Category: Politics

Where’s the ACLU when we need it?

Town makes it illegal to fly a foreign flag

By Ruben Navarrette Jr.
Special to CNN
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SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) — This is where we’ve arrived in this country: You have the constitutional right to burn an American flag, but you can get into trouble for simply flying a foreign one.

At least you can in the 30,000-person town of Pahrump, Nevada, which is close to Las Vegas and even closer to stepping over the line with an idiotic, intolerant and insulting ban on foreign (read: Mexican) flags. The town council voted last week, 3-2, to approve an ordinance that makes it illegal to display a foreign flag — unless an American flag is flown above it. Scofflaws face a $50 fine and 30 hours of community service.

Pahrump resident Michael Miraglia proposed the ban because, he said, he got upset when he saw immigrant activists marching through U.S. cities last spring, waving Mexican flags. Mr. Miraglia told USA Today that he was especially miffed that “we had Mexican restaurants closed that day.”

So that’s what started all this — the fact that some guy who’s addicted to Mexican food couldn’t get his burrito fix. It’s our cultural schizophrenia. Americans love Mexican food, even if they don’t always love Mexicans. They never ask themselves: If they succeed in getting rid of all the Mexicans — as some would, no doubt, like to do — who’s going to make the food?

I look forward to the lawsuit and reading about the town of Pahrump smacked down hard in the courts.

Economic populism, from perhaps a surprising place.


Class Struggle: American workers have a chance to be heard.

BY JIM WEBB
Wednesday, November 15, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST

The most important–and unfortunately the least debated–issue in politics today is our society’s steady drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th century. America’s top tier has grown infinitely richer and more removed over the past 25 years. It is not unfair to say that they are literally living in a different country. Few among them send their children to public schools; fewer still send their loved ones to fight our wars. They own most of our stocks, making the stock market an unreliable indicator of the economic health of working people. The top 1% now takes in an astounding 16% of national income, up from 8% in 1980. The tax codes protect them, just as they protect corporate America, through a vast system of loopholes.

The most important–and unfortunately the least debated–issue in politics today is our society’s steady drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th century. America’s top tier has grown infinitely richer and more removed over the past 25 years. It is not unfair to say that they are literally living in a different country. Few among them send their children to public schools; fewer still send their loved ones to fight our wars. They own most of our stocks, making the stock market an unreliable indicator of the economic health of working people. The top 1% now takes in an astounding 16% of national income, up from 8% in 1980. The tax codes protect them, just as they protect corporate America, through a vast system of loopholes.
[…]
Mr. Webb is the Democratic senator-elect from Virginia.

Very much worth reading the rest. I am very much (and very positively!) surprised to see this coming from Senator-elect Webb, who as you may recall was in Reagan’s cabinet… I’d assumed he was going to be one of the more conservative new Senators. Instead, it looks like he’s going to be one to watch in a very good way: we need more folks in Washington willing to talk about class issues and our economic problems in an honest manner. (former) Senator Edwards brought these issues up in the 2004 presidential campaign but for the most part they seem to be forgotten in all of the other hot-button debates whether on the so-called “war on terror” or on “values.”

via DailyKos, part of their coverage of why the meme that “the new Democrats are conservative” is a myth.

(fixed blockquote in the wrong place bad line break)

There is NO right not to be offended.

Via RASSF:
Vatican urges Israel to ban Jerusalem gay parade

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican has condemned a gay pride parade due to be held in Jerusalem on Friday as offensive to religious believers and urged Israeli authorities to stop it taking place.

“It is with bitterness that we have learned that the day after tomorrow, November 10, 2006, there is scheduled in Jerusalem a so-called ‘gay pride parade’,” the Vatican said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

In a letter to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, the Vatican urged authorities to withdraw permission for the parade which is expected to attract up to 8,000 people.

“The Holy See has reiterated on many occasions that the right to freedom of expression, sanctioned by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is subject to just limits, in particular when the exercise of this right would offend the religious sentiments of believers,” the letter said.

I loved the last passage in particular.

What a jerk this pope is (or the papacy in general is?) – there is no right not to be offended, whether for any one individual, one religion, or (ignoring large numbers of believers of each of the three who don’t care) a group of three religions. And the only “just limits” I can think of are a matter of speech that puts others at real threat of harm (such as the classic example of “yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theater”)

“And I for one welcome our new insect overlords”

First, I am incredibly psyched on the national victories. House? Check, and at a greater margin that I would have expected. Senate? Technically still up in the air, but looking very positive.

Second, California sucks less than I thought last night. When I last checked before bed, it was looking like Republicans were going to take several key state offices, besides the Governators – in particular the Secretary of State’s. I’m very pleased to see today that the Dem (Bowen) has won that race, as well as a couple of others.

California still sucks, the CA Democratic party included – I can’t believe that our primary choices were both the worst of Sacramento machine pols, and between a DINO wannabe Republican like Westly, or a nearly nebbish moderate like Angelides at that.

At least Arnold (A) will be term-limited out for the 2010 election, and (B) can’t become president. But f___, four more years of the governator? Odds are I’ll be out of California before he’s out of office.

