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From my buddy @nerdette who is a must follow on Twitter.
Last week, weary after a day of doing the good work of the union, I sat down at my gate, waiting for a plane to take me from El Paso back to my home in Austin, Texas. It's been a little more than a year since I've left my hometown of DC, and I love Texas - largely because you can go about your business with little fanfare. People only really care about football stars or country music crooners (and occasionally a skinny indie rocker) much more than they know who their house legislator is.
I flip through Twitter, rearrange my bags, glance at a bunch of folks in BDUs, clearly about to go on leave, when I see someone out of the corner of my eye. Someone that looks a lot like Karl Rove.
In El Paso? What?
He's smaller than I thought he'd be in person - perfectly normal looking. After about 15 minutes of my staring, he started to notice my attention. He didn't make much eye contact. And he's likely not much different from anyone else - breathes oxygen, takes a poop in the morning, etc. He wore a dark tailored suit, was typing on a Mac, and carried around a Texas Realtor Association bag and a very nice Tumi roller bag.
Trust me, about a million thoughts, questions, jokes ran through my head. Smash his laptop, vomit in his lap, run up and scream "babykiller!" or "turd blossom" or whatever.
As I sat across the gate, heart pounding in my throat, I thought of a friend of mine who helped me face a childhood fear. Like me, my friend was terrified of Freddy Krueger - a fictional boogeyman from the Nightmare on Elm Street horror flicks. The only way he ever got over it was to image himself walking up to Freddy and calmly shake his hand. When he did that, he stopped feeding the panic and fear.
I sat in the airport terminal, getting suggestions from everyone in twitterland on what to do (sorry I can't post all of them here - just check my @s - y'all are hilarious!) watched people get into line, talk on their phones, shift their weight in their chairs. Thing is, no one else knew who this guy is. Sometimes us political hacks forget the world doesn't revolve around our myopic, 24-hour news cycle perspective. And anyway, he's a private citizen now.
I decide to put my friend's tactic into action. I strode over to Rove and his laptop.
Me: Hello, sir (it's Texas people, you say "sir"). Are you Karl Rove?
Rove: [smiling] Why, yes I am.
Me: I study your work quite a bit.
Rove: Well, thanks. [looks at my shirt] Who are you with?
Me: I work for the Teachers' union.
Rove: Oh, I like the Texas AFT. Good reading reform work. Big fan.
[Me: WTF?]
Me: "Nice to meet you. Can I shake your hand?"
He smiles and obliges, and then I mentioned that I loved his White House Correspondent's Dinner rap, to which he laughs uncomfortably and says "it was more of a twitching than a rap." I walk away.
So there you have it, folks. I shook the hand of Bush's Architect. No worse for wear. Free from fear.
We are entering the final two months of the 2010 election cycle and we spend more time beating each other up rather than working together. I understand that a lot of people are concerned about the process in replacing Kenya Marshall in the Jefferson County 17th place vacancy. However, we have our nominee in Elisabeth French regardless of how flawed the process was and we need to unite behind her now.
Such diaries like Denial at Bessemer Opinions are only further driving apart the party.
There have also been calls for Nikki Still supporters to ramp up a write-in campaign, but Still herself so far is not enthused about it. However, letter after letter in the paper and voter after voter in person tell me that write-in is exactly what they are going to do. Many feel like a vote for French is a vote for the race based system that has infected the Democratic Party.
So we will write in our vote for Nikki Still.
Some progressives have demonstrated their unwillingness to address the problem as found on Progressive Electorate. (Emphasis mine)
Left in Alabama has video from yesterday's SDEC Meeting in which
Elisabeth French was appointed to replace Kenya Marshall on the Democratic
ballot. A number of folks I've talked to are disappointed that the nomination
did not go to Nikki Still - the 2nd place finish in the July 13th Runoff. I'm
confident Liz French will competent just as I thought Nikki Still would. The issue we should all agree on is the need to rid our State of the parasite called partisan Judicial elections.
Rather than looking inward to solve their own problem, they say focus on the unrelated but also important problem of partisan judicial elections.
We are not ignoring the problem, we have been talking about the need for non partisan judicial elections for a long long time. That is the root of the problem. Taking politics, as much as possible, out of the Judicial selection process. Most other states have done this.
Yes, it is reasonable to argue that the process was flawed. But we've got to move past that with a limited amount of time left in this election cycle.
That being said, I want to direct you to the new Alabama candidates blog Fight for Alabama . The folks at Left in Alabama worked on this project for the entire month of August. Should be a good resource if it is promoted and used.
