Meanwhile, on the home front, David Horowitz continues to storm around the country shouting that the halls of academe are actually Marxist-Leninist think-tanks in disguise (as though we don’t already have enough right-wing think-tanks to fill a state the size of Minnesota). Yesterday’s New York Times reported that Horowitz’s Academic Bill of Rights has been introduced almost verbatim as a “nonbinding resolution” (H.Con.Res. 318) in the House of Representatives by Jack Kingston (R-GA).

The “Bill of Rights” includes the following language:

1. All faculty shall be hired, fired, promoted and granted tenure on the basis of their competence and appropriate knowledge in the field of their expertise and, in the humanities, the social sciences, and the arts, with a view toward fostering a plurality of methodologies and perspectives. No faculty shall be hired or fired or denied promotion or tenure on the basis of his or her political or religious beliefs.

…

4. Curricula and reading lists in the humanities ad social sciences should reflect the uncertainty and unsettled character of all human knowledge in these areas by providing students with dissenting sources and viewpoints where appropriate.

…

8. Knowledge advances when individual scholars are left free to reach their own conclusions about which methods, facts, and theories have been validated by research. Academic institutions and professional societies formed to advance knowledge within an area of research, maintain the integrity of the research process, and organize the professional lives of related researchers serve as indispensable venues within which scholars circulate research findings and debate their interpretation. To perform these functions adequately, academic institutions and professional societies should maintain a posture of organizational neutrality with respect to the substantive disagreements that divide researchers on questions within, or outside, their fields of inquiry.

The reality of all of this beautifully-worded laguage, of course, is at root deeply and firmly anti-intellectual, anti-freedom, and anti-academic. As the American Association of University Professors points out, “When carefully analyzed, … the Academic Bill of Rights undermines the very academic freedom it claims to support. It threatens to impose administrative and legislative oversight on the professional judgment of faculty, to deprive professors of the authority necessary for teaching, and to prohibit academic institutions from making the decisions that are necessary for the advancement of knowledge.”

The most trenchant quote from the Times was the one from the Brown University student who whined because he had been “assigned” Karl Marx “four times” in the course of his underprivileged academic career. “Adam Smith? Not even once.”

What a tragedy. Apparently this nimrod has never heard of checking a book out from the library. He probably only knows who Adam Smith is because some right-wing ideologue told him that he was an “important” thinker (and ignored Smith’s less pigeonhole-able views, such a that “natural liberty” cannot be attained if government is left to “the mean rapacity, the monopolizing spirit of merchants and manufacturers, who neither are, nor ought to be, the rulers of mankind.”)

This isn’t to say that I don’t think there’s no such thing as left-imposed political correctness on some campuses under certain circumstances. But I don’t think there is any generalized ideological litmus test in place for hiring faculty or making pedagogical decisions, no matter what some conservative professors may think. I encountered just as much conservative thought — often shoved down my throat — at Stanford as I did “liberal” thought, and the same has been true at the University of Michigan.

I think the conservative backlash of which Horowitz’s galloping crusade is the most visible example is a much bigger danger to academic institutions than any so-called leftist bias.

Another Amnesty International Report, released in January, says that the Castro regime on January 10 put into effect a law which forbids access to the Internet except “to those, such as officially recognised businesses and government offices, with special telephone accounts payable in US dollars.”

The Amnesty International report adds: “This prevents ordinary Cuban people from accessing the service.”

But no. The Castro regime is a glorious apotheosis of the socialist vanguard, a beacon of liberty and freedom and human rights.

They wouldn’t do anything like restrict Internet access. They wouldn’t throw people in prison for 26 years for owning a private library!

