Lots of perfectly good news just tossed in the old dumpster today. Let’s see what we can dig up!
Right gears up for culture war
The collective paranoia of the Religious Right is downright scary; everything is a jihad for them.
McCain Suggests Iraqi War-like Clampdown To Deal With Inner City Crime
Aiyyeeee!
Today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) spoke to the National Urban League, a group “devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream.” When an audience member asked him how he planned to reduce urban crime, McCain praised Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s efforts in New York Cirty before invoking the military’s tactics in Iraq as the model for crime-fighting:
MCCAIN: And some of those tactics – you mention the war in Iraq – are like that we use in the military. You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control. And you provide them with a stable environment and then they cooperate with law enforcement, etc, etc.
New Mexico Sperm Donor Found Liable for Child Support
In the latest decision involving the liability of sperm donors, the New Mexico Court of Appeals says some sperm donors must pay child support. The case involves Kevin Zoernig who agreed to donate sperm for two children with Janna Mintz. Mintz is a lesbian who wanted a child with her partner in the mid 90s. It is one of a recent series of such decisions exploring the liability of both anonymous and non-anonymous sperm donors.
Mintz says that she demanded child support after Zoernig asked for visitation and parental privileges. He must now pay $250 a month under a new agreement.
The key to the ruling was that Zoernig was not an anonymous sperm donor. For the full story, click here.
This is only the latest case involving sperm donors, click here and here and here and here.
Israel allows in Gaza fugitives
Israel has allowed 180 members of a beleaguered clan loyal to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to enter its territory from the Gaza Strip…
Obama on McCain: It’s about cynicism, not racism
The moment the McCain campaign worked to inject race into the presidential campaign, the media seemed, for lack of a better word, relieved. It was as if news outlets wanted desperately to focus on race, but needed to wait until there was some kind of news peg to work off of.
Almost immediately, the Obama campaign has been trying to downplay the notion that there’s a “story” here. On Thursday, the campaign issued a statement: “Barack Obama in no way believes that the McCain campaign is using race as an issue, but he does believe they’re using the same old low-road politics to distract voters from the real issues in this campaign, and those are the issues he’ll continue to talk about.”
As questions persist, Obama is still trying to convince reporters that they’re missing the point here — this isn’t about racism, it’s about cynicism.
Barack Obama told reporters in Titusville, Fla., on Saturday that he is at “peace” with a McCain campaign ad seeking to portray him as an airhead celebrity in the mold of Britney Spears or Paris Hilton.
“Let me be clear,” Obama said in response to a question about the injection of race into the campaign.
“In no way do I think that John McCain’s campaign was being racist; I think they’re cynical, and I think they want to distract people from talking about the real issues.
And these are the stories that Ring of Fire found in their dumpster dive:
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Hi Guys! The place looks good. The Future Mrs Downunder and I are in the US for a couple of weeks and head back Tuesday. Good luck with the new digs. Now how can I get all this sand out of my keyboard…
Good morning all.
Where in the US Pete?
If the guy has asked for visitation and parental privileges, shouldn’t that headline be “New Mexico Father Found Liable for Child Support”? I don’t think sperm donors should be liable for child support, but if the donor wants to assume a father-like role in the child’s life, he should then also assume the financial support as well.
Who would click on a story with the headline “Father found liable for child support”?
Hi all! G’day Pete. Taking TFMDU to see bears? I agree with you Lea, if the guy wanted to act as as father to the child, he should take the responsibilities of fatherhood too.
I’d like to go OT if nobody minds and talk about China. The Olympics start in less than a week. Despite promises of improved human rights, the Government of China is still monitoring, intimidating, beating and jailing their citizens. In fact, the Olympics have made it even worse. At least a million people have been displaced to make way for Olympic development and denied adequate compensation.
A few months ago there were mass protests as the Olympic torch made its way around the world. Then there was a devestating earthquake which appeared to be handled with great efficency and a hiterto unknown openness to the media. Suddenly, the oppression in Tibet faded from memory except, you know, for Tibetans.
So, here comes the biggest PR event China has ever known and I can’t help thinking that, for China, it deserves to be a huge flop. Yet I enjoy the Olympics, the competition of the best in the world, people who’ve trained their hearts out for the past 4 years deserve support.
So, how to poke a finger in the eye of China without snubbing the athletes or denying yourself the pleasure of watching? My plan is to boycott the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. These are the key “Chinese” moments. Once competition starts, every swimming pool and athletics track in the world looks pretty much exactly the same, like every Hilton Hotel. Do you plan to do anything? If so, what.
By the by, if you want to see how China is people is dealing with inconvenient people, have a look at this webpage http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/2008/foreign2008.htm and click on the story China, Foul Play, second down in the left column. I couldn’t get it to play in Win but Flash worked fine. It’s longish at 25 minutes but it’s a real eye-opener.
Thanks Persi.
Oh, you’re welcome Muffin, anytime you want a thread hurtled off-track, you know where to find me. By the by, I’m having trouble getting email through to your gmail account, is there another I could use? Should there be a ‘contact us’ thingy somewhere on the right of the page?
The contact info is on the “about” page. I am now at relaxed politics at g mail, but tthe other should also work.
today in austin:
Sun
103°F | 76°F
@Muffin -
I don’t think it’s you Muffin, it’s my Outlook that gets in a tizz with gmail. I’ll try relaxed politics next time I have something for you.
Speaking, as I was, about China, here’s an interesting story on China’s internet censorship. http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/chinese-netizens-rail-against-great-firewall/2008/08/01/1217097503184.html Sorry, lost my notes on embedding and too lazy to find them.
Persi, sent you email from my non-gmail account.
Would you like to write up a 2-3 paragraph post about censorship and the olympics? You can type it up in outlook and email to my yahoo account. Include any pix you want, and I will take care of the rest of the formatting.
Thanks Betsy, got it.
I’ll give it a go and try to get it to you a bit later.@Muffin -
new post http://www.relaxedpolitics.com/?p=457
Here’s a bit of corporate fuckery for ya. Hope this link works; wsj.com is a subscription site.
Wal-Mart Warns of Democratic Win
“Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they’ll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies – including Wal-Mart.”
[snip]
“The Wal-Mart human-resources managers who run the [mandatory] meetings don’t specifically tell attendees how to vote in November’s election, but make it clear that voting for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama would be tantamount to inviting unions in, according to Wal-Mart employees who attended gatherings in Maryland, Missouri and other states.”
There’s a lot more, about employer group campaigns against Democratic senate candidates who are considered more likely to vote for the Employee Free Choice Act.