As I Was Saying

America has managed to construct an entirely one-dimensional political system. There’s no discernible difference left between left and right, other than in spin language pre-cooked for the sole purpose of faking the concept of elections. There’s very right and ultra right. America is living proof that once money is allowed into politics, the accumulation of it, and of the power it can buy, will and eventually must fully control a democratic system, which in the process, of necessity, suffocates and dies a painful death.

What once was a proud American democracy has been turned into a circus that rolls into town every four years, filled with clowns that pretend to fight each other with over the top grotesque contraptions, but sleep in the same bed once the show is over and the audience has gone home.

Reminds me of my continuing theme, which will be called upon now far more frequently since the networks won't find anything interesting between now and November 2016 except the charade we call the presidential election.

Here's the source of the quotation above.

Pretty Much It

I'm no undying fan of the Democratic party, but compared to the alternative, it's far preferable. Basically I think money calls the tune in American politics, and it doesn't give a damn which party is in power. But money likes Republicans better. The Republicans like business, they like large concentrations of wealth, they hate regulation of just about any kind especially of business and industry. The Democrats--well, they're another story. They are more flexible, more in tune with the population that has to work for a living and all of their problems. I know all generalizations are unfair and not even true if there is but one exception, but I would contend that the Democrats tend to be more compassionate in their desire to have the greater society through the agency of the government tend to people's needs when they are in need. For all these reasons and a bunch more I have not enumerated, the Republican sweep in Tuesday's elections is disheartening. The common wisdom says the voters were expressing their disgust with Washington, with Obama, and the status quo, so they voted against the Democrats. But it seems to me that putting the lunatics in charge of the asylum is not quite the right move. There's more than a little truth in the cartoon below.

One Bright Spot

The one bright spot amidst the carnage wreaked on the Democrats Tuesday was the thumbs up given in several states for various marijuana initiatives. Two states--Oregon and Alaska legalized weed outright, and the District of Columbia legalized possession of up to two ounces. That, brothers and sisters, is a lot of hemp. 58 percent of Florida voters approved medical marijuana (but it takes 60 percent to pass there.) In New Jersey reformed the bail system to allow low level possession arrestees out much more easily. California reclassified possession of small amounts of grass from a felony to misdemeanor. And so on. This is a train that's not going to be stopped. And this is a good thing.

Full story here.

The Winning GOP Strategy

Ain't this the truth?

Doesn't this just about sum up politics and indeed life in America? I cannot believe I've actually heard Republicans flapping their jaws about "restoring funding to the military"!! Words fail me.

The Death of the Liberal Class

Chris Hedges talking about the main ideas of his book, The Death of the Liberal Class. The man makes a lot of sense.

Making the World Safe from Sanity

It turned out so great last time . . . LET'S DO IT AGAIN!

The president got on TV tonight to tell us we're going to war again. But, as if this were just the peachiest news possible, we're not going to employ any American ground forces. What we will do is aid the "moderate forces" in Syria and those Arab states who choose to participate in the ground proceedings with our bombs and our gee-gaa technology. I've made a one of my periodic dips onto Facebook and I'm astounded--no, not really--with the vehemence and certitude of all the good ole American people rattling their swords. Can their memories really be that short? Can they not remember how just two weeks ago they were firmly against any kind of long-term commitment to the madness in the Middle East? I read that 71 percent of Americans are behind the president in his call for action against this latest enemy to civilization whom it's our responsibility to confront and defeat. I note that this time too, the Washington establishment is careful to qualify its call to war with the warning that this will not be a short job. No, we're signing on to possible years of conflict yet. Can anything be more insane? Forgive me if wonder just what in hell people learned from our last Middle Eastern excursion into war . . . you know, the one in Libya, which has fallen apart as a country; the one in Iraq which has spawned IS and thousands of deaths and fragmentation of the "democracy" we helped set up there; and of course, the one in Afghanistan that's not even over yet.

I'm not being crass or unfeeling or in the least bit disrespectful of the pain inflicted on the families and friends of the two Americans who were brutally beheaded by the IS fanatics. But it's interesting how the entire country can fly into bellicose outrage at the execution of two innocent Americans, but doesn't bat an eyelash at the literally thousands of innocent civilian deaths we have caused all over the Middle East with our drones, bombs, and artillery.  

It bears repeating, often and loudly: we are a doomed people. We don't have the sense God gave a grasshopper.

Listen . . . Can You Hear Them?