Well, for goodness’ sake! « Has Dashle FINALLY grown a spine?! »:

‘Mr. President, last week I spoke about the White House’s reaction to Richard Clarke’s testimony before the 9-11 Commission. I am compelled to rise again today, because the people around the President are systematically abusing the powers and prerogatives of government. We all need to reflect seriously on what’s going on. Not in anger and not in partisanship, but in keeping with our responsibilities as Senators and with an abiding respect for the fundamental values of our democracy. Richard Clarke did something extraordinary when he testified before the 9-11 Commission last week. He didn’t try to escape blame, as so many routinely do. Instead, he accepted his share of responsibility and offered his perceptions about what happened in the months and years leading up to September 11. We can and should debate the facts and interpretations Clarke has offered. But there can be no doubt that he has risked enormous damage to his reputation and professional future to hold both himself and our government accountable. The retaliation from those around the President has been fierce. Mr. Clarke’s personal motives have been questioned and his honesty challenged. He has even been accused, right here on the Senate floor, of perjury. Not one shred of proof was given, but that wasn’t the point. The point was to have the perjury accusation on television and in the newspapers. The point was to damage Mr. Clarke in any way possible. This is wrong—and it’s not the first time it’s happened.’
…
‘The Commission should declassify Mr. Clarke’s earlier testimony. All of it. Not just the parts the White House wants. And Dr. Rice should testify before the 9-11 Commission, and she should be under oath and in public. The American people deserve to know the truth—the full truth—about what happened in the years and months leading up to September 11. Senator McCain, Senator Cleland, Secretary O’Neill, Ambassador Wilson, General Shinseki, Richard Foster, Richard Clarke, Larry Lindsay … when will the character assassination, retribution, and intimidation end? When will we say enough is enough? The September 11 families—and our entire country—deserve better. Our democracy depends on it. And our nation’s future security depends on it.’
—Democrats.Senate.gov

Well, with all due respect, Mr. Minority Leader, I’ve been saying ‘enough is enough’ for three years now and begging, wishing, pleading, praying for you and your party to grow a spine and say the same thing. Welcome to the anti-fascist bandwagon. Now are you gonna just make speeches or are you gonna go out and DO something about it? We are powerless, you are not. Do your job; send DeLay to Leavenworth and Bush/Cheney back to Texas. Please.

Oh, great speech by the way …

Even as the mighty rightwing fascist talking points organizations try to paint John Kerry as a ‘flip-flopper,’ « CNN takes note (amazingly) of the Boy Emperor’s notable flip flops »:

‘Some previous Bush reversals in the face of criticism:
» He argued a federal Department of Homeland Security wasn’t needed, then devised a plan to create one.
» He resisted a commission to investigate Iraq intelligence failures, but then relented.
» He also initially opposed the creation of the independent commission to examine if the 2001 attacks could have been prevented, before getting behind the idea under pressure from victims’ families.
» He opposed, and then supported, a two-month extension of the commission’s work, after the panel said protracted disputes over access to White House documents left too little time.
» He at first said any access to the president by the commission would be limited to just one hour but relaxed the limit earlier this month.’
—CNN

Exactly. And those aren’t the only ones, just the ones related to 9/11. The Boy Emperor, when faced with a fight, runs like a scared rabbit hightailing it to a hole in Nebraska. He’s not only a flip-flopper, but a coward. Like with any bully on the block, if you just stand up to him and say, ‘Boo!’ he’ll run home to mommy. It’s time we Amurricans grew spines and tossed this ignorant weakling back to Texas where he belongs.

« Here’s why it’s a matter of civil rights »:

‘Prudential Financial has been accused of discrimination after refusing to provide benefits to the legally married spouse of lesbian retiree. After her marriage in Canada, Laurel Awishus, a retired Prudential Financial employee who worked for the company for 20 years, sought to enroll her spouse of nearly 22 years, Kathy Adelsheim, in the medical benefits program offered to the company’s retirees and spouses. Prudential Financial, headquartered in Newark, New Jersey, offers benefits to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian employees, but says that it only offers those benefits in retirement if the employee retired after January 1, 2000 when it implemented the program. Straight spouses are entitled to benefits regardless of their retirement date. “We are a married couple and should be treated as such. I worked for Prudential for 20 years and have a lot of respect for them, but I can’t respect they way they are treating us right now,” Awishus said. “One of the reasons I’m in this precarious spot is that 19 years ago I moved with Laurel to New Jersey when the company transferred her. I left a promising career behind—that included benefits. I wasn’t treated like a spouse then because we weren’t married. Now we’re married, and that should be respected,” she said.’
—365Gay.com

Do NOT tell me it doesn’t matter or it’s not about civil rights. Stuff that.

