Diversity: Normally politicians publicly express their support for affirmative action, but never get around to practicing it. Now we have a president who publicly condemns affirmative action, but has done a great job putting it into practice.
I guess Bush really does support using race as a factor in hiring decisions, only he can't say so publicly because that would upset ultra-conservatives who have an allergic reaction to the idea. But in the end, Bush proves that affirmative action can work for conservatives as well as liberals.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Monday, November 29, 2004
Retro Russia: The Cold War may be over, but Russia's recent actions are still chilling. President Vladimir Putin has retracted many democratic measures in the country by tightening his control of the Duma, replacing popularly elected governors with ones appointed by the Kremlin, and restricting the media. Now it appears Putin's government might have had a hand in rigging the elections in the Ukraine.
The U.S., along with the European Union, has condemned the Ukranian vote results, and it looks like popular activism and political pressure may result in a new election. However, it's still a shaky situation, and it may get worse before it gets better.
That's why we need President Bush to take a strong stance against Putin's strong-arm tactics, both within Russia's government and its meddling with Ukraine's.
Unfortunately, I don't foresee Bush making much of a public stink about what's going on with our old Cold War adversary. Although Russia opposed the U.S. liberation of Iraq, Putin has been a strong supporter of our aggressive fight against terrorism. Putin even endorsed Bush against Kerry in the last election, a completely inappropriate move for a foreign leader.
It appears that Putin is supporting our aggressive fight against the terrorists to justify his own war against the Chechens, especially after those terrorists committed the atrocious attack on hundreds of school children. But he has also used the attacks as an excuse to curtail democratic reforms in the country.
During the Cold War, we would often support hostile, autocratic, oppressive governments when it helped us oppose the Soviet Union. Those decisions in part led to the problems we have now with Islamic terrorism. And now we are now in danger of making the exact same mistake, only in reverse.
Hands On: Here's the video of Bush elbowing his way into a security scuffle to rescue his Secret Service agent. That's my president.
With Sugar on Top: "Don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted ... He lived happily ever after."
That quote is from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. But some conservatives are a little wary of fairy tales. Evan Coyne Maloney and The New York Post are worried that unchecked Republican power could produce the same arrogance and corruption that led to the government revolution we saw in 1994, only this time in reverse.
We've already seen it with Republicans tossing aside ethics rules. Tom DeLay could have lambasted Ronnie Earle and his political tactics while temporarily giving up his leadership position in the House, were he to be indicted, out of principle. Now it seems unlikely that DeLay will even be indicted, but the Republicans have already made it loud and clear that principle yields to power.
The Bush administration is famous for rewarding loyalty ahead of competence. And because of the loyalty oaths Bush's advisors must adhere to, there is little debate and discussion when it comes to major decisions. That's why military officers in Iraq are still waiting for more troops.
The problem is, power corrupts. That's just a fact of governance and humanity. Generally, the tug-o-war of power in a democratic society prevents corruption from getting out of hand. But every so often, power goes unchecked, and corruption grows like a flesh-eating bacterial infection -- as we saw with the Nixon administration and the Democrats' 50-year monopoly over Congress.
That's why it's all the more important for the Democratic Party to get their act together. Either the Republicans are going to screw up or something bad is going to happen that the public will blame on the Republicans. If the face of the Democratic Party is still the anti-war Left, then that faction could get be unduly promoted, or the public will continue to reject them, leaving the corruption in the Republican Party to continue to fester unimpeded.
Monday, November 22, 2004
Clueless: John Kerry blames his loss on Osama Bin Laden's releasing a video days before the election. Kerry believes the visual of Bin Laden scared Americans into supporting their commander in chief. I guess that's what "moral values" means today. At least he's not so dense as to blame gay marriage like some of his peers.
The Bin Laden tape didn't scare anyone. I saw a weakened terrorist who was more conciliatory now that his ranks have been decimated. Instead of launching an attack before the election, which many of us expected him to do, he videotaped a monologue. The only indictments he could lay on our nation and its leaders are bits he pulled from a Michael Moore movie (and it's sickening that the filmmaker was proud that Osama Bin Laden was quoting his work). Bin Laden is still a threat, and he will carry out more attacks against us. Our decision to fight back isn't based on fear. It's resolve.