“Hey Stupid That Ain’t News No More:” Senate 2006 Edition

CNN projects tonight that among others, Senators Dick Lugar and Edward (Ted) Kennedy will keep their seats.

Lugar: running with only 3rd-party opposition.
Kennedy: OK, there technically was a Republican running against him, but…

This kind of “news of the obvious” makes watching the returns tonight harder, and some of the “basically inevitable, if not quite so glaringly silly” ones like the election of Sanders or the re-election of Snowe and Byrd

In better news, DailyKos is saying Sherrod Brown will take the Senate seat in Ohio, although CNN has not yet called that race.

The ugly American, even in diplomatic service?

Via a post on RASSF:
U.S. embassy owes a million pounds congestion charge

19 October 2006

LONDON: The U.S. Embassy in London owes more than a million pounds for the congestion charge in the capital, the mayor’s office said on Wednesday.

London authorities say the charge on driving in the centre of the city is a road toll and diplomats have to pay it like anyone else. Washington says it is a tax and diplomats are exempt.

The U.S. embassy has refused to pay the charge since July 2005. Several other embassies have also refused but London says the U.S. embassy is the worst offender by far.

Bush vs. the Bill of Rights

In an article on MSNBC, Senate committee rejects Bush anti-terror plan

The president’s measure would go further than the Senate package in allowing classified evidence to be withheld from defendants in terror trials, using coerced testimony and protecting U.S. interrogators against prosecution for using methods that violate the Geneva Conventions.

Lovely. Does anyone yet doubt Bush is a fascist at heart?

“Salon sums it up.”

Via Troy, on DBA:

How bad is he?

Bush ran as a moderate, tacked right and governed ineffectually — before 9/11. Since then he’s become the most radical American president in history — and arguably the worst.

Editor’s note: Following is the introduction to Sidney Blumenthal’s new book, “How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime,” recently published by the Princeton University Press.

By Sidney Blumenthal

No one predicted just how radical a president George W. Bush would be. Neither his opponents, nor the reporters covering him, nor his closest campaign aides suggested that he would be the most willfully radical president in American history.

In his 2000 campaign, Bush permitted himself few hints of radicalism. On the contrary he made ready promises of moderation, judiciously offering himself as a “compassionate conservative,” an identity carefully crafted to contrast with the discredited Republican radicals of the House of Representatives. After capturing the Congress in 1994 and proclaiming a “revolution,” they had twice shut down the government over the budget and staged an impeachment trial that resulted in the acquittal of President Clinton. Seeking to distance himself from the congressional Republicans, Bush declared that he was not hostile to government. He would, he said, “change the tone in Washington.” He would be more reasonable than the House Republicans and more moral than Clinton. Governor Bush went out of his way to point to his record of bipartisan cooperation with Democrats in Texas, stressing that he would be “a uniter, not a divider.”

The article non-free but visible behind the ad at Salon’s site and is well worth a read.

Andy’s back!

Via MyDD:

Electoral-Vote.com which preoccupied many of us during the 2004 campaign, has now released their 2006 Senate page. I know I will be checking in a couple of times every day.

It certainly was one of my favorite sites in the run-up to the 2004 election, and it’s run by a well-known computer science professor.

Side note: more content coming, I promise.

And on a much more serious note…

My congratulations and best wishes to King Bhumibol Adulyadej and to the Thai people on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of his ascension to the throne.

(I’d meant to post this earlier; as I write, it’s already the 10th in Thailand, but it’s still the 9th here.)

See also the congratulatory resolution passed by the US House of Representatives.

Body count of journalists killed in Iraq now higher than World War II

With 2 More Journalists Dead in Iraq, Total Tops World War II

By E&P Staff

Published: May 29, 2006 11:00 PM ET

NEW YORK The deaths of two CBS journalists on Monday means the Iraq conflict is now the deadliest war for reporters in the past century.

Since 2003, 71 journalists have been killed in Iraq, more than the 63 killed in Vietnam, 17 killed in Korea — and now the 69 killed in World War II, according to Freedom Forum.

The Iraq numbers do not include the 26 members of media support staff who have also died, as counted by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

So much for “Mission Accomplished.” When are we finally going to pull the plug on Bush’s “Big Adventure?” And how long is the US going to be paying for it it in the world, even once we’re out?

(Lost track of who that was via, sorry.)

Think the “gay marriage” debate is just about gay people? Think again…

The American Taliban is no happier about straight people with untraditional families or lifestyle choices than it is about gay people:

Mo. Town Denies Unmarried Couple Permit

Wed May 17, 11:34 AM ET

BLACK JACK, Mo. – The city council has rejected a measure allowing unmarried couples with multiple children to live together, and the mayor said those who fall into that category could soon face eviction.

Olivia Shelltrack and Fondrey Loving were denied an occupancy permit after moving into a home in this St. Louis suburb because they have three children and are not married.

Via AmericaBLOG

Dan Savage’s ongoing notes about “Straight Rights are also very much apropos here.