Last week, I received a snarky notice from the Michigan Teachers Retirement system which said that Frank was a ‘non-eligible’ beneficiary and any retirement benefits due would be paid to someone else upon my death. We face discrimination like this every single day, thanks to organized religion-induced fear and loathing in Amurrica. It’s a daily slog through a mine-field of finding ways around institutionalized bigotry in order to protect my family and it’s past time for it to stop.

Listening to the debut this afternoon of « Air America Radio » (the only alternative to the massive fascist domination of the airwaves) on XM167. So far, mildly entertaining. My first listen to Ed Schultz, who strikes me as an exact mirror-image opposite of Rush Limbaugh. At first I thought it was the hillbilly heroin pill-popper himself, in fact, and I almost changed the channel.

Still, it’s lovely to hear a contrarian viewpoint on radio for the first time in 25-20 years of having to listen to the fascists. This is the best I’ve felt since 12-Dec-00 … you can feel good too, if you have XM Satellite Radio … or visit the website and use RealPlayer (although « Atrios » readers are reporting some streaming problems this afternoon due to high demand).

Many people noticed yesterday a report on a « Houston man who was injured in a crash and lay paralyzed on a freeway for 36 hours before he was found »:

‘A motorist injured in a crash lay paralyzed in the middle of a freeway with a broken neck for 36 hours before he was rescued. Ed Theisen’s body was blocked from view by Gulf Freeway traffic barricades in this Houston suburb. The 46-year-old survived a night alone on the concrete, unable to move or summon help. “Someone riding in the back of a pickup truck spotted him and called police,” Debora Rodeffer-Theisen, his wife, said Monday after her husband emerged from surgery. “The officer poked him with a nightstick thinking he was a dead body, but he was there and he was very much alive.”’
…
‘Police wrote an accident report after Theisen disappeared, saying he had walked away from the scene, his wife said. She said the tow truck driver who hauled off Theisen’s car did not see him. Rodeffer-Theisen, relatives and friends were plastering their neighborhood with fliers when they got word that he was alive. Rodeffer-Theisen called Memorial Hermann Hospital. “They said, ‘We have him here and he is alive and he saying he loves you,’” she said. “He was covered in Houston pollution—it was coming out of every pore—but he was alive.”’
—Local6.com

While it is remarkable that the man was just lying there for 36 hours, it is understandable (somewhat), the unfortunate chain of events that produced the situation.

What is not understandable and even more appalling to me is that last sentence, ’He was covered in Houston pollution—it was coming out of every pore …’ Well, oh my lord! I knew folks needed lights sometimes to drive at noon (my aunt among them), but I had no idea it was this bad. Am I the only one who is sickened by this?

George W. must be so proud …

Meanwhile, just down the road from Muskogee in Henryetta, an Okie ‘democrat’ (in the same vein that Zell Miller is a ‘democrat’) is spitting mad because the « Oklahoma Supreme Court unanimously upheld the ban on cockfighting »:

‘The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of the cockfighting ban approved by Oklahoma voters in 2002. The ruling ends a battle, at least for now, that began in 1999 with the circulation of an initiative petition to prohibit cockfighting in Oklahoma. An effort will be made in the Legislature to lessen the penalties for cockfighting. … In a 7-0 opinion, the Supreme Court upheld the ban’s constitutionality.’
…
’[Frank] Shurden, D-Henryetta, said he still is working on SB 835 for presentation to the Legislature this session. Last year he sent it back to conference, apparently because he needed to make changes to obtain enough votes to pass it in the Senate. Shurden said the opponents of cockfighting are taking away American traditions. “Next it will be hunting, fishing and rodeos,” Shurden said.’
—The Daily Oklahoman

That’s right, Frank. Blasted activist judges! Yup, they’re goin’ after our bloody roosters, then our babies, then our bulls, then our guns, then our god and all we’ll be left with is flamin’ homos getting married in our churches while we weep as Communist Red Army troops hold AK-47s to our heads and make us watch.

