I regularly have some fun, these days, doing work for the SW Chapter of the Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic. They have an office and studio here in Austin. Last week, they held a recognition dinner for their volunteers and about 160 people attended. I learned later that that was only about half of us! Lots of volunteers and lots of donated hours. Organizations like this one, where there is so much valuable “product”, as opposed to those groups who spend most of the publicly raised and donated funds supporting a top heavy administration, should get more attention and recognition. If you have one like it you can get to and help out, do it: you will feel better later.
I am discouraged about CA and Prop 8. That seems a step rearward (but then there is CT?). There is much talk about the role of blacks and Hispanics in that vote, and especially the role of churches and religion. Churches and their religious “leaders”, and I think especially in minority settings, hold entirely too much sway over how people think and act when it comes to socio-political decisions. Go see Bill Maher’s film, “Religulous”, then decide for yourself. We have our priorities all screwed up. Have you gone to the local park and visited your Ten Commandments monument, lately? You can still do that In Utah, at least this week. And would someone please tell me why the Mormon organization is tax exempt?
Hank “The Wall Street Airhead” Paulson got up and spoke two days ago (can’t ANYONE stop that man? Chickens, henhouses, foxes and all that) and the stock market sank (again) like the Titanic, two hours later. The next day the DOW came back some, then it was announced that even Wal-Mart was bracing for bad sales, that Best Buy had forecasted a cataclysmic sales fall off, and that the Republicans would probably block any attempt to “bail out” the Big Three in Detroit. The market dropped back another 400 points by noon on Friday, 11/14. It will be a long weekend, which will be made worse by W hosting the economic summit of the G-20. Here is a group of the world’s most unfit and untrained economists, gathered together to debate (politically) and decide (selfishly)about the most important, delicate and precipitous fate of the economic welfare of millions, and who will eat too much, make pompous pronouncements and accomplish mostly nothing. But the meeting will leave a gorgeous carbon footprint.
But first, before that showplace takes place, Paulson should be made to sit down, shut up and then leave the room as soon as possible, taking Bernanke with him( Bernanke is rumored to be about to slice an incredible small piece of interest pie into an even smaller slice. How do you do that? I did not know that interest has a half-life, like uranium). These men are both useless and moronic.
Second, George W. Bush has proven to be absolutely incapable of providing any presidential leadership, especially as a lame duck, either for this country or for the meeting of the G-20. Or 19, or 23 or whatever. Third, the Big Three (Wal-Mart will find its’ own way; it always does) should be left to find or lose themselves in the marketplace they created. The made this bed, let them sleep in it. And although I have resisted the urge to say this until now, the notion being put forth by some of our Congressional idiots, that the government should buy up the US auto industry and put a public overseer in charge, is about as close to being socialist/Communistic/Marxist economics as anything I have ever heard of. Real capitalistic measures would bring in the best business managers and efficiency experts and long range planners and market researchers that might be found, and either make the automotive behemoth ultimately work or kill it quickly… or maybe sell it to someone who knows how to build the right cars for the right market for the right price.Let’s see: you can take two from column A (that would be Toyota and Honda) and two from Column B (that would be BMW and VW) and then wait to see what dinner tastes like. Chrysler is already on life support, GM has been asleep at the switch for 20 years and Ford has finally realized that Henry has actually died. Old and inappropriate stuff dies all the time. It is called survival of the fittest, not prolongation of the useless. Being put into some taxpayer funded suspended animation won’t bring Detroit back to life. We have been holding a mirror up the mouth of the US auto industry for years, looking for the fog of breath, and all we get are SUV’s and carbon dioxide emissions.
And I still think Lindsey Graham is an illiterate buffoon, who has no business holding any public office and even less business being the chief advisor to John McCain. And T. Boone Pickens is the smoothest talker on the planet (did you see him on the Daily Show? Wow.) and after I am finished being all flushed in the face, I realize that there is no way in hell I’d let him date my daughter. Or yours. There is some kind of poker card up his Texas sleeve, and it has something to do with owning huge water rights in the continental US. And the only thing I know for sure about natural gas is that it can blow up in your face.
The RGA just met in (where the hell else?) FL, and chose not to elect Sarah Palin to any leadership position. Maybe they are smarter than I gave them credit for, earlier. The GOP does NOT need a re-birth, a rejuvenation or a re-creation: it needs a total re-invention, in order to join the new century. As long as they:
-continue to sing the praises of Ronald Reagan (the man is DEAD, for chrissakes);
-cower before Kissenger;
-listen to Lindsey Graham;
-dream about Goofy Gingrich (he is not, can not and will not be any Lazarus);
-drool over Mitt Moneybags;
-long for Looney Jindahl;
- stupidly support Ted Stevens;
-support sloppy vote counting in MN;
they will remain so far behind the curve of reality that they will never see political daylight again. Collectively, they seem to have no shame, no wisdom, not much honor (even among thieves) and no integrity (as in “holding things together”). All of this makes them only slightly worse than myopic, doddering older Democrats who still have FDR confused with Jesus.
I have seen the author and NYT columnist Thomas Friedman on television three times in the last 72 hours. And he has been quoted all over the web and in the Mostly Silly Media repeatedly, since then. I am angry that I have still not even finished reading his first book, The World is Flat, and now he already has another in the bookstores, Hot,Flat and Crowded. I am not angry, however, that despite his dismal and depressing observations, his frighteningly accurate estimations of how many cultural upheavals have and will take place, how rapidly the population is outgrowing the planet and its’ resources, and what a bunch of dunderheads and dolts we have all been about dealing with it, he still holds out HOPE that we will harness both technology and common sense and save ourselves, the planet and the future. There. Now I don’t have to read the second book.
Life goes on in Texas.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Just Kicking It Around.
I got this from my friend, Tracey, tonight:
Intellectuals solve problems; Geniuses prevent them.
Intellectuals solve problems; Geniuses prevent them.
Albert Einstein.
On The Einstein Quote:
Intellectuals do frequently solve problems. Just as frequently they make them worse. Thinking can be over-done, like a good piece of meat on the fire too long, and turned to cinders in one's mouth. Just look at the profession of law. On the other hand you have Bill Maher.
Geniuses, while indeed having the ability to see far ahead and prevent problems, also would sometimes do well to look behind themselves first, to understand better what has preceded them, before they become a problem, themselves. This happens most often, when radical mental errancy is mistaken for genius and followed down a dangerous path. That would be the Marx Brothers as opposed to Karl Marx?
And then you have George W. Bush. Sort of spoils the whole discussion, doesn't it
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Happy Veterans Day
Let’s just start with this news item (it‘s non-partisan), and then we can move on:
“Raped in the military? You’ll have to pay for your own forensic exam”. www.alternet.org/waronairag/106307/. If this horror story doesn’t make you wonder where all of our collective brains and compassion have gone, nothing will. If you are still with me after this, then please read on to what I woke up thinking about in the middle of the night:
I had (once again) mistakenly assumed that since the elections were over, some aspects of American life would return to normal and some primarily political topics would fall by the wayside or be sidelined. Other than the obvious fact that the innumerable and daily requests for more and more money for Democrats have stopped filling my email box every day, not much has changed. There is ongoing discussion of Red State vs. Blue State, and now the introduction and discussion of the “purple” state. New in the past many months, and as vocal and demanding as ever, are the “progressives”, and there is newly energized talk about the survival of the neo-cons and the re-structuring of the Republican Party. Lots of the old dogs from before the elections are still nipping at our heels and barking, and the round of warnings and admonitions to President-elect Obama about who and whom NOT to forget or overlook gets louder every day. Even many Republicans and red-staters, who just days ago were calling Barack a terrorist, a Muslim Christian hater and unpatriotic, are heaping praises and recommendations upon him. I think they are all just looking for work.
By now, we all know where the red states are, who lives there and how they voted. These (mostly southern)states (and Wyoming?)and their residents are the ones who put up the boldest fight to elect the McCain /Palin camp and got run over like a stray dog trying to cross the San Diego freeway. Or perhaps more appropriately, while trying maybe to cross the Dan Ryan Expressway, in south Chicago? Representing them at the highest level (and still very vocal) were the main stream Republicans, their affiliate and constituent neo-cons and bankers and business leaders from the US military industrial complex we have all come to call “home”. One conservative friend of mine asked me, just this morning, to stop picking on the Republicans, saying they had suffered enough and needed time to lick their wounds. For a time, I almost considered that reprieve, but after re-thinking, I suppose some tongue-lashing is still in order. But I have a few choice words for everyone else, as well.
The Republicans have continually held up a collection of values and symbols that are exactly the opposite of what America needs right now. We need relief for the middle class, they want to lower taxes on the rich. We want to elevate common values and decent standards of living for the many, they want to raise executive pay. We now know that trickle down doesn’t trickle down, so stop the crap and get real.
