Loathesome Dr. Laura and the First Amendment

Doctor Laura Schlessinger, the mean, spiteful, ultra-right wing, homophobic and racist syndicated radio talk-show host, has quit.

Hooray! The airwaves are better for her absense. For a minute or two, anyway...or not. She is on the "I apologized, because I'm so great, but I'm really the victim" tour. She is telling anyone who'll listen that she's had her First Amendment rights violated. Wow.

Dr. Laura quit because of an incident where she used the "N" word eleven times to a black caller on her radio show. Worse than the use of the word, was the context. The caller said that she was upset by the racist jokes and insensitivity of her white husband's friends and family. Dr. Laura said, essentially, "don't be so sensitive, you've got a black president now - so racism is over, black folks have a chip on their shoulder, and are stupid sheep as voters." Oh, and "nigger, nigger, nigger..." She also used the tired old complaint that "rap artists and HBO comics say the "N" word, so what's the big deal?"

Not only is she hideously homophobic, racist and generally right-wing, she's ignorant to boot. She doesn't understand the Constitution, or at least the First Amendment to it. Her First Amendment rights have NOT been touched, at all, in the least. She also seems to believe that rich, right-wing, white media personalities get to decide when racism is over in America.

I'm sorry, Dr. Laura, but you don't get to say when racism is over. In my opinion, NO white folks do. We just can't, as the dominant culture in America, decide what we can't experience. I don't buy the reverse racism argument - not being able to say the "N" word without scorn, even though black Americans can, is not the same as hundreds of years of slavery and forced segregation. By the way, not being able to say it without public consequence is also NOT a violation of your First Amendment rights.

The First Amendment, in part, protects the freedom of speech of Americans FROM THE GOVERNMENT! In most cases, the government cannot punish you for speech. There are some exceptions. You can't use free speech to give secrets to our enemies. You can't yell "fire" in a crowded theatre as a joke. The FCC sets standards for speech on the public airwaves that Dr. Laura had to follow every day. And, the government courts are the tools of plaintiffs who have been victims of slander or libel. But in just about every case, you are free to express your opinion in the good ol' US of A.

But guess what...I get to express my opinion too. I get to have the opinion that Dr. Laura is a racist, hateful old quack. So do her listeners. So do her sponsors. The government didn't fine her, or shut her down. She lost this battle in the free marketplace of ideas. She doesn't get this.

Or maybe she does get it, and is joining the time-honored right-wing tradition of turning reality upside-down. When talking to the caller, she said "don't NAACP me!" This is furthering a meme that came strong during the Shirley Sherrod controversy - that African Americans are now the racists in America. Glenn Beck in particular was happily calling the NAACP the most racist organization in America. Dr. Laura has been, in so many words, playing the false "reverse racism" card.

She might also get that her First Amendment rights are fully in tact, but wants to turn that on its head too. When being interviewed, she was asked how her First Amendment rights were being violated. She came up with "organizations like Media Matters." She said, basically, that since her speech was criticized, her rights were taken away.

That's just fuckin' crazy.

Criticizing opposing ideas is EXACTLY what the First Amendment is for. Especially the ideas of the powerful. Conservatives HATE that their power is marginally less than it was a couple of years ago, and are crying whenever their ideas are exposed. Dr. Laura is trying to have it both ways - to say whatever she wants, but to have all criticism silenced.

So is she stupid, or does she hate the Constitution? Maybe neither, but her words, and her behavior are horrible during and around this incident. Her sponsors have just as much free speech as she does, and they can tell her to piss off. Her employers can also say what kinds of speech they will permit during work hours. And the listening public is just as free as she is to form and express opinions about race, or about talk show hosts.

August Quick Rants

Several Quick Rants...well, quick is relative!

Obama Backs "Ground Zero" mosque

I have beaten President Obama mercilessly with my comments, over and over again, because I feel he has sold us out to corporate America. But we should give credit where credit is due. Obama came out a couple of days ago, and said that the backers of the Islamic cultural center NEAR ground zero had the right to build. He was adamant.

I give him props for that. I appreciate the President standing up for the Constitution. Hey, I'll take a progressive stance when I can get it. That was last Friday.

Then, last Saturday, Obama seemed to backpedal. He was criticized for saying [essentially] "hey, I said they had the right, I didn't say I liked it." He was hammered by the left for backpedalling on his original support of religious freedom. But I still give him props.

He never wavered on equality. He never said they didn't have the same rights as Christians, Jews, Hindus or worshippers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. He doesn't have to like it, as President, he has to uphold the Constitution. Kudos.

Prop 8, Mr. President...

Too bad, that in the same time frame, he blew it on the Prop. 8 ruling. Obama said that he was in favor of the judges decision to strike down Proposition 8 (which banned same sex marriage under the California Constitution). Then, he leaked through an anonymous source at the White House that he was against gay marriage, and favored civil unions.

Now, you say, wait a damn minute. I just got done saying that the President didn't have to like the "ground zero" mosque, so why should he have to like gay marriage?

He doesn't. But...when the President dissed the mosque, he made it clear that he was in favor of their rights to go forward, regardless of what he thinks. When the President endorsed civil unions, he made the case for separate but equal, the founding philosophy of segregation in America's post-Civil War period, lasting into the 1960s.

Obama doesn't have to like gay marriage, but he is duty-bound to fight for the rights of ALL Americans, including gay Americans. When he (in his campaign) openly advocated for civil unions, and then leaked the same during this ruling, he sided with the forces who would take rights away from gay Americans. That is unacceptable.

So, one for two...so far.

Robert Gibbs...

Fucking prick! Oh, oh...the "professional left."

Guess what Gibbsie, there are actually liberals, even Democrats, in the country who want policy that is to the left of Ronald Reagan.

Imagine, there are Democrats who, unlike the Republicans, don't want to spend the next term or two with their tongues right down the back of the White House's boxers, regardless of their actions. We can actually judge policy, and actions by our leaders, and actually CRITICIZE the weak bastards when they sell our asses out, wholesale, to corporate America.

Jesus, should we remain mute while Robert Gibbs, Rahm Emanuel, Obama and his financial team rob us blind? Fuck no! Should we march lockstep with people who ACTIVELY WORK AGAINST OUR INTERESTS? Fu-uck no!

And, it's not like we made shit up to criticize Obama, like the tea-baggers did. The "left" did not rally with signs showing Obama as Hitler. The "left" did not claim Obama is not a citizen. We did, however, bitch about POLICY that hurt the American people. Specific policies, like the parts of health are that screwed us, the parts of financial reform that makes us poor, and enriches bank CEOs. You know, stuff that really happened, and that there is data that can be used to argue with.

What does that bitch Gibbs say? He sneers that we want "Canadian health care" (well, actually, yeah), and that we want to tear down the Pentagon. Destroy the Pentagon - really? This is akin to a birther claim.

That's just fucking great. The main White House spokesman parroting the Fox News talking points to CRITICIZE HIS BOSS' OWN BASE! This only, by the way, happens with Obama's blessing. Man, that sucks so bad. That is so hard to stomach.

And it's not that I throw a tantrum every time someone calls me a name. Gibbs, or Obama can define why the left is wrong, using REAL POLICY or POLITCAL ARGUMENTS. Explain why the left is unrealistic in their expectations, instead of spitting in our eye, and selling the Republicans' framing of the issues.

Yeah, we thought we elected a Democratic president. But if not, at least make the Republican case using arguments based in the real world, instead of making Glenn Beck's point using idiotic conservative talking points.

Fuck you, Gibbs!