Wish I had said that
•He who bringeth fire
Perceptive blogger Prometheus 6 has said something that is mighty damned smart.
The short form is, politically most bloggers will see me as a liberal falling slightly left of Atrios. But I rarely think of myself in those terms. The way I tend to see myself is as this Black guy, see? Looking at the USofA from the perspective I have, I see particular issues from particular angles. Some things loom large to me that probably don't demand the attention of (pulling an A-list name out of a hat) Jeanne D'Arc, though she'd probably take the right position when the topic arises. Way back when the Conservative Culture Wars began, I had a guy tell me his Black neighbor certainly doesn't agree with the "answers" I suggested. I replied that might well be the case, but I'd be willing to bet we agreed on the questions.
This is a major reason I'd align myself with the left. The right isn't considering the issues of importance to the Black folks that need to be drawn into the political process at all. They are considering the issues they think will resolve the problems they see … to the right, "minority issues" means "issues I have with minorities." A large component of the Black community feels the left, or more particularly the Democratic party, deals with us the same way. I've had that thought as well, but the fact is there is significant agreement on the questions between the political left and the Black communuty. At least the questions get some light.
As a minority, a woman and a person with a brain that works, I have landed on the Left side of the political continuum for much the same reason. I could become a Republican, but what purpose would it serve other than to encourage people and attitudes I don't want to encourage?
If you haven't added Prometheus to your blogroll, do it now.
•Should we put out an APB?
Ross at The Bloviator wants to know:
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS...EDWARD BARLOW?
Bored with blogging? Busy with business? Freak cello accident?
At least the last time he took an extended hiatus from providing us with free content, he had the common decency to sign off.
Where are ya Ted? Hope all is well. You're sorely missed.
I have been wondering the same thing. Prior to his hiatus, Ted Barlow questioned my position that gun research fraud John Lott, Jr., is bad news for progressive Americans all the way 'round. I responded with an entry called "John Lott's woman problem." Then, to make my reasoning even clearer, I wrote a three-part series called "The Friends of John Lott." Quite a few of you read all or some of those entries. I appreciate that and would give you a 21 gun salute if I owned a gun. But, I wrote those entries with Ted in mind and he hasn't read them as far as I know. This is like puckering up and opening your eyes to discover the fellow immigrated to Canada.
If you are a real life friend or neighbor of Ted Barlow's do us all the favor of checking up on him, please.
•Macho, macho man
Something Skimble says suggests the Bushites will not be changing the national anthem to Give Peace a Chance.
Peace is not part of the plan. The US Department of Defense's only institute devoted to peacekeeping is closing. From The Observer:
As the US military grapples with the most ambitious peacekeeping and nation-building operation in 50 years, you might think that planners in the Pentagon are looking at ways to increase resources that support peacekeeping and peace enforcement. Well, you would be mistaken. The Department of Defense has just decided to eliminate its only institute devoted to such operations: the Peacekeeping Institute at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania. The Institute will close in October.
Skimble says of the decision:
Not spending $200,000 in peacekeeping strategy, versus spending $100,000,000,000 in post-looting reconstruction costs. Brilliant.
Those people believe being feared is synonymous with being respected, folks. They probably laugh at the idea of studying how to achieve peace. Another four years of Bush in office will alienate even more of the rest of the world from the U.S. They must be stopped.
•Finding her own way home
Julia has a great personal and political coming of age story at Sisyphus Shrugged.
When I got to the Real World, or at least as Real as was available to me at the time, I had to find some other way of sorting things out, because through painful experience I'd discovered that people who were Wrong were the only ones I could count on sometimes, while some impeccably Correct people only applied their principles in the abstract and when useful.
Julia's coming of political age story reminds me of my own, of course. I will tell you about it bird by bird as we get to know each other better.
One flock just wouldn't do. I stopped participating in the National Lawyers Guild years ago. There were too many white liberals eager to run the lives of people of color in that group for my taste. I also noticed they were a lot more interested in implementing their version of social justice in Nicaragua or Zimbabwe than in their own backyards. I happened across one of them in the blogosphere a few weeks ago. He started telling me his stereotype of my life story, which included being exposed to scads of violence on the rez, in the barrio or in the ghetto, from virtually day one, including homicides. I have never seen anyone killed (or even seriously injured other than in automobile accidents) in my life. I cut him off and not very pleasantly. We live and learn . . . a lot.