Outwardly, you can begin seeing this attitude in Sarah Palin, in her flamboyant and inflammatory remarks on the campaign trail and her “wardrobe” escapades. (www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27657223#27657223) She is an outright insult to the intelligence of the American people. Her very persona of ignorance and arrogance embodied that backward stance. Then there was the Straight Talk Express (which never was), being repeatedly told we were “My Friends” (which we were not), and the fear tactics (Muslims, terrorism, racism) used just prior to the election, which were intended to, among other things, disguise and cover over the true nature of the economic collapse and what it might mean to Americans (did you ever have trouble getting cash from your ATM? I didn’t). By all published accounts, the Bush administration, the treasury Department’ the FDIC, et.al. could have stopped the foreclosure disaster almost before it began, and they all did nothing until Wall Street went up in flames. When Henry Paulson’s’ buddies began to fry, he began to cry and the right wing wasted no time, energy or media coverage to get $700+B out for rescue purposes, ASAP. We had to save the banks the brokers and their yachts and summer homes, but the middle class could “go fish”. The MSM (the Mostly Silly Media) sang all the right songs, trumpeted the clarion call and the Congress caved in like a pile of popsicle sticks in a windstorm. The mere fact that Paulson had the unmitigated gall to offer up a bail-out (rescue)scenario that was only two pages long, should tell us all something about the contempt that this administration has for the general public.
There is nothing “new” about the neo-cons I mentioned, except perhaps their clothes ( Hi, Sarah…someone asked if in fact a private donor paid for those "duds", and if it was in fact more than the $2300.00 limit on political contributions allowed by law, then was the donation to the RNC illegal? Oops), and their new hairdos (see Ms. Pfotenauer; boy will I be glad not to see or hear her again: she was and is the epitome of inauthenticity. I thought she would never go away. This is not to forget, however, John Edward’s $200.00 haircuts. And both Sarah and John have a new baby. How cute). And then there is both the clothing AND the hair when it comes to Candy McCain (where’s my free beer?), and McCain’s expensive shoes and all of the makeup artists. McCain himself was held up as righteous man of deep convictions, who then took borderline stances on most anything moral throughout the campaign, lied about suspending his unsuspended campaign, stiffed David Letterman with a rouse and has been variously described as a rambunctious, temper-tantrum throwing, plane-crashing, cynical bigot who used to whore around and treats his wife and family badly, in all of his seven homes… when most Americans were having trouble staying in just one. But no, I am not forgetting the electric bill at Al Gore’s mansion or the bill for jet fuel to carry Obama and Biden to undisclosed locations (to meet with Dick Cheney?). Both campaigns have left behind one helluva carbon footprint.
The Dems are faring better in some of these areas: aside from the nauseating fact that the men have almost all pioneered the now nearly exclusive use of “periwinkle” colored ties (Rachel Maddow coined that one; they look stupid), their clothing has been much more subdued and the hair styles much less flamboyant. In fact, until the acceptance speech night, Barack’s suits looked almost shabby and too dark to inspire hope and change. But his newest spokesperson, Stephanie Cutter, has a no-nonsense hairdo that speaks volumes about simplicity and elegance. And when Tom Brokaw took her on, she used only simple, two-dollar words and BS’d about nothing. I hope Pfotenauer and Fiorina were listening.
But Dems are gloating and shedding entirely too many crocodile tears of joy. Democrats seem to have made a profession out of bad-mouthing themselves and their accomplishments and personifying misery and self-inflicted bad luck. ”Poor me. I’m so miserable. I am a Democrat.” I am much more impressed with the Rev. Wright’s expressions of indignity than I am with photos of Jesse Jackson crying in Grant Park. If anyone should be yelling God Damn”, it ought to be Jesse: “God damn, man, It’s about freakin’ time!” And now, every left-handed pundit, Democratic “advisor” and commentator cannot wait to advise Barack Obama on “what he ought to do” to fulfill his promises and obligations to the grateful and sobbing Democratic electorate. There may be more blue states now, and more blue pockets in red environs, but many dems still lack the backbone to stand up and take charge instead of whimpering. You have the bandstand now, boys, let’s make some music!
But the group of Democratic cousins that perplex me the most are the “progressives”. They claim they are aggressive Democrats, and if you want to know how they think, how they talk and what they believe in and hope for, just go read OpEdNews.com. They may be “progressive”, but they are Libertarian wannabes, nihilistic, pessimistic and unknowing pseudo Nietzsche devotees. They believe, as do many of their red counterparts, that they are more correct than you are, and advocate measures that will “hurt you more than it hurts me”, but that’s OK because “I know better”. They are America’s new cynics: they “understand the cost of everything and the value of nothing” (Oscar Wilde?)They have an identity crisis and maybe have a thing about their mothers. I think they are the group that turns red and blue states purple (the color of rage?) because they flat out make everybody mad, as we say here in Texas. Their strength lies in their ability to thoroughly cloud an issue with effusive rhetoric, all of which attempts to persuade you that their position is the only real alternative. Their side on an issue is usually just as incendiary as that of a white, racist fundamentalist preacher in Appalachia, but no one wants to condemn them, because they are “men sent from God”. The difference is that progressives just think they are. If you think religious proselytizers are tough, try arguing with a progressive.
Now, having said all of that, as the song lyrics go, “Here are a few of my favorite things”…at least for today:
AIG: On top of the first mammoth bail-out package they received, and on top of the scandal that erupted right afterwards, about their big executive party that cost almost a million dollars, and on top of an additional $40B the Fed gave them a day or two ago, MSNCBC-TV reported this morning that AIG threw another executive party at a resort hotel in AZ, ordering the hotel not to display any signage or evidence that AIG and its staff were even there. Your tax dollars at work. Another close friend has suggested it is time to have some of these execs walk the plank. I cannot disagree. I just want the waters infested with sharks when they jump. Note: This story never made it to the msbnmc.com web site and was mysteriously pulled from msnbc-tv by mid-morning. However, Keith Olberman brought it back to life on "Countdown" that same evening. Olberman suggested that the additional $40B went to pay for the hors d'oerves for this party. Somebody get the plank.
The Fed will not disclose the recipients of $2T in bailout funds. Read it yourself: www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/106443. Yes, the “T” stands for “trillion”. That’s YOUR trillion, by the way.
The Big Three (or at least two of them) are anxiously awaiting $25-30B in bailout finds to save them from oblivion. In the first place, the US auto industry has had a century to learn how to become a successful and profitable venture. They have failed repeatedly and chosen short-term gains and quick profits from the sale of sub-standard (by modern world comparisions) automotive products. Rescuing this ship may be throwing good money after bad. There are several other corporations (at least 12, I read today) that employ just as many people as GM and they are not asking for handouts (It will be truly ironic if the one corporation that emerges unscathed is Wal-Mart, China’s single largest trading partner)... Let Toyota buy GM, it will not sink entirely then and Toyota knows how to do this stuff and do it right. There are fear tactics at work here, as well, and if we fall for it all, we will get what we deserve and waste another trillion dollars. The UAW should change its name to “Unless we All Work” and stop living off of profits from Chevrolets that break down on the way to work.
China just anounced a national bail-out plan, working from the bottom up, building bridges, roads, dams and other infrastucture and creating jobs and cash flow (msnbc.com). If the Chinese are so smart, what is our problem? (Sorry, I forgot: part of the problem is that the Chinese have most of our money.) Late note:It was suggested in a comment on OpEdNews today that someone ask the Chinese delegates coming to the upcoming world economic summit just how they figured out how to do this. The Bush administration is rejecting the idea.
Bush and Obama discussed bailing out the Big Three yesterday. But Bush wants to tie the action to a NAFTA-style trade agreement with Columbia. Jeezuss, Mary and Josephus, can’t we just do one damn thing at a time? Does everything that even hints of something positive have to be some sort of covoluted, self-aggrandizing nightmare? And what kind of position of strength does Bush think he is negotiating from? He is crazier, more stupid and more oblivious to real life than I thought he was. But Dana Perino says there is “no quid pro quo"? Please send her away. Let her hook up with Pfotenauer.
MSNBC.com: “Banks being urged to step up lending, curb exec pay”. I guess I forgot that we gave 24 banks $124B so they could sit on it, collect interest and make sure their honchos managed to pay their mortgages. Silly me. This is a holiday: are you happier, yet?
Fannie and Freddie have announced that they will begin efforts to halt foreclosures.(MSNBS.COM) Excuse me, but this is Nov 10. Where the hell have you guys been? Partying with AIG?
“Sparring starts as Repubs ponder future”. msnbc.msn.com/id/27654019/. I think they should have started thinking about that well before the election, and one story floating around is that Newt Gingrich will play the role of Lazarus in this new movie, rising from the dead of the New England winter and then on to save the party. I think I mentioned inappropriate symbols up above, somewhere?
OpEdNews.com is today publishing a poll, asking people about discussions they may have had or overheard about any possible attempted assassination of Barack Obama. This is the group/web site that proclaims itself as the progressive voice of America? They should just advertise for henchmen and provide the weapons. They could write speeches for Palin. Note: as of late afternoon on the day I posted this, enough people (including myself) had called in to protest this disgusting stunt, that the article disppeared from the web site.
