if mr. palin ends up in jail for any period the right will spin it by saying the presiding judge is a "radical" and an "activist" even if absolutely no evidence supports that.
back to my original comment, whether mr palin ends up in jail or not, it doesn't really back up her 'transparency' claims nor the tickets claims of cleaning up gov't and shunning self- and special-interests.
if she squeaks by with a minor crime because she can maintain the loyalty of her underlings, that's doesn't comfort me much.
yet another thing with which obama should make hay, but probably won't because too gentlemanly.
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.
White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re "untested."
White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.
White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.
White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."
White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.
White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it, a "light" burden.
And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.
White privilege is, in short, the problem.
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Tim Wise is the author of White Like Me (Soft Skull, 2005, revised 2008), and of Speaking Treason Fluently, publishing this month, also by Soft Skull.
This got taken down from You Tube, but I wanted to make sure everyone saw it. These signs are incredibly clever. I'd like to consult with the smart ladies of Anchorage, Alaska next time I make a protest sign.
It was just before John McCain’s last run at the presidential nomination in 2000 that my husband and I vacationed in Turtle Island in Fiji with John McCain, Cindy, and their children, including Bridget (their adopted Bangladeshi child).
It was not our intention, but it was our misfortune to be in close quarters with John McCain for almost a week, since Turtle Island has a small number of bungalows and their focus on communal meals force all vacationers who are there at the same time to get to know each other intimately.
He arrived at our first group meal and started reading quotes from a pile of William Faulkner books with a forest of Post-Its sticking out of them. As an English Literature major myself, my first thought was “if he likes this so much, why hasn't he memorized any of this yet?” I soon realized that McCain actually thought we had come on vacation to be a volunteer audience for his “readings” which then became a regular part of each meal. Out of politeness, none of the vacationers initially protested at this intrusion into their blissful holiday, but people’s buttons definitely got pushed as the readings continued day after day.
Unfortunately this was not his only contribution to our mealtime entertainment. He waxed on during one meal about how Indo-Chine women had the best figures and that our American corn-fed women just couldn't meet up to this standard. He also made it a point that all of us should stop Cindy from having dessert as her weight was too high and made a few comments to Amy, the 25 year old wife of the honeymooning couple from Nebraska that she should eat less as she needed to lose weight.
McCain’s appreciation of the beauty of Asian women was so great that David the American economist had to move his Thai wife to the other side of the table from McCain as McCain kept aggressively flirting with and touching her.
Needless to say I was irritated at his large ego and his rude behavior towards his wife and other women, but decided he must have some redeeming qualities as he had adopted a handicapped child from Bangladesh. I asked him about this one day, and his response was shocking: “Oh, that was Cindy’s idea – I didn't have anything to do with it. She just went and adopted this thing without even asking me. You can't imagine how people stare when I wheel this ugly, black thing around in a shopping cart in Arizona . No, it wasn't my idea at all.”
I actively avoided McCain after that, but unfortunately one day he engaged me in a political discussion which soon got us on the topic of the active US bombing of Iraq at that time. I was shocked when he said, “If I was in charge, I would nuke Iraq to teach them a lesson”. Given McCain’s personal experience with the horrors of war, I had expected a more balanced point of view. I commented on the tragic consequences of the nuclear attacks on Japan during WWII –- but no, he was not to be dissuaded. He went on to say that if it was up to him he would have dropped many more nuclear bombs on Japan. I rapidly extricated myself from this conversation as I could tell that his experience being tortured as a POW didn't seem to have mellowed out his perspective, but rather had made him more aggressive and vengeful towards the world.
My final encounter with McCain was on the morning that he was leaving Turtle Island. Amy and I were happily eating pancakes when McCain arrived and told Amy that she shouldn't be having pancakes because she needed to lose weight. Amy burst into tears at this abusive comment. I felt fiercely protective of Amy and immediately turned to McCain and told him to leave her alone. He became very angry and abusive towards me, and said, “Don't you know who I am.” I looked him in the face and said, “Yes, you are the biggest asshole I have ever met” and headed back to my cabin. I am happy to say that later that day when I arrived at lunch I was given a standing ovation by all the guests for having stood up to McCain’s bullying.
Although I have shared my McCain story informally with friends, this is the first time I am making this public. I almost did so in 2000, when McCain first announced his bid for the Republican nomination, but it soon became apparent that George Bush was the shoo-in candidate and so I did not act then. However, now that there is a very real possibility that McCain could be elected as our next president, I feel it is my duty as an American citizen to share this story. I can't imagine a more scary outcome for America than that this abusive, aggressive man should lead our nation. I have observed him in intimate surroundings as he really is, not how the media portrays him to be. If his attitudes toward women and his treatment of his own family are even a small indicator of his real personality, then I shudder to think what will happen to America were he to be elected as our President.
