Anti-intellectualism on the left

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Friday February 18, 2005 · 11:55 AM PST

2005/02/18 · 11:55

Over the past month or so, I've become increasingly frustrated with anti-intellectualism coming not from its usual source of Limbaugh, Hannity, etc, but from fellow liberals. A few weeks ago when talking about the power of the grassroots, a friend of mine said to me, "I think it's terrible how these days a group of so-called experts runs everything." Read More

Gay Segregation is Here

hotshotxi

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Sunday January 23, 2005 · 7:53 PM PST

2005/01/23 · 19:53

I found this news article highly disturbing. At issue here is an effort to create a gay district, with gay-oriented houses and businesses.

This is one thing that really bothers me as a liberal about the left. We complain of the history of segregation and discrimination in this country. We hold dear to our ideals the colorblind tolerant society that MLK spoke of. But then we go and segregate ourselves.

Minorities and gays cannot fully integrate into society if we choose to surround ourselves exclusively with our kind. We cannot hope to change the hearts and minds of racists and create a tolerant culture if we live separate from it.

I want to see blacks and whites living as neighbors in Harlem and the Hamptons. I want to see gay activists and conservative Christians go to the same grocery store. I want to see Latino children play with white children, unsegregated by language and cultural barriers. Yes we should celebrate our differences and respect them. At the same time, we must not lose sight of our classless colorblind ideal.

SpongeBob QueerPants Makes Evening News

hotshotxi

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Friday January 21, 2005 · 4:11 PM PST

2005/01/21 · 16:11

ABC World News Tonight ran a story about the Christian right attacks on Sponge Bob. The "issue" they focused on was a tolerance video that was sent to 60,000 schools. But rather than asking the question of why Dobson's group is opposed to tolerance of homosexuality (or even bringing up the fact that they are), the folks at ABC simply stated the video was controversial without exploring what exactly the controversy was about.

It's this kind of nonsense which has frustrated so many of us who want a news media that reports news. I don't mind ABC running the Sponge Bob non-story. But I do mind when they fail to explore even the most basic issue at hand. The fact is that conservative groups are opposed to this video because they don't want acceptance of homosexuality. Rather than address this issue, they just play a clip of a conservative claiming he doesn't have a problem with the video so much as something minor on the website.

Wake up media. It's time to report the story, not tiptoe around it.

Holding our Party and our Government Accountable

hotshotxi

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Wednesday January 12, 2005 · 8:45 PM PST

2005/01/12 · 20:45

One of the "values" Republicans love to talk about is accountability. We need standards for education. President Clinton is not above the rule of law (on Monicagate). blah blah blah.

Accountability of the government to its people is actually one of the core values of the left and has been hijacked and distorted by the right. All of us here at dkos want to hold the Bush administration accountable for its lies and manipulation of public in going into Iraq. We all want accountability for corporate welfare and tax shelters given to companies that move offshores. We all want Republicans held accountable for gutting the Clean Air Act and destroying healthy forests.
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Flex our muscle - get Dean DNC chair

hotshotxi

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Monday November 15, 2004 · 1:18 PM PST

2004/11/15 · 13:18

After reading Jerome's diary and kos' followup, I started thinking about how the grassroots/netroots saved the Democratic Party from themselves in 2003 and how we might do it again. The situation as I see it is we have 3 "stop Dean" candidates seeking the DNC chair with the following motives.

Tom Vilsack: keep the Iowa caucus and support Kerry 2008

Harold Ickes: support Hillary 2008

Roy Barnes: support Edwards 2008

As someone who sees the DNC as something that should be more than a tool for the next presidential candidate, I think there is no choice but Dean barring some other dark horse reform candidate emerging. As we saw in the primaries, these "party elders" care nothing of the grassroots or party building but rather want to work the machinations of the party to advance their own short-sighted ambitions.

More after the break.
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working for Barbero; large turnout

hotshotxi

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Tuesday November 02, 2004 · 12:48 PM PST

2004/11/02 · 12:48

So I woke up at 4:15am this morning (earliest I've ever gotten up) to pass out flyers for Frank Barbaro, who is running to unseat the only Republican congressman in NYC. In a highly conservative district, I found a suprisingly large number of people who were receptive and a lot of split ticket Bush/Barbaro people. Of course I'd rather they vote straight D, but I'll take any chance to take back Congress.

What really impressed me, though, was the large turnout. Polling started at 6am with at least 10 people waiting to vote, and lines persisted past the rush hour to 10am. The poll workers said it was a much larger turnout than they were used to. Let's hope this is a great sign of things to come this evening!

Carson the thug in disguise

hotshotxi

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Sunday October 03, 2004 · 1:35 PM PDT

2004/10/03 · 13:35

After watching Carson and Coburn today, I really don't want Carson to win. I think he will prove more damaging in the long run. Suppose we win the Senate 51-49. With Carson's reliable support for tax cuts, increased pork bill spending, and the Patriot Act, the Republicans will have a key ally to thwart Democratic efforts. We've seen this year how a narrow majority can sometimes be worse than the minority - when you're the majority, people blame you for not getting things done. Because of idiots like Carson, we'll be blamed for record deficits (which will only go up unless we eliminate the tax cuts on the wealth) and curbing civil liberties.

Don't get me wrong - I'm all for a "big tent", and I don't care if Democrats occasionally break rank. But Carson's strong support for the Bush tax cuts, Patriot Act, Iraq war, and the pork loaded transportation bill isn't just a slight quibble with the Democrats - this man goes against many of our fundamental values. In today's debate, he even proclaimed that the national party doesn't represent ordinary Americans and that he will vote independent of them. That's not the kind of Democrat we need.

Needless to say, I'm glad I haven't given him money. What does everyone else think about this?

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