Despite the level-headed commentaries and observations on the economy by the likes of Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Noam Chomsky and others, the bloody neo-cons, The Fed, Henry “Hank” Paulson, AIG and a few greed oriented Democrats (they want to welcome Lieberman back into the fold? Are they kidding?) are still, even after an election that promised hope, change and salvation for the middle class, not only want to rape America, but force it have the baby (probably sextuplets)and do it with no pre-natal care, no post-natal care nor health care coverage for the mother or the babies.
As I write this, at around 3:00 EST, the DOW is down about 175, after closing yesterday down a bit less than 100. The headline says this is because of consumer spending worries and anxiety about the pending bail-out of Detroit. Understandable: consumers have
nothing to spend and Detroit is bankrupt of vision, ideas, strategies and cash. And George W. Bush just said, on the deck of an aging aircraft carrier, in the waters off the isle of Manhattan, that “Veterans inspired me”. Well, whoop-tee-do for you (and Cheney), who never served a day.
You are leaving soon, right George? Don’t let the door hit you in the ass, on the way out.
And Happy Veterans Day.
“Raped in the military? You’ll have to pay for your own forensic exam”. www.alternet.org/waronairag/106307/. If this horror story doesn’t make you wonder where all of our collective brains and compassion have gone, nothing will. If you are still with me after this, then please read on to what I woke up thinking about in the middle of the night:
I had (once again) mistakenly assumed that since the elections were over, some aspects of American life would return to normal and some primarily political topics would fall by the wayside or be sidelined. Other than the obvious fact that the innumerable and daily requests for more and more money for Democrats have stopped filling my email box every day, not much has changed. There is ongoing discussion of Red State vs. Blue State, and now the introduction and discussion of the “purple” state. New in the past many months, and as vocal and demanding as ever, are the “progressives”, and there is newly energized talk about the survival of the neo-cons and the re-structuring of the Republican Party. Lots of the old dogs from before the elections are still nipping at our heels and barking, and the round of warnings and admonitions to President-elect Obama about who and whom NOT to forget or overlook gets louder every day. Even many Republicans and red-staters, who just days ago were calling Barack a terrorist, a Muslim Christian hater and unpatriotic, are heaping praises and recommendations upon him. I think they are all just looking for work.
By now, we all know where the red states are, who lives there and how they voted. These (mostly southern)states (and Wyoming?)and their residents are the ones who put up the boldest fight to elect the McCain /Palin camp and got run over like a stray dog trying to cross the San Diego freeway. Or perhaps more appropriately, while trying maybe to cross the Dan Ryan Expressway, in south Chicago? Representing them at the highest level (and still very vocal) were the main stream Republicans, their affiliate and constituent neo-cons and bankers and business leaders from the US military industrial complex we have all come to call “home”. One conservative friend of mine asked me, just this morning, to stop picking on the Republicans, saying they had suffered enough and needed time to lick their wounds. For a time, I almost considered that reprieve, but after re-thinking, I suppose some tongue-lashing is still in order. But I have a few choice words for everyone else, as well.
The Republicans have continually held up a collection of values and symbols that are exactly the opposite of what America needs right now. We need relief for the middle class, they want to lower taxes on the rich. We want to elevate common values and decent standards of living for the many, they want to raise executive pay. We now know that trickle down doesn’t trickle down, so stop the crap and get real.
Outwardly, you can begin seeing this attitude in Sarah Palin, in her flamboyant and inflammatory remarks on the campaign trail and her “wardrobe” escapades. (www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27657223#27657223) She is an outright insult to the intelligence of the American people. Her very persona of ignorance and arrogance embodied that backward stance. Then there was the Straight Talk Express (which never was), being repeatedly told we were “My Friends” (which we were not), and the fear tactics (Muslims, terrorism, racism) used just prior to the election, which were intended to, among other things, disguise and cover over the true nature of the economic collapse and what it might mean to Americans (did you ever have trouble getting cash from your ATM? I didn’t). By all published accounts, the Bush administration, the treasury Department’ the FDIC, et.al. could have stopped the foreclosure disaster almost before it began, and they all did nothing until Wall Street went up in flames. When Henry Paulson’s’ buddies began to fry, he began to cry and the right wing wasted no time, energy or media coverage to get $700+B out for rescue purposes, ASAP. We had to save the banks the brokers and their yachts and summer homes, but the middle class could “go fish”. The MSM (the Mostly Silly Media) sang all the right songs, trumpeted the clarion call and the Congress caved in like a pile of popsicle sticks in a windstorm. The mere fact that Paulson had the unmitigated gall to offer up a bail-out (rescue)scenario that was only two pages long, should tell us all something about the contempt that this administration has for the general public.
There is nothing “new” about the neo-cons I mentioned, except perhaps their clothes ( Hi, Sarah…someone asked if in fact a private donor paid for those "duds", and if it was in fact more than the $2300.00 limit on political contributions allowed by law, then was the donation to the RNC illegal? Oops), and their new hairdos (see Ms. Pfotenauer; boy will I be glad not to see or hear her again: she was and is the epitome of inauthenticity. I thought she would never go away. This is not to forget, however, John Edward’s $200.00 haircuts. And both Sarah and John have a new baby. How cute). And then there is both the clothing AND the hair when it comes to Candy McCain (where’s my free beer?), and McCain’s expensive shoes and all of the makeup artists. McCain himself was held up as righteous man of deep convictions, who then took borderline stances on most anything moral throughout the campaign, lied about suspending his unsuspended campaign, stiffed David Letterman with a rouse and has been variously described as a rambunctious, temper-tantrum throwing, plane-crashing, cynical bigot who used to whore around and treats his wife and family badly, in all of his seven homes… when most Americans were having trouble staying in just one. But no, I am not forgetting the electric bill at Al Gore’s mansion or the bill for jet fuel to carry Obama and Biden to undisclosed locations (to meet with Dick Cheney?). Both campaigns have left behind one helluva carbon footprint.
The Dems are faring better in some of these areas: aside from the nauseating fact that the men have almost all pioneered the now nearly exclusive use of “periwinkle” colored ties (Rachel Maddow coined that one; they look stupid), their clothing has been much more subdued and the hair styles much less flamboyant. In fact, until the acceptance speech night, Barack’s suits looked almost shabby and too dark to inspire hope and change. But his newest spokesperson, Stephanie Cutter, has a no-nonsense hairdo that speaks volumes about simplicity and elegance. And when Tom Brokaw took her on, she used only simple, two-dollar words and BS’d about nothing. I hope Pfotenauer and Fiorina were listening.
But Dems are gloating and shedding entirely too many crocodile tears of joy. Democrats seem to have made a profession out of bad-mouthing themselves and their accomplishments and personifying misery and self-inflicted bad luck. ”Poor me. I’m so miserable. I am a Democrat.” I am much more impressed with the Rev. Wright’s expressions of indignity than I am with photos of Jesse Jackson crying in Grant Park. If anyone should be yelling God Damn”, it ought to be Jesse: “God damn, man, It’s about freakin’ time!” And now, every left-handed pundit, Democratic “advisor” and commentator cannot wait to advise Barack Obama on “what he ought to do” to fulfill his promises and obligations to the grateful and sobbing Democratic electorate. There may be more blue states now, and more blue pockets in red environs, but many dems still lack the backbone to stand up and take charge instead of whimpering. You have the bandstand now, boys, let’s make some music!
But the group of Democratic cousins that perplex me the most are the “progressives”. They claim they are aggressive Democrats, and if you want to know how they think, how they talk and what they believe in and hope for, just go read OpEdNews.com. They may be “progressive”, but they are Libertarian wannabes, nihilistic, pessimistic and unknowing pseudo Nietzsche devotees. They believe, as do many of their red counterparts, that they are more correct than you are, and advocate measures that will “hurt you more than it hurts me”, but that’s OK because “I know better”. They are America’s new cynics: they “understand the cost of everything and the value of nothing” (Oscar Wilde?)They have an identity crisis and maybe have a thing about their mothers. I think they are the group that turns red and blue states purple (the color of rage?) because they flat out make everybody mad, as we say here in Texas. Their strength lies in their ability to thoroughly cloud an issue with effusive rhetoric, all of which attempts to persuade you that their position is the only real alternative. Their side on an issue is usually just as incendiary as that of a white, racist fundamentalist preacher in Appalachia, but no one wants to condemn them, because they are “men sent from God”. The difference is that progressives just think they are. If you think religious proselytizers are tough, try arguing with a progressive.
Now, having said all of that, as the song lyrics go, “Here are a few of my favorite things”…at least for today:
AIG: On top of the first mammoth bail-out package they received, and on top of the scandal that erupted right afterwards, about their big executive party that cost almost a million dollars, and on top of an additional $40B the Fed gave them a day or two ago, MSNCBC-TV reported this morning that AIG threw another executive party at a resort hotel in AZ, ordering the hotel not to display any signage or evidence that AIG and its staff were even there. Your tax dollars at work. Another close friend has suggested it is time to have some of these execs walk the plank. I cannot disagree. I just want the waters infested with sharks when they jump. Note: This story never made it to the msbnmc.com web site and was mysteriously pulled from msnbc-tv by mid-morning. However, Keith Olberman brought it back to life on "Countdown" that same evening. Olberman suggested that the additional $40B went to pay for the hors d'oerves for this party. Somebody get the plank.
The Fed will not disclose the recipients of $2T in bailout funds. Read it yourself: www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/106443. Yes, the “T” stands for “trillion”. That’s YOUR trillion, by the way.
The Big Three (or at least two of them) are anxiously awaiting $25-30B in bailout finds to save them from oblivion. In the first place, the US auto industry has had a century to learn how to become a successful and profitable venture. They have failed repeatedly and chosen short-term gains and quick profits from the sale of sub-standard (by modern world comparisions) automotive products. Rescuing this ship may be throwing good money after bad. There are several other corporations (at least 12, I read today) that employ just as many people as GM and they are not asking for handouts (It will be truly ironic if the one corporation that emerges unscathed is Wal-Mart, China’s single largest trading partner)... Let Toyota buy GM, it will not sink entirely then and Toyota knows how to do this stuff and do it right. There are fear tactics at work here, as well, and if we fall for it all, we will get what we deserve and waste another trillion dollars. The UAW should change its name to “Unless we All Work” and stop living off of profits from Chevrolets that break down on the way to work.
China just anounced a national bail-out plan, working from the bottom up, building bridges, roads, dams and other infrastucture and creating jobs and cash flow (msnbc.com). If the Chinese are so smart, what is our problem? (Sorry, I forgot: part of the problem is that the Chinese have most of our money.) Late note:It was suggested in a comment on OpEdNews today that someone ask the Chinese delegates coming to the upcoming world economic summit just how they figured out how to do this. The Bush administration is rejecting the idea.
Bush and Obama discussed bailing out the Big Three yesterday. But Bush wants to tie the action to a NAFTA-style trade agreement with Columbia. Jeezuss, Mary and Josephus, can’t we just do one damn thing at a time? Does everything that even hints of something positive have to be some sort of covoluted, self-aggrandizing nightmare? And what kind of position of strength does Bush think he is negotiating from? He is crazier, more stupid and more oblivious to real life than I thought he was. But Dana Perino says there is “no quid pro quo"? Please send her away. Let her hook up with Pfotenauer.
MSNBC.com: “Banks being urged to step up lending, curb exec pay”. I guess I forgot that we gave 24 banks $124B so they could sit on it, collect interest and make sure their honchos managed to pay their mortgages. Silly me. This is a holiday: are you happier, yet?
Fannie and Freddie have announced that they will begin efforts to halt foreclosures.(MSNBS.COM) Excuse me, but this is Nov 10. Where the hell have you guys been? Partying with AIG?
“Sparring starts as Repubs ponder future”. msnbc.msn.com/id/27654019/. I think they should have started thinking about that well before the election, and one story floating around is that Newt Gingrich will play the role of Lazarus in this new movie, rising from the dead of the New England winter and then on to save the party. I think I mentioned inappropriate symbols up above, somewhere?
OpEdNews.com is today publishing a poll, asking people about discussions they may have had or overheard about any possible attempted assassination of Barack Obama. This is the group/web site that proclaims itself as the progressive voice of America? They should just advertise for henchmen and provide the weapons. They could write speeches for Palin. Note: as of late afternoon on the day I posted this, enough people (including myself) had called in to protest this disgusting stunt, that the article disppeared from the web site.
Despite the level-headed commentaries and observations on the economy by the likes of Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Noam Chomsky and others, the bloody neo-cons, The Fed, Henry “Hank” Paulson, AIG and a few greed oriented Democrats (they want to welcome Lieberman back into the fold? Are they kidding?) are still, even after an election that promised hope, change and salvation for the middle class, not only want to rape America, but force it have the baby (probably sextuplets)and do it with no pre-natal care, no post-natal care nor health care coverage for the mother or the babies.
As I write this, at around 3:00 EST, the DOW is down about 175, after closing yesterday down a bit less than 100. The headline says this is because of consumer spending worries and anxiety about the pending bail-out of Detroit. Understandable: consumers have
nothing to spend and Detroit is bankrupt of vision, ideas, strategies and cash. And George W. Bush just said, on the deck of an aging aircraft carrier, in the waters off the isle of Manhattan, that “Veterans inspired me”. Well, whoop-tee-do for you (and Cheney), who never served a day.
You are leaving soon, right George? Don’t let the door hit you in the ass, on the way out.
And Happy Veterans Day.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Try This
If you think you may be bored, and that you have absolutely nothing to do, or if you believe you may be doing or thinking something that might be important, I suggest you go to:
http://quotes4all.net and read awhile.
Either your boredom will cease and you will sense a restlessness to become smarter and wiser. or you will realize how completely meaningless whatever you were doing beforehand actually was.
http://quotes4all.net and read awhile.
Either your boredom will cease and you will sense a restlessness to become smarter and wiser. or you will realize how completely meaningless whatever you were doing beforehand actually was.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
OK. We voted.
5 November 2008
OK. This is the un-fast, the de-fast, the post-fast or maybe the ex-post fasto? Who cares? But the election is complete, there are tears of joy and tears of sorrow, rejoicing and lamenting, praises being sung and curses being muttered. Jesse Jackson is crying on TV in Chicago and Dick Cheney probably wants to shoot someone, anyone, in the face. A strong voice and message have gone out and has been heard, and the American electorate has answered. Good faith efforts have been made (mostly) all around, some scoundrels have been up to no good and there have been endorsements and recriminations. Lies have been told, along with lies about lies, and claimed truths have been revealed not to be. Outrageous charges have been made, disclaimers uttered, statements colored and false colors washed away by revelation, research and FactCheck.org. And ACORN…well, ACORN screwed up a little. At least they aren’t Muslims. Thank God. Oops, sorry. And Diebold. Anybody seen Diebold? Oh. He’s hanging out with chad in Florida.
I think I have heard every outlandish remark and claim and counter-claim I can imagine, from both sides, and I have been prompted, prodded and cajoled to either praise or condemn one side or the other, and I know as many poor souls who are delirious this morning as I do who are miserable and believe hell has frozen over and that Armageddon is just around the corner. Some of my friends fully expect me to yell “Victory!” and “Hosanna!” from the nearest available rooftop, and to roundly condemn those “evil people” who have just been soundly trounced (at least George is almost gone; that’s good for something). Still others might expect to be chastised and are perhaps awaiting some condemnation, waiting for me to say , “Ha! I told you so!” Well, I’m not here to tell anyone anything. But…
As a licensed practitioner of knee-jerk reactions, I find myself in the odd position of being able to whole-heartedly not act with complete discrimination in favor of or against anyone. I am forced right at this moment to say, “Stop it. Cool your heels. Let’s take stock before we go off wildly with any uncontrolled bursts of steam, either to the left or to the right.” Let’s take a look at what just happened, look at the risks in the front of us and the pitfalls that loom ahead if we lurch too far, too fast, without looking at whence we came and where we might be able to go…preventing our taking large knives to our noses in spiteful acts of unbridled jubilance or unrestrained hatred. Didn’t know that knives were connected to your knees, did you?
There rests little doubt that a vast contingent of US voters decided that they had had enough of what has been going on ever since Ron Reagan let “trickle down” become the national political watchword. We all caught a big break during the Clinton years, but the last eight have been killers. Put simply, the voters spoke up on 11/4/08 and decided that they were done letting “compassionate conservatism” ( it was neither) drive the nation into a broad, ugly, muddy ditch on the side of the road of humanity. Anybody remember the word “quagmire”? Or Rummy’s infamous “slog”? We have been there. We have done that. We are in that. And it stinks. The hope for many is that we have found a tractor called Obama. The hope is that we have found an exit strategy from the ditch. That would be a nice change.
Over the past many months, “enough” became more than enough and the words “change” and hope” seemed to be the words people most wanted to hear. Barbara said to me last night, “He had the message”. And “He” did. And although “He” is not “the one” (sorry Oprah), he also had the delivery methodology, the delivery machinery and the composure to make that message heard above the din and the roar of the plaintive (but sometimes vicious) yelps for more of the same. I was stunned and amazed by the steady drum beat from the right, that got even louder, as the economy crumbled, the poor became poorer and the war debt became larger. It was as if a wolf’s leg was caught in a steel trap and it was pleading, “Please don’t free me from this. After I bleed to death, I won’t remember it anymore.” (Of course what they were really saying was that if you let a black man take the helm, the white race is doomed. But you can’t say that in the New York Times.) Except for Joe Biden and Ted Stevens and few others, it seemed like the time had come to end the rule of old, white-haired men paired up with snarmy Texas swamp-rats like W and Tom Delay.
At any rate, on the day after, I have these observations:
By 8:00 AM this morning, after months and months of endlessly relentless pleas for political donations, my email box had no less than 11 requests from non-profits and lobbying groups, asking for more donations. I think I smell opportunism. Nothing has yet changed. Business as not unusual but very quick on the uptake.
