MotherJones.com | MoJoBlog - Social Issues and Political Commentary: February 11, 2007

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February 17, 2007

White House Backs Down on U.S. Attorney Nomination

I blogged yesterday about the controversial, and seemingly politically motivated, firing of several U.S. Attorneys. The most egregious of 7-10 cases is that of H.E. Cummings III of Arkansas. Mr. Cummings was let go, according to Alberto Gonzalez's deputy, to make room for J. Timothy Griffin, who had served as a political director for the Republican National Committee and a deputy to none other than Karl Rove. (In print, Mr. Griffin is "J. Timothy," but when the White House talks about what a great guy he is, they call him "Tim.")

The White House has finally realized that its claim that this was standard personnel management ain't gonna fly and has agreed not to nominate Mr. Griffin as a permanent replacement for Mr. Cummings. (He will, however, remain as a temporary replacement.)

Now this is the kind of stuff that wouldn't even have made the papers if the Dems weren't in power, and for that we are duly grateful.

February 16, 2007

Miers Had Hand in U.S. Attorney Firings

You might suspect that your firing was politically motivated when (1) it happens 2 days after you indict a high-ranking CIA official in a corruption scandal, or (2) your replacement is a buddy of Karl Rove's. Such are the stories of Carol Lam of San Diego and H.E. Cummings III of Arkansas. Turns out old Harry, as in Harriet "Good Enough for the Supreme Court but Not Good Enough to Insulate Bush, Inc. from the Dems" Miers, who was then counsel for the president, had a hand in replacing Cummings with Rove buddy J. Timothy Griffin. So, uh, which party is it again that opposes judicial activism?

RSC Backs Off On Attack Against Pelosi's Blog, Because, Well, They Were Wrong

Judging by the onslaught of comments on my previous post about Pelosi's blog and by this Fox News story, it looks like the RSC is backpedaling on their accusations that "The Gavel" infringes upon C-SPAN copyright laws. (YouTube videos of the network's chamber coverage were posted on the site.)

"Bruce Collins, the Corporate Vice President and General Counsel of C-SPAN, called post release and said that the information provided by the C-SPAN employee to the RSC was incorrect."

Indeed, like many had noted, the C-SPAN video posted on Pelosi's blog is public domain.

Migration Group Says 1 Million Iraqi Refugees Will Flee This Year

The International Organization for Migration, an inter-governmental group, reports today that they estimate 1 million Iraqis will flee the country in 2007. The situation in Iraq and for its citizens, a spokesperson for the group said, is not improving. This would be a drastic increase over the 2 million refugees who have fled over a four year period since the beginning of the war in 2003. 1.8 million more have fled their homes to safer areas within the country.

The concern is that four years after the U.S. invasion in March, this number should be getter smaller, not bigger. The Iraqi refugee situation, which some fear could be worse than Darfur, is grave, as I have written about before, because relocation options for refugees are limited. Jordan has closed its doors and increasingly, the country has become more and more unfriendly to Iraqis, especially Shiites. There is talk that Syria will close its borders soon as well.

The announcement, by IOM, comes in the wake of a decision by the Bush administration to allow 7,000 Iraqi refugees to seek asylum in the U.S. Under pressure from Syria, who blames "Washington for the 'humanitarian catastrophe' involving Iraqi refugees," the administration made this small concession. (The U.S. has only allowed 500 refugees into the country in the past four years.)

The Jordanian government is not impressed. A spokesperson for the government noted that 7,000 is just one percent of the number of refugees Jordan has accommodated. Syria has taken in 1 million. The United Nations excuses the U.S.'s "miserly" asylum quota by claiming that most refugees would like to return to Iraq and aren't interested in a home in the U.S. This is bunk on so many levels. Yes, of course, Iraqis would ultimately like to go home, but their native country is unsafe for them and so most of them are willing, I'm sure, to consider a second choice. And more importantly, many Iraqis do want asylum in the U.S. In fact, 100,000 Iraqi Christians are reported to have expressed interest in resettling in the U.S.