Across the land and over the air: the drums of war beating their steady beat. The debate is not whether we're going to get involved in another mid-East conflict, but how and when. Remember when communists were the worst thing on the planet? That was before Iranians, Iraqis, Al-quaeda, which were all more terrible. Now we have an enemy IS, ISIS, or ISIL, take your pick of names. Whatever we call it, it's more evil and horrible than even the next-to-latest boogeyman our leaders conjured us to keep us all terrified. And you remember how evil al-Quaeda was, don't you? So evil that now by comparison to the present boogeyman, it's a gentle Muslim reform movement.

This latest enemy is, of course, a direct threat to our "national security." Who, by the way, defines that term? We all just accept it as something very important, vital indeed to all we hold dear, to the continuation of western values, to the safety of our children and grandchildren, to the continued existence of the land of the free and the home of the brave. Listen . . . the same drums we've heard before. The same bullshit justifications for war, war, war. When are we ever going to learn?

Americans Are Pissed Off

That's what the pollsters are finding out about us. We're mad as hell, but maybe not to the point where we're not going to take it anymore. People aren't yet on the streets with fire and brickbats building barricades against the forces of the state. But don't for a moment kid yourself that something like that is not possible here. This country has undergone two internal revolutions, numerous economic depressions (used to be "panics", now "recessions"), too many to count riots and tumults. We're convulsed in violence, consumed by our hatreds (you name it here: the government, the Right, the Left, the immigrants, Muslims, black people, the media, white people, brown people, religion, gays; the lies, cheating, and stealing that seem to form the essence of life in this country., and our powerlessness before a host of really serious problems, not the least of which is a national government that is itself paralyzed by hatreds.)

The snippet and the article really address primarily the stagnation of our national government. Which except for involving us in the expenditure of trillions of dollars for foreign wars against shadowy "terrorist" enemies seems utterly useless to address the serious problems that are obvious to millions upon millions of ordinary Americans. We've lost our faith, and everybody is casting about for somebody to blame. Politicians bear the brunt of the blame, and not without good reason.

Americans aren't happy about their politicians, the future, the economy, and just about everything else, according to the nation's pollsters, who say there is very little the public still believes in. 

"With an 'everything is terrible' mindset, I'm mostly thinking about how after several years of cantankerous and unproductive lawmaking in Washington, there are very few political figures or institutions who the public trusts anymore," the Washington Post's polling analyst Scott Clement told Politico. 

The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows President Barack Obama's approval ratings are at a record low. A new Gallup Poll shows confidence in the economy is dropping. And overall, poll ratings for Republicans and Democrats are down, according to a CBS Poll.

Source

Fraudlant Votes?

No. Not really. That's what the Republicans would have you believe they're preventing when they pass restrictive voter ID laws. The "sanctity of the political process" or "of the ballot box" or some other bullshit. Don't believe it for a second. These people want to restrict voters who are likely to vote for Democrats from doing so.  And now we've got proof positive. Check this out:

The Results Are In: A review of general, primary, special and municipal elections since 2000 – which involved over a billion ballots – found 31 instances of voter impersonations that would have been prevented by any of the new voter ID laws. Thank goodness the Republicans are protecting the sanctity of the vote from blacks and old people.

That, by the way, is .000000031 percent of the ballots cast in the U.S. in all elections for the last 14 years.

The Three-Legged Stool, Or Should We Make It Four?

Different Strokes: A GOP candidate for MI state legislature say his “stool of conservatism” is held up by “faith, family and freedom,” and that voters should overlook his many convictions for masturbating in other people's cars. After all, he has “dreams.”

 It's true. Click on the link. If this guy's district is gerrymandered like the vast majority of the rest in this land of the free and home of the brave, he probably will have a good chance of winning. What a country!

Yaaa Us! Anniversary

PBS Newshour announced that coverage tonight would be all about D-Day. New York Times is talking about "awkward diplomacy" because Obama and Vladimir Putin are going to both be at Normandy today to celebrate the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe 70 years ago. Each year it seems the "celebration" of D-Day gets bigger. Now it's imperative that presidents and potentates go there on the anniversaries. I wonder why this is? Is the Nazi regime the last horror on earth that everyone agrees was so heinous we should celebrate the beginning of its end? Surely not. Not everyone: since we should consider the Italians, Romanians, Japanese, Austrians, Vichy French, and numerous other people in their thousands who thought the Nazis were just fine, collaborated with them, or joined them as allies. And surely not the last horror. We have had genocide and war ever since Hitler. Ever since. And we carry on like we had put an end to these things in June, 1944.

