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Don Imus should be fired, not suspended. He’s got a long history of making racist comments. He’s free to say whatever he wants, but his employer doesn’t have to put up with it.  I still don’t understand why a bigger deal hasn’t been made about his producer using the term “Jigaboos” when referring to these extremely talented women basketball players.

From Gwen Ifill in today’s NY Times:

LET’S say a word about the girls. The young women with the musical names. Kia and Epiphanny and Matee and Essence. Katie and Dee Dee and Rashidat and Myia and Brittany and Heather.

The Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University had an improbable season, dropping four of their first seven games, yet ending up in the N.C.A.A. women’s basketball championship game. None of them were seniors. Five were freshmen.

In the end, they were stopped only by Tennessee’s Lady Vols, who clinched their seventh national championship by ending Rutgers’ Cinderella run last week, 59-46. That’s the kind of story we love, right? A bunch of teenagers from Newark, Cincinnati, Brooklyn and, yes, Ogden, Utah, defying expectations. It’s what explodes so many March Madness office pools.

But not, apparently, for the girls. For all their grit, hard work and courage, the Rutgers girls got branded “nappy-headed ho’s” — a shockingly concise sexual and racial insult, tossed out in a volley of male camaraderie by a group of amused, middle-aged white men. The “joke” — as delivered and later recanted — by the radio and television personality Don Imus failed one big test: it was not funny.

The serial apologies of Mr. Imus, who was suspended yesterday by both NBC News and CBS Radio for his remarks, have failed another test. The sincerity seems forced and suspect because he’s done some version of this several times before.

I know, because he apparently did it to me.

I was covering the White House for this newspaper in 1993, when Mr. Imus’s producer began calling to invite me on his radio program. I didn’t return his calls. I had my hands plenty full covering Bill Clinton.

Soon enough, the phone calls stopped. Then quizzical colleagues began asking me why Don Imus seemed to have a problem with me. I had no idea what they were talking about because I never listened to the program.

It was not until five years later, when Mr. Imus and I were both working under the NBC News umbrella — his show was being simulcast on MSNBC; I was a Capitol Hill correspondent for the network — that I discovered why people were asking those questions. It took Lars-Erik Nelson, a columnist for The New York Daily News, to finally explain what no one else had wanted to repeat.

“Isn’t The Times wonderful,” Mr. Nelson quoted Mr. Imus as saying on the radio. “It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House.”

I was taken aback but not outraged. I’d certainly been called worse and indeed jumped at the chance to use the old insult to explain to my NBC bosses why I did not want to appear on the Imus show.

I haven’t talked about this much. I’m a big girl. I have a platform. I have a voice. I’ve been working in journalism long enough that there is little danger that a radio D.J.’s juvenile slap will define or scar me. Yesterday, he began telling people he never actually called me a cleaning lady. Whatever. This is not about me.

It is about the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. That game had to be the biggest moment of their lives, and the outcome the biggest disappointment. They are not old enough, or established enough, to have built up the sort of carapace many women I know — black women in particular — develop to guard themselves against casual insult.

Why do my journalistic colleagues appear on Mr. Imus’s program? That’s for them to defend, and others to argue about. I certainly don’t know any black journalists who will. To his credit, Mr. Imus told the Rev. Al Sharpton yesterday he realizes that, this time, he went way too far.

Yes, he did. Every time a young black girl shyly approaches me for an autograph or writes or calls or stops me on the street to ask how she can become a journalist, I feel an enormous responsibility. It’s more than simply being a role model. I know I have to be a voice for them as well.

So here’s what this voice has to say for people who cannot grasp the notion of picking on people their own size: This country will only flourish once we consistently learn to applaud and encourage the young people who have to work harder just to achieve balance on the unequal playing field.

Let’s see if we can manage to build them up and reward them, rather than opting for the cheapest, easiest, most despicable shots.

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Woo hoo!!!!

Dems complete election sweep of Congress

Democrats completed an improbable double-barreled election sweep of Congress on Wednesday, taking control of the Senate with a victory in Virginia as they padded their day-old majority in the House.