Southern Lawmakers Accuse Jews of Inventing Evolution, Big Bang, Heliocentrism

In the mid-1500's Copernicus developed the modern version of heliocentrism, the idea that the sun (and not the earth) is the center of the solar system. Well, these folks believe that Copernicus (or should I say, Coperniberg) and the continued insistence to this very day that the Earth is not a fixed object are part of a "centuries-old conspiracy" composed of Jewish physicists set on destroying Christianity.

Ancient India, Greece, and Persia all suspected that the Earth revolved around the sun, and not vice versa. Clearly, those places were overrun by Jews. Oy vey.

PS - I suppose there are worse things to be accused of than inventing some of science's most fundamental concepts. Like being insane, or worse yet, being dim enough to willingly select insane, bigoted people to govern you.

More on McCain and Romney, the Amazing Pandering Duo

Yesterday when I blogged about Mitt Romney following John McCain's lead on the speak-at-universities-run-by-right-wing-zealots front, I couldn't have known that Howard Fineman of Newsweek would be thinking along the same lines.

Well, he is. In a "WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY" on Newsweek.com (for the record, everything I write in this space is a WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY) Fineman says that the three "kingmakers" of the right are Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and James Dobson. Writes the very serious gentleman at right, "There are two main fault lines among them: the one in Virginia, which separates Falwell and Robertson; and the one that separates Dobson, in his mountain fastness of Colorado Springs, from those he genially regards as amateurs (everybody else)."

That means that after Papa McCain cozied up to Falwell and the good reverend made McCain his choice for the Repbulican nomination, Robertson had to go looking for another candidate to endorse (and influence, obviously). And that's why we have news that Romney will be delivering the next commencement address at Robertson's Regent University; the man who once said that George Bush would win in 2004 because the Lord had told him so has selected the First Mormon as his cause.

That leaves Dobson. He's already said "I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances" and, according to Fineman, has said the same about Giuliani. Fineman says that leaves Mike Huckabee, "the personable former Arkansas governor who also spent a good bit of his career as a Southern Baptist preacher."

I can just see the campaign slogans now. "Huckabee '08: Jesus Was a Dark Horse, Too!"

Wait, isn't that a country song?

Philip Perry--Making Sure Our Chemical Faciliities Have No Security

Philip Perry, a former member of the powerful Latham and Watkins law firm in Washington, DC, left the law firm in 2000 to become part of the transition team of his father-in-law, Dick Cheney. He then became the third-highest ranking official in John Ashcroft's Justice Department before serving as General Counsel to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

When the post-September 11 Environmental Protection Agency made an attempt to regulate the security at chemical industry facilities, Perry used his position at the OMB to block the attempt. According to Art Levine, writing for Washington Monthly, Perry told executive branch officials, "If you send up this legislation, it will be dead on arrival on the Hill."

That same year, 2003, Perry returned to his practice at Latham and Watkins, which represented a major chemical industry trade group. After two years, however, Perry went to the Department of Homeland Security, where he became General Counsel. Once Perry joined DHS, the department granted itself the power to set aside state laws, which decreased the level of security required for chemical facilities. There is nothing in the Homeland Security law which grants the DHS such power.

One Congressional staff describes Perry as "an éminence grise. He's been pretty good at getting his fingerprints off of anything, but everyone in this field knows he's the one directing it." Levine calls Perry "a key player in the struggle to prevent the federal government from assuming any serious regulatory role in business, no matter what the cost."

In January, Perry announced his intention to leave DHS. During his tenure in the federal government, both at OMB and DHS, he has successfully blocked every attempt made by a federal agency and Congress to provide reasonable security to chemical plants, storage tanks and rail cars.

John Murtha's "Slow Bleed" Plan to End the Iraq War Explained

Details are creeping out about Congressman John Murtha's plan to put the clamps on the Iraq War (featured today on the Mother Jones News and Politics page), but I think many people lack a clear understanding of how the plan works.

