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shannon_aLately the "politics" pages of newspapers have read like a Stephen King novel--slick and horrifying, and requiring tons of suspension of disbelief.
'L' is for Lott-s of Racism
The most unbelievable political event of December continues to be Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's suddenly unveiled racism. But, I guess if you're a bigot, bigotted statements will sometimes slip out of your mouth.
For those of you who missed it, at retiring racist senator Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party, Lott mentioned that Thurmond had run for President in 1948 on the "Segregationist" ticket, and that the country would have a lot less problems if people had voted him into office then.
That might have blown over if people hadn't started looking at Lott's record and realized he'd similarly lauded segregation in statements in previous speeches. And voted against the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. And tried to keep blacks out of his fraternity back in college days. And lotts more.
Lott went on Black Entertainment Television yesterday to try and set the record straight. And, I think he did. He was appropriately skewered and spent 30 minutes or so trying to explain why his racist actions weren't really racist.
The Senate Majority Whip is trying to take this opportunity to knock Lott out of his Majority Leader position. There's going to be a fairly unprecedented closed door vote taken in early January as a result. Frankly, I suspect that the majority of the 51 Republican Senators agree with Lott too much to demote him.
And, I hope he isn't removed from power. Because, he's been so badly dirtied by this whole affair that he's lost much of his political clout. He's going to have trouble pushing through Bush legislation aimed at helping the rich to the detriment of the poor, because it'll be seen as racist. And, he's going to have troubles ever turning his high-profile Republican position into a successful Presidential run, because now his racist remarks will just come back to bite him in the ass. But mainly I hope Lott won't be removed from power because Don Nickles, the majority whip trying to depose Lott, has a voting record against civil rights that's nearly identical to Lott's.
So keep the lame, bigotted duck in office where he can't do much more harm. And more importantly where someone else who keeps a little better control of their tongue can't.
News Articles:
Lott Apologizes for Thurmond Comment
Skepticism Greets Lott's Latest Apology
Lott BETs and Loses
'B' is for Bush-wacked
So now you're thinking, what's that idiot, "President" George Bush, jr. done this time? I think the answer to that is the most under-reported news story of the year.
In November the C.I.A. fired an anti-tank weapon at a car in Yemen containing 6 suspected al Qaeda terrorists. Yeah, if you blinked you might have missed the implication. The C.I.A. assassinated 6 men. No judge, no jury, just an executioner.
There's still an executive order on file banning assassinations by the U.S. government, but Bush has issued a newer directive saying it's OK if the people are actually "enemy combatants". And now the C.I.A. has the authority to update their list of "enemy combatants" at will.
But wait, it gets better. One of the 6 men killed by the C.I.A. in November was an American citizen. His name was Yemeni-American Kamal Derwish. Don't think too much about this all, though; The Bush administration has let us know that killing an American citizen in this fashion is OK.
There's a good side to this all, however. Assassinations by the C.I.A. of American citizens are only approved if civilian casualties can be "minimized". If the C.I.A. kills off more than a couple of innocent people, they might get in trouble.
News Articles:
Bush Has Widened Authority of C.I.A. to Kill Terrorists
George W. Bush, Warlord (editorial)
(Info on this story is, notably, largely absent from CNN)
'G' is for Gore-d by the Supreme Court
And finally we come to Al Gore.
Gore yesterday declared he would not run for President in 2004. He said the 2000 campaign had been "difficult" (and how much more difficult can you get than 5 old conservatives taking away the presidency from you after the country had voted you in?), but that he would have been willing to run again. But, he didn't think he was the most likely candidate to take the White House back for the Democrats.
And, I have to agree with him. Gore has three things going against him in a presidential run: (1) he's extremely intelligent, (2) he's not very charismatic, and (3) the American public would like to forget about that whole 2000 debacle which put an unlawful "president" into the White House.
I respect Gore even more for his decision to step down, though I think he would have been a terrific president. Hopefully someone will come along now who can win the White House away from our current dictator.
News Articles:
Gore Says He Won't Run in 2004
'L' is for Lott-s of Racism
The most unbelievable political event of December continues to be Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott's suddenly unveiled racism. But, I guess if you're a bigot, bigotted statements will sometimes slip out of your mouth.
