Woody Allen Presages Sarah Palin

Don't you see the rest of the country looks upon New York like we're left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers? I think of us that way sometimes and I live here.

- Woody Allen in Annie Hall

Death to the Death Penalty

Not surprisingly, I'm against the death penalty. Even if someone raped and murdered Kitty Dukakis.

The state shouldn't kill people via bureaucracy. If it's wrong to kill, then don't kill. (I'd be happy to support the Mormons if they'd like to take this one on.)

Williams Sessions, a former FBI director, offers an op-ed today that starts:

It is wrong to execute an innocent man. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit will now consider whether it is constitutional.

In the case in question, 7 of 9 non-police witnesses have recanted their testimony regarding a man accused of killing a police officer. The problem is, in an effort to thwart endless appeals, the courts will decline to hear evidence if that evidence should have been available at the original trial.

The sanctity of life or a smooth running bureaucracy. It's our call.

Welcome to the Frying Pan

From Mother Jones:

QUOTE OF THE DAY....From the Mormon church, reacting to protests against their campaign to pass Proposition 8 in California:

"People of faith have been intimidated for simply exercising their democratic rights. These are not actions that are worthy of the democratic ideals of our nation. The end of a free and fair election should not be the beginning of a hostile response in America."

I'm afraid the church elders have it exactly backward here. Churches have every right to involve themselves in political issues, but if they do then they're going to be treated as political actors. Protests, boycotts, op-eds, blog posts, and marches are exactly the democratic ideals of our nation, and being on the receiving end of them is what happens to anyone who enters the political fray. It's a little late for them to pretend they didn't know this.

Exactly.

The hateful aftermath of Prop H8

I'm ambivalent about boycotts. I'd broadly break down boycotts, as a political tool, into two categories. Large scale mass-movements intent to act as a means to oppose a powerful opponent - think the grape boycott of the 60s, and the anti-apartheid boycott. The second is the 'we don't like what you're saying, fellow little person, so we're gonna shut you down.'

A few years ago it was the Dixie Chicks who were ostracized by the country music industry for some comments (prescient, as it turned out) about George Bush. All of the shut up and sing kerfluffle happened during the dying gasp of Rovian politics. The Chicks survived. Hopefully, stupid hateful politics got squashed earlier this month (yea, right).

And now, a righteously enraged gay community is striking back at Prop 8 supporters. Again, the Prop 8 opponents are going after two types of supporters, institutional and individual. I think the former is fine, the latter is problematic.

I like the idea of going after the Mormon's tax exempt status. The law is pretty clear, you can't be tax exempt if you take a position on a political race. And money laundering as a means of getting corporate money into a political race is illegal as well. So, let that bit of harassment continue.

But I think an individual's support of the race shouldn't be targeted and an individual should be able to take a political position without tarnishing (or burnishing) the reputation of their employer.

Scott Eckern was a long time employee of the pre-eminent Sacramento theater organization, the California Musical Theatre. He had over 25 years of experience, working his way up to job of artistic director. He also donated $1,000 to the yes side of Prop 8. After the election that donation was highlighted and Eckern and his employer were targeted.

Now, a couple of points. Eckern donated to the cause, it wasn't his employer donating. And there was nothing anti-gay about the CMT's program. So, it didin't appear that Eckernn was using his job to attack gays.

As the resulting fuss became public, Eckern's first response was to donate a like amount to a gay rights group. That apparently didn't satisfy the offended community and Eckern then resigned his job.

I honestly feel for the guy. I think an individual should be entitled to participate in the political process without repurcussion. I thought that was true for the Dixie Chicks and I think it's true for Scott Eckern.

The No on 8 folks got beat. As I mentioned before, they got beat by a sizably smaller margin than they did 8 years ago. By all accounts they ran a lousy campaign. I encourage them to take advantage of the tools of democracy - the courts and a rematch at the ballot in two years. But leave the little guys alone.

Dick Cavett's TVs are on the fritz

Dick Cavett on our favorite, doesn't know it's over, former VP candidate:

Electronic devices dislike me. There is never a day when something isn’t ailing. Three out of these five implements — answering machine, fax machine, printer, phone and electric can-opener — all dropped dead on me in the past few days.

Now something has gone wrong with all three television sets. They will only get Sarah Palin.

Later...

A woman in one of Palin’s crowds praised her for being “a mom like me … who thinks the way I do” and added, for ill measure, “That’s what I want in the White House.” Fine, but in what capacity?

Do this lady’s like-minded folk wonder how, say, Jefferson, Lincoln, the Roosevelts, et al (add your own favorites) managed so well without being soccer moms? Without being whizzes in the kitchen, whipping up moose soufflés? Without executing and wounding wolves from the air and without promoting that sad, threadbare hoax — sexual abstinence — as the answer to the sizzling loins of the young?

Thanks Ze

Ze Frank posted this message a few days ago.

i would love to see a group project where obama supporters reached out to the mccain folk (and others) in a gesture of reconciliation...

simple messages.
perhaps it is naive. the differences are real, i know. but we have to repair the damage done from this election cycle somehow...
the fringes (all of them) have been allowed to dominate our conversations for too long. to create a cycle of hate, ill-will and revenge.
it's a tough and delicate challenge - if you want to try it - send a pic of you with a sign, or a vid, or anything to ze@zefrank.com
maybe it works, maybe not - i know it won't speak to many : but i think we give it a whirl and decide for ourselves, yes?

Kind of goofy touchy feely, right? But the guy in that picture ( a '48') doesn't look touch feely to me.

Check it out.

From Dred Scott to Barack Obama

Bill Moyers is, apparently, an acquired taste. I've commented before that I look forward to his weekly Journal on PBS. Molly would rather have her teeth pulled than watch him.

Last night's episode was good. It was a summary of the importance of the election and the general state of things. Moyers is clearly a progressive, but he gives what we'd call pre-Bush conservatives their due.

If you have the the time, you might watch the whole thing. But I'd encourage you to make the time for his introduction. Moyers talks about the significance of this photo. The event is Barack Obama's rally in St. Louis, attended by 100,000 people.

The building in the background is the court house where the Dred & Harriet Scott first fought for their freedom. Their ultimately unsuccessful effort ended with the Dred Scott decision. Quoting Moyers:

When their appeal reached the United States Supreme Court, 11 years later, Chief Justice Roger Taney refused to free them. He ruled that slaves did not have the rights of citizens because Harriet and Dred Scott were, quote, "Beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

Moyers is fond of recalling his East-Texas roots and seems uncomfortable with how well he understands racism as 'the natural order of things'. He quickly walks us through a troubled past that culminates in the election of a 'mutt' to the White House.

Watch here.

Change we can believe in.

This alone is almost enough to make me cry. 

After 8 years of Bush/Cheney secret, undisclosed bunkers locations we now have President-Elect Obama who is letting the sun shine on his transition. As I mention below, I was hoping he'd keep the campaign infrastructure in place and it looks like he has. Change has arrived.

For the wonks in the group, notice the link on the lower right side of change.gov to the official transition site of the GSA. It's a civics primer.

Some thoughts

The significance of President-elect Obama's election really can't be overstated. It's a huge step for us to elect an African-American to serve as President of the United States. It's really an amazing thing. Not that you don't know that, but I'm just saying.

I'm very optimistic that he can have a successful administration. Lots of folks feel that his hands will be tied by the $700 Billion being given to Wall Street. I would remind these people that some of the most progressive changes made in our history were in reaction to the Great Depression. A public works investment in clean energy, for example, would be good public policy, good for the environment and good for the economy.

Obama's health care plan is too timid for my taste; a more aggressive plan that separates health care from employment would do wonders for employers as well as citizens.

And keep in mind this reference to Reagan that Obama made in the primary season. I think Reagan was a criminal president who is given way more credit than deserved. But I'm in the minority on that, I think. But for present purposes, don't underestimate the power that Obama's communication skills give him. We've forgotten what it's like to have an articulate president. It would be interesting if Obama kept his campaign infrastructure in place so that he could use it to rally the American people and get us behind his endeavors as he attempts to move them through Congress.

Prognostication about the Obama cabinet and staff positions suggest that he might draw too heavily from current Congress members, Rahm Emanual and John Kerry have been mentioned. My sense is that President Obama will need all the help he can get in Congress and he ought to draw from other sources for his key staff.

John McCain gave a concession speech that showed the country the side of him that most of us liked. I think the race would have been much closer, if not a different outcome, if he'd chosen Tim Pawlenty, a moderate governor as his running mate. Experience was McCain's trump card and he threw it away by picking Palin. It will be interesting how McCain choses to finish his time in the Senate; perhaps he'll refocus on immigration reform.

Alaska mystifies me. They re-elected a felon and a pending felon. Ted Stevens will not return to the Senate. I need to find out if Palin can appoint herself to the Steven's seat. If not, I have two words for you regarding Sarah's political future. Katherine Harris. Palin ran a vile campaign. Alaska can have her. I wonder if Levi bails on Bristol now that the media attention has shifted.

In California, Proposition 8 won. This measure undid a California Supreme Court ruling that allowed gay folks to get married. In 2000 a similar anti-gay marriage measure passed. Eight years ago the margin of hate fear hate was 22%. This time it is only 5% (with ballots still to count). Change will come. This time, the Mormon church was the key funder for the pro-8 side. I think the Mormon's are jealous since they are limited to only one wife and so they too are not able to marry as they'd like. In the Sacramento area there is a huge ex-pat USSR contingent. They have been virulently anti-gay. These folks follow the pilgrim tradition of escaping persecution only to establish it here in America.

WOW!

Game on, dude.

Our long national nightmare is over