Isn't the abuse of the less powerful by the privileged a moral issue?

Why, no, that's just the point for Brooks and his ilk. Prejudice, exploitation, and sexual abuse (especially of the lower classes, don't you know?) are not immoral acts for our privileged betters, whose laces we are not worthy to tie. Reference the current administration.

Dallas-born Texan Jaye Ramsey Sutter piles on in the comments:

One aspect of this story that enrages me is how Brooks' paper keeps putting this story on the sports pages. Yes, yes it is about a team, but rape isn't a sport. The woman isn't a goal, although it is interesting that they rape her as a team, cover it up as a team. They are sort of having sex with each other as they take turns raping her.

Euwww, thanks for that mental image, Jaye. I can see the movie now: Backboard Mounting.

UPDATE: Alice of wonderland or not spots the news that "DNA has cleared the Lacrosse players of any guilt." She still considers them pigs, with good reason, considering their emails and such. The full news story is even more revealing:

Attorneys Wade Smith and Joe Cheshire said the tests showed no DNA from any player was found on the woman, her clothes or her belongings. The medical results showed the woman hadn't even had sex, the attorneys said.

Yes, even racist, elitist, sexist jerks can be not guilty. Just as technology has freed a lot of people from prison (even from death row), it has saved these falsely accused scum. Let's all applaud; let's not pretend ultimate justice has been done here.

What Really Happened

Contrary to the blogger I quoted in "From Under The Rock", Cliff Pearson of the North Texas Independent Media Center gives this description, which matches what I saw and heard much better, including these gems:

There were only 11 counter-demonstrators, most of them admitted members of the right-wing anti-protest group "Protest Warriors." Their signs contained their trademark outrageous messages, such as "One Flag, One Language, One Nation," and "Illegal Means Criminal." One of the counter-demonstrators was singing into a megaphone, with lyrics including the phrase, "You're going to fry, fry, fry in Hell [for being an undocumented alien]," and "Got to go back home."

Despite their tiny numbers, the counter-demonstrators did manage to cause a large ruckus when they began throwing bottles at demonstrators. Police responded quickly, however, by deploying several "response teams" to contain the situation. About 40 Dallas Police SWAT team members set up a human barricade as well. ...

Police spokesperson Lieutenant Watson reported that it was a "peaceful, family crowd" and that they had made only one arrest, for public intoxication. The only medical calls were for very old or very young people collapsing from the heat. Emergency personnel reported only five of these incidents.

And to cap it all, the AP gives us a very appropriate picture for this day before the Texas Runoff:

Forgive -- But Remember

DosCentavos is upset by an appearance at the rally:

Here's one line I found interesting: Several prominent black leaders, including Texas Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, and Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill, as well as Bishop Charles V. Grahmann, leader of the Dallas Catholic diocese, marched in solidarity.

Now why did I bold Senator West's name? Royce West was the co-author of Senate Bill 1501, which was the same as HB2345. HB2345 called for imposing a fee on all wire transfers abroad, specifically targeting immigrants as a means of "collecting payment" for their use of emergency services at local hospitals. Dos Centavos called this the Immigrant Tax.

West is the best State Senator that Dallas County has had since the lamented Oscar Mauzy (author of the quote titling this post) moved up to the Supreme Court. That doesn't mean West is right about everything, and this was a very bad mistake.

Dallas's emergency charity hospital, Parkland, is primarily (and inadequately) supported by property taxes, which the Republican county government refuses to raise because that would mean they could afford to actually help people, especially poor people. It's not racism, because they don't want to help poor whites either. It's a class thing.

Trying to instead squeeze hard-earned less-than-minimum wage money out of people trying to wire tiny profits back to their families is an attractive proposition to politicians because those exploited workers can't vote. You're a better man than this, Senator. Stop playing their game.

Thinking Four Moves Ahead

Pudentilla at caps-less skippy gives us a sick, sick scenario:

cheney resigns for acting witout aWol’s explicit order. aWol pardons scooter, who was merely cheney’s dupe. congressional committees do nothing. cheney retires to his new mansion and phones in directions to aWol on how to start world war three by nuking iran. lieberman takes cheney’s place.

Well, that certainly would give pause to some Dems when it came to voting to impeach the Prez....

