Political Theatre category archive

In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Attilio “Buck” Favorini comments on the magical prestidigitatorial power possessed by persons of color to propel police and wannabe police to perceive stuff what ain’t there.

For Trayvon Martin it was an iced tea and a bag of Skittles.

For Jordan Miles it was a vanishing bottle of Mountain Dew.

For Jonny Gammage it was a date book and a cell phone.

For Amadou Diallo it was a wallet.

To you and me these innocent items suggest the contents of a shopping bag emptied on the kitchen counter or the things that move from our pockets to the night table before we turn out the light. But you and I are not enforcers of the law, duly sworn or self-appointed, who repeatedly mistake such objects for a frightening arsenal requiring lethal retaliation or, at best, a mauling never to be forgotten.

Read the whole thing.

Field points out the true issue at the heart of the case.

A black kid was gunned down for the crime of having a bag of Skittles and nobody in authority in Sanford, Floriday, gave a damn.

And what some of my friends in the majority population do not understand is that this case was not about racism per se on the part of the killer of this young man. The fact that he had Cuban American roots means nothing. (BTW, hang in there Ozzie. My Cuban American friends ain’t like my other brown friends if you get my drift. ) This case was about a police department devaluing the life of a young black man, who sadly laid on a slab in the morgue for days before his parents were even notified of his death. It’s about an unarmed child being killed while minding his own business by a citizen, and that citizen remaining free for 45 days while real racists and ideological whores in this country rallied around him only because his victim was black.

Republicans continue to fantasize about vicariously sticking things up women:

House Bill 1077, which is intended to humiliate, intimidate, and punish women who seek abortions, is one of the most reprehensible pieces of legislation Harrisburg has ever produced.

This legislation, deceptively titled the “Women’s Right to Know Act” and drafted under the pretext of providing informed consent, was cosponsored by seven male Republican state representatives who serve Chester County.

HB 1077 mandates a medically unnecessary procedure, including the use of an invasive transvaginal probe. In addition, it mandates a 24-hour waiting period between the ultrasound and the procedure. In addition to being burdensome, the legislation’s punitive intent is evident in the criminal penalties it imposes for failure to properly follow all the steps in this complicated legislation.

It’s the pervy party.

Headline:

Mitt Romney delays filing 2011 income tax return

Aside:

I know. There are many legit reasons to file for an extension and he’s already paid the (relative) pittance he expects to owe, but, really truly, one just can’t resist wisecrack bait like this.

At Psychology Today, J. Richard Gentry considers the pros and cons of inflicting standardized tests on little kids:

April in third grade used to be about flowers, shedding heavy jackets, and walking outside barefoot for the first time. It used to be about baseball season, fishing, the science fair, and creating colorful woven baskets or painting murals with ducks or bunnies. It used to be about practicing for the school talent show, reading favorite books in school, and going on outings and picnics with classmates.

No time for that now. The line has been drawn in the sand. Today in America, at least in a growing number of states, April in third grade is about fear of flunking a test. Today, third graders are test prepping, and they’ve been doing so since the first weeks of school. The teacher’s and principal’s job is on that same line that was drawn in the sand. Parents have been coached about getting kids test-ready at home. The nation is watching.

Fail the test and you get held back, disgrace yourself, and shame your parents. You may even cost your teacher and principal their job.

Click to read the rest.

I have come to believe that the ratio of overpriced tests (and administrators) to underpaid teachers is skewed in the wrong direction.

Tests do not teach; the claims that they can measure anything are based more on faith (and testing companies’ bottom lines) than research (*.pdf).

Via Contradict Me.

TPM thinks this moment of ignorance might indicate that Mitt the Flip is not ready for prime time.

This is slightly dated, as George Zimmerman is now in jail on charges of second degree murder, but the bit about the difference between “stand your ground” and “chase someone down” is still valid. That section starts about 2:25 into the video.