--
Mary-Kay Gamel
Professor of Classics, Comparative Literature, and Theater Arts
Cowell College
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California 95064
831-459-2381 (office); 831-429-8803 (home) mkgamel@ucsc.edu
hey when john mccain was a pow in vietnam he didnt have any milf asses to gawk at and now he is exercising his FREEDOM to stare at any and all asses whenever and wherever possible!!!
That's good, WonderK. According to info sent to me with the message, the writer checks out -- though McCain's quoted comment about his adopted daughter is a little hard to believe.
I wonder what else is out there.
The New Yorker piece on Cindy McCain is worth the time, I think. What will happen if she becomes First Lady ? She is apparently VERY reluctant to be exposed to the press. And her tendency to pull surprises, on her husband at least, is a little unsettling ?
SDR - that letter is interesting (and entertaining), but until it's fact-checked, you've really got to read it with a lot of salt.
How is this different from the many rumors, hints, and friend-of-a-friend emails going around that hint, or say, that Obama is a Secret Muslim, or Weatherman?
There are much more justifiable (and easier) critiques of the Republican worldview that don't involve third hand narratives questioning a candidate's character.
hey i met bill ayers and bernadette dorn when i lived in chicago and another weatherman when i lived in albucrackee...put that in yer bong and smoke it...
SDR can this letter be confirmed? I don't think it has made the national press...as I googled her and she infact a professor, but nothing comes up with her name associated to Mcpain. Seems like
there were enough other people vacationing with her on that island
that someone else would come forward.
Mcpain also had a thing years ago with a Brazilian Model...Must have been before he shipped out to Nam.
This is the matter that preceded the posted message above:
*
Fw: My Holiday with John McCain:Friday, September 19, 2008 1:09 PM
From: "Neil Agron" <nagron@sbcglobal.net>
To: "Neil Agron" <nagron@sbcglobal.net>
--- On Wed, 9/17/08, David C. Larkin <davidclarkin@cox.net> wrote:
From: David C. Larkin <davidclarkin@cox.net>
Subject: My Holiday with John McCain:
To: nagron@sbcglobal.net
Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 8:52 PM
Neil: I just got this from a friend. He checked it with snopes and urban legends, and it appears to be real. The writer is a professor at UC Santa Cruz who discloses her identity and email address.
david
-------------------------------------------------
Although this is a secondhand report, the person who sent this reveals her identity.
Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008
Subject: My Holiday with John McCain: a first-hand account
(Note from Kate: This shocking account was written by Ana Dubey, a friend of my cousin and her husband, who have known Ana for many years. Ana has a PhD in psychology and has a private practice in San Francisco . My cousin's husband went to business school with Ana's husband, who has since started and sold a number of successful companies. Ana's husband is currently a Managing Director of a private equity firm in the Bay Area. Ana and her husband are not political activists and don't have any personal ax to grind. In fact, in writing this account of her experience with John McCain, Ana is acting outside of her own economic self-interest as she and her husband are among the top 3-5% of our population who would benefit from the McCain tax/economic policies. Please pass this on to anyone you know who might vote for John McCain. Also please post it on blogs and send it to newspapers and radio stations.)
*
I don't know who Kate or Ana Dubey are. . .
It is a bit over the top. A friend wrote back "he's a SENATOR, for gosh sake. . .I just don't believe it." It would be great if another person who was there would come forward. In the meantime, I admit that there are better ways to critique a candidate. . .
i have been checking out this letter by Anasuya Dubey. Seems like it has been doing alot of traveling around the internet. Seems like there are some comon treads placing MPain in Fujji during the period of time she was there. However, seems like the National Press isn't going to touch it with there eleven foot pole...cause it is just beyond the ten foot pole standard. With all the noise about this on the internet you would think someone would come forward from the same trip to fujji. If they all supported her there. Where are those Love Birds from Nebraska? Where is the guy with the Thai Wife? With out verification it is Politial Legend...he said she said.. You think Mother Jones would be all over this one.
Thanks for the effort, snook. Your name will be in the footnotes of history on this one. Maybe I'll email the lady and see if she'll cough up another witness.
I'm pretty sure we are going to be disappointed no matter who is elected - Obama isn't going to be able to marshal the rhetoric of hope into productive policy (Washington doesn't allow such a thing) and no one knows for sure whether the McCain who may be elected is the reformer maverick renegade hypocrite weirdo that he was four years ago or the earnest, reasonable RNC puppet he's become in the last 12 months.
