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Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.

Archive | October, 2011

Queer Talk: “I’m always amazed at the sheer amount of hate mail …”

By on 22 October 2011

Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.

Several LGBT and related blog sites I routinely visit had posts up about Rachel Maddow’s appearance on Friday’s “Ellen.” While most of us are unlikely to get the amount of mail and messages either of these women get, a good many of us will be able to identify with receiving some form of “hate mail.” The hate – and the prejudice, anger, ignorance, or maybe just sheer lack of imagination that feeds it and other judgmental statements – is something that shows up in lots of ways.

From Bil Browning at Bilerico:

Rachel Maddow appeared on Ellen to talk about her new documentary and the topic turned to the hate mail Rachel gets regularly. She talks about how most of the e-mails denigrate her appearance in some way and how it’s designed to keep women in their place.

I’m always amazed at the sheer amount of hate mail we get at Bilerico Project. …

What’s up with people that they feel obligated to lash out with anger and hatred at someone they don’t even know?

And sometimes, of course, the ugliness is directed at someone who is “known.” That’s one reason for the big efforts to address bullying. Last year teenager Brittany McMillan founded “Spirit Day,” or as it was widely promoted this year, as “Going Purple.” On the rainbow flag, purple symbolizes “spirit,” and so the idea is to display or wear purple as a way of showing support. For anyone, but perhaps especially for kids who are the targets of hate and ignorance, visible support is very important. For this second Spirit Day, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, joined by organizations, faith groups, social media, and more, made purple quite visible on October 20. I wish there weren’t so many reasons we need this.

Pam Spaulding wrote at Houseblend, of the “more than a dozen young people who were … LGBT … or perceived to be LGBT” who completed suicide as of last fall.

Their stories … inspired a movement toward encouragement, which included Spirit Day (10/20) and the ‘It Gets Better; Project.’ …

More suicides have followed, and obviously more work needs to be done.

Last Friday, the LGBT teen son of a City Councilor in Ottawa, Ontario, died by suicide.

Just this weekend, vandals spray-painted the words ‘F*GS BURN’ and ‘DIE’ on the entrance to the LGBT center at North Carolina State University. …

About the death, John Aravosis writes Final blog post documents another gay teen’s decision to kill himself because of bullying:

It’s a horrific story. The Ottawa Citizen has the details, and courtesy of TowleRoad, here is 15 year old Jamie Hubley’s final blog post, of only 3 days ago, after having decided to kill himself.

It’s not easy reading, but here’s an excerpt:

‘I dont want my parents to think this is their fault either… I love my mom and dad : ) Its just too hard. I dont want to wait 3 more years, this hurts too much. How do you even know It will get better? Its not.

In the broader efforts “fighting prejudice,” and ignorance (imposed or chosen), here are a few other things that are going on, some challenging, some of the good news sort.

Also from Aravosis, Two really bad anti-gay laws being discussed in Michigan:

The first is one of those ‘let gays die bill’:

House Bill No. 5040 would prohibit public and private colleges from disciplining ‘a student in a counseling, social work, or psychology program because the student refuses to counsel or serve a client as to goals that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction of the student.’ …

The second … House Bill No. 5039 would prohibit state agencies and units of local government … from adopting any ordinance or policy that includes, as a protected class, any classification not included in the state’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. All classifications already listed in current ordinances or policies would be voided.

So if we ever wonder where the bullies of school age get their ideas, we just look to the bullies of at least chronological adulthood age.

But note, good things are happening toward equality in Michigan, too. Via The Advocate:

Michigan Pastor Arrested for Gay Rights Protest

The Rev. Bill Freeman was arrested Wednesday in Holland for protesting the city’s lack of a gay rights antidiscrimination ordinance in an action inspired by Occupy Wall Street.

The Grand Rapids Press reports on Freeman, minister of Interfaith Congregation, who refused to leave City Hall and was taken to the Ottawa County Jail. He posted $100 bond late Wednesday and was released.

The Holland City Council voted 5 to 4 in June to maintain the nondiscrimination ordinance covering employment and housing in its current form without protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.

Note, too, that very close vote. There’s hope in Holland, Michigan. And in Odessa, Texas. From Permian Basin 360:

First Ever Coming Out Rally In The Basin

West Texans came out for marriage. On Saturday (October 16), the Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual and Transgender community held a nationwide rally and mass same-sex marriage ceremonies.

Local supporters gathered at Sherwood Park in Odessa for the first LGBT rally in the Permian Basin. …

Organizers say they hope to make this an annual rally in Odessa and they will do this until texas allows equal marriage rights.

And finally, in a “it couldn’t happen to a more deserving group,” Thursday Jim Burroway at Box Turtle Bulletin wrote Marriage Opponents Lose Pursuit Of Special Rights:

It’s been a bad week for the National Organization for Marriage. Two separate courts this week ruled against NOM’s attempt to enshrine a special right to flout laws intended to lend transparency to the electoral process. The first loss came on Monday when Federal Judge Benjamin Settle ruled in Doe v Reed … that the state of Washington must disclose the names of citizens who signed the petition putting Referendum 71 on the ballot. …

(Then) … Federal Judge Morrison England, Jr., today issued a bench ruling denying ProtectMarriage.com and NOM’s quest for a special right to withhold the release of campaign finance records related to the passage of Propositon 8 three years ago.

The “hate mail” and bullying and legislative imposition of “my size fits all” morality efforts aren’t going to disappear. But every challenge to inequality, every supportive statement and gathering, helps reduce the opportunities for negative judgments of words and actions.

(Via Wipe Out Hate on Facebook)

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Dash of Dan: Apple Cake

By on 22 October 2011

Firstly, thank you for all your patience!

This past weekend I spent time with my sister and her family in Queens, NY.

My sister has always provided me with endless joy and in many ways was like a mom to me.

They recently went apple picking, and while I was there (when I wasn’t dancing with Kayla, Justin, and Erin) we decided to make an apple cake from the Beekman Boy Cookbook.

There is something wonderfully old-fashioned about an apple cake and just chatting, enjoying coffee with my sister is a feeling that I can’t describe.

