More lipstick...

I’m always surprised to find out who reads SmallTalk.

Yesterday, I received a sharp, but friendly response to my Lipstick On A Pig post from none other than Ben Boychuck, the National Review writer who actually tried to PLOAP around then-Mayor Palin’s attempt to ban library books in Wasilla and to fire a librarian who "didn't fully support her agenda."

Ben says I missed the key point of his defense of Palin, that point being, “Palin banned nothing” and “she didn't seem particularly passionate about banning anything.”

Some defense! I responded:

I get it that Palin didn't actually succeed in forcing the librarian to ban books after threatening her on behalf of unnamed "constituents." But I hope you got my point as well. In my world, an unsuccessful attempt at book banning is just the sign of an incompetent fascist. It says little about her passion for the job and more about her skill sets.

You can read the whole exchange between me and Ben here.

Habeas corpus—a radical idea in times like these

Obama spoke in Michigan Tuesday, a state devastated by 8 years of Republican Ownership Society policies. The very thought of Michigan voters willing to vote for McCain and continue the Bush economic disaster is mind boggling.

In his speech, Obama went into teaching mode and held a class on the Constitution:

‘‘Habeas corpus ... is the foundation of Anglo-American law, which says very simply, if the government grabs you, then you have the right to at least ask, ‘Why was I grabbed?’ and say, ‘Maybe, you’ve got the wrong person.’ ‘‘The reason we have that safeguard is we don’t always have the right person. We don’t always catch the right person.‘‘We may think this is Muhammad the terrorist. It might be Muhammad the cab driver. You may think it’s Barack the bomb-thrower. But it might be Barack, the guy running for president.’’

He’s only teaching what every 8th-grader should have gotten in Civics class. Yet, how revolutionary it sounds in times like these after 8 years of the Bush/Cheney assault on the Bill of Rights.