Month: September 2009

TNC gives some historical perspective:

The obvious thing that separates Obama from many conservatives, is marrying a belief in individual responsibility with the notion that government should do more that just get out of the way. No disrespect to Obama, but this kind of "conservatism" is unoriginal, and is as old as black American political thought, itself. It's likely as old as American political thought, but I'm talking here about what I know.

Frederick Douglass didn't simply believe that Union forces should march through the South freeing slaves, he believed that the slave, themselves, had a responsibility to fight for their freedom. Harriet Tubman did not need to read "Self-Reliance," to understand that her freedom, and the freedom of black people, would ultimately be in their own hands. Indeed Tubman and Douglass believed (correctly) that unless the slaves fought, in some form, they wouldn't be free.

This certainly resonates with me and the gay civil rights question.

In Robert McDonnell in Virginia, you have a real snapshot of what "conservatism" now is. It's at heart a religious and regional movement, obsessed with ideology and marinated in fundamentalism. So we discover that a lesbian black judge was accused of sexual harassment and this was McDonnell's view before the hearing:

McDonnell indicated that Askew's sexual conduct was relevant, telling one newspaper that "certain homosexual conduct" could disqualify a person from being a judge because it violates the state's crimes against nature law.

That would mean that no homosexual could be a judge in Virginia, a position that much of the GOP base would embrace heartily. McDonnell voted against the judge's reappointment. But the intellectual background of McDonnell is just as important. The Christianist right has set up various institutions to train and indoctrinate future leaders. McDonnell got his masters thesis at Pat Robertson's Regent University. This was his thesis:

It gained attention in the campaign because it outlined a 15-point conservative Republican/Christian political agenda … These positions "included … opposition to abortion in cases of rape or incest …, covenant marriage, school vouchers and tax policies to favor his view of the traditional family and public policy discrimination against those he labeled as "cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators." In this master thesis he also declared his belief that working women harmed the family and described 1972's Griswold v. Connecticut as "illogical". At page 20 of the thesis, he wrote, "man’s basic nature is inclined towards evil, and when the exercise of liberty takes the shape of pornography, drug abuse, or homosexuality, the government must restrain, punish, and deter."

McDonnell wants to use the law and government to restrain, punish and deter gay people. And what's fascinating is that McDonnell still refuses to disown these policies and insists that we talk about what he wants to talk about.

Good one:

A reader writes:

Having converted to Judaism early on in my second marriage, I not only agreed to the circumcision of our son, but agreed to have it done ritually by a mohel who traveled down to our house in southern Indiana and did the deed in our living room, in front of guests, next to a table laden with the traditional goodies.

My oldest son by a previous marriage had been circumcised in the hospital more or less “automatically”, within hours of his birth in 1969; it didn’t occur to me that one could ever say “no” to this procedure, it was just one more form you signed in the hospital–indeed, I don’t remember my son’s pediatrician even suggesting to me that there was any option but to sign the form, or any reason not to.

In any case, after nearly 30 years I have still not forgotten my younger son’s scream of sheer agony as the mohel performed this ritual.

When your children experience pain of any sort (bruises, skinned knees, broken bones, whatever) it sends an awful sympathetic reaction through your nervous system, a sort of acute bodywide shudder of shared pain; suffice it to say even the memory of that moment causes that reaction in me to this day.

I was more relieved than words can convey that my next two children were girls, and that this was a decision I never had to make again. I do remember realizing at the time that my older son had also experienced this dreadful pain, but clinically, out of earshot, in the hospital nursery (and, moreover, in an era when infants were denied anesthetic for all kinds of routine procedures on the grounds that babies didn’t “feel” pain or that even if they felt it, they wouldn’t remember it).

I don’t know the ultimate right-and-wrong of this one–it’s a complex issue medically, and I don’t find it quite so easy to come down on the side of pure opposition, although both my daughters are quite determined to refuse it if they ever give birth to sons–but I do know that there is something beyond terrible in that infant agony. Even when we consent to it for religious or medical reasons, we should at the very least acknowledge that it is often hellishly painful and almost certainly profoundly traumatic spiritually as well as physically.

