Matters of the day....

I had been working on an exceptionally long post about the State of the Union address, the coverage of that speech, and the stupid things Rep. Michelle Bachmann/Sarah Palin said about it.

But instead I started reading a couple of different articles about rape.

I highly recommend reading both, if you don't feel a sense of revulsion and/or anger, you are dead inside.

First we have a piece about "prisoner rape". The sheer brutality of the prison state that has been erected in the US should be frightening to all citizens. While those who brake the laws of the land, on human being should be subjected to this:

The biggest risk factor found in the study was prior abuse. Some 65 percent of kids who had been sexually assaulted at another corrections facility were also assaulted at their current one. In prison culture, even in juvenile detention, after an inmate is raped for the first time he is considered “turned out,” and fair game for further abuse.²² Eighty-one percent of juveniles sexually abused by other inmates were victimized more than once, and 32 percent more than ten times. Forty-two percent were assaulted by more than one person. Of those victimized by staff, 88 percent had been abused repeatedly, 27 percent more than ten times, and 33 percent by more than one facility employee. Those who responded to the survey had been in their facilities for an average of 6.3 months.

Restitution is one thing, being raped repeatedly is something entirely different. That this continues to happen in the US should be a national shame. But because it involves prisoners it is something that is joked about or otherwise ignored. A variation on the "they deserve it" mentality. This thinking is wrong on so many levels. 95% of the incarcerated population will eventually be released. The physical and emotional scares of rape only make these individuals more likely to engage in disruptive behavior, not less.

The other article I read, would be another shot across the bow of long standing abortion debate in this country.

There should be a vigorous debate on the topic of abortion, that is not something I disagree on. It is a complicated and contentious issue. But when you have to stoop to changing the definition
of rape in order to accomplish your task, you may want to pause for just a second:

With this legislation, which was introduced last week by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Republicans propose that the rape exemption be limited to "forcible rape." This would rule out federal assistance for abortions in many rape cases, including instances of statutory rape, many of which are non-forcible. For example: If a 13-year-old girl is impregnated by a 24-year-old adult, she would no longer qualify to have Medicaid pay for an abortion.

Ahh....so only physical violence counts. This is wrong on so many levels and shows an corruption of thought that I find appalling. Rep Smith should be ashamed for bringing this bill to the floor. But I guess for the party that preaches about "excessive governmental intervention", the on goings of its citizens' uterus is worthy of exacting controls. Even after severe physical and emotional abuse telling someone what they should do with their body is not off limits.

All in all these sorts of things just fill me with a sense of dread. The ever coarsening of rhetoric and the constant diminishment of your opposition just leads to an ever more callous society.

-Cheers

Down the rabbit hole....

The subject of race in this country is always a prickly issue. So much so, that I tend to wade in only very occasionally.

This is even more true, when the subject at hand, has some relation to the societal/institutional force referred to as "white privilege", a topic that is always certain to get strong responses.

With that said, I came across a post this morning that I found fascinating. It was titled "An Object Lesson in White Privilege: What if Sarah Palin were Black?". A provocative title to say the least. The article-OpEd, is highly worth the read. I would also recommend reading the comment section to see the sorts of responses that are made (Preemptively if you compare the Republican and Democratic parties of today with those same parties from the mid 20th century, you are already on shaky group. Back then there were liberal republicans and well the dixie-crats broke off from the democratic party in spectacular fashion over civil rights. So a straight comparison is misleading at best.)

This passage in particular spoke to me:

To be White is to be "normal," "invisible," and quintessentially "American." It is also the freedom to be an individual. When crazy white people bomb buildings, kill cops in the name of radical right wing politics, go on shooting rampages, or more generally just act like fools, it is never framed as a "White" problem. I would suggest that these actions are rarely, if ever, interrogated for what they reveal about Whiteness and/or white folk at large. In short, there is no "I hope that person isn't white" moment. Why? Because a given white person's actions are usually a reflection of their individual shortcomings, not a commentary on white people as a whole.

This is a very hard thing to convey to someone. How do you explain the sort of hurt you feel, when all your accomplishments are judged through an "affirmative action" prism? As if you are always part of some sort of collective.

It is saddening how internalized this is. When Mike took his job in news, one of the first things I asked him was to, "...never interview that black guy in the tank top and missing teeth, about anything. Ever.". I felt something similar to that after the recent tragedy in Arizona. My thoughts in order were:

1. I hope this wasn't political
2. Man I hope those people are alright
3. Ugh..I hope he (cause they predominately are "hes") isn't Muslim.