World War II was the last "good war." Which of course is bullshit, but let's leave it. It's the last time we can really applaud ourselves for defeating a really bad guy. And that event is 70 years ago and counting. Ever since then, it seems the question has been: who really is (or was) the bad guy?

Blue Oklahoma and Friends

Did you know that there are a number of actually progressive blogs in the reddest state in the country, although Utah might claim the honor?

Here's a list of them:

Alternative Tulsa
Blue Oklahoma
The Brennan Society of Oklahoma
Democrats of Oklahoma Community Forum
Grindstone Journal
JMBzine
Life and Deatherage
Okie Funk
Oklahoma Citizen
Oklahoma Observer
OK Policy Blog
OKWATCHDOG.ORG
Peace Arena

I have not clicked on all these to see if they're up and running. I just lifted the list from Blue Oklahoma, which is a fine example of the genre. There may be more of them.  

How Shabby is the Media?

How shabby is the media? Well, I've got a quiz for you today that might suggest an answer. Maybe some of you will do well, most of you, like me, probably won't do all that well. The quiz is identify the source of the following quotations. The source will always be a major American newspaper. Keep asking yourself as you go: just how bad is the right wing media in this country?

1. “It is not a crime to make stupid mistakes, and much of what happened in the years before the financial crisis was more foolish than venal.” 
2.  Front-page identification of the rollout of the affordable care act as "Obama's Katrina."
3. Editorial downplaying the retirement crisis and saying that social security is more a burden on the young people than a vital safeguard. Mocked a proposed bill to increase social security benefits
4. "People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York—a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children.”
5. “It’s not our job to inform viewers when Republicans lie.”

Source: here

Answers: (1) New York Times--Are you kidding me? That Wall Street skullduggery, which by the way continues, wasn't criminal, just stupid mistakes? (2) New York Times, again. Total government failure with Katrina and problems with a complex computer program rollout? Not even close. (3) Washington Post editorial. (4) "liberal" Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen. Define "conventional views" please. (5) Chuck Todd, NBC News political director. Whose job is it, pray tell to blow the whistle on lying politicians of any party?

Affordable Health Care

Oh, it's still vital. No question that the people of the US, including the more that 50 million who have no health care insurance at all, need the protection afforded them by what the press has dubbed "Obama's signature legislative achievement", that is, the Affordable Care Act that was passed almost three years ago.

You would think that that would have been sufficient time for the dept of health and human services to get the website where people are supposed to sign up for insurance, you would think they would have the site at least minimally ready to go. Right? Wrong! The roll-out of the most important thing this administration is going to do was a catastrophe . . . and it continues to be. The Republicans are having a field day, and Obama and the administration are looking like clowns. This is the kind of thing that makes me crazy. Who the hell was watching the store on this?

Fading Away

So this is my first day back from the the historians' conference in St. Louis. I had a good time, both in Chicago pre-conference and from Thursday to Saturday in the Gateway to the West city. Had an excellent view of at least half of the Arch and in the other direction, the courthouse where the initial decision in the Dred Scott case was made over 150 years ago.

Had a fine dinner on the last night there, Saturday, at some steak house, reputedly one of the best in the city. It was there that I had a dear friend of mine whom I've known since grad school days in the early 1970s say, "Labor unions have outlived their usefulness." Are you kidding me? This is a GOP talking point for years now. This is a country where working people have seen the jobs shipped relentlessly overseas for the greater profit of the already rich for 30 years or more. Where only about 8 percent of the workforce belongs to unions. Are you kidding me? The middle class is being squeezed out of existence because of the greed and rapaciousness of multinational corporations, and the usefulness of organizations that ushered labor into the vast middle class of this country and kept them there, that usefulness has been outlived?

And so it dawns on me. In my profession, I'm probably not a minority yet, but scanning the guys at the table the other night--there were eight of us--I'm certainly a minority. A leftist among conservatives. An old-fashioned liberal among guys who have been successful in the way Americans define it and now have been seduced by the rationalizations of the moneyed classes. I don't buy those lies. I never have, and I won't ever. They are the same lies that the well-off have used for centuries to justify their own smugness. But, I swear, I wonder some time if people like me just aren't fading away, soon to be swamped by a tide of self-serving avarice. I tell you, it gets lonesome sometimes. 

Who Is This Guy?

