The Progress Report.

Idiotic Blog Entry of the Day

(And hopefully it's not mine.)

I'm not sure who Burt Prelutsky is, or why he has a column anywhere -- oh wait! It's Town Hall.com, which also posts the reactionary dribblings of Michael Medved, Ann Coulter, and other neo-con "heros."  Anyway, I only ran across this because, seriously, I was searching for news about the LA Dodgers and this latest gem from Burt Prelutsky was mixed in with the rest of it.  I couldn't resist. The column called "sheep and goats"  starts off thusly:

"The other day, I read a letter to the editor in the L.A. Times written by an irate homosexual. Come to think of it, is there any other kind?..."

Stop drilling, you hit oil! Whoa, Burt, you have already welcomed us to your world. What is it like to be you, I wonder. To wake up every morning, tired and cranky, and yet rubbing your hands together with excitement -- What can I get my narrow mind to focus on today? There are so many groups I hate out there, I don't even know where to begin!  

"Liberals are so intolerant they often can’t even bear to have people say “Merry Christmas” in their presence. In fact, they can’t even bring themselves to recognize it as a celebration of a specific event."  

 That's right, all of us scheming liberals are conspiring to get Christmas banned, or even any mention of it, because we're evil! {twirl mustache diabolically} 

"Where liberals are concerned, one thing you can always count on is that they regard themselves as morally and intellectually superior to those who disagree with them. And, yet, surely there must be liberals somewhere who possess enough common sense to realize how absurd it is when the city council of Berkeley, California, instead of dealing with potholes and street vendors, came up with a resolution condemning the Iraq War, or when a grand jury in Willacy County, Texas, recently decided to indict Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzalez. Aren’t there any liberals who find such things even faintly amusing?"

Of course! I find Berkeley amusing all the time. I'm as progressive as they come and I make fun of Berkeley all the time.But you know what I find even more amusing? Burt Prelutsky.  You know those fake editorials in the Onion, and how they sometimes have one written by the old timey conservative "publisher" of the paper? (Or those hilarious fake editorial cartoons satirizing a smarmy conservative cartoonist who thinks liberals are all the same and all evil and that he is also quite funny? About as funny as a Mallard Fillmore cartoon.) That's Burt Prelutsky, except he's real.  

But don't worry Burt, we conniving, diabolical liberal friends-of-homosexuals have no interest in banning your column or tearing anything you do down. It's just such great satire it practically writes itself. 

But I couldn't resist posting a comment on that blog.  Please forgive me, Lord.

The truth about San Francisco, not the Fox/Faux Truth.

There were so many lies and so much misinformation coming from Jesse Watters, the documentarian sent on behalf of Fox News' Bill O'Really? into my city, San Francisco, that I didn't even know where to begin as far as debunking and deconstructing it. This is not to say that there are not a lot of homeless people in San Francisco, nor to deny that there are mentally ill people and drug addicts on the streets here, either. But to imply that this is commonplace all across San Francisco is a lie. To imply that this is not a NATIONAL problem is a lie. To make it sound like we're creating or breeding schizophrenic homeless drug addicts is a bit of a stretch too. And by the way, has Watters or O'Reilly been to downtown Kansas City? Talk about not feeling safe -- it's a danger zone. Or Detroit? Or Los Angeles. Or a number of other American cities suffering the same problem.  And oh by the way, mentally ill people in the streets - you can thank in large part your hero Ronald Reagan and his Republican successors for helping to shut down a lot of mental hospitals and mental health care programs in California, and elsewhere.

And the implication that it's not safe to go to the Presidio or the park or many other places in SF is a sham, too. Sure, no place in an American urban area is 100% fool-proof safe, but there's so much hysteria in that piece and BOR's BS that followed it that it's hard to even think of a rational response.

Anyway, Phill Bronstein points out a lot of other stories and places the Fox Folks missed, just for starters.

Reason #248 Why Outsourcing Can Be Bad.

Cadbury pulls melamine-laced chocolate from China 

British candy maker Cadbury said Monday it is recalling 11 types of Chinese-made chocolates found to contain melamine, as police in northern China raided a network accused of adding the banned chemical to milk.

A Cadbury spokesman said it was too early to say how much of the chemical was in the chocolates made at its Beijing plant.

"It's too early to say where the source was or the extent of it," said the spokesman, who declined to be identified because of company policy.

The company said its dairy suppliers are generally cleared by government milk testing.

Meanwhile, police in Hebei province arrested 22 people and seized more than 480 pounds of the chemical, used to make plastics, in the raids, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The report said the melamine was produced in illicit plants and sold to breeding farms and purchasing stations.

That's some high quality chocolate Cadbury's selling us these days. You mean it's not hand-made by a family of English chocolate-makers in rural England? 

Buy your chocolate organic, locally if possible, or from fair-trade chocolate. It's worth it.

White Privilege: From Tim Wise

If this doesn't encapsulate the ludicrous double-standards in this country, I don't know what will. Seriously, imagine if the roles were reversed and it was people of color in the public eye who were in these situations. How different would it be?

Excellent piece.
(Update: Please read his follow-up piece on this, too.)

This is Your Nation on White Privilege     

September 13, 2008, 2:01 pm

     

By Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their fuckin' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

Stop Hurricane Grover

Passing this on from the Courage Campaign:

Stop Hurricane Grover. Terminate the 2/3rds requirement.

Contribute $23 now to prevent a Category 5 budget disaster next year

An economic hurricane slammed into California this morning, brought to you by the California Republican Party.

Everyone could see this Category 3 disaster looming, as our state's budget gridlock intensified. Especially Grover Norquist, the man whose Washington power base and "No Tax Pledge" has drowned state governments in bathtubs across America.

There are damage reports rolling in from this morning's budget "compromise" passed by the state legislature, an agreement that guarantees significantly more brutal cuts -- a potential Category 5 disaster coming our way -- next year. Of course, there's no such thing as a "compromise" when one side is holding a gun to your head, in this case the small minority of Republicans using a 2/3rds budget passage requirement to hold Californians hostage to their extremist agenda.

You helped close the Yacht Tax loophole with your contributions to the Courage Campaign. But the only way we are going to stop Hurricane Grover from completely destroying our state next year is to get rid of the law that requires 2/3rds -- instead of a majority -- of the state legislature to pass the budget.

It's time to go on offense. Right now, Democrats are discussing the possibility of calling a special election in March that will include an initiative to kill the 2/3rds budget requirement.

The Courage Campaign will be on the front lines of this war and we need your help to take win it. Please stand with us today by making a symbolic contribution of $23 today.

The editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle nailed the "winners" behind this budget deal:

There are immediate political winners in this mess: Republican legislative leaders. They kept their minority in line with adamant opposition to any tax increase, no matter the size or reason. They hoped to close a $17.2 billion gap in the budget largely by cuts. But because the state budget needs a two-thirds majority to pass a budget, the GOP was able to hold the budget hostage to the no-tax pledge. True to their word, there will be no new general taxes...

By next year, this flat opposition to any tax -- even to a plan by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a temporary 1-cent sales tax increase -- could run the state on the rocks...

California must come up with a new way to set spending priorities. The choices will likely provoke political wars and ballot measures, hardly the best solutions to a complex issue for the sixth-largest economy in the world. But the current process couldn't be worse."

Democracy Now radio host Amy Goodman arrested.

This is beyond ludicrous. From the press release:
"Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism's top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar is a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists from the nation's leading independent news outlet."

Updated: More from Allison Kilkenny.

The whole press release:

www.democracynow.org

September 1, 2008

Contact:
Denis Moynihan 917-549-5000
Mike Burke 646-552-5107, mike@democracynow.org
ST. PAUL, MN—Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota at approximately 5 p.m. local time. Police violently manhandled Goodman, yanking her arm, as they arrested her. Video of her arrest can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ

Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfully detained. They are Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Kouddous and Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman's crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were being arrested on suspicion of rioting. They are currently being held at the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul.

