Would love to have an actual liberal media trumpet this story with the headline Fox News subsidizes Al Jazeera. But of course, it ain't gonna happen.
posted by Mad Anne Rackham at 3:10 AM

Okay, time for a good rant. The following people and institutions have no integrity whatsoever. In no particular order:



Rep. Tim Williamson. Testimony from people who care enough about an issue to take time out of their lives and wait hours in a crowded hallway is "repetitive bullshit," according to Timmah. Hey asshole: if you would let people into the room to hear the testimony of others, maybe people wouldn't repeat things that others have said. And, if you don't like sitting through long hearings, why don't you tell your boss not to schedule every controversial bill on one night? Oh wait, never mind, you want them all on one night because that way, fewer people get to testify, and that means less repetitive bullshit for you. Asshole, if you don't want to sit through long hearings about legislation, then get the hell out of the legislature, or at least off of the Judiciary Committee! No one will miss you.



His boss, Rep. Bob Flaherty. Always the quintessential asshole, he's the one who scheduled the bills as such and then didn't bother to come to the hearing himself. Why should he? He's already made up his mind what he is going to do and make others do. Meanwhile, he smiles in your face all the way to the bank as stupid gay people use him as their attorney (why???) Why does he bother to pretend to be nice? Does he think anyone is really fooled? I doubt it--I think it's a power game with him, that he gets off on knowing that no one can tell him what they really think of him.



And that brings us to Gov. Carcieri. He talks up "separation of powers" and then appoints the high-powered lobbyist brother of the chair of the House Judiciary Committee to the Supreme Court--a man who has never even been a judge. Moreover, said Judiciary chair (who also chairs the Lottery Commission) is in fact the one who pulled the floor maneuever that tanked their precious legislation on it last year--and yet the governor appears to be rewarding him, or at least his family. Why? My guess is that that Catholic Church told him whom to appoint, or else he just picked the staunch pro-lifer on his own. Either way, it's total hypocrisy.



And that brings us to the supposed watchdogs: Operation Clean Government, Common Cause, and the Providence Journal. Not a peep from any of these organizations about this travesty of an appointment. They went ripshit about similar coziness in the Goldberg family and their overlapping government connections, but not a word about the Flahertys. Why? With the reform groups, it's easy to see why: they know that Rep. Flaherty will punish them if they openly challenge it. If you shoot at a Flaherty, you must kill him, and they know they don't have the firepower. (And that's a metaphor, not a threat, in case any government spooks are monitoring this. I do not advocate shooting government officials, even the ones who have no integrity.) Still, they ought to at least care about the issue, and if they did care and wanted to derail it, all they would have to do is their usual manipulation of the Providence Journal and talk radio to get people riled up. But they aren't because they have no integrity. And as for the ProJo, at least Katherine "Dr. Evil" Gregg tried to dig up some dirt, but why isn't she writing her biased articles about how cozily the legislature is giving a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court to the brother of one of their most powerful members? I don't give a rat's ass about past ethics complaints in Warwick. He could be the most standup guy in the world--it doesn't matter! You simply do not appoint someone with that family connection to the Supreme Court! And yet our new governor did, and none of the watchdogs care one bit. I guess he can do no wrong in their eyes, and moreover they have to keep propping him up because he's almost as dumb as Lincoln Chafee. Where is Slow Eddie Achorn on this? Why doesn't he care? Writing generic outrage with no historical perspective is his specialty, so why isn't he all over this blatant nepotism? Because he has no integrity.



Margaret Cho said that if you're a person of intelligence and integrity, you're a minority. She is right.
posted by Mad Anne Rackham at 8:02 AM

What were you doing ten years ago last month? I had forgotten the time of year, but this op-ed reminded me. What an exhausting and disheartening event it was--felt like a massacre. Many things have changed, but many have not. Signs of progress include the fact that Ed was able to sign his real name to this piece. When he testified ten years ago, he introduced himself using his middle name and later said he hoped he didn't get fired. And now Madeline Rogero's support is out in the open for all of Knoxville to know. Things have definitely changed, then. It would have been utter political suicide for her assistance on this issue to have been known at the time, and so we all honored that and protected her. Now ten years later, she's running for mayor, and it's in the paper that she helped organize opposition. God bless her. I do hope her run is not quixotic. Stranger things have happened, so maybe it isn't. It's tempting to go work on her campaign, but I don't want to get my heart broken again. And reading this piece reminds me anew what an inhospitable place it is. Yeah, some things have changed--Mike Ragsdale is now county executive. Yuck. And too much is the same, cf. the recent controversy over "Corpus Christi." I'm glad I moved away.
posted by Mad Anne Rackham at 7:27 AM