From Under The Rock

It did not take long for the Rejectionists (of human values and progress) to jump upon the oh-so-scary huge march of the "otherwise hued" here in Dallas yesterday. Someone named Brian Epps, at his blog called Random Numbers (and if you really want to see it you can find it yourself) says

If I had written about yesterday last night, my post would have been filled with epithets and not very coherent.

Thanks for small favors that he saved us from that. He says "a very millitant [sic] group holding provocative signs and loaded down with very angry looking young men" slapped his camera out of his hand and kicked it down the street when he took a photo of "a sign with Che Guevera on it". He claims more:

"You got a problem, white boy?" said the thug closest to me.

I didn't see any such signs, but it was a huge crowd, so there might have been. If there was, it seems to me the sign toters would have been glad to be photographed. Being seen is why people carry signs. What are they going to do -- go to a march hiding their sign under a paper bag for secrecy? I suspect if this happened at all, he was more provocative than he is admitting (even to himself). No matter; if this did occur, then in a perfect world -- where the police by their count were not outnumbered by 1000 to 1 -- then the camera-smasher should have been arrested. Amazingly, only one person was collared at the whole march, and not for any such thuggery. Considering the number of cell phones (and media cameras that would jump on any such item), that tells me there was no epidemic of any such improbable events. Epps goes on to say

I am now out one $300 digital camera and trying very hard not to think badly of all Latinos over this incident.

That sparked massive linking from a bunch of Righter-Than-Thou types seeking desperately for a stick to bash the marchers with. Michelle La Bellicose (the Defender of Ethnic Concentration Camps) and InstaLinkingProf both peeked up from their keyboards to call out "Lo! The poor abused Anglo!" (leaving to their Rat's-Paws to conclude "That shows we need to ban immigrants!"), and so a horde of commenters descended to show support -- and their very ugly true colors, much worse than those of that clueless one (whose sidebar contains an ad: "Iran wants nukes? Let's give 'em a couple.") Here are just a few samples appended to his post:

"If it had been me in your situation, I would have charged at those punks with everything I had. I live just north of Dallas in Frisco, where Mexican migrant workers are found in plentiful numbers. Every morning 30-50 of them congregate outside a gas station in the old part of town, all waiting to be picked up for work." ...

"As I recall, Texas has gun carry permits. Next time, when covering these protestors, bring a gun." [Credit here: Epps has the sense to reply "Anything that a gun could have done to defuse the situation would have landed me in the pokey."] ...

"But we guess it doesn't count as "violence" unless it's the wetbacks who get beaten."...

"Damn wetback pigs! ... Good thing I didn't go, seeing as how I don't go anywhere without packing ... Oh, and when I say "good", I mean it as in "I don't need the legal hassle afterwards", because plugging those Neanderthals wouldn't have cost me a second's worth of sleep." ...

"I don't think it's beyond the pale to consider that the pathologies that Latin immigrants have imported from their home countries has had an adverse effect on our own domestic tranquility." ...

"If these "protests" continue, however, we're all going to have more than broken cameras to worry about, and DFW may not be American much longer. If these people are trying to start a war, they're on the right track. My only question is how far are the rest of going to allow ourselves to be pushed before we dig in and start pushing back. After all, America is still OUR home, right?" ...

"Hire an illegal at 10 cents and hour, and make him scrape dogshit off your shoes for 2 months."

Should we paraphrase the style of the site of Tiny Emerald-colored Pigskins, and say that these are examples of the universal love shown by The Ethnic Group Of Peace? Nah, let's not fall into their own living snake pit. I will refrain even from the temptation of wishing retroactively that some of my ancestors had adopted real immigration controls in 1491.

Take This Message To My Brother

In Dallas this afternoon the police say there were from 350,000 to half a million people marching to protest the racist bigots (or panderers thereto) who comprise the Republican majority in Congress. The city had less than 1.2 million people counted in 2000, so that would be one-third to one-half of the population. Of course they were not all Hispanics (and just as surely they were mostly citizens and not "illegals"). Some of the Anglos are glowing red now after parading under that clear sunny sky, and will be much browner tomorrow. Local TV covered it, but managed almost no discussion of the issues at stake -- it all became a social event to the media, like a huge Thanksgiving Day parade. Let us hope at least that some politicians pay attention.

