It's a Rural Thang

In further proof that Missouri truly is a red state, it turns out that a significant number of Missourians are "noodlers" - people who "jump into rivers and creeks, then reach into bank crevices or logs in search of catfish, wrestling barehanded with what they grab — sometimes snapping turtles or snakes — all while holding their breath underwater." They're mad because the Missouri Department of Conservation has given them a temporary season to indulge this previously-illegal urge, but they are restricted to three rivers, two of which, they claim, are no good for noodling.

If you're keeping score, that means that here in Missouri, you're a despicable oddball if you want to spend the afternoon snuggling with someone of the same gender, but you're A-OK if you want to jump into a muddy river, blindly stick your hand into a log and wrestle whatever you find. That's normal.

Senator Clinton

Moments ago, I was in a bar with 6 friends of mixed political views. One of the conservatives commented that he had seen a "Hillary '08" bumper sticker, and asked the liberals in the group what we thought. We were lamely and dispassionately positive, and now I regret my inability to insist that her voice be taken seriously. The posting from Kos (quoted in its entirety - in case there is any misguided soul who reads this blog who does not read Kos) put me in my place. I have never bashed Ms. Clinton, but I have been cowardly in my failure to defend her.

What's the problem with Hillary?
by kos
Thu Jan 27th, 2005 at 14:41:36 PST

Feeling uncreative and tapped out, I took advantage of the day to run some errands and have lunch in The City. I let my thoughts lead where they may, and they culiminated with this simple question:

What the fuck is up with all the Hillary bashing around these parts?

To be clear, she's not my favorite potential presidential candidate for '08, but she's also not my least favorite choice.

Yet the more I thought about the personal attacks she endures from people on her own side, the angrier I got.

Look, there isn't a single person that has suffered worse at the hands of the Right Wing Noise Machine and the Corporate Media. She has borne the brunt of attacks that would've shriveled up lesser humans. She has had to deal with personal problems in a public way that would've driven most of us underground.

Yet not only has she parried aside those savage attacks, but she has grown and thrived. That is worthy of respect. She is on the front lines against our enemies and doesn't deserve to be ravaged by her own side. She doesn't go on Fox News to attack fellow Democrats, like some of the others do.

You disagree with her vote on Pet Issue X? Fine. Every elected official will vote against one of your pet issues. Expect 100% agreement with anyone and you WILL be disappointed. Heck, there are fools wailing about Obama this and Obama that already, as though any senator or congressman or governor or anyone will ever heed your every wish.

So disagree with actions X, Y, or Z if you must. But the vitriol sent her way here rivals that dished out by the Freepers. She doesn't deserve it, and I wish those people would chill. She's not the enemy.

My Cock Can Beat Up Your Cock

Some days, I'm extra-proud to be a Democrat. Just a little southwest of here, a fellow Democrat is making a stand in favor of cockfighting. Of course, times have changed since Grandpa was fighting cocks, so, these days, it makes sense to put a little protection on your cock before you toss it in the ring.

Moral Relativism Meets its Limits

It is often fascinating to ponder the deep questions of life - the gray areas where morality and ethics pose difficult quandaries. A lifetime of advanced philosophical inquiry has prepared me to reach the following conclusion: It is wrong to slash the tires of vans to be used to transport voters to the polls. Even Republican vans. Even in a swing state. Even when Bush is running.

Some deep thinkers, however, disagree.

Matt Blunts Hearts the Insurance Industry

Matt Blunt is working hard to show how much he values insurance companies over Missourians. His latest demonstration of that fact is how he let the insurance industry pick their own regulator! What kind of public servant would delegate the task of choosing the role of protector of the public interest to the very industry that he will regulate? Matt Blunt did.

The insurance industry in Missouri must be rejoicing about the fact that their watchdog is none other than a former "Insurance Man of the Year"!!

Missouri Children Left Behind

According to the No Child Left Behind Act, 31.1% of Missouri children should be proficient in math, and 38.8% should be proficient in communications next year. Not gonna happen. Instead, we're going to settle for 17.5% passing the math test, and 26.6 in communications. Good enough for a red state, I suppose.

Bolivia on West Wing

West Wing recently had an episode where Bolivians captured CIA agents posing as engineers. Blog from Bolivia appreciates the media attention to questions of American involvement in Bolivia, but questions why NBC provides only the CIA's profile of Bolivia in its background materials. (Sidenote: I had never known that NBC provides background materials for the topics it addresses on West Wing. That's pretty cool!)

