Rethinking Duke

A couple of days ago at Democratic Underground I posted on the Duke rape case saying, more or less;

The accused are white males; the accuser is a black female. That seems to be all you need to know about this case.

Well a post over at The News Blog has made me rethink my position. Steve Gilliard argues persuasively that campus rape is the real story here. I'd advise you to go check it out.

Fighting Fire with Fire

There's a post over at THE NEWS BLOG about how we Democrats should conduct ourselves in our national discourse. Basically we should stop being pansies and go for the throat. Carpe Jugulum!

As with everything else I am of two minds about this. On the one hand, it's clear that this is what the Rush Limbaughs and Ann Coulters and Karl Roves of the world are doing. And it's equally clear that it has been successful for them. Yeah 2005 wasn't their best year, but they are closer to getting their warped vision of America than ever before. Nothing succeeds like success.

On the other hand, isn't a certain part of Democratic Identity tied up in being in favor of fair play and civility? Certainly I was attracted to liberalism in part as a reaction to the mean spirited discourse produced by Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh.

So I'm torn. That said, I certainly think we can get harder than we are currently without dropping to Coulter-Like levels of mean spiritedness. And that would probably be good for us.

If You Feel Like Getting Angry

And you like woman (as people, not as things), you might check out this post at THE NEWS BLOG. It turns out that rape is justified and woman shouldn't be allowed to vote (or, apparently, to express any political views at all). Which strikes me as kind of sad.

I Want You to Trip Like I Do

This is from the leadoff track from the Crystal Method's album Vegas. Why am I referencing the Crystal Method? Read on.

A couple of months ago, a black guy escaped from prison and took a white woman (Ashley Smith) prisoner. She, being a Christian and all, fed him and helped him realize he needed to go back to prison. This was a little parable for all us faithless blue-staters who doubted the power of God. Those of us who snicker at Touched by an Angel sure learned a valuable lesson. Women with pie and faith can sooth the savage criminal.

Now it turns out she gave him a bit more than pie. She gave him methamphetamine. Or, to use one of it's street names, Crystal Meth.

In her book, "Unlikely Angel," released Tuesday, Smith says Nichols had her bound on her bed with masking tape and an extension cord. She says he asked for marijuana, but she did not have any, and she dug into her illegal stash of crystal meth instead.

Praise the Lord, hallelujah.

The police have no intention of charging her for possession of illegal drugs. Presumably all that pie and faith works on them too.

If you haven't heard Trip Like I Do, it's a great little tune for getting the blood pumping.

Got this from The News Blog.