A raft for racists: The National Review, from
Buckley through Derbyshire and beyond

post from Daily Kos on 15 April 2012 04:00:04 PM. © Daily Kos

I don?t read the National Review, which describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion." Though not a reader, I often run across citations from it and quotes from its writers in publications I do read, like the New York Times, which unfortunately serve to lend it gravitas, and I am well aware it was founded by William F. Buckley, Jr.

As far as I?m concerned, National Review and its online pages have stayed true to the principles of its founder. He was a racist, and it continues his legacy. Those who have the magazine's imprimatur and the current editor Rich Lowry can play games by pretending that the recent letting go of John Derbyshire and Robert Weissberg are little more than hypocritical attempts to obfuscate its agenda.

As my grandma was fond of saying, "It's like trying to close the barn door after the horse gets out." I doubt that few people are fooled by yet another non-apology apology from racists. Editor Rich Lowry's turn of phrase, which opened with 'Unbeknowst to us ..." when severing the relationship with Weissberg, and his glib description of Derbyshire as a "deeply literate, funny, and incisive writer," carries no water with me. Buckley was touted as deeply literate too. One's ability to read, write and play with words are no hindrance to racist beliefs; in fact they make the wielders more dangerous.

We are supposed to believe that these two bottom-feeders are some type of aberration.

Well. I don't buy it.

(Continue reading below the fold)

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e-National-Review-from-Buckley-through-Derbyshire-and-beyond

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Sheila Bairs Fabulous Idea: $10 Million Loans for
Everyone!

post from Firedoglake on 15 April 2012 03:55:13 PM. © Firedoglake

Yes, former Chair Bair is speaking very satirically -- her proposal is actually a Swiftian attack on the ways that the Wall Streeters were and are allowed to profit from our misery -- but really, is it any worse than what has actually been done in the[...]

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Who am I (76)

post from Occasional Planet on 15 April 2012 03:53:49 PM. © Occasional Planet

There?s more! You?ll find a collection of previously published Who Am I teaser images in our Who Am I Gallery. How many can you identify? Occasional Planet?s ?Who Am I? features people who have made important contributions to liberal thought, progressive politics, human rights, enlightened education, and ?small-d? democratic principles?both in the US and internationally. [...]Related posts:

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Bach, Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582
(with fun graphics)

post from US Politics | AMERICAblog News on 15 April 2012 03:00:23 PM. © US Politics | AMERICAblog News

I've seen a bunch of these visual representations and enjoyed them all. This one is Bach's famous Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor for organ, performed and visualized by Stephen Malinowski.

Life is too heavy sometimes. Enjoy this if you have a spare tax-free minute.

This piece is in two parts ? a passacaglia, followed by a fugue. The passacaglia has a bass melody, constantly repeated, with variations appearing in the upper voices. You'll hear the bass theme alone at first, then with the variations as the bass is repeated. There are twenty variations in all, each the same length.

Watch the purple line to follow the bass. At 4:00, the bass theme moves into the treble voice (the high one, in yellow), then lower again. The passacaglia starts to build to a close around 5:30.

The fugue itself starts at 7:20. Technically, this is a "double fugue" ? one with two main subjects. Both fugue subjects are heard at the same time at the start. The bass theme is used as the first theme (in red). The green is not just ornamentation, but the fugue's second subject. These two themes, plus the "counter theme" that accompanies the first repeat (the green line starting around 7:35), are the building blocks of the fugue.

One of the nice aspects of this visualization is that you can always find the bass theme visually ? just look for the characteristic long bars. The trills at 11:22 announce that the thrilling conclusion is near.

There are plenty more of these visualization, if the mood strikes you.

GP

(To follow on Twitter or to send links: @Gaius_Publius)

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Midday open thread

post from Daily Kos on 15 April 2012 03:00:04 PM. © Daily Kos

Tweet Girl, you know it's true! NOM President Brian Brown (@briansbrown) has a
timely confession about blogger JoeMyGod.

