Category: Political

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Political Weblogging

Bloggers resign from campaign

Both Shakespeare’s Sister Melissa and Pandagon’s Amanda have resigned from the Edwards compaign. Amanda’s site is down, but at Shakepeare’s Sister, Melissa had this to say:

I regret to say that I have also resigned from the Edwards campaign. In spite of what was widely reported, I was not hired as a blogger, but a part-time technical advisor, which is the role I am vacating.

I would like to make very clear that the campaign did not push me out, nor was my resignation the back-end of some arrangement made last week. This was a decision I made, with the campaign’s reluctant support, because my remaining the focus of sustained ideological attacks was inevitably making me a liability to the campaign, and making me increasingly uncomfortable with my and my family’s level of exposure.

I understand that there will be progressive bloggers who feel I am making the wrong decision, and I offer my sincerest apologies to them. One of the hardest parts of this decision was feeling as though I’m letting down my peers, who have been so supportive.

There will be some who clamor to claim victory for my resignation, but I caution them that in doing so, they are tacitly accepting responsibility for those who have deluged my blog and my inbox with vitriol and veiled threats. It is not right-wing bloggers, nor people like Bill Donohue or Bill O’Reilly, who prompted nor deserve credit for my resignation, no matter how much they want it, but individuals who used public criticisms of me as an excuse to unleash frightening ugliness, the likes of which anyone with a modicum of respect for responsible discourse would denounce without hesitation.

This is a win for no one.

(Also see this ABC Story for more)

I don’t think any supporter of both would be disappointed, and I admire both of them for taking this stand. They would never be able to speak freely as part of Edwards’ campaign, but now they can use their voices and their popular blogs however they see fit, and no one can shut them up now.

As for this quack Donohue or that tedious and dull Malkin claiming victory, small minds must get gratification where they can. Frankly, the rest of the country could care less what these two carp in a small pond think.

My only concern is if Amanda and Melissa are going to suffer some financial repercussions from this event. If so, I imagine many of us would be willing to donate a few bucks to help them get settled back home.

Amanda’s announcement.

Categories
Political

Sleight of hand

It would seem that the US isn’t the only country whose primary leader plays sleight of hand when it comes to debate: Australia’s Howard is using Obama’s candidate announcement speech to deflect discussion away from climate change to the Iraqi conflict.

If I were the people of Australia, I would balance 1400 soldiers in Iraq against the fact that it is completely surrounded by water when making a decision about what is of most critical importance to the people of that country. Unless Howard would prefer that Iraq remain a lightning rod for Islamic discontent, rather than have such shift focus to, say, Indonesia.

This kind of political rhetoric isn’t surprising: it seems to be representative of anyone associated with Bush. What is surprising, though, is how anyone can possibly think there is any question of ‘win’ or ‘loose’ regarding Iraq. Frankly, I would question the intelligence of any person who uses such terms in regards to this conflict. But, we have enough problems with our own fearless leader, who now seems to want to make bad matters worse by trying to trigger a war with Iran. Howard is Australia’s concern, not ours.

Categories
Political

Edwards Responds

Edwards responded to the criticism of Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan:

The tone and the sentiment of some of Amanda Marcotte’s and Melissa McEwan’s posts personally offended me. It’s not how I talk to people, and it’s not how I expect the people who work for me to talk to people. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that kind of intolerant language will not be permitted from anyone on my campaign, whether it’s intended as satire, humor, or anything else. But I also believe in giving everyone a fair shake. I’ve talked to Amanda and Melissa; they have both assured me that it was never their intention to malign anyone’s faith, and I take them at their word. We’re beginning a great debate about the future of our country, and we can’t let it be hijacked. It will take discipline, focus, and courage to build the America we believe in.

I respect that Edwards didn’t fire the webloggers, and I appreciate his position, but if I were Amanda or Melissa, I would resign.

This is typical patriarchal talk that both Amanda and Melissa used to balk at once upon a time before they became ‘legit’. What they said on their weblogs was there all along; they didn’t quickly add all of it once they had the jobs. Being critical of what they wrote before they were working for him is Edwards covering his butt; not firing either woman is also Edwards covering his butt. He didn’t fire them–he just shut them up.

Why did he hire them? Because he wanted very liberal and very outspoke feminists to placate those of us who wonder why we should vote for a white guy when we have Clinton, Obama, and Richardson to finally give us the diversity that we–including Amanda and Melissa–have been demanding.

He has them as surrogate feminists, so that he doesn’t have to taint his campaign with such. He’ll push the liberal agenda this year, but watch him drift towards the center next year–after hooking in the cyber folks with our money and our passion.

