Created: December 31st, 2008 | Written By: tas
Via a Jessica Valenti tweet, I found out that Dennis Prager has written part II of his pro-marital rape columns. Kathy wrote about the first one, if you need a quick reminder, and I won’t write much about this one…
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Created: December 31st, 2008 | Written By: Monchel Pridget
Oh, sexism. How you rear your silly head in the most obscure and well-meaning of metaphors. From the New York Times today:
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and JEREMY W. PETERS
After a lifetime of being wooed by others, Caroline Kennedy is still learning how to sell herself.
Teehee! It works, because she’s a woman, and she has to go from being sought after (by political suitors, so to speak) to selling herself to people (to political elites, specifically)… get it? Teeheehee! She needs to be flashier, see — give them the old razzle dazzle, Ms. Caroline K:
Others pointed out that Ms. Kennedy was also laboring under a colossal weight of expectations. Some people seem to expect her to be more, well, Kennedyesque — gregarious and extroverted. But Ms. Kennedy’s own political style seems to have more in common with that of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who once held Mrs. Clinton’s seat: cerebral, restrained, wry.
In an age when flamboyant displays of warmth and empathy seem almost like an obligatory feature of campaigning, Ms. Kennedy simply seems to prefer keeping her feelings to herself.
Reminiscent politically to that Prager theory of putting out, even when it’s counterintuitive to what you want. Don’t deny us your energies! The camera’s rolling! Show your creds!
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Created: December 30th, 2008 | Written By: Monchel Pridget
The New York Times wowed everyone yesterday with its analysis of foreign policy at a third-grade level:
“In the cabinet room today there was an energy, a feeling that after so long of showing restraint we had finally acted,” said Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking of the weekly government meeting that he attended.
Mark Heller, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said that that energy reflected the deep feeling among average Israelis that the country had to regain its deterrent capacity.
“There has been a nagging sense of uncertainty in the last couple years of whether anyone is really afraid of Israel anymore,” he said. “The concern is that in the past — perhaps a mythical past — people didn’t mess with Israel because they were afraid of the consequences. Now the region is filled with provocative rhetoric about Israel the paper tiger. This operation is an attempt to re-establish the perception that if you provoke or attack you are going to pay a disproportionate price.”
So the current Israeli strategy to deal with the constant threat of attacks on its southern flank is to defy international law openly through displays of murderous and wanton machismo and bravado. Or, in layman’s terms, play “I’m bigger than you are!” with Hamas. Great! I have hope for the future of lucrative warmongering and reports of more dead children.
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Created: December 30th, 2008 | Written By: tas
Robert Fisk (h/t mattthebastard):
Ever since 1948, we’ve been hearing this balderdash from the Israelis — just as Arab nationalists and then Arab Islamists have been peddling their own lies: that the Zionist “death wagon” will be overthrown, that all Jerusalem will be “liberated.” And always Mr Bush Snr or Mr Clinton or Mr Bush Jnr or Mr Blair or Mr Brown have called upon both sides to exercise “restraint” — as if the Palestinians and the Israelis both have F-18s and Merkava tanks and field artillery. Hamas’s home-made rockets have killed just 20 Israelis in eight years, but a day-long blitz by Israeli aircraft that kills almost 300 Palestinians is just par for the course.
Amnesty International:
This is the highest level of Palestinian fatalities and casualties in four decades of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The escalation of violence comes at a time when the civilian population already faces a daily struggle for survival due to the Israeli blockade which has prevented even food and medicines from entering Gaza.
So this latest Israeli hissy fit bout of violence may be unprecedented (since 1948, at least). And speaking of the Israelis blockading aid, the Guardian reports…
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Created: December 28th, 2008 | Written By: tas
Maybe I view it this way because I spend too much time in an over-opinionated blogosphere, but the first inclination one has concerning news of Israelis and Palestinians is to pick a side; and criticize others for the side they choose. The wingnuts have certainly picked Israel, as they always will — unfortunately, Nancy Pelosi (and, surely, the rest of the establishment Democrats) agrees with the wingnuts. Others leaning more to the left will side with the Palestinians, pointing out the acute brutality of the Israeli attacks.
