"Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black"

By GottaLaff
This is a must-read. I'll post a few excerpts, but please, go read the whole thing here.

Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. [...]

Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. [...]

Imagine that a rap artist were to say, in reference to a white president: “He’s a piece of shit and I told him to suck on my machine gun.” [...]

Imagine that a black radio host were to suggest that the only way to get promoted in the administration of a white president is by “hating black people” [...]

Imagine a black political commentator suggesting that the only thing the guy who flew his plane into the Austin, Texas IRS building did wrong was not blowing up Fox News instead. [...]

In other words, imagine that even one-third of the anger and vitriol currently being hurled at President Obama, by folks who are almost exclusively white, were being aimed, instead, at a white president, by people of color. [...]

And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.

Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and activists in the U.S. Wise has spoken in 48 states, on over 400 college campuses, and to community groups around the nation. Wise has provided anti-racism training to teachers nationwide, and has trained physicians and medical industry professionals on how to combat racial inequities in health care. His latest book is called Between Barack and a Hard Place.

Go here for the rest.

H/t: HarborGuy

Shoe on the other foot: 'Shoe monument' in Iraq taken down one day after it was unveiled

By GottaLaff

Remember this uplifting story? So much for the new, "democratic", free-speech-oriented Iraq:

The monument commemorating the journalist who hurled his shoes at President Bush was taken down a day after it was erected, local officials in Tikrit told CNN. [...]

But officials from Salaheddin province told CNN that the monument was removed after a request from the central government, which has charges pending against al-Zaidi [Bush's shoe-thrower]— now in an Iraqi jail.

After the request was made, Iraqi police visited the location to make sure that the shoe monument was removed.

"We will not allow anyone to use the government facilities and buildings for political motives," said Abdullah Jabara, Salaheddin deputy governor.

Al-Zaidi's angry gesture touched a defiant nerve throughout the Arab and Muslim world. He is regarded by many people as a hero and demonstrators last month took to the streets in the Arab world and called for his release. [...]

The orphans helped al-Amiri build the $5,000 structure in 15 days, said Faten Abdulqader al-Naseri, the orphanage director.

"Those orphans who helped the sculptor in building this monument were the victims of Bush's war," Al-Naseri said. "The shoe monument is a gift to the next generation to remember the heroic action by the journalist." [...]

One of his brothers told CNN he "in good health and is being treated well." [...]

By tradition, throwing a shoe, is the most insulting act in the Arab world.

I'd like to correct what I wrote at the top of the post. Iraq is, indeed, a democracy: A Bush democracy. Let's hope that President Obama will have a more positive influence.

Bush's land mines for Obama

By GottaLaff

BushCo is embarrassed by a federal judge once again, which brings up a familiar, broader topic (below):

A federal judge has ordered the release of five Algerian terror suspects who have been held without charges almost seven years at Guantanamo Bay.

In the first civilian court ruling for terror suspects challenging their detention, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon said Thursday that the five men could not be held indefinitely as enemy combatants. [...]

CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen says the suspects in question are not the dangerous terrorists the Bush administration has been warning Americans about since 9/11. He added that the ruling would also not set a legal precedent for releasing suspected terrorists who are a true threat. [...]

"The men aren't going to be immediately released," Cohen says. "We are going to see a whole new round of appeals now and it's not at all clear that the appeals courts are going to see this issue the way the trial judge did.

"Still, it's an embarrassing if not unexpected blow to the White House and the Pentagon. But it's also a highly symbolic ruling - the first time the courts have ordered the release of Gitmo detainees over the objections of the government - since a Supreme Court ruling last year that permitted this sort of judicial review."

How many of Bush's little doings will be upheld, and how many will be reversed, now that Obama is the president-elect?

[R]ules can be enacted by the outgoing Bush administration with relative ease and speed, but reversing them will be far more difficult for the Obama administration: extensive study, notice and comment requirements mean that reversals may take several years, during which a lot of damage will have been done.

Bush also has signed more than 250 executive orders since taking office. Some are innocuous; others, not so much (permitting the use of interrogation techniques most experts consider torture, for instance). Some are still classified. The Obama transition team will need to go through these with a fine-tooth comb, identifying executive orders that require immediate change or reversal.

Even more complicated, Justice Department lawyers in hundreds of pending cases are still advancing the legal theories developed by the Bush administration's political appointees. The Obama team will need to carefully review every case. (Otherwise, imagine the mess if President Obama announces on Jan. 21 that his administration will never sanction torture, but lower-ranking career lawyers in the executive branch continue, in pending litigation, to advance the same old Bush administration arguments defending "enhanced interrogation.")

The administration also appears to be seeking the last-minute conversion of some political appointee job slots to career civil service positions. If Bush appointees can "burrow" into the civil service, Obama is more or less stuck with them.

And finally, a point I've made repeatedly, as did Paddy earlier today:

This, incidentally, is why -- contrary to some net-roots hopes -- Clinton administration veterans also won't be going gently into that good night. "Change" is great, but it is difficult to implement when you're constantly stepping on bureaucratic land mines. Obama needs people who understand the federal rule-making process, who know why the Office of Management and Budget can halt the secretary of State's best-laid plans, who know which obscure Justice Department offices are the likely repository of crucial information, and who can undertake a rapid bureaucratic de-mining operation. And virtually the only Democrats under 65 who know these things are Clinton administration veterans.

Patience.