Day: September 1, 2006

Does It Matter That Sen. George ‘Macaca’ Allen Is Jewish?

Jon Ponder
Unfortunately for Allen, he can’t afford to lose rightwing fringe voters if he plans to run for president in ’08. After his “Macaca” moment, they’re all he’s got.

It doesn’t matter to me — but the Christian Nationalists who make up his base might not be too happy when they learn that Sen. George Allen, a neo-Confederate Republican from Virginia, is in fact Jewish:

It seems that George Allen’s mother is Jewish (which, according to Jewish law makes Sen. Macaca Jewish too)… [But] Allen has gone to some length to hide his Jewish background. Why? Ashamed of mom? A bigot? Or making sure the “base” does not stop supporting him because he’s half Jewish.

He would be hiding his Jewish identity from the same ultra-rightwing Republicans who made hateful albeit ridiculous aspersions about John Kerry’s Jewish ancestry, such as:

[M]ost Jews still study the Babylonian Talmud, still hold secret Bar Mitzvahs in dark Boston cellars, and still despise Christians, who the Talmud states are merely sub-human animals, to be killed at leisure. Members of this American Zionist fifth column … “Marranos,” or “hidden closeted Jews.”

Fearing the imminent economic collapse of America, and by default the collapse of the Jewish State in Palestine, someone somewhere at Zionist headquarters in New York stacked the deck by shuffling a single very dangerous Marrano into the middle of the pack. The Marrano was Senator John Kerry, whose real name would probably be Judas Kohn if his family had not already pulled the covert Jewish name-change trick.

This would be laughable (“most Jews still hold secret Bar Mitzvahs in Boston” — whah?) if it weren’t so creepy and the menace weren’t so real. The threat of violent antisemiticism seems remote, even dormant, in the United States. But occasionally it burst through, as it did in 1999 when Buford O’Neal Furrow killed five people at a Jewish daycare center in San Fernando Valley.

To the rightwing fringe, there’s no such thing as “half-Aryan.” Unfortunately for Allen, he can’t afford to lose these voters if he plans to run for president in ’08. After his “Macaca” moment, they’re all he’s got.

Bush To Be Assassinated on British TV

Trish

You can’t help but wonder what prompted the British to make a TV movie about assassinating Pres. Bush. One thing’s for sure: such a film could never be made in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The program uses actors and digital manipulation of real footage to show a fictional account of Bush being gunned down after delivering a speech in Chicago

The program, to be aired Oct. 9, uses actors and digital manipulation of real footage to show a fictional account of Bush being gunned down after delivering a speech in Chicago, Peter Dale, the head of More4, told a news conference. More4 is the digital offshoot of Britain’s Channel 4.

“Death of a President,” which will first be shown this month at the Toronto Film Festival, in September, focuses on all those linked to the pretend crime — including nearby antiwar protesters, suspects, Secret Service guards and investigators, Dale said.

The White House declined to comment on the network’s announcement, saying it would not dignify the program with a response.

Plus, they couldn’t think of anything.

“It’s an extraordinarily gripping and powerful piece of work, a drama constructed like a documentary that looks back at the assassination of George Bush as the starting point for a very gripping detective story,” Dale told reporters. “It’s a pointed political examination of what the war on terror did to the American body politic.”

I wonder if it will be banned in this country.

Gay Son, Unwed-Mother Daughter Campaign Against Wingnut Dad Randall Terry

Trish

Things are getting good in a Florida state senate race that’s coming down to the wire on Tuesday. Anti-abortion zealot Randall Terry is running against moderate Republican incumbent Jim King to represent much of Northeast Florida.

Terry’s family values include divorce and remarriage to a younger wife and abandoning fatherhood when children disappoint you

Two of Terry’s children are coming forward to offer some reality checks on their dad, whose family values include divorce and remarriage to a younger wife and abandoning fatherhood when children disappoint you.

Terry’s adopted son has inserted himself into the election – publicly criticizing his father’s claim to uphold family values as hypocritical and even offering to help his opponent.

Jamiel Terry, 26, who is gay, said he is estranged from his father because Randall Terry disapproves of his sexuality. His sister, Tila, said she is also estranged from their father because she had a child out of wedlock.

…Tila, 21, who was also adopted by Randall Terry, said she asked her father for help with her child, but he turned her down.

“He told me he couldn’t help me because he was running for office and he had his own baby on the way,” Tila Terry said.

I’ve heard that many of these anti-abortion crusaders are only interested in babies before they’re born, not after. I wonder what Tila thinks about that?

For his part, King took the high road and declined the Terry children’s offers of assistance.

“I am a father just like Randall Terry is a father, and there are things that happen in a family that are personal, and they shouldn’t have much to do with a campaign,” King said.

Terry’s low blows in the race include getting not one but two cronies to qualify as last minute write-ins, shutting non-Republicans out of the primary vote, which in this case, will decide the seat.

Repost: Democratic Party Should Take the Lead in Post-Katrina Aid

Buck Banks

This is a repost of an article from Pensito Review’s coverage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. It originally appeared one year ago today, Sept. 1, 2005.

Now is the time for the Democratic Party to mobilize its significant resources and come to the aid of the Gulf region devastated by Hurricane Katrina. As chairman, Howard Dean should activate the party’s communications and fund-raising apparatus to get money flowing from Democrats and liberals nationwide to the party, which could then direct the funds to relief organizations.

Bush and the Repugs diverted money that could have averted death and disaster in New Orleans, now let the Dems step up and mobilize their resources and provide needed aid in a hurry.

What? You say this is no time for partisan politics? Let’s wake up and take a lesson from the Republicans and the neocons and the God-knobs and the whacko wingnuts — it’s always partisan politics, all the time.

Let’s take the opportunity of this horrendous natural (and manmade) disaster and Bush’s high disapproval rating to energize the Democratic Party and accomplish something positive for the first time in five years.

Revisited: Here we are a year later and, needless to say, the Democratic Party did not step up to the plate following Katrina. Yeah, they criticized the administration and pointed out shortcomings in Bushco’s response and raised money for aid, but I don’t think they took the political advantage the situation offered. Sure, it might have appeared unseemly to “use” the nation’s worst natural and manmade disaster for political ends, but don’t you think if the Dems had been in charge and botched it as badly, the GOP would have shown restraint? Don’t think so.