The Coming of Armageddon

For once, I agree with the Religious Right. Take a look at my latest column. The Bay Area Reporter also posted this fun illustration by Christine Smith. The entire cartoon can also be seen here.

Gloria Steinem on Sarah Palin

In the Los Angeles Times, feminist icon Gloria Steinmen writes:

Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."

Oh yeah.

John McCain & THE Speech: Seemed flat to me

I'm not the primary audience for this speech, so take my impressions with a grain of salt, or the entire salt shaker, but John McCain did not move me tonight. This seemed like a retread of every other Republican laundry list of old ideas. (Can anyone say "cut taxes?") McCain himself just looked tired.

There were two highlights for me. One was when McCain seemed to apologize for the last eight years. The second was when he admitted that his captors had broken him and how he had grown from the experience. I was sincerely moved and felt I could finally glimpse a tiny bit of the real man behind the politician.

But the retelling of McCain's POW story has begun to sadden me. I have always respected McCain for his service and for what he suffered, but this constant repetition of his suffering feels like it cheapens a truly horrific experience. It's as if Republicans have turned McCain's suffering into nothing more than a political talking point.

All the talking heads on PBS except for one, gave the speech a resounding A. They talked about the enthusiasm of the audience and McCain's effectiveness. Perhaps he looked and sounded better in person, but on TV the speech, speaker and the audience all seemed flat.

And someone please... fire whoever set up that screen behind the speakers. Don't let them ever put the color green behind McCain again!

Today's Must Read: An "apology" to Sarah Palin

Sometimes I'm downright proud to be a journalist. Today's must read is Roger Simon's "apology" to Sarah Palin over at Politico. Best of all, he quotes the wonderful Lily Tomlin: “No matter how cynical I get, it’s just never enough to keep up.”

Terrorism laws being used to prosecute people arrested for planning to protest

By Nancy Jane Moore

The Independent Media Center reports that Minnesota prosecutors are going to use the state's version of the Patriot Act to prosecute as "terrorists" eight people arrested for planning protests at the Republican National Convention. The eight were arrested before the convention, apparently due to statements from informants.

I'm particularly concerned, because one of the eight, Eryn Trimmer, is the son of a friend of mine. His father told me yesterday in an email that Eryn had been held in jail for five days and was bored. He sounded like things might be resolved soon -- the ACLU is looking into the case -- but that was before the news that the terrorism laws were being used.

It now appears that "planning to protest" is a terrorist act in the Land of the Free. As Glenn Greenwald points out on Salon, the U.S. was oh, so righteous about arrests of demonstrators and potential demonstrators in China, but doesn't seem to have the same attitude here at home.

I don't know all the facts. Apparently the police claimed to have information from informants that the protesters were planning to disrupt traffic and possibly even damage property. Greenwald's account includes information that federal officers were involved.

I am highly skeptical of the police point of view. If you recall the arrests at the 2004 Republican convention, you probably also recall that virtually the charges were eventually dropped. There's a history of inflating protest activities out of all proportion.

Further, this all reeks of the kind of police action that went on back during the Vietnam War protests and Civil Rights Movement -- actions that have been completely discredited.

Informants may or may not be reliable. I'd also note that, in a casual conversation, it's pretty easy to get people worked up enough to say they're going to do things they have no intention of doing, especially if someone is egging them on to act "tough."

I don't know what these protesters were planning, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of them, at the very least, planned some nonviolent demonstrations that would block traffic. Others probably intended to stay within the law. A few -- there are always a few -- probably saw the protests as a good excuse for breaking windows and generally causing trouble.

But I am sure that none of them threatened the personal safety of any of the convention attendees or officials. They were planning demonstrations, not acts of terrorism.

All of you people who said to yourselves, "Oh, well, those laws on terrorism may go too far, but they won't affect me," better think again. The people arrested in St. Paul are U.S. citizens, our children, doing what we're all supposed to be permitted to do under the First Amendment: Speaking their minds.

If the government sends them to prison as terrorists, just how do we differ from China?