As you enjoy the hot dogs, burgers and cold beverages of the traditional American Labor Day celebration, don't forget that this day off was brought to you by the efforts of organized labor -- that is, workers who stood together so they could not be taken advantage of separately. This was not an easy or bloodless fight and at one time Alabama was a hotbed of union activity, a history that our betters have done a great job of hiding away in a dark place.
Good diary about Richard Trumka's recent visit to Anchorage
Recently Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO came to Anchorage to conference, and to march in protest against the Sheraton and the Hilton Hotel here in the city. These two hotels have been under boycott for some time to protest unfair and illegal labor practices, including firing workers for handing out leaflets, and stealing tip jars from coffee shop workers. I marched with protesters, both union and non-union, from the unionized Captain Cook Hotel, down to the Sheraton, and around the building. After the march we gathered to hear Richard Trumka, and other labor leaders and Sheraton employees speak about the boycott.
The premise is that Joe Miller supporters are walking like Storm Troopers carrying assault rifles while marching in a family parade. Intimidation tactics at their finest.
This article is the final installment on the League of the South by Edward Sebesta. I will start with his conclusion that Cecil Williamson should be removed as President of the Selma City Council. The academic portion of his analysis discusses the League of the South's recommended books and essays as well as position papers on race. We recommend that Mr. Sebesta's writings be utilized in countering the neo-Confederacy agenda.
Neo-Confederacy involves many different tasks to carry out its agenda. It isn't just newsletters denouncing civil rights or arguing that African Americans have low IQ (topics in the Sons of Confederate Veterans publication "Southern Mercury"), but also maintaining monuments, markers, buildings, and other objects on the landscape to racialize the landscape and mark it white and more specifically Confederate. Neo-Confederacy involves observances to mark the calendar and time with Confederate identity. Finally it involves articles and discussion about the Confederacy to instill Confederate identity among the living. It is a whole variety of actions to create the Confederacy in the minds of the living.
Cecil Williamson's involvement with neo-Confederate organizations and his involvement with honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest show that he is still pursuing and working for the neo-Confederate agenda. He is normalizing the Confederacy and marking it on the landscape.
Cecil Williamson continuation in office provides the precedent and example to other neo-Confederate to enter public life. If Cecil Williamson can be in public life, let along president of the Selma City Council, other neo-Confederates will be encouraged to enter public life.
Cecil Williamson needs to be removed from public office. It isn't just that he has a track record of being involved with and supporting a racist organization without apology for doing so. That would be a valid reason in itself to seek his resignation or defeat at the polls.
However, the greater reason is that Cecil Williamson is still neo-Confederate and still pursuing a neo-Confederate agenda at this time, as manifested by his involvement with honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest.
The neo-Confederate agenda isn't merely racist, with a host of other bigoted attitudes towards Unitarians, Muslims, gays, Hispanics and others. It is an agenda that seeks a hierarchical society of inferiors and superiors. It is a movement at war with democracy itself. As long as Cecil Williamson is in public office, he is afforded the scope to work against the American democratic way of life. This can't be tolerated, the effort against Cecil Williamson needs to continue and must not fail.
College football officially kicks off today. Of course there were some games the last two nights. But the big cheese plays today.
Rollllll Tide. We are playing San Jose State today.
Penn State, the team of CasualWednesday, comes to Tuscaloosa next weekend for an epic showdown and renews a major rivalry of the 70's and 80's.
Who is your team? What games are you looking forward to this weekend?
Monday nights showdown between Virginia Tech and Boise State could have National Title implications. If Boise wins they are in prime position for a run at a BCS championship. If VA Tech wins they are in the hunt and all talk ends of Boise not getting their fair shot at the title.
I look forward to watching some of the LSU- North Carolina game tonight. UNC has a number of starters out though due to NCAA violations. For LSU and hot seat Les Miles this is a must win.
In the 1950s, we had the best schools in the world, and the United States government decided to, um, get more involved in federal education. Where are we now after all those years of federal involvement? Are we better, or are we worse? So what's the federal government's answer? Well since we've made education worse, we're gonna even get more involved. And what's gonna be the result?
Not only is Buck misrepresenting the facts, I believe he's certainly playing the race card. When I think of the Federal Government, education and the 1950's I instantly think of Brown v. Board of Education. Buck was up there playing a game of Charades or Pictionary with these College Republicans. I was waiting for someone to call out - George Wallace or Brown V Board.
Again - The superfecta of Rand Paul, Sharrron Angle, Joe Miller and Ken Buck. The gifts that keep on giving.
Scott McAdams has a real chance to beat Joe Miller in the Alaska Senate Race. According to a Rasmussen Poll conducted earlier in the week he only trails Miller by 6 points.
We've raised $375 in the past week for McAdams on our Act Blue page . Help us get to $1,000 this weekend.
