Couldna Said It Better Myself--An Occasional Series

This is Jim Kuntsler on Monday*:

Polls are reporting a steep slide in President Obama's approval ratings, especially among white voters.  I doubt that this is about the health care debate, which obviously remains unresolved at the time the polls were taken. I think it is about Mr. Obama's shoveling of huge sums into Wall Street, and the unabated obscene money-grubbing by the executives there -- while millions of ordinary people get thrown out of their houses, lose jobs that they'll never get back, and slip-slide permanently out of the middle class. His relations with Wall Street are destroying his legitimacy.  His failure to demonstrably clean house at the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators, or to direct the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute misdeeds stemming from the swindles and frauds in securitized debt, make him look like a stooge to the bankers.

The point. Obama daily looks more and more like the typical pol . . . beholden to the big money fat cats and a captive to their agenda and their interests. Nothing will lose you points with people faster than looking like somebody who's played them for fools. All that reformist, transparency, honesty, can-the-lobbies talk during the campaign. It's beginning to look like exactly that. Talk.

*The whole column is excellent. Another taste: 

 A large part of Mr. Obama's appeal as a candidate last year had to with presenting himself as an intelligent adult -- as opposed to a parent figure (or a crazy old uncle in the case of John McCain).  But so far, apart from his personal charm and good looks, his adult persona is that of an actuary -- someone who can read charts, parse figures, and report them down the line for other people to draw conclusions .  What he lacks at the moment is the very thing that history might foist on him: a sense that life is tragic and history is merciless and that sometimes we have to do the hard things that times require of us.

Liar, Liar! Pants on Fire!

As a former resident of the Sunshine State, I take some interest in what's going on over there. One of the many differences between Florida and Oklahoma is that in the former, it's actually possible to find substantial numbers of Democrats. Unfortunately, there are substantial numbers of Republicans also, probably more than there are in this hotbed of progressive thought in terms of absolute numbers. But there are ties that bind these people. Two that I can think of right off the bat: first, they have taken leave of their senses, and second, they lie. They lie like rugs. Here's what the GOP of Florida is saying about Obama's talk today to the nation's schoolkids: Schoolchildren across the nation "will be forced to watch the president justify his plans for government-run health care, banks, and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other president."

It's hard for me to fathom people so devoid of honor as to broadcast so blatant a lie as this. Consider: the people behind these statements, all the b.s. that has been spewed and is still being spewed by the Republican Party, these people know that what they're saying is not true. They know it. But they also know that the silly putty out there that believes this nonsense is composed of frightened, credulous victims, for the most part. People who are so distraught by the general tenor of the times that they simply must find someone to blame for their discomfort. Frank Rich had it right in one of his columns last month.

The biggest contributor to this resurgence of radicalism remains panic in some precincts about a new era of cultural and demographic change. As the sociologist Daniel Bell put it, “What the right as a whole fears is the erosion of its own social position, the collapse of its power, the increasing incomprehensibility of a world — now overwhelmingly technical and complex — that has changed so drastically within a lifetime.”

Considering that Bell made these observations in the early 1960s, when the crisis for the right was the election of a Roman Catholic as president, it's all the more pertinent today when the pace of technological and social change is a hundred times more chaotic.

The bottom line in all this is that the Republican politicians and right wing talk show haters, the enablers of the nut cases out there in the town meetings, the armed stooges in rally crowds, the screaming meamies at the tea parties--well, these people are beyond contempt. If and when some twisted not out there kills somebody for being a liberal, the blood will be on their hands. Oh, wait . . . that's already happened. (See Frank Rich, cited above.)

The Dignity of Labor

Dignity of labor: a phrase of little meaning in this country today. Labor Day means the end of summer, the beginning of school, good day for baseball, excuse for a picnic or day at the beach. A holiday disconnected from its roots. Sorta like the Geneva Accords on Treatment of POWs became "quaint" in the age of Bush, so has the phrase "the dignity of labor." Indeed, I put it to you, what is dignified about the treatment or condition of labor in this country? It's sobering to think about how much blood was spilled so workers could even earn the right to organize. Not until the New Deal was this right guaranteed by law. The preceding 70 years had been marked by horrific violence on both sides, worse than any other place on the globe. But the fact remains that rivers of blood were the price workers paid for the right to form unions. The violence done against them far outweighed the violence the unions did trying to enforce their strikes.

The United States has had the bloodiest and most violent labor history of any industrial nation in the world. Labor violence was not confined to certain industries, geographic areas, or specific groups in the labor force, although it has been more frequent in some industries than in others. There have been few sections and scarcely any industries in which violence has not erupted at some time, and even more serious confrontations have on occasion followed. Native and foreign workers, whites and blacks have at times sought to prevent strike replacements from taking their jobs, and at other times have themselves been the object of attack. With few exceptions, labor violence in the United States arose in specific situations, usually during a labor dispute. The precipitating causes have been attempts by pickets and sympathizers to prevent a plant on strike from being reopened with strikebreakers,¹ or attempts of company guards, police, or even by National Guardsmen to prevent such interference. . . . [But t]he most virulent form of industrial violence occurred in situations in which efforts were made to destroy a functioning union or to deny to a union recognition.