Obama’s acceptance speech was well written and of course delivered in his usual, flawless manner. But he forgot to mention welfare, the need for extended unemployment benefits, the collapsing industrial base, or health care. And for what they spent on the set-up in Grant Park, we could have made damn sure no child got left behind in Chicago or maybe even all of Illinois and Indiana. Got any change left over after that blow-out? I saw Oprah there. Maybe somebody should have asked her to pay for it. That would have been a nice change. Or am I hoping for too much? Should I be surprised that he dodged some issues while basking in the limelight?
Three people have told me already today that if McCain had sounded more like his concession speech when he was on the campaign trail, he might have gotten elected. Thank goodness he didn’t: we might have elected the “real” McCain who would have been the spokesperson for the “real” America of Sarah Palin. No change there, either. Hopeless.
This election cycle cost way too much and took way too long. What took us 21 months, the Brits do in six weeks for a lot less money. The fact that Obama had $100M in the bank, going into the last week of the campaign, and that the RNC spent $150,000. on Sarah Palin’s wardrobe is both obscene and embarrassing. The carbon footprint left behind by the jets, criss-crossing the country should make Al Gore violently ill, but he said nothing. That ain’t change. Nor is it small change.
And they flew Sarah home to Wasilla to vote?
Throughout the election cycle there has been non-top talk of God, godlessness and prayer and infidels. No less than four people have asked me, just within the last week, about the Founding Fathers and their stance on the separation of Church and state: I found that curious, in the midst of all of this, but nonetheless, the Fathers fought vehemently for separation. Despite the fact that a majority of the American population believes to the contrary (and that Jonah was really swallowed by a whale and all that), this was never supposed to be a Christian nation, and “God” got inserted into the national dialogue and the Pledge of Allegiance only because it became politically expedient in order to raise money and make people feel guilty. And despite the fact that “god” and “prayer” have been invoked by every politician in front of a camera or a newspaper reporter for the past many months and years, I was extremely grateful that Obama’s acceptance speech did not mention God even once…at least that I remember. Of course, let’s not forget again that he didn’t mention health care, either. And let us also not forget that Elizabeth Dole, down in red ole’ something Carolina, managed to call her opponent, a Sunday school teacher and Presbyterian church elder, “godless”. Liz lost, incidentally. But I don’t see or smell change there, either. Same old, same old and I don’t see any hope in it.
However, Sarah Palin is gone. Poof. Good riddance and shame on us for all going gaga over goofiness. And Joe Biden had better live up to his rep. First I have to get over his being a lawyer. Like Dan Quayle. Change? Can he spell potato(E)?
I have heard the words “landslide”, “overwhelming” and “dramatic” to describe the Democratic victory. The Nobel prize winning economist, Paul Krugman, in the NYT this morning, had a short column which ended simply by saying, “Now the work begins”. The only “change” we will see, or can “hope” to see is only going to come after some damned hard work. This big ole’ truck is axle deep in that muddy ditch and it will take a lot more than Barack’s smiling face, soothing words and a shiny new tractor to pull it out. And the ditch is lined with greedy congressmen, all future prey for the next generation of lobbyists. “Oh, look! There’s Trent Lott!” (Anyone who does not believe that Obama has a battle royal to fight, just there, is not being realistic.) There is an old saying that, “Good luck and success usually come only after lots of blood, sweat and tears”. We should all caution ourselves not to be too naïve as to believe anything big will happen. otherwise.
FactCheck.org has been publishing disclosures and revelations about the claims being made by both candidates for weeks. A great deal of what has been promised is either not possible or unlikely, mostly because the economy is in the tank (Hank Paulson is with Diebold and Chad in Florida, by the way). For anyone to expect too much too soon or too fast would be a tragic mistake. Obama said on Tuesday night that he would always “tell us the truth” about what is going on. We should hold his feet to the fire. If he doesn’t stick to that promise, there will be no change. The Straight Talk Express wasn’t and we still have unanswered questions about gargantuan issues facing the nation and the world.
I am ecstatic that we have turned a corner when it comes to race relations and color barriers. But when I look at the map and see large blotches of red (as in blood) extending across vast areas of the country, or see small patches of blue surrounded by large patches of red in places like Texas (crap, that’s where I live),I realize that there is hatred and indifference there and that there are bigoted attitudes, as well. I cannot count the times I have heard people speak privately to me in recent days about their fears for Obama’s safety. And when McCain gave an almost acceptable concession speech, even within the confines of his “invite only” post-election party (just who is being elitist, now?), there came boos and the ugly sounds of sore losers and closet-racists. (Of course, he and Ms. Palin spent weeks stirring up that hostility and no one should have been surprised by its’ presence at the Biltmore.). I may be delighted and pleased and hopeful and rejuvenated, but I’m not stupid, either. And neither should you be. I may be ecstatic about some aspects of what has transpired, but I am chagrined that McCain could not have been more forthright and more true to his background. But then, he was another old, white-haired man. I guess nobody figured that into the equation. And of course it was the stupid economy. Oops.
The esteemed scholar and cultural observer/philosopher Noam Chomsky has been quoted recently as saying (roughly) that America has one political party, but with two faces, one Democratic, and one Republican. But the one party is the party of big business. We have not been mindful of the warnings of Dwight Eisenhower, who said we should be on the lookout for the onset and control of the military industrial complex. Remember POGO? “We have met the enemy and he is us”? Welcome to the Halliburton.Exxon/Mobil/ Northrup Grumman United States of America. Our offices are on Wall Street and in the Green Zone . We will take your money, now, please.
Never mind, for a moment, at least, what our politicians and elected officials tell us about justice, equality and fairness: we are a country run mostly by greed, the accumulation of wealth by the few and selfishness. We have indeed turned a corner, but unless we embrace real change, and attempt to truly understand compromise and openness, we will hit a brick wall as we round that corner. And at the moment, we don’t have either enough seat belts or air bags to survive the crash. That is why the American people voted to put Obama in the driver’s seat and “hoped” to say good-bye to business as usual. .
It is time to put our money where our mouths are instead of in a Wall Street banker’s yacht, gird up our loins for some sacrifice and struggle, put our religious prejudices aside, along with our guns, our bigotry and our “bitterness” (boy, did we get suckered by that one) and face the fact that we all have work to do. And if it does not get done by all of us together, it will not get done at all. This is the second time we have had to throw out King George. We should make the most of it.
Please be optimistic. Just don’t be cavalier about it. There is too much at risk.
OK. This is the un-fast, the de-fast, the post-fast or maybe the ex-post fasto? Who cares? But the election is complete, there are tears of joy and tears of sorrow, rejoicing and lamenting, praises being sung and curses being muttered. Jesse Jackson is crying on TV in Chicago and Dick Cheney probably wants to shoot someone, anyone, in the face. A strong voice and message have gone out and has been heard, and the American electorate has answered. Good faith efforts have been made (mostly) all around, some scoundrels have been up to no good and there have been endorsements and recriminations. Lies have been told, along with lies about lies, and claimed truths have been revealed not to be. Outrageous charges have been made, disclaimers uttered, statements colored and false colors washed away by revelation, research and FactCheck.org. And ACORN…well, ACORN screwed up a little. At least they aren’t Muslims. Thank God. Oops, sorry. And Diebold. Anybody seen Diebold? Oh. He’s hanging out with chad in Florida.
I think I have heard every outlandish remark and claim and counter-claim I can imagine, from both sides, and I have been prompted, prodded and cajoled to either praise or condemn one side or the other, and I know as many poor souls who are delirious this morning as I do who are miserable and believe hell has frozen over and that Armageddon is just around the corner. Some of my friends fully expect me to yell “Victory!” and “Hosanna!” from the nearest available rooftop, and to roundly condemn those “evil people” who have just been soundly trounced (at least George is almost gone; that’s good for something). Still others might expect to be chastised and are perhaps awaiting some condemnation, waiting for me to say , “Ha! I told you so!” Well, I’m not here to tell anyone anything. But…
As a licensed practitioner of knee-jerk reactions, I find myself in the odd position of being able to whole-heartedly not act with complete discrimination in favor of or against anyone. I am forced right at this moment to say, “Stop it. Cool your heels. Let’s take stock before we go off wildly with any uncontrolled bursts of steam, either to the left or to the right.” Let’s take a look at what just happened, look at the risks in the front of us and the pitfalls that loom ahead if we lurch too far, too fast, without looking at whence we came and where we might be able to go…preventing our taking large knives to our noses in spiteful acts of unbridled jubilance or unrestrained hatred. Didn’t know that knives were connected to your knees, did you?
There rests little doubt that a vast contingent of US voters decided that they had had enough of what has been going on ever since Ron Reagan let “trickle down” become the national political watchword. We all caught a big break during the Clinton years, but the last eight have been killers. Put simply, the voters spoke up on 11/4/08 and decided that they were done letting “compassionate conservatism” ( it was neither) drive the nation into a broad, ugly, muddy ditch on the side of the road of humanity. Anybody remember the word “quagmire”? Or Rummy’s infamous “slog”? We have been there. We have done that. We are in that. And it stinks. The hope for many is that we have found a tractor called Obama. The hope is that we have found an exit strategy from the ditch. That would be a nice change.