The idea is to pass a series of small measures that curtail the president's ability to make war, while at the same time showing support the troops. This is seen as more likely to get through the House and Senate than a proposal to cut off funding for the war and is more politically advantageous for the Democrats.

Here's specifically what Murtha's plan would do:

(1) It would not allow American troops to deploy to Iraq unless they meet certain (very high) standards of manpower, equipment, and training. Murtha believes few of the units Bush intends to use for the surge would be able to meet his requirements.

(2) It will limit the length and number of deployments by soldiers in the American armed forces, thereby making it more difficult for the Pentagon to replace troops it rotates out of war zones.

(3) It will mandate that troops get a year off in between stints at the front lines.

(4) It would end the construction of enduring bases in Iraq.

(5) It would raze Abu Ghraib.

When taken together, the plan would limit the number of troops Bush has to work with, while blunting conservative criticism that the Democrats are anti-military or anti-troops.

The plan will be attached to an upcoming $93 billion supplemental spending bill that is needed to pay for Iraq and Afghanistan. Murtha controls the progress of that bill as chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee. In effect, if you aren't willing to support Murtha's plan, you are forced to vote against funding the troops. Not a good position for a Republican lawmaker to be in.

This should all come to a head in late February or early ~~April~~ March when the spending bill needs to be voted on, after which point it would head to the Senate. Anti-war groups with deep pockets are preparing to roll out ad campaigns in favor of the plan, and will specifically target Republican Senators vulnerable in the 2008 elections.

February 15, 2007

Tonight: A Documentary on Melvin Van Peebles

How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (And Enjoy It) is premiering on The Independent Film Channel at 9 p.m. tonight. It's a biographical documentary on Melvin Van Peebles, who grandfathered blaxspoitation cinema with Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song in 1971, and has created 11 other films and seven plays in his career.

"I wanted a movie that black people could walk out of standing tall," Van Peebles explains. "I didn't see the type of movie I wanted to see so I made it myself." How he has done so again and again, despite all odds, is what this documentary shows best.

Read the rest of this post on The Riff.

Edwards Gets Headlines, While Romney Gets A Pass

Regardless of how you feel about John Edwards' hiring of two "controversial" bloggers, his scolding of them, and their eventual resignation, the fact is that while the Edwards debacle got all kinds of media attention, a similar disaster, brewing among Republicans, got none. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romeny, identified in this blog as a pandering wonder, has problems of his own.

Romney announced his candidacy for president of the United States at the Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, an act that did not go over well with the National Jewish Democratic Council. Henry Ford was, of course, a renowned anti-Semite. Said a spokesman for the NJDC: "Romney has been traveling the country talking about inclusiveness and understanding of people from all walks of life. Yet he chooses to kick (off) his presidential campaign on the former estate of a well-known and outspoken anti-Semite and xenophobe."

According to Media Matters for America, the Romney/Ford issue was reported by the New York Times, but not by the Washington Post CNN or Fox News, all of whom made a big deal of the Edwards campaign problem.

Court Upholds Alabama Sex Toy Ban

A federal appeals court just upheld Alabama's sex toy ban, defending the state's interest in "preserving and promoting public morality," i.e. invading your privacy so you don't do it yourself. That's bad news for Sherri Williams, the adult store (NSFW) owner who's the lead plantiff on the case (and whom we wrote about last year.) This could be the end of the road for the case—the Supreme Court has already refused to touch it.

Republicans Say Pelosi's New Blog Violates Copyright Laws

As Jonathan writes today, Nancy Pelosi's new blog, "The Gavel," is "a boon to C-SPAN junkies who can't watch TV during work hours." Just think, more accessible wonk, and first-hand. Well, some are less excited than others. DailyKos has the press release that the Republican Study Committee spammed the media with today. "The RSC spoke with C-SPAN today, who confirmed that these videos violate C-SPAN copyright/trademark of the House proceedings." I'm not sure I would expect anything less from the far right wing of the party. Stay tuned. I'm sure there's more to come.

