Right-Wing Two-fer?

Rumors are flying that William Rehnquist is retiring, creating sponteanous drool flooding throughout conservative circles nationwide. With O'Connor retiring last week and a possible vacancy opening, things are going to get interesting. Give it to Bush: vet Gonzales and strike a deal with the religious conservatives by holding their nose and support the "torture is good for non-Americans" Gonzales in the exchange for a far-right Bork-type jurist. Democrats and the Left need to watch this deal being brokered or else we're going to see the most conservative bench since the Taney Court. What I'm most sick and tired of is this "we need a judge who will interpret the Constitution as it was originally intended" lie. There was no "original intent" garbage that conservatives constantly push, though as the early years of this nation's existence does hold up, we can, and hell, maybe should, return to those wonderful days of yore: women not being able to vote, own property, have custody over their children or use birth control. Non-whites, HAH!!! Back of the bus, onto the plantation for you. Anyone who is anti-war, liberal, or under the age of 30 would be in deep trouble, gays would be imprisoned, blacks lynched. The only "original intent" that might be good for today's society would be the protection of private property and the promotion of business competition and applying the 14th Amendment strictly to people and not corporations (if you're not up on your history, man, we were forced to grab our ankles in the Gilded Age when it came to big business controlling government. Ah, how things repeat themselves...).

Part Man, Part Monkey

To steal a title of a Bruce Springsteen song, which actually has a great deal of relevance to current culture wars. Eighty years ago today in the tiny hamlet of Dayton, Tennessee, biology teacher John T. Scopes was prosecuted for teaching the theory of evolution to his students. It was illegal at the time. It may be again. Eighty years; to think that modern scientific discovery is being trumped by blind faith and religious dogma. How is it that school boards across the country can fall to (unconstitutional, by the way) religious fervor that Creationism is a valid scientific concept or that students have the right to be taught "alternate theories" of the origin of life? Science isn't something someone "gets to choose" to believe in. What's your favorite movie? Pepsi or Coke? Science or belief? We now get to contend with "Intelligent Design", the latest incarnation of religious creationist thought. I agree with the multitude of opinion writers on this topic: the problem isn't that Intelligent Design is wrong; the problem lies in the fact that that it's unfalsifiable. Science isn't creating a theory and then jamming facts into proving that theory; that's the antithesis of the scientific method. One does not have the right to choose in scientific discovery; if I jump out of the window, can I sue someone for pain and suffering because I don't believe in gravity? The theory of the earth's gravitational pull must have an alternative (if all presuppositional argumentation for ID gets to hold true), right? At any rate, Bruce's song hits the nail right on the head but so did the citizens of Dayton; the trial created a media circus with people selling monkey dolls and giving kids the opportunity to have their pictures taken with a real-life chimpanzee holding a Bible. Gotta love it.

Read this. In finishing the new Woodward last night, this, too hits things right on the head. A great many ironies occurred last week; one was that Mark Felt's book debuted the day that Patrick Gray, his boss, passed away. The greater and more tragic irony was the book's release the week that Judith Miller was sent to prison for failing to reveal her source that disclosed the identity of CIA spy Valerie Plame. The roads are leading to Karl Rove, yet why isn't he or Robert Novak, the reporter who actually leaked the name, in hot water? God help us; with the Supreme Court this week denying the true right to private property in the same week that Judith Miller is sent to jail right when George bush is vetting Alberto Gonzales' name for the Supreme Court, I'm getting the feeling that James Madison is turning somersaults in his grave.

So Many Roads

Ten years ago tonight was the very last performance of the Grateful Dead. July 7, 1995, the band played at Soldier Field in Chicago. It was the band's final show of this particular leg of the tour and immediately after, Jerry Garcia checked into rehab in northern California. A month later he would be dead. In memoriam, I am listening to the show right now. The first hour is pretty abysmal, with Bob Weir's gawd-awful slide playing, tepid renditions of Dylan covers and Vince Welnick's contributions to the songs. The second set begins with a gorgeous "So Many Roads" and concludes with an elegaic "Black Muddy River" with Jerry essentially singing his own eulogy. Unfortunately, the band encores with just a terrible "Box of Rain" with Phil Lesh doing his best to sound like Boris Karloff in the 1931 classic Frankenstein. Listen to the river sing my song to rock my soul.

I just flew through Bob Woodward's latest book, The Secret Man, his dissertation on the story of W. Mark Felt, a.k.a., Deep Throat. Good, fun, light read. Woodward is a better reporter than he is a book writer. His style is a very casual one, but in the vain of the Watergate scandal, I of course would snatch this one up. I've read several books on the Watergate scandal including Woodward and Bernstein's All the President's men (twice). To think that Felt's identity as the secret source was nearly leaked from the moment Nixon resigned makes for a great read (in Woodward's telling) and that Woodward always respected Felt's wishes and secrets until Felt ultimately outed himself. Two thumbs up shearly for the fun ending to a great mystery.