Over the past many months, “enough” became more than enough and the words “change” and hope” seemed to be the words people most wanted to hear. Barbara said to me last night, “He had the message”. And “He” did. And although “He” is not “the one” (sorry Oprah), he also had the delivery methodology, the delivery machinery and the composure to make that message heard above the din and the roar of the plaintive (but sometimes vicious) yelps for more of the same. I was stunned and amazed by the steady drum beat from the right, that got even louder, as the economy crumbled, the poor became poorer and the war debt became larger. It was as if a wolf’s leg was caught in a steel trap and it was pleading, “Please don’t free me from this. After I bleed to death, I won’t remember it anymore.” (Of course what they were really saying was that if you let a black man take the helm, the white race is doomed. But you can’t say that in the New York Times.) Except for Joe Biden and Ted Stevens and few others, it seemed like the time had come to end the rule of old, white-haired men paired up with snarmy Texas swamp-rats like W and Tom Delay.
At any rate, on the day after, I have these observations:
By 8:00 AM this morning, after months and months of endlessly relentless pleas for political donations, my email box had no less than 11 requests from non-profits and lobbying groups, asking for more donations. I think I smell opportunism. Nothing has yet changed. Business as not unusual but very quick on the uptake.
Obama’s acceptance speech was well written and of course delivered in his usual, flawless manner. But he forgot to mention welfare, the need for extended unemployment benefits, the collapsing industrial base, or health care. And for what they spent on the set-up in Grant Park, we could have made damn sure no child got left behind in Chicago or maybe even all of Illinois and Indiana. Got any change left over after that blow-out? I saw Oprah there. Maybe somebody should have asked her to pay for it. That would have been a nice change. Or am I hoping for too much? Should I be surprised that he dodged some issues while basking in the limelight?
Three people have told me already today that if McCain had sounded more like his concession speech when he was on the campaign trail, he might have gotten elected. Thank goodness he didn’t: we might have elected the “real” McCain who would have been the spokesperson for the “real” America of Sarah Palin. No change there, either. Hopeless.
This election cycle cost way too much and took way too long. What took us 21 months, the Brits do in six weeks for a lot less money. The fact that Obama had $100M in the bank, going into the last week of the campaign, and that the RNC spent $150,000. on Sarah Palin’s wardrobe is both obscene and embarrassing. The carbon footprint left behind by the jets, criss-crossing the country should make Al Gore violently ill, but he said nothing. That ain’t change. Nor is it small change.
And they flew Sarah home to Wasilla to vote?
Throughout the election cycle there has been non-top talk of God, godlessness and prayer and infidels. No less than four people have asked me, just within the last week, about the Founding Fathers and their stance on the separation of Church and state: I found that curious, in the midst of all of this, but nonetheless, the Fathers fought vehemently for separation. Despite the fact that a majority of the American population believes to the contrary (and that Jonah was really swallowed by a whale and all that), this was never supposed to be a Christian nation, and “God” got inserted into the national dialogue and the Pledge of Allegiance only because it became politically expedient in order to raise money and make people feel guilty. And despite the fact that “god” and “prayer” have been invoked by every politician in front of a camera or a newspaper reporter for the past many months and years, I was extremely grateful that Obama’s acceptance speech did not mention God even once…at least that I remember. Of course, let’s not forget again that he didn’t mention health care, either. And let us also not forget that Elizabeth Dole, down in red ole’ something Carolina, managed to call her opponent, a Sunday school teacher and Presbyterian church elder, “godless”. Liz lost, incidentally. But I don’t see or smell change there, either. Same old, same old and I don’t see any hope in it.
However, Sarah Palin is gone. Poof. Good riddance and shame on us for all going gaga over goofiness. And Joe Biden had better live up to his rep. First I have to get over his being a lawyer. Like Dan Quayle. Change? Can he spell potato(E)?
I have heard the words “landslide”, “overwhelming” and “dramatic” to describe the Democratic victory. The Nobel prize winning economist, Paul Krugman, in the NYT this morning, had a short column which ended simply by saying, “Now the work begins”. The only “change” we will see, or can “hope” to see is only going to come after some damned hard work. This big ole’ truck is axle deep in that muddy ditch and it will take a lot more than Barack’s smiling face, soothing words and a shiny new tractor to pull it out. And the ditch is lined with greedy congressmen, all future prey for the next generation of lobbyists. “Oh, look! There’s Trent Lott!” (Anyone who does not believe that Obama has a battle royal to fight, just there, is not being realistic.) There is an old saying that, “Good luck and success usually come only after lots of blood, sweat and tears”. We should all caution ourselves not to be too naïve as to believe anything big will happen. otherwise.
FactCheck.org has been publishing disclosures and revelations about the claims being made by both candidates for weeks. A great deal of what has been promised is either not possible or unlikely, mostly because the economy is in the tank (Hank Paulson is with Diebold and Chad in Florida, by the way). For anyone to expect too much too soon or too fast would be a tragic mistake. Obama said on Tuesday night that he would always “tell us the truth” about what is going on. We should hold his feet to the fire. If he doesn’t stick to that promise, there will be no change. The Straight Talk Express wasn’t and we still have unanswered questions about gargantuan issues facing the nation and the world.
I am ecstatic that we have turned a corner when it comes to race relations and color barriers. But when I look at the map and see large blotches of red (as in blood) extending across vast areas of the country, or see small patches of blue surrounded by large patches of red in places like Texas (crap, that’s where I live),I realize that there is hatred and indifference there and that there are bigoted attitudes, as well. I cannot count the times I have heard people speak privately to me in recent days about their fears for Obama’s safety. And when McCain gave an almost acceptable concession speech, even within the confines of his “invite only” post-election party (just who is being elitist, now?), there came boos and the ugly sounds of sore losers and closet-racists. (Of course, he and Ms. Palin spent weeks stirring up that hostility and no one should have been surprised by its’ presence at the Biltmore.). I may be delighted and pleased and hopeful and rejuvenated, but I’m not stupid, either. And neither should you be. I may be ecstatic about some aspects of what has transpired, but I am chagrined that McCain could not have been more forthright and more true to his background. But then, he was another old, white-haired man. I guess nobody figured that into the equation. And of course it was the stupid economy. Oops.
The esteemed scholar and cultural observer/philosopher Noam Chomsky has been quoted recently as saying (roughly) that America has one political party, but with two faces, one Democratic, and one Republican. But the one party is the party of big business. We have not been mindful of the warnings of Dwight Eisenhower, who said we should be on the lookout for the onset and control of the military industrial complex. Remember POGO? “We have met the enemy and he is us”? Welcome to the Halliburton.Exxon/Mobil/ Northrup Grumman United States of America. Our offices are on Wall Street and in the Green Zone . We will take your money, now, please.
Never mind, for a moment, at least, what our politicians and elected officials tell us about justice, equality and fairness: we are a country run mostly by greed, the accumulation of wealth by the few and selfishness. We have indeed turned a corner, but unless we embrace real change, and attempt to truly understand compromise and openness, we will hit a brick wall as we round that corner. And at the moment, we don’t have either enough seat belts or air bags to survive the crash. That is why the American people voted to put Obama in the driver’s seat and “hoped” to say good-bye to business as usual. .
It is time to put our money where our mouths are instead of in a Wall Street banker’s yacht, gird up our loins for some sacrifice and struggle, put our religious prejudices aside, along with our guns, our bigotry and our “bitterness” (boy, did we get suckered by that one) and face the fact that we all have work to do. And if it does not get done by all of us together, it will not get done at all. This is the second time we have had to throw out King George. We should make the most of it.
Please be optimistic. Just don’t be cavalier about it. There is too much at risk.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Breathing space required
It is seven (7) days before the election, and I am going to make Sarah Palin mad at me. And I am probably going to disappoint DNC Chairman Dean. I am going to make Sarah Palin mad (not that I really care, much) because I am going to be anti-patriotic and un-American. This will mean that I cannot, for the next seven days, at least, live in northern VA, NYC, Portland, OR, Chicago, or, from what I read yesterday, Anchorage, AK. What I will do for the next seven days will ban me from small towns in America, prohibit me from wearing a blue collar, making an honest (but meager) living or believing that any core humanitarian values are more important than having the government lower my taxes. Chairman Dean will be disappointed because for the next seven days I will not watch the news, donate money or sit with my cell phone in someone’s house to make campaign calls. I will not canvass, I will not attend a rally and I will not read any more stories on the web about anybody running for any office, anywhere.
Here are a few reasons why:
Niether presidential candidate has said anything new in many days. Every surrogate is on replay. I have heard it all, most of it more than twice. They have wasted enough of my time without accomplishing anything.
The black and white sides of every issue have been exaggerated and lied about. And everything is turning the color of mud. I am weary of slime for breakfast, smear for lunch and innuendo for dinner. Where's the beef?