James Carville, via the Quotemaster:

Whenever I hear a campaign talk about a need to energize the base, that’s a campaign that’s going down the toilet. It’s a pretty good indication that they’re not eating up any territory, they can’t get anybody in the center to support them, they’re getting shelled back into their own bunker.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

Dick Polman thinks that Little Ricky’s campaign, now “suspended” (whatever that means), has severely damaged Mitt the Flip:

So the Santorum Effect continues. Having forced Romney to waste big bucks on an intramural fight, at a time when Romney would have greatly preferred to spend that money on autumn organizational infrastructure; and having exposed Romney’s political weakness (it took Mitt four months and tens of millions of dollars to beat a cash-strapped guy in a sweater vest), Santorum is now the gold standard for conservatism. The GOP base will judge Romney in accordance with that standard.

And Santorum will be with us again. Having made the case to the right that Romney is phony, he will soon do the opposite and seek to rally the base to Romney – to prove his loyalty to the party, of course, because he wants to nurture his prospects for 2016 (if Romney loses) or 2020 (if Romney wins). Ah, politics and its endless ironic iterations.

Meanwhile, Field wonders what Mitt has to do to be relabeled from flipper to liar. A snippet:

The man has been lying from day one. In fact, one could argue that his entire campaign in the republican primary has been built on a lie. (Etch A Sketch anyone?)

“During a debate in November, when moderator Wolf Blitzer introduced himself by saying that “Wolf” is really his first name, Romney greeted the audience by saying, “I’m Mitt Romney, and yes, Wolf, that’s also my first name.” In fact, Willard is his first name. It’s a lie notable for being so mundane: Why would someone fudge their name? It’s almost as if he can’t control himself.”

I don’t think he can.

PoliticalProf quotes Bill from Portland Maine:

The Supreme Court says corporations are people. The Supreme Court also says that people can be strip-searched for any reason whatsoever. Therefore, corporations can now be strip-searched for any reason whatsoever. Let’s start with . . . how ‘bout Koch Industries.

Robert Greenwald has already started the examination:

As April 15 approaches, don’t you want to duck your taxes with the skill of a Wall Street bankster?

Call Tax Masters.

Next year, though, why not do what Mitt Romney does and send your money on vacation to the Cayman Islands? Yes, your humble peasant money can go rub shoulders with 30 million of Romney’s dollars in a chi-chi tropical haven for money that belongs to people who believe, like the late Leona Helmsley, that “Only the little people pay taxes.”

From Contradict Me: Why writers need editors.

Shaun Mullen describes how Mitt the Flip is perfect of the opposites’ game with President Obama. A nugget:

Although he stands a better chance of beating Barack Obama than his Republican clown car compatriots, Mitt Romney is in a key respect the perfect challenger for the president because he represents all that is wrong — and then some — about the distribution of wealth in America at a time when that has belatedly become a pungent societal issue.

Romney, who is worth $250 million give or take a few million, has been squirrely about being a card-carrying member of the 1 percent of the 1 percent from the outset of the 2012 campaign . . . .

Read the rest.

The legal concept of “standing” refers to whether someone has enough of a stake in a situation to file a tort.

At Philly dot com, Elmer Smith looks at a different standing: who has standing to “stand his ground”:

But there is a race angle in this story (the Trayvon Martin case–ed.). I can’t help wondering which way the wheels of justice would be turning if Martin had fired first. Where do you think he would be now if they had wrestled over the gun and Zimmerman had been killed in the struggle?

Would the most permissive self-defense law in America have been wide enough to cover an unarmed 17-year-old black kid in a hoodie who was walking through a predominantly white neighborhood at night?

Think on that, then try to convince yourself that race had no part in this killing or in the police reaction to it.

Dick Polman describes the Republican Establishment’s (such as it is) emerging strategy to make Little Ricky Santorum go away and stop bothering them:

But these shots across Santorum’s bow are symptomatic of a much broader message, which goes something like this:

“Yo, Santorum. The party is sick and tired of all this infighting. If you keep wasting Romney’s time and money, if you keep pulling him to the right, if you compel him to spend big money on Pennsylvania primary ads in April, and if you drag him down to Texas in May, in the end he’s going to have a tougher time beating Obama. So stop being a brat. If you want to have any future in this party, if you want to nurture any realistic dreams about getting nominated in 2016 or beyond, and, in fact, if you want to avoid losing your home-state primary and not be humiliated by Pennsylvania voters for the second time in six years, then knock it off. Pull the plug already.”

Click to read the rest.