Quotable

"I don't want to be president. I want to run for president. There's a difference."

~ Comedian Stephen Colbert, quoted by Reuters.

Clarence Thomas - still bitter after all these years

I watched the 60 Minutes interview with Clarence "whoop-de-damn-do" Thomas and was disgusted that his negative remarks about Professor Anita Hill were not balanced in any measure by a response from Ms. Hill or anyone who would like to defend her reputation. Turns out I was not alone. Here's what Frank Rich had to say:

On CNN, Jeffrey Toobin, the author of the new best-seller about the court, The Nine, said that it was "real unfair" for 60 Minutes not to include a response from Ms. Hill, who was slimed on camera by Mr. Thomas as "not the demure, religious, conservative person" she said she was.

Ms. Hill, who once taught at Oral Roberts University and is now a professor at Brandeis, told me last week that CBS News was the only one of the three broadcast news divisions that did not seek her reaction to the latest Thomas salvos. Mr. Kroft told me that there were no preconditions placed on him by either Mr. Thomas or his publisher. "Our story wasn't about Anita Hill," he said. "Our story was about Clarence Thomas."

I'm going to follow the lead of the blogger at Ramblings of a Madwoman (a recently discovered blog - it's very good!) and attempt in my small way to make up for the shoddy journalism displayed by Steve Kroft in his 60 Minutes feature by posting an excerpt from Ms. Hill's NY Times op ed:

...I will not stand by silently and allow him, in his anger, to reinvent me. ...

Regrettably, since 1991, I have repeatedly seen this kind of character attack on women and men who complain of harassment and discrimination in the workplace. In efforts to assail their accusers’ credibility, detractors routinely diminish people’s professional contributions. Often the accused is a supervisor, in a position to describe the complaining employee’s work as “mediocre” or the employee as incompetent. Those accused of inappropriate behavior also often portray the individuals who complain as bizarre caricatures of themselves — oversensitive, even fanatical, and often immoral — even though they enjoy good and productive working relationships with their colleagues.

Finally, when attacks on the accusers’ credibility fail, those accused of workplace improprieties downgrade the level of harm that may have occurred. When sensing that others will believe their accusers’ versions of events, individuals confronted with their own bad behavior try to reduce legitimate concerns to the level of mere words or “slights” that should be dismissed without discussion.

Read the rest here.

Song of the Day

Calexico with Iron & Wine "He Lays in the Reins" recorded live in the KUT studio.

The last time we were in Texas, we did a lot of driving. We drove from Austin to San Antonio and from San Antonio into the Texas hill country. When we weren't listening to KUT, we listened to Calexico. I can't imagine a better combination than Calexico and Iron & Wine. Enjoy.

The pathetic freak show known as El Rushbo

Hey, look over there! El Rushbo said something repulsive and idiotic! Never mind the flap doodle over millions of American kids being vetoed out of access to health care by the worst President in the history of our nation.


An excerpt from Paul Waldman's essay for Media Matters about this latest right-wing distraction:

Think about how much time and effort they expend on convincing Americans that progressives and Democrats are "anti-military," "hate the troops," and even "hate America." So any progressive veteran who criticizes Bush administration policies represents a profound threat to all the arguments they have made. It becomes particularly thorny when nearly the entire current leadership of the conservative movement -- not only media figures like Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly, but also political figures including President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and many others -- were of draft age during the Vietnam war but managed to stay out of harm's way.

Let's be clear: I'm not arguing that any particular individual on that list didn't have legitimate reasons to avoid serving in Vietnam -- some may have. Nor am I arguing that the opinions of veterans on matters of national security are necessarily more valid simply because they are veterans. The point is that accusations of troop-hating and insufficient patriotism are difficult to wield at veterans, particularly when thrown by those who were subject to the draft but managed to avoid it.

Unless, that is, they can argue that the veteran in question isn't a real veteran, that his service wasn't real service, that his sacrifice wasn't real sacrifice, and that his patriotism isn't real patriotism. So that's exactly what they do.

If this were the first, or second, or even third time this had happened, one might be able to come up with another plausible explanation. But what we heard this week with Rush Limbaugh was a replay of a record we've heard many times before: a war critic with a military record emerges, and the right responds by attacking his patriotism, arguing that his service wasn't real, or both.

Our long national nightmare of incompetence must end

From Paul Krugman's "Same Old Party" column:

People claim to be shocked by the Bush administration’s general incompetence. But disinterest in good government has long been a principle of modern conservatism. In “The Conscience of a Conservative,” published in 1960, Barry Goldwater wrote that “I have little interest in streamlining government or making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size.”

Quotable

"In a preview of a looming 2008 election battle over stem cell research and global warming, Hillary Clinton Thursday accused President George W. Bush of waging a “war on science.” Of course, based on his previous wars, this will probably just end up creating more scientists."

~ Seth Meyers, SNL Weekend Update

Song of the Day

Steve Earle's Tennessee Blues live at KUT's studio in Austin.

Into the Wild

We went to see Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" yesterday. The film is an adaptation of Jon Krakauer's excellent book with the same title. I first learned about Chris McCandless a few years ago while staying at a guest cabin (one of a few cabins) owned by a sled dog owner and his wife on Stampede Road near Denali National Park. I picked up an old issue of Alaska magazine and read the spirited exchange of letters between people discussing media coverage about Chris's death. I had to find out more and tracked down Krakauer's article in Outsider magazine and a copy of "Into the Wild" before leaving Alaska. Turns out Stampede Road is where Chris headed into the Alaskan wilderness.

I asked Mr. Dem after leaving the theater, how well do you think this film will stand up for people who didn't read the book? It's our guess that it won't -- despite the beautiful photography, soundtrack and outstanding performances.

I really appreciate the way Sean Penn told Chris's story. It's obvious that Penn had a fondness for Chris McCandless, a belief in the value of his story and respect for the McCandless family. But, after seeing the film, I'm again reminded of the brilliance of Krakauer's storytelling. His personal observations helped me to understand Chris McCandless and to understand why his story is a story about all seekers of meaning in an increasingly shallow culture.

The casting in this film is exceptional. William Hurt gives an amazing performance as does Catherine Keener.

See this film but if you haven't yet read "Into the Wild," go get a copy and read it first.

Here's MaryAnn Johanson's review.

Women who blog about politics

Catherine Morgan of Informed Voters has assembled an amazing list of more than 100 women who blog about politics. Check out her entire list here.

A randomly selected preview:

Women In Media and News — Women In Media & News, a media analysis, education and advocacy group, works to increase women’s presence and power in the public debate.

Katharine Seelye — From the New York Times

Taylor Marsh - Democrat Taylor Marsh blogs politics, Iraq, culture, and illegal aliens. A progressive blog that`s frank, smart, provocative and doesn`t take the party line.

Preemptive Karma — An unfiltered view of politics and current events of the day. It`s our job to slaughter the sacred cows of the world…and serve them on toast.

In The Pink Texas — Humorous Texas and national political blog targets a readership of influential legislators, lobbyists and media. Has received over 700,000 hits since it launched last year.

Smashed Frogs — A political viewpoint discussing the absurdities of American government.

Marilyn’s Non-Violent Newspage — Every single moment of every single day there are beautiful and ugly happenings taking place within our world. My goal with this page is to cause you, the reader, to be moved enough to want to be part of the beautiful.

Rambling of a Mad Woman — I`m not really mad. I just get a little annoyed sometimes.