The headline says it all, masterfully distilling a sea of BS into a single, transcendentally synesthetic quatrain of eight words*. Even old Hemingway would be pleased:
Senate rejects Obama nominee who defended cop killer
Alexander Bolton and Ramsey Cox / The HillThe Senate voted 47-52 Wednesday to reject controversial nominee Debo Adegbile as an assistant attorney general. — Seven Democrats voted against moving forward with President Obama’s nomination of Adegbile, which the Fraternal Order …
[* Or, Four of Eight in the Borg numeration system.]
The sheer stupidity of this, the “policemen’s associations” and the yowling blight of American willful ignorance all play perfectly into the headline’s utter truth, and even the later “emendation” of the headline into the snarky, vicious with a new agenda direction backs up the veracity of that headline:
March 05, 2014, 04:56 pm
Senate rejects Justice nominee in stinging defeat for Obama
No indication of correction or alteration (great credibility there, guys). Note that the address is the usual http concluding with “199979-senate-rejects-obama-nominee-who-defended-convicted-cop-killer” Oopsies. Even though the piece pretends “objectivity,” the headlines indicate that slanting and mindless prejudice that have come to define our modern political rhetoric.
One of the bedrock American principles, not merely laid out by those Sacred Old Farts, them FOUNDING FATHERS, is that John Adams alone, of all New England lawyers, DEFENDED the British soldiers accused in the Boston Massacre, and GOT MOST OF THEM OFF.
This did NOT paint him as a traitor and a hateful liberal and destroy his political career. Because Americans of the time RESPECTED the law and weren’t as dumb as a one foot two by four.
And established as almost sacred the principle that ANYONE, no matter how evil and wretched, deserves a competent legal defense.
If the police unions don’t know that, then they’re not worthy of their badges.
If the politicians don’t know that, then they’re not worthy of their offices, which they hold in trust for We, the People …
And if headline writers don’t know that, well, that’s par for the course nowadaze, anywh0. Right?
Say “right.”
I’m sorry, did I mention that the lawyer in question was Black, and …
because of his legal work in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of killing Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981
… did I mention that?
The Bushies can stick all the “Regent University Law School” Fundamentalist Lunatic ‘Lawyers’ into the Justice Department they want, but Heaven Forbid that a Black Attorney be confirmed. Do I need to go further? You either GET it, or else your rationalizations are so iron-clad and buffed to a mirrorlike sheen that the necessary rhetorical acetylene isn’t available for cutting through in this limited space.
Did I mention that the Black attorney was nominated to head the Civil Rights division of the Justice Department?
Right.
Oh, and they voted to abolish the Affordable Care Act
for the 50th time today, over in the House.
Lucky for them, Obamacare covers mental health issues
Courage.
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A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his blog.
A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog, His Vorpal Sword (no spaces) dot com.