Happy Columbus Day to everybody! We won’t talk about the kind of person that Columbus actually was...we’ll just celebrate the excuse to put up another blogroll post! And lucky for us, everybody on the blogroll is linking to something good!
What’s the next best thing to having an opposition party that takes a stand and wins back the trust of the people? Having the ruling party completely and totally lose the trust of the people, of course! How are they crumbling? Let me count the ways...
Time has a lovely cover story up about just that (via Susie). Time still sucks, of course, but hey...you know about blind squirrels and nuts and all that...
[H]olding on to power has become not just the means but also the end for the onetime reformers who in 1994 unseated a calcified and corrupted Democratic majority. Washington scandals, it seems, have been following a Moore's law of their own, coming at a faster clip every time there is a shift in control. It took 40 years for the House Democrats to exhaust their goodwill. It may take only 12 years for the Republicans to get there.Is it bad that I am actually shocked at how negative the press reaction to Foley was for Republicans? The media’s actually not letting itself get distracted by Anna Nicole’s surprise marriage or something like that, AND they’re not buying the lame-ass “It’s Democrats’ fault!” talking point. They’re actually doing their jobs...and as with Mizzou being 6-0 in football, I just don’t know how to react to that.
And because the media’s not letting it go, Mercury Rising’s summary of Foley-related links and polls has some very good news. Dana summarizes nicely as well.
Then again, we don’t have 100% of the media in lockstep here (via Wolcott and Avedon), so scratch that.
Some wingnuts are taking another approach: assuming Democratic victory and trying to fit their weird platforms into the upcoming Democratic rule. Via Greenwald, here’s Bill Kristol saying “The Mark Foley scandal is proof positive that gay people shouldn’t be Boy Scout scout masters. Um, yeah. (I recommend just clicking on the Greenwald post, not Kristol’s.)
Meanwhile, via First Draft I see the official prediction for the next domino to fall out of the closet. And via Billmon, a lovely taste of poetic justice.
Aww, poor baby (via Atrios). Somebody’s pulled back the curtain, and it’s ruined his plan to just hold his breath until the country liked him again.
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Via AMERICAblog, I had totally missed this somehow. Guess my blog-following gets shaky over the weekend, which is unfortunate since all the juicy stuff comes out on Friday evening.
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And while we’re on the subject of blind squirrels and nuts, the NYT hits a homerun with the first part in its series about the poor, persecuted, white Christian males (via Lefarkins). I love this quote:
Society “treats Christianity like a second-class superstition,” Tom DeLay, then a Republican representative from Texas, told the crowd. “Seen from that perspective, of course there is a war on religion.”That’ll keep me laughing for quite a while. And meanwhile, via C&L we find this blurb about the article from Pharyngula:
A church-based daycare, for instance, has none of the licensing requirements of a private daycare, and doesn't have to meet any of the standards of a non-religious establishment, nor does it have to worry about civil rights requirements…and it's protected from lawsuits.–I say we should revoke the tax-exempt status of all religious organizations. They can ask for exemption for their charitable efforts (and only that part of their work; I don't consider evanglism or missionary work to be charity) just like any secular organization, but simply having "Christ" in their name and mission statement and having a few guys running around with clerical collars is not sufficient justification. It's time to end the sacred scam.Oh, and via Booman, you’d better not ever mock abstinence education, or else you may get fired because of it later on in life.
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Via Alter Destiny, here’s a Democrat who’s actually not afraid to be a Democrat.
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Via tristero at Digby, I see what I am just positive will be the next rightwing cause celebre since they’re apparently now interested in free speech and arts and the like.
Stay tuned for Part Two! I know you can't wait!
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