If ever there was a clueless Okie, Frank Shurden is surely it.

‘Those Weapons of Mass Destruction Gotta Be Somewhere’

Because I was in the middle of a bunch of things, I’m belatedly posting this:

«We are all Madrileños» …

The site redesign, which took me two laborious weeks, is for all intents and purposes finished. How I’m gonna keep up all these ‘blogs, I dunno, but it’s a nice concept and let’s me do some different creative things, especially writing for writing’s sake.

It’s cold and snowy. I woke up with a sinus headache and having to face the fourth graders from hell. It was painful, but I made it through okay, then went to CVS and got some naproxen and came home and took it and a nap. Got up at 7, kinda groggy, but I’ve been wide awake since and got quite a bit of work done.

Biggest pressing issues now are to come up with text for the consulting section, finish all those tedious galleries and do two design choices for Casa Emdeko and especially to get cracking on FII stuff, they’ve waited far too long.

But it’s almost 01:00 and I’m toasted …

The redesign is finally pretty much finished, with just minor tweaking to go. Like it?

Let’s see what’s happening in our glorious empire today, shall we?

Looks like the assault on the last minority it is acceptable to hate continues apace in the federal bureaucracy «as the Special Fascist Counsel strips gay and lesbian federal workers of job protections»:

‘Gay and lesbians in the entire federal workforce have had their job protections officially removed by the office of Special Counsel. The new Special Counsel, Scott Bloch, says his interpretation of a 1978 law intended to protect employees and job applicants from adverse personnel actions is that gay and lesbian workers are not covered. Bloch said that the while a gay employee would have no recourse for being fired or demoted for being gay, that same worker could not be fired for attending a gay Pride event. In his interpretation, Bloch is making a distinction between one’s conduct as a gay or lesbian and one’s status as a gay or lesbian.’
—365Gay.com

Why don’t they just lump stuff like this and the FMA (Fascist Marriage Amendment) into one great package and name them what they are … Amerikkka’s Nuremberg Laws? I think I’ll start cutting out my pink triangles now so I can get them sewn on all my clothes now. Will save time later.

Especially since «the idea of a gay purge was seriously floated in Tennessee today»:

‘The county that was the site of the Scopes “Monkey Trial” over the teaching of evolution is asking lawmakers to amend state law so the county can charge homosexuals with crimes against nature. The Rhea County commissioners approved the request 8-0 Tuesday. Commissioner J.C. Fugate, who introduced the measure, also asked the county attorney to find a way to enact an ordinance banning homosexuals from living in the county. “We need to keep them out of here,” Fugate said.’
—SFGate.com

The Nazis had a word for such purges of Jews from the Reich: Judenrein, or Free of Jews. And today, people are seriously pushing to make Rhea County, Tennessee Gayrein. What century is this?

I think I’ll start wearing that pink triangle if Rhea County succeeds in its fascist purge and especially if the FMA passes the House. It’s time to start calling this filth what it is and to hold its purveyors accountable.