Jim Webb’s victory over Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record) in Virginia assured Democrats of 51 seats when the Senate convenes in January. That marked a gain of six in midterm elections in which the war in
Iraq and President Bush were major issues.

Earlier, State Sen. Jon Tester triumphed over Republican Sen. Conrad Burns (news, bio, voting record) in a long, late count in Montana.

With a handful of House races too close to call, Democrats had gained 28 seats, enough to regain the majority after 12 years of Republican rule and place Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) of California in line to become the first female speaker in history.

“It was a thumping,” Bush conceded at the White House. “It’s clear the Democrat Party had a good night.”

*ahem* That’s the DEMOCRATIC PARTY, Mr. President.

The icing on the cake!

Bush says Rumsfeld is stepping down

President Bush said Wednesday Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is stepping down and former CIA Director Robert Gates will take over at the
Pentagon and in prosecuting the war in Iraq.

Rumsfeld, architect of an unpopular war in Iraq, intends to resign after six stormy years at the Pentagon. The development occurred one day after midterm elections that cost Republicans control of the House, and possibly the Senate, as well. Surveys of voters at polling places said opposition to the war was a significant contributor to the Democratic victory.

Bush described Rumsfeld as a “superb leader” in a time of change, but said his defense chief recognizes the value of “fresh perspective.” He said Rumsfeld is a “trusted adviser and friend,” and that he’s “deeply grateful” for his service to the country. Bush said he and Rumsfeld agreed that “the timing is right for new leadership” at the Pentagon.

I’ve never been more proud to be a Democrat! Howard Dean’s 50 state strategy really paid off. I’ll be unveiling my new site in the coming weeks (just doing some minor adjustments) and hope to pick up blogging full time yet again.

Thank-you America for voting to return some sanity and balance back the government. NO party should have the kind of unchecked party that the GOP had, and I’m glad that’s come to an end.

I Am a Liberal. There, I Said It!

I am a liberal. And I make no apologies for it. Hell, I’m proud of it.

Too many people run away from the label. They whisper it like you’d whisper “I’m a Nazi.” Like it’s a dirty word. But turn away from saying “I’m a liberal” and it’s like you’re turning away from saying that blacks should be allowed to sit in the front of the bus, that women should be able to vote and get paid the same as a man, that McCarthy was wrong, that Vietnam was a mistake. And that Saddam Hussein had no ties to al-Qaeda and had nothing to do with 9/11.

This is an incredibly polarized time (wonder how that happened?). But I find that, more and more, people are trying to find things we can agree on. And, for me, one of the things we absolutely need to agree on is the idea that we’re all allowed to question authority. We have to agree that it’s not unpatriotic to hold our leaders accountable and to speak out.

That’s one of the things that drew me to making a film about Murrow. When you hear Murrow say, “We mustn’t confuse dissent with disloyalty” and “We can’t defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home,” it’s like he’s commenting on today’s headlines.

The fear of being criticized can be paralyzing. Just look at the way so many Democrats caved in the run up to the war. In 2003, a lot of us were saying, where is the link between Saddam and bin Laden? What does Iraq have to do with 9/11? We knew it was bullshit. Which is why it drives me crazy to hear all these Democrats saying, “We were misled.” It makes me want to shout, “Fuck you, you weren’t misled. You were afraid of being called unpatriotic.”

Bottom line: it’s not merely our right to question our government, it’s our duty. Whatever the consequences. We can’t demand freedom of speech then turn around and say, But please don’t say bad things about us. You gotta be a grown up and take your hits.

I am a liberal. Fire away.

I apologize for my blogging absence of late. Some stuff has gone on in my personal life that left with me without much of a drive to debate politics for a while, a much needed break. I don’t usually post a lot of personal stuff on here, but I wanted you all to know what happened…

I want to tell you about a very special little boy. His name was Marshall, and he was 10 years old. He was my 1st cousin and lived on my grandfather’s dairy farm in Vermont where I grew up. Here he is with my grandfather, in happier times:

A little over a year ago, Marshall was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He was given some experimental treatments but was told after several months that it wasn’t working and that there was nothing left that could be done for him. This was, of course, devastating to my family, but Marshall wouldn’t let it keep him down, even when the tumor took the funtion of his right leg and arm. He kept forging ahead, the little trouper that he was.

