Writing Life

Don Imus’s is trying to cover up yet another racist rant of his. Disingenuously, he’s trying to spin it the other way. Unfortunately for him, the original audio has been posted online and there’s really no way to take it any other way. The question remains: Will his bosses will stand up and act or simply look the other way while they make money off this bigot’s show? I’m so sick of people like Imus making racist comments, then denying it, then spinning it, then apologizes, then going back to the same claptrap as soon as the public turns its attention elsewhere.

This is what America’s come to?  This is the paramount achievement on top of 200+ years of attempted democracy?  Fear turned into policy turned into action? This is what Mr. Worst President of the United States EVUH has wrought.  In an AP wire report today, the second paragraph reads:

The LAPD’s counterterrorism bureau plans to identify Muslim enclaves in order to determine which might be likely to become isolated and susceptible to “violent, ideologically based extremism,” said Deputy Chief Michael P. Downing on Thursday.  

All Muslims are suspect? I don’t remember Oklahoma profiling and cataloging all the white folks in the state after Timothy McVeigh and his cohorts murdered 168 Americans.

The Guardian is covering vile statements made by one of the world’s most famous scientists, Mr. James Watson. Watson was a co-discovered of the secrets of DNA. In the past, he’s made anti-gay statements and promulgated racial stereotypes that blacks are over-sexed. This latter comment has been disproved in every corner of social science and only rears its ugly head among white supremacists. He’s even said that beauty can be genetically manufactured, a claim that seems more a nod to eugenics ideology than science. Now, this “scientist,” in his waning years, claims that black people are less intelligent than whites. He even says that everyone knows this to be true.

It’s always sad when someone who’s made such an impact on the world starts to age and lose it. But, this is ridiculous. He’s been spewing this bile for decades and very few seem to call him out. We need to stand up to these unscientific professions of hate. Let’s take his views and put them back in their place, back in the 20th Century.

Check out this Reteurs report about an American diplomat spewing hatred at Muslim Americans, calling for the innocent slaughter of Lebanese citizens in particular and all Arab peoples in general. He’s retiring so he won’t be held accountable. Shocker there.

Okay, so do you remember Virgil Goode (R-VA 05), a Republican U.S. Representative from the Charlottesville, Virginia area? If not, I wrote about him back around the 2006 elections. He was spewing racist and hate speech about the election of Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN 05), the first elected African-American Muslim to Congress.

Well, he has a new friend. Rep. Bill Sali (R-ID 01) has begun spewing hatred against anyone who’s not a fundamentalist Christian. He rails against Hindus, Muslims and anyone who doesn’t profess the same faith he does. It’s amazing to hear someone rant like this in the 21st Century, but then again, he’s a far-right Republican who’s eclipsed a party that I disagreed with but could have a conversation with, at least back in the late 80s and very early 90s. Sali, Goode and their ilk have destroyed the Republican party and the chances of retaking Congress or retaining the White House.

It’s sickening to think that this man, Rep. Sali, has been named Republican Freshman Class president. If this is a popularity contest, what kind of Republican Party is on Capitol Hill these days?

CNN just reported it. AP has 2 line report at the moment. Yes, finally some accountability.

Fire him. We’re past the opportunity for him to resign. His actions warrant such a sanction. Over the last day, MSNBC and CBS Radio decided to suspend Imus for two weeks for his most recent racist outburst on his syndicated radio talk show. Please note that it’s the most recent remark not the first, not the only one from this man. He said it was just a joke, then he said he was sorry but that he’s not a racist and that he doesn’t deserve to get fired over this.

This morning, Imus said “What I did was make a stupid, idiotic mistake in a comedy context.” Let’s look a little closer at that statement. A comedy context? The defenders of Imus, including fallen angel James Carville, have said that Imus is important since he talks politics and international affairs to a radio audience; introducing topics that aren’t usually discussed. Politicians and journalists often appear on his show. So, where’s the comedy in this format? Or, is it just shock-jock programming for politicos? Marketers love his show since it breaks them into a highly valued market.

It’s time to fire him (and maybe add a fine to boot). We’ve fined Howard Stern for cursing on the air. We’ve fined TV for Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2006 Super Bowl. But we allow racist spew daily from Imus, Rush Limbaugh and other hate mongers on the right. Come on MSNBC and CBS, stand up for America, don’t sit down for dollars.