I'm probably okay with either of them so long as McCain doesn't die in office. On the other hand, it's a tribute to our country's political system that we've survived 8 years under President Dumbshit and his Nixon cronies and only gotten in two wars and had our economy on the verge of collapse. Maybe Palin will be okay - at least we can count on predator control finally appearing on the national agenda.
Janosh, to quote Stephen Colbert tonight on the Emmys, "I think what America needs is a dried up old prune! This prune has the experience that America needs!"
Also, whoever said this: "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." No disrespect, but I don't think you're paying attention.
WK, It's a great bumper sticker, but also tend to think that bumper sticker politics that reduce complex issues to pithy haikus are part of reason this country is so fucked up. Network news (whether Fox or MSNBC) spends all their time repeating buzz words and representing the candidates as avatars for reform/hope etc. (Barthes referred to this as myth). And of course, it was this sort of distillation of issues to slogans that gave W the political capital he needed to go to Iraq (strike the terrorists abroad so that we don't have to fight them here at home). Repeat enough and people will believe it without referring to the underlying meaning that the phrase refers to. Works for democrats, works for republicans, but mostly it works to make sure that folks stop thinking.
don't ask me why but i had the emmy's on last night and laura linney won an award for playing abigail adams in the show john adams and in her acceptance she said she was honored to play the wife of one of our founding community organizers...
For what it's worth, I got these messages this morning, sent to those who were pursuing the vacation story above:
[From Ms Gamel:]
Friends: The volume of inquiries about the story I forwarded has grown so great that I must respond via a group email. Apologies for answering via a group email. Little did I think when I forwarded this story to four or five friends on 16 September that I would be identified as the author.
It seems that some of you have received the email without the preface attached. [the preface is the second long post on the matter, above -- SDR]
Here's the truth:
First of all, I could never afford to holiday at Turtle Island .
I am not Ana Dubey (whose full name, I believe, is Anasuya Dubey, apparently the daughter of a former Indian Consul in San Francisco ).
[from John Larsen:]
Dear Friends,
Everyone is asking to talk to Ana Dubey or receive a direct email from her validating the "Holiday with John McCain" story. I emailed Ana and asked her how to handle all the correspondence I was receiving. She didn't reply to me, which is understandable as we have never met and I am sure she is totally besieged with emails right now. I don't feel comfortable forwarding lots of emails to her or giving out her email address.
However, I did forward one email - one I received from Frances Moore Lappe (author of Diet for a Small Planet, Food First, Democracy's Edge, Hope's Edge, Getting a Grip, and etc, and founder of the Small Planet Institute - www.smallplanet.org) Frances (aka Frankie), said she would like to pursue the story by talking to Ana, and that she would distribute it if she were convinced it was authentic.
Here's what I just received from Frankie (Frances) Lappe. If you still have doubts perhaps you can contact Frankie, as she is a more public person than I believe Ana to be.
Kate Marianchild
[from Ms Lappé:]
Kate,
I just spoke with Ana, who was wonderful.
Sounds like NBC is on it. Sure hope an interview gets aired.
Thank you so much for asking her to call me. I admire Ana very much.
Frankie
Frances Moore Lappé
Small Planet Institute
25 Mt Auburn St., Suite 203
Cambridge MA 02138
617.441.6300 x 115
If that vacation story is true I'll eat my dirty x-acto blades.
I dislike McCain almost as much as anyone here, but that story reads like pure smear BS. not just smear BS, designed smear BS. it oozes fiction for a half dozen reasons in the first fucking paragraph.
THAT's why free calling hoax is different: there's a precedent for this kind of thing - a certain elephant is awfully good at it - and this looks exactly like that. To a fucking T.
what is it about elections that causes people to lose their fucking sense and believe anything that disses the candidate they don't like? doesn't anyone realize that this kind of shit is fucking base?
I love watching politics but I'm sick of this election.
It's so easy to paint a picture of someone....before the selection of Palin, McCain was someone that we couldn't quite put our finger on. He was a maverick, which was why so many conservatives were uncomfortable with him. And so many liberals didn't quite know how to fight him. But when he selected Palin ... well, he painted himself right back into that box that we are so familiar with. Conservatives see it as a box that has won them the past two elections, despite the fact that it came with a lot of crap that our country had to deal with. Liberals see it as a box that they - we - absolutely loathe. It represents everything wrong about the last 8 years. So if our guard is down and we react to sensational stories like that, stories that sound familiar, that fit a pattern ... a pattern by a man who called his wife a "c*nt" and who went on to stare at the ass of the VP selection as she gave her first speech ... well, please forgive us for believing a story about misogyny in a man that many of us view to be misogynist.