So this is my take on an apple cake, with warm flavors and scents and a whimsical arrangement of apples adorning the top.

I hope you can make this cake, have a chat and a cup of coffee or tea with someone you love.

 

Recipe:

 

1 stick (1/2 cup) of unsalted butter, room temperature plus two tablespoons melted butter.

2 cups all purpose flour                           1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder                     1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda                           2 large eggs

1 teaspoon salt                                            1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 cup (2  small apples) skin on, cored,  & diced, plus one apple peeled, halved, and sliced lengthwise

Confectioners sugar (optional)

* Topping: One tablespoon sugar mixed with one teaspoon cinnamon

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees           * Butter or spray a 9-inch tube pan

  1. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves; set aside.
  2. In a small bowl, toss diced apples with a sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla on medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
  4. Add the flour, alternating with the sour cream. Beat until it just comes together.
  5. Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan, place the diced apples on the batter, making sure not to touch the sides of the pan. Spoon the rest of the batter on top and smooth the batter with an offset spatula.
  6. Arrange the peeled, sliced apples on top, with a pastry brush spread the melted butter on the apple slices, sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
  7. Bake for 40-45 minutes, the cake with recede from the sides of the pan and spring back to the touch. Serve, topped with confectioners sugar.

 

The fall is one of my favorite seasons. Have you prepared any fall recipes?

If you have suggestions/questions/comments; let me know! This is an open thread!

 

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Shifting the Occupation: “The World We Want Is Us” (Alice Walker)

By on 21 October 2011

Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.

“Paradigm shift” is a much over and misused term. And maybe too “academic” for general consumption. I thought about it, though, because the longer the Occupation goes, and the wider it spreads, the greater the possibility that we really are seeing a “paradigm shift” becomes. It’s a “sea change,” a “tipping point,” a “critical mass” moment. This is certainly about politics / finances on an international scale, but politics are played out within a global society, and what we’re seeing are social changes. Many people are shifting how they see and talk about and relate with – how they “occupy” – their worlds; of course many will also resist or ignore the whole thing. But the “paradigm,” the standard, is being altered.

Where this goes and what it eventually means … well, of course we don’t yet know. But the direction is clear, and in many ways, very familiar, because like revolts and rebellions in general, a key point is rejection of “the way things are” and demands for and efforts toward something different. In the U.S., one key way of gauging progress, short (2012) and long term, is by way of The Two Party Front for the Oligarchy. The Republican and Democratic parties, both focused on the “1%,” have every incentive to maintain the status quo. For them (I’m generalizing; exceptions do occur), Occupy is most likely a potential foil (for the Right) and a potential tool (for the Left). OWS is clearly aware of this.

I’ve quoted from and cited a lot of analysis in these Occupy posts, but as I keep saying, I’m barely scratching the surface. And it isn’t just via political / social / cultural / philosophical analyses that the Occupy movement is being considered and portrayed. But of course, that’s also true of revolts and rebellions, of paradigm shifts, in general – you see it and hear it and read it via multiple cultural venues. Artistic expressions of all kinds, from street theatre to music to poetry to video are obvious examples.

And as we know the dangers of co-optation from the Electeds, we know the absolute certainty that people will find ways to make money, or at least attempt to do so, via Occupy. I heard a report today that a reality television program is working on an Occupy show. Of course, you can watch the real thing via OWS, but that would mean having to listen to the mundane of daily occupation, which is probably too much reality for some.

So, a few stories and links from the many available. Please keep your links, and comments, coming.

Today’s OWS actions include Stop The Spectra Pipeline, a “Meet-Up at Liberty Square at 5 P.M. For Die-In at P.S. 41.”

Occupy Wall Street Press highlights a Forbes’ report, The Forbes 400 Richest People in America, about which someone tweets: “Startling. There are only 400 people we need to convince.”

OWS Press also includes “Occupy Colleges: Student Supporters Of Occupy Wall Street Continue To Show Solidarity.”

Creative ways to support OWS include this:

Occupiers Launch Tumblr Website Today: Gallery of Personal Notes of Support from Farmers, Veterans, Grandparents and ‘Knitters for Occupy Wall St.’

More creativity. Occupy Design, a

grassroots project connecting designers with on-the-ground demonstrators in the Occupy Together movement. The project’s goal is to create freely available visual tools around a common graphic language to unite the 99%.

And this, via The People’s Library:

Dear Occupiers and supporters:

I am currently organizing a project to bring together articles from political philosophers, ethicists, and other related theorists into a book which will be printed and delivered directly to #Occupations nationwide. The working title is “#OccupyTheory,” …

A few tweets from the OWS feed:

EBridgman RT @OccupySanJose: Camp got shut down, all occupiers arrested!!!!! Just happened 45 min ago!!! #OSJ #OWS #OccupyTogether #99Percent

alinamercedes RT @politico: Report: Michael Bloomberg says #ows protesters should expect a crackdown on their camp in lower Manhattan: http://t.co/5QqoNM9s

elitistliterati RT @TheOther99: LIVE Coverage at 11AM. Harlem march planned to protest NYPD “Stop + Frisk” policy, Dr Cornel West exp. to appear.. http://t.co/espnYQe5 #OWS

Laillusionist RT @RawStory: Things got ugly at @OccupyMelbourne last night: Police violently evict hundreds from park. bit.ly/owVgsT #ows

I’m concluding with this, from Occupy Writers, including a poem by Alice Walker. I am not dumb enough to try to follow Alice Walker.

We, the undersigned writers and all who will join us, support Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement around the world.

By Alice Walker:

The World We Want Is Us

It moves my heart to see your awakened faces;
the look of ‘aha!’
shining, finally, in
so many
wide open eyes.
Yes, we are the 99%
all of us
refusing to forget
each other
no matter, in our hunger, what crumbs
are dropped by
the 1%.
The world we want is on the way; Arundhati
and now we
are
hearing her breathing.
That world we want is Us; united; already moving
into it.