Well, he's named Russell Brand, and I had to look him up on Wikipedia. I had never heard of the guy before, and if all you did was read in Wikipedia about him, you'd likely not be too impressed. But you can't get a full picture of anybody from words on a page. Perhaps you should listen to him and then decide. I cannot tell you how I stumbled across this interview, or rather, what caused me to click it one and listen. I found it on Alternet. They advertise this interview as "a brilliant tirade against a broken political system." I concur. Watch for yourself.

Bye the bye, the interviewer is one Jeremy Paxman, " (born 11 May 1950) is an English journalist, broadcaster and author. He has worked for the BBC since 1977, and is known for his forthright and abrasive interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians. His regular appearances on the BBC Two's Newsnight programs have been criticized as aggressive, intimidating and condescending, and also applauded as tough and incisive."

But our boy Russell shuts his face right up . . . behold.

Racialized Minority

So here we are again. Right back where we were on the verge of the Civil War. A Southern-based minority-within-a-minority is furiously opposed to letting the will of the majority be realised. And they're fighting it with everything they've got. The sooner that Americans as a whole realise what is happening, the sooner we can put an end to it.

This is the concluding paragraph of a wonderfully insightful piece by Paul Rosenberg about the Tea Partiers and the state of American politics. On the Al-jeezera site, no less. This piece would repay your careful reading. It makes perfect sense. And a good history lesson who those of us who forget the part the solid Democratic South played in passage and implementation of FDR's New Deal. For those of us who believe that it has been and is mostly about race . . . this is impeccable confirmation as to why.

Guess What?

You guessed it: here on the day before the shit irretrievably hit the fan on the extension of the country's debt limit so the United States of America would default on its monetary obligations, the clownocracy in  Washington struck a deal. Basically, it's like the several "deals" before this one. It basically kicks a solution to the impasse a few months ahead. The government is going to reopen for business until some time in January. The debt limit decision has until early February before it rises to bedevil the country yet again.

The Tea Party idiots in the Republican party are responsible for this latest travesty, and I dearly hope that the Democrats just kick the hell out of these people in the fall elections next year. Not that I have much hope left in the Democratic party or the democratic process, for that matter, but the people of this country need to send a message to these imbeciles on the far right that they do not speak for the "people of this country," as they are continually proclaiming that they do. Why doesn't somebody call Boehner a liar and McConnell a liar and Ted Cruz a liar when they claim to be speaking for the "American people"? They aren't. They never were.

It's a sadly flawed system that allows things like this to happen . . . and happen again if these servants of the people decide to play this game again. I frankly see no reason they would not.

Does Any of This Surprise You?

Pretty interesting piece in the Times by Thomas Edsall about Tea Party Republicans. It's good the whole thing, but I want to highlight just a couple of graphics from it that say everything about the nut cases who have shut down the government, and apparently would not have any qualms about refusing to raise the country's debt limit, which almost everybody else in the universe says would be catastrophic. Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg is working on a study of the Republican party. The graphics below are the results of polls of six focus groups.

One of the key factors pushing Republicans to extremes, according to Greenberg’s report, is the intensity of animosity toward Obama. This animosity among participants in all six focus groups is [below] which represents a “word cloud” of focus group references to the president, with the size of each word in the cloud proportional to the frequency with which it was used.

Republicans on Obama

Now, does any of this surprise you? Of course not . . . but look closely and you will not see anything about Obama's race. That doesn't surprise me either, but don't kid yourself, if people in these groups really said what was on their mind, "nigger" would be in big, big letters up there.

Here's another. This one depicts the words that came up most frequently in the six focus groups.

Words occurring most in the GOP focus groups

Hmmm. I'll bet the words wouldn't be all that different in a poll about what the Republicans are doing to the country right now.

Sen. Claire McCaskill Gets Tweets . . .

And I'm sure others do also, but this post is about hers. I'm quoting from a great little blog called "Millard Fillmore's Bathtub."

Sen. Claire McCaskill gets Tweets on the government shutdown, sometimes from people who appear unfamiliar with major concepts of civilized life.

Here's the text. Some of today's hate: "shut the f* up you baby killing, veteran disrespecting, butt ugly sack of shit bitch.” His profile says he's a Christian.

The old hymn says,

Refrain
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

Worse, or better if the Tweeter tries to live up to it, is verse three:

We will work with each other, we will work side by side,
We will work with each other, we will work side by side,
And we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride.

Wow.