Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Jimmy Carter to Congress: revisit Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Every human being deserves dignity and respect:

In a statement issued to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, Former president Jimmy Carter has called upon Congress to revisit Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the policy prohibiting open lesbians and gays from serving in the US military.

Â"It is my long-held belief that every human being deserves dignity and respect,” Carter told SLDN in a statement obtained by PageOneQ. In calling for Congress to look at the policy, Carter said “The nationÂ’s commitment to human rights requires that lawmakers revisit ‘DonÂ’t Ask, DonÂ’t Tell,Â’ the current policy that prevents lesbians, gays and bisexuals from serving openly in our armed forces.”

Matthews slams Kingston: “a dishonest comparison”

Chris Matthews slams Georgia GOP Rep. Jack Kingston on tonight’s Hardball:

Matthews: Will the people of Georgia support ten more years of American involvement, military involvement in Iraq?

Kingston: Well, people know we’re still in Germany and in South Korea…

Matthews: Yea, but..no no no no no. I won’t let you get away with that. That’s not a fair comparison. We do not have a war in South Korea. There’s no German that’s fired on an American since 1945. That’s not a fair comparison...That is not an acceptable argument!  These comparisons to previous eras...it’s lazy thinking, Congressman. It’s the kind of propaganda that does not help this country understand the situation. You stepped into a dishonest comparison. Some people come on this show over and over again saying things that-JUST-aren’t-true.

REMEMBER ALSO: Kingston’s anti-poverty plan - get married & work more.

Health Insurance: less for health, more for implants

Your market-driven health care at work:

Health insurers are offering cosmetic surgery discounts. They’re not paying for the surgery, but they’re offering in-network discounts to attract members. Reasons: 1) Demand for cosmetic procedures is growing. 2) One insurer says the discounts “make our plan more attractive to employers and members.” Meanwhile, a report finds that “despite having the most costly health system in the world … Compared with five other nations-Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom-the U.S. health care system ranks last or next-to-last on five dimensions of a high performance health system.” Cynical view: Yeah, but we have the best jugs.

Ken Burns on the Southern Cross (reprised again)

Reposted again from last December… McCain made me do it...

Ken Burns speaking with Campus Progress last spring:

I’m always astounded by the prevalence of confederate flags and confederate memorabilia in the South and the frequent controversy that surrounds the issue. As a someone who is tremendously knowledgeable about the Civil War and as a Northerner, what do you make of that? Do you consider it a symbol of racism?

A lot of my relatives fought for the confederacy, but some fought for the north as well. First of all, the Civil War was, in addition to the biggest thing that has ever happened within this country by far, a deeply psychological event. There is an ultimate paradox at its heart, that in order to become one we kind of tore ourselves in two. Before the Civil War, when we referred to our country we said the United States “are,” and now we say ungrammatically the United States “is.” So the war in a funny way made us a one thing. We used to speak of a union and then we became a nation. A union is a collection of things and a nation is one thing. So there are deeply important psychological issues that continue to reverberate about the Civil War.

But the point you bring up about the confederate flag is a hugely disturbing thing. The confederate flag was adopted by many of the states as their flag, not before the Civil War, not during the Civil War, or not even in the immediate period afterwards, that much misunderstood period called Reconstruction. Those flags were instituted in the 1950’s and there’s only one thing that happened in the 1950’s that would have caused the southern states to add the confederate flag. They took one of the battle flags, and it wasn’t even the most popular confederate battle flag, and made it the symbol of segregation and resistance to civil rights and codified it in their flags. In that regard I find that the enthusiasm for the confederate flag today is both misplaced, misunderstood, and absolutely a symbol of racism.

Emphasis mine. Via Steve Gilliard in reaction to Rimjob at Kos

[T]he ”Southern Cross” was the naval jack of the Confederacy, not the official flag. Georgia went through a controversy some years back when it removed the Confederate flag from the state flag, but the flag they have now is actually closer to the original Confederate flag

McCain on the Confederate flag in SC

On the top or on the grounds is a distinction without a difference. The boos and applause sound to me like trouble for Republicans down the road.

Wonkette liveblogging the debate:

10:07 The entire audience just booed the Confederate flag question, awesome. McCain: Let’s just move on, ok? Seriously. Moving on gets applause, because it means he won’t get mad that they’re still flying it! BTW someone should explain to Rudy “Who would support slavery?” Giuliani what that flag means.