(Photo via OWS)

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Pres. Obama Announces All U.S. Troops to Leave Iraq by End of 2011

By on 21 October 2011

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Marco Rubio’s Trouble with Truth Explodes

By on 21 October 2011

During his rise to political prominence, Sen. Marco Rubio frequently repeated a compelling version of his family’s history that had special resonance in South Florida. He was the “son of exiles,” he told audiences, Cuban Americans forced off their beloved island after “a thug,” Fidel Castro, took power. But a review of documents — including naturalization papers and other official records — reveals that the Florida Republican’s account embellishes the facts. The documents show that Rubio’s parents came to the United States and were admitted for permanent residence more than two-and-a-halfyears before Castro’s forces overthrew the Cuban government and took power on New Year’s Day 1959. – Marco Rubio’s compelling family story embellishes facts, documents show

Anyone in the public arena knows how this works.

Marco Rubio had a choice a long time ago and he made it. He decided some elements were worth ignoring for a dramatic header that made him look more heroic and his struggles decidedly majestic.

The “son of exiles” was chosen for obvious reasons. Anyone saying otherwise, which his office is, doesn’t understand they’ve given the story, not only legs, but a jet engine. It’s politically stupid, but unsurprising.

Has the man who wanted to play senator been caught telling a whopper to get the opportunity, a bald-faced lie, or simply been seduced by consultants who said nobody will care and we’ll deal with it later?

Rubio’s office sent out this very angry response, which the Miami Herald first posted:

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio issued the following statement regarding false allegations that he embellished his family’s history:

“To suggest my family’s story is embellished for political gain is outrageous. The dates I have given regarding my family’s history have always been based on my parents’ recollections of events that occurred over 55 years ago and which were relayed to me by them more than two decades after they happened. I was not made aware of the exact dates until very recently.

“What’s important is that the essential facts of my family’s story are completely accurate. My parents are from Cuba. After arriving in the United States, they had always hoped to one day return to Cuba if things improved and traveled there several times. In 1961, my mother and older siblings did in fact return to Cuba while my father stayed behind wrapping up the family’s matters in the U.S. After just a few weeks living there, she fully realized the true nature of the direction Castro was taking Cuba and returned to the United States one month later, never to return.

“They were exiled from the home country they tried to return to because they did not want to live under communism. That is an undisputed fact and to suggest otherwise is outrageous.”

What defensive, posturing rubbish.

When it comes to piecing together family history, as I have labored to do over decades, it’s not an easy task to get everything to fit, especially if there are gaps in generations. But honest people don’t opt for the most laudatory when it’s not the case.

However, the Miami Herald has taken issue with the Washington Post’s piece:

Rubio’s inability to remember these specific dates isn’t much of a surprise. Rubio is sometimes sloppy. When he was in the Florida House, he failed to disclose a loan at one point and fill out his financial disclosures properly. He rung up a host of personal and questionable expenses on a Republican Party of Florida credit card and couldn’t show how they furthered party business. Indeed, the Washington Post story notes that “details have changed in his accounts” of his grandmother’s death — whether it happened when his father was 6 or 9. That’s not embellishment. That’s evidence of sloppiness. – Did the Washington Post embellish Marco Rubio’s ‘embellishments’?

Maybe the Miami Herald is correct. Marco Rubio is simply continuing the pattern he’s always had, which is that the senator from Florida has trouble with the truth.

Marco’s ego made him do it. Unless he slays it and comes clean, he’s just another slick politician who can’t be trusted with a thing that comes out of his mouth. I’m shocked.

However, none of this may matter to voters, including Latinos, who are likely a lot more incensed by Mr. Rubio’s right-wing ideology that craps on the Dream Act, than whether he’s actually a “son of exiles,” something that doesn’t impact their lives today.

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Obama Wins the Week

By on 21 October 2011

President Barack Obama meets with members of his national security team in the Situation Room of the White House, Oct. 11, 2011, to thank them for their work in disrupting a plot to assassinate Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir of Saudi Arabia. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Republicans made Pres. Obama look very good this week. They just cannot get their act together and the one they’ve taken on the road for tryouts has been a flop.

As weak as Pres. Obama is today, with large majorities believing he doesn’t know what he’s doing on the economy. The Republicans are absolutely inept at making any economic case at this point, with Herman Cain the biggest obstacle to fiscal sanity I’ve ever seen coming from the right. Mr. Cain’s 9-9-9 is positively incomprehensible, especially if you’re a small government conservative.

Joe Scarborough said it best earlier this week:

“… This is exhibit 800 over the past year why my Republican Party has lost their way in such a serious, serious way. We laugh about it, but it is… it is actually tragic.”

Scarborough’s op-ed at Politico eviscerates the Republican field and for good reasons.

It’s a long way to November 2012, but right now team Obama has to be giddy. They’ve even got a priceless slogan, compliments of the Roberts Court and a progressive outside group, to help them drill the point home that Romney is a Wall Street Republican: The Romney Rule.

The “animosity” between Perry and Romney doesn’t look like it’s going away any time soon, either. Perry’s going to bear down for a final push. He’s got the money to do a blizzard of negative advertising, hitting Romney where it hurts. I just don’t see Romney rising unless other candidates start to drop out and there’s no evidence of that happening soon.

Then yesterday, a NATO airstrike, compliments of the U.S. and France, hit a convoy carrying Muammar Gaddafi on his way to Sirte. But that’s not the good news, because NATO taking out the malevolent maniac would have been one thing. However, Libyan rebels capturing Gaddafi after the strike, then delivering street justice means NATO and the rebels worked together, with the death blow delivered by the Libyan people.

It doesn’t come any sweeter, with the Obama administration getting very lucky on this one. Pres. Obama coming out on top.

Pres. Obama’s foreign policy choices have delivered Osama bin Ladin and Muammar Gaddafi to their maker, among a long list of Al Qaeda, including one American terrorist Anwar Awlaki with a drone strike into Yemen.

However, as Glenn Greenwald wrote yesterday, the collateral damage burns, as it does in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other regions. The other side of than coin is that if people associate themselves with bad actors, bad things will eventually happen. But killing Awlaki’s teenage son, due to the indiscriminate nature of drone attacks, is unsettling.