Tennessee To Require Death Certificates For Aborted Fetuses

Via Feministing, comes this pretty frightening tidbit. The state of Tennessee is proposing legislation to create death certificates for aborted fetuses. No, really. Republicans tout the bill as a way to track how many abortions are performed. As Feministing blogger, Jessica, points outs, the number of abortions is already reported, so really it's just a way to infringe on the privacy of women; creating public records with their social security numbers and all.

Iraq Vets Trying Technology to Regrow Fingers

With amputations an all too common injury in this war, scientists are hoping that new technology may one day lead to full limb regeneration. Read about at The Blue Marble.

Edwards, Obama Keep It Virtual

John Edwards just lost the blogosphere, but he's already staked out his place in the virtual realm of Second Life. Isn't there something ironic about talking about the "two Americas" from inside an alternate world? But then, it's a lot less expensive to build a mansion in SL. Not to be outcourted by a man who already has the hair of an avatar, Barack Obama's just launched his version of MySpace called— yes, really—MyBarackObama. Beacuse Obama belongs to all of us. Even the lurkers.

Introducing "The Gavel"

Hey, Nancy Pelosi has a new blog, and it's legit! It's called "The Gavel," and it's a boon to C-SPAN junkies who can't watch TV during work hours. There's all sorts of neat video up now from House floor debate and Congressional hearings. It's wonky but cool. Also, be warned that it's kind of slow loading, either because there is so much video or because a ton of people are checking it out.

Take a look.

A Soldier's Take on Cutting the Funding

A DailyKos diarist who served in Iraq and Afghanistan weighs in on whether or not cutting funding for the war in Iraq will put the troops in danger. Very much worth a read.

Romney Follows Papa McCain's Lead on Pandering

CNN is reporting that Mitt Romney will give the commencement address at Pat Robertson's Regent University, just as John McCain, one of Romney's chief rivals for the 2008 Republican nomination, delivered the commencement address at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University last May.

First of all, how do all these guys get their own universities? Second, it's incredible how the religious right has these candidates on a leash. McCain's speech was part of a larger campaign to embrace the religious right, including forsaking his previously moderate views on Roe v. Wade; Romney's speech is part of a coordinated effort to fight his own moderate past and convince the right he is a true conservative, an effort that has included pulling a complete 180 on gay rights.

This is why I think Chuck Hagel has a chance to secure the Republican nomination: he is a conservative through and through with no weaknesses in his social record, and has bucked the party line on just two topics, the Iraq War and President Bush. He opposes both vehemently. Isn't that exactly what the polls indicate conservative voters want right now? The Republican nomination may end up depending on how well Chuck Hagel can make all of this apparent to the vast majority of American voters who have little idea who he is.

February 14, 2007

Still Fewer "Criminals" in the Army Than in Your Neighborhood Bar

For years now, the Army has been stretching to keep its numbers up by compromising everything from enlistment standards to the quality of new recruits to the character of recruiters themselves. As Peter points out below, today's New York Times now warns us about the rash of waivers being given to incoming soldiers. Salon posted this snarky response under the headline “Need more recruits for Iraq? Take more criminals”:

The good news: As the Times explains, "soldiers with criminal histories made up only" -- only! -- "11.7 percent of the Army recruits in 2006."

There are 52 million individuals in the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System criminal history database; that’s about 17% of Americans who’ve been in trouble for some crime at some point in their lives. So the percentage of recruits with criminal histories, less than 12%, is lower than that of the general population with criminal histories.

Moreover, people with criminal records don’t equal lifetime criminals; working at a bank two years ago doesn’t make you a teller any more than having sold pot in college makes you a dealer. It’s not enough that ex-cons face employment discrimination and legal restrictions on where they can live in some states. The public is, evidently, so opposed to letting them establish legitimate lives that we don’t even want them doing it in a war zone six thousand miles away.