There still seems to be a lot of misunderstandings between the Reds and the Blues. If you haven't seen this, you should read this open letter from a Red State resident to the Democratic Party. There are also two excellent essays, here and here, written by centrists (hat tip, Centerfield) explaining that we're not so different after all.
Friday, November 19, 2004
Delay Tactics: The Republicans are hypocrites for getting rid of a rule now that it no longer suits them. While they looked all high and mighty when they were the minority party by preventing indicted House members from taking leadership roles -- to show up the Democrats -- now such shackles of "reform" are deemed inconvenient.
That being said, I do feel for Tom DeLay for being the latest target of Ronnie Earle's political crusades. I'm no fan of DeLay, not by a long shot. But this isn't the first time Ronnie Earle has made headlines for himself through a widely publicized investigation.
For those who don't know, Ronnie Earle is the District Attorney for Travis County, Texas. Travis County is, of course, home to the city of Austin, which is a liberal bastion in a conservative state -- a bright Blue Dot in a deep Red State, if you will. It's also one of my favorite places on Earth.
There is a quirk in Texas law that puts all of the states elected officials, for both state and federal offices, under the investigative power of the Travis County District Attorney (because Austin is the state capital). Ronnie Earle has made a career delighting his constituents by dragging politicians, both Republicans and Democrats, through the mud.
Each of the investigations, which rarely it seems produces a conviction, have always been deemed political in nature. This one is probably no different, considering DeLay's controversial involvement in redistricting congressional seats in Texas. I'm betting that DeLay won't be convicted for any of the fundraising funny business he's been accused of. I could be wrong, considering I don't know all the facts in the case, but that's just a hunch.
Am I upset that The Hammer might get knocked off his high horse, if not criminally then at least politically? Not at all. But it's hard to support the tactics of Ronnie Earle. Then again, it's equally hard to stomach watching the Republicans adopt one ethics policy as a minority party in order to gain power, only to cast it aside after they have secured control. Election after election, it remains politics as usual.
Update: The GOP finally changed course on this.
The Birth of a Moderate: Some people are pushing for Mark Warner, the Democratic governor of Virginia, to run for president in 2008 (doncha hate these 2008 speculation stories?). There's even a blog dedicated to recruiting him. I'm a Virginia resident and a pretty big fan of Gov. Warner. In fact, he's the reason I started calling myself a "staunch moderate".
I was driving in my car listening to the news a few years ago, when a report summarized what the Gov. Warner had done in the past week. I'm still fuzzy on the details of exactly what action he took, but I believe the governor had vetoed a bill that would have made it much more difficult for women to get an abortion if they needed one (good move). Then, the report said, in order to take a moderate stance and not upset conservatives, he also vetoed a bill that would have further restricted the use of guns in the state (another good move).
The reporter used the term "moderate" to make it sound like Gov. Warner was being wishy-washy, trying to appeal to both sides, not making any strong decisions by trying to make liberals happy then turning around and trying to make to make conservatives happy. But I thought, those were two good decisions. That's MY governor!
So he may very well be a good candidate for president. It's, obviously too soon to tell. I don't know where exactly he stands on the war, and we have no idea where the war will be in four years.
Plus, Mark Warner doesn't seem to have a lot of charisma, at least from what I've seen. So he might not be able to attract much interest outside his home state.
But it's good to see the Democrats speculating about strong moderates like Warner. Even if he's just a loud voice in the primaries, he may do the party a lot of good.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Scare Tactics: In a switch, conservatives are playing the PC card and are accusing liberals of racism. Why? Because lefties have the gall to mock and criticize the nominee for Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
In a series of political cartoons, Ms. Rice is depicted in an unflattering and critical light. But so is everyone else who appears in political cartoons. The only difference is she is a black woman. But that shouldn't keep her immune from criticism.
Conservatives would argue that if the tables were turned, liberals would be screaming racism. Well, then the liberals would be wrong, too. Conservatives used to be the ideology that shunned political correctness. Now they're using it as a political weapon.