That’s what fighting the “war on terror” is all about, which is why many voted for Barack Obama, because he was going to be different from George W. Bush.

I remain unimpressed by the Administration’s lack of imagination and continued one note militarism. A Republican could have done many of the same acts of carnage, though I shed no tears for Osama or Gaddafi. Anwar Awlaki is a bit more troublesome. There’s something unsettling about offing an American citizen on foreign soil.

Hey, but that’s picking gnat crap out of pepper for Pres. Obama’s biggest fans, as well as his progressive and Democratic allies.

The bad news for team Obama and the President is there still isn’t anything positive to log on the American economy. Presidents can’t do a lot in the current situation, but when things get worse on your watch, you’re the one who looks bad.

…until the next Republican debate.

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The Romney Rule

By on 20 October 2011

Economics is going to be part of the fight for 2012.

However, if Pres. Obama and Democrats can frame the race against Mitt Romney, the best bet to be the Republican nominee, as one against a Wall Street Republican, things could get sticky for Mitt very quickly.

It’s not like Mr. Romney can make the case he can relate to main street and working class Americans. That’s just one reason why, if Romney prevails, it’s a good bet that an independent Tea Party bid could play hell with his presidential dreams.

The ad above is from an outside progressive group led by Bill Burton, formerly of the Obama administration, Priorities USA Action.

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From Antarctica to Madam Butterfly, Occupy is everywhere

By on 20 October 2011

Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.

The photo today is via a Facebook post by ErikaMorningstar. Occupy Antarctica – this really is a global movement.

Another way to take a global view is a recently added resource at Occupy Together, a Directory, which includes Occupation name, state / country, city, website and twitter addresses when available.

You can read a report released yesterday by OWS “70% of #OWS Supporters are Politically Independent: (all emphasis mine)

Two weeks ago we conducted an anonymous poll on this website to learn more about our visitors. We asked Héctor R. Cordero-Guzmán Ph.D, sociologist of the City University of New York to look at the data, which he analyzed to create an original academic paper titled ‘Mainstream Support for a Mainstream Movement’.

His analysis shows that the Occupy Wall Street movement is heavily supported by a diverse group of individuals and that ‘the 99% movement comes from and looks like the 99%.’ Among the most telling of his findings is that 70.3% of respondents identified as politically independent.

Dr. Cordero-Guzmán’s findings strongly reinforce what we’ve known all along: Occupy Wall Street is a post-political movement representing something far greater than failed party politics. We are a movement of people empowerment, a collective realization that we ourselves have the power to create change from the bottom-up, because we don’t need Wall Street and we don’t need politicians.

Are you listening, Democratic Party? Second term seeker Obama? Progressive organizations with very close ties to the DNC?

Some recent Occupy news:

At OWS this morning, one of the glamorous pieces of the life of an activist:

On Thursday, October 20th, at ten in the morning we will be reorganizing the square. Sanitation, and Town Planning are calling for #OWS to come out, grab a broom, a mop, and work to make the Square beautiful.

Another “this is what activism looks like” story, via AlterNet:

Tarps, Not Spirits, Sag as Storm Soaks Liberty Square

… Now in its second month, the Occupy Wall Street movement has been tested by the police, the mayor and the mainstream media … and it has thus far prevailed. Now it’s facing its toughest test yet, a harbinger of worse weather to come as a northeastern winter approaches. …

Despite the downpour, the women and men of Occupy Wall Street were fed and the kitchen remained afloat.

Nothing to do but figure out ways to deal with water falling from above, whether courtesy of Mother Nature or Denver Parks and Recreation. From The Denver Post:

Protesters with Occupy Denver got a wet wake-up call early Wednesday when the Civic Center lawn sprinklers kicked on at about 2:30 a.m. …

The low temperature in the city this morning … was 27 degrees at 4:13 a.m., according to the National Weather Service.

Angela Casias, a spokeswoman with Denver Parks and Recreation, said 2:30 a.m. is a typical time for park lawns — which are on automated timers — to be watered, because the parks are usually empty.

I guess the Parks people just forgot about the Occupy Denver people, who’ve been highly visible in the news for a while now.

Occupy New Hampshire provides news of “MPD Eviction at Veterans Park”:

14 + Summons and 5 plus arrests

Women patted down and arrested for jay walking.

Conditions of Bail is you can not Occupy any more… until you go to court.

I always enjoy reading something by George Lakoff, who writes that he was “asked weeks ago by some in the … OWS … movement to make suggestions for how to frame the movement.” Not surprisingly, Lakoff’s essay is thoughtful, but he stays within the existing two party framework. You can read “Framing Occupy Wall Street” at TruthOut.

Finally, a focus on how the media is covering OWS. As with everything else, there is a lot being written about this. My decision to focus on NPR is simply because of two stories from today.

First, Bill Chappell at NPR provides a “Timeline: Tracking Occupy Wall Street’s Growth,” beginning at July 13 when

Adbusters publishes a blog post calling for ‘a shift in revolutionary tactics’ and urging tens of thousands of people to converge on lower Manhattan.

Further down the time line we find this:

Oct. 1: More than 700 demonstrators are arrested during a march across the Brooklyn Bridge. Police officials say they targeted only those protesters who clogged traffic lanes instead of taking the pedestrian walkway. …

No information about what “those protesters” said about these arrests, or what video showed, and it’s a very different story.

More broadly, it would be interesting to see an accompanying time line of NPR / MSM’s coverage at each of these dates. NPR’s efforts to maintain its ‘An NPR mind in a FOX world’ progressive bona fides, while simultaneously and strongly attempting to please the Right, is a good example of the same general lean-to-the-Right balancing act seen in other media, as well as in some in “progressive” organizations and Democratic Party.