This Is a Time For a Loud Voice,

open speech, and fearless thinking. I rejoice that I live in such a splendidly disturbing time.
- Helen Keller

These are words we need to live and act by in a time when so much is at stake. Watching the Right trip over itself with the whole Supes thing is great; social conservatives are railing against Alberto GonzaleS (not "z" like last posts - sorry, ed.) because they believe he won't take a firm stand against abortion. Moderate GOP'ers are requesting that the extreme right tame things down as to maintain a semblance of party unity, but refreshingly, what we're seeing is that the "Right" is as splintered now as the Left. Political and social conservatives (i.e., the evangelicals versus those who ain't) are battling over the course the party needs to take. I believe, though, that if the evangelicals (who always feel painted in a corner, because in their paranoia, they feel like Jews in 1943 Warsaw) continue to push their agenda on the nation, there will be a backlash. not a church-bombing anti-Jesus putsch but a backlash in the midterms. Values, morals, blah blah only goes so far until it begins mirroring cultural fascism. Like this flag burning issue; this country doesn't have anything else to worry about (except for ballplayers shooting 'roids) than going apoplectic over a fundamental (and Constitutionally-protected) freedom of expression. When does desecration of a flag begin? Can I wear a shirt with a flag on it? What if I garden in that shirt and get the flag part dirty? Can I blow my nose on a napkin with the flag on it? Can I burn a flag once it's touched the ground and needs proper disposal? Would a five-second rule count on that? A piece of cloth symbolizing our nation and its history and I can't touch it? I can burn a cross but not a flag; how's that for worshipping false idols?

Did Santa Just Arrive?

Here.

And here.

And if you don't believe either of these since they're not "news" sources, check here.

Karl Rove has been identified as the anonymous and illegal source outing Valerie Plame to the media as a cheap shot revenge trick against her husband, Joe Wilson, for blowing the doors off Bush's claims for going to war against Iraq. If this sticks, and it looks like it's spreading, then this could be the biggest break I feel in reigning in this straw man administration. However, this could also become the Downing Memo pt. 2 and no one will care. However, this all could just be brilliant as the Bushies are wanting to nominate a stooge to the Supreme Court. I haven't needed convincing since the mid-90s, but why trust the Bush Administration with the Supreme Court? So far, the Bushies have:

fixed memos downplaying global warming
fixed intelligence leading the nation to war against Iraq
has failed to find Osama bin Ladin
has pushed away most of the U.S.' allies by being unilateralist
illegally leaked classified information for political gain

ENOUGH!!!

Yes, Worry

After skimming through the web and listening to NPR, already the name floated as the possible successor to Sanda Day O'Connor is Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. If the Senate accepts his nomination to the bench, then, in essence, our federal government will not only condone torture, the rejection of international law and the Geneva Conventions, but accept the idea that the federal government has the right to do whatever it wants. Remember, this is the man pushing for the Patriot Act to not only be continued but expanded - granting the federal government more power to snoop on people, seize records it may deem important, detain or render suspects without due process, strangle public schools in order for them to cough up the name of EVERY junior and senior (in order to keep military enlistments high) and dictate civil rights and liberties. Gonzalez, not only through actions taken but by innuendo and direct words, believes that Americans are not fully granted the right to privacy. If this man gets nominated, then where will the protected rights of Americans end up? This is truly terrifying. Contact your Senator or representative and visit MoveOn.org and sign its petition pushing for a sane nominee and not one of Bush's little minions such as Alberto Gonzalez.

Friday, Oh, Friday

Much to discuss, so little time, and the little man is giving me just a couple of minutes to post before he needs his bottle...

Thank you Eric Alterman for the link to this fantastic one hour audio documentary on the impact of Bruce's music. To contribute to this piece, right now in my life, "Thunder Road"'s story of taking life's last chance being offered you is my son. As Mary takes up the chance to get in the car of the song's protagonist and is driven home as dawn breaks, Clarence Clemons' saxophone comes ripping through the song and brings the song full circle: modern (rock for the mid-1970s) with the past (50s doo-wop); Mary's high school dreams and wishes and the life she's lived since her dreams passed her by. While her prince on the horse (boy in car) wisks her a way, even for just a night's jaunt through the streets, peace and romance is still achieved for at least the listener. This morning, Clarence's sax and Roy Bittan's driving piano create a rush of emotion that hit me this morning as I rocked my young son to sleep in my arms. While Thunder Road competed with Rainbow Connection (my son's favorite song), right there, at that moment, I felt my past and my present meet up with my future and today, for a slight second, life made sense.

Enough reflection; Karl Rove just peed his pants this morning. Sandra Day O'Connor just announced her resignation from the Supreme Court. This is serious. O'Connor has been an important jurist; not just for being the first female Justice, but because her swing votes over the 24 years that she's resided on the Court. O'Connor's resignation in and of itself is not important, it's that Chief Justice William Rehnquist is ready to quit himself. One conservative leaving the bench is inconsequential; two is deadly. Now, Bush can nominate two hard-core staunch conservatives and lock down a permanent conservative majority. The terrifying aspect of this scenario is the possibility that Antonin Scalia could be named Chief Justice. How's that?

I am taking inspiration from Chris "Lefty" Brown and trying to find solutions to the crises we face instead of constantly whining about things. The first thing, I believe, that needs to occur is the creation of a new movement. The Democratic Party, while having good intentions (we know where those lead us) has become a dinosaur. It currently has no true platform except for standing for anything that Bush doesn't. That type of reactionary politics is about as successful as Bush's speech earlier this week. What are we? Liberals? Progressives? The Left? We need to redefine ourselves, create our platform of necessary issues we believe in, and push for what we want to see accomplished. While this is already being done, we need to congeal into a coherent, singular movement. Let's go.

Do all the good you can,,
by all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
as long as ever you can.
- John Wesley

Patience is the companion of wisdom.
-Augustine