TV News Sells Racism

Central High School debate fanatic Joe Miller at Kansas City Soil has a fantastic post about local TV coverage of a fight at Central High School. He points out how the news swarmed all over the school for a story about a high school brawl, but has refused his attempts to get any coverage for the ground-breaking debate team he helps out there. He expresses his anger, and then acknowledges

Yes. I'm nuts. But I can't help but be pissed. While these pretty-haired hacks were working up their non-news story -- "Fight Breaks Out at Central High" -- I spent three hours inside Central reading and analyzing feminist writings by bell hooks, Barbara Smith and Michelle Bauer with brilliant, nonviolent kids. I'm there every afternoon doing stuff like this.

Joe is absolutely correct in his analysis - the newscasters would much rather affirm the view that the kids at Central (and other urban public schools) are a bunch of gang-banging savages, than confuse their bland target audience with stories that break down their stereotypes.

Star puts Insignificant Attention-Seeker in his Place

Jerry Agar is a local radio talk-show host who is trying his level best to build an audience. I've also listened to his show, and he lacks the fundamental ability to think on more than a binary level. In a nutshell, he tends to dream up some crazy thing to say on a given topic, and then callers can either agree by rephrasing the talking point, or disagree, in which case he abuses them. He's an ill-mannered, high-energy yapping dog begging for attention. His show is utter stupidity, of course, but that is a sin shared by much radio entertainment. The real sin of his show is that it is boring.

It's bad enough that he is resorting to having "Dynomite" Jimmie Walker on to break the boredom.

Normally, he is somebody simply to be ignored, but his desperate attempts to get more than 6 listeners is making him kind of funny. Yesterday's Kansas City Star published the following letter:

This challenge to The Star aired on my radio show. Please back your support of schoolbooks by printing some of the controversial material without hiding behind symbols or devices such as (expletive deleted). Stand up for principle! Combat “growing censorship” (1/13 editorial, “Keep these books within pupils' reach”).

I know you are competent to put the passages in context. Don't worry about language in a family paper; they will just hear it somewhere else anyway.

I would lose my job if I read the passages on the air, because children are listening, but since you believe the material to be suitable for children in context, have at it. I may have erred when I said your position was a hypocritical double standard. I am sure you will prove me wrong.

I would also like to know why 500 parents are “self-appointed censors” not to be listened to, while one atheist can shut down a Christmas display at school.

Jerry Agar

This lame attempt at self-promotion brings on mixed emotions - should we be disturbed by his fundamental lack of understanding of how a newspaper's role differs from the role of a high school? Should we be amused by the fact that his radio show is so wildly insignificant a voice that even he knows he needs to repeat his challenge somewhere with an actual audience? Should we question his assertion that children (or anyone else) are listening to his show?

The Kansas City Star, for once, nails the proper response. They printed his silly "challenge", and then totally ignored it. Brilliant!

Another New Link

I hate to confess my inattention to one of the great liberal voices in the Blogosphere, but I had never heard of The Poor Man until a couple weeks ago. If you're looking for frequent posts, great insights, and laugh-out-loud writing, I'd recommend a visit.

Commissioner for the Public? Activist Judge?

Matt Blunt has appointed Bill Ringer to the Missouri Labor and Industrial Relations Commission. In a nutshell, the LIRC is a Court of Appeals for workers' compensation claims, and Ringer's role there will be to "represent the public".

Blunt has an odd idea of who the public is. Bill Ringer has spent most of his legal career defending insurance companies. His law firm, Evans & Dixon, boasts on its home page that "Evans & Dixon, L.L.C. remains dedicated to representing the insurance industry and the self insured, just as we have done for more than 55 years."

More specifically, Bill Ringer has helped the insurance companies avoid paying Missourians injured by their employers in

cases involving amputations, assaults and violent acts, back injuries, body systems, bruises and contusions, carpal tunnel syndrome, chemical burns, contact with objects and equipment, cumulative trauma, cuts and lacerations, falls, fatalities, fires and explosions, fractures, harmful substances or environments, head injuries, heart attacks, heat burns, infectious diseases, lower extremities, multiple traumatic injuries, musculoskeletal disorders, neck injuries, paraplegia/quadriplegia, permanent disability, poisoning, pulmonary disorders, respiratory conditions, skin diseases and disorders, sprains, strains, breaks, tears, tendonitis, transportation incidents and upper extremities.

