With the rapid growth of Cobalt6.net, an exciting venture in which I'm a participant, it doesn't make much sense for me to continue to post here at Democracy in Virginia. I'll leave it up for now, but please come visit our vibrant discussion at Cobalt6.net. Hope to see you there!
And if you have an interest in literature, please visit my litblog: Perpetual Folly!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Friday, July 06, 2007
Impeach Bush!
I was prepared to hold my nose for the next 563 days to avoid the huge battle that will come with a move to impeach George Bush, even though I believe he has violated the law and the Constitution repeatedly. And his commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence doesn't exactly come as a surprise, but I was really hoping he wouldn't do it. It is so clearly the wrong thing to do. Libby lied. He probably lied to protect Dick Cheney. And now Bush is paying Libby back for his loyalty. And what that confirms for me is this: not only is George Bush the Worst President in History, he is also near the top in corruption. So although it will be an emotional drain on the country, I think we have to do it. Impeach Bush! Impeach Bush! Impeach Bush!
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Cobalt6.net
With the rapid growth of Cobalt6.net, an exciting venture in which I'm a participant, it doesn't make much sense for me to continue to post here at Democracy in Virginia. I'll leave it up for now, but please come visit our vibrant discussion at Cobalt6.net. Hope to see you there!
Monday, July 02, 2007
Voter Registration Confusion
There has been some confusion about Virginia's new voter registration system. As I understand it, the problems are more likely to affect newly registered voters than others, but it's still a good idea to check your status, which you can do online.
H/T to Phil C. (who in turn acknowledges Jim Patrick) for the information.
H/T to Phil C. (who in turn acknowledges Jim Patrick) for the information.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
What Kind of Liberal Are You?
I'm proud to be a Social Justice Crusader:
My Liberal Identity:
You are a Social Justice Crusader, also known as a rights activist. You believe in equality, fairness, and preventing neo-Confederate conservative troglodytes from rolling back fifty years of civil rights gains.
Take the quiz at www.fightconservatives.com
Friday, June 29, 2007
Dead Immigration Bill Didn't Go Far Enough
For a progressive assessment of the Immigration Bill, see "A New Green Card Deal" by Mae M. Ngai in The Nation. She makes the case that we've had illegal immigration problems ever since in 1965 we imposed quotas on countries in the Western Hemisphere.
She concludes:
(cross-posted at Cobalt 6)
She concludes:
"We would be wise to rethink the unilateralist premises of US immigration policy. It makes much more sense for our policies to reflect how migration is driven by supply and demand in a world in which population and wealth are distributed unevenly. History shows that policies designed to categorically exclude--from the Chinese exclusion acts of the nineteenth century to the imposition of unrealistically low quotas on Mexico in the twentieth--are doomed to failure."And she's right. The policy we currently have is neo-colonialist and racist, and needs to be thoroughly reexamined.
(cross-posted at Cobalt 6)
No Democracy in the GOP
If You Want Democracy, Vote for a Democrat!
Staunton News Leader: GOP members reveal split among party
One of two things. Or both. Either this split in the Staunton GOP demonstrates the weak leadership of Anne Taetzch (who blogs as “Elle” at In-politically Correct), or it illustrates how anti-democratic the Republican Party is. Or both. I’ll pick both.
As I understand it, the June meeting of the Staunton GOP was cancelled because Taetzch was having surgery and wouldn’t be able to attend. (What kind of organization falls apart if the Chairman can’t make a meeting? A weak one, that’s what kind.) So, as they assert, a group of the members led by Secretary Andrew Clem (although Taetzch is now questioning the validity of Clem's election), following the committee by-laws and/or the Republican party plan, called a meeting to heal the rift. Seems reasonable to me. If your Chair cancels a meeting, you ought to have the ability to meet anyway – it’s an important power for the members to have to avoid being rail-roaded by committee leadership. But than Taetzch declared the meeting “illegal” (hey, if it was illegal, why didn’t they call the Sheriff?) and arranges for the state party to rule the same, without citing any basis for their decision.