It is a well constructed story which is the most interesting part of it.
I'm still trying to find out what the heck was Mcain doing on that Island anyhow? If he was a guest was his tab picked up by someone
else, like the owner of the Island? It is not a cheap weekend get away. The timing is also important as there was a bit of turmoil in Fujii during this period of time. It seems Vorque "Frank" Bainimarama" was there at the same time as MPAIN. He was tipped off by an Aussie Lawyer Andrew Fairley that MPAIN was to be on the Island during the Holidays. It was reported in Time Magazine that Vorque was somehow attached to the military in Fujii. Aussie Lawyer
is on the board of directors for Turtle Island. So I think it is safe to assume he was also on the Island, but then maybe not, cause he never implyed he was on the island durning the mpain visit. There are 14 cottages....so go figure......who else would have been there during the same time as MPAIN.....I think this might be the real Story. The person Richard Evanson who founded Turtle Island is an Ex-pat. Actually a Mechanical Engineer who made a few bucks in the Cable TV industry. He bought the island when it was nothing more than a desert island. Hired the natives to plant trees and undertook
a major restoration of the 500 acres. You would think ole Mpain would be chumming up to his enviromental buddy if there weren't more to the story.
Here is a tid bit about "Frank" who pulled off a military coop in Fujii
I happened to be sitting next to the commander on the aircraft back from Sydney and we chatted, as you do, and he said, ‘Tell me about this [Qoliqoli] Bill,’ and I gave him this explanation and he said, ‘Oh Gosh, that’s serious,’” says Fairley. The commander was worried that the bill had “the potential to pit Fijian against Fijian,” he says. “He said, ‘Can you get more information about this?’”
Fairley says he provided Bainimarama with a copy of the bill, and the opinions from two Queen’s Counsel in Australia. “I really didn’t hear any more, but it seemed to be a catalyst for him to become much more concerned about the legislation.” Fairley adds that during the same conversation, the commander learned that United States Republican Senator John McCain was going to be holidaying at Turtle Island that Christmas. “[Bainimarama] said he would really like to meet Senator McCain, who was shaping up as the next president of the United States. That was really the reason he [Bainimarama] went out to Turtle Island.”
The island’s owner, Richard Evanson, has confirmed to TIME that Bainimarama and some members of his family spent several days on the island around Christmas time at no cost, and had met with McCain, whom Evanson had invited to the island. Evanson, a former bond trader in the U.S., denies there was any attempt to influence Bainimarama through the provision of a holiday. He invites people like Bainimarama to his island “because I’m trying to promote good relationship with the people who run Fiji,” he says. “I had no lengthy private conversations with the commander on the island. [Bainimarama and McCain] were on holiday but they did meet lots of times. We are set up at the island [so that] all the guests eat at the same table for breakfast, lunch and dinner, so there would have been huge discussions about the politics of Fiji.”
Forget using Hillary Clinton as a surrogate to go after her....let Campbell Brown, Andrea Mitchell, Rachel Maddow, Meredith Viera and Joy Behar cover Sarah Palin. They seem to have more balls than everybody else in this story (save Keith Olbermann, my white knight). I wonder what Katie Couric will ask her tomorrow...
aren't y'all tired of discussing sarah palin yet? i think the rest of the country outside if the moose hunting community has largely forgotten about her already.
Sarah Palin???
if mr. palin ends up in jail for any period the right will spin it by saying the presiding judge is a "radical" and an "activist" even if absolutely no evidence supports that.
it's a president set in law. there is no 'right'
back to my original comment, whether mr palin ends up in jail or not, it doesn't really back up her 'transparency' claims nor the tickets claims of cleaning up gov't and shunning self- and special-interests.
if she squeaks by with a minor crime because she can maintain the loyalty of her underlings, that's doesn't comfort me much.
yet another thing with which obama should make hay, but probably won't because too gentlemanly.
precedent ?
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
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.
White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re "untested."
White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you. White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.
White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.
White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."
White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.
White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it, a "light" burden.
And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.
White privilege is, in short, the problem.
A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
Tim Wise is the author of White Like Me (Soft Skull, 2005, revised 2008), and of Speaking Treason Fluently, publishing this month, also by Soft Skull.
yes, because dishonoring subpoenas is the honorable thing to do!
