Would You, Could You, in a Fauxlibuster?

Leaders Wanted. Apply Within.

                                                          

"There go my people, I must find out where they are going so I can lead them."

Arithmetic: A Memo to CPAC

So we've heard from conservatives now.  And as much fun as that was, I feel like it's important to underline something.

Walking While Black

Even the dog knows the routine...

Imagine going outside your house to take the trash out, and the police stopping you to pat you down.  Imagine going for a stroll around your block, and the cops ask you for your identification.  Imagine going to your significant other's house, and being arrested for trespassing.  For millions of New Yorkers, these scenarios are no figment of their imagination, it is an everyday reality.  And everyone else seem pretty ok with that.

De Do Do Do De Da Da Da: 5 Irrational Things

So I'm watching the Daily Show last night, and Jon Stewart does a pretty awesome job unpacking the sheer irrationality of our political culture about gun control...

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Which made me want to talk about the top 5 mindsets that are driving me nuts this week.

Party Foul: Top 5 Ways Rs Cheat When They Don't Win

Foul on the Play.  Take a seat.

So it's possible that I'm really, really angry about the way Michigan's government has been behaving itself.  And by "possible," I mean "a virtual certainty."



But I will try my best to stay rational and not rant.  Here's my take on how Republicans deal with  the situation when they lose in our democracy: "how can we undermine democracy so that we win?"




It's not, as saner members of the party might suggest, about "how do we reach out to voters?  How do we make our policy arguments in a better, more convincing way?"  No, no.  It's "how do we change the rules so that we can win."  And let me be clear: by "change the rules" I mean "subvert democracy."

Black Flag

When you're already in a ditch, stop digging.We've touched on this subject before ( here and here), but John Sununu has stirred the pot yet once again with his recent remarks.  "When you take a look at Colin Powell, you have to look at whether that's an endorsement based on issues or he's got a slightly different reason for endorsing President Obama," he said. "I think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being president of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him." Sarah Palin recently wrote in a Facebook post, “President Obama’s shuck and jive shtick with these Benghazi lies must end."

What's Going On Here?

A bunch of stories lately have got me asking, What's Going On Here?  So I wanted to share them with you...


1. Businesses Fire Pregnant Ladies, Pregnant Ladies Take Aim:

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) was introduced last Friday.

Nur Suryani

Mitt Romney: Yo Momma Is So Poor...

Did you hear the one about the candidate who decided to race-bait rather than talk about his taxes?

So suddenly this week - into the presidential race about "the economy, stupid" - charges one of the least understood, most micro-managed, least policy-driven debates we ever have in our country.  The debate over welfare.

See, e.g. the new ad Romney has put out, per Rachel Maddow...

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1. This is a personal issue.  I was a kid when Ronald Reagan railed against Welfare Queens.  He talked a lot about single mothers, too.  At the time, my mother was a single mother (not on welfare, but certainly struggling, financially).  I took it personally.  I'm still pretty angry about it.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Mandi talked about Gabby Douglas and the kerfuffle about her hair.  I'm listening to Game Change (I know, it's old, but it's taken me a long time to be willing to revisit the serious anger I developed over the 2008 campaign), and spending a lot of time thinking about how everybody from the Democratic Establishment to the press to Bill Clinton treated Hillary in the 2008 campaign.  And it's not like people were nice to Michelle Obama in that campaign.

Basically, I'm thinking a lot about the expectations we have for women in public life.

Here are some of the things that drive me to think about this topic.

Gabby’s Hair-Why Do We Care?

“gabby douglas gotta do something with this hair! these clips and this brown gel residue aint it”

“Gabby Douglas needs to tame the beady beads in the back of her hair.”

“Why hasn’t anyone tried to fix Gabby Douglas’ hair?”

The media has been all aflutter recently with Gabrielle Douglas’s gold medal win in the team component, as well as the All-Around competition, the only American to ever do both. Douglas is of course also the first African-American competitor to do both as well, in a sport normally dominated by whites and Asians. Rather than talk about her amazing feats and gravity defying stunts, most of the articles I’ve read revolve around her hair, and what some nitwits on Twitter and other social media platforms have said about her hair.

Black People Shouldn't Vote

...Or at least that seems to be the stance of the GOP, according to disgraced former Florida Republican party leader Jim Greer.  He stated in a recently released deposition that, “I was upset because the political consultants and staff were talking about voter suppression and keeping blacks from voting,” and that “minority outreach programs were not fit for the Republican Party.”  This is the same Florida renowned for it's voter roll purges, so unreliable that they once listed the governor himself as dead.

That's Not Funny Update

An update on the That's Not Funny post...

Mandi found this piece - and I think it's really worth the read (there is profanity throughout the piece, if that bothers you) - by a male Austin-area comic, to the Tosh rape joke fiasco.  The whole thing is powerful, but here is my favorite quote (profanity omitted by me):

Offended hasn't got anything to do with it, moron. 

People have wounds, and those wounds are painful. That doesn't have s--- to do with the weak concept of "taking offense." If someone talks about Texas being a s----- state, I might "take offense" at that. Fine, whatever. All of us who like comedy are generally in agreement with the idea that "taking offense" is lame, and a comedian should be willing to "offend" whenever he or she wants to. 

But causing pain is quite a different f------ matter. Your job as a comedian is to take us through pain, transcend pain, transform pain. And if you don't get that, you are a f------ bully, and I've got zero time for bullies.

That's Not Funny

Yep.  Hours after reading it.  Still mad.

Obama's Big Fat Gay Wedding Strategery

Mandi:  Ok, so I know that it is crass to ask this question, when we are all celebrating freedom, love, tolerance and whatnot, but from a purely political perspective, what has Obama gained by coming out so firmly in favor of gay marriage?  I can’t help but think of LBJ, pushing through the Civil Rights Act of 1964, after which he is said to have remarked, “We [Democrats] have lost the South for a generation.”  Did Obama gain any voters that he would not have already had?  I think he may have lost a tiny number of votes from the anti-gay crowd that he may have gotten otherwise, but not enough to make much of a difference.

I know by taking this “courageous” stand, Obama now looks decisive, and he can employ the weak flip-flopper meme against Romney to greater effect, as that is one charge which seems to have stuck against Romney.  The questions from reporters on this subject before the President spoke about it were unusually harsh, and they seemed to be building up to labeling Obama as the flip-flopper.  So he neatly evades that, and thanks to the Romney bully story, also manages to make Romney look like a raging homophobe loon to boot, as a bonus.

Romney: A Personality Study

Hey, both Mandi and I are sort of not in the mood to expound.  So we thought about discussing whether it matters at all that Elizabeth Warren (Democrat, consumer protection advocate, running for Senate in Massachusetts) says she's part Native American/Indian (some tribes like one term, some the other, I don't know which the Cherokee are) because she is 1/32 Cherokee - which is exactly the same amount of Cherokee as the principal chief of the Cherokee (so maybe you can tell I at least think the whole kerfuffle is silly).  But Mandi is tired of talking about that (and I can't blame her).

So instead we turn to the new story about Mitt Romney's personality, featured this morning in the Washington Post.

We've heard a lot about Romney's personality.  As far as I can tell the main things the press has deduced about Romney are that:

- He's Rich.