scarletwoman
scarletwoman's JournalCharles P. Pierce Politics Blog: "Happy Birthday, George McGovern" A wonderful tribute!
The man whom Bobby Kennedy called "the most decent man in the Senate" turns 90 today.
The worst thing that ever happened to the Democratic party in this country is that, when McGovern lost so big to history's yard waste in 1972, the rest of the party was complicit in turning him — and the politics he represented — into a punchline for the next 20 years. He was the template. He was the first war-hero Democrat — you don't fly 35 missions in a B-24 and come away with a DFC without a big clanging pair of brass ones, kids — who was accused of being a wimp by a flock of chickenhawks. (Ronald Reagan? Who kept the bar at the Brown Derby safe from Nazi occupation? Please to be giving me a break.) He was the first liberal Democrat against whom other opportunistic Democrats bragged about running. He was turned into a synonym for something he was not. He was the vehicle through which Democrats taught other Democrats to be terrified of all their best instincts and all their best policies. Through it all, he remained exactly what Bobby Kennedy said he was, and more.
And, just for the eternal historical record, because of the invaluable work of Stanley Kutler, we find that, on July 19, 1972, George McGovern's 50th birthday, the man he was running against had a meeting with his aide, Chuck Colson, in which they chatted amiably about how the Watergate cover-up was going as regards Howard Hunt, the White House aide who hired and supervised the burglars.
Nixon: What's will he say then?
Colson: Well, if he's properly coached and he's got a good lawyer, I think he is the one guy I figure will take the rap, take the heat, and will not speak.
Nixon is dead. Colson is dead. Hunt is dead. The most decent man in the Senate turns 90 today.
Sometimes, god's on duty.
Great comments at the link, too.
McGovern in '72 was my first general election vote. And as one of the commenters on Pierce's blog says, it was the one time I voted FOR a candidate.
sw
Apples and oranges. Juries aren't 'replacing' mods, they are an entirely different paradigm.
As others have said above, juries have no need of "institutional memory", their job is to consider a single post within the context of the thread in which it appears.
It is, in fact, far better that juries do NOT consider the history of a poster, since they are supposed to be looking at the alerted post on its own merits, outside of other considerations that do not not involve the actual thread in which the post appears. The worst jury decisions are those which are justified with statements to the effect that "the person (who was attacked by the poster in the alerted post) deserved it." Juries ought NOT be making decisions from institutional memory!
The one exception that must be allowed for is that which I will call the "taterguy exception": http://www.democraticunderground.com/124029095
The Heart Sutra
Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, meditating deeply on Perfection of Wisdom, saw clearly that the five aspects of human existence are empty*, and so released himself from suffering. Answering the monk Sariputra, he said this:
Body is nothing more than emptiness,
emptiness is nothing more than body.
The body is exactly empty,
and emptiness is exactly body.
The other four aspects of human existence --
feeling, thought, will, and consciousness --
are likewise nothing more than emptiness,
and emptiness nothing more than they.
All things are empty:
Nothing is born, nothing dies,
nothing is pure, nothing is stained,
nothing increases and nothing decreases.
So, in emptiness, there is no body,
no feeling, no thought,
no will, no consciousness.
There are no eyes, no ears,
no nose, no tongue,
no body, no mind.
There is no seeing, no hearing,
no smelling, no tasting,
no touching, no imagining.
There is nothing seen, nor heard,
nor smelled, nor tasted,
nor touched, nor imagined.
There is no ignorance,
and no end to ignorance.
There is no old age and death,
and no end to old age and death.
There is no suffering, no cause of suffering,
no end to suffering, no path to follow.
There is no attainment of wisdom,
and no wisdom to attain.
The Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom,
and so with no delusions,
they feel no fear,
and have Nirvana here and now.
All the Buddhas,
past, present, and future,
rely on the Perfection of Wisdom,
and live in full enlightenment.
The Perfection of Wisdom is the greatest mantra.
It is the clearest mantra,
the highest mantra,
the mantra that removes all suffering.
This is truth that cannot be doubted.
Say it so:
Gaté,
gaté,
paragaté,
parasamgaté.
Bodhi!
Svaha!
Which means...
Gone,
gone,
gone over,
gone fully over.
Awakened!
So be it!
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