—Nicole McClelland

Twisters Create Emergency In New Orleans, Bush Responds With...You Guessed It--Nothing

A tornado system with twisters up to 135 miles per hour ripped through three major New Orleans neighborhoods early Tuesday morning, killing one person, injuring a few dozen, and doing what is estimated to be $20 million worth of damage. Several houses that had been rebuilt or almost rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina were torn apart, as were many FEMA trailers. Schools were closed, highways were shut down, piles of rubble were everywhere, trees were uprooted, and thousands of people were left without electricity.

Governor Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency yesterday afternoon, and asked the White House to do likewise. As of right now, late Wednesday night, the response from George W. Bush is that he will present the governor a timetable for when he will "consider" declaring the New Orleans area in a state of emergency.

If this sounds familiar, it should. The scenario lacks playful guitar strumming and a birthday cake at a desert resort, but it is all too similar to what happened in early September of 2005.

Bush declared an emergency within 24 hours of a tornado which recently struck Mississippi.

Army Lowers Recruiting Standards (Again)

From today's New York Times:

The number of waivers granted to Army recruits with criminal backgrounds has grown about 65 percent in the last three years, increasing to 8,129 in 2006 from 4,918 in 2003, Department of Defense records show.

It's actually a bigger story about the Army's change of standards regarding education, fitness, and criminal history (although not, of course, sexual orientation). For a helpful overview, check out Liz Gettelman's piece in the current issue of the magazine.

Al Qaeda Wants to Choke off U.S. Oil Supply

Al Qaeda called yesterday for attacks on U.S. oil suppliers worldwide, not just in the Middle East. The call came in the online newsletter of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. (Yup, Al Qaeda has a website: Check out this nifty guide to jihad on the internet.)

The funny thing is, the new targets include Canada, Mexico and Venezuela. Can you imagine how psyched the Bushies would be to have Al Qaeda take out Hugo Chavez?

Poor Canada and Mexico are busy battening down the hatches, probably trying to figure out why, why this is happening to them.

For a handy-dandy reference on the role of oil in the U.S.'s battle with al Qaeda and the war in Iraq, go to the Mother Jones timeline, and click the oil tag.

State Farm Bails on Miss. Homeowners

State Farm announced today that it will stop writing new policies for homeowners in Mississippi. The action comes in the wake of $1.1 billion in payouts the company has made for Katrina-related lawsuits. The company's post-Katrina claim that water damage was not covered prompted even Trent Lott, notorious critic of frivolous lawsuits, to sue.

It's not global warming and the increasing risk of mega-hurricanes that has State Farm worried—insurance companies have been budgeting for environmental destruction for 30 years. Rather, State Farm's Mike Fernandez told the Washington Post, it's the "political and regulatory and legal environment" in the state. Lott always did call Mississippi "the center of jackpot justice." Too bad the state's residents will have to empty their wallets for pricier policies as a result of State Farm's action.

The Pure Products of America Go Crazy

Americans love their cars. A lot: We take 88 percent of all trips by car, pay high and unfair car insurance rates and tolerate 40,000 annual traffic-related deaths without flinching. Not to mention our parking woes.

Now with global warming hard and fast upon us and Democrats back in power, will the government take action to curb our enthusiasm for driving? Probably not, according to an article in the American Prospect.

Bush's proposed budget cuts funding for Amtrak and increases highway funding. The Democrats have requested a few additional pennies for railroads (remember mass transit?), but haven't said peep about the highway funding. Of course, the highway money could buy bike lanes, but it almost certainly won't. That's because improved mass transit has no one to lobby for it: The largest mass-transit lobby in the country has scarcely a dozen staffers. Meanwhile, big environmental groups tend to focus narrowly on saving land and species, failing to make a persuasive case against new roads or continued car emissions.

Americans' inability to rethink the car is what leads to dubious solutions like corn ethanol, which uses almost as much gas to produce as it replaces.

Are Americans Ready for Some Flava in the White House?