America has been polarized to the point of the paralysis of reason and logic and the total suspension of credibility. Whatever is gospel one day is blasphemy the next.
I have received no less than 12 requests for additional money for the Democrats since early morning, TODAY ALONE, when I know Obama raised $150M last month and still has $100M in the bank with only seven days to go.
I am sick of hearing that Muslims are about to take over the United States and that Obama will steal everyone’s IRA accounts.
I know that huge portions of the populations of KY have been brainwashed into thinking that Obama is not a Christian by white preachers. I can’t do anything about that. And Republicans are still talking about Rev, Wright, but everyone has forgotten Rev Hagee.
I am sick of my email box being filled all day with pleas to help People for the American Way, PDA, Moveon.org and so many assorted right wing groups I cannot name, with money or petitions or letter writing campaigns.
I am tired of hearing about the empress’ new clothes. If I were a Republican donor housewife on a budget, you’d be pulling me off the ceiling.
I am tired of hearing doctors rail about McCain’s cancers and populists rail about his real estate.
I am tired of getting phony evidence of Michelle Obama’s room service bills.
I am tired of hearing about change. There isn’t any: there is only tired repetition. Let’s see you get any of this change past the Congress, boys.
I am tired of Obama being called a socialist and a communist by people who don’t even know what those terms mean. And no, Karl was not one of the Marx brothers.
I am tired of Nancy Pfotenauer’s toothy grin. Her head is full of hot air.
I am tired of Chairman Dean’s toothy grin. His head is full of laughing gas.
I am tired of late night talk show political humor. It isn’t funny, it is sad.
I am tired of hearing Joe Lieberman talk. Period.
I am tired of people who don’t understand economics lecturing me on economics. Sen. Phil is “all hat and no cattle”.
I am tired of speeches and talk show appearances by illiterate people like Lindsey Graham. They are an insult to all of us. Someone said recently that "You don't have to pass an IQ test to become a congressman". That explains alot.
I am tired of old white men making speeches and telling me what I should think, including Joe Biden.
I am sick of being called one of “My Friends”, when I am not one and don’t want to be. And Sarah's shrill cacaphony doesn't make me feel any better about it. .
I am tired of Cindy McCain’s dress-up clothes and Obama’s ugly, dark suits.
I am tired of talk about old Chicago politics and troopergate scandals.
I don’t care how long John McCain spent in Viet Nam as a prisoner 4000 years ago.
I don’t care if community organizing offends elitists.
But I do care that we are about to get George W. Bush and Dick Cheney out of office, that we might get a real Secretary of State, and someone will perhaps slow down greed on Wall Street and that we do not wind up owing everything we have to a Chinese banker.
I do care that someone may pay attention to health care, mental health care and the fact that most children are being left behind.
I do care that we need to end these two stupid wars without starting a third and I care that if voting fraud happens again in OH, PA and FL, somebody gets hung up by their ankles for it.
I do care that the privatization of government has got to stop and that we had better act quickly to save peoples homes and savings.
I do care that “trickle down” has failed and so have the conservative values that have driven it and that 760,000 jobs have vanished in America in the last 10 months.
I do care about many endangered aspects of life in America but I don’t care to listen to any more hyperbole and hype and stretched or mangled truths and untruths for the next seven days. I am tired of being lied to.
I do care that most of us have better things to do with our time for the next seven days than listen to this same old stuff, over and over.
And in the time it has taken me to write this, I have gotten seven more political messages and pleas on my computer screen.
So, by Sarah Palin’s reckoning, I am going to be un-American and un-patriotic and bow out for the next seven days. And as for you, Chairman Dean, I know this is not what you wanted to hear, but rather than be dazzled by your overwhelming optimism, I have simply become frazzled by the freneticism.
Simply put, there are no more lies to be told by either side about the other, so be quiet, already!
Is it November 5, yet?
Here are a few reasons why:
Niether presidential candidate has said anything new in many days. Every surrogate is on replay. I have heard it all, most of it more than twice. They have wasted enough of my time without accomplishing anything.
The black and white sides of every issue have been exaggerated and lied about. And everything is turning the color of mud. I am weary of slime for breakfast, smear for lunch and innuendo for dinner. Where's the beef?
America has been polarized to the point of the paralysis of reason and logic and the total suspension of credibility. Whatever is gospel one day is blasphemy the next.
I have received no less than 12 requests for additional money for the Democrats since early morning, TODAY ALONE, when I know Obama raised $150M last month and still has $100M in the bank with only seven days to go.
I am sick of hearing that Muslims are about to take over the United States and that Obama will steal everyone’s IRA accounts.
I know that huge portions of the populations of KY have been brainwashed into thinking that Obama is not a Christian by white preachers. I can’t do anything about that. And Republicans are still talking about Rev, Wright, but everyone has forgotten Rev Hagee.
I am sick of my email box being filled all day with pleas to help People for the American Way, PDA, Moveon.org and so many assorted right wing groups I cannot name, with money or petitions or letter writing campaigns.
I am tired of hearing about the empress’ new clothes. If I were a Republican donor housewife on a budget, you’d be pulling me off the ceiling.
I am tired of hearing doctors rail about McCain’s cancers and populists rail about his real estate.
I am tired of getting phony evidence of Michelle Obama’s room service bills.
I am tired of hearing about change. There isn’t any: there is only tired repetition. Let’s see you get any of this change past the Congress, boys.
I am tired of Obama being called a socialist and a communist by people who don’t even know what those terms mean. And no, Karl was not one of the Marx brothers.
I am tired of Nancy Pfotenauer’s toothy grin. Her head is full of hot air.
I am tired of Chairman Dean’s toothy grin. His head is full of laughing gas.
I am tired of late night talk show political humor. It isn’t funny, it is sad.
I am tired of hearing Joe Lieberman talk. Period.
I am tired of people who don’t understand economics lecturing me on economics. Sen. Phil is “all hat and no cattle”.
I am tired of speeches and talk show appearances by illiterate people like Lindsey Graham. They are an insult to all of us. Someone said recently that "You don't have to pass an IQ test to become a congressman". That explains alot.
I am tired of old white men making speeches and telling me what I should think, including Joe Biden.
I am sick of being called one of “My Friends”, when I am not one and don’t want to be. And Sarah's shrill cacaphony doesn't make me feel any better about it. .
I am tired of Cindy McCain’s dress-up clothes and Obama’s ugly, dark suits.
I am tired of talk about old Chicago politics and troopergate scandals.
I don’t care how long John McCain spent in Viet Nam as a prisoner 4000 years ago.
I don’t care if community organizing offends elitists.
But I do care that we are about to get George W. Bush and Dick Cheney out of office, that we might get a real Secretary of State, and someone will perhaps slow down greed on Wall Street and that we do not wind up owing everything we have to a Chinese banker.
I do care that someone may pay attention to health care, mental health care and the fact that most children are being left behind.
I do care that we need to end these two stupid wars without starting a third and I care that if voting fraud happens again in OH, PA and FL, somebody gets hung up by their ankles for it.
I do care that the privatization of government has got to stop and that we had better act quickly to save peoples homes and savings.
I do care that “trickle down” has failed and so have the conservative values that have driven it and that 760,000 jobs have vanished in America in the last 10 months.
I do care about many endangered aspects of life in America but I don’t care to listen to any more hyperbole and hype and stretched or mangled truths and untruths for the next seven days. I am tired of being lied to.
I do care that most of us have better things to do with our time for the next seven days than listen to this same old stuff, over and over.
And in the time it has taken me to write this, I have gotten seven more political messages and pleas on my computer screen.
So, by Sarah Palin’s reckoning, I am going to be un-American and un-patriotic and bow out for the next seven days. And as for you, Chairman Dean, I know this is not what you wanted to hear, but rather than be dazzled by your overwhelming optimism, I have simply become frazzled by the freneticism.
Simply put, there are no more lies to be told by either side about the other, so be quiet, already!
Is it November 5, yet?
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Foilage?
A Drive in the Country
On October 23, Barbara and I were fortunate enough to be able to take a day and half drive out into the Texas Hill Country, southwest of Austin, and northwest of San Antone. The plan was to have a nice hike through the Lost Maples Preserve area, look for turning leaves, kick a few rocks, get the cobwebs and Wall Street worries out of out heads and breathe some fresh air. On a beautiful Thursday afternoon, we fired up the GPS in the Honda and headed that general direction.
After several miles and a little over an hour or so, we found ourselves almost lost (I swear that woman whose voice is on the GPS is Republican…she lied to us more than once) somewhere around Blanco, Texas. Therefore, what ensued was classic: I wanted to follow the map and my gut, Barbara wanted to stop and ask directions. My ego was completely against the “asking directions”thing (I had fallen for that Republican voice by now and of course knew what was best), but Barbara prevailed and we stopped at a local feed/hardware store. Barbara went inside and charmed the socks off of two “very nice young men”, and we wound up turning left, anyway. I think we both agreed not to disagree about that fracas any longer and on we went.
