Reflections on Racism

When I was eleven or twelve I accidentally walked in on a poker game my uncle was having with a bunch of his buddies. They had been drinking all afternoon, and my uncle tended towards mean even when he was sober, so I tried to back out without getting noticed.

I didn't make it. My uncle spotted me, spun around, and suddenly I was looking down the barrel of his old Colt .45 revolver. He waved it around in my face and yelled "Know what this is boy? It's a nigger gun! Any niggers come 'round here and we're gonna take good care of 'em!" I was scared out of my wits, and it must have showed because the men all howled with drunken laughter. When my uncle finally got tired of his little game and put the gun down I cleared out of there in a mighty big hurry.

My uncle didn't live in rural Mississippi or Louisiana. This little incident happened about 1970 in a nice middle class Boston suburb. Even at that time, and even in the liberal northeast, my uncle's attitude wasn't that unusual, although few people expressed it so openly.

My uncle is dead, and his racism died with him. His children, now middle-aged, show no signs that they inherited their father's beliefs. His kids grew up in a time and place where racism, though still pervasive, was considered increasingly unacceptable. True racists rarely change, but they do eventually die, and that's how the world changes.

Given the recent events in Jena, I thought that it would be appropriate to reflect on how much has changed in our country, and how much more needs to be done. It's easy to forget just how far we've come in the last few decades, but it's even easier to overlook how much of a problem racism still is.

A good measure of overt racism is public attitudes towards interracial marriage. The Gallop Poll has tracked American views on that subject for almost fifty years. In 1958, the year I was born, only four percent of Americans approved of mixed race marriages. Today it's almost eighty percent. That's an astonishing change in less than two generations, yet one in seven Americans still has a problem with interracial marriage. The chart below shows the historical trend. Click it to see a larger version.



Today racism is usually more subtle. Discrimination persists in education, employment, housing, and law enforcement, but it's often masked by poverty. Conservatives, as well as some on the left, excuse these things simply as economic reality, the free market treating poor people like poor people, but there's more to it than that. All else being equal, skin color still is a big factor in where you start, and end up, in American society. (Yes, I can back that up with hard data if any of my conservative friends are wondering)

Beating racism is an unfinished job, and our biggest enemy is complacency. The problem is rarely as obvious as the events in Jena, but we must look beyond the individuals involved and focus on the culture that shaped their attitudes. In time the old racists in Jena will die out. Our real challenge is to ensure that they aren't replaced.

That's Gotta Hurt...

How can you tell when your presidential campaign is tanking? Well, it might be a hint if your support has dropped so much that voters in your own party are four times as likely to vote for a candidate from another party than for you.

In a poll just released by the University of Iowa, Barack Obama gets almost four times as much support from Republican voters in Iowa as John McCain does, 6.7% to 1.8%. McCain's support was 14.4% in March.

Ouch!

Turns out that among Iowa Republican voters Obama beats every Republican except Romney (21.8%) and Guliani (10%). Not bad for a Dem!

Howard Dean at the 2007 YearlyKos Convention!

DNC Chair Howard Dean gave a great keynote address at the 2007 YearlyKos convention! Reminded me why I supported him for president four years ago. You can hear Dean using the player below (click twice if using IE), or download a high-quality (8 MB) mp3 by right-clicking on this link and saving. The speech is about half an hour long, but it's well worth the time.



You can also watch Dean's speech here, but it was streamed live and the video quality is pretty bad, more like a web cam than a regular TV feed. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find anything better.

Feel free to repost the mp3 or use it on your own site, but I'd appreciate credit and a link back to my blog. Thanks!

Geopolitical History of the Worlds Major Religions - In 90 Seconds!

I'm not very good at memorization. That's one reason why I like to use graphs to put historical and political data into visual form. Here's a rather extreme but superb example of visual history from a website called Maps-of-War. I can't vouch for its accuracy, and it's rather simplified (although I guess that's what you'd expect when you cram 3000 years of history into 90 seconds), but it does seem to agree with what little I know of world religions. Enjoy!

Presidential Fundraising Skyrockets - But Dems Kick Ass!

I know, old pun. But take a look at the chart below I compiled from information released by The Campaign Finance Institute (great organization, check them out!). It compares presidential campaign fundraising, up to and including the 2nd quarter of the odd year preceding the election, for this and several previous election cycles.



It's rather shocking how much total fundraising has gone up. It's two and a half times higher now than at this point four years ago. But look at the Democratic/Republican trend. Comparing 1999, the last cycle with an open seat, to 2007, Republicans have almost doubled their fundraising, but Democrats have increased theirs by a factor of five!

Like it or not, and I don't, money buys elections. Democrats are now more than competitive in the presidential money race, and that does bode well for 2008.

