In a Boston Globe article, Wayne Washington discusses Shrub's record on "race". Some of Shrub's "accomplishments":

1. Shrub has "appointed the most diverse Cabinet in history." Fact: Shrub has three African-American cabinet members: Colin Powell, whose advice Shrub usually ignores; Rod Paige (Secretary of Education), who called the National Education Association a "terrorist organization"; and Alphonso Jackson (Secretary of Housing and Urban Development), who was previously the head of a Texas utilities company. (See, for example, "Turn the Paige" in the Nation, 11 March 2004.)

2. Opposed affirmative action at the University of Michigan, announcing his opposition five days before MLK Day last year.

3. Introduced his "No Child Left Behind" program, and constantly mentions it as one that will benefit African-Americans -- but refuses to fully fund it.

4. Has had meetings with African-American clergy to discuss his "faith-based initiatives" -- his program to make poor people dependent on religious conservatives.

5. Has condemned slavery -- a truly courageous stand.

Stop blaming your henchmen, Mr. President, says Fred Kaplan. Slate, 14 May 2004.

Get me rewrite! says Joshua Wolf Shenk, who wonders why liberals don't know how to tell a story. Mother Jones, 14 May 2004.

Russians say fast food can still be food. Passing up the St. Petersburg McDonald's for fast-food borsch and vareniki. St. Petersburg Times, 14 May 2004.

Which side are you on? Some thought-provoking questions from Joyce Marcel: "Say it's 1770 in the Colonies. Tempers are starting to boil over land ownership, taxes and debt-collecting. Yet many are thriving under the rule of the English king, George III. It's treason and heresy to publicly damn him. Are you a Whig or a Tory?" American Reporter, 16 May 2004.

Abu Ghraib: Rumsfeld explains: "It is the photographs that give one the vivid realization of what actually took place. Words don't do it." Arianna Huffs: "Really? ... Is the country being run by a bunch of preschoolers who can't process all those big words and will only sit still for a colorful picture book? See Rummy spin. Spin, Rummy, spin." Arianna Online, 12 May 2004.

On the other hand, right-wing columnist Emmett Tyrell moans that "The images are erasing perspective." Incredibly, Tyrell wants to remind us of "this expansion of American security and civilized values." Whose security? Whose values? Rumsfeld says he didn't get it till he saw the pictures. Tyrell doesn't want you to get it.

And in Chain of Command, Seymour M. Hersh explains how Defense mishandled Abu Ghraib. The New Yorker, 17 May 2004.

"Who is Jason Wright?" I wondered as I read his call to Slay the NEA. The blurb at the bottom says he's Vice-President of Frontiers of Freedom. FF has several policy centers, including "The Center for Free Market Environmentalism and Conservation." Free Market Environmentalism, children, is Newspeak for raping the planet for profit. They have a "Center for Science and Public Policy," which argues that global warming probably isn't happening, and if it is, it's ain't going to bother you much. They also claim that mercury emissions ain't so bad for you, so quit whining and leave the poor utility companies alone. They have a "Center for Constitutional Government" which argues that the phrase "under God" -- inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 during the McCarthy hysteria -- must remain there; surely a difficult argument to make constitutionally.
   Getting back to the NEA, Wright says, "We've got to flatten it, lop off its head ..." and wistfully remembers the attempts of the "Gingrich revolution" to destroy it. Considering that The Reader's Digest -- hardly a bastion of radicalism -- now celebrates the NEA, and that Laura Bush announced that Shrub himself wants a large budget increase for the NEA (See RD, "Bringing the Bard to Baraboo, May 2004), I'm wondering how far right you have to lean to be upset about the NEA. Well, I guess you have to be the kind of moron who celebrates Newt Gingrich.

But sometimes the right is right: Debra Saunders stands up for Homer, noting that Troy is "a good movie" - but not as good as the Iliad.

Army Times Editorial: "A failure of leadership at the highest levels." "Around the halls of the Pentagon, a term of caustic derision has emerged for the enlisted soldiers at the heart of the furor over the Abu Ghraib prison scandal: the six morons who lost the war. ... But the folks in the Pentagon are talking about the wrong morons." Army Times, 17 May 2004.

Rene Gonzalez says Pat Tillman was not a hero. This is old, but I just found it. Notable for refusing to give in to the hype, but makes unwarranted assumptions about Tillman's motives.

George Packer says The Revolution Will Not Be Blogged. Thanks to Mr. Packer for making me feel better about my lack of enthusiasm for blogs.

Writing about Iraq, Molly Ivins says Say it with me: 'We wuz conned.'

The Nation says -- again -- that Rumsfeld Should Go. Frankly, it's hard for me to work up a lot of outrage over Rumsfeld. Shrub should go; then the Rumsfeld problem will take care of itself.

Catholic hierarchs demand that Catholic politicians adhere to Catholic teaching. Andrew Greeley, in 'Pro-life' isn't a one-way street', suggests that Catholic hierarchs do the same.

The National Catholic Reporter, in Politics, piety and the Catholic vote, suggests that it doesn't matter whether John Kerry is a good Catholic. "Fact is, even a 'bad Catholic' might be a good president."

George G. Hunter, an evangelical Methodist, says evangelicals should be involved with both major parties. "For too long, the Republican Party has been able to take the support of Evangelical Christians for granted, and has advanced little of our agenda in return."

Conservative Dennis Prager says Shame on the news media, too, because he thinks American abuse of prisoners is getting too much attention, and the media should be concentrating on Sudan. (Does Prager read Mother Jones? Mark Fiore made a similar point there last month in his cartoon Guess Who?) Prager admits to "moral revulsion" over Abu Ghraib, but doesn't like the media making "America" (Prager's term for the Shrub administration) look bad.