There's little doubt that over the long haul, management has triumphed anyway. From a high of about 36 percent of the workforce right after WWII, corporate capitalism has succeeded in squelching membership in unions to a little over 12 percent of the workforce. (Actually, in a strange twist, last year actually witnessed a slight bump in union membership as a percentage of the workforce.) For anybody paying attention, it will certainly come as no surprise to learn that in the South and Southwest union membership is below the national average. Nor that labor has paid a far disproportionate share of the cost of bailing out profligate corporate management over the past few years. It's on the back of workers that the richest sit to drink their champagne.

None of this is new, at least not to me. When I was growing up, in the heart of a Republican, business-oriented family, I heard nothing, nada, good about unions. Same as now here in the heart of darkest Oklahoma. Indeed, from this you would conclude that belonging to a union is about like contracting the plague and defending the rights of labor akin to advocacy of mass murder. Happy Labor Day, everybody.

Trying to Stay Focused

The band is Drive-by Truckers. Also here.
The song is "The Righteous Path."

The song is righteous and so is this group.

For Me, A Metaphor

What kind of twisted person would do this? I really have to stop with this question unanswered because I'm afraid my response would be vehement and unprintable. But I suspect your own response will take care of that.  Do you get the feeling, as I do, that this sort of behavior characterizes thousands of people in your area of the country? It does mine. The first thing I thought when I saw this was isn't this just a perfect symbol for America? Or for what we've become? Not only dismissive of the helpless among us, but actively cruel to them. Somebody meant to kill this innocent animal just because. For no reason whatever other than bloodlust whim. Is this a great country or what?

Thank goodness for the guardian angel who was watching over this little guy. He's going to be OK. But I hope the person who did this has the top of his head chewed off by a bobcat.

Of Course It's Criminal

Of course it's a crime to address the nation's schoolkids and urge them to study and stay in school. Hell, all you have to do is get a load of the uproar that the Republicans are raising about the president's plans to make such an address next week. You would think this would not be controversial. But, no, you would be wrong. Some schools across the country are refusing to show the address at all because of protests by parents and administrators.

Wingnuts in Oklahoma are raving about it. Here's some clips from the story about this:

"I just don't think that my child should be forced to watch the president," said parent Kimberly Martin.

KTOK radio host Mark Shannon and a slew of supporters said superintendents across the state should refuse to show the speech. 

They said they fear the President's plan is to brainwash students with his ideologies.

"If they won't pull the plug on it, pull your kids out of school on September 8th. Just write them a note. Tell them they have socialist swine flu," Shannon said.

Many parents parked outside an Oklahoma City elementary school  agreed schools should have another option for students who will not be watching Tuesday's speech per their parent's request. 

"There's too many things that he's doing that don't agree with America right now," said parent Diana Pierce. 

Brainwashing? You must be kidding. Oh, no. We're not kidding. No less than the chairman of the Florida Republican party says Obama is attempting to "indoctrinate America's children to his socialist agenda." Oh, good grief, man! Have you been in the sun too long?

Let's be precise about what Obama is going to say in his brief remarks. According to the Sec of Education, the president will "challenge students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning. He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens."

Now, this is pretty frigging subversive, isn't it? Friends, I am really beginning to weary of these nutcases. Really weary. What planet are these people inhabiting? And I'm finding it increasingly difficult to believe that people could be this terrified of a black man in the White House. I honestly think this race thing is not far from the surface in all this exaggerated terror that Obama stirs up. I've read some of the remarks people make on Facebook about Obama and I have to pinch myself to believe what I'm seeing.

And you think you'd hear some stern protest from the Republican leadership about the behavior of these people, wouldn't you? This is one of the most despicable aspects of this whole thing. Indeed, for the last six months, you have the top Republicans in the country doing absolutely nothing to blunt these absurd and increasingly hysterical attacks on the man who was elected by a vast majority of the people not even a year ago. I have to confess that this just makes me more disgusted with the whole damn lot of them.

Not Real Good News

Curt Schilling, a pretty fair country pitcher for several teams--he was longest with the Phillies--maybe wants to run for the Senate. We're talking about the Massachusetts seat once held by Edward Kennedy. Schilling says he's mulling it over and saying that stars have to align (not that metaphor, he's not that articulate) before he makes any kind of decision. Hey, Curt, listen up. We don't need another millionaire right-wing senator in Washington. You'd just be another Jim Bunning, without the perfect game or membership in the Hall of Fame. Stay home, dude, the last thing we need is another dunder-headed jock in the U.S. Senate.  

