Now dear old former-IMF-Director Strauss-Kahn, accused of sexual assault, is being defended by his own. And of course, they can’t help but disparage the victim, an immigrant hotel maid, while they’re at it. That’s how these things work, of course.  Read the following and be outraged.

Bernard-Henri Levy expresses his “doubt:”

I do not know—but, on the other hand, it would be nice to know, and without delay—how a chambermaid could have walked in alone, contrary to the habitual practice of most of New York’s grand hotels of sending a “cleaning brigade” of two people, into the room of one of the most closely watched figures on the planet.

And here, he completely and nastily dismisses the claims of another woman to have been a victim of Strauss-Kahn:

I hold it against all those who complacently accept the account of this other young woman, this one French, who pretends to have been the victim of the same kind of attempted rape, who has shut up for eight years but, sensing the golden opportunity, whips out her old dossier and comes to flog it on television.

Ben Stein is even more dismissive and disgusting:

People accuse other people of crimes all of the time. What do we know about the complainant besides that she is a hotel maid?

Surely we should be done with this dance. But we never are, as long as we have men with nearly limitless power, prestige, and arrogance. As Adele Stan says in her excellent article on the subject:

When examined in a more metaphorical light, the story speaks more deeply to power relationships between haves and have-nots in any number of categories: gender, race, and the legacy of colonialism all have a hand in this tale, as do the continuing tensions produced by those dynamics. Strauss-Kahn is a white European man who, until yesterday, sat at the helm of an institution that exerts controls on the economies of countries once more overtly colonized by Europe… She is an immigrant in a nation that will never quite accept her as one of its own; he is a citizen of the world.

And that’s the crux of the matter, truly. It’s not that Strauss-Kahn is not entitled to a fair trial, that he is in fact innocent until proven guilty. No. It’s the fact that this woman, this immigrant with no power at all, dared to accuse HIM. It’s the fact that he and his cronies clearly feel men of such stature need not face such accusations; that indeed, they should be immune to all such stinging gadflies and the nuisance of the press. For that is exactly what it is: these men feel they are above all things, that they are indeed titans strolling tall among the rest of us tiny humans. Levy says it so clearly here, giving away the hand of Strauss-Kahn and all the rest like him:

This morning, I hold it against the American judge who, by delivering him to the crowd of photo hounds, pretended to take him for a subject of justice like any other.

As a woman who works hard fighting for immigrant workers and those without a voice, what can I say when I read that? I can only shake my head and hope that Levy is right, in one sense: that Strauss-Kahn will indeed be taken for a subject of justice just like any other.

Because you were my Senator for a long time, and because you were a close friend of my other favorite Senator, the late Paul Wellstone.

Because you took brave stands on things like the Iraq War and the Patriot Act, even when it was highly unpopular to do so.

Because you’re a true liberal, but with a truly independent streak. Sometimes you drove me crazy, but it was always because you were standing up for your principles–even if they weren’t the principles I agreed with. You never wavered from what you believed.

Because you have been a perfect match for the people of Wisconsin, and a very good senator, and they’re idiots to ditch you now in a reactionary fervor. And unfortunately, we’ll all pay for your absence.

Jonathan Cohn has a nice tribute here, too.

I used to like you, Borders. Better than Barnes & Noble, even, and I worked at Barnes & Noble once upon a time. But this is just too much. What’s next? A Dippin’ Dots counter in the store? A ball crawl for the kiddies?

Stab, stab, stab.

The real article is here. Read it and see if you don’t agree that this is his slippery, weasely point.

P.S. I can believe that we’re having this debate. What I can’t believe is the insane amount of media coverage it’s getting. I guess it’s just that August political news drought.

There. Go back to what you were doing. And you’re welcome.

These are the most comprehensive, revealing, grotesque and heart-sickening photos I’ve seen yet of the oil disaster.

I began up above by imagining I was a student in Prescott, Arizona, with my face being painted over. That was easy for me. What I cannot imagine is what it would be like to be one of those people driving past in their cars day after day and screaming hateful things out of the window. How do you get to that place in your life? Were you raised as a racist, or become one on your own? Yes, there was racism involved as my mother let the driver wait outside in the car, but my mother had not evolved past that point at that time. The hard-won social struggles of the 1960s and before have fundamentally altered the feelings most of us breathe, and we have evolved, and that is how America will survive. We are all in this together.

But what about the people in those cars? They don’t breathe that air. They don’t think of the feelings of the kids on the mural. They don’t like those kids in the school. It’s not as if they have reasons. They simply hate. Why would they do that? What have they shut down inside? Why do they resent the rights of others? Our rights must come first before our fears. And our rights are their rights, whoever “they” are.

Read the whole thing here. It’s well worth it.

I’ve often and often been inspired by this writer who did things his own way and lent legitimacy to the collagist’s way of writing, and who led me to another favorite, Malcolm Lowry. Great interview with Web Conjunctions in 2007, here.

I’m glad you’re a moron who believes stealing is right. I hope your family and your kids end up in jail one day for stealing so maybe they can be taught the difference. Until then, keep being stupid, you’re doing that very well. And please do not download, rent, or pay for my movies, I actually like smart and more important HONEST people to watch my films.

What an asshat. I hadn’t seen the Hurt Locker yet, and I suppose I eventually would have. But I never will now.