Then there’s this story from Think Progress, out today: “Radio Show Distributed By NPR Fires Host After She Takes Part In Protests.” Zaid Jilani writes:

On Tuesday, Roll Call ran a story noting that Lisa Simeone — a radio personality who hosts the shows World of Opera and Soundprint — has been taking part in and serving as an informal spokeswoman for anti-war protests in Washington, DC known as October 2011 … . The Daily Caller and Fox News soon picked up on the story, attempting to stir a controversy.

The attempts were successful. Simeone does not work for NPR, but hosts a show produced by WDAV, which NPR distributes to other NPR stations. And yet …

… NPR reacted sharply to pressure from conservative media outlets, sending out an e-mail to its staffers noting that it was ‘in conversations’ with radio station WDAV … (about) ‘how to handle this. We of course take this issue very seriously.’ And late last night, WDAV caved to pressure from NPR and fired Simeone from her job hosting Soundpoint … .

In an interview with journalist David Swanson, Simeone noted … ‘I’m … not a news reporter. I don’t cover politics. I’ve never brought a whiff of my political activities into the work I’ve done for NPR World of Opera. What is NPR afraid I’ll do — insert a seditious comment into a synopsis of Madame Butterfly?

Well you know, you can’t put anything past those ungrateful, socialist, lazy, dirty hippie, opera loving radicals.

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Classic Clinton Moment Mocking Herman Cain

By on 20 October 2011

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The Perils of Pissing off Maxine

By on 20 October 2011

photo credit: Ward Wesley

According to the Politico article today, Rep. Maxine Waters has said not only that “I don’t have a relationship with the White House,” but also that she’s “never had a conversation with the president.”

Given who Rep. Maxine Waters is, especially her place in the black community and the activist Congressional Black Caucus, these are stunning statements.

There’s a lot of talk about Pres. Obama not reaching out to Congress and forging relationships with senators and also representatives. That he has not worked at his relationship with Republicans, but also Democrats.

Not having a relationship with Maxine Waters is just stupid.

President Obama learns perils of roiling Maxine Waters

… But the blunt, tell-it-like-it-is criticism she has aimed at President Barack Obama may have taken Waters’s reputation — loudmouth bomb-thrower or fearless truth-teller, depending on your viewpoint — to a new level. By blasting the president for failing to do enough to ease black economic suffering during the recession, she has surfaced some slowly building grievances among African-Americans and confronted the White House with racial issues it has worked assiduously to avoid.

After Waters chaired a series of national jobs forums over the summer that in part faulted the Obama administration’s response to black unemployment, Obama responded in a high-profile speech urging black lawmakers to “stop grumbling”and fight alongside him. Waters responded with five TV hits in one day, delivering a blunt message: “I don’t know who he was talking to.”

[...] But other black leaders said Waters — nicknamed “Kerosene Maxine” by her detractors — had lobbed Molotov cocktails that hit their mark. She had expressed out loud the sense of frustration that a president whose election was hailed as a crowning moment in African-Americans’ struggle for equality has not resulted in the sweeping change pioneered by a white Southern Democrat’s Great Society four decades earlier.

Black-themed political websites and talk radio exploded in debate over whether Obama was tougher on African-Americans than on Republicans and Wall Street. Meanwhile, the president’s approval rating among black voters, once solidly above 80 percent, continued to slide into the mid-70s in several polls.

Waters had done it again.

Rep. Waters’ ability to speak to the troubles inside the African American community and the plight of black unemployed hits a chord that makes Barack Obama uncomfortable: African Americans, but also Latinos, have been hit the hardest by the economic implosion.

Whether Pres. Obama is comfortable addressing this specific reality head on or not, minority unemployment is a ticking bomb.

For the first African American president to not be able to speak directly to the plights of minority unemployed, which is Rep. Waters’ home base, represents the mirror image of Obama’s lack of connection with the blue collar working class, whose economic plight is also turning downward.

When you look at the people who still sit atop Pres. Obama’s economic mountain, all of whom represent the anti-OWS crowd, it’s no wonder Democrats are struggling to create a cogent economic message.

Of course, I’m a fellow Missourian, Rep. Waters born in St. Louis, where I was raised, so I can’t help but know she’d be a formidable partner if Barack Obama would listen and heed her message. It would certainly be smarter than having “Kerosene Maxine” on the outside highlighting issues that make you uncomfortable.

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Unconfirmed Reports Swirl of Gaddafi Killed or Captured in Sirte

By on 20 October 2011

**UPDATED**

On “Daily Rundown,” with Chuck Todd, MSNBC showed what is allegedly Gaddafi’s body, bloodied, but NBC has not confirmed the picture, which likely was taken by a cell phone.

From the BBC:

Unconfirmed reports say Col Gaddafi has been killed, and AFP obtained a mobile-phone image apparently showing his face covered in blood.

The reports came after transitional forces claimed control of Sirte, Col Gaddafi’s birthplace.

[update] Richard Engel reporting on MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown” that Libyan rebels have killed Gaddafi. The Libyan leader was allegedly pulled out of where he was hiding, then killed by the rebels.

NATO also made a strike on a convoy, with reports initially saying Gaddafi was killed in this strike on Sirte by NATO.

The importance of Libyan rebels being the ones who captured and likely killed Gaddafi, rather than NATO, cannot be underestimated. It’s a completely different story for Libyan history.

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“The 99 Percent Declaration” from “An OWS Working Group”

By on 19 October 2011

Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.

Something a bit different today – the release from “An OWS Working Group Committed to Elect a Non-Partisan National General Assembly” is getting some attention, though based on the one thing I’ve seen at OWS, the “working group” isn’t mentioned by name. An OWS Snapshot post this afternoon included this:

Demands: A group claiming to be on the verge of issuing demands for #OWS has gotten the attention of a story hungry media. We are our demands. #OWS is conversation, organization, and action focused on ending the tyranny of the 1%.

And that seems to indicate the issuers of the Declaration are not directly tied to OWS. But of course, the whole “organic” process is, in part, about people being able to speak up. Decisions are generally worked out in the daily “General Assemblies,” but it’s possible some folks would decide to move on something like this “Declaration.” Regardless of any of that, it’s an interesting read, and one thing is clear: when it comes to direct, participatory democracy, there are people on Right and Left who get very, very nervous. Simply put, they fear losing control.