And let’s face it, not only has Israel killed over 300 and injured over 600 at this point, but the economic sanctions Israel placed on Gaza caused such shortages that it made dumpster diving a necessity to living. And now that starving Gazans are being bombed, Israel refuses to let the world see it — as the Guardian points out today, “Israel yesterday banned foreign journalists from entering Gaza. Israeli journalists have been banned for more than two years.” So much for democracy in the Middle East.
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Created: December 27th, 2008 | Written By: matttbastard
Carmen D puts the latest iteration of the “Magic Negro” controversy in broader context by revisiting an old post of hers on the original source of the conservative meme, a 2007 LA Times op-ed by author (and OG Vast Left Wing Conspirator) David Ehrenstein:
Ehrenstein seems to think that Barack Obama is perceived to be safe by ‘white America’. No way, it’s not that simple. The hard truth is that for many in America, particularly in the middle of the country and in parts of the south, there is no such thing as a non-threatening black man. We don’t hear about hate mail or death threats endured by Obama and his family. But don’t you think those threats are coming at a rate only the great Hank Aaron might comprehend?
I am so sick of individual black people judging the ‘blackness’ of other black people. It is simply a waste of time and energy that we, as a community, can ill afford.
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Created: December 26th, 2008 | Written By: Kathy
UPDATES I, II, AND III BELOW:
When the prescription drug is Viagra, and the C.I.A. is handing it out to tribal chieftains in Afghanistan:
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Created: December 25th, 2008 | Written By: matttbastard
Apologies for getting to this a bit late:
More from ProPublica’s A.C. Thompson here, here and here.
Also blogging on this:
(Special thanks to Sylvia/M for link assistance)
Related: Rep. John Conyers responds:
“I am deeply disturbed by the reported incidents in Algiers Point, Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina,” said Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, and chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
Algiers Point residents, Conyers continued, “allegedly shot randomly at African Americans who had fled to the area escaping the effects of the storm. Several injuries and deaths were reported. I am particularly concerned about accounts that local police fueled, rather than extinguished, the violence.”
Also see Color of Change, which has started a campaign asking “Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate” the attacks.
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Created: December 25th, 2008 | Written By: DM
As I sit here marveling at today’s bounty of presents and consider how best to approach the coming traditional feast later this evening I wanted to take this chance to look back on the past year and give thanks.
We here at Comments From Left Field have grown immensely over the last year and it’s all, in part, thanks to you our readers. Without your dedication and readership not even the excitement of this election season would likely have been enough to keep us going. You’re our lifeblood and, let’s face it, who would enjoy yelling day after day into an empty void? The new look, new writers, they’re all thanks to your dedication and motivation. Because believe me, there’s more work going on under the hood than you might realize. So thank you, and keep up the good work.
PS. Considering getting us a present? Yeah, I thought so, you sly devils. You thought we’d forget? Well there are only two things on our wish list this year.
~ Tell as many of your friends, coworkers, and family as you can think of about us. Help spread the word.
~ If you haven’t yet listened to and subscribed to our new podcast “CommentsCast“, please do so. Mike and Kyle have done a great job so far and they could use the audience & support.
Happy holiday, merry solstice, merry Christmas, whatever you happen to call it. We couldn’t do it without you.
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Created: December 23rd, 2008 | Written By: DM
Over the last decade this nation has suffered under the thumb of right-wing ideologues who have, at every opportunity, used the levers of federal power to enact their pipe dreams. Well, with the election of a Democratic President and massive gains in Congress many liberals no doubt feel “it’s our turn”. If nothing has been learned from watching the rightwing over-reach these liberals will get their wish and, among other things, we’ll all end up like the beautiful city of Seattle.
