Thursday, July 15, 2010

The Tea Party Resolution

Ta-Nehisi Coates has a good take on it. And like I pointed out yesterday, nothing has done more to legitimize the NAACP resolution than the response of the TP leadership. It is unbelievably outrageous.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Negotiated Roundup

You'll get it, but you got to give me something in return.

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For the record: That North Korea published this propaganda picture does not in any way constitute an admission that they sunk the Cheonan.

The judge as defense counsel.

Ta-Nehisi Coates on the culture of excessive force.

The IDF specifically lauded B'Tselem for its assistance in providing information leading to the indictment of several IDF officers for war crimes during Operation Cast Lead. Gerald Steinberg of NGO Monitor, a frequent B'Tselem critic, also acknowledged that "B’Tselem really does have a credible research capability."

There is no such thing as too conservative to get on TV. Birtherism, rampant racism, conspiratorial paranoia -- it's free range out there!

Star Wars subway action.

Argentina considering legalizing gay marriage.

The Tea Party Has Always Been Against Racism

As many of you know, the NAACP recently passed a resolution criticizing the Tea Party for tolerating racism in its movement. Top Tea Party leaders insist the charge is bogus. They are loud and vociferous in condemning racist organizations in America. Look at how they reacted to one of the most notorious racist organizations in America, the, um, NAACP:
[MARK] WILLIAMS: You’re dealing with people who are professional race baiters, who make a very good living off this kind of thing. They make more money off of race than any slave trader ever. It’s time groups like the NAACP went to the trash heap of history where they belong with all the other vile racist groups that emerged in our history.

Would a racist organization have said something like that? I don't think so! They don't pull any punches when it comes to opposing racism.

Mr. Williams, who is perhaps best known for saying Muslims worship a "monkey god" (then apologizing to Hindus for the slight), also declared that he was "disinclined to take lectures on racial sensitivity from a group that insists on calling black people, 'Colored,'" once again showing the deep, sophisticated grasp of racism and prejudice possessed by the American right.

Wild Fantasies

The Onion makes my life: "Repeal Of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Paves Way For Gay Sex Right On Battlefield, Opponents Fantasize."

Monday, July 12, 2010

Monday Evening Roundup

Forgive me, I've been busy.

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A host of leftist luminaries, including Noam Chomsky, have lent their imprimatur to a book which, among other things, effectively denies the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Well, let nobody accuse folks of singling out the Jews anymore, at least.

The internal IDF probe of the Gaza flotilla incident (distinct from the independent Terkel commission) has found mistakes in the operation, but fully sanctioned the use of force by the commandos. One of its observations was that there aren't really that many ways to stop a ship from going someplace without boarding it, and there aren't that many ways to board a ship whose crew is violently resisting without yourself using some violence.

Whoever wrote the screenplay for this World War II thing I keep seeing on the History Channel needs to find a new profession. I mean, sheesh.

It's not nice to kick folks while they're down, but Matt Yglesias I think is appropriately harsh to journalists just now discovering that John McCain is 95% hack. He didn't really change, you just weren't paying attention.

Switzerland refuses to extradite Roman Polanski, bowing to an international outcry that punishing a convicted child rapist is a gross injustice when the rapist is friends with important to people.

Adam Serwer has a good post on the Justice Department dropping voter intimidation charges against the New Black Panther Party.

The NAACP is considering a resolution condemning racism in the Tea Party movement.