Democracy Now! is calling on all journalists and concerned citizens to call the office of Mayor Chris Coleman and the Ramsey County Jail and demand the immediate release of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar. These calls can be directed to: Chris Rider from Mayor Coleman's office at 651-266-8535 and the Ramsey County Jail at 651-266-9350 (press extension 0).

Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and condemns this action by Twin Cities law enforcement as a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amendment rights of these journalists.

During the demonstration in which they were arrested law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force. Several dozen others were also arrested during this action.

Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism's top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar is a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists from the nation's leading independent news outlet.

Democracy Now! is a nationally syndicated public TV and radio program that airs on over 700 radio and TV stations across the US and the globe.

Video of Amy Goodman's Arrest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ

Petition: Virginia Pharmacy Bans Contraceptives From Stores

A short play:
INT. DRUGSTORE - VIRGINIA - DAY

Female customer (to pharmacist): Hi there. I was raped last night and need a Plan B contraceptive.

Pharmacist: Hmm (tsk-tsks). Sorry, but we don't carry contraceptives of any kind.

FC: But... I was raped. Would you like me to become pregnant with a rapist's baby?
Pharmacist: You should've thought of that before you were raped. But at least now you'll have a beautiful baby. We have some nice baby shower invitations over there in aisle B if you're interested.

FC: No! I -- ack!  (runs away in tears)

Male customer: Hi, I'd like a..package of condoms.

Pharmacist (sighs) Sorry, no can do, buckaroo. We do have some issues of Maxxum magazine, though.

MC: Oh well. What's another little squirt when you already have 7?

---

It's a small store in a small place but it doesn't take much to spread quickly, until women will have fewer choices. In Virginia, a pro-life drugstore called DMC has seen to it that women (and men) shouldn't have access to contraceptives. Because you see, lack of birth control means less abort... wait a minute! I think they missed a step of logic there.  Well, at least the planet isn't yet overpopula... er, okay, scratch that, too.

Read this Washington Post article - which will make it even clearer that this is just the tip of the iceberg, and then this piece in the Huffington Post.

And then sign this.

Pharmacists who let their own morality dictate whether or not to give out certain medicines and health care to Americans should not be pharmacists, period, and any respectable American pharmacy organization would bar them. But in times like these, logic sometimes caves to religious pressure. Don't let it happen in your town.

More from the Daily Kos:

That has not assuaged critics that point to the GOPocrisy of the same pharmacies also stocking Viagra and similar medications for erectile-challenged men. Many of these pharmacies sell lottery tickets and publications that promote gambling as well.

"Why do you care about the sexual health of men but not women?" asked Anita L. Nelson, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "If he gets his Viagra, why can't she get her contraception?"

DMC, which is scheduled to open this August, is affiliated with a health care organization that "adheres to the teachings of the Catholic Church," offering "natural family planning" instead of contraceptives, sterilization or abortion.

So your choices are the "rhythm method" or nothing for family planning.

Snip.

 

In California: How the rich get richer and the poor get the picture. (Especially if you work for the state.)

Just when you think the Governator is "good in comparison to our President" (a refrain I've heard here a lot), he "solves" the state's budget crisis with the ingenious plan to slash the wages of over 200,000 state employees to the bare minimum. The federal minimum, that is. $6.55 an hour. In California.

As the Courage Campaign notes, there's a nauseating irony: many state employees may need to seek aid from the very state services that employ them. And:

To add insult to injury, the Governor is slashing workers' wages instead of taking leadership to close the "Yacht Tax" loophole that Arianna Huffington and the Courage Campaign told you about a few months ago.

Go here to tell the Governor of California reconsider his proposal.

Dos Americas: The Reconstruction of New Orleans (film screening)

 (Passing this along. If you're in SF, check out the screening; if you're not, keep your eyes out for this one.)