There is a line that shouldn't be crossed, but nobody agrees where that line should be. In the past, liberals such as Harry Belafonte referred to Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice as President Bush's "house slaves". That, in my opinion, is racist (even coming from a fellow African American). But Ms. Rice had a great reply, "If Harry Belafonte wants to disagree with my political views, that's fine. But I don't need Harry Belafonte to tell me what it means to be black."
Now, it seems, anytime a person of color is raked over the coals, for legitimate or overblown reasons, that person's race becomes an issue. But it's incredibly dangerous to dismiss all criticism against a person as racist, as it's akin to the Red Scare or a witch-hunt.
Flagrant accusations are effective at suppressing opposition speech, but that's the last thing we want in a society that promotes open discourse. And the accusation itself, in some respects, is racist, because it implies that just because the person is a racial minority, that he or she can't take the heat.
We broke a lot of ground during this administration in placing people of color in powerful government positions. That should be reason enough to stop discussing race and to keep the arguments focused on policy.
Off to a Great Start: Republicans are already heading the wrong direction. Instead of using this time right after the election to cut spending, they raised the debt ceiling again. This would be an ideal opportunity to rein in excess appropriations, considering that anybody they upset in the process will have calmed down by the next election. If the GOP keeps this up, the Democrats will soon grab the mantle of fiscal responsibility.
But so far the Democrats don't know how to react. In his first appearance since losing the presidential election, Sen. Kerry was stuck in campaign mode, blaming Bush for turning budget surpluses into deficits. This is such an inane argument, because everybody knows we lost the surpluses because of the recession, not because of what Bush did. Instead of looking backwards, the Democrats should be the party that looks into the future and say that, despite the past budget problems, we have no excuse now but to balance our budget. Otherwise we could find ourselves in serious financial trouble in the years to come.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
The Real World, Fallujah: Unfortunately, war was not made for TV. While the Pentagon has reaped the benefits of positive coverage by embedding journalists with U.S. troops, officials there also have to grapple with negative perceptions from time to time.
The latest one stems from the NBC video showing a Marine shooting what appears to be an unarmed injured Iraqi insurgent. Some observers are claiming that the killing was a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions.
But in the world of warfare, not everything is so cut and dry. I've never served in the military or seen real combat, but the situation seems more complicated than some are letting on.
Our enemies in Iraq are committing war crimes every day. They're booby-trapping dead bodies. They're faking surrender, then attacking our troops. They're faking death, then attacking our troops.
In addition to that, they don't wear uniforms. They are hiding among civilian populations. They kidnap and torture prisoners. And they video tape the torturing and killing of the prisoners. All these actions are illegal.
That doesn't give our troops the right to disregard the laws of warfare. But it does put their actions in a different context. Apparently, a Marine in the same unit as the one in the video had been killed tending to a dead Iraqi who had been booby-trapped. The Marines didn't want to take such a risk again that could cost them they're lives.
In the video, the Iraqi appeared to be dead, but the Marines believed he was faking. So that leaves two possible outcomes: Either the man really was dead, and the Marine wasted ammo by firing into a carcass. Or the man was alive but pretending to be dead, which means he was trying to trick the Marines for some reason. And that leads me to believe that the Marines were acting in self-defense.
Let's have an investigation. Let's make sure nothing went wrong so we can put the issue to rest. But let's not assume we know better from the comfort of our living room couches. In war, you can't presume innocent until proven guilty. These troops are facing realities that many of us could never imagine.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Backfire: I had never heard of Theo Van Gogh. I had never seen any of his films. I didn't know anything about what he stood for.
Until now.
The terrorists always fail to grasp the fact that whenever they attack something or someone, they inadvertently elevate what they are trying to destroy. It's beautiful irony that, after his murder, Theo Van Gogh has become larger than life.
State of Nature: When scorpions lack a common enemy or prey, they sometimes attack each other in an act of cannibalism. Now the Republican Party seems intent on doing the same thing.
Lacking any adequate political adversary, conservatives are turning their sights on the moderates within the party. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania made the mistake of publicly doubting the ability of the Senate to confirm new Supreme Court justices who seek to overturn Roe v. Wade, and he became an enemy of the American Family -- or at least some Association that claims to represent them.
These conservatives want to prevent Specter from becoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, for which he is next in line, to limit his influence on approving federal judges nominated by President Bush. If the far-right has its way, they will lose Specter's support and as a result will weaken the power of the Republican Party.
