hate wins out

I could never say this half as well. I am grateful for Digby’s ability to put into words what the victory of hate over love means in California:

How people can vote for the first African American president in American history, with all that implies, while simultaneously voting to discriminate against gays is testament to the incoherence of American politics and the lack of clear cut philosophy guiding people’s choices. Everyone says there’s too much ideology in our politics but I’d say there isn’t enough. There isn’t enough common sense either. Discrimination against others just because you don’t like how they live their lives is against the very essence of the two pillars of America — liberty and equality. To fail to see that even as you vote for an historic, important first African American is incoherent.

I keep hearing about how this will right itself in the long run, that it’s just a matter of waiting until this new generation gets old enough and then gay rights will magically be “granted.” I hope that’s true. But to paraphrase a saying that’s been overused lately — in the long run all of today’s gay partners and gay parents will be dead. These soothing tones of “patience” and “don’t worry” don’t mean much when you consider that you only have one life to live.

It’s terrific that we are seeing a decline in racism to the extent that we are able to elect a black president. We’ve come a long way and there’s no taking anything away from those who waged the struggle over all these centuries. But our society is not truly changed if it’s still writing discrimination into law.

It’s as if we just can’t be America unless we are taking active steps to marginalize somebody.

Go read. My joy over the rejection of right wing ideology by the majority of people in this country is profoundly tempered by the sickening triumph of hate in California.

Crossposted at Big Ass Belle.

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American people fucked again

I haven’t got the energy to summarize it or go into detail about why this is such a fucking outrage, but Glenn Greenwald, ever the energetic young man, has an analysis of the current selling out of the American people by the lay-down Democrats in congress:

“So all the Attorney General has to do is recite those magic words — the President requested this eavesdropping and did it in order to save us from the Terrorists — and the minute he utters those words, the courts are required to dismiss the lawsuits against the telecoms, no matter how illegal their behavior was.

That’s the “compromise” Steny Hoyer negotiated and which he is now — according to very credible reports — pressuring every member of the Democratic caucus to support. It’s full-scale, unconditional amnesty with no inquiry into whether anyone broke the law. In the U.S. now, thanks to the Democratic Congress, we’ll have a new law based on the premise that the President has the power to order private actors to break the law, and when he issues such an order, the private actors will be protected from liability of any kind on the ground that the Leader told them to do it — the very theory that the Nuremberg Trial rejected.

If that isn’t hard enough to stomach, Digby has more on the FISA laydown along with the currently running McClatchy series on torture by the Bush administration.

If you’re thinking “why doesn’t she just shut up about this?” “Can’t she write something about Betty and Bill, about the garden? Where did Lynette go?” If you’re thinking that, well hell, I’m thinking it too. How are you all surviving this? I can hardly bear to wake up in the morning because each day brings a new travesty, a new injustice. I find myself screaming at the stupid bloviating fools on what passes for cable news. I read books that tell me what I know to be true, just for confirmation that I’m not really losing my mind, that I’m not imagining things.

Are you staying sane while this nation is being destroyed? If you are, tell me how to find some balance in all of this. I am lost.

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