By Manifesto Joe
Republicans either have a great sense of sick humor, or they think everybody else has amnesia, or they are brainwashed stoolheads -- or some of the above, or all of the above.
Some of us were paying attention to matters political and economic over the past 30-plus years. Deregulation was mainly a Republican idea, in all facets of the economy. The mantras were all very familiar: If you hamstring business to where it can't operate, everybody suffers; the free market is self-regulating anyway; competition will make the pie bigger for everyone. ...
There were Democrats, dating back to Jimmy Carter, who fell for all this and become accomplices. I can't blame them too much -- I'm all for leaving the market to do anything it can do better than the public sector, and that encompasses many things.
But recent evidence seems quite clear that finance and oil drilling are not strong suits for unfettered private sectors.
New Deal-era banking regulations (the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933) were rolled back by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999. Yes, President Bill Clinton did sign that bill -- he now acknowledges that to have been a mistake. Please note that the three legislators whose names were attached to the latter act -- led by the former Senate solon of kleptocracy, Phil Gramm of Texas -- were all Republicans.
Listening to Republicans talk now reminds me somewhat of the 1970s, when you could actually hear some of them blame the Vietnam War on the Democratic Party. Remember Bob Dole's remark during his vice presidential debate with Walter Mondale in 1976, in which he talked about "Democrat wars"? I remember Barry Goldwater saying something to that effect as well.
Blaming Vietnam on Democrats is, historically, quite a stretch. Yes, they were in office during the 1965-68 escalation, and it was Cold War Democrats who crafted Vietnam policy. But was this against the opposition of Republicans?
Hardly. The main problem Republicans seemed to have with the Vietnam War was that, according to them, the U.S. wasn't fighting to win. They favored MORE aggressiveness, MORE escalation and MORE involvement, not less. With the lonely exceptions of Mark Hatfield in the Senate and Pete McClosky in the House, there were few high-profile Republican critics of the war -- only critics of its conduct. In 1964, Republican presidential candidate Goldwater even suggested that the use of "low-yield" nuclear weapons should be seriously considered. By 1968, it was the Democratic Party, not the Republicans, who were split up the middle over the war.
And, please recall that it was two Democratic senators, Wayne Morse of Oregon and Ernest Gruening of Alaska, who cast the only two votes in Congress against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964. Neither man saw his political career survive the decade.
Yes, Wall Street and the Gulf of Mexico are both a long way from Vietnam. But what is recalled is the Republican propensity to rewrite history for their own political purposes. To hear some of these people tell it, Barack Obama, with his 16 months in office, is largely responsible for the Gulf spill, for the Wall Street/subprime mortgage crackup, and for the Tate-LaBianca murders. And whatever he didn't do, Clinton and Carter did.
Let's see: Who was in office in 2005, when we saw BP's first big disaster, the explosion of the oil refinery at Texas City, Texas? Who didn't follow up with any advocacy of more stringent safety regulations of the oil industry, even after negligence on BP's part in the 2005 blast was so evident?
And, let's see: Who was in office when possible criminal prosecution of BP over a 2006 Alaska pipeline rupture was killed?
And, let's see again: Who was in office most of the time that the federal Minerals Management Service was supposed to be inspecting that Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf at least monthly, and failing to do it?
No, Republicans are not the exclusive owners of modern deregulation. But they were certainly the primary "architects" of it. And their anti-government rhetoric became a self-fulfilling prophesy: When you keep saying that government is the problem, that it can't do anything right, and then you put people of that philosophy in charge of what little regulation there is ... don't be surprised by the meltdowns. And, please don't blame it on those who sometimes just went along, in some cases reluctantly.
I'm reminded once more of something the late Molly Ivins wrote. It was something to the effect that when you deregulate something, you will often find out why it was regulated in the first place.
Republicans, enough revisionist history, please. At this time in history, we need to get busy cleaning up the messes. Obama seems willing to try, if you will let him. But so far, that hasn't seemed to be your inclination.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In
Texas.
Postscript: Please note that although this post is dated Saturday, May 15, it was not actually posted until Thursday, May 20. This discrepancy is the result of the saving of an earlier draft, and I don't think it will be worthwhile to go to the trouble of altering it.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Lewis Black On Glenn Beck And Nazi Tourette's: Yes, You Can See It Here, Too
Yeah, this has already been all over the Internet. I work at a job that makes it hard for me to stay right on the cutting edge of things. But something this good bears repeating. Once again, here's Lewis Black, discussing Glenn Beck's constant playing of the Nazi card, on Wednesday night's The Daily Show:
Vy haf zeh not come for me yet, ee-zer? I am vaiting ... -- MJ
Vy haf zeh not come for me yet, ee-zer? I am vaiting ... -- MJ
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
BP Is Still Grappling With Its 2005 Texas City Disaster
By Manifesto Joe
While various officials try to sort out who's to blame for the environmental disaster, not to mention the deaths of 11 workers, in the Gulf of Mexico, it may be time for a bit of context.
BP, the London-based multinational oil giant that's behind the huge Gulf oil spill, is still paying for a March 23, 2005 disaster. An explosion at a Texas City, Texas, refinery owned by BP killed 15 workers and injured 170. And investigations have repeatedly pointed to safety negligence on the part of BP leading up to that disaster.
Here's the U.S. Chemical Safety Board video on events leading up to the 2005 disaster:
To date, BP has been forced to pay over $1.6 billion in damages, fines and repairs for their gross negligence at Texas City. And litigation is still pending. A Wikipedia article details the company's persistent failure to heed or implement safety recommendations made as long as 14 years before the explosion.
And, BP is still fighting everything it can. It it challenging an $87 million OSHA fine, the largest in OSHA history, for failing to correct the hazards.
It appears, as usual, that nothing was really learned from history. BP continues to operate as a rogue multinational, with additional fatalities occurring at the Texas City refinery since the 2005 disaster.
From what we've been hearing from the kooky, phony-populist right wing and other sundry apologists for corporate greed, what we have here is failure to regulate. Such arguments are absurd beyond belief. I used to hold Warren Buffett in relatively high esteem for his modesty about his fortune and his sometimes progressive views. But he and his business partner, Charlie Munger, had the nerve to blame regulators for the duplicity of Goldman Sachs. And there are people who will consider lax regulators, not BP, to be primarily responsible for the current travesty in the Gulf.
This is like blaming the farmhand who fell asleep while the fox was pillaging the henhouse. Is the farmhand's ill-timed nap supposed to exonerate the fox of all guilt?
It's looking more and more like time to actually re-empower the regulators of capitalism, in all its facets. But that would require a sense of history that, so far, not many people seem to have.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas
While various officials try to sort out who's to blame for the environmental disaster, not to mention the deaths of 11 workers, in the Gulf of Mexico, it may be time for a bit of context.
BP, the London-based multinational oil giant that's behind the huge Gulf oil spill, is still paying for a March 23, 2005 disaster. An explosion at a Texas City, Texas, refinery owned by BP killed 15 workers and injured 170. And investigations have repeatedly pointed to safety negligence on the part of BP leading up to that disaster.
Here's the U.S. Chemical Safety Board video on events leading up to the 2005 disaster:
To date, BP has been forced to pay over $1.6 billion in damages, fines and repairs for their gross negligence at Texas City. And litigation is still pending. A Wikipedia article details the company's persistent failure to heed or implement safety recommendations made as long as 14 years before the explosion.
And, BP is still fighting everything it can. It it challenging an $87 million OSHA fine, the largest in OSHA history, for failing to correct the hazards.
It appears, as usual, that nothing was really learned from history. BP continues to operate as a rogue multinational, with additional fatalities occurring at the Texas City refinery since the 2005 disaster.
From what we've been hearing from the kooky, phony-populist right wing and other sundry apologists for corporate greed, what we have here is failure to regulate. Such arguments are absurd beyond belief. I used to hold Warren Buffett in relatively high esteem for his modesty about his fortune and his sometimes progressive views. But he and his business partner, Charlie Munger, had the nerve to blame regulators for the duplicity of Goldman Sachs. And there are people who will consider lax regulators, not BP, to be primarily responsible for the current travesty in the Gulf.
This is like blaming the farmhand who fell asleep while the fox was pillaging the henhouse. Is the farmhand's ill-timed nap supposed to exonerate the fox of all guilt?
It's looking more and more like time to actually re-empower the regulators of capitalism, in all its facets. But that would require a sense of history that, so far, not many people seem to have.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas
Friday, May 7, 2010
At Last, An Explanation For Tea Party People ...
... And for Republicans in general. The Neanderthals walk among us. Here's the full story. -- MJ
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Noam Chomsky: On The Depression And Revisionist History
I'm going to leave a link for those who want to read the entire article, which appears to have been from a recent Chomsky lecture. But this paragraph I found priceless.
... I left home for graduate studies at Harvard, where I had my first extensive experience with the elite intellectual world. On arrival, I went to the standard faculty-run party for incoming students and was regaled by a very distinguished philosopher with an account of the Depression - which, he assured me, had not taken place. It was a liberal fabrication. There were no rag-pickers coming to our door in desperation in the early '30s, no women workers being beaten by security forces while on strike at a textile factory that I passed on a trolley with my mother when I was about five, none of my unemployed working class relatives. A few businessmen might have suffered, but there was nothing beyond that.
I guess that means I never saw the more recent problems, either, like a solid crowded city block of dudes waiting for a few day-labor employers to drive up in their pickups. It didn't happen. I never saw it. Ever. -- MJ
... I left home for graduate studies at Harvard, where I had my first extensive experience with the elite intellectual world. On arrival, I went to the standard faculty-run party for incoming students and was regaled by a very distinguished philosopher with an account of the Depression - which, he assured me, had not taken place. It was a liberal fabrication. There were no rag-pickers coming to our door in desperation in the early '30s, no women workers being beaten by security forces while on strike at a textile factory that I passed on a trolley with my mother when I was about five, none of my unemployed working class relatives. A few businessmen might have suffered, but there was nothing beyond that.
I guess that means I never saw the more recent problems, either, like a solid crowded city block of dudes waiting for a few day-labor employers to drive up in their pickups. It didn't happen. I never saw it. Ever. -- MJ
Monday, April 26, 2010
Goldman Sachs Con Artists Belong In Jail
By Manifesto Joe
At Goldman Sachs, the internal e-mails belie the company's denials. McClatchy Newspapers reported yesterday that:
WASHINGTON -- In an internal e-mail released Saturday, Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein wrote in November 2007 that the firm "didn't dodge the mortgage mess," but "made more than we lost" by betting against the U.S. housing market.
Blankfein's e-mail, which a Senate investigations panel released with three other subpoenaed company documents, appears to contradict Goldman's denials that it profited from the subprime mortgage meltdown by secretly betting that housing prices would fall. At the same time, Goldman was selling tens of billions of dollars in risky mortgage securities.
Goldman has said that its contrary bets were largely on behalf of its clients.
The release of the documents sets the stage for a confrontation on Tuesday, when Blankfein and six other present and former Goldman executives are scheduled to testify to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which will begin revealing the results of a yearlong investigation.
Here's a link to the entire McClatchy article.
More from the story:
The disclosure comes a little more than a week after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Goldman for civil fraud, accusing the firm and one of its vice presidents of allowing a long-time hedge fund client to help select the securities for a deal without telling the investors that the client planned to bet against the securities.
In America, the accused are innocent until proved guilty. Right now, this is just a civil case. But it looks more and more like certain officers of this corporation deliberately defrauded investors.
It would be such a pleasure to see these assholes doing the perp walk, on their way to someplace like The Tombs or Riker's Island, with bond set in the amounts that they defrauded from investors.
But alas, this is America, so I won't be holding my breath. Here, people that rich are especially innocent until proved guilty.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
At Goldman Sachs, the internal e-mails belie the company's denials. McClatchy Newspapers reported yesterday that:
WASHINGTON -- In an internal e-mail released Saturday, Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein wrote in November 2007 that the firm "didn't dodge the mortgage mess," but "made more than we lost" by betting against the U.S. housing market.
Blankfein's e-mail, which a Senate investigations panel released with three other subpoenaed company documents, appears to contradict Goldman's denials that it profited from the subprime mortgage meltdown by secretly betting that housing prices would fall. At the same time, Goldman was selling tens of billions of dollars in risky mortgage securities.
Goldman has said that its contrary bets were largely on behalf of its clients.
The release of the documents sets the stage for a confrontation on Tuesday, when Blankfein and six other present and former Goldman executives are scheduled to testify to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which will begin revealing the results of a yearlong investