Getting the Facts Straight

No, I don't have the story on Trent Lott yet, but once the claims and facts have all come to light, will the press make any effort to sort them out? I wish I could count on them, but as Paul Waldman points out, I can't.

Here's the thing: Politicians lie. The only thing that will keep them from lying is if they know they'll pay a price. And the only ones who can make them pay that price are the reporters whose job it is to tell us what's going on. Unless reporters are willing to step in when candidates are arguing over "facts" and tell you which side is being honest, there is absolutely no incentive for the politicians to tell the truth. Rudy may well now be saying, "Hell, how about next time we just say crime increased on Romney's watch by a thousand percent? Who's going to stop us?"

Via smijer:

Honestly, if they can't be bothered to include the facts along with politician's claims, they might as well just write about Elvis sightings and leave the news to someone else.

Will Trent Lott Retire Into His Secret Lover's Arms? (and does it matter?)

Why did Trent Lott announce his retirement so suddenly after claiming, just a year ago, he was going to serve another term so that he could help the victims of Katrina? A special election is going to cost Mississippi taxpayers -- and Republican donors who want to keep their seat -- a lot of money. So why is he bailing mid-term? The talking heads on today's news think it's so he can cash in as a lobbyist. But the blogosphere suggests another reason: he's gay. Is this the story Larry Flint has been teasing lately?

UPDATE: LOTS more here, including credibility questions that bring the story into a questionable light... but does that really matter?

But from a gay rights perspective, whether or not Lott actually had a liaison with Nicholas isn't the most relevant detail of this story. It's the familiarity of the storyline.

How often have we seen rabidly anti-gay leaders outed for their backroom dealings with gay escorts? It happens in every state and at every level of government. Homophobia is often homosexuality waiting to come out of the deepest, darkest, smelliest regions of the closet.

I hope that anti-gay crusaders will wake up one day and recognize that their leaders are wasting their time and energy on a self-hating wild goose chase. True or not, the Trent Lott story brings us closer to that day.

UPDATE: more from Larry Flint

Minimum Wage Bill Killed

Yes, those Republican do-gooders in the Senate have never failed to vote themselves a raise, but they have once again decided that they are the only ones who have to contend with the rising cost of living. So, they killed the minimum wage hike, and it will stay at $5.15. In case you're wondering which Senators were in on the deal, here they are (for Tennessee -- the rest of the list follows below):

Bob Corker: voted against raising the minimum wage -- this is the little weasel who used the Chattanooga mayor's office to enrich his portfolio. Just one one of the sweet scams he ran through the city's offices was good for $4.6 million, wetlands be damned. Now that he's bought himself a Senate seat, his income is sure to go up, especially if he gets some tips from Tennessee's other Senator:

Lamar Alexander: voted against raising the minimum wage -- this is the guy who somehow managed to get rich while earning a relatively modest salary in "public service." Doug Ireland wrote an article about him titled "Politics for Profit: The Rich Rise of Lamar Alexander" (if I can find an online source for the text, I'll add the link).

Oh, and Alexander is also, amazingly enough, one of 28 Republican Senators who voted to eliminate the minimum wage completely (note that at least a couple of presidential wannabes are on the list, too). No, I'm not kidding.

"Gosh," Corker and Alexander reason, "the downtrodden can just pull themselves up by the bootstraps like we did!" However, unlike Mr. Corker and Mr. Alexander, a lot of honest, hard-working Americans aren't willing and able to screw over the US taxpayer in order to make a buck.

Here's a simple bit of math:

A person working 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year at minimum wage ($5.15 per hour) -- before any taxes, insurance, uniform fees, parking fees, day care, transportation costs, or any other expenses are deducted from the gross -- will make $10,300 a year.

40 x 50 x $5.15 = $10,300

OK, first stop for a minute and imagine trying to make ends meet on $10,300 a year. How would you manage? Could you?

Now, consider this:

The current poverty threshold for a single person living in the contiguous US is $9,800. For two people (say, a single mother and her child), the poverty threshold is $13,200. If a man works industriously all year long in a minimum wage job, it's impossible for him to earn enough to support a wife and one child, because the threshold for three people is $16,600 (of couse, the right wingnuts and holy rollers are always shrieking about how women should stay home with their children, but when Republicans are called upon to require their corporate patrons to pay a living wage, those same conservatives suddenly don't seem to remember a thing that Jesus said).

The math tells the story, and it is unconscionable. The richest nation on earth, a supposed Christian nation, should be ashamed of such a failure to take even basic steps to combat poverty. We won't be a great nation for much longer if we continue to neglect our most vulnerable citizens.

So there you have it, folks. A complete list of how our Senate voted follows after the bump. Remember these names when your Senators come calling -- if they ask you for money or for your support, remind them of this vote.

Republicans Need To Rethink the "Southern Strategy"

The problem with quietly supporting racists so that ignorant rednecks in the South will vote for your ticket is that racists are stupid people who will eventually say stupid things that call attention to the fact that your party quietly supports racists.

Strom Thurmond.
Jesse Helms.
Trent Lott.
George Allen.

Rather than being isolated instances, these racists indeed are just the tip of the Republican Party iceberg. The truth keeps accidentally flowing out of the GOP, and one has to wonder how much the Republican Party is still managing to keep hidden. The latest to slither out from under his rock is Tramm Hudson, whose comments ("...blacks are not the greatest swimmers, or may not even know how to swim") were made at a (nudge-nudge-wink-wink) "Christian" Coalition meeting, of all places (via Pensito Review and Crooks & Liars).

George Bush and Tramm Hudson

(And speaking of the Republican party's racism problem -- or more specifically, that of the current adminstration -- check out today's Salon cover story about Spike Lee's latest film, "When the Levees Broke," which will premiere on HBO tonight.)

Randomness

Is Lott on his way out? Could he give us a red state pickup? Or is this just his way of pushing the severely weakened Frist aside? Stay tuned...

It's hard to believe, but there actually is a politician out there who is more of a twisted sellout than Bill Frist! No word yet on whether or not Santorum kills kittens.

Closer to home, one of Tennessee's most humiliating citizens is back in the news. Jeff Miller is mad at the press because they reported a true story. Mind you, he admits that he had a girlfriend before his divorce. The supposedly christian, 120% heterosexual Miller does not deny the charges, he's just mad that he was caught (more here). Kinda like the crook in the White House, who isn't sorry that he broke the law, but is mad at the press for letting us citizens know about his transgressions.

Sandy over at hamdems is justifiably mad over Frist's latest moral failing. We can't possibly shake Frist quick enough. There's something that is horribly wrong with the very core of the guy -- perhaps his interest in cardiology was triggered by the realization that he only has a dark, cold, black void where his heart is supposed to be...

On the lighter side... for Angry Alien fans out there, there is now a 30-second Star Wars in the mix! Whee!

And finally (don't go here if you're at work, easily offended, or the kids are looking over your shoulder), why do we even bother with fiction when the truth is so strange?