For those of you who missed it, at retiring racist senator Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party, Lott mentioned that Thurmond had run for President in 1948 on the "Segregationist" ticket, and that the country would have a lot less problems if people had voted him into office then.
That might have blown over if people hadn't started looking at Lott's record and realized he'd similarly lauded segregation in statements in previous speeches. And voted against the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. And tried to keep blacks out of his fraternity back in college days. And lotts more.
If racial discrimination in the interest of diversity does not violate public policy, then surely discrimination in the practices of religion is no violation.
--Trent Lott in a 1981 filing before the Supreme Court, explaining how a Christian University banning interracial dating was the same thing as affirmative action.
Lott went on Black Entertainment Television yesterday to try and set the record straight. And, I think he did. He was appropriately skewered and spent 30 minutes or so trying to explain why his racist actions weren't really racist.
The Senate Majority Whip is trying to take this opportunity to knock Lott out of his Majority Leader position. There's going to be a fairly unprecedented closed door vote taken in early January as a result. Frankly, I suspect that the majority of the 51 Republican Senators agree with Lott too much to demote him.
And, I hope he isn't removed from power. Because, he's been so badly dirtied by this whole affair that he's lost much of his political clout. He's going to have trouble pushing through Bush legislation aimed at helping the rich to the detriment of the poor, because it'll be seen as racist. And, he's going to have troubles ever turning his high-profile Republican position into a successful Presidential run, because now his racist remarks will just come back to bite him in the ass. But mainly I hope Lott won't be removed from power because Don Nickles, the majority whip trying to depose Lott, has a voting record against civil rights that's nearly identical to Lott's.
So keep the lame, bigotted duck in office where he can't do much more harm. And more importantly where someone else who keeps a little better control of their tongue can't.
News Articles:
Lott Apologizes for Thurmond Comment
Skepticism Greets Lott's Latest Apology
Lott BETs and Loses
'B' is for Bush-wacked
So now you're thinking, what's that idiot, "President" George Bush, jr. done this time? I think the answer to that is the most under-reported news story of the year.
In November the C.I.A. fired an anti-tank weapon at a car in Yemen containing 6 suspected al Qaeda terrorists. Yeah, if you blinked you might have missed the implication. The C.I.A. assassinated 6 men. No judge, no jury, just an executioner.
There's still an executive order on file banning assassinations by the U.S. government, but Bush has issued a newer directive saying it's OK if the people are actually "enemy combatants". And now the C.I.A. has the authority to update their list of "enemy combatants" at will.
But wait, it gets better. One of the 6 men killed by the C.I.A. in November was an American citizen. His name was Yemeni-American Kamal Derwish. Don't think too much about this all, though; The Bush administration has let us know that killing an American citizen in this fashion is OK.
I can assure you that no constitutional questions are raised here. There are authorities that the president can give to officials ... He's well within the balance of accepted practice and the letter of his constitutional authority."
--Word from the Bush administration, filtered through Bush's national security advisor
There's a good side to this all, however. Assassinations by the C.I.A. of American citizens are only approved if civilian casualties can be "minimized". If the C.I.A. kills off more than a couple of innocent people, they might get in trouble.
News Articles:
Bush Has Widened Authority of C.I.A. to Kill Terrorists
George W. Bush, Warlord (editorial)
(Info on this story is, notably, largely absent from CNN)
'G' is for Gore-d by the Supreme Court
And finally we come to Al Gore.
Gore yesterday declared he would not run for President in 2004. He said the 2000 campaign had been "difficult" (and how much more difficult can you get than 5 old conservatives taking away the presidency from you after the country had voted you in?), but that he would have been willing to run again. But, he didn't think he was the most likely candidate to take the White House back for the Democrats.
I think that a campaign that would be a rematch between myself and President Bush would inevitably involve a focus on the past that would in some measure distract from the focus on the future that I think all campaigns have to be about."
--Al Gore
And, I have to agree with him. Gore has three things going against him in a presidential run: (1) he's extremely intelligent, (2) he's not very charismatic, and (3) the American public would like to forget about that whole 2000 debacle which put an unlawful "president" into the White House.
I respect Gore even more for his decision to step down, though I think he would have been a terrific president. Hopefully someone will come along now who can win the White House away from our current dictator.
News Articles:
Gore Says He Won't Run in 2004