The Republican National Convention descends into the politics of ridicule

I know I shouldn't be this naive, but I'm stunned by what I saw last night at the RNC. In particular, Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin ridiculed their political opponents with quips and sarcasm suitable for junior high cafeterias. And then the Republican delegates responded with the kind of laughter, hand gestures and yelling that one would expect from 14-year-olds. (Note: I'm a mother with a son in his early 20s, so I remember that stage VERY well.)

The Republicans seemed to think it was particularly hilarious that someone would be a community organizer. Think about the arrogance of that. Here is the party that oversaw the destruction of the economy for the last eight years and made Jack Abramoff a star -- the party that claims that it's for the common man and against the elites -- roaring with laughter at the idea of organizing to battle elites.

I wasn't laughing. I bet I wasn't alone.

Is Palin Mrs. Pritchard and other entertaining bits from the news

By Nancy Jane Moore

Joel Achenbach has the best take so far on the Republicans:

So far the Republican National Convention has gone according to script. Unfortunately the script was written by John Waters.

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert makes a good point about the Palin pick:

Palin is the latest G.O.P. distraction. She's meant to shift attention away from the real issue of this campaign -- the awful state of the nation after eight years of Republican rule.

Herbert cautions us to avoid getting caught up in the distraction.

On the other hand, is anyone else besides me taken with the parallel between Sarah Palin and the main character of the British program on PBS, "The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard"? For those of you who don't watch PBS -- I only saw this show because it comes on after the British mysteries, which are much more satisfying than "CSI and Order" and their many clones -- Mrs. Pritchard is an ordinary working class British woman who gets outraged and ends up as prime minister. (I've only seen bits and pieces, so I don't know how all that happened.)

There are lots of differences between Mrs. Pritchard and Palin, of course, the most obvious being that Mrs. Pritchard is actually trying to do something about global warming instead of cheering for the oil companies. And clearly a strong network of women politicians has rallied around her, because virtually all of her ministers and assistants are women. It's hard to watch the program and not root for her.

But Mrs. Pritchard represents that desire many people have for so-called "common sense" leaders who speak their minds (and often shoot from the hip) and Palin's public image is precisely that: an ordinary woman taking care of business. Of course, Palin is actually a pretty ruthless politician -- not to mention a religious right extremist -- judging from what I've read about her and Alaska politics, but image has a tendency to overpower truth in these matters.

What's going outside of the Republican National Convention?

It's hard to get a clear view of what exactly happened yesterday outside of the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that most of the demonstrators on Monday were peaceful, but that some were violent. The newspaper published one photo of windows being smashed and a video of what looks like the same group of protesters, pounding on a bus labeled "RNC Staff."

However, the police outside the convention also appeared to target journalists and commentators and to do so with little reason. An AP photographer, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and two of her staff were arrested. CNN commentator and Democratic strategist Donna Brazile was hit by pepper spray. At this time, it is unclear exactly what happened to Brazile, except that she was pepper sprayed.

This video shows Goodman's arrest. Judging by this, all Goodman was doing was asking questions about the arrest of her two producers.

Palin candidacy death watch gathers steam

Over at Daily Kos, they've already started a death watch thread on the vice presidential candidacy of Sarah Palin. Intrade has already started trading on whether or not Palin will be forced to withdraw. Personally, I think it's way too early to tell if Palin's candidacy will be a rerun of Tom Eagleton's 1972 aborted run for veep, but stay tuned.

Meanwhile, the steady drip, drip, drip of Palin revelations continues.

Greg Sargent at TPM ElectionCentral has a great rundown of the controversies stacking up against Palin. The Washington Post reports today that the allegedly anti-earmark Palin was pro-earmark when she was mayor of tiny Wasilla. She hired a lobbying firm and helped bring $27 million to the town of 6,700 people. The New York Times weighs in with a detailed piece on the not-so-active vet of Palin. The Los Angeles Times quotes one Republican strategist "with close ties to the campaign" as saying that the vet was little more than a Google search.