Generic Posting

Generic Link (N. B. all the Comments)

Below The Bottom Feeders

The Ostroy Report has the latest chutzpah:

Vying to replace the outgoing disgraced former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is Sugar Land Mayor David G. Wallace ... who's in bed with controversial Houston businessman and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth financial backer Bob Perry. Wallace, who's in business with Perry's son Will, issued a press release last month disclosing the relationship. ...

The elder Perry is a major Texas fundraiser and pal of Karl Rove. He made headlines in 2004 when he donated $200,000 to fund the sleazy Swiftboat Veterans ads that shamefully attacked Sen. John Kerry's war record.

Perry's also caught flak this past week for a gift he gave to Bill Ceverha, the former treasurer of Texas Republicans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC), one of DeLay's PAC's that's a major focus of Texas District Attorney Ronnie Earle's investigation....

I Had This Same Idea...

...but No More Mr. Nice Guy beat me to it:

An early Christian manuscript has been carbon-dated by scientists at the University of Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory. The controversial document is likely to causes upheaval in the accepted story of the Son of Bush.

The document purports to show that Scooter Libby, traditionally regarded as a traitor, was in fact a willing collaborator who betrayed the cause on the personal orders of Junior W. Christ himself.

Go learn the whole truth.

No, I Said To Cannonize Him....

(Thanks to Blue Gal for finding this one.) Sister Nancy Beth Eczema thinks that we've all been too cruel to Tom the Delayer of Games. She has a picture you'll howl at, and a warning you must read at "In memoriam", starting:

When The Left went after Ben Domenech, I said nothing...

Exit Shoving

In the district now occupied by about-to-be-self-outed-from-Congress Tom Delay, his Democratic opponent Nick Lampson held a news conference to denounce Governor Goodhair's refusal to call a special election, thus leaving the people there with no representation at all once Tommy flees town. (Actually, that would be an improvement....)

Tommy's thugs, notable for intimidating the elections department to stop recounting in Florida in 2000, struck again. Delay's campaign manager actually sent out emails urging their little deluded dupes to show up and "give Lampson a parting shot that wrecks his press conference." Sure enough, a gaggle of sign-toters with an airhorn raided Lampson's conference. Juanita's has the report:

One elderly Democratic woman was slightly injured when she was assaulted by a DeLay protester. The male DeLay supporter first hit her in the face with a sign and then grabbed her hat and tried to pull it down over her eyes. Think about this: Your Congressman asked his supporters to go out and assault old women. Okay, "wreck" them.

and she also has the pictures.

Reporters come forward to try to hear what Lampson came to say. ... The more the reporters come forward, the more DeLay's troops try to keep them away from Lampson.

Well, at least they dressed in a variety of different shirt styles. The color coordination is the next step. By the way, is your passport ready?

Welcome Aboard

Looks like just yesterday I happily got added to the blogroll of the Lady of the Lefty Limericks, the Parodic Podcastress, the recovering attorney and erstwhile symphonic performer (someone said that was here in Dallas itself) Mad Kane (I just love the hat in your pic, Mad). She chose to list me under the category "Otherwise Fine Blogs That Lack The Good Taste To Blogroll Me". Thus she stumbled upon the clue to my sidebar: Link To Me And I'll Reciprocate. Delighted to do it, since I've laughed at her verse for years. Go ye and do likewise.

My, That Was Quick....

So now openly gay Massachusetts State Senator Jarret Barrios has decided not to run for District Attorney of Middlesex County after all. He gives reasons at his web site:

However, the rigors of working more than 100 hours a week on the campaign have imposed major burdens on my young family. At this time in their lives, the children need more time with their parents. And I cherish my time with them. I simply could not justify the sacrifices involved in running for this office, when there is so much that I can continue to accomplish in the Senate.

I mention this because he had a fundraiser here in Dallas on March 31, hosted by (among others) our own openly lesbian Dallas County Democratic Sheriff Lupe Valdez. Haven't heard yet how that went financially, but this is a major disappointment to a lot of local supporters of his. He still looks like a good bet for a major political future -- though that judgement may be warped by wishes.

A War With No Aim

(With apologies to the group America.)