This got taken down from You Tube, but I wanted to make sure everyone saw it. These signs are incredibly clever. I'd like to consult with the smart ladies of Anchorage, Alaska next time I make a protest sign.
http://bigshow.bigfolio.com/?s=000011662&t=0e6a8ae03101be65098418ccb735e4a1
The Other Woman:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/09/15/080915fa_fact_levy?currentPage=all
Put that together with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qUVQDmLf7s&feature=related
i'm honestly surprised he didn't end up w/ a black eye. ms holz would have beat me w/ a glulam beam
but then again, he probably leverages his POW experience w/ cindy to allow him to stray anyway.
A friend just sent me this:
MY HOLIDAY WITH JOHN McCAIN
It was just before John McCain’s last run at the presidential nomination in 2000 that my husband and I vacationed in Turtle Island in Fiji with John McCain, Cindy, and their children, including Bridget (their adopted Bangladeshi child).
It was not our intention, but it was our misfortune to be in close quarters with John McCain for almost a week, since Turtle Island has a small number of bungalows and their focus on communal meals force all vacationers who are there at the same time to get to know each other intimately.
He arrived at our first group meal and started reading quotes from a pile of William Faulkner books with a forest of Post-Its sticking out of them. As an English Literature major myself, my first thought was “if he likes this so much, why hasn't he memorized any of this yet?” I soon realized that McCain actually thought we had come on vacation to be a volunteer audience for his “readings” which then became a regular part of each meal. Out of politeness, none of the vacationers initially protested at this intrusion into their blissful holiday, but people’s buttons definitely got pushed as the readings continued day after day.
Unfortunately this was not his only contribution to our mealtime entertainment. He waxed on during one meal about how Indo-Chine women had the best figures and that our American corn-fed women just couldn't meet up to this standard. He also made it a point that all of us should stop Cindy from having dessert as her weight was too high and made a few comments to Amy, the 25 year old wife of the honeymooning couple from Nebraska that she should eat less as she needed to lose weight.
McCain’s appreciation of the beauty of Asian women was so great that David the American economist had to move his Thai wife to the other side of the table from McCain as McCain kept aggressively flirting with and touching her.
Needless to say I was irritated at his large ego and his rude behavior towards his wife and other women, but decided he must have some redeeming qualities as he had adopted a handicapped child from Bangladesh. I asked him about this one day, and his response was shocking: “Oh, that was Cindy’s idea – I didn't have anything to do with it. She just went and adopted this thing without even asking me. You can't imagine how people stare when I wheel this ugly, black thing around in a shopping cart in Arizona . No, it wasn't my idea at all.”
I actively avoided McCain after that, but unfortunately one day he engaged me in a political discussion which soon got us on the topic of the active US bombing of Iraq at that time. I was shocked when he said, “If I was in charge, I would nuke Iraq to teach them a lesson”. Given McCain’s personal experience with the horrors of war, I had expected a more balanced point of view. I commented on the tragic consequences of the nuclear attacks on Japan during WWII –- but no, he was not to be dissuaded. He went on to say that if it was up to him he would have dropped many more nuclear bombs on Japan. I rapidly extricated myself from this conversation as I could tell that his experience being tortured as a POW didn't seem to have mellowed out his perspective, but rather had made him more aggressive and vengeful towards the world.
My final encounter with McCain was on the morning that he was leaving Turtle Island. Amy and I were happily eating pancakes when McCain arrived and told Amy that she shouldn't be having pancakes because she needed to lose weight. Amy burst into tears at this abusive comment. I felt fiercely protective of Amy and immediately turned to McCain and told him to leave her alone. He became very angry and abusive towards me, and said, “Don't you know who I am.” I looked him in the face and said, “Yes, you are the biggest asshole I have ever met” and headed back to my cabin. I am happy to say that later that day when I arrived at lunch I was given a standing ovation by all the guests for having stood up to McCain’s bullying.
Although I have shared my McCain story informally with friends, this is the first time I am making this public. I almost did so in 2000, when McCain first announced his bid for the Republican nomination, but it soon became apparent that George Bush was the shoo-in candidate and so I did not act then. However, now that there is a very real possibility that McCain could be elected as our next president, I feel it is my duty as an American citizen to share this story. I can't imagine a more scary outcome for America than that this abusive, aggressive man should lead our nation. I have observed him in intimate surroundings as he really is, not how the media portrays him to be. If his attitudes toward women and his treatment of his own family are even a small indicator of his real personality, then I shudder to think what will happen to America were he to be elected as our President.
--
Mary-Kay Gamel
Professor of Classics, Comparative Literature, and Theater Arts
Cowell College
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California 95064
831-459-2381 (office); 831-429-8803 (home)
mkgamel@ucsc.edu
SDR, I just passed that onto my Mom. She has a whole list-serve of angry progressive women she can send it on to....thanks. It's quite disturbing...
hey when john mccain was a pow in vietnam he didnt have any milf asses to gawk at and now he is exercising his FREEDOM to stare at any and all asses whenever and wherever possible!!!