There are lots more goodies in the Campaign Finance Institute report that I'll be writing about over the next few days, including small verses large donor info for all the current presidential candidates. Which major Democratic candidate raises a larger percentage of money from large donors than most Republicans? Stay tuned!

Irony Part 2 - Do As I Say...

The entire Bush administration may be a bunch of incompetent idiots, but at least they're entertaining. This is word-for-word from a Voice of America (VOA) story. VOA is our government-sponsored overseas broadcast and news service:

"President Bush has signed an order that allows the U.S. government to block the assets of any person or group that threatens the stability of Iraq."

"The order exempts the United States".

Irony Part 1 - Supporting Our Troops

It seems President Bush objects to Congress' current attempt to give a 3.5% pay raise to our troops because it would cost too much. The logic behind Bush's position, as expressed in a "Statement of Administration Policy" he sent to Senate leaders: The extra pay for our troops is money "that would otherwise be available to support our troops".

You can't make this stuff up...

Random Thoughts on Libby

1. Based on a Survey USA poll Bush's decision to commute Libby's prison sentence is opposed by about 60% of Americans who are familiar with the issue. My guess is that this will end up more like 70-30 when all is said and done. Of course, to a president with a 26% approval rating that thirty to forty percent must look pretty good.

2. The 40% who approve of Bush’s action or think he didn’t go far enough and should have given Libby a full pardon are traitors. Ask any CIA officer. I did.

3. Regardless of the opposition, Bush honestly believes this isn't going to hurt him politically. The administration typically announces damaging news late on Friday afternoons, yet they didn't do that in this case.

4. If I was in the CIA I'd be mad as hell. Bush just spit in the face of the CIA (again), and I'm not sure that's a smart move for somebody who needs the CIA to provide slanted intel to cover his ass for an attack on Iran, just as they did for Iraq.

5. Corollary to number three: Having the CIA even madder at Bush probably slightly reduces the chances of us attacking Iran.

6. A fight between the CIA and the President could have minor side effects, such as jeopardizing national security. Of course the Bush crew doesn't care much about national security or they wouldn't have outed Valerie Plame in the first place.

7. The Washington Post is reporting that, in a rather extraordinary breech of precedent, Bush didn't consult with the Justice Department or with Patrick Fitzgerald, the chief prosecutor, before making his decision. Who needs advice when God tells you what to do?

8. Bush has essentially set the market price for outing CIA agents at a quarter million dollars. Seems to me that this is awfully cheap, and will be a very regrettable precedent...

Want a job? Elect a Democrat!

I saw a press release recently from the DNC claiming that far more jobs were created under Clinton than under Bush. Not exactly news, but it got me wondering if there was a historical trend in terms of job creation under Democratic verses Republican presidents.

Turns out there is, and the difference is HUGE, an average of 2.1 million jobs per year for Democrats verses 1.1 million per year for Republicans since 1939 when the government first started collecting employment data. Here's a chart showing average yearly job creation under every president since Roosevelt:


(Click on image for a larger version)

I made the chart using data from the Department of Labor. Republicans can claim that one or two Presidents represent an aberration, but it's hard to argue with seventy years of data. Proof that if you work for a living you should vote Democratic!

R.I.P. Jerry Falwell

(Ripped off from TMZ.com. I couldn't resist...)

UPDATE: For those of you who don't have kids of the right age to have experienced the Teletubbies phenomena up close and personal, as I have, here's your big chance! Check out this video of the show, but be sure to stop as soon as you feel nauseous. The LD50 is quite low. If you survived that ordeal you're now ready to experience the true value of the Teletubbes as a vehicle for social commentary. Here are three diverse examples I've carefully selected for your viewing pleasure:

The Teletubbies 'Lean Wit It'
The Teletubbies and George Bush
The Teletubbies in "Die Tubbie Die!!!"

Now, don't you feel at least a little sympathy for Jerry?

Kathleen Falk: Next Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair?

I ran into something rather interesting as I was perusing Democratic Underground last night:

Draino Thu Mar-29-07 10:36 PM
Kathleen Falk to run for DPW Chair?

Word on the Capitol Square is that Joe Wineke is out and Kathleen Falk has been anointed for DPW Chair. The Big Divider now wants to be a Uniter.

It's questionable whether a candidate who couldn't carry her own county in a statewide race is the best choice to lead the party. Nonetheless, if Jim Doyle has given his blessing, it would bode well for Falk's chances.

This might be a smart political move for Falk. She sorely needs to rehabilitate her image after tanking the AG's race in a year when nearly every race fell for Dems. Falk would have a statewide platform to boost her Dem credentials from and more importantly, accumulate prized contacts while fundraising for the party. Raising money is Falk's strong suit. Expect that to be one of the pillars of her campaign for chair if this comes to pass.