Turning to other news, «the Boy Emperor received his greatest endorsement today: Al Qaeda want Bush ‘re-elected’ in November»:

‘The statement said it supported … Bush in his reelection campaign, and would prefer him to win in November rather than the Democratic candidate John Kerry, as it was not possible to find a leader “more foolish than you (Bush), who deals with matters by force rather than with wisdom.” In comments addressed to Bush, the group said: “Kerry will kill our nation while it sleeps because he and the Democrats have the cunning to embellish blasphemy and present it to the Arab and Muslim nation as civilization.” “Because of this we desire you (Bush) to be elected.” The group said its cells were ready for another attack and time was running out for allies of the United States. “Whose turn is it next? Will it be Japan or America, or Italy, Britain or Oslo or Australia?” the statement said, adding Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were also targets.’
—Yahoo News

Isn’t that grand? Foreign democratic leaders support Kerry; Al Qaeda likes our chief Fascist because he plays right into their hands. That pretty much sums it up for me.

Back in the empire, «the movement to censure the Boy Emperor is building»:

‘Families of soldiers serving, as well as of those who have been casualties, in the occupation of Iraq came to Capitol Hill today with other volunteers, urging Congress to censure … George W. Bush. Meanwhile, volunteers carried petitions that filled 18 large boxes, signed so far by 560,340 members of MoveOn.org from every congressional district, to each office in the House of Representatives, reinforcing the demand for a censure resolution. The groups also displayed print and TV ads that will begin running this week. “My son, Army Lt. Seth Dvorin, who died last month while serving in Iraq, met his responsibility to the nation he loved,” said Sue Niederer of Pennington, NJ. “As his mother, I am joining hundreds of thousands of Americans today in asking that the Congress of the United States meet its responsibility, as well.” Tom Andrews, national director of Win Without War, said the combined activities represent an escalation of efforts that will continue. “The truth matters. By not holding [the Boy Emperor] accountable, the Congress is saying it doesn’t. This is unacceptable,” said Andrews, a former congressman and member of the Armed Services Committee.’ …
‘Speaking for herself and other military families, Ms. Niederer said: “Our message to Congress today is clear: spare us the platitudes, the pious rhetoric, the empty slogans. Give us the truth. Do your job and hold those accountable who have denied us the truth. Censure … Bush for the deceptions and manipulations that led our nation to war. You owe the American people, my son and all those patriots who have sacrificed for their nation no less.”’
—PR Newswire

I agree. «Everyone should go sign the censure petition immediately.». The first step in regaining our country is to hold the fascists accountable. Go, do your duty lad!

Good night, y’all.

Artemis is to be cremated today and finally gets to come home to rest. Hard to believe she’s gone. I still get kinda weepy whenever I think about her and I know the pain that Don and Jean and Linda must be feeling today. I wish I could do something.

Because I’ve been there before. Sugar, my little adorable mutt, was shot in the leg by some asshole when we were taking one of our usual walks in the woods behind our house in the country east of Duncan when I was 13. We took her to the vet, but short of major surgery (with no guarantee she could walk again) and expense (which we didn’t have), there was nothing that could be done. She had to be put down. I bawled and squalled and left her lying there so the vet could do the deed. Truly one of the worst experiences of my life. It still has the power to hurt me some 27 years later.

Losing Artemis is certainly worse. Just as losing Bayley will be. Unlike Sugar, he came to me as a puppy of just seven weeks old and we’ve shared close quarters ever since. With the exception of my travels (the longest of which was two weeks), we’ve spent every day of almost 10 years together. Don had the same thing with Artemis over 14 years. Sugar came to me as a mutt and I had her maybe two years or so. Losing Artemis is so much worse, almost like losing a child.

Dog non-lovers, like my family, will never, ever understand it, even as they condescendingly dismiss it or lash out at it. Yes, they are ‘just’ dogs, but they’re also so much more than that. And until you’ve experienced that unconditional love and support and dependence and trust, you have no right to talk.

I suppose the deed must done by now and she’s safely back home. I can’t believe she’s gone. Beagles are getting extra hugs today.

The cough is finally better today. I think the key must be the inhaler. Is my asthma actually going to be this much worse up here? If so, gonna be a long year-and-a-half. Also helping is Actifed and cough syrup.

But geez. This is the third round of this mess I’ve had since we moved here. There must some native flora that massively disagrees with me. I’m really sick of this stuff.