That's good, WonderK. According to info sent to me with the message, the writer checks out -- though McCain's quoted comment about his adopted daughter is a little hard to believe.
I wonder what else is out there.
The New Yorker piece on Cindy McCain is worth the time, I think. What will happen if she becomes First Lady ? She is apparently VERY reluctant to be exposed to the press. And her tendency to pull surprises, on her husband at least, is a little unsettling ?
surprises, as in "surprise! i just slept with the junior senator from illinois!"
or surprise, as in "surprise, megger's preggers!"
"Surprise, I adopted a baby !"
"Surprise, I learned to fly a plane !"
"Surprise, I pushed that red button thingy. . ."
SDR - that letter is interesting (and entertaining), but until it's fact-checked, you've really got to read it with a lot of salt.
How is this different from the many rumors, hints, and friend-of-a-friend emails going around that hint, or say, that Obama is a Secret Muslim, or Weatherman?
There are much more justifiable (and easier) critiques of the Republican worldview that don't involve third hand narratives questioning a candidate's character.
hey i met bill ayers and bernadette dorn when i lived in chicago and another weatherman when i lived in albucrackee...put that in yer bong and smoke it...
Hey, I'm totally down with the Weathermen and the Muslims. They worked together to bust Leary out of jail, right? God damn America!
I ain't running for public office, though, and I suspect with all that bong smoking back in NM, neither are you, Señor Retro.
Why is it that the only politicians who can express their wacky non-mainstream personal opinions are right wing?
SDR can this letter be confirmed? I don't think it has made the national press...as I googled her and she infact a professor, but nothing comes up with her name associated to Mcpain. Seems like
there were enough other people vacationing with her on that island
that someone else would come forward.
Mcpain also had a thing years ago with a Brazilian Model...Must have been before he shipped out to Nam.
This is the matter that preceded the posted message above:
*
Fw: My Holiday with John McCain:Friday, September 19, 2008 1:09 PM
From: "Neil Agron" <nagron@sbcglobal.net>
To: "Neil Agron" <nagron@sbcglobal.net>
--- On Wed, 9/17/08, David C. Larkin <davidclarkin@cox.net> wrote:
From: David C. Larkin <davidclarkin@cox.net>
Subject: My Holiday with John McCain:
To: nagron@sbcglobal.net
Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 8:52 PM
Neil: I just got this from a friend. He checked it with snopes and urban legends, and it appears to be real. The writer is a professor at UC Santa Cruz who discloses her identity and email address.
david
-------------------------------------------------
Although this is a secondhand report, the person who sent this reveals her identity.
Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008
Subject: My Holiday with John McCain: a first-hand account
(Note from Kate: This shocking account was written by Ana Dubey, a friend of my cousin and her husband, who have known Ana for many years. Ana has a PhD in psychology and has a private practice in San Francisco . My cousin's husband went to business school with Ana's husband, who has since started and sold a number of successful companies. Ana's husband is currently a Managing Director of a private equity firm in the Bay Area. Ana and her husband are not political activists and don't have any personal ax to grind. In fact, in writing this account of her experience with John McCain, Ana is acting outside of her own economic self-interest as she and her husband are among the top 3-5% of our population who would benefit from the McCain tax/economic policies. Please pass this on to anyone you know who might vote for John McCain. Also please post it on blogs and send it to newspapers and radio stations.)
*
I don't know who Kate or Ana Dubey are. . .
It is a bit over the top. A friend wrote back "he's a SENATOR, for gosh sake. . .I just don't believe it." It would be great if another person who was there would come forward. In the meantime, I admit that there are better ways to critique a candidate. . .
senators can't be d-bags? hmmm. i think there is ample evidence that most very well are... (i'm talking to you, james "facts don't matter" inhofe!)
i have been checking out this letter by Anasuya Dubey. Seems like it has been doing alot of traveling around the internet. Seems like there are some comon treads placing MPain in Fujji during the period of time she was there. However, seems like the National Press isn't going to touch it with there eleven foot pole...cause it is just beyond the ten foot pole standard. With all the noise about this on the internet you would think someone would come forward from the same trip to fujji. If they all supported her there. Where are those Love Birds from Nebraska? Where is the guy with the Thai Wife? With out verification it is Politial Legend...he said she said.. You think Mother Jones would be all over this one.