La Raza Centro Legal and Upheaval Productions present...

Dos Americas: The Reconstruction of New Orleans
A new documentary by Upheaval Productions

Post-Katrina reconstruction is still in progress throughout the Gulf
Coast, with much of the City of New Orleans still in ruins. This
documentary focuses on those rebuilding this city through interviews with
some of the estimated 100,000 Latino migrant laborers who have converged
in this area over the past two and a half years. Despite terrible working
conditions, massive fraud, a housing crisis, severe harassment by law
enforcement, and very limited resources, New Orleans’ Latino community has
mushroomed since the storm and is establishing an infrastructure
proportional to its size.

Take a look at how this community is organizing to defend itself against
numerous injustices and the attempts to bridge the gap between themselves
as new residents and the pre-Katrina population, all within the extremely
unique and tragic context of post-Katrina New Orleans.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion with local immigrant
justice organizers and one of the filmmakers!

***¡Presentado en inglés y español!***

WEDNESDAY, JULY 30TH at 7:30PM
at the WOMEN'S BUILDING
3543 18th St. btw. Valencia and Guerrero
San Francisco, CA 94110

***THIS EVENT IS FREE***
(donations will gladly be accepted)

For more information and to see a trailer please visit:

http://www.upheavalproductions.com

PRESENTED WITH HELP FROM THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS:
La Raza Centro Legal
Upheaval Productions
San Francisco Day Labor Program
Katrina Solidarity Network
The Friendly Fire Collective
...and more to come

Offshore Oil Drilling: Just Say No.

The topic of offshore oil drilling is near and dear to my heart, I'll admit, as I grew up in Santa Barbara*, sight of the infamous and truly awful oil spill several decades ago. While that happened just before I was there, the influence on our mindset there was unmistakable. As were the unsightly oil rigs that continued to sit offshore in subsequent decades. I'm not alone in California, in believing strongly that offshore oil drilling is no solution at all, simply a recipe for a future disaster. In short, it's another example of shortsighted thinking that causes harm both immediate and long term without actually solving any of our problems.  I thought, or at least hoped, our coastline would be forever untouchable but perhaps I was naive about that.

From Credo:

Next time you go to the beach with your family, do you want  to see a mammoth oil rig only three miles off the coast?

Senator John McCain and President Bush have joined forces to resume offshore oil drilling. There's been a moratorium on it since 1981, but now President Bush is demanding that Congress lift the moratorium in the next two weeks. "If Congressional leaders leave for the Fourth of July recess without taking action," he said, "they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act."

What President Bush didn't say was that offshore oil drilling will have zero effect on gas prices. Instead, lifting the moratorium will serve only to damage our environment and put our coast at risk for toxic spills. Of course, what's a few destroyed beaches compared with more profits for Big Oil?

Fight to Protect California's Coastline >>

The idea should be to look for alternative energy and fuel sources, not serve oil companies who are already raking record profits. There are so many other solutions out there. This is the disastrous one. Plus, as Speaker Pelosi recently noted:

"Oil companies are sitting on 68 million acres of public lands they have already leased, but President Bush and Senator McCain want to award them with even more.

"Americans are suffering under the Bush-Cheney-McCain policies that were written by Big Oil: $4 a gallon gasoline; $134 per barrel oil; increased reliance on foreign sources of energy and on hydrocarbons that contribute to climate change.

"Americans use one quarter of the world's oil consumption every day and we possess less than 2 percent of the world's supply. We cannot drill our way to energy independence.

"Our nation must move toward a new, cleaner, and more affordable energy future that focuses on renewable and increased energy efficiency. The New Direction Congress has already passed innovative energy legislation and will continue to develop other proposals to address high energy costs and shift our nation to a more energy efficient economy.

Does anyone (I'm talking to you Nader voters) still think there's no difference between a Democrat and the GOP in the House and in the White House? Think again.

*See/hear comments from Santa Barbaran Michael Feeney at John McCain during the latter's visit to SB this week.