Devotion to public schools, bike trails and park access, these are all great things. But even a good thing can be taken too far, and in Seattle that truth has been manifested in the Seattle Department of Transportation.
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Created: December 23rd, 2008 | Written By: Kathy
Via Firedoglake, a report from Laura Doty at Oxdown Gazette:
Raed in the Middle reports that al Zaidi’s brother visited him today and told the following to al-Baghdadia:
…Montather told him that he was tortured with electric shock after being stripped naked, and that he was continuously humiliated and tortured throughout the period of detention, and that he had bruises all over his face and body, and that members of the Iraqi security forces disfigured his face through beatings and cigarette burns. Montather also told his brother Uday that confessions were extracted from him by force, and that he would like to bring a lawsuit against everyone who participated in his torture. Montather told Uday that he did what he did for all the Iraqi orphans, widows, children and for all the Iraqi people who where wronged.
Raed wrote to the International Committee of the Red Cross to ask for an independent site visit to al Zaidi to evaluate his health. You can see his letter at his website by clicking on his name at the top of this article. He provided these addresses; I hope you’ll join me in requesting the ICRC’s participation:
Contact Mr Hisham Hassan at iraq.iqs@icrc.org and Ms. Dorothea Krimitsas at dkrimitsas.gva@icrc.org
Raed also posts that al Maliki visited Iraqi journalists today and claims that al Zaidi has revealed that his shoe-throwing was instigated by “a well known murderer who is linked to beheading people.” Hmmm. Think there’s any link between the news of his being tortured and Maliki’s claim? Yeah. Me, too. Please write now.
Cross-posted at JustPeaceNow
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Created: December 23rd, 2008 | Written By: Kathy
For one thing, you can learn why it’s important for a woman to have sex with her husband even when “she’s not in the mood“:
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Created: December 23rd, 2008 | Written By: Kathy
September 11, 2001: 3,000 Americans killed in terrorist attacks.
October, 2001: For about six weeks in the fall of 2001, a series of anthrax attacks via the U.S. mail service killed 5 people, sickened over a dozen others, and kept the rest of us terrified everytime we opened the mail.
Ed Gillespie, counselor to George W. Bush:
And one last fact: Our homeland has not suffered another terrorist attack since September 11, 2001. That, too, is part of the real Bush record.
Via Matthew Yglesias.
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Created: December 22nd, 2008 | Written By: Kathy
Peter Wehner has a particularly nauseating piece in Commentary in which he tells Barney Frank that it was very unfair of him to say that it’s unfair of Rick Warren to liken gay marriage to incest:
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Created: December 22nd, 2008 | Written By: Michael Tedesco
As a child, I had a tendency to take the lazy route when trying to justify my need for instant gratification.
“Mom, so-and-so has a (insert your favorite toy/gadget/etc. here), can I have one?” little Mikey would say.
Which would invariably be followed by my mothers’ canned response, “if so-and-so jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge would you do that too?”
Today Comments from Left Field has jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, joining the rest of the lazy political blogging world by producing our own podcast, CommentsCast.
Today’s podast, recorded a week ago Sunday December 14, is not actually the our first attempt in this area. Kyle and I actually recorded a test podcast the week prior but, for now, that will remain a demo only. As a result, we are classifying our first episode with a 1.5 leaving room to possibly pubish version 1.0 at some point in the future.
So, without further adieu I give to you CommentsCast Episode 1.5. Enjoy!
UPDATE: CommentsCast is now available on iTunes so you can keep up to date with the latest from your favorite bloggers on your iPod or iPhone. Alternatively (or in addition) you can subscribe to the RSS feed for CommentsCast.
UPDATE II: During this podcast I mentioned Chuck Pennacchio’s current efforts on behalf of the citizens of Pennsylvania to deliver universal single payer healthcare and Kyle suggested I provide a link. Well here it is; Health Care for All Pennsylvania.
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