{"id":5289,"date":"2006-04-29T13:22:22","date_gmt":"2006-04-29T17:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2006\/04\/29\/a-question-for-true-majority\/"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:58","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:58","slug":"a-question-for-true-majority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2006\/04\/29\/a-question-for-true-majority\/","title":{"rendered":"a question for True Majority"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Why do the good people at True Majority<\/A><\/EM>.org (whose goal f\/k\/a<\/EM> endorses) <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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need to whitewash the role of Democratic politicians in our Nation’s rush to <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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war <\/FONT>in Iraq?   True Majority<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A> has started a campaign to <\/FONT>bombard Democratic <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Leaders <\/FONT><\/FONT>with the demand that they “Not Be Fooled Again<\/FONT><\/A>” regarding Iran. They  <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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should instead stand <\/FONT><\/FONT>up <\/FONT><\/FONT>against <\/FONT>the Bush Administration’s plans and arguments <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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for <\/FONT><\/FONT>bombing Iran <\/FONT><\/FONT>over its <\/FONT>future nuclear weapons.   Their Petition<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A> to Democratic <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Leaders (such as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid) says:<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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“bombfuse” <\/DIV>
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Please, use all the influence you’ve got to convince Democrats to <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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find sufficient backbone to withstand any and all pressure from the <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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President or anyone else to go to war with Iran.<\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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We wish we would could agree that they were duped and bullied —  that it was <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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credulity and cowardice<\/FONT> that got Democrats to vote to authorize the <\/FONT>Iraq War.  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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However, as we opined in “may I speak frankly about my fellow Democrats?<\/FONT><\/A>” <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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(Oct. 24, <\/FONT>2004, just prior to Election Day), it was political expediency<\/EM> that made <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Demo<\/FONT>crats vote to invade Iraq (and to remain silent for so long about the “post-<\/DIV>
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victory” situation in that country).  They believed that going against a popular <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Pres<\/FONT>ident <\/FONT>and against public sentiment would cost them votes<\/EM>.  So, they went <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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with the political tide.<\/DIV>
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rural interstate —<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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all the cars <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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exit together <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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   <\/FONT>lee gurga<\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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        from <\/FONT>Fresh Scent<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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 <\/DIV>
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The good news<\/EM> is that Democratic Leaders will almost surely do as True Majority <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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asks — “stand up, pound their podiums and loudly denounce the Bush Administr-<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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ation’s planning for bombing Iran.” <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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                                                                                                                \"podiumS\"<\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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The bad news<\/EM> is that they’ll probably do the right thing for the wrong reasons.  They”ll<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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come out for using diplomacy rather than bombs against Iran <\/FONT>because voters are sick <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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of war and its many costs, and because the <\/FONT>President is <\/FONT>unpopular and far weaker.  I’d<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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still prefer good policy and morality for their own sake — political integrity over political <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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expediency.  Nonetheless, right now, playing <\/FONT>politics <\/FONT>should help prevent bombing Iran <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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(with its <\/FONT>unimaginably bad unintended consequences).   With politics in a democracy, <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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you’ve gotta be thankful for good policy, even when the motives are less than pure.<\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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\"tiny  Come on, True Majority<\/EM>: don’t let the Democratic Leadership off the hook.<\/DIV>
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Don’t make excuses for them, like the parent of some irresponsible adolescent.  <\/DIV>
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Why not just tell them: “Last time, you knew what was the right thing, but de-<\/DIV>
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cided to go for votes instead. This time, do the right thing, because it is <\/EM>the right <\/DIV>
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thing.  The next thing you know, you may start speaking with moral authority <\/DIV>
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again and end up getting votes despite yourselves.”<\/DIV>
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“tinyredcheck”  Another quibble with True Majority<\/EM>.  We complain that <\/DIV>
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the Republican Administration doesn’t ask for the sacrifice <\/DIV>