I’ll return to more updating tomorrow, but I see this as a basis for general conversation about Occupy. Via The99PercentDeclaration: (all emphasis mine)

WHEREAS THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION PROVIDES:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

WE, THE NINETY-NINE PERCENT OF THE PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in order to form a more perfect Union, by, for and of the PEOPLE, shall elect and convene a NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY beginning on July 4, 2012 in the City Of Philadelphia.

I. Election of Delegates:

The People, consisting of all United States citizens who have reached the age of 18, regardless of party affiliation and voter registration status, shall elect Two Delegates, one male and one female, by direct vote, from each of the existing 435 Congressional Districts to represent the People at the NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY in Philadelphia. Said Assembly shall convene on July 4, 2012 in the city of Philadelphia.

II. Meeting of the National General Assembly and Deliberation:

At the NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY, the 870 Delegates shall set forth, consider and vote upon a PETITION OF GRIEVANCES to be submitted to all members of Congress, The Supreme Court and President and each of the political candidates running in the nationwide Congressional and Presidential election in November 2012. The Delegates of the National General Assembly shall vote upon and implement their own agenda … (with the) goal of presenting a PETITION OF GRIEVANCES from the 99% of Americans before the 2012 elections.

III. Proposed Petition for the Redress of Grievances:

The PETITION OF GRIEVANCES shall be non-partisan and address the critical issues now confronting the People of the United States. … Below is a suggested list of grievances respectfully submitted by the OWS Working Group on the 99% Declaration. The final version of the PETITION OF GRIEVANCES voted upon by the Delegates of the National General Assembly MAY or MAY NOT include the following suggested issues … .

What follows is a list of twenty “grievances,” which include:

1. Implementing an immediate ban on all private contributions of money and gifts, to all politicians in federal office … to be replaced by the fair and equal public financing of all federal political campaigns… .

5. A complete reformation of the United States Tax Code to require ALL citizens to pay a fair share of a progressive, graduated income tax … .

6. Medicare for all American citizens or another single-payer healthcare system, adjusted by a means test … .

9. Passage of a comprehensive job and job-training act … .

10. Student loan debt relief. …

11. Immediate passage of the Dream Act and comprehensive immigration and border security reform … .

16. Immediate reenactment of the Glass-Steagall Act and increased regulation of Wall Street and the financial industry … .

18. An immediate one year freeze on all foreclosures to be reviewed by an independent foreclosure task force … .

20. An immediate withdrawal of all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan … .

I selected as I did in an attempt to show the variety of “grievances,” not to indicate these are more important than others.

Here’s how they conclude The Declaration:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that IF the PETITION OF GRIEVANCES approved by the 870 Delegates of the NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY in consultation with the PEOPLE, is not acted upon by Congress, the President, and Supreme Court, to the satisfaction of the Delegates of the NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY, said Delegates shall organize a THIRD, COMPLETELY NON-PARTISAN, INDEPENDENT POLITICAL PARTY to run candidates for every available Congressional seat in the mid-term election of 2014 and again in 2016 until all vestiges of the existing corrupt corporatocracy have been removed by the ballot box.

The Declaration efforts might be seen as one piece of the very much evolving process. Will it be helpful, divisive, irrelevant, a catalyst … or what? Participatory democracy playing out on a national, or rather international, stage.

(Photo via OWS)

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For Ann Romney, ‘Animosity’ Describes the Mood

By on 19 October 2011

Politico’s piece, “Rick Perry vs. Mitt Romney: Now it’s personal,” gets at the heat. But as you’ll see John King report in this video, Mrs. Romney thought things went over the line.

Perry landed a punch, then Romney responded by saying he knew the governor of Texas had had a “tough couple of debates.”

I rarely ask this question, but with what I’m reading in emails, here goes. Who do you think won last night? I think it’s pretty clear it was Pres. Obama.

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Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 Goes Down

By on 19 October 2011

It was a brawl.

After Herman Cain was pilloried on his 9-9-9 plan, he wilted. You could almost see the energy drain from him. Really rough night for Cain.

Rick Perry came alive finally, taking out after Mitt Romney, but there is something just a little tired about Perry at this point. He’ll have to do a lot more than he did last night to make up for the fiasco of the earlier debates. Saying he’ll have an economic plan later this week was lame. Perry resurrected the “illegal immigration” attack on Romney. Meanwhile, Romney’s answer on Mormonism was pitch perfect, by any standard.

Rick Santorum was combative with Romney, as well, going at him on health care:

“You just don’t have credibility, Mitt, when it comes to repealing Obamacare. … You have no track record on that that we can trust.”

Michele Bachmann did a very decent job up front, then she blew basic geography on Libya being in Africa.

Paul was Paul. Newt Gingrich just looks like yesterday, though he always gets in a good zinger.

Forgot earlier that Jon Huntsman boycotted Nevada in favor of his one-state strategy.

The funniest moments for me were listening to the analysis afterward, especially David Gergen’s two cents. He says it was all just too unseemly, all the bluster and back and forth hurting Republicans. However, one thing these debates are doing is making Mitt Romney stronger, because I don’t see how Herman Cain will sustain his current trajectory.

I think how far right the Republicans are on issues like taxes benefits Pres. Obama immensely. The anti-Latino, “illegal immigrant” onslaught, which is just stupid electorally, hurt them badly last night. They just don’t get that they can’t win the presidency without the Latino vote.

The Republican establishment had to cringe during some of the exchanges. Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment went pfft.

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#OWS

By on 18 October 2011

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GOP Debate in Las Vegas, Baby

By on 18 October 2011

**UPDATED**

Rick Perry’s simply got to make his move.

Herman Cain deserves to be cornered on 9-9-9. (Will it be Perry, Bachmann or Ron Paul?)

Will Mitt Romney remain Mr. Cool? What he really needs to do is drill home he will “repeal ‘Obamacare’ on day one.”

Did Donald Trump teach Michele Bachmann anything?

Will New Hampshire come up?

