The Progressive Problem
It’s hard to be progressive
When society gets regressive.
Seems we on the left
Just ain’t got the heft
To hang on to success when we possess it.
Month: May 2010
If Tea Baggers Were Black…
Sometimes it’s hard to improve on the original, and Eric Effron’s editorial in a recent issue of The Week is such a case. What if, Effron asked, tea baggers were black?
It’s a provocative thought experiment: “Imagine,” writes author and self-described anti-racism activist Tim Wise, “if the Tea Party were black.” In reality, of course, the Tea Party is virtually all white, but for the sake of this exercise, imagine that members of Congress in March had been surrounded by thousands of angry African-Americans, yelling insults at white, Southern politicians and talking about “revolution” and “taking the country back.” Or, imagine that the hundreds of gun-rights activists who recently descended on the nation’s capital, many armed with AK-47s and handguns, were black. Would admirers of the Tea Party view such protesters as patriotic Americans entitled to voice their heartfelt opinions, or as a dangerous mob that the police and the FBI should closely watch? And what if there were a black Glenn Beck, with millions of devoted followers, calling for a public uprising against a tyrannical U.S. government? Would he be seen as an entertainer—or as a threat to public safety? “To ask any of these questions,” Wise concludes, “is to answer them.”
A Great Animation Showing What Caused Gulf Oil Spill
From Al Jazeera.
A Poem for Violet
Spring is sprung.
The grass is rizz.
I wonder where the flowers is.
Happy birthday, Mom!
Palin: Watch Out for Foreign Oil Companies – Like BP, Which Todd Palin Worked For
HuffPo: Today, Sarah Inc. took to its Twitter account to offer some lessons about What The Gulf Oil Spill Teaches Us. Her bottom line: don’t trust the foreign oils! And many thanks to an emailer named Ben, who reminds me that for eighteen long years, that dodgy, not-to-be-trusted foreign oil company known as British Petroleum employed one Todd Palin.
Most Americans Favor Tomorrow’s National Day of Prayer
According to a recent Gallup poll, 57 percent of Americans support, 38 percent are not bothered by the annual National Day of Prayer, which President Obama proclaimed will be celebrated tomorrow, May 6, and only 5 percent oppose it. Of those who say religion is important in their lives 74 percent support the day, while 66 percent of those who say religion is not important say it doesn’t matter to them, but only 9 percent oppose it outright.
Verbatim
It’s not as bad as I thought. This isn’t Katrina. It’s not Armageddon.
— Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS), quoted by the Biloxi Sun Herald after he flew over the oil spill off the Lousiana coast. He said people shouldn’t be so scared because he described the spill as “a light, rainbow sheen with patches that look like chocolate milk.”
Family Research Council Founder Admits Taking Rent Boy on European Vacay, Compares Self with Jesus Evangelizing Prostitutes
George Alan Rekers is a prototypical professional homophobe. He is a founding board member of the Family Research Council, a well-funded anti-gay organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled a hate group; an officer for NARTH, the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality, a pseudo-scientific group that disseminates anti-gay disinformation disguised as research; and a researcher for the American College of Pediatricians, which, despite its legitimate-sounding name, has been described as a “phony medical group attempting to peddle anti-gay propaganda to schools.”
Crist Finally Comes Out; Opponent Rubio Follows
Coming out of the closet and admitting who he really is has made Gov. Charlie Crist more popular. According to a new Rasmussen Reports survey, the formerly Republican Crist, who recently outed himself as a moderate independent, is polling well.
Crist [is] earning 38% support to Republican Marco Rubio’s 34% and Democrat Kendrick Meek’s 17%. Eleven percent (11%) are undecided.
Two weeks ago, before Crist announced his decision to run as an independent candidate, Rubio held a seven point advantage in the race.
Since then, Crist has gained eight (8) percentage points in the poll while Rubio and Meek have each dropped three (3) points. It remains to be seen if this is a temporary bounce or a lasting change in the race.
The poll has a sloppy +/-4.5 percent margin of error, which is more than it shows Crist’s opponents sliding, but still.