Full disclosure: I hate Mitt Romney. In the same blind, irrational, unflinching way that he hates me and the rest of the gays. So, when I began looking at The Fix's analysis of how Americans feel about a Mormon president, I hoped to find they weren't interested. But I'm a good person—really!—so I had to question my own base desires. What I came up with, besides the disclosure above, is that it's absurd for Romney to be running on a religious right platform. Since he doesn't believe in the same Christian values as the religious right, he's using religion, loosely defined, to justify a government that interferes in your private life without helping you out in any way (bye, bye Roe v. Wade, hello lower taxes for the rich). Either that or Romney thinks Mormonism should be the moral foundation for government, which makes far less sense than the also-problematic idea that Christianity should.

(By the way, the polls show that Americans are on the fence about voting for a Mormon candidate, which makes me think that a Mormon running on a religious platform won't make the cut.)

The polls the good little wonks over at WaPo parsed held another surprising tidbit. While a higher percentage of people indicated they would be "more likely" to vote for a candidate who was African-American than "less likely," fully twice as many said they would be less rather than more likely to vote for a female candidate (7 percent more/14 percent less). That's a strong showing for the women-aren't-as-competent contingent.

Isn't it hard to believe we're actually conducting polls about whether the U.S. is ready for anything other than a middle-aged Protestant white man for president? Dozens of countries have had female leaders and at least a handful have been led by members of an ethnic minority.

Al Franken Declares Bid for Senate With Top-Rate Video

Hands down, without a doubt -- the best candidacy announcement video yet. This is how a proud, unabashed liberal speaks. A must see.

I invite you to give your thoughts on an Al Franken candidacy -- and on the video -- in the comments below.

Update: Al Franken is a friend of Mother Jones'. He wrote about his USO Tour experiences for us here, we reviewed a movie about him here, and he sat down for an interview as far back as 1996 here.

Republicans Hand Down Order on Debating Iraq: "Don't Mention, You Know, Iraq"

The House of Representatives has begun debating the Democrats' Iraq War resolution that expresses disapproval of the president's troop increase. Republican leadership has handed down an edict on how all good GOPers are to behave.

We know this because Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-MD) office somehow got a letter from Reps. John Shadegg (R-AZ) and Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) to their Republican colleages entitled "Iraq Resolution Debate, Their Terms or Ours?" I've excerpted below. Via ThinkProgress:

"The debate should not be about the surge or its details. This debate should not even be about the Iraq war to date, mistakes that have been made, or whether we can, or cannot, win militarily. If we let Democrats force us into a debate on the surge or the current situation in Iraq, we lose."

"Rather, the debate must be about the global threat of the radical Islamic movement."

There's more on this "global threat" -- enough to make Muslims around the world think we're fighting a war against them, even -- and a jab at the "liberal mainstream media." Read the full letter in pdf format here.

Update: Democratic talking points here.

Gov't Rules Padilla (aka "Piece of Furniture") Fit to Stand Trial

I find it amusing and terrible that the doctors who have some say in determining if Jose Padilla is fit for trial are associated with the prison system accused of making him unfit in the first place. Padilla, of course, is the U.S. citizen held in varying forms of unconstitutional imprisonment by the United States for three and a half years before finally being brought up on terrorism charges in a civilian court. He was known as the dirty bomber, even though charges of trying to create a radioactive dirty bomb were later dropped. (See more at the "Terror Prosecutions" section of the Mother Jones Iraq War Timeline.)

Today Reuters carries the unsurprising news that prison doctors have declared Padilla suitable for trial, ignoring Padilla's claims that he has been tortured by the United States and has become unresponsive as a "piece of furniture" due to years of sensory deprivation techniques that keep him from seeing, hearing, or touching anything.

It doesn't help that Padilla himself claimed to be sane, but descriptions of his imprisonment are harrowing (see below) and doctors from the defense argue that Padilla is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder compounded by years of isolation, and that he only claims to be sane because he has become pathologically afraid anyone would think otherwise. So the prosecution says Padilla is fit for trial, the defense say he isn't. On February 22, the court will hold a hearing to determine who it agrees with.