It remains to be seen whether McAdams will receive support from the Democratic National Committee or the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. McAdams says it doesn't matter.
"The DSCC and the national Democratic Party doesn't even know my name. And that's fine by me," he said. "I love the Alaskan Democratic Party, they've been behind me 100 percent, Sen. Mark Begich has been behind me 100 percent, and that's just fine by me."
But he acknowledged the support of the two national organizations would make a big difference.
"I'm not sure exactly what their strategy's going to be. I'm not sure what their plan is," he said. "This is a small population state. We can raise enough money to win. Nobody knew who Joe Miller was on the 31st of May."
The DNC and the DSCC may not get behind McAdams, but we can raise enough money to make this viable. Swing State Project has pledged to raise $2,400 so feel free to use their Act Blue links and help them reach their goal.
One thing I will say: If we do want big players like the DSCC to get involved, demonstrating serious grassroots enthusiasm for McAdams is the way to do it. So please help us reach our goal of $2,400 - the equivalent of one maximum federal donation - for Scott McAdams as quickly as possible.
Rasmussen already moved this race from Solidly Republican to Leans Republican which is certainly positive movement for McAdams as well as the Democrats nationally The superfecta crazy of Rand Paul, Sharrrrron Angle, Ken Buck and Joe Miller at the gifts that keep on giving.
We are all in this together. This race is the best value in terms of bang for our buck. SSP hits the nail on the head. Let's Go Team.
Looks like for me anyways the site is loading a bit quicker. I think that there were some page breaks that were messing up the loading. I played with the code for a bit.
Please let me know how it's performing for you.
I hope to have this fixed here this morning as long as I get some feedback.
I've only been inside the Fox Theatre one time in my life and I had a feeling then that it was a magical place. My cousin and I went to see Jeff Foxworthy tell some You Might Be a Redneck Jokes sometime around 1994 when we were in high school. Don't hold it against me please. I've always wanted to go back to the Fox at some point although I just haven't had the opportunity.
I got directed to a fascinating story this morning about a man named Joe Patten that lives in an apartment hidden in the Fox Theatre. Over the past hour, I've clicked on story after story after learning that the Fox Theatre wants Mr. Patten to sign a new lease which could terminate his stay at the Fox.
Patten, formerly the theater's technical director, has lived in a 3,640-square-foot apartment rent-free for 30 years. The lease, signed in December 1979, said he could remain there for life.
That lease could be terminated if Patten became permanently disabled for 180 days or more and a panel of three doctors said he should be hospitalized. The lease also could be terminated if Atlanta Landmarks, the nonprofit that runs the Fox, does so by a two-thirds vote.
That's what happened at a closed meeting Monday afternoon.The board issued Patten a new lease, one that says he can live there "as long as he is able."Vella said that means "when Joe needs significantly more care," such as live-in aide.
I'm not sure about the legality of forcing a new lease upon him if he had signed a lease allowing him a life long agreement. A group of folks have started a wonderful Facebook page titled Save Joe the Phantom of the Fox in support of allowing Mr. Patten to stay in the Fox under his current agreement.
theater
Elder care is a touchy subject. However, I believe that we must honor the wishes of the individual to live how they choose. As we grow older we should be able to enjoy our lives. In this case it appears the Fox would not even exist today without Mr. Patten's tender care of this facility over the past thirty years. A new lease reeks of ageism as Mr. Patten appears to be in good health and has plenty of friends and family willing to assist him. We also learned that originally that someone associated with the Fox essentially sent Patten a letter saying he needed to leave. The decision to ask Mr. Patten that seems cold and callous. Furthermore, the Fox theater seems to have created a public relations nightmare.
We will keep you posted as this story progresses. In the meantime we hope you will join the facebook page and learn more about Joe Patten.
The third installment from Edward Sebesta in The League of the South While Cecil Williamson Was a Member series. Cecil Williamson is the current City Council President of Selma, Alabama which is a predominantly African American city. He has refused to resign in light of revelations about his past association with the League of the South a recognized hate group.This edition focuses on the Leagues praise for George Wallace the Segregationist, an the attempt to create a new Southern Party and criticism of the 14th Amendment (equal protection). .
By no means have I exhaustively covered the extremism of the League of the South, but I merely mention highlights of some of their more outrageous and easy to explain items. In the next installment I will cover some highlights of the League of the South web page.
In Vol. 5 No. 5, Sept. - Oct. 1998, the Southern Patriot eulogized George Wallace, but not the Wallace who regretted his stand for segregation, but the George Wallace, who defiantly stood for segregation. Also, the Christian Reconstructionism of the League of the South is explicitly stated. Note, that the League of the South adopted its own spellings for words. For example it doesn't like the letter "z" and thinks British spelling is more authentically Southern.