This is now three posts in a row about this bigoted Congressman from Virginia. Today’s Roanoke Times editorial is calling this incident Goode’s macaca moment, referring to the former Senator George Allen (R) of the same state who used this derogatory term to reference an Indian-American Democrat at one of his down-home rallies for Senate in 2006. Allen pretty much blew his own head off with that comment, sending his Senate campaign into a downward spiral. Senator-elect Jim Webb is not a great campaigner and he needed Allen to blow it for him to succeed. Allen also blew away any chance of running for President in 2008, which was his general plan.

Returning to Rep. Goode, do his constituents care about their Congressman’s views? He’s been returned to office many times, winning in November against Democratic challenger Al Weed 51 to 40 percent. Fifty-one percent is not a landslide, especially given that he’s won previous races with 60% or more. The 5th Congressional district is predominantly conservative, with a small moderate to liberal bastion in Charlottesville. But, heading south from the northern tip of the district in that city, you go all the way down to the North Carolina border.

The White House has failed to condemn or even offer detailed comments about Goode’s lambasting Muslims, even as he tries to portray his wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as not crusades. All they’ve said so far, through a spokesperson, is that “no judgments have been made.” I guess they don’t have to offer judgments, since Rep. Goode pretty much offered his judgement and stands by it as his party stands by him in silence.

Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA 05) has spoken and Fox News has framed. Here’s a YouTube link to see Goode’s interview. WTF!!! Notice how Fox shows pictures of those scary Muslims throughout the interview. Why is the swearing-in of an American in Minnesota shown side-by-side with pictures of Hamas or Hezbollah? And great pictures of Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (DFL-MN 05) talking with young folks. Gee, I wonder if he’s trying to convert them! Fox News and Mr. Goode belong together. And, they belong out of office and off the airwaves.

Today’s Washington Post had an editorial on this, which is partly where I got the word “bigot” from for my title.

Yesterday, I wrote about Republican Virgil Goode (VA-05) and his disgusting letter to his constituents attacking Muslims, Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (DFL-MN 05) and immigrants to the U.S. in general. The story got picked up by the wires and was on CNN today and in the New York Times, among other places. The blogosphere had it first, but it spread like wildfire.

Goode kept saying, in interviews for these online and print pieces, that he stood by what he wrote. This afternoon (4 PM), he went on Fox News to speak out on his controversy. Fox is probably the only place that he felt he could find a sympathetic audience. Hate likes hate, right?

AP has a story up on this now. Here’s the money quote from the article

Goode also told Fox News he wants to limit legal immigration and do away with “diversity visas,” which he said let in people “not from European countries” and “some terrorist states.”

In his letter, Goode wrote that strict immigration polices are necessary “to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America.”

So, let’s keep out those who don’t come from European countries? Who don’t support traditional beliefs? Coded language? I wonder who Virgil’s talking about? You be the judge.

With lots of ink, digital and real, covering the election of the first Muslim to Congress, and the first person of color for the Minnesota delegation, you’d expect to hear both good and bad things. But, I stumbled across this on Wonkette this morning and couldn’t believe it. I thought it might have been a satire, but I found article after article citing the incident, and not from other satire sites or wacko sites. This Congressman needs to apologize, and maybe even resign. This type of vitriol does not belong in an elected leader. He disrespects his constituents, his state and his country.

What am I talking about? It’s a letter that came from Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA 05)’s office in response to a constituent letter asking about Rep-elect Keith Ellison (DFL-MN 05) using a Koran for his swearing-in ceremony instead of a bible. I wrote about this before. That was a bunch of conservative bloggers and pundits, not elected officials. Now Goode wrote back that he doesn’t believe Ellison should use a Koran and that if America isn’t careful, more Muslims like Ellison will be elected to Congress and invade the good(e) Old(e) United States.

What elected official would send something out like this? Maybe it was an errant staffer? Maybe a Democratic saboteur? Nope, in this article, check out the text below the picture. Rep. Goode said that he wrote the letter and that “I think it speaks for itself.”

Other links to see are PR Newswire, The American Muslim, Think Progress and All Headline News.

See if this gets your blood boiling, like it did mine! Newt Gingrich, former leader of the 1994 Republican Contract ON America and a disgraced Speaker of the House who resigned in 1998, had been trying to reform himself over the last few years. He’s moved away from ultra-polarizing rhetoric and mvoed somewhat to the center. He returned to teaching but also worked across the aisle on some of the big issues of the day. He was even considered by some to be a potential Republican candidate for President in 2008.

So, his recent rantings about the need to curtail freedom of speech to protect Americans from terror sounded a warning bell to the middle. In a speech yesterday, Gingrich spoke about the Muslim clerics in Minnesota that were taken off a plane because the pilot and a passenger felt they were terrorist threats. The reason? Because they’d prayed before getting on the plane. Right there in the terminal. Can you believe it? It shocks the senses? [In case it isn't obvious, my reactions are meant to drip with sarcasm.]

