A recent ruling by US District Judge Susan Bolton took the teeth out of SB1070. Personally, I feel that the injunction should have applied to the whole of the law, but I'll take what I can get. Still, in the desert, south of here, we've got armed neo-Nazis patrolling with the tacit permission, and even encouragement, of law enforcement and elected officials. Anyone see a problem here? Anyone?
Meanwhile, in Summit NJ, an immigrant dishwasher from El Salvador was beaten to death in an unprovoked attack by three teenagers, one of whom took cell phone video of it to show his friends. Kids who have probably spent time listening to hatred spewed by their parents, not to mention the likes of Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, Bachmann, Arpaio...the list goes on ad nauseum.
All of this -- The anti-immigrant sentiment, the tea-baggers, obstructionism by the right, all of it. It isn't about states rights, or big government, or the Tenth Amendment. It's about every bitter, ignorant, redneck racist in this country crawling out from under their rocks and into the light.
Because we left the door open.
The Tea Party & the NAACP
Recently, the NAACP called on the Tea Party to "repudiate those in their ranks who use racist language in their signs and speeches.". I initially viewed this with a bit of skepticism. It's not that it wasn't true. After all, the Tea Party was founded by middle-aged white men who woke up the day after the election, and upon realizing that a black man was President, could not contain their outrage. No, aside from stating the obvious, I thought it only served to cause more division, and was maybe even a little self-serving.
As usual, the Tea Parties' response was swift and stupid. Mark Williams, who for some odd reason still has a job as the spokesman for the Tea Party, wrote something so vile, so full of revisionist history and outright lies, not to mention blatantly racist, that I'll not repeat it here. This obviously caused me to rethink my initial opinion. The NAACP wasn't name-calling. They weren't calling the Tea Party racists. They were simply asking them to state as much. Publicly. The Tea Parties' response speaks volumes.
The Tea Party is very good at a particular form of racism, as eloquently noted by Ta-Nehisi Coates, who is a senior editor for The Atlantic:
This is a pattern that I've noted before. The economy gets bad, and the first thing we do is find someone to blame. Because working together to solve our problems seems to be beyond us. Therein lies the true tragedy of all of this.
As usual, the Tea Parties' response was swift and stupid. Mark Williams, who for some odd reason still has a job as the spokesman for the Tea Party, wrote something so vile, so full of revisionist history and outright lies, not to mention blatantly racist, that I'll not repeat it here. This obviously caused me to rethink my initial opinion. The NAACP wasn't name-calling. They weren't calling the Tea Party racists. They were simply asking them to state as much. Publicly. The Tea Parties' response speaks volumes.
The Tea Party is very good at a particular form of racism, as eloquently noted by Ta-Nehisi Coates, who is a senior editor for The Atlantic:
I think it's worth, first, considering the record of American racism, and then the record of the Tea Party and its allies. Racism tends to attract attention when it's flagrant and filled with invective. But like all bigotry, the most potent component of racism is frame-flipping--positioning the bigot as the actual victim. So the gays do not simply want to marry, they want to convert our children into sin. The Jews do not merely want to be left in peace, they actually are plotting world take-over. And the blacks are not actually victims of American power, but beneficiaries of the war against hard-working whites. This is a respectable, more sensible, bigotry, one that does not seek to name-call, preferring instead change the subject and strawman. Thus segregation wasn't necessary to keep the niggers in line, it was necessary to protect the honor of white women.
This is a pattern that I've noted before. The economy gets bad, and the first thing we do is find someone to blame. Because working together to solve our problems seems to be beyond us. Therein lies the true tragedy of all of this.
Terry Savage loses it over little girls, and lemonade.
This is one of things you think is funny at first, then realize the true sadness of it. Terry Savage is a columnist for the Chicago Sun Times. I've only read one of his articles, an excerpt of which follows. It was enough. I tried to do a little research on him, but the only Terry Savage I could find was a Libertarian candidate for the California legislature in 1995 (ended up with 14% of the vote). Perhaps they are one in the same.
Mr. Savage, his brother, and his brother's fiancée were driving on July 4th, when they came upon three little girls at a lemonade stand.
...The three young girls -- under the watchful eye of a nanny, sitting on the grass with them -- explained that they had regular lemonade, raspberry lemonade, and small chocolate candy bars.I'm surprised he didn't call the cops, or better, try to make a citizen's arrest. That would teach those little felons a lesson.
Then my brother asked how much each item cost.
"Oh, no," they replied in unison, "they're all free!"
I sat in the back seat in shock. Free? My brother questioned them again: "But you have to charge something? What should I pay for a lemonade? I'm really thirsty!"
His fiancée smiled and commented, "Isn't that cute. They have the spirit of giving."
That really set me off, as my regular readers can imagine.
"No!" I exclaimed from the back seat. "That's not the spirit of giving. You can only really give when you give something you own. They're giving away their parents' things -- the lemonade, cups, candy. It's not theirs to give."
First of all, (as if this is important) if there was a nanny present, that implies adult supervision (which is prudent). Being an adult, she would have notified the
Secondly...IT'S FUCKING LEMONADE!
Seriously. Is this is what we're gravitating toward? A world run by bean-counters and actuaries, where every labor is accounted for and every motive questioned? Hoarders who live in fear that what they have will somehow be taken from them by the scary minority of the week. These are people who find the very concepts of kindness, tolerance, sacrifice, or even common courtesy abhorrent.
Really, It's not about lemonade.
The tragedy is that Mr. Savage has made it to adulthood without learning that there are some things in this life that can't be measured.
He's got it wong...
Well, the march of Arizona's idiots through the political system continues. I've become convinced that, before we're done, every bitter, ignorant, racist moron in this state will hold some sort of public office.
The latest in this very long line of clowns is one Barry Wong, who is running for a seat on the Corporation Commission. In a recent interview with the Arizona Republic, he proposed shutting off electricity to any building in which authorities suspect illegal immigrants may reside. I'll let that sink in for a moment.
An interviewer pointed out “the fact that it would be unconstitutional, illegal, and wildly impractical,” But Wong insisted that as he had “been traveling around the state,” he saw support for the idea. After all, the commission on which he wishes to serve is the commission that sets power rates, so he would have the power to cut energy from homes in order to keep the rates low.
I was hoping that it was a bad joke. No such luck. Failing that, I assumed that he would regain some semblance of reason, and backpedal away from the statement. Nope. He's serious.
In any other state, with a voting population that isn't made up of bitter rednecks, he wouldn't have a chance in Hell of being elected to anything.
But this is Arizona, and, as usual, we're screwed.
The latest in this very long line of clowns is one Barry Wong, who is running for a seat on the Corporation Commission. In a recent interview with the Arizona Republic, he proposed shutting off electricity to any building in which authorities suspect illegal immigrants may reside. I'll let that sink in for a moment.
An interviewer pointed out “the fact that it would be unconstitutional, illegal, and wildly impractical,” But Wong insisted that as he had “been traveling around the state,” he saw support for the idea. After all, the commission on which he wishes to serve is the commission that sets power rates, so he would have the power to cut energy from homes in order to keep the rates low.
I was hoping that it was a bad joke. No such luck. Failing that, I assumed that he would regain some semblance of reason, and backpedal away from the statement. Nope. He's serious.
In any other state, with a voting population that isn't made up of bitter rednecks, he wouldn't have a chance in Hell of being elected to anything.
But this is Arizona, and, as usual, we're screwed.
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