Please enjoy the following example of the United States government violating the human rights of one of its own citizens:

Padilla was kept in a 9-by-7-foot (3-by-2-metre) cell, the lone occupant in a two-story, 10-unit block, defense lawyer Andrew Patel wrote in an affidavit. The windows were blocked so no light could enter and meals, often cold, were delivered through a slot in the door, Patel said.

Interrogators ordered his pillow and foam mattress removed, forcing Padilla to sleep on a bare steel platform.

Padilla was kept without a clock, calendar or reading material, sometimes for long periods in darkness, and other times for long periods under bright light. He was subjected to extreme cold, deprived of sleep, chained in painful positions and drugged with what he believed to be "truth serum," the documents alleged.

"I have been advised that his cell was electronically monitored and that Mr. Padilla had no contact with other human beings," Patel wrote.

...

For the first two years, he was not allowed to speak with a lawyer nor send or receive mail, except for a brief note sent to his mother in Florida through the International Committee of the Red Cross.

When Patel was first allowed to visit his client in March 2004, the brig staff told him that Padilla "was so docile and inactive that his behavior was like that of a piece of furniture," Patel wrote.

Nonetheless photos introduced in the court case showed that when Padilla was taken to see a dentist, he was shackled at the hands and feet, wearing blackout goggles and earmuffs, and escorted by guards whose faces were hidden by riot helmets.

Valentine's Day, Mother Jones-Style

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. Or if you are one of those people, happy grumpy I-hate-this-silly-manufactured-nonsense day. It will assuredly be a day of blissful complaining for you.

Think Valentine's Day is the sort of thing Mother Jones wouldn't cover? Wrong! There's always a MoJo angle. In 2003, we sent a correspondent out to find a truly organic, pesticide-free Valentine's Day rose. The results -- surprise! -- were not good. A year earlier, we examined the environmental and human cost of Ecuador's rose industry -- the world's fourth largest and a major exporter to the United States. Just a loving reminder from Mother Jones that consumer ethics never take a holiday.

February 13, 2007

For Love Or Money, Er...Politics

Wasn't there a saying back in the day claiming three things lovers should never discuss -- money, politics and religion? Surely things have changed if the presence of online dating services to find your political soulmate is any indication. It seems only natural that our dating habits (and online services for those so inclined) would reflect the increased prominence of politics in our lives and its polarization in the country. Finding a mate is no longer just about attraction and compatibility, it's about your view on abortion (there really is no middle ground) or what place you think religion has within the government. Liberals seeking liberals, conservatives seeking conservatives – you see where they were going when John Hlinko and Brian Barcaro founded political matchmaker sites ActForLove and Conservativematch a few years back.

But, before I get anymore earnest in talking about this subject, let's poke a little fun, shall we? ActForLove's tagline is "take action, get action!" No, really, it says it on the homepage. And they appear to deliver on both, the site has 50,000 members and urges liberals to get involved directing them to sites like the ACLU and StemPAC.org. Conservativematch calls for "sweethearts not bleeding hearts" (not as clever, I know) on their site and has an online mag with headlines like "Abortion Hurts Women: The Hard Proof" and "Male Passivity: The Root of All Evil," which documents the mistakes Adam made with Eve. Really, both sites are worth a quick once-over, even if just for a chuckle, but if you find something more, don't forget who to thank.

Second Blogger Resigns From Edwards Campaign

Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare's Sister has joined Pandagon blogger Amanda Marcotte in resigning from the John Edwards presidential campaign. McEwan, in her announcement, makes it clear that she was not forced out by the candidate, the campaign staff, right-wing bloggers, or even the media, but by the vicious and threatening behavior of individuals who opposed her opinions.

How nasty and threatening do people have to be before they force someone out of a campaign? McEwan said she felt increasingly uncomfortable for herself and her family. Visit at your own risk, but here is a small collection of some of the things that were said to Amanda Marcotte, and Marcotte names names.

Naturally, since Marcotte is female, many of the attacks are sexual in nature, and all of them are unspeakably vile.