I'm not making this up, folks - this is a quote from his biography at the law firm's web page. When Matt Blunt chose someone to represent the public, he apparently interpreted "the public" to mean "insurance companies" instead of people suffering from "amputations, assaults and violent acts, back injuries, etc.

Bill Ringer has not limited his service to Matt Blunt's "public" - meaning the insurance companies, of course - to judicial arena, though. He has spent "countless hours" (sidenote - nobody is better at keeping count of hours than an insurance defense lawyer) trying to get the legislature to pass a bill radically restricting the ability of workers to recover for their injuries. (.pdf link) This bill was so insanely anti-working-Missourian that not even the wing-nuts in the Republican Missouri legislature could stomach it.

Now that Bill Ringer has taken a quasi-judicial seat on a commission that reviews workers' compensation cases, will he be an "activist judge"? Will he seek to achieve through his opinions what he could not achieve in the legislature?

When you Turn More Than 3 Corners, You're Going in Circles

Via Keith of the Sader Family blog, I was directed to this fantastic article, which is so good and contains so many good points that I hate to single a couple out. I'll go ahead and pull a few quotations so you can get the flavor, but please click on the link and read the article.

We should remember that these numbers are not actual numbers of anything - no one at any point took a head count of the "insurgency", they do not indicate that the actual number of anti-US fighters has increased by 2-3 orders of magnitude over the last year (although it may be so) - these are figures pulled out of someone's ass, massaged for political expediency, and then released into the wild. So while this tells us nothing quantitative about the actual size of the insurgency, it's a useful way of measuring the anxiety in official quarters. The point of the 200,000 number is not that there are 200,000 insurgents, it's that things are going so poorly that it's no use saying anything less.
. . .
Appreciate this. Understand that the people killing us in Iraq aren't motivated by Gore Vidal or inspired by Susan Sontag or organized by Michael Moore or in cahoots in any way with any of the right's celebrity piñatas - not literally, not metaphorically, not if you look at it in a certain way, not to any infinitesimal degree, not in any sense, not in any way at all. They do not lead a clandestine international conspiracy of Evil which has corrupted everything in every foreign country plus everything in America not owned by loyal Bush Republican apparatchiks; nor are they members of such a conspiracy; nor does a conspiracy remotely matching that description exist. To think otherwise is, literally and to a very great degree, insanity. It is insane.

New Link on the Left - Tony's Kansas City

There's a new link on the left side of this page - Tony's Kansas City. Tony accumulates all the Kansas City news that's fit to mock on one page. A must-visit!

Jeff Montgomery - Hall of Famer?

Jeff Montgomery manages to sound resigned about the fact that he got two votes in the Hall of Fame voting this year. From the Kansas City Star today comes this gem of acceptance:

But that's not because he isn't proud of his baseball accomplishments. And he should be.

"When I think of the Hall of Fame," Montgomery said, "I can't help but think of the word ‘fame.' I think it's a place for ‘famous' players. I never really consider myself a famous player."

I have one additional thought when I think of the Hall of Fame - I think of great players, and I never really consider him a great player. The man managed to finish #9 on the Career Blown Saves list, and thinks that the reason he's not in the Cooperstown is that people don't recognize him on the Plaza?!

I'll confess that I'm not a totally fair judge of Monty's career. When I was attending Royals games regularly, it seemed the Royals would call him in after playing winning baseball for 8 innings, and then Monty would walk a few, deliver up a meatball and we would all go home. Maybe if he had retired after 1993, I would believe he should be in Cooperstown. But, as it is, he ruined far too many nights for me to think of him as being in the same class as the people who really belong there.

The Intellectual Origins of the Right

The National Review is proud of its role as the intellectual backbone of the right wing. From the indispensable Eschaton comes this nugget of what people like Buckley were printing and believing less than 50 years ago:

"The central question that emerges . . . is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas in which it does not prevail numerically? The sobering answer is Yes – the White community is so entitled because, for the time being, it is the advanced race. It is not easy, and it is unpleasant, to adduce statistics evidencing the cultural superiority of White over Negro: but it is a fact that obtrudes, one that cannot be hidden by ever-so-busy egalitarians and anthropologists."

"National Review believes that the South's premises are correct. . . . It is more important for the community, anywhere in the world, to affirm and live by civilized standards, than to bow to the demands of the numerical majority."