Without knowing who the source is I wouldn't normally give a rumor like this much credence, but I heard a slightly more elaborate version a day or two ago, so it's clearly making the rounds inside the party. Assuming, if only for the sake of entertainment, that's it's true, there are some interesting ramifications.

The first is that Joe Wineke isn't going to run for reelection. Kathleen would only be running for chair if she was Doyle's candidate, so her run would be coordinated with Joe's retirement. This would also indicate that Senator Lena Taylor, the current first vice-chair, won't be running again.

Draino points out some obvious benefits to Kathleen, but it's not clear to me that things would be that simple. There isn't much of a precedent for a sitting elected official also serving as DPW chair, so presumably Kathleen would step down as Dane County Executive. Due to her AG run she already has her ducks in a row in terms of succession on the County Board, so that transition should be relatively easy. But on the far end it might be more difficult. Serving in such an obviously partisan position as party chair might make it harder to appeal to swing voters in a later run for statewide office. It's certainly been done before, Herb Kohl ran successfully for US Senate after serving as party chair, but he took a fairly long break in between and he has more money than God.

There are some factors that could complicate Kathleen's run for chair. Since she hasn't been very active inside the party, she would likely be seen by many Dems, with some justification, as a carpetbagger. Kathleen would have to work very hard to convince party members that she wasn't using the chair simply as a stepping stone for higher office which, given her history, might be a rather tough sell.

There's also the matter of Peg Lautenschlager. Peg was, and is, far more popular inside the party than Kathleen, and a lot of Democrats are still steamed about the AG primary. Those Dems are unlikely to support Kathleen, but a bigger issue is that Kathleen earned a reputation as someone who divides, rather than unites, the Democratic party. That perception will be difficult to overcome.

But none of this matters if Kathleen is the only candidate for chair, and I haven't heard of anybody willing to risk Doyle's wrath by running against his chosen slate. But if a viable challenger does pop up, watch for a bait and switch routine just the like last time when Linda Honold ran as a popular incumbent, was reelected, then stepped down so Joe could take over. If Joe runs for chair and Kathleen for first vice chair you'll know what's coming...

CORRECTION: I made a mistake in the last paragraph. In 2005 Joe Wineke ran for chair and Linda Honold for first vice chair, not the other way around. Linda did step down shortly after being elected, and Lena Taylor was appointed to the position. Sorry it tool so long to fix this, but Blogger has been down.

The Company We Keep

UPDATE: Several people have questioned the accuracy of my claim that Maya hired FLS-DCI, or they've implied that it was a third party, not Maya's campaign, who hired them. The proof is on page six of Maya's July 2006 campaign finance report. I linked to it below, but just to be more clear, here's the URL:

http://www.cityofmadison.com/clerk/CampFin/2006/Cole4.pdf

The pertinent line reads:

05/03/06 | Arizona FLS | Phone Bank | $1,451.60

------------------------------------------------------------


What does a Madison School Board race have to do with Karl Rove?

In yet another odd case of politics making for very strange bedfellows, it turns out that School Board candidate Maya Cole hired a telemarketing company called Arizona FLS, also known as FLS Connect and FLS-DCI, during her 2005 campaign. FLS has a rather exclusive clientele, and it's not exactly what you would associate with a Madison progressive. Their customers include the Bush/Cheney campaign, the Republican National Committee, the Republican Governors Association, Exxon, the NRA, the rather repressive military government of Myanmar (Burma), and, closer to home, the Republican Party of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.

But what really got me was this quote prominently featured on the FLS homepage:

“I know these guys well. They become partners with the campaigns they work with. From designing the program to drafting the scripts; from selecting targets to making the calls in a professional successful way, they work as hard to win your races as you do.” - Karl Rove

One of FLS-DCI's specialties is creating astroturf groups, fake grassroots organizations that are actually paid PR and lobbying campaigns. They've been tied to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that attacked Kerry in '04, and Voices for Choices, a front group that lobbies for AT&T (check out this previous post for a little local AT&T intrigue). One of FLS-DCI's more interesting exploits was creating this flash video mocking Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth":



It created quite a stir on YouTube, and fooled a lot people until The Wall Street Journal exposed it as a paid political hit piece.

So why would Maya give her money to an outfit that's basically trying to destroy everything she claims to believes in? My guess is that she didn't have a clue about FLS-DCI, and was just told to use them by one of her campaign advisors.

One of the reasons I'm supporting Maya's opponent, Marj Passman, is that in both her current and previous campaigns Maya has chosen to surround herself with people who represent the exact opposite of the progressive values she claims to stand for. To be fair to Maya, and I do believe she really is a progressive, I know she felt forced to do so because she's been largely locked out of the Madison political machine. But you're known by the company you keep, and I wouldn't be caught dead with some of Maya's current buddies.