brainrow

On the PBS NewsHour tonight was poet Lucille Clifton, reading from her poem “September Songs, A Poem in Seven Days.” My own transcription:

Tuesday, 9/11:
Thunder and lightning and our world is another place.
No day will ever be the same,
No blood untouched.
They know this storm in other wheres:
Israel, Ireland, Palestine,
But God has blessed America, we sing.
And God has blessed America,
To learn that no one is exempt.
The world is one.
All fear is one.
All life, all death, all one.

From an email message:

I was in my car listening to the radio and conservative talk show host Michael Savage said that if Hillary is elected president it would result in a Maoist government and people like him would be taken to re-education camps or death camps.

Wow.

Well, to be fair, it does sound like Mr. Savage could use a nice long rest. But death camps? Frankly, I’m surprised at you, Hillary.

Sometimes people say things that are a little more true than they intended.

For example, (via Countdown), Katherine Harris, the Florida senatorial candidate most famous for her efforts to short-circuit the electoral process in the 2000 presidential election, was on MSNBC’s Hardball a few days ago, interviewed by Norah O’Donnell:

O’DONNELL: The latest poll in your state, out July, shows, however, that it looks like a blowout, that Senator Nelson would crush you 61 to 24. That‘s a huge lead even with just two months to the election. Is your campaign essentially a fool’s errand?

HARRIS: Oh, you know, you can make polls say whatever you want.

Well, Katherine Harris ought to know that if anybody does.

And George W. Bush in an interview with Katie Couric on CBS News Wednesday night:

One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror.

Oh, it’s hard work. But he’s gonna do it, by golly, no matter what it takes. Since we invaded Iraq, the whole country seems to have turned into a terrorist training ground. That counts, right?

This worries me:

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, a moderate conservative and often decisive vote, was hospitalized for a stent procedure after experiencing mild chest pains, a court spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

Let’s pray for Justice Kennedy’s full and speedy recovery. He might be the final obstacle to George W. Bush’s vision of a monarchical presidency. We need him.

For two more years, George W. Bush gets to pick the judges who fill any vacancy on a federal court — including the Supreme Court. If the rubber-stamp Republicans retain control of the Senate, you can bet he’ll name extremists sympathetic to unlimited presidential power (so long as the president is a right-wing Republican).

So let’s back up our prayers with deeds. Here’s the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. This seems like a good time to give them money.

From the NewsHour last night, Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, discussed why Osama bin Laden wanted to attack the United States:

By provoking America, he hoped to get America to follow in the footsteps of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He imagined that America, like the other super-power, the Soviet Union, would blumder into Afghanistan and there be bled to death by Muslim holy warriors. So it was an escalation on his part to try to draw the U.S. into Afghanistan and then rally Muslims to attack us, thereby creating a unified Muslim umma — an army of Muslims who would then be able to spread their message throughout the world.

…

We don’t know the ending.

I can tell you this: in November or December of 2001, when American and coalition forces invaded Afghanistan and fought the battle of Tora Bora, although we didn’t capture or kill bin Laden or Zawahiri or some of the other top lieutenants, al Qaeda was essentially dead. Not only had most of the members been killed or captured, it was repudiated throughout the world. The internal documents show that they were in great despair.

Unfortunately, Iraq — the war in Iraq — has given them new life, and I fear the progeny of al Qaeda are going to be with us for a long time.

Via Hetty Litjens: Cartoonist Walt Handelsman has the George W. Bush Hurricane Katrina One-Year Anniversary Heckuva Job Tour.

Via Atrios, The Washington Monthly says “Happy Labor Day” with a very educational map:

here’s a handy map showing how far median incomes have dropped over the past six years. And it’s good news for most of you: Compared to Michigan and North Carolina you’re not doing so badly after all. So stop your sniveling.

Update: Now The Washington Monthly reports a problem with the map.

they used a different measure for the 1999 figures than for the 2005 numbers, and that made the decline look worse than it was.

There is a chart (no map this time) at the Washington Monthly site with more consistent data.

Via Daily Kos: Mother Jones brings us Lie by Lie: Chronicle of a War Foretold, a timeline from August 1990 to March 2003.

It’s a Flash application, which makes it amusing for about two seconds. Then I think it’s annoyingly difficult to use. But there’s a lot of good information buried in there.

Via Slashdot: Having trouble with an annoying neighbor or an irritating relative? Have them declared a sex offender. Here in Ohio, it’s quick! It’s easy! No evidence required! No formal charges! No reluctant jury or costly trial!

A recently enacted law allows county prosecutors, the state attorney general, or, as a last resort, alleged victims to ask judges to civilly declare someone to be a sex offender even when there has been no criminal verdict or successful lawsuit.