National Organization for Marriage gets hacked again, Saturday morning. This time strong indicators that it is the work of Anonymous, like linking to this cryptic video. Brian and Maggie certain to blame "radical homosexual activists" in their forthcoming, apoplectic fundraising plea however.
Bourgeois, white people problem, or economic injustice? Today, on tax day, contemplate the so-called Defense of Marriage saddles same-sex couples with as much as $6,000 a year in extra taxes because the federal government won't recognize marriage equality. State equity, like New York's, provides some relief as GoodAsYou's Jeremy Hooper found out this year. Yay!
Minister of the infinite chutzpah: Karl Rove preemptively whines in the Wall Street Journal the Obama campaign will take the low road. Yes. Really. That Karl Rove.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is the latest GOP Gov. in the crosshairs of recall effort. Piss off teachers at your own peril.
Fresh analysis of 36-year-old data leads University of Southern California neuropharmacologist and biologist Joseph Miller to conclude he's "99% certain" Viking 2 found evidence of bacterial life on Mars. Neat.
Science to believe in: University of Illinois in Chicago scientists claim beer makes men smarter. Just not if you drink it with George W. Bush.
Superhero Cory Booker even exploits his media spotlight for a public education moment. Swoon. Related: WaPo on the power of the meme.
Latest target of the Republican intolerance jihad? Kids with student education loans, of course. Well, thanks for that, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC).
Knowledge is power: Feminist, activist Faye Anderson's Cost of Freedom app will text to you voter ID requirements for 50 states, down to the county level for the five most restrictive states.
Current TV's Eliot Spitzer talks about the White House decision to pass on an executive order of non-discrimination with Tico Almeida of Freedom to Work. Almeida was in the war room with Valerie Jarrett, White House counsel and other senior staff to hear the decision first-hand on Wednesday.
RIP: Italian soccer league suspends games this weekend after 25-year old player, midfielder Piermario Morosini dies on field midgame of cardiac arrest.
As many as twelve of the President's Secret Service detail may have let their focus stray from the task. Disciplinary action has been taken. Please note: what happens in Cartagena, Columbia does not stay in Cartagena, Columbia.
Matt Stoller: "It?s not obvious that Obama?s policy framework is worse than Bush?s, only that the outcome is." Not hurting? CBS's Les Moonves who pulled down a cool $69.9 million in 2011.
Reproductive rights, international edition: Many European countries are stingy about who is allowed to avail themselves of fertility treatments. It's causing controversy.
Pakistan again demands end to drone strikes. United States says not gonna happen.

Slacktivism vindicated? The Atlantic on the potential of the internet to save us all from the existential threat of ALEC.

~~Downtown~~ Downton Arby's

Jeff Davis, chief executive officer of Tulsa-based U.S. Beef Corp., has a sense of humor about the "Downton Arby's" video that pokes fun at the company's subsidiary and the Emmy-bait PBS series. "It's really funny," he says. He's right. Spot on, chaps.

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Pray Away The Gay U.S. Wingnuts Providing Paid
Staff For British Parliament Members

post from Crooks and Liars on 15 April 2012 03:00:00 PM. © Crooks and Liars

So now that they've ruined so much of this country, they're moving onto others. Providing free interns to staff-poor legislators is a no-brainer that by the way, also happens here in the good old U.S. of A.! (Not that there could be any possible problem with underfunding staff and then handily filling those slots with donated wingnuts.) Too bad progressive groups don't have that kind of money:

A Christian charity which sponsored a conference promoting the idea that gay people can be converted to heterosexuality has funded interns for an estimated 20 MPs, including some who are now ministers in the coalition government.
The Christian Action Research and Education charity (Care) has provided staff to the parliamentary offices of Caroline Spelman, Alistair Burt and Steve Webb. In 2009 it sponsored a London conference about homosexuality and Christianity which included sessions on "mentoring the sexually broken". The event in London was also organised by Anglican Mainstream, one of the conservative Christian charities that was blocked this week from showing adverts on London buses that supported the idea that with therapy, homosexual people can become "ex-gay".
The conference featured a keynote by Joseph Nicolosi, a Californian psychologist and founder of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality. The organisers said they were "very worried about the continued progress of the gay ? and in fact the LGBT ? agenda across the board in the UK. Social, cultural, political and religious sectors are being targeted and most of them are capitulating".

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Kentucky Gets First Two Convictions on Gay Hate
Crime

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 15 April 2012 03:00:00 PM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

By @KYYellowDog

Ashamed the crime happened here, committed by Kentuckians. So proud Kentucky is the first to use the federal hate crimes law to nail the motherfuckers.

From the Courier:

Two Kentucky women have pleaded guilty to helping kidnap and assault a gay man in the first federal case to use a hate-crime law that protects against attacks motivated by sexual orientation.
Mable Ashley Jenkins and Alexis LeeAnn Jenkins, both 19, pleaded guilty this week to aiding and abetting the kidnapping and hate-crime assault against a man in a southeastern Kentucky park last year. The U.S. District Court in London unsealed the guilty pleas Friday, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office in Lexington.
Two men, cousins David Jason Jenkins, 37, of Cumberland, and Anthony Ray Jenkins, 20, of Partridge, have been indicted on charges of kidnapping, assault and violating the hate-crime law. All four defendants are facing a maximum sentence of life in prison for the April 4, 2011, attack on Kevin Pennington at Kingdom Come State Park in Harlan County.
SNIP
Federal prosecutors say this is the nation's first federal case charging a violation of the sexual orientation section of the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was passed in 2009. The women's guilty pleas were the first convictions under that section of the law.