In the New Hampshire Union Leader, writing about this speech Newt gave in that state, Newt supposedly said, “Those six people should have been arrested and prosecuted for pretending to be terrorists. And the crew of the U.S. airplane should have been invited to the White House and congratulated for being correct in the protection of its citizens.”

UN-F-ING-BELEIVABLE! Thanks to TPM for bringing this to my attention. To follow this thread over there, you can click here.

From today’s The Hill e-news. A moderate, eh? A maverick, eh? No, kowtowing to the extreme right. How about a McCain-Lieberman ticket for 2008. When they lose and cry on Fox News, we can call them McFlip and Loserman.

McCain’s PAC to retain Terry Nelson

Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) PAC has no plans to cut ties with top GOP strategist Terry Nelson, who ended his contract with Wal-Mart this week amid complaints from Democrats and union groups over his authorizing of the now-infamous Tennessee Senate ad linking Democratic nominee Rep. Harold Ford Jr. to a Playboy Bunny.

Nelson heads the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) independent expenditure unit, which sparked a pre-election dustup over racial rhetoric in the South with an ad featuring a bubbly white woman claiming to have met Ford “at the Playboy party” and telling the young black Democrat, “Harold, call me!”

Though the ad has largely vanished from the airwaves, fallout from the controversy continues: GOP nominee Bob Corker has opened a small lead over Ford in recent polls, and pressure from Democrats as well as union-backed Wake Up Wal-Mart prompted the retailing behemoth to seek Nelson’s resignation on Friday.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) took aim on Sunday at RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman, who defended the Tennessee ad, and McCain, whose Straight Talk America PAC hired Nelson in March as a senior adviser.

“Even Wal-Mart fired Terry Nelson for his role in making this ad. Instead of doing what’s right, Ken Mehlman and Republicans like John McCain continue to stand by Terry Nelson and these racist, divisive campaign tactics,” DNC Communications Director Karen Finney said, adding that “Ken Mehlman and John McCain should fire Terry Nelson.”

Straight Talk America will continue working with Nelson, PAC director Craig Goldman said Monday.

“His role is to advise us on campaigns all over the country, as far as which campaigns the PAC should be supporting,” Goldman said. “He continues in that role.”

Corker’s campaign has contacted McCain about appearing on the stump in Tennessee, Goldman said, but negotiations are ongoing about the details of a possible Volunteer State visit by the 2008 hopeful.

– Elana Schor

As the friend who sent this to me said, words escape me. In this Agence France Presse wire report, that was published on Monday, July 17, 2006, US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton said that there is no moral equivalence to innocent civilians killed by Israeli aggression in Lebanon and Israelis who are killed by Hezbollah terrorists. His implication is that an innocent civilian Israeli life is worth more, morally, than an innocent civilian Lebanese life. This is ridiculous! Murder is murder.

Check out this website. It is a fantastic site that describes an important project at a critical time in our world’s history. Watch the trailers. My friend Val was a part of this project.

From the site:

This is an ongoing multi-faceted research and documentary project on Arabs and Terrorism. It is unique in its breadth and scope: researched in 6 languages and filmed on location in 10 countries, with 90 experts/politicians and hundreds of street interviews in the United States, Europe, and the Arab world. It examines the dominant discourse on terrorism in the United States and Europe and offers critics an opportunity to respond. The research component is available on this site as a resource, and the documentary component is available for viewing in a variety of ways, including on television/DVD, in theatres/festivals, and as part of a made-to-order screening and lecture tour involving the director and crew.

Reid slams former Reagan official for racial slur

Former Education Secretary William Bennett probably had to move his microphone aside to get his foot this deep into his mouth.”You could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down, ” he explained during a roundabout answer to a caller’s on-air question on Thursday’s broadcast.

Bennett immediately observed that to do so “would be impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible” but repeated his claim that it would reduce crime.

Oddly, he floated this far-from-modest proposal as a way to discredit the claim made in the best-selling book Freakonomics that abortions have reduced the crime rate.

That line of thinking is “tricky,” he said in a masterful stroke of understatement. A clip is available on the liberal Web site, MediaMatters.org.

The next day, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) press shop decided that too few people had had an opportunity to be offended and issued a statement. Taking a courageous stand against eugenics, Reid suggested that Bennett apologize and more or less dared the GOP not to distance itself from the comments.