Who Links Here
Don’t want to vote for Kerry? Don’t want to vote for Bush? Don’t. There ARE other political parties, y’know. Check it out:
David Cobb for the Green Party.
Ralph Nader for the Reform Party.
Michael Badnarik for the Libertarian Party.
My public service announcement of the year … well, not very much of a service considering I have what, five readers? Well, six if Bob remembered to surf on over here after work.
The decision by several newspapers, including a few major ones, to drop Aaron McGruder’s popular “Boondocks” comic strip this week has set off sparks, possibly as the artist intended.
The series of daily strips this week imagines a new reality TV show hosted by rap impressario Russell Simmons, called “Can a N***a Get a Job?”, with the missing letters pretty easy to discern. It includes panels showing a woman who would rather sleep than apply for a job, a knife fight between two women and a black man smoking marijuana in a board room, in a takeoff on “The Apprentice.”
Boondocks = Funny.
Censorship = Bad.
This ends the lesson.
The Republican Party acknowledged yesterday sending mass mailings to residents of two states warning that “liberals” seek to ban the Bible. It said the mailings were part of its effort to mobilize religious voters for President Bush.
The mailings include images of the Bible labeled “banned” and of a gay marriage proposal labeled “allowed.” A mailing to Arkansas residents warns: “This will be Arkansas if you don’t vote.” A similar mailing was sent to West Virginians.
A liberal religious group, the Interfaith Alliance, circulated a copy of the Arkansas mailing to reporters yesterday to publicize it. “What they are doing is despicable,” said Don Parker, a spokesman for the alliance. “They are playing on people’s fears and emotions.”
The mailing is the latest evidence of the emphasis Republicans are putting on motivating conservative Christian voters to vote this fall. But as the appeals become public, they also risk alienating moderate and swing voters.
An editorial on Sept. 22 in The Charleston Gazette in West Virginia, for example, asked, “Holy Moley! Who concocts this gibberish?”
“Most Americans see morality more complexly,” the editorial said. “Many think a higher morality is found in Christ’s command to help the needy, prevent war and pursue other humanitarian goals. Churchgoers of this sort aren’t likely to believe childish allegations that Democrats want to ban the Bible.”
Still, Mr. Land questioned the assertion that Democrats might ban the whole Bible. “I wouldn’t say it,” he said. “I would think that is probably stretching it a bit far.”