Thanks for the effort, snook. Your name will be in the footnotes of history on this one. Maybe I'll email the lady and see if she'll cough up another witness.
hoax
I'm pretty sure we are going to be disappointed no matter who is elected - Obama isn't going to be able to marshal the rhetoric of hope into productive policy (Washington doesn't allow such a thing) and no one knows for sure whether the McCain who may be elected is the reformer maverick renegade hypocrite weirdo that he was four years ago or the earnest, reasonable RNC puppet he's become in the last 12 months.
I'm probably okay with either of them so long as McCain doesn't die in office. On the other hand, it's a tribute to our country's political system that we've survived 8 years under President Dumbshit and his Nixon cronies and only gotten in two wars and had our economy on the verge of collapse. Maybe Palin will be okay - at least we can count on predator control finally appearing on the national agenda.
ha. i'd like to see if bush can break the university system, health care and transportation in the final few months here. there's not much left...
what you call surviving, i call being f*cked.
Janosh, to quote Stephen Colbert tonight on the Emmys, "I think what America needs is a dried up old prune! This prune has the experience that America needs!"
Also, whoever said this: "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention." No disrespect, but I don't think you're paying attention.
WK, It's a great bumper sticker, but also tend to think that bumper sticker politics that reduce complex issues to pithy haikus are part of reason this country is so fucked up. Network news (whether Fox or MSNBC) spends all their time repeating buzz words and representing the candidates as avatars for reform/hope etc. (Barthes referred to this as myth). And of course, it was this sort of distillation of issues to slogans that gave W the political capital he needed to go to Iraq (strike the terrorists abroad so that we don't have to fight them here at home). Repeat enough and people will believe it without referring to the underlying meaning that the phrase refers to. Works for democrats, works for republicans, but mostly it works to make sure that folks stop thinking.
don't ask me why but i had the emmy's on last night and laura linney won an award for playing abigail adams in the show john adams and in her acceptance she said she was honored to play the wife of one of our founding community organizers...
She does leave an impression
damn it needs to be resized and I can't remember how....must be a Senior Moment.
Well that's interesting. Crass, but that's satire, no?
Wonder you can attibute it to satire....via NY TIMES.
For what it's worth, I got these messages this morning, sent to those who were pursuing the vacation story above:
[From Ms Gamel:]
Friends: The volume of inquiries about the story I forwarded has grown so great that I must respond via a group email. Apologies for answering via a group email. Little did I think when I forwarded this story to four or five friends on 16 September that I would be identified as the author.
It seems that some of you have received the email without the preface attached. [the preface is the second long post on the matter, above -- SDR]
Here's the truth:
First of all, I could never afford to holiday at Turtle Island .
I am not Ana Dubey (whose full name, I believe, is Anasuya Dubey, apparently the daughter of a former Indian Consul in San Francisco ).
[from John Larsen:]
Dear Friends,
Everyone is asking to talk to Ana Dubey or receive a direct email from her validating the "Holiday with John McCain" story. I emailed Ana and asked her how to handle all the correspondence I was receiving. She didn't reply to me, which is understandable as we have never met and I am sure she is totally besieged with emails right now. I don't feel comfortable forwarding lots of emails to her or giving out her email address.
However, I did forward one email - one I received from Frances Moore Lappe (author of Diet for a Small Planet, Food First, Democracy's Edge, Hope's Edge, Getting a Grip, and etc, and founder of the Small Planet Institute - www.smallplanet.org) Frances (aka Frankie), said she would like to pursue the story by talking to Ana, and that she would distribute it if she were convinced it was authentic.
Here's what I just received from Frankie (Frances) Lappe. If you still have doubts perhaps you can contact Frankie, as she is a more public person than I believe Ana to be.
Kate Marianchild
[from Ms Lappé:]
Kate,
I just spoke with Ana, who was wonderful.
Sounds like NBC is on it. Sure hope an interview gets aired.
Thank you so much for asking her to call me. I admire Ana very much.
Frankie
Frances Moore Lappé
Small Planet Institute
25 Mt Auburn St., Suite 203
Cambridge MA 02138
617.441.6300 x 115
hoax
Wow, I guess we'll see.
For the record, Free, how is your calling 'hoax' any different from others who believe the story right away?
There's a pretty good process in place for vetting and fact checking stories like this, let's have it run the course and see, eh?
yes let's have this run its course before forwarding this 'story' to everyone in your address book
i heard lucille the waitress was there and will back up anastasia dooby's story. omg so true my friend just emailed me!
If that vacation story is true I'll eat my dirty x-acto blades.
I dislike McCain almost as much as anyone here, but that story reads like pure smear BS. not just smear BS, designed smear BS. it oozes fiction for a half dozen reasons in the first fucking paragraph.
THAT's why free calling hoax is different: there's a precedent for this kind of thing - a certain elephant is awfully good at it - and this looks exactly like that. To a fucking T.
what is it about elections that causes people to lose their fucking sense and believe anything that disses the candidate they don't like? doesn't anyone realize that this kind of shit is fucking base?
I love watching politics but I'm sick of this election.
It's so easy to paint a picture of someone....before the selection of Palin, McCain was someone that we couldn't quite put our finger on. He was a maverick, which was why so many conservatives were uncomfortable with him. And so many liberals didn't quite know how to fight him. But when he selected Palin ... well, he painted himself right back into that box that we are so familiar with. Conservatives see it as a box that has won them the past two elections, despite the fact that it came with a lot of crap that our country had to deal with. Liberals see it as a box that they - we - absolutely loathe. It represents everything wrong about the last 8 years. So if our guard is down and we react to sensational stories like that, stories that sound familiar, that fit a pattern ... a pattern by a man who called his wife a "c*nt" and who went on to stare at the ass of the VP selection as she gave her first speech ... well, please forgive us for believing a story about misogyny in a man that many of us view to be misogynist.
It is a well constructed story which is the most interesting part of it.
I'm still trying to find out what the heck was Mcain doing on that Island anyhow? If he was a guest was his tab picked up by someone
else, like the owner of the Island? It is not a cheap weekend get away. The timing is also important as there was a bit of turmoil in Fujii during this period of time. It seems Vorque "Frank" Bainimarama" was there at the same time as MPAIN. He was tipped off by an Aussie Lawyer Andrew Fairley that MPAIN was to be on the Island during the Holidays. It was reported in Time Magazine that Vorque was somehow attached to the military in Fujii. Aussie Lawyer
is on the board of directors for Turtle Island. So I think it is safe to assume he was also on the Island, but then maybe not, cause he never implyed he was on the island durning the mpain visit. There are 14 cottages....so go figure......who else would have been there during the same time as MPAIN.....I think this might be the real Story. The person Richard Evanson who founded Turtle Island is an Ex-pat. Actually a Mechanical Engineer who made a few bucks in the Cable TV industry. He bought the island when it was nothing more than a desert island. Hired the natives to plant trees and undertook
a major restoration of the 500 acres. You would think ole Mpain would be chumming up to his enviromental buddy if there weren't more to the story.
Here is a tid bit about "Frank" who pulled off a military coop in Fujii
I happened to be sitting next to the commander on the aircraft back from Sydney and we chatted, as you do, and he said, ‘Tell me about this [Qoliqoli] Bill,’ and I gave him this explanation and he said, ‘Oh Gosh, that’s serious,’” says Fairley. The commander was worried that the bill had “the potential to pit Fijian against Fijian,” he says. “He said, ‘Can you get more information about this?’”
Fairley says he provided Bainimarama with a copy of the bill, and the opinions from two Queen’s Counsel in Australia. “I really didn’t hear any more, but it seemed to be a catalyst for him to become much more concerned about the legislation.” Fairley adds that during the same conversation, the commander learned that United States Republican Senator John McCain was going to be holidaying at Turtle Island that Christmas. “[Bainimarama] said he would really like to meet Senator McCain, who was shaping up as the next president of the United States. That was really the reason he [Bainimarama] went out to Turtle Island.”
The island’s owner, Richard Evanson, has confirmed to TIME that Bainimarama and some members of his family spent several days on the island around Christmas time at no cost, and had met with McCain, whom Evanson had invited to the island. Evanson, a former bond trader in the U.S., denies there was any attempt to influence Bainimarama through the provision of a holiday. He invites people like Bainimarama to his island “because I’m trying to promote good relationship with the people who run Fiji,” he says. “I had no lengthy private conversations with the commander on the island. [Bainimarama and McCain] were on holiday but they did meet lots of times. We are set up at the island [so that] all the guests eat at the same table for breakfast, lunch and dinner, so there would have been huge discussions about the politics of Fiji.”
shes obviously being sheltered by the flock , typical
Forget using Hillary Clinton as a surrogate to go after her....let Campbell Brown, Andrea Mitchell, Rachel Maddow, Meredith Viera and Joy Behar cover Sarah Palin. They seem to have more balls than everybody else in this story (save Keith Olbermann, my white knight). I wonder what Katie Couric will ask her tomorrow...
aren't y'all tired of discussing sarah palin yet? i think the rest of the country outside if the moose hunting community has largely forgotten about her already.
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.