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Why Most Wars Are Humanitarian Interventions

With the increasing possibility of some kind of intervention in Syria looming, a University of Chicago panel was held to unpack how liberal thought and Western power politics often are used to mask the unsavory aspects of what many usually call[...]

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Mitt Romney to mothers: Want dignity 'You need to
go to work'

Last week, when Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen said that Ann Romney had never worked a day in her life, Republicans thought they had finally stumbled upon an issue they could exploit to counter the accusation that they are waging a war on women?and to do something about that scary 20-point gender gap they refuse to believe is real. By insisting that Rosen was attacking mothers, Republicans could seize this shiny object to declare that it is Democrats, not Republicans, who do not value women and the unpaid work they do. The choice to stay home with one's children is the most dignified choice a woman can make, and how dare the Democrats insist otherwise.

Cue Mitt Romney in January of this year:

Even if you have a child 2 years of age, you need to go to work [...] And people said, "Well that's heartless." And I said, "No, no, I'm willing to spend more giving day care to allow those parents to go back to work. It'll cost the state more providing that day care, but I want the individuals to have the dignity of work."

Mitt's statement perfectly articulates what the Republican Party has always believed. Being a mother isn't work; it is only through employment outside the home that a mother achieves "dignity." And women who don't have the convenience of their husbands' stock portfolio don't deserve to have a choice to stay home with their children. They "need to go to work." Rich women who stay home work hard. Poor women who do are lazy. And undignified.

The contradiction of Mitt's statement in January and the Republicans' sudden pretend outrage that anyone would suggest raising children isn't work demonstrates why this is a destined-to-fail plan?and not just because the context of Rosen's comments make clear that she wasn't attacking stay-at-home mothers, but rather, the hilarious assertion that Ann Romney has half a clue about the economic struggles most women in this country face.

No, the real failure of this new strategy to divert attention away from the Republicans' assault on women is that it's Republicans who have long waged war against mothers. Pick any policy that better enables women to spend more time with their children or to make the choice Ann Romney did, not to work at all, and Republicans are 100 percent against it. Paid family leave laws so working mothers can spend time with their new infants? Against it. Housing and nutritional assistance so women can forgo employment to stay home with their children? Not only are Republicans against that, but in several states, Republicans have pushed for, and even enacted, legislation requiring those women to submit to drug tests. Because obviously any woman who wants to make the choice to stay home with her children must be a drug addict. Unless her name is Ann Romney.

And of course we all know full well how Republicans feel about family planning. Women who plan to have children when their financial situation better enables them to make the suddenly respectable choice to forgo employment are sluts.

We have the patron saint of the Republican Party, Ronald Reagan, to thank for the debunked stereotype of the lazy welfare queen cruising around in a Cadillac. Such women are to be mocked, disrespected, blamed and shamed. Go to work. Get some dignity. One Cadillac makes you a welfare queen; two makes you Ann Romney.

That Republicans think they've discovered a winning issue is proof of just how clueless they are about why American women are mad as hell at them. If they want to have a debate about which party respects women's choices?all choices, not just the "choice" to marry well?bring it on. Let's review the decades of assault on low- and middle-income women who have wanted to make the same choice Ann Romney did?the one Republicans now demand we respect?but have been told by Republicans like Mitt Romney that their work as mothers doesn't count and that they "need to go to work."

Yeah, let's have that fight. And in November, we'll see who wins.

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Anti-Abortion Bachmann Says Women Need To Make
Their Own Decisions About Their Bodies

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) argued that women should be allowed to make choices over their own bodies, while blasting Obamacare on Meet The Press. Without noting the irony of the GOP war on women targeting Planned Parenthood, abortion services, and contraception coverage, Bachmann said women need to be allowed control over their own bodies:

BACHMANN: What we want is women to be able to make their own choices [...] We want women to make their own choices in healthcare. You see that’s the lie that happens under Obamacare. The President of the United States effectively becomes a health care dictator. Women don’t need anyone to tell them what to do on health care. We want women to have their own choices, their own money, that way they can make their own choices for the future of their own bodies.

Watch it:

Bachmann doesn’t believe a women’s right to choose applies in all cases, though, promising on the presidential campaign trail that in addition to supporting an abortion ban, she wouldn’t allow exceptions for rape or for the woman’s health.

On Meet The Press, Bachmann also claimed that “every aspect of women’s lives would be better” under likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney than under President Barack Obama. However, Romney has already promised to repeal the gains women make under Obamacare, which prohibits health care providers from charging higher rates to women.

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en-need-to-make-their-own-decisions-about-their-bodies/

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