The rules spell out how the untried process would work. It would largely treat a person placed on the civil registry the same way a convicted sex offender is treated under Ohio’s so-called Megan’s Law.

The person’s name, address, and photograph would be placed on a new Internet database and the person would be subjected to the same registration and community notification requirements and restrictions on where he could live.

You know, sometimes I think maybe I’m just paranoid. Maybe the Constitution isn’t being shredded. Maybe our rights are safe. Then I read something like this and I know this fight is real.

From the BBC: ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin killed.

Australian environmentalist and television personality Steve Irwin has died during a diving accident.

Mr Irwin, 44, was killed by a stingray barb to the chest while he was filming an underwater documentary in Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef.

Greg Saunders asks CNN to fire Nancy Grace:

Reliable “legal experts” don’t foam at the mouth when a lack of physical evidence keeps a suspect from being charged with a crime. In comparison to CNN’s legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, Grace’s show offers analysis akin to a torch-wielding leader of a lynch mob. Evidence, due process, and rule of law are moot on Grace’s show since the goal is never to discuss the legal process, but to seek vengeance against all criminals, regardless of their guilt.

…

There are some who might argue that Grace’s program exists to provoke discussion and that my reaction is proof that she “must be doing something right”. Well, if CNN’s goal is to move away from news gathering and analysis and turn their airwaves into a intellectually-stunted spectacle, then mission accomplished. But I’d like to give CNN the benefit of the doubt and not jump to the conclusion that they’d willingly throw away their reputation to a prurient thrill for the short-term gain of some advertiser revenue.

The Perrspectives Department of Homeland Sanity (DHS) continues to monitor the conservative threat level to America.

	Severe: Return to Middle Ages Likely
	High: Church and State to Merge
	Elevated: Bill of Rights at Risk
	Guarded: Upward Income Redistribution Underway
	Low: Justice and Reason Still Prevail

The current threat is severe:

Despite Bush poll numbers in low 30’s, GOP platform of “nothing to run on but fear itself” gets boost with UK airliner plot. Cheney on message with “if Lieberman loses, Al Qaeda wins.” Threat level raised from Yellow/Elevated (Bill of Rights at Risk).

The Bush Administration is the Vigilante Presidency, cleaning up the Middle East the same way the vigilantes cleaned up the old west — shootin’ first and demandin’ that everybody stop askin’ questions later.

A-yup. In this here modern world, we ain’t got time to figger out what’s true and what ain’t. Time’s a-wastin’, and the vigilantes always get their man.

An angry mob fatally beat a man whom they mistakenly thought was involved in the disappearance of their friend, shortly before police arrested and charged another person in the crime, police said.

Well, the vigilantes always get somebody.

I think them boys got a career in Republican politics ahead of ’em.

In these times of modern times, when you can’t tell your ACs from your DCs, aren’t we all looking for a little stopping power? — Firesign Theatre

Speaking of Bob Geiger, he’s reposted a piece he wrote last year called I Know This Little Boy In New Orleans. I didn’t know about Geiger’s blog last year, so I’m glad he reposted this. Go read the whole thing, please.

I know the little boy in this picture.

No, I don’t know him personally. But he is roughly the same age as my small son. This boy is beautiful, innocent, vulnerable and probably very scared in this photo.

I know this young boy.

New calamities, outrages and diversions rush at us every day — every hour, sometimes — each one dragging our attention away from the one before. They come so quickly, it seems, that we don’t have time to truly understand any one of these events. Inspired by a photo of a little boy stuck in the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina, Gieger stopped the world for a moment, and probed for a deeper understanding.

Read it. And once you’ve read it, stop the world for another moment. Think about the Palestinian and Lebanese children under Israeli bombs, and about the Israeli children under Hezbollah and Hamas rockets and terror bombings. Think of the people whose homes and jobs and families were swept away by the Indian Ocean tsunami, or by earthquakes in Pakistan, or by “ethnic cleansing” in Darfur. Think of all the photos of missing faces tacked up in New York City by desperate friends and loved ones after the murderous attacks of 9/11. Think of ordinary people trying to live a decent life in Baghdad without becoming someone’s “collateral damage.”

Hurts, doesn’t it?

I have a friend who says “life is cheap” in the Mideast. During the Vietnam War, I heard it said that the Vietnamese don’t respect life the way we do. Sure. And as Daffy Duck once said, “I’m not like other people — pain hurts me.”

It’s no wonder the 24-hour news networks give us a relentless diet of inconsequential trivia rather than getting to the bottom of events that are killing hundreds of children today. It’s anesthesia.

Bob Geiger has another good collection of political cartoons.