After another 25 miles or so we had gone from “OK” about food to Barbara needing a serious protein boost and I needed something more substantial than Gatorade and cashews. And we both needed a bathroom. Right about then, we entered Boerne, a quite little hamlet in the rolling hills of Texas, where we gambled on a left turn, not only to get us to the next highway we needed, but also in the hope that we might find a place to have dinner. As matters like this develop in Texas, we found a place for dinner before we had any reassurance about the requisite highway. “Y’all come back, y’ hear?”
What we found, on Main Street (marked “Haupstrasse” on the street sign) was the Cypress Springs Café. “Fine Dining”, it said on the sign. We parked the car on Haupstrasse and went in.
A deceptively attractive and clearly underage blonde hostess let Barbara see a menu and Barbara quickly zeroed in on the rotisserie chicken and the something-crusted eggplant. We decided to stay, just as soon as we determined that we might use the restrooms (there was one of those signs on the front door about “Restrooms not open to the public”)
Dinner turned out to be quite good, despite being accompanied by our waiter/server, Chris. First of all, the hostess had apparently alerted Chris to the fact that Barbara had let it out that we were “traveling”. This, in turn, turned Chris into a one-man welcoming committee, purveyor of fine advice and grand inquisitor. If we had not ascertained this before, we were clearly foreigners, outsiders, non-local disturbances. All of this was fine, except that I must tell you that Chris was a young man who had a Texas drawl which was probably being discerned as far away as the Maryland shore, looked like he just fallen off of a John Deere tractor and was horribly, awfully and visibly uncomfortable dressed all in black: shoes, trousers and a shirt painfully buttoned right up to the neck. Just looking at him made me wince.
After asking about which part of Austin we had come from, where we going and would we like something to drink besides water, Chris actually did more an able job of making is feel welcome. (When we were safely gone, however, Barbara revealed that when Chris had asked if we had a place to stay, he might have been setting us up to be whisked off to local Bates motel, where we would be stabbed to death in the shower. Didn’t happen.) Perhaps most important of all, Chris gave us explicit directions about how to get on highway 46, west, which would eventually get us to Tarpley, though “I can’t say I’ve ever been to Tarpley, myself” (later on, we would come to discover that our young friend had no reason, really, to have ever visited Tarpley, anyway, because Tarpley is little more than a gas station with a post office, just down the road from bustling “Utopia”...and I’m not making this up). More important (but learnt too late) was that the right turn onto route 46 that we sought, was right at “the third stoplight, I think, right there at the Wendy’s”. Had we known that, we would have had chicken nuggets and fries for perhaps $7.00 instead of rotisserie chicken and eggplant for $32.00.
At this point, I should mention that all during the trips’ daylight hours, we were seeing an increasing abundance of “McCain/Palin” signs on fencepost and driveway gates, and nary an Obama sign anywhere. But when we left the Cypress Springs Café, and went to the car, to find route 46 and go on, after I unlocked the door on Barbara’s Accord, we stopped to give each other a hug, and as I looked over her shoulder, I saw it:
In the two matching display windows, in a clothing shop on the “Haupstrasse”, two doors down from the venerable Cypress Springs Café. John McCain was staring at me. A photograph of his oddly shaped (and by now familiar looking) face was gazing at me, from atop a mannequin, where it had been affixed, next to another mannequin, this one female, sporting a photo on top of Sarah Palin. A banner sprawled atop both windows proudly proclaimed:
“Behind every good man stands a good woman.”
As I urged Barbara to slowly turn and see what I had seen, I worried that she might faint from surprise, and then, simultaneously, I realized I was a stranger in a strange land and that I had left my passport and my travel papers back in Austin. We pulled away slowly, heading toward route 46, and kept checking the rear view mirror and looking over my shoulder the entire time.
Throughout the remainder of our trip, which was delightful, by the way, I could not shake the notion that, not only were those poor lost maples of Texas turning, but since someone could actually so brazenly and honestly fill two entire store windows on “Hauptsrasse” with that “good woman” beside that “good man” also turning was my stomach.
On October 23, Barbara and I were fortunate enough to be able to take a day and half drive out into the Texas Hill Country, southwest of Austin, and northwest of San Antone. The plan was to have a nice hike through the Lost Maples Preserve area, look for turning leaves, kick a few rocks, get the cobwebs and Wall Street worries out of out heads and breathe some fresh air. On a beautiful Thursday afternoon, we fired up the GPS in the Honda and headed that general direction.
After several miles and a little over an hour or so, we found ourselves almost lost (I swear that woman whose voice is on the GPS is Republican…she lied to us more than once) somewhere around Blanco, Texas. Therefore, what ensued was classic: I wanted to follow the map and my gut, Barbara wanted to stop and ask directions. My ego was completely against the “asking directions”thing (I had fallen for that Republican voice by now and of course knew what was best), but Barbara prevailed and we stopped at a local feed/hardware store. Barbara went inside and charmed the socks off of two “very nice young men”, and we wound up turning left, anyway. I think we both agreed not to disagree about that fracas any longer and on we went.
After another 25 miles or so we had gone from “OK” about food to Barbara needing a serious protein boost and I needed something more substantial than Gatorade and cashews. And we both needed a bathroom. Right about then, we entered Boerne, a quite little hamlet in the rolling hills of Texas, where we gambled on a left turn, not only to get us to the next highway we needed, but also in the hope that we might find a place to have dinner. As matters like this develop in Texas, we found a place for dinner before we had any reassurance about the requisite highway. “Y’all come back, y’ hear?”
What we found, on Main Street (marked “Haupstrasse” on the street sign) was the Cypress Springs Café. “Fine Dining”, it said on the sign. We parked the car on Haupstrasse and went in.
A deceptively attractive and clearly underage blonde hostess let Barbara see a menu and Barbara quickly zeroed in on the rotisserie chicken and the something-crusted eggplant. We decided to stay, just as soon as we determined that we might use the restrooms (there was one of those signs on the front door about “Restrooms not open to the public”)
Dinner turned out to be quite good, despite being accompanied by our waiter/server, Chris. First of all, the hostess had apparently alerted Chris to the fact that Barbara had let it out that we were “traveling”. This, in turn, turned Chris into a one-man welcoming committee, purveyor of fine advice and grand inquisitor. If we had not ascertained this before, we were clearly foreigners, outsiders, non-local disturbances. All of this was fine, except that I must tell you that Chris was a young man who had a Texas drawl which was probably being discerned as far away as the Maryland shore, looked like he just fallen off of a John Deere tractor and was horribly, awfully and visibly uncomfortable dressed all in black: shoes, trousers and a shirt painfully buttoned right up to the neck. Just looking at him made me wince.
After asking about which part of Austin we had come from, where we going and would we like something to drink besides water, Chris actually did more an able job of making is feel welcome. (When we were safely gone, however, Barbara revealed that when Chris had asked if we had a place to stay, he might have been setting us up to be whisked off to local Bates motel, where we would be stabbed to death in the shower. Didn’t happen.) Perhaps most important of all, Chris gave us explicit directions about how to get on highway 46, west, which would eventually get us to Tarpley, though “I can’t say I’ve ever been to Tarpley, myself” (later on, we would come to discover that our young friend had no reason, really, to have ever visited Tarpley, anyway, because Tarpley is little more than a gas station with a post office, just down the road from bustling “Utopia”...and I’m not making this up). More important (but learnt too late) was that the right turn onto route 46 that we sought, was right at “the third stoplight, I think, right there at the Wendy’s”. Had we known that, we would have had chicken nuggets and fries for perhaps $7.00 instead of rotisserie chicken and eggplant for $32.00.
At this point, I should mention that all during the trips’ daylight hours, we were seeing an increasing abundance of “McCain/Palin” signs on fencepost and driveway gates, and nary an Obama sign anywhere. But when we left the Cypress Springs Café, and went to the car, to find route 46 and go on, after I unlocked the door on Barbara’s Accord, we stopped to give each other a hug, and as I looked over her shoulder, I saw it:
In the two matching display windows, in a clothing shop on the “Haupstrasse”, two doors down from the venerable Cypress Springs Café. John McCain was staring at me. A photograph of his oddly shaped (and by now familiar looking) face was gazing at me, from atop a mannequin, where it had been affixed, next to another mannequin, this one female, sporting a photo on top of Sarah Palin. A banner sprawled atop both windows proudly proclaimed:
“Behind every good man stands a good woman.”
As I urged Barbara to slowly turn and see what I had seen, I worried that she might faint from surprise, and then, simultaneously, I realized I was a stranger in a strange land and that I had left my passport and my travel papers back in Austin. We pulled away slowly, heading toward route 46, and kept checking the rear view mirror and looking over my shoulder the entire time.
Throughout the remainder of our trip, which was delightful, by the way, I could not shake the notion that, not only were those poor lost maples of Texas turning, but since someone could actually so brazenly and honestly fill two entire store windows on “Hauptsrasse” with that “good woman” beside that “good man” also turning was my stomach.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