That may seem strange to most people, that someone would think in that fashion. But ask yourself how the coverage would have been different if Jared Loughner had instead been Muhommed Fahad, Jose Calderon, or Tyrone Jackson.

Anyway, I really don't have much to add to the discussion, but thought it was an interesting thought experiment.

But in answer to the challenge of the linked post I guess my response would be: If Sarah Palin were Black we would have never heard of her. The details of her life combined with ethnicity would have made her toxic from day one.

Simply put, the standards that ethnic minorities are held to is always directly related to the stereotypes they live under.

-Cheers

Health care debates...

I wish there was more of this in the lead up to the ACA vote:

REPEAL OBAMACARE (iq2us.org) from Intelligence Squared US on Vimeo.

This sort of debate, though I am clearly on one side, is infinitely better then what we had.

-Cheers

A tale of two speeches....

I thought I would throw up a post with the speeches of both Mrs. Palin, and President Obama.

Watching them I just could not ignore the radical differences in both delivery and and substance.

Mrs. Palin:


President Obama:


A few comments. If their were any doubt, this should clear it up. Mrs. Palin seems to be incapable of reaching out to anyone who disagrees with her. She is a living, breathing, seething personification of resentment. I do not doubt that she feels aggrieved over some of the comments that have been lobbed her way over the past few days, and I believe she has internalized those feelings. Some of those comments directed at here have been way over the line, but this day was not about her or her hurt feelings. The level of narcissism Mrs. Palin exhibits is extraordinary. A normal person in her position would probably offer that, though they were not culpable in this senseless tragedy, perhaps one should be more circumspect in the words one uses to describe and assault their opponents. There was none of that in Palin's speech.

As for the President, well his words spoke to something different.

-Cheers

Douche-bag of the day...

Yep Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is an idiot.

-Cheers

The very terrible, no good, horrible....thing the other guy suggests!

I understand the desire to say/think everything your ideological opponents suggest is wrong. But that is simply not the case. This piece by Steven Pearlstein is a nice refutation of that sort of mentality, especially with reference to the republican tendency to classify anything democratic idea/initiative or government activity as "Job-Killing":

What's so curious is that it's hard to find almost any Republican concern about employment homicide during 2008, when George W. Bush was president and the economy was shedding 4.4 million jobs. Given the lag with which economic policy works, the biggest net job loss that could credibly be assigned to Obama during his two years in office would be less than a million.

I know that to point out republican hypocrisy is nothing new or revolutionary, but the sheer scope of the demagoguery is awe inspiring.

Ironically, the first order of legislative business in the new Republican House will be to repeal last year's health-care reform law. Since the immediate impact of the measure will be to allow 30 million more Americans the chance to buy drugs and medical services from doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, it's hard to imagine a more effective way to reduce employment in the one sector that is actually adding jobs.

The other GOP priority is to cut $100 billion this year from the government's domestic spending, which translates into the loss of close to a million jobs for government workers and contractors. Apparently, in the stylized way that Republicans count things, those positions don't count as real jobs.

What's particularly noteworthy about this fixation with "job killing" is that it stands in such contrast to the complete lack of concern about policies that kill people rather than jobs.

Repealing health-care reform, for instance, would inevitably lead to thousands of unnecessary deaths each year because of an inability to get medical care.

Although lack of effective regulation led directly to the deaths of 78 coal miners last year in West Virginia, Republicans continue to insist that any reform of mine safety laws is bad for miners' employment.

It is a matter of accumulated wisdom in conservative circles that government is useless in the most benign sense, or an outright evil, liberty stealing and freedom crushing monstrosity on the far end (especially when Democrats are in control). Sometimes the government is the lesser of two evils, or the buffer which keeps business from grinding us all up in its greed induced frenzy.

I wish the media would do a better job of point out this sort of red baiting, intellectual dishonesty when it happens. Not only point it out, but shaming the individuals who continually spew this sort of nonsense.

That is asking a lot, but a boy can hope?

-Cheers

A better world....

From XKCD and here is the wiki page.

What a better place this would be, if when someone told a blatant falsehood there was some
mechanism to hold them accountable and shame them into not being a dumb ass....

-Cheers

Economics for dummies....

Over the next few days you will be treated to all sorts of Republican officials stating that all of our problems are a result of the massive over spending of the Obama administration. They are lying.

Also you will hear that the solution to our woes are more tax cuts and cutting spending. This is just pure fantasy. So much so, I am gonna start smacking people who indulge in this crap with this chart when they do!


So yeah, hello 112th Congress. The current administrations contribution to the debt problems is fairly
small in comparison.

-Cheers