Another socialist blog

The late Jesse Helms famously ran a racist commercian against a black political opponent in 1990.

On the television commercial, the camera zones in on a white man’s hands, crumpling what apparently is a job rejection letter. The announcer then intones: ‘You needed that job and you were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota. Is that really fair?’

Those darn minorities, taking jobs from white boys. This would be, or should be, the lead in Jesse Helms’ obituary, just a shameful footnote in history. But the guy who wrote the ad, Charlie Black, is now chief strategist for John McCain.  Who would have thought McCain would turn a blind eye to racism?

 Update: FAIR has a much more thorough list of some of Helms’ unrepentant racist and homophobic remarks, by no means all ancient history.

The official party line at Wal-Mart seems to be that educating people about HIV is bad.

Planned Parenthood of Central Washington was scheduled to hold an event at a local Wal-Mart on National HIV Testing Day where their Teen Council were simply going to stand outside of the store and hand out information about HIV prevention and testing. But the American Life League got a tip on the event, and urged their supporters to call and complain to the store, after which Wal-Mart succumbed and canceled the event.

The Senate still hasn’t approved the FISA bill legalizing warrantless spying.  You can still make a difference before the vote, and there will be several votes that will all matter.

And check out this hilarious cartoon starring Snuggly, the Security Bear.  “It’s not scary, it’s snuggly and secure!”