"The South confronts one grave moral challenge. It must not exploit the fact of Negro backwardness to preserve the Negro as a servile class. . . . Let the South never permit itself to do this. So long as it is merely asserting the right to impose superior mores for whatever period it takes to effect a genuine cultural equality between the races, and so long as it does so by humane and charitable means, the South is in step with civilization, as is the Congress that permits it to function."

To this day, the right wing is still "merely asserting the right to impose superior mores . . .". Cheney was 16 when this was written - I wonder if he dug it out from under his father's mattress and read it one-handed.

Those Idealistic Black Republicans!

Armstrong Williams was paid $240,000 to shill for No Child Left Behind. He was chosen specifically because he is a black commentator, and hence might be expected to swing some black support to the underfunded federal program that is disrupting our schools. My question is, why did Armstrong Williams accept this form of affirmative action?
(Update: Go read this article at the always-insightful ThatColoredFella on Armstrong Williams and other Black Conservatives. He goes in bareknuckle and swings from the heels.)

Why do They Hate Us?

I won't profess to understand the mindset of terrorists, but I would be pretty bent out of shape if some other country behaved like the US. Consider what we would be saying if France announced that it would feel free to permanently jail people it "suspected" of being terrorists - American citizens included - even if it didn't have evidence to support that suspicion. Consider what we would be saying if France elevated someone who supports torture and calls the Geneva Conventions "quaint" to its top lawyer position. We, as a country, are not the bad guys, but we sure do look like them some times.

Why Did the Cleaning Lady Take it, though?

Kate Beckinsale gave her daughter's pet rabbit to the cleaning lady. Why?

"I don't think he liked being in a cage and wouldn't stop masturbating and humping his food bowl. I was sick of inventing different explanations of what that was.

"Also, he was boring and, other than masturbate, he didn't do anything."

Perhaps she cooks as well as cleans . . .

Republican Class Warfare

Spence Jackson, a spokesman for Gov.-elect Matt Blunt, said the executive branch's agenda was still being assembled. But Blunt has three priorities: reworking the formula for distributing state aid to schools, reorganizing state government, and improving the business climate by making it more difficult for people to sue for damages or for workers to claim they were injured on the job.

Why do we want a healthier business climate, anyhow? Is it to help consumers? Is it to help workers? Not in the Republican universe, apparently . . .

PowerPoint and Stupidity

Serious people argue whether PowerPoint makes us stupid. Could be.

Either way, though, I got a kick out of Lincoln's PowerPoint presentation at Gettysburg.
(Via ToddElkins.Net.)

The Company He Keeps

From the 12/30/04 Kansas City Star comes this bland statement:

Reinforcements

Jared Craighead is leaving Washington to be a senior policy adviser to Missouri Gov.-elect Matt Blunt. A former aide to Blunt's father, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, Craighead had recently been working at lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates.

Cassidy & Associates is no mom-and-pop lobbying firm - they are one of the biggest and most successful firms in achieving goals that are against the public interest. Their Bragsheet reads like a rogue's gallery of wasteful government spending and corporate give-aways, and they're proud of it.
(Cross-posted at Bluntwatch.)

Bush and Gonzalez - Anti-Life Activists

Regardless of your position on whether the death penalty should be allowed in our society, any moral person must believe that it should be administered fairly and cautiously. From the New York Review of Books comes this chilling article, demonstrating that George W. Bush ran his death chambers at full speed, administering the ultimate solution with carelessness and disdain for the people he allowed to die. His behavior, if done by a leader in an oil-rich country, would certainly suffice to justify an invasion to the neo-con apologists.

A week ago, a friend of mine celebrated Christmas with her family together for the first time in 17 years. Her brother had just been released from a Texas jail where he had served 17 years on a rape charge, for which he was demonstrably innocent. The Texas justice system makes mistakes. If you want to deny that fact, you simply cannot. You can only choose to ignore that fact. Bush did.

While governor of Texas, Bush had Gonzalez provide him thumbnail sketches of the clemency petitions, so he would not have to read them. Gonzalez, the man who approves of torture and wants to be attorney general, would prepare these sketches in summary fashion, deleting information supporting exoneration. Together, Bush and Gonzalez collaborated to kill human beings who had the misfortune to find themselves in the Texas justice system.

There is simply no justification for what Bush and Gonzalez did. I do not understand how any person who purports to hold to moral values can support him.