I think he’s a strong candidate and that’s why people like Malkin and others, all products of conservative think tanks, used this as an attack. I think he will support at least a moderate Democratic agenda if he gets elected. If he’s nominated, I will support him. But I also think this is a demonstration of business as usual: white boy telling the women to ‘hesh up, now’ and let the men talk.

The ladies swore. So? Who cares if they swore in their own weblogs, and in their own personal space. Or is is really that women are supposed to remember our manners; to be like ladies?

What both these women did was express their opinions, and last time I looked, it was OK to be critical of religion or the Church, especially when the religious and the Church interferes with our lives. I can respect people’s faith while saying that it angers me when the Catholic Church–or the Southern Baptist or the Lutheran or the Jewish or the Muslim–tell women what we can or cannot do with our bodies; what we can or cannot learn in school; what jobs we can work, how we raise our children, what we watch on TV, or to redefine science.

As for Amanda and Melissa, I wish them the best, I really do. It’s just too bad they’ve had their mouths politically duct taped.

Update

Amanda and Melissa’s statements, found at MyDD and Glenn Greenwald’s:

Amanda Marcotte:

“My writings on my personal blog, Pandagon on the issue of religion are generally satirical in nature and always intended strictly as a criticism of public policies and politics. My intention is never to offend anyone for his or her personal beliefs, and I am sorry if anyone was personally offended by writings meant only as criticisms of public politics. Freedom of religion and freedom of expression are central rights, and the sum of my personal writings is a testament to this fact.”

Melissa McEwen:

“Shakespeare’s Sister is my personal blog, and I certainly don’t expect Senator Edwards to agree with everything I’ve posted. We do, however, share many views – including an unwavering support of religious freedom and a deep respect for diverse beliefs. It has never been my intention to disparage people’s individual faith, and I’m sorry if my words were taken in that way.”

Categories
Government

The Boston TV Story

Sheila points to a good story on the recent Boston ‘terror’ alert, with bomb squad folks blowing up electronic boards with characters flipping the bird. She also has a good comment of her own:

Get a grip and admit you jumped straight to the doomsday scenario without investigating more plausible explanations. It’s not the kids’ fault that Boston — alone — spent $750,000 to defuse cartoon characters that had been decorating ten cities for three weeks.

I’m with the young people on this one. Boston acted like an ass. I liked Portland, Oregon’s take on the boards: the city checked them out, determined they weren’t harmful, and then left them alone if they weren’t on municipal property.

Categories
Political

Ameren Change of Venue

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Ameren has filed a change of venue in the state lawsuit regarding the Taum Sauk dam break. They want the case tried in Reynolds country, rather than St. Louis. The reasons are obvious: Reynolds County has developed an economic dependency on Ameren.

Despite the extensive natural resource and property damage caused by the Dec. 14, 2005, reservoir breach, Ameren would likely get a fair shake in Reynolds County, said District 1 County Commissioner Doug Warren.

“Other than maybe a handful of people, I think most of the people are behind Ameren in this county,” Warren said.

Ameren paid $732,710 in property taxes in Reynolds County in 2006, said County Assessor Rick Parker. Tax receipts from Ameren represented 62 percent of the tax base supporting the Lesterville school.

I think I have an idea who some of the ‘other than a handful of people’ might be, but perhaps the rest of the people of Reynold’s county need to be reminded of what could have happened if the lower dam hadn’t held: chances are support for a Lesterville school would have been moot.

This is one of the problems with school funding in this state. To provide a good, basic education, each school needs a minimum amount of money, but many rural areas don’t generate enough revenue to meet this minimum need. This puts these rural areas at the mercy of a company like Ameren; who, more and more, is coming across as a strongly manipulative corporate entity, well aware that it can pull chains in Reynolds but not here in St. Louis.

The dam break was an unprecedented act of corporate malfeasance. The company management was aware that the dam was operating in an unsafe manner; but they chose not to forgo the profits that would be lost in order to take the dam offline long enough to fix.

No one was killed, but that’s either because a miracle occurred or we had the most amazing luck: pick one.

What did happen is that something very special that belonged to the people of that area–to the people of the state–was forever destroyed. The replacement might be wonderful in itself, but it will never the same. The community will, also, never be the same.

Ameren is playing a ‘big city folk’ against ‘rural folk’ game, basically playing to the economic fears in that area. Unfortunately, our good governor and state legislature aids and abets this by playing their own games with school budgets.

I feel sorry for the folks in Reynolds County, but I also feel sorry for we in St. Louis, and Missourians in general: justice has been given a price tag by people smug in their assumptions of who will, or won’t, pay it.