In the first year of the conflict
I was cleaning up after Ba'aths
There were whips and chains and cuffs and cells
There were bones and blood and smells
The first pawn I played was a spy and a crook
Who sold lies for our cash
The voters dropped him after one look
So my choice had been too rash

I've fought in the desert in a war with no aim
It felt good to look tough on TV
In a battle it's all a black and white game
'Cause only traitors will have doubts about me.
La, la ...

After two years of the desert fight
Imbeds began to ask why
After three years in the desert light
Empty glare was too much for their eye
And the spin that we made of a threat that we'd stayed
Began to look ever too sly

I've fought in the desert in a war with no aim
It felt good to look tough on TV
In a battle it's all a black and white game
'Cause only traitors will have doubts about me.
La, la ...

After six years the next Prez let it go
'Cause the status returned to quo
There were whips and chains and cuffs and cells
There were bones and blood and smells
Elections are a cover just to silence the land
So none but the victims will know
Behind the ballots are a torturer's hand
While the oil continues to flow

I've fought in the desert in a war with no aim
It felt good to look tough on TV
In a battle it's all a black and white game
'Cause only traitors will have doubts about me.
La, la ...

Sorry I Missed This One Last September

Check out "COLOMBIAN DEATH SQUADS DUMP KATE MOSS".

Good News Tonight

Mind you, the source for this is Time magazine. Recall that Robert Heinlein once said it was notorious in his experience for having the most inaccurate reporting of anyone on several notable events he had happened to witness himself. (Did Asimov's use of its archives in one of his tales presage the later hawk-dove split in SF over Vietnam?) Anyway, here's the scoop:

Rep. Tom DeLay, whose iron hold on the House Republicans melted as a lobbying corruption scandal engulfed the Capitol, told TIME that he will not seek reelection and will leave Congress within months. Taking defiant swipes at "the left" and the press, he said he feels "liberated" and vowed to pursue an aggressive speaking and organizing campaign aimed at promoting foster care, Republican candidates and a closer connection between religion and government.

"I'm going to announce tomorrow that I'm not running for reelection and that I'm going to leave Congress," DeLay, who turns 59 on Saturday, said during a 90-minute interview on Monday.

Now I'm delighted that he will be gone, but notice that later after Time mentions

"DeLay got a scare in a Republican primary last month, and a recent poll taken by his campaign gave him a roughly 50-50 shot of winning, in an election season when Republicans need every seat they can hang onto to avoid a Democratic takeover of the House"

Delay says

"I just felt like I didn't want to risk the seat...."

and adds

"I want to continue to work for a Republican majority."

He's making a sacrifice play to keep the seat in GOP hands. Now does that mean the party gets to replace him, or are we in even worse shape -- would this mean *shudder* that Stockman could go back to the House? Damn, we knocked him off once, and with Lampson, too, but that was a more Democratic district. We can be glad Tommy's biting the dust, but maybe we shouldn't congratulate ourselves too hard just yet. I can only quote Kaufman's translation of a note of Nietzsche's ("On the mythology of the historical"):

--as if a blind hunter fired hundreds of times in vain and finally, by sheer accident, hit a bird. A result at last, he says to himself, and goes on firing.

The Stockholm Oreo

(With apologies to Smokey Robinson.)

People say I should run for President,
Become the outreach C.E.O.
I'd cut the Dem vote and be Resident,
Not just the neocons' best 'ho.
So watch me act like my heart can bleed;
Hear me crack over deaths that I read;
And just like Reagan I can cry at need
My crocodile tears.

I want votes, all votes,
So as I speak if I should reek of much compassion,
Full of victim empathy,
Although it makes you sick,
Recall it's just a trick --
The right has my sympathy.
So watch me act like my heart can bleed;
Hear me crack over deaths that I read;
And just like Reagan I can cry at need
My crocodile tears.

I need votes, more votes,
So with George's term ending
I will practice pretending
That I care and trust
And their pain I share.
I do so welcome them
Until I can bomb them to dust.
So watch me act like my heart can bleed;
Hear me crack over deaths that I read;
And just like Reagan I can cry at need
My crocodile tears.

Roxy The Recidivist

She's done it again. Last April 1st, the much too generous Roxanne, (obviously with too much time on her hands) graciously turned her website over to that imploding star of the right-wing, Michelle Maklin [not sic]. This year -- well, I'm not sure just who her target is, since I don't bother to read all those starboard scatologists. Go see if you can figure it out for yourself at purblind jism.