Genarlow Wilson 5: Hearings Moved Up
Two weeks ago, after Georgia AG Thurlow Baker appealed a judge’s order to release Genarlow Wilson, Al Sharpton decided to get involved. A few days after that, a Superior Court judge denied Wilson’s (and Baker’s) request for an expedited bond hearing and a speedy appeal hearing. A few days after that (last Thursday), Sharpton organized a rally in front of the Douglas County courthouse.
Longtime civil rights activist Al Sharpton headlined an energetic rally at the Douglas County courthouse Thursday in support of Genarlow Wilson, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for engaging in oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17.
Read MoreSocialization in the Blogosphere
This is one of those “it started out to be a comment on somebody else’s blog but was too long for a comment so I’m making it a post” post. You might want to go read the post that sparked this one before you wade into it. It may not make much sense otherwise.
Chris Bowers at MyDD writes every so often about the phenomenon of blogging itself. His thoughts/insights are usually interesting but it has often seemed to me that he, like a lot of others in the online world, misses a key point:
Read MoreThe Myth of Corporate-Style Governing 4: Rumsfeld the Manager
For almost three decades, conservatives in both parties relentlessly pushed the idea that America should be governed as if it was a corporation where every activity was means-tested by cost/benefit analysis, departments were made efficient by being made smaller, costs were kept down in the traditional way (layoffs followed by underpaying and overworking those who were left), and any agency or appropriation unrelated to the military or helping business prosper was considered a waste of time and money that should be cut to the bone if it couldn’t be eliminated altogether. The Doctrine of Social/Economic Darwinism held that in the corporate world efficiency was rewarded and inefficiency punished, money was never wasted, management had to be effective, and results had to be positive or the “free market” would operate to weed out those companies who were not. It was a message whose simplicity proved to be enormously attractive to the general public.
Read MoreThe GOP Is Weak? Really? You Wouldn’t Kid Me, Would Ya?
Found in today’s NYT: “Some Hitherto Staunch G.O.P. Voters Souring on Iraq“:
While a majority of Republican voters continue to support Mr. Bush and the Iraq war, including the recent increase in American troops deployed, there are concerns that the war is undermining the party’s political position.
Read MoreCheney Claims VP’s Office Not in Executive Branch (2 Updates)
You read right. Where dies he think it is, Constitutionally speaking? He doesn’t say.
Vice President Dick Cheney’s office refused to cooperate with an agency that oversees classified documents, then tried to abolish the office when it challenged the actions, House oversight committee Chairman Henry Waxman said.
Read MoreWhere Greed Leads: Lodi’s Rip-Off
Lodi, California had a water pollution problem so severe that ‘the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control had listed the heart of Lodi as a hazardous waste site’. The perps were known–’ Two drycleaners, a manufacturer and the city’s own aging, leaky sewer lines’–and a deal had been struck to apportion responsibility: if the firms would pay to clean up the land, the city would pay to clean up the water. So far so good.
Read MoreWho Me? – The 2007 Koufax Awards
I’m only home for a few minutes between crucial errand-running and going to work but I had to stop long enough to acknowledge an event comparable to, say, Paris Hilton being nominated for an Oscar.
Over at Norwegianity, The Wege has nominated Witness for not one but two – count ‘em, two (2) – Koufax awards.
Read MoreReally Bad News for Bush!
The Bush/Rove campaign machine has targeted–and is relying heavily–on the fundamentalist evangelical vote coming out heavy in November and voting for them as a block, but this week the National Association of Evangelicals punched a hole in that assumption by endorsing govt’s responsibility in caring for the poor and in being an environmental steward, and suggested strongly that evangelicals shouldn’t be so knee-jerk about their political commitments.
Read MoreQuote for the Week:
We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics.
~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Read at Your Own Risk:
