Daily Kos: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.

Daily Kos: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.: "Bush is at 50 percent or above in only 11 states -- Utah (63), Nebraska (60), Wyoming (58), Idaho (56), Montana (56), Alabama (54), Alaska (53), North Dakota (52), Kansas (51), Kentucky (50), Mississippi (50), and Texas (50)."

I'm kinda suprised that South Carolina is not among those, but certainly pleased that it isn't.

In other SC news, Harry Reid says Sen. Lindsey Graham would be a consensus pick for the SCOTUS. He could probably be confirmed, but it would be, I'm afraid, a loss for this state, as Graham has somehow demonstrated some sense, a trait lacking in most of South Carolina's Republican political establishment, especially Graham's counterpart in the Senate, Jim DeMint.

Salon.com | Too damn little, too damn late

Salon.com | Too damn little, too damn late

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Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | I Like to Watch

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | I Like to Watch: "I try as best I can to laugh along with the bad joke that American culture has become. But when you really take a close look and see how complacent we all are in the total annihilation of any standards of quality or decency or taste, it's pretty impossible not to imagine that we're at the start of a very rapid descent downward, to the bottom of the global barrel -- you know, where we belong?"

The quotation's from a TV review by Salon's resident, and often brilliant, reviewer, Heather Havrilesky. I just liked the quotation, but the complete review isn't bad either.

The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race

The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race: "Archaeologists studying the rise of farming have reconstructed a crucial stage at which we made the worst mistake in human history. Forced to choose between limiting population or trying to increase food production, we chose the latter and ended up with starvation, warfare, and tyranny."

CNN.com - White House stands behind Rove over comments on liberals and terrorism - Jun 24, 2005

CNN.com - White House stands behind Rove over comments on liberals and terrorism - Jun 24, 2005

They don't apologize. Durbin shouldn't have. I never will.

Majikthise : Prof. Tim Shortell busted for online atheism

Absolutely ridiculous.: "http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/2666697"

War: Realities and Myths - by Chris Hedges

War: Realities and Myths - by Chris Hedges

Lance Mannion: We can have our fear or we can have our lives

Lance Mannion:

"You know what they like to say about the terrorists? 'They hate us for our freedom.'

Well, that's why the Right hates the Left these days. We aren't as afraid as they are.

They hate us for our freedom from fear."

The Rude Pundit

The Rude Pundit

The Rude Pundit is, indeed, rude, as this pull-quote indicates. Don't click on the link if this kind of language offends: "Calling out motherfuckers for fucking their mothers is as brutally truthful as politics gets."

Losing Our Country - New York Times

Krugman

Republican Party: White and Christian

There's a lot of flap and infighting among Democrats about Howard Dean's statement the other day that the R Party is pretty much white and Christian. Democratic politicians are in a tizzy, lambasting Dean in every major media outlet. Why? Because the Democratic Party leadership is comprised almost entirely of craven cowards. Dean is right. The R Party is predominantly white and Christian. By comparison, the Democratic Party is much more diverse. Retro v. Metro has this statistic:

The Republican Party, as represented by its affiliated lawmakers in the state legislatures, is almost 99 percent white, 82.2 percent male, and 1.1 percent minority. By contrast, Democratic state lawmakers are about 80 percent white, 72.6 percent male, and 20.1 percent minority.

According to the Pew Center for the People and the Press, only 7% of African Americans call themselves Republicans, and Hispanics are still more likely to be Democrats than Republicans. The greatest gain for Republicans among Hispanics? Protestant Hispanics who consider themselves evangelicals. Also according to Pew, more white Christians identify themselves as Republicans than as Democrats. That ratio is close to 2:1 among Protestants and greater than 2:1 among evangelicals. Jews, African American Christians, and those professing no religion run Democratic. See this report for more.

According to Paul Begala (link at Liberal Oasis), The only population groups in which majorities say the president is concentrating on issues important to them are Republicans, Evangelical White Protestants, Conservatives and better off Americans.

So where does that leave Dean and the Democrats? He's right. He knows it. They know it. And the American People know it. So Democrats, if you want to remain in the minority for the forseeable future, keep attacking Dean and each other, instead of the Republicans.

Rewriting History

American Prospect Online - ViewWeb

This article deals with how the right's rewriting of Watergate slides into their rewriting of the history of the 1990s. Revisionist history, indeed.

Creationism: God's gift to the ignorant - Weekend Review - Times Online

Richard Dawkins strikes again.

Supreme Court Outlaws Use Of Marijuana For Medical Reasons

So Much for Federalism

Just give me that old-time atheism!

TheStar.com - An article by Salman Rushdie

Jefferson/Hemmings and the Horsey Set

From History News Network:

A thoroughbred owner filed a
federal lawsuit seeking the right to name a 2-year-old filly after Sally
Hemings, the slave who was the reputed mistress of Thomas Jefferson. The
Jockey Club, which regulates the naming of thoroughbred racehorses, denied
use of the name on grounds that Hemings was a famous or notorious person,
requiring stewards' approval. "Naming a thoroughbred horse 'Sally Hemings'
may be offensive to persons of African descent and other ethnic groups" and
may be offensive to Hemings' descendants, Ogden Mills Phipps, chairman of
The Jockey Club, wrote in a letter last year. Garrett Redmond filed suit
last week in U.S. District Court, seeking to force the Jockey Club to let
him use the name and allow the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority to let him
race the filly under the name. "To name a horse after someone is an honor,"
said Redmond, owner of Ballycapple, a farm in Paris, Ky. "I have a horse
here named after my wife." Redmond, a history buff, thought the proposed
name was perfect, since the filly's mother is a mare named Jefferson's
Secret, who in turn was fathered by a stallion named Colonial Affair.

Link (Scroll down to 5/30/05)

Idiot du jour, redux

Well, the American "Family" Association wants to boycott Ford because Jaguar is giving money to support "the gay agenda" (which I support). I'm not a Ford fan by any stretch, but I do like Jaguar, Volvo, and Mazda (all Ford partners or subsidiaries) so rush out and buy a couple if you can. And get one for me while you're out.

By the way, even though I have a winner of today's idiot du jour, I'm giving another award just to catch up for the days I missed.

Idiots du jour: Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Human Events Online has this list of harmful books, so the judges win my idiot du jour award (not awarded lately due to slackness; sorry). Check out the list, and then read (some of) the books. Not all of them are harmless; some are no-brainers for a list of bad influences, like Mein Kampf or Mao's Little Red Book, but to put Mill's On Liberty or Friedan's Feminine Mystique on the list is abso-fucking-lutely ridiculous. If this list of books doesn't give you an idea of the sheer ignorance progressives are up against, nothing will.