Marshall passed away just before dawn on a day back in October. It was incredibly sad, but the way in which Marshall faced this all with such amazing grace gave strength to us all. His memorial service was incredibly moving, lots of great memories were shared about Marshall that lifted the somber mood of the service. The whole town has been fantastic in their support of my aunt and uncle and the rest of us. It breaks my heart to see my aunt and uncle have to go through this, but now I know where Marshall got his strenth from.

I’ll always love you Marshall, where ever you are…

John over at AmericaBlog has a problem with the Bush administrations latest excuse for subverting the constitution:

From Reuters:

In Crawford, Texas, where Bush is spending the holidays, his spokesman, Trent Duffy, defended what he called a “limited program.”

“This is not about monitoring phone calls designed to arrange Little League practice or what to bring to a potluck dinner,” he told reporters. “These are designed to monitor calls from very bad people to very bad people who have a history of blowing up commuter trains, weddings, and churches.”

Wow, very bad people who have a history of blowing up commuter trains, weddings and churches, yet Bush never sought a court order to conduct the snooping because he thought a court wouldn’t let him?! Huh? Let me repeat, the people they spied on “have a history of blowing up trains, weddings and churches.” If that’s true, then any court in the land would haven given Bush a search warrant.

But there’s a larger question. If Bush is now telling the truth about who these people are, then pray tell, what the hell was Bush doing letting hundreds if not thousands of people “who have a history of blowing up trains, wedding and churches” run around free inside the US for the past 4 years?

Or maybe this is just another lie.

I’d put my money on this being just another lie.

This editorial is a must read.

Fear destroys what bin Laden could not

One wonders if Osama bin Laden didn’t win after all. He ruined the America that existed on 9/11. But he had help.

If, back in 2001, anyone had told me that four years after bin Laden’s attack our president would admit that he broke U.S. law against domestic spying and ignored the Constitution — and then expect the American people to congratulate him for it — I would have presumed the girders of our very Republic had crumbled.

Had anyone said our president would invade a country and kill 30,000 of its people claiming a threat that never, in fact, existed, then admit he would have invaded even if he had known there was no threat — and expect America to be pleased by this — I would have thought our nation’s sensibilities and honor had been eviscerated.

If I had been informed that our nation’s leaders would embrace torture as a legitimate tool of warfare, hold prisoners for years without charges and operate secret prisons overseas — and call such procedures necessary for the nation’s security — I would have laughed at the folly of protecting human rights by destroying them.

If someone had predicted the president’s staff would out a CIA agent as revenge against a critic, defy a law against domestic propaganda by bankrolling supposedly independent journalists and commentators, and ridicule a 37-year Marie Corps veteran for questioning U.S. military policy — and that the populace would be more interested in whether Angelina is about to make Brad a daddy — I would have called the prediction an absurd fantasy.

That’s no America I know, I would have argued. We’re too strong, and we’ve been through too much, to be led down such a twisted path.

What is there to say now?

All of these things have happened. And yet a large portion of this country appears more concerned that saying ‘’Happy Holidays'’ could be a disguised attack on Christianity.

Read the rest of this entry »

Christmas came a bit early this year Sorry for the lack of posts- I'’ll be back posting regularly soon.

Grand Jury Re-Indicts DeLay on New Charge

A Texas grand jury on Monday re-indicted Rep. Tom DeLay on charges of conspiring to launder money and money laundering after the former majority leader attacked last week’s indictment on technical grounds.

The new indictment, handed up by a grand jury seated Monday, contains two counts: conspiring to launder money and money laundering. The latter charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison. Last week, DeLay was charged with conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws.

Defense lawyers asked a judge Monday to throw out the first indictment, arguing that the charge of conspiring to violate campaign finance laws was based on a statute that didn’t take effect until 2003 � a year after the alleged acts.

The new indictment from District Attorney Ronnie Earle, coming just hours after the new grand jurors were sworn in, outraged DeLay.