Rick Sant– zzzzzzzzz… New–zzzzzzzzzzzz

…And let’s just hope Jon Huntsman can keep from cracking another bad joke.

Update: It was a brawl.

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Coming soon from Occupy: RobinHood Global March

By on 18 October 2011

Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.

From Adbusters, where the Occupy Wall Street concept began, and as it appears at OWS, “#RobinHood Global March”: (emphasis mine throughtout post)

ADBUSTERS TACTICAL BRIEFING #15

Alright you redeemers, rebels and radicals out there,

We’re living through a magical moment … #OCCUPYWALLSTREET has catalyzed into an international insurgency for democracy …

Its now time to amp up the edgy theatrics … deviant pranks, subversive performances and playful détournements of all kinds. Open your insurrectionary imagination. …

As the movement matures, lets consider a response to our critics. … Lets work to define our one great demand.

OCTOBER 29 – #ROBINHOOD GLOBAL MARCH

This is a proposal for the general assemblies of the Occupy movement.
Eight years ago, on February 15, 2003, upwards of 15 million people in sixty countries marched together to stop President Bush from invading Iraq … a huge chunk of humanity lived for one day without dead time and glimpsed the power of a united people’s movement. Now we have an opportunity to repeat that performance on an even larger scale. On October 29, on the eve of the G20 Leaders Summit in France, let’s the people of the world rise up and demand that our G20 leaders immediately impose a 1% #ROBINHOOD tax on all financial transactions and currency trades. …

Take this idea to your local general assembly and join your comrades in the streets on October 29.

for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ

One tweet for today which seems to sum up the context of the above: “anonymiss8 RT @KBucketeer: Remember great movements generate great resistance – #ows is a marathon – stay focused – share demands http://t.co/ZbWv7j1k – RT”

From a few Occupied cities:

In Seattle, via Rawstory :

About 40 police officers were needed to arrest a single woman who sat down and opened an umbrella in a Seattle park this morning, according to local media.

Amid the ongoing ‘Occupy Seattle’ protest, city officials decided to ban sitting down with umbrellas in public spaces, ostensibly because they become ‘makeshift structures,’ which are forbidden. …

With her hands bound, at least four officers then carried her out by her arms and legs, with protesters all the while chanting, ‘Show me what oppression looks like? This is what oppression looks like!’ …

In all, at least seven people were arrested in Seattle on Monday morning as police moved in to evict protesters from Westlake Park, according to the Seattle Police Department. Although they’re only allowed to stand, protesters have vowed to keep a constant presence at the site.

Seattle police last week were also seen giving tickets to drivers who honked in support of ‘Occupy’ protesters.

Occupy Portland (Maine), via Corrente:

Regarding donated funds to the Portland occupation:

… those funds were allocated in a direct democratic fashion: Every night at 6 p.m., Occupy Maine holds ‘general assembly,’ when everyone in the movement gathers to decide on any business presented. Decisions are made by consensus — meaning small opposition groups can influence results even while outnumbered.

‘They are trying to create an organic democracy,’ said John Branson, a Portland lawyer serving as counsel for Occupy Maine. ‘Unless they have money to donate to politicians, their voices aren’t being heard at the state legislative level or at the federal level.’

Via Occupy Memphis:

Members of the Occupy Memphis group gathered at the Civic Center Plaza and on street corners in downtown Memphis in support of a worldwide movement, protesting against corporate greed and political corruption, on Saturday, October 15 . . .

If you were looking for something like this to appear in yesterday’s or today’s local paper, then you were out of luck.

Also from Occupy Memphis, via Corrente, where lambert and others regularly provide some thoughtful analysis, and reports from around the nation:

We Will Not Be Co-Opted!

When any movement gains momentum, some in power seek to discredit it and some jump on the bandwagon. Division is the greatest tactic of the naysayers. …

The Democrats HAD their chance to stand with the 99%– in 2006, 2008 and 2010. They took our money, and then they told us, in no uncertain terms, to F*** OFF, as they jumped into bed with their Bankster buddies.
Their services are no longer needed.

We Will NOT Be Co-Opted!!!

And lest we forget, this is an international movement. At Corrente, about Occupy London Stock Exchange, lambert quotes the New Internationalist:

‘Around 50 tents and makeshift shelters huddle together under the eaves of St Paul’s Cathedral. The crew running the kitchen, the media tent and sanitation have been on eighteen-hour shifts. The police have tried several strategies designed to destabilize and fracture the protest. The mainstream media have delivered mixed coverage, distorted coverage or no coverage at all and, naturally, the blogosphere has had a steady shower of ‘hose them down’ right wing trolls. Despite all this, the Occupy London Stock Exchange camp (#OccupyLSX) is in its third day and has held its space admirably.’ …

(lambert comments) That seems to be the phrase: ‘Hold the space.’ I’ve been saying, ‘Digging in,’ like trench warfare, but perhaps the other is better.

This is a good way to close – from the OWS Twitter feed: “hankkissinger RT @EricWeinrib: I asked a white-shirt #NYPD Saturday, ‘When are you gonna join us already?’ He leaned in & whispered in my ear, ‘Maybe I already have.’ #ows.”

You never know how Robin Hood will be dressed.

(Photo via Adbusters)

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‘Obamabots’ Fan Out in Defense of their Hero

By on 18 October 2011

“They don’t have any belief system, they don’t have any political views, they only have reverence for and loyalty to President Obama,” [Glenn Greenwald] said. – ‘Obamabots’ defend POTUS in Twitterverse

The amusing piece by Politico’s Ben Smith and Emily Schultheis is all about the “Obamabots.”

Under the mainstream radar and largely on Twitter, the Obamabots are waging a high-intensity guerrilla war against the liberal-leaning journalists and activists who have — as they see it — gone weak in the knees and abandoned the president in his time of need. As liberal pundits have swooned at Obama’s occasionally feisty rhetoric during recent weeks, the Obamabots were ready with an “I told you so.”