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from Americans that is needed to achieve many important <\/DIV>
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political and social goals.  Why then do you choose as your <\/DIV>
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website tagline this rousing call to commitment and action?<\/DIV>
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“Give us two minutes a month.  We’ll give you a better world.”<\/EM><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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The world does not need more laptop revolutionaries, who think <\/DIV>
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two minutes a month gets them off the hook for the actions of <\/DIV>
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their politicians and Government.  See our post on “slactivism<\/EM>” <\/DIV>
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— activism requires action<\/FONT><\/A> (Jan. 22, 2005)<\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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\"penny potluck<\/EM><\/STRONG><\/DIV>
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\"tiny Here’s a linguistic and social “tip<\/EM>“<\/A> from Steve Breen and “Grand Avenue<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A>” — <\/DIV>
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and it’s lots easier for we members of the unwashed masses to understand than the <\/DIV>
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typical post at Language Log<\/FONT><\/A><\/EM>. <\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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more<\/EM> <\/STRONG>from Language Log<\/STRONG><\/EM>: Benjamin Zimmer at Language Log<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A> adds an interesting <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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twist <\/FONT>to Spanish <\/FONT>National Anthem story.   With a better source than Washington Post<\/A><\/EM>‘s <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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David Montgomery, Ben says: <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“I don’t know which ‘musicologists’ Montgomery consulted, <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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but Wikipedians have had better luck finding other foreign-<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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language versions of the anthem. So far contributors to the <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Wikipedia page for “<\/FONT><\/FONT>Nuestro Himno<\/FONT><\/A>” have turned up examples <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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in German, Yiddish, Samoan, French, and Latin. Not only that, <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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they discovered a number of other Spanish versions reproduced <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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on the website of the <\/FONT>U.S. State Department<\/FONT><\/A>.<\/FONT> (Will this page be <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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removed now that President Bush has declared that the anthem <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“ought to be sung in English”?)<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Ben wrote an additional post<\/A> today (April 29), discussing at length the infamous <\/DIV>
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quote that is often attributed to Texas Governor Miriam Amanda “Ma” Ferguson: <\/DIV>
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                                                                                               \"erasingS\"<\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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“If the King’s English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it’s good <\/DIV>
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enough for the children of Texas!” <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Ben tries very hard to exonerate Ma Ferguson.  We don’t know enough about the <\/DIV>
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politics or religious philosophy of Gov. Ferguson to guess whether she might just <\/DIV>
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have meant this little piece of know-nothing bigotry and ignorance.  [We blurbed <\/DIV>
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about the same quote (or slight variations) in our post get a good translator<\/FONT><\/A>.  Go <\/DIV>
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there to see examples of classic Japanese haiku that have received varied treatment <\/DIV>
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from various transators.]<\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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\"WOlson\"  Here’s a story from Schenectady County [NY] that I hope Walter <\/DIV>
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Olson will cover at Overlawyered<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A>.com.   Abraham Pearson was arrested<\/A> in <\/DIV>
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2003, and is still facing child pornography charges for incidents that took <\/DIV>
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place in his home in Niskayuna, a Schenectady suburb.  Pearson is charged <\/DIV>
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with “videotaping  and assaulting his children’s baby sitter, then 17, over the <\/DIV>
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span of seven months on 64 separate occasions,” taping each encounter. <\/DIV>
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In June, 2003, he allegedly also attacked a 15-year-old girl, who disclosed <\/DIV>
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the abuse to her mother, leading to a swift investigation and arrest. (Schen-<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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ectady Daily Gazette<\/A><\/EM><\/FONT>, “Papers allege porn record,” April 29, 2006, at B1, <\/DIV>
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access by $ubscription).  <\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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That’s just background.  We learn in today’s Gazette<\/EM> article that the family <\/DIV>
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of the then-15-year-old victim filed suit on Monday (April 24), in New York <\/DIV>
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State Supreme for Schenectady County, against Pearson’s wife<\/EM>, Elyse Pearson, <\/DIV>
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seeking unspecified damages.  The lawsuit was filed by attorney Kevin P. Hickey<\/A> <\/DIV>
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(admitted<\/FONT><\/A> to the <\/FONT>bar in 1999) <\/FONT>of the Albany law firm of O’Connell and Aronowitz<\/FONT><\/A>.  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Accord<\/FONT>ing to the victim’s mother, the abuse took <\/FONT>an emotional and financial toll <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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on <\/FONT>the family.  The Gazette<\/EM> states that Plaintiffs had already filed suit against <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Abraham Pearson back in 2004.  The newspaper reports her claims <\/FONT>(at B3):<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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  “The girl, the younger of the two victims, needed programs to <\/DIV>
