Some black people aren't so bad

Illinois Commerce Commission Chairman Charles Box served three terms (1989-2001) as mayor of Rockford, an impressive record for a black man in an overwhelmingly white community.

Box, a graduate of Dartmouth University and the University of Michigan Law School, faced surprisingly little race-baiting during his tenure at City Hall. There was, however, one episode about which he told me but which drew no public attention. It involved a School Board member whose racism was so deep-seated that the guy probably didn't even recognize it in himself.

The prejudice came to the fore when this guy said to Box that he was the "smartest black person I've ever known."

I was reminded of this matter when I read the other day about how Fox News blowhard Bill O'Reilly expressed great surprise at having had a pleasant experience in a New York restaurant operated by black folks.

I just can't resist

Having raised the subject of "The Civil War" miniseries in the previous post, I can't resist passing along this clip, the latter half of which includes a recitation of Union soldier Sullivan Ballou's last letter home to his wife.

It is incredibly moving:

"Ashokan Farewell"

I saw the first installment of Ken Burns' miniseries on World War II last night on PBS. It was good but somehow not as affecting as his masterpiece on the Civil War.

I think the difference is that Jay Unger's beautifully haunting "Ashokan Farewell" served as the theme music for the Civil War series.

Check it out here:

Whoremonger wants to give $100,000 from taxpayers to flat-earthers

Stories like this give me opportunities to write fun headlines like the one above. Thank you, David Vitter.

Politics in Black and White

Paul Krugman has some interesting observations on the subject of race and politics.

Fie on Feinstein

I've always had a vague dislike of Dianne Feinstein, and now Glenn Greenwald has articulated my feelings:

California's Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein provides a perfect case study for understanding why the Congress has done virtually nothing to oppose the most extreme Bush policies, while doing much actively to support it.

Feinstein represents a deep blue state and was just easily re-elected to her third term last year. She won't run for re-election, if she ever does, until 2012, when she will be 80 years old. Her state easily re-elected a Senator, Barbara Boxer, with a much more liberal voting record than Feinstein's. Political fear cannot possibly explain her loyal support for the Bush agenda on the most critical issues decided by the Senate.

Additionally, Feinstein is a 74-year-old divorced Jewish woman currently on her third husband, and it is thus extremely unlikely that she harbors any hopes of running in the future on a national ticket. She has as secure a political position as any politician in the country. Whatever explains what she does, it has nothing to do with "spinelessness" or fear. What would she possibly fear?

And yet, her votes over the last several years, and especially this year after she was safely re-elected, are infinitely closer to the Bush White House and her right-wing Senate colleagues than they are to the base of her party or to the constituents she allegedly represents.

More on Dubya's fear of horses

I told you here yesterday that George W. Bush, self-styled cowboy, reportedly is afraid of horses.

Today, I've got a video from a few years ago that puts the issue in context:

Extremists rewrite "God Bless America"

Is nothing sacred?

All but a handful of the Republican presidential candidates took part the other night in a so-called Values Voters Debate in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., hosted by several leaders of the religious right.

A choir from Ohio enlivened the proceedings with a rendition of "God Bless America" in which the lyrics were changed to an anti-American litany of the nation's wrongs as perceived by religious extremists.

The new lyrics are as follows:

Why should God bless America?
She’s forgotten he exists
And has turned her back
On everything that made her what she is

Why should God stand beside her
Through the night with the light from his hand?
God have mercy on America
Forgive her sin and heal our land

The courts ruled prayer out of our schools
In June of ‘62
Told the children “you are your own God now
So you can make the rules”
O say can you see what that choice
Has cost us to this day
America, one nation under God, has gone astray

Why should God bless America?
She’s forgotten he exists
And has turned her back on everything
That made her what she is

Why should God stand beside her
Through the night with the light from his hand?
God have mercy on America
Forgive her sins and heal our land

In ‘73 the Courts said we
Could take the unborn lives
The choice is yours don’t worry now
It’s not a wrong, it’s your right

But just because they made it law
Does not change God’s command
The most that we can hope for is
God’s mercy on our land

Why should God bless America?
She’s forgotten he exists
And has turned her back on everything
That made her what she is

Why should God stand beside her
Through the night with the light from his hand?
God have mercy on America
Forgive her sins and heal our land

There are only two things wrong those new lyrics: One, they're full of lies. Two, they lack even a hint of homophobia.

Closeted gay Republicans unite!

Frank Rich says Larry Craig should be spared an unjust execution -- and he's right.

This land is your land

Enjoy:

Is Georgie skeered of horsies?

The Rascal doesn't ordinarily traffick in such trivialities, but this is too delicious to pass up, especially in light of the great importance your typical Republican male attaches to macho symbolism.

Rudy's a funny guy

Rudy Giuliani still leads the pack in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, despite the fact that he regularly spews nonsense like this.

God, I hope the Democratic candidate, whoever it might be, gets to run against this idiot.

War profiteers wallowing

Wholesale corruption in the Pentagon is under investigation, but the Republican politicians are more concerned about those pesky liberals saying nasty things about poor little Gen. Petraeus.

Olbermann cuts Bush a new one -- and how!

This is good.

Your "liberal" media (cont.)

Eric Boehlert analyzes the mainstream media's clownishly imcompetent handing of the controversy over the MoveOn.org advertisement dissing Gen. David Petraeus.

The general, the ad, the war and the polls

Arianna Huffington offers an overview.

And Kos has the numbers on how badly the Petraeus report flopped with the public (no matter the hysteria among right-wing pseudo-patriots over the ad questioning the general's veracity).

The Islamic boogeyman is overrated

So says Steve Chapman in an excellent column.

Did Dave Syverson put him up to it?

Three years ago, Illinois State Sen. Dave Syverson of Rockford played a central role in recruiting right-wing madman Alan Keyes (right) to run as the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate against Democrat Barack Obama. (The GOP primary election winner, Jack Ryan, had been forced off the ticket because of a sex scandal.)

Well, of course, Keyes got a comparative handful of votes, and Obama went on to become a political superstar.

Ah, but Keyes has never been one to say die. Now he's running for president. Maybe Syverson will endorse him.

Why aren't we celebrating today?

Today is Constitution Day, the 220th anniversary of the completion of work on our nation's founding document, without which there would be no United States of America -- at least not as we know it.

So where are the parades? Why isn't this a national holiday? Why do so many Americans have little or no knowledge of what's in the Constitution, how it got there and what it means?

Eric Lane and Michael Oreskes have some interesting observations on this subject.

Greenspan says the war is about oil

Alan Greenspan, lifelong Republican and former chairman of the Federal Reserve, says in his new book that the war in Iraq is "largely about oil."

Gee, I always thought the war was about defending my right to dissent against it. That's what the pseudo-patriots usually say: Our troops are in Iraq defending our freedom. If they weren't there, I wouldn't have the right to speak my mind.

But now Greenspan says it's all about oil. Gosh! Who knew?