Republicans may be the top dog in town now. But they can't let their power get to their heads. I know hard-core conservatives who would rather the Republican Party play smart and take a moderate approach to running the government than to let the extremists run the asylum at the risk of losing national political support. The decision Republicans make with Specter could be an indication as to whether the party has the brains to stay in charge for awhile.
P.S. The American Family Association is also targeting Proctor & Gamble for actively recruiting "individuals who practice the abnormal and destructive homosexual lifestyle to come to work for the company." In response, the association wants people to boycott P&G products. In case you don't know what the company produces, here's a list. I guess right-wing homophobes and nutty animal-rights groups have a common enemy. I encourage them to boycott P&G products such as soap, laundry detergent, and toothpaste. That way we can smell them coming ahead of time.
Running Out of Firsts: Condoleezza Rice appears to be next in line to become Secretary of State. She's the second African American to take the position. She's also the second woman. I think it's a good sign of progress that she isn't the first in either category, unless you start to combine and stretch (ie, first African American who is also a woman, first black person to replace a black cabinet officer, etc.).
Soon we'll stop making comments about how noteworthy it is that we don't have to make comments. And that will be a sign of real progress.
Monday, November 15, 2004
The situation is far from settled, and we have a lot of problems to overcome. But this shows that the United States can take a hard line against nations that support terrorism and still won't lose the help from our European allies.
Progress: Within weeks after Bush's re-election, Iran has pledged to abandon its ambition of nuclear weapons. Europe has been negotiating with Iran for quite some time and won concessions from the Axis of Evil member. At the very end of a Washington Post article about this issue, we find this little nugget:
European diplomats said Bush's reelection helped the negotiations by limiting Iran's options. Had Democrat John F. Kerry won, Iran might have tried to play for time or probe what policy shifts a new administration was considering, they said.Bush actually isn't happy with the final results, reports indicate. He wanted to take a tougher stance and concede less to Iran. But as a result, this really puts him in the best situation. He has a promise from Iran to stop seeking nuclear weapons. But if Iran strays from the agreement even a little, Bush can still act forcefully against that country, because the U.S. was never officially party to the agreement.
The situation is far from settled, and we have a lot of problems to overcome. But this shows that the United States can take a hard line against nations that support terrorism and still won't lose the help from our European allies.
More: Michael Moore plans to release a sequel to his latest movie in two to three years. He plans to call it Fahrenheit 9-11 1/2.
The organization, though, that helped distribute the original is called the Fellowship Adventure Group. With an acronym like that, I guess the movie Team America was more spot on than I originally thought.
Friday, November 12, 2004
RIP: The only terrorist mastermind who managed to win the Nobel Peace Prize is dead and buried. That's one obstacle to peace in the Middle East that has been removed. But there are still plenty others.
Baby Steps: I hadn't realized this, but it looks like the Democrats are going with Harry Reid of Nevada as the Senate Minority leader after Daschle's fall. Reid was the heir apparent, having previously served as the Minority Whip.
But some Democrats were concerned about selecting someone from a Red State, saying such a leader would be vulnerable in future elections. Many of them wanted a devout liberal from a Blue State.
Now Nevada is more pink than red, but Senator Reid seems to be a strong moderate lawmaker. We'll see what happens when he actually starts using his power, but so far it seems like this is a good step for the Democrats.
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Half the Battle: It's very disconcerting to me that I know so much about the military endeavors in Iraq. I knew weeks ahead of time that Coalition forces were planning to retake Fallujah. I knew that the purpose of this mission was to round up terrorists and to disrupt their base of operations.
If I could find out all that information on WashingtonPost.com, just think of how much the terrorists know.
Now Coalition forces have almost completed the mission, as most of Fallujah is under our control. But Zarqawi and most of the terrorists are nowhere to be found. For some reason they booked early and decided to conduct operations elsewhere.
I'm all for openness in our government and its actions. But during a war, there are some things I expect not to know. When it comes to military action, please, surprise me, and take the terrorists by surprise as well.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
I'm not going to get into any evaluation of Mr. Ashcroft's performance, for the time being. But I had no idea that we had already solved the issue of crime and terrorism. Hell, I might as well take the rest of the day off from blogging.