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work through the trauma, and her parents feared she might commit <\/DIV>
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suicide.<\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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   “The financial impact came as they fought insurance companies <\/DIV>
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after being told benefits for counseling had run out.  Meanwhile, the <\/DIV>
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girl sill needed the programs, her family said.”<\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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The Gazette<\/EM> “<\/FONT>explains” the plaintiffs’ theory of liability:<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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   “[Hickey] said Pearson’s wife knew or should have known <\/DIV>
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what her husband was doing and could have prevented it.”<\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Elyse Pearson’s attorney, Lawrence Gordon of the Glenville, New York firm <\/DIV>
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Gordon Tepper & Decoursey<\/FONT><\/A>, per the Gazette,<\/EM> “confirmed that divorce proceed-<\/DIV>
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ings are ongoing,” in a suit filed by Mrs. Pearson.  He declined to comment on <\/DIV>
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the suit.”   After a three-year federal investigation, no charges have been filed <\/DIV>
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against Elyse Pearson and, the Gazette reports that “the federal prosecutor said <\/DIV>
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this week there is no evidence she was involved.”<\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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“slicingthepie”<\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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We do not for a moment want to minimalize the emotional trauma suffered by the <\/DIV>
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young victim of sexual abuse.  However, unless it can be shown that Elyse Pearson <\/DIV>
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knew what her husband was doing with those girls, it is difficult to agree that she <\/DIV>
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should be held civilly liable for not preventing his crimes.  (And, the cost of disputing <\/DIV>
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health insurance coverage limitations seems a bit far afield, when looking at proper <\/DIV>
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damages in the suit.)   Nonetheless, the Pearsons had a nice home in an upscale <\/DIV>
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suburb, so — Walter Olson might say — it would be very un<\/EM>American to let Elyse <\/DIV>
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Pearson get away with part of the marital pie.<\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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\"tiny As dentist-haijin Lee Gurga<\/A> surely knows: sometimes, <\/DIV>
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to heal, you need to take some bitter medicine, or <\/DIV>
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undergo a bit of pain.<\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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 <\/DIV>
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silent prayer — <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the quiet humming <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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of the ceiling fan<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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\"podium  <\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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his side of it <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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her side of it<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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winter silence<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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my dream<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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awakens me . . .<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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I wake you<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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two little boys <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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paddling like mad — <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the beached canoe<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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pine shade <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the wooden bench <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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worn smooth<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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rows of corn <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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   stretch to the horizon — <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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      sun on the thunderhead <\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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lee gurga<\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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from <\/FONT>Fresh Scent<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A> (Brooks Books,1998)<\/FONT> <\/FONT><\/FONT>and\/or <\/FONT>The Haiku Anthology<\/FONT><\/I><\/A> <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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(3rd. Ed, edited by <\/FONT>Cor van den Heuvel)<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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                                                                                                                                                  <\/FONT> “bombfuseN”<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV><\/DIV><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/FONT><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why do the good people at True Majority.org (whose goal f\/k\/a endorses) need to whitewash the role of Democratic politicians in our Nation’s rush to war in Iraq?   True Majority has started a campaign to bombard Democratic Leaders with the demand that they “Not Be Fooled Again” regarding Iran. They   should instead stand up against the Bush Administration’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-1nj","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5289"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12667,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5289\/revisions\/12667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}