Quote Of The Day 2: High-Brow Panty-Sniffing

by matttbastard

sigh.jpg

The goal of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy isn’t merely to win — it’s to make the public feel that any Democrat who might attain real power is someone no decent person should associate with, someone we should cross the street to avoid, someone whose intentions and goals are dangerous — if not unspeakable. That’s the message being spread right now about Hillary Clinton in these linked communications. She is a lesbian agent of terror. Her vagina will get us all killed.

Steve M., nailing it.

Seriously, Matt Drudge and Rupert Murdoch, along with Beltway/blogosphere rodents who are always so quick to mindless scurry in line when the first few notes are breathlessly played by the aforementioned VRWC opinion-pipers, still personify everything that is wrong with contemporary political journalism. Welcome to the official kickoff to real 2008 campaign press coverage. Check your standards at the door, right alongside your brain.

Via Memeorandum

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Shifting Paradigms

by matttbastard

– speech by Naomi Wolf, author of “The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot,” given October 11, 2007 at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus.

– interview with Naomi Wolf re: “The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot”

Related: Naomi Wolf on Blackwater and the “newly created thug caste” (h/t LadyBroadoak).

Flashback: David Neiwert: Rush, Newspeak and Fascism: An Exegesis and The Rise of Pseudo Fascism: An essay (both PDF format); Chris Hedges: The Christian Right and the Rise of American Fascism; Matthew N. Lyons: Is the Bush Administration Fascist?

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Quote of the Day: Equal Opportunity Electrocution

by matttbastard

“Obviously, (law enforcement agencies) don’t want to use a Taser [sic] on young children, pregnant woman or elderly people… . But if in your policy you deliberately exclude a segment of the population, then you have potentially closed off a tool that could have ended a confrontation.

– Sgt. Donald Davis, King County sheriff’s dept (Washington), commenting after a 2005 incident in which an electronic control deviceSM®OMFGWTFBBQ!!!1 was used on a woman (of colour) who, at the time, was 8 months pregnant. She had refused to sign a traffic ticket (shades of Jared Massey). fern hill has more (much more, sigh) on how some law enforcement agencies have a strict non-discrimination policy regarding the (indiscriminate) use of stun guns.

“I have a dream”, indeed.

Related: Do electronic control devicesSM®OMFGWTFBBQ!!!1 actually save lives? There are at least six families this past week who would contend otherwise.

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