League President Hill explains that the goal is to have a Christian republic, in an article "Christian Southerners" explaining:
To do otherwise than first seek to serve our God and Creator in the cause of a Southern Republic would place us on no higher ground than 'those people,' and would betray not only our Lord but also the memory of our Confederate ancestors. From the beginning, the League has charted a course far more ambitious (and dangerous) than the run-of-the-mill conservative organisation. Indeed, we envisioned ourselves as a movement whose end was not self-perpetuation and self-aggrandisement, but the establishment of a republic based on the Christian principles of our Confederate ancestors. Where else in all this modern, progressive world is there a movement to establish such a republic? Nowhere, of course. We are the only people labouring to do what our Christian forefathers once attempted to do. Let us not become some policy-driven conservative organisation that seeks salvation in politics, nor some emasculated spiritual lap-dog such as the Christian Coalition. Rather, let us 'play the men' the same way our forebears did when faced with overwhelming odds. Like them, we should put our trust in the Lord and His glory at the heart of our cause and then move ahead with the courage of the faithful to confront the enemy that stands before us.
There are those in the Southern independence movement who would prefer that we leave the Christian element out of our drive for independence. We might as well leave the principles of Lee, Jackson, Stuart, and Davis out of that inspiration which we derive from the Confederacy. These were men whose every action was moved by a belief in God's sovereignty and His covenantal promises. By pledging ourselves to the League's objective of freeing the South from an ungodly Jacobin regime, we become parties to that covenant. Thus we bear a great responsibility to the generation of Southerners that will follow us.
Over the past few days, I saw comments from a number of Alaska political observers that believed Scott McAdams would immediately benefit once Joe Miller officially became the Republican nominee. They were spot on according to the most recent poling numbers.
Last night, Rasmussen polled Alaska voters after learning of the Lisa Murkowski concession speech.
The latest statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Miller attracting 50% of the vote, while McAdams earns support from 44%. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate and two percent (2%) are undecided.
This survey was conducted Tuesday night just hours after incumbent GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski conceded the Republican nomination during a recount of the August 24 primary. Miller, a lawyer and military veteran, benefited from support from the state's former governor Sarah Palin and Tea Party activists.
Ninety percent (90%) of Democrats back McAdams while 79% of Republicans throw their vote behind Miller. McAdams holds a 22-point lead among voters not affiliated with either major political party.
Rasmussen moved this race from Solidly Republican to Leans Republican which is certainly positive movement for the Democrats. The low number of undecideds are jumping out as something that concerns me at the moment. A poll from last week, performed by Public Policy Polling , showed Miller leading McAdams by 8 points (47-39 with 14 % undecided).
Now the caveat is that I haven't see the polling questions to offer an more in-depth analysis of the format. This is welcomed news for the Democrats and the McAdams camp. We love this race because of it's underdog nature and all the story lines.
Miller leads Democratic nominee Scott McAdams 47-39. McAdams benefits from a more united party, getting 81% of the Democratic vote to Miller's 73% of the Republicans. The candidates split even with independents at 42%, a good number for Democrats in a year where their candidates are largely getting blown out with that group of voters.
The League of the South While Cecil Williamson Was a Member Part II by Edward Sebesta
Continuation of yesterday's article about how the League of South is much more than an "academic exercise". This article discusses more controversial neo-Confederacy writings such as those where League members condemn Brown vs. Board of Education.
Vol. 2 No. 4 issue of the "Southern Patriot" is notable for including an article by Jared Taylor 'Why We Revere Our Confederate Ancestors" reprinted from his Sons of Confederate Veterans camp newsletter, and the same issue recommends reading Jared Taylor's publication American Renaissance
The League of the South tells its members:
Jared Taylor's monthly newsletter, "American Renaissance," provides hard hitting analysis of largely ignored racial issues. "American Renaissance" pulls no punches in its discussions of black-on-white crime, racial IQ differences, the ills of affirmative action, and current immigration policies. Not for the timed or faint-hearted.
I can assure you that if you go to the website for American Renaissance you will find that this description to be entirely accurate, it is a rabid racist publication that is indeed not for the timid or faint-hearted.
In Vol. 2 No. 5, Sept. - Oct. 1995, Thomas Woods', famed author, in an article denounces the abolitionists as "fanatics" with "a tendency towards extremism." Williamson stated that "and at first it seemed to be academic exercise about Southern independence, and they wrote a series of articles about Southern independence now, not about the 1860s." but the League of the South did focus on the 19th century, abolitionism, the Civil War and Reconstruction. Thomas Woods has this web page , where he, like Cecil Williamson, is trying to omit his neo-Confederate past. I have this web page to make sure his extensive neo-Confederate writings aren't forgotten.