Years, Friends, and Other Stuff

Tonight I'm sleeping in a strange bed. I've got to go to a sleep center and spend the night, all wired up to a bunch of monitors. It's to see if I've got sleep apnea. I'm pretty sure I do, since I've been diagnosed with it before. I'll let you know. This is the kind of stuff you must put up with when you're falling apart. I'm not really, but sometimes it seems like it. That's not really true either. For a person who will be 66 years old on the morrow, I'm in great health, thanks be to God. I know people much younger than I who have awful ailments; I know people much younger than I who aren't younger anymore. They're dead.

One of the features of life as you begin the autumn years is the increasing frequency with which friends die or get seriously ill. It's always painful to experience. Next to family, friends are the greatest blessing I think we can have. Who else besides family and friends know you . . . and still love you? There's a human vulnerability in friendship that gets to the core of us. It's about love. I frankly think there is more to love in people than to despise. When people are despicable, when they inflict great pain and suffering on their fellow human beings--almost the definition of "despicable" . . . well, as hateful as that is, I consider it much more a betrayal of our true nature as human beings than a reflection of our true selves. Granted, some people disguise their true nature under layers of meanness, selfishness, and bile . . . but which of us has not been guilty of that? And considering the infinite number of factors and circumstances that bring us to the exact moment of now . . . well, who is ready to pronounce judgment on that person's experience? Who is ready to say what that same combination of infinity would have made of you? Verily, I do believe this, but damn, is it hard to put this into practice in your life. It's practically impossible to get beyond the meanness, selfishness, and bile most of the time.

I could have never, I don't think, come to these kinds of conclusions without the benefits of having experienced a good deal of life. The years are kind in that, if you pay attention, they can actually teach you something about what life might signify and all your fellow creatures who are living with you. Sometimes, too, life provides coping, survival tools to allow one to live at total peace within one's self. Once you get there, you're where you can actually forego judging other people. Alas, you might have have to live 200 years to get to that place. I'm sure that's about how long it would take me.

Is Afghanistan War Worth Fighting?

So asks the headline of this piece from the Washington Post. A short blurb by five "experts" comprise the piece. Guess how they break out? Three to two for the war. Does this surprise you? (Not in the Post should it surprise you.) Not me. Nor do the arguments for continuing the terrible thing: US vital national security interests there, necessity to stabalize nuclear Pakistan, fight Al-Qaeda, preventing regional meltdown, prevent country from being sanctuary for terrorists again. Blah, blah. Change "Pakistan" to some other country; change Al-Qaeda to US enemy de jour, and you have the rationale for any war anywhere.

So what else is new? No matter what the country, if our national leadership determines that the country has "vital national interests" at stake, you can forget about withdrawal of US troops. And I put the question to you: can you imagine a country on the face of the globe that some president cannot construe as vital to US national interests? And can you imagine a Pentagon that would say, "No, Mr. President, we don't agree. We don't want to deploy out troops and expensive toys there." Are you kidding me?

Here's another big surprise. The new US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, says victory is achievable. "The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable and demands a revised implementation strategy, commitment and resolve, and increased unity of effort," McChrystal said. Now, where have we heard this before? It's evident to everybody that he's gonna ask for more troops. Nobody doubts that. August was the worst month ever for US troop deaths in Afghanistan, 47. So to solve the problem let's feed more sausage meat into the grinder.

The stone cold fact about this horrible little war that's about to become a horrible bigger war is that we don't have a chance of winning it, I don't care what some damn general says, and we don't have a discernible national interest in that god-forsaken place. All we have there is another excuse for a president to prove his manhood, that he's not soft on national security, that he has the requisite set of balls for foreign policy, and for Wall Street and the accursed defense industry to turn more filthy profit.

Where Ya Been?

Hey Cindy, where ya been? Haven't seen you for a while. Glad to see that you're back doing the right thing. This is Cindy Sheehan we're talking about here, a visible and outspoken opponent of the Iraq War during the Bush presidency. Since Obama's election, she's been rather quiet. But with the president on vacation at Martha's Vineyard, and wars still raging in both Iraq and Afghanistan, she's visible again. She rightly calls a spade a spade. Though the facade has changed and Obama was elected on a platform against the wars, nothing has changed. In fact, the war in Afghanistan has been escalated," she said, pointing out the obvious: that it doesn't matter which party's in power in Washington. The policy of the country doesn't change.

And is anybody else irritated that Obama is beginning to resemble a fat cat? Vacationing at the toney environs of Cape Cod and now playing golf, the sport of fat cats. He didn't used to play golf. Meanwhile the goddamned wars drag on. And nobody really seems to care. So raise hell, Cindy! I'm with you.