This Just In! From the White House:
The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved.Those are the words from U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, in his letter of resignation.
I'm not going to get into any evaluation of Mr. Ashcroft's performance, for the time being. But I had no idea that we had already solved the issue of crime and terrorism. Hell, I might as well take the rest of the day off from blogging.
Taxing Sanity: Republicans were re-elected to win the War on Terrorism, and now they're talking about overhauling the tax code. That's fine, we can discuss it. But I don't imagine anything beneficial will come from this.
Conservatives talk about getting rid of the IRS and instituting a flat tax. But why would we do that? A flat tax would mean no tax deductions for charitable contributions, mortgages, education costs, medical costs, and a host of other targeted tax breaks. We have those tax breaks now because they're popular, and people need them.
If you think the tax code is too complicated, don't make any deductions, or don't ask for a refund. It's simple, and accomplishes the same as a flat tax. (The same can be said for all you people who don't like Bush's tax cuts. You're more than welcome to offer more of your money to the federal government. Go ahead.)
Another proposal is for a national sales tax. But that could easily become a national nightmare. Consumption taxes, such a sales tax, are notoriously regressive, meaning they hurt the poor harder than the rich. Poor people spend a greater percentage of their income than rich people do. (A person making $30,000 per year will likely spend at least $29,000, or 96-percent, to live. Whereas a person making $400,000 per year would likely only spend $300,000, or 75-percent, to live.) That would also dissuade rich people from buying things, which hurts the economy. You'll never be able to stop people from wanting to make more money, but it's easy to give them second thoughts about wanting to spend it.
And in practical terms, I would dread a national sales tax. It's frustrating enough while shopping to calculate in your head what an additional 5- or 8-percent tax will bring the final cost to. I don't want to figure out 15- or 18-percent tax. I became a writer for a reason -- I hate math. Now, if stores would include the tax when listing prices, that would make things easier. In fact, why don't they?
Anyhow, we can have a discussion about this. But with so many competing interests out there, don't expect to see any substantive changes.
Monday, November 08, 2004
The Moo Vote: I'm really tired of conservatives touting these color-coded maps showing how many counties Bush won in the United States. USA Today shows that Bush got about 3-million square miles opposed to Kerry's half million. And somehow righties translate this into a greater mandate for the president.
See those blue dots on the map? Those make up most of the largest population centers of the United States. Yes, large groups of people tend to live in bunches here. It's a curious habit of humans, but that's just the way it is.
There isn't much in most of those Red Counties. That map really doesn't tell me anything, other than that if cows could vote, Republicans would have it made.
Blind Rage: I don't know why I still pay attention to this stuff. I'm not actively looking for it, but I happen to run across it during my surfing of political sites.
Just when I think I've seen it all, I find something else that absolutely takes my breath away.
Moral Outrage: In many of the post-mortems, a lot of liberals seem to be blaming the same-sex marriage issue for Kerry's defeat. Their evidence, a plurality of Republican voters saying "moral values" was the top reason for voting for Bush.
While it's a shame that many people in this country aren't yet comfortable with the idea of homosexuality, let's not blow the gay issue out of proportion. Not everybody who voted for Bush is a blue-balled red neck.
The term "moral values" is too ambiguous. It's a catchall phrase used to say someone has good character. Do some people believe homosexuality is a moral issue? Sure. But many of the same people also believe sticking to your word shows moral character, as does fighting fascism.
For some reason, many people on the Left are trying to downplay the importance of the War on Terrorism in this election. That may help you feel better, but it doesn't necessarily follow the facts. Exit polls indicate that among the people who voted, 23 percent cited "moral values" as their most important issue, 20 percent said "economy/jobs", 19 percent said "terrorism", and 15 percent said "Iraq".
For one thing, the percentages are pretty close. And another, many people -- not all, but many -- consider the War on Terrorism to include both "terrorism" and "Iraq". Considering that, you can't argue that the War on Terrorism was second to gay marriage.
Luckily some lefties are trying to kill that idea before it solidifies to become conventional wisdom. Because if it does, the Democrats will completely miss the important lesson of this election and will end up in worse shape than they already are. And right now we need a strong opposition to keep the ruling party in check.