[...] The Obamabots are the ragtag digital cavalry riding to the president’s rescue, a cadre of decidedly amateur supporters, people far outside the Beltway and its norms, whose intense loyalty and passion at a moment of wide disaffection can be reminiscent of Sarah Palin’s core of backers.

What Glenn is describing in the top quote is a virulent strain of what I call fan politics, which is most visibly seen today by Obamabots, as they’ve been called around here since 2007. Greenwald has been attacked on this site by them, as has Mr. Krugman. Fan politics is about people, like the Obamabots, who support a politician regardless of the policies he or she delivers upon, thinking anyone finding fault in their candidate of choice is committing some larger sin for not following in line. Fan politics is particularly destructive because it demands party loyalty take the place of political dialogue, party trumping principle.

The bad news for Obamabots is that we’re now living in a new era of political independence, which is only going to grow in the years ahead. The good news is that the momentum may not crescendo in time to sweep Barack Obama out.

However, the energy behind Occupy Wall Street protests, which reveal disgust with Democrats and Republicans could help the energy build and build toward a 2012 voter explosion to throw everyone currently in office out again. There’s no evidence yet that there is this power, but it’s not an outlandish proposal to say this may be where we’re heading, depending on the staying power of the energy behind OWS, long after the protests break up.

In the Politico piece, Joan Walsh is quoted as follows:

“I’ve become a conscientious objector in this war,” she wrote in an email to POLITICO. “It seems to me that the energy ‘progressives’ spend fighting other progressives over the administration’s every move could power a small city. And the rising tenor of personal abuse doesn’t help.”

Die hard party loyalists don’t seem to get there is a undulating political upheaval slowly taking place, which has been happening on the right for several years, with the left joining in, the foundation of their discontent the continued drag right of the Democratic Party, which began under William Jefferson Clinton. What saved Clinton from the wrath being felt today, besides the fact that new media hadn’t matured, was the courage he had to launch the largest tax increase in decades, though Lawrence O’Donnell claims it was the biggest ever, which, along with the tech boom, led to peacetime prosperity for everyone. Clinton also has a gift Barack Obama does not and that is he can seduce Wall Street and croon to main street simultaneously.

Progressives are fighting Obamabots over political principle, so it only makes sense the heat “could power a small city.” However, the venting doesn’t mean the majority of the disgruntled won’t come home to vote Democratic come November 2012, something I reiterate over and over again. There is real evidence, however, that excitement about 2012 is muted in Democratic and progressive circles, which very likely could lead to what Clinton experienced in 1996, which is lower turnout on the left.

If Mitt Romney is the nominee, which I’ve said all along I believe he will be, depressed voting is almost assured. It’s why the Obamabots get so incensed when political analysts like myself rightly scoff at the smorgasbord of Republican candidates, each taking their place under the heat lamp. Without a firebrand right-winger, the Obamabots already sense there won’t be the GOTV passion with Mitt. The other problem is that with people’s mood so bleak on the economy, the what-have-we-got-to-lose penchant could run wild.

In the background of the left’s discontent is the belief that if Obama is reelected he will tinker with the New Deal, because he won’t have anything to lose, with his legacy of accomplishments his only priority. But as we’re seeing with health care, as the Administration scuttles Teddy Kennedy’s CLASS, not even Obama’s accomplishments are safe, because of the ramshackle way ACA was designed. Obama also seems to believe, joining conservative Democrats and Republics, that entitlement “reform” should be a priority, leaving most to rightly think that whether it’s a Democrat or Republican in the White House in 2012, the people’s safety net will be weakened.

Of course, Obamabots are taking heart in candidate Obama reemerging to make his reelection case. However, with his record of compromise and capitulation to conservatism, with “hope and change” now retired to the marketing section of Barack Obama’s bookshelf, it’s a coin toss whether people will take a chance a second time.

Obamabots have been around since 2007. Today they’re just angry Obama activists who are incensed that Democrats and progressives want to hold their hero accountable for the “hope and change” marketing, with Obamabots still in denial.

What is at the root of Obamabot invective, however, is the palpable fear and realization that Pres. Obama could actually lose in 2012. This is a stunner for them, especially considering where Barack Obama started his presidency.

But now the President’s fans have their own egos attached to him and the thought of Obama losing is scaring the crap out of them. Their goal to get Obama reelected now tied to not being proved wrong about him, but also to protect gloating rights, never mind that the current choices from either party leave a lot to be desired. The sad truth is there isn’t very much difference between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney that will be felt by people. For Obamabots, it’s not just about Pres. Obama winning reelection in 2012. It’s not about their belief that Barack Obama will champion greater policies in a second term. There is no evidence he will. Obama’s reelection is now also about them. It’s personal, not political or policy driven.

Fan politics for the sake of the politician being supported is always toxic. It also usually disappoints. Just ask the bookend to the Obamabots, die hard fans of Sarah Palin.

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Hamas Frees Gilad Shalit as Prisoner Swap Begins

By on 18 October 2011

From the New York Times:

Buses containing the Palestinian prisoners — the first group of what will eventually be more than 1,000 — made their way into Egypt and from there to the West Bank and Gaza Strip where jubilant relatives awaited and celebrations were planned.

The soldier, Sergeant First Class Gilad Shalit, was taken from Gaza, where he had been held since being abducted in a cross-border raid in 2006, into Egypt and from there to Israel, where he was given a quick medical check and declared in good health. He changed into a military uniform before being flown by helicopter to an Israeli military base where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and was reunited with his family.

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Herman Cain was Not Joking (and other GOP notes)

By on 17 October 2011

Fun with the Republicans.

Gov. Perry is now down to 2.9% in Florida.

Iowa Republicans have decided upon Jan. 3, 2012 for their primary. That means New Hampshire, if they are to be first, will have to go in December.

As for Herman Cain foisting the notion on Meet the Press that his idea about a giant electric fence on the border that can kill people was “a joke.” I saw the tape, which is also in the clip above, where he talks about the fence on Saturday. I don’t believe he was joking. It’s simply not credible when you look at the tape of his statement. Anyone believing him is a rube.

There’s a reason the Obama White House is focused on Mitt Romney.

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