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The Sideshow on moral clarity:

And that’s why I absolutely take issue with people who characterize Paul Krugman as “partisan”
or “shrill”. Krugman is telling the unvarnished truth. The administration is demonstrably lying
about its economic policies and everything else as well. These people aren’t simply guilty of
gracelessness, they’re not merely arrogant (although they are that, too), and they aren’t even
just wrong – they are lying, and they are trying to overturn our precious Constitution and to
keep the truth from us. They deliberately prevented our intelligence agencies from investigating
Al Qaeda prior to 9/11, virtually guaranteeing that nothing and no one could stop the attack on
the Twin Towers and the Pentagon – and they sure don’t want a public investigation to make that
clear to the world (and, more importantly, to the fools who voted for them). They are now
embarking on an absolutely irresponsible war that will cause hellacious damage to us and to the
world, and they are uninterested in even obeying the restraints the Constitution itself places on
them. They are emptying our treasury and funnelling your Social Security money into the pockets
of the immorally rich. Any wholly disinterested party would be able to see it and say so.

Rice for Peace

My cynical side is telling me George Bush’s Christianity is a sham, and this won’t make a bit of difference.
But I love the idea anyway. It’s Sunday. Get out your Bible and set cynicism aside. Pem, at
Deep Language
draws attention to a grassroots movement started by the Boulder Mennonite Church to revive that nearly fifty
year old campaign, and protest war with Iraq in a simple but striking way:

Put a half cup of uncooked rice in a plastic ziploc bag (with all the air squeezed out). Add a note saying,

“If your enemies are hungry, feed them. — Romans 12:20.
Please send this rice to the people of Iraq; do not attack them.”

Place the note and bag of rice in a bubble-pack padded manila envelope or small box and write on
the outside of the package: Rice for Peace — No War
With Iraq. Address it to:

President George Bush

White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Washington, DC 20500

Attach $1.29 in postage. And mail it right away.

There are also printable flyers and posters
available to spread the word about the campaign.

Rush, Newspeak and fascism

Orcinus, an excellent new blog has a series up examining
fascism and its meaning in todays politics. Four parts have appeared so far, with more to come.

At the same time, I think it?s important that Americans of all stripes — liberal or conservative —
understand what fascism is, because it is above all else innately anti- democratic, and anti-American
in spirit. So I?m making a plea, particularly those on the left who have used the term willy nilly for
making unfortunately shrill partisan political points (I have absolutely no hopes of persuading those
on the right), to cease abusing the word “fascism”, learn what it means, and apply it only when
it?s appropriate.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

New to the left

Each day I list the blogs new to the linklist. Want to be added? Use the
form, Luke.
Entry does not guarantee winning. No purchase necessary. Offer void where
prohibited. You must either be a fiery liberal spirit or in the vanguard of
the workers revolution to participate. At a pinch we’ll take dedicated left
anarchists and the like as well. No wishy washy centrists need apply.
The decision of the judges is final.

Orcinus

Policy, Culture and Journalism in the 21st Century. By David Neiwert.

MaxSpeak puts the Columbia tragedy in context:

In politics, the use of tragedies to score policy points is routine. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. It’s how you make decisions in a democracy. I would say it really depends on the substance. For instance, using the Triangle shirtwaist fire to motivate the improvement of occupational safety was entirely laudable. The martyrdom of civil rights workers advanced civil rights legislation. Using the crimes of a tyrant to justify a just war is appropriate. Obviously the question is whether the cause is just, and whether the link is well-founded. One thing is certain — anyone who accuses someone else of exploiting a tragedy for political aims is in the same game. Exploitation is really a question of whether the case is sufficiently plausible to merit further investigation. Some cases are pitched to the uninformed or geared to prejudice.