Lots of irony here. The group that wanted to have the meeting is being labeled renegade, and yet that is the faction of the local party that (successfully) supported the incumbent in the local Republican Primary. So if they’re “renegades” for backing the incumbent, and the dominant faction backed the pretender to the throne, I think a better term for the dominant group is Revolutionaries and the incumbent faction would be Counter-revolutionaries. Except, wait, that means the Revolutionaries are still attacking the group that is tied to the incumbent, and isn’t he their candidate, too? The pretender, after all, was beheaded on the 12th.
To make it even more interesting, the Revolutionaries, led by Queen Anne, are aided by the Augusta County Republican Committee, ruled by Kurt Michael and Lynn Mitchell (SWAC Girl) and Chris Green (Spank that Donkey), who – so the Counter-revolutionaries say – have interfered in the Staunton Committee. I don’t know all the details there, but it sounds like they have a reasonable gripe there, based on what I read in the blogs. (Too bad there aren't any Republicans in the county with the courage to challenge their leaders, whose negativity brings shame to their party.)
The bottom line is that it’s a mess of their own creation. The Revolutionaries are completely insincere when they say they’ll support Hanger in November. How can they possibly mean that and still attack his supporters the way they have? And Hanger and the Counter-revolutionaries need to find the guts to tell Anne (and Lynn and Kurt and Chris) that their kind of politics is a thing of the past and is unwelcome in the party. In the meantime, the voters of this area should get the message: Democracy in the Republican party is dead. If you want Democracy, vote for a Democrat.
(Cross-posted at Cobalt 6)
Staunton News Leader: GOP members reveal split among party
One of two things. Or both. Either this split in the Staunton GOP demonstrates the weak leadership of Anne Taetzch (who blogs as “Elle” at In-politically Correct), or it illustrates how anti-democratic the Republican Party is. Or both. I’ll pick both.
As I understand it, the June meeting of the Staunton GOP was cancelled because Taetzch was having surgery and wouldn’t be able to attend. (What kind of organization falls apart if the Chairman can’t make a meeting? A weak one, that’s what kind.) So, as they assert, a group of the members led by Secretary Andrew Clem (although Taetzch is now questioning the validity of Clem's election), following the committee by-laws and/or the Republican party plan, called a meeting to heal the rift. Seems reasonable to me. If your Chair cancels a meeting, you ought to have the ability to meet anyway – it’s an important power for the members to have to avoid being rail-roaded by committee leadership. But than Taetzch declared the meeting “illegal” (hey, if it was illegal, why didn’t they call the Sheriff?) and arranges for the state party to rule the same, without citing any basis for their decision.
Lots of irony here. The group that wanted to have the meeting is being labeled renegade, and yet that is the faction of the local party that (successfully) supported the incumbent in the local Republican Primary. So if they’re “renegades” for backing the incumbent, and the dominant faction backed the pretender to the throne, I think a better term for the dominant group is Revolutionaries and the incumbent faction would be Counter-revolutionaries. Except, wait, that means the Revolutionaries are still attacking the group that is tied to the incumbent, and isn’t he their candidate, too? The pretender, after all, was beheaded on the 12th.
To make it even more interesting, the Revolutionaries, led by Queen Anne, are aided by the Augusta County Republican Committee, ruled by Kurt Michael and Lynn Mitchell (SWAC Girl) and Chris Green (Spank that Donkey), who – so the Counter-revolutionaries say – have interfered in the Staunton Committee. I don’t know all the details there, but it sounds like they have a reasonable gripe there, based on what I read in the blogs. (Too bad there aren't any Republicans in the county with the courage to challenge their leaders, whose negativity brings shame to their party.)
The bottom line is that it’s a mess of their own creation. The Revolutionaries are completely insincere when they say they’ll support Hanger in November. How can they possibly mean that and still attack his supporters the way they have? And Hanger and the Counter-revolutionaries need to find the guts to tell Anne (and Lynn and Kurt and Chris) that their kind of politics is a thing of the past and is unwelcome in the party. In the meantime, the voters of this area should get the message: Democracy in the Republican party is dead. If you want Democracy, vote for a Democrat.
(Cross-posted at Cobalt 6)
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