I’ve gotten so many emails on this subject. It’s a strange one – because for many, this is so trivial a matter, but for others, it is quite loony. The truth is: it’s a taboo of sorts. Jews and Muslims seem to believe that God mandates the mutilation of penises. More than this: this is an essential part of the faith. A rabbi I have emailed with explained:

The reason for a bris is what the term bris means, a covenant before God and man and his people Israel.  I don’t know why God desired it, some in our rabbinical commentaries claim that it is a permanent mark on our body to show are allegiance to God in a very sensitive area and the covenant he made with Abraham.  The theme goes that God will not forget his people as long as his people keep the covenant of Bris.  We are to have two signs on our body at all times, the Tefilion and the bris. On Shabbat the day itself is a sign so Tefilion is not required.  The bris is eternal.

This is why we Jews forbid tattoos because the bris is the only mark made for God and God only. The reasons, I can’t say but it has been the unity of our people for three thousand years even in times of repression, exile, and genocide the bris is our covenant. It’s not for man to decide but God.

But why does God care about foreskin? That’s the question.

Peter Suderman tackles healthcare polling:

Kristen Soltis, a pollster with the Republican-affiliated Winston group, says that "what you're actually looking for is a question that at least gives a little bit of context." The most revealing polls, she says, are those that questions "whether people agree or disagree with what a policy intends to do." So rather than ask whether people support health-care reform generally, or whether they like Obama's plan, effective poll questions seek to assess support for specific proposals—and tend to explain what the proposals are designed to do. 

Indeed, questions that have asked about "Obama's plan" are particularly egregious violators of the tenets of good polling: As of yet, no such thing as an "Obama plan" exists. So when CNN asked respondents whether or not they "favor or oppose Obama's plan to reform health care" and the NBC/Wall Street Journal polling team asked whether "Barack Obama's health care plan" is a good idea, they were asking respondents to voice an opinion on an imaginary concept.

As the MSM moves on, the Green revolution is facing a watershed moment. Two pieces of news from Iran:

Ali Reza Beheshti has been in the news constantly, speaking as one of–if not the–central figure in Mousavi’s tight inner circle. Most recently, Beheshti released a revised figure yesterday of the number of protesters killed in the aftermath of Iran’s election in June. According to Beheshti, that number is at least 72. According to the blog Enduring America (not one to sensationalize): The only step up from this action is the arrest of leaders such as Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

If Mousavi and Karroubi are arrested, the revolution will be tested as never before. Then this:

According to ILNA, Mehdi Karroubi’s office was ordered to be sealed off by Tehran’s Prosecutor General. Ismail Gerami Moghaddam, the spokesman of the Etemad Melli Party (National Confidence Party), told the media that some agents from Tehran’s Prosecutor’s office appeared at Karroubi’s office in northern Tehran (Jamshidieh) on Saturday and confiscated documents, CDs, PCs, and videos. “The people who were waiting for a meeting with Karroubi, including Karroubi himself, were asked to exit building,” Gerami Moghaddam added. He also noted that the chief editor of Etemad Melli website arrested.

Meanwhile, Tabnak (associated with Mohsen Rezaei) reported on Tuesday that the security agents came to the office of Mousavi’s special committee of fact-findings of the post-election’s dead and detained and confiscated property and documents, taking them to an unknown place. The agents did not provide any warrants or give any reason for their search, though they did say that the confiscated property and documents would not be returned.

I will, of course, be live-blogging the speech and rebuttal tonight.

At least one libertarian conservative has figured it out.

Nicely done:

I cited an excellent column earlier, arguing that healthcare reform would allow US businesses to escape from an unfair burden their international rivals don't have. In fairness, here's a rebuttal from Greg Mankiw.