Ding-Dong the Witch is Dead...

I think it is going to be a good week. I woke up this morning to the news that Karl Rove, chief henchman... er... "architect"... of the Bush years, will be leaving the Whitehouse at the end of August. No word on what is behind this move, yet: Is he leaving so he can try to run the next Republican election cycle? Will he still advise the President from afar, like Karen Hughes? Is he dodging mounting Congressional subpoenas and accountability for his role in various administration scandals? Is his name in the D.C. Madame's little black book? Does he have to return to the Death Star for reassignment? Or, is he just a good old fashioned family man who wants to spend more time with the wife and kids, as he claims in the Wall Street Journal?

Sure. Sure. This is "too little, too late," the damage has been done, but we'll take it, right? Can't say I'm sorry to see him go, that is for sure... Rove has been the mastermind behind the sleezy politics of destruction and division, the corrupt corporate feeding frenzy and the general disdain for American democracy that we have all experienced over the last six-plus years. Time to turn that page, for sure...

Might Rove take Dick Cheney with him wherever he goes? Pretty please...?

(click above cartoon to enlarge)

Nancy MacLean on "the scary origins" of the Supreme Court's recent anti-integration decision

Nancy MacLean, a well-known History professor at Northwestern University, has written an excellent article over at History News Network on the ideological origins of Chief Justice John Roberts's recent decision to oppose the use of race in public school integration plans. According to MacLean, "[Roberts's] opinion has its lineage in a well-documented conservative strategy to hijack civil rights rhetoric to roll back advances toward substantive equality." She continues, "[Historically, conservatives have] used their peculiar readings of the Constitution to limit what democratic government could do for its citizens, an approach embraced today by the Federalist Society and the conservative block on the Supreme Court. [Conservatives] fought the quest for social justice at every turn. They urged the defeat of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and every measure to promote true fairness thereafter."

I think MacLean wants us to see the new conservative majority's ideology for what it is. Abstract theoretical arguments between "strict constructionists" and "liberal constructionists" aside, the fact is that conservative jurists have consistently thwarted attempts to create a more just, inclusive and egalitarian society. Their decisions have catered to large wealthy interests over the interests of ordinary Americans, private property over the common good, inequality over democracy. Folks can try to dress that legacy up in whatever rhetorical jujitsu they'd like, but the facts remain.

Take a look at MacLean's full article here...
Nancy MacLean, "The Scary Origins of Chief Justice Roberts's Decision Opposing the Use of Race to Promote Integration"

Brown v. Board of Education, R.I.P.? (part II)

More commentary is coming out in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision undermining efforts by local communities to promote diversity in public schools. I will continue to post links that I find interesting...

As usual, the folks at Black Commentator have something to say on the subject that is worth checking out:

"My Letter to Clarence Thomas The Man Who Desecrates the Legacy of Thurgood Marshall," by David Love

"Thanks to the Supreme Court, "Separate But (un)Equal" is Legal Again in Public Schools," by Anthony Asadullah Samad

"Uncle Thomas, Lawn Jockey for the Far Right" (reprint of 1996 Emerge Magazine cover)


Any thoughts?

Brown v. Board of Education, R.I.P.?

Last week, the newly emboldened conservative majority on the Supreme Court took a mighty whack at the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision by striking down two voluntary integration plans in Louisville, Kentucky, and Seattle, Washington, thereby ruling that race can no longer be used as a factor in public school pupil assignment plans.

Here are two good initial reactions to the decision:

"The Supreme Court Just Took Us Back to the Days of Segregation," Adam Bonino, Daily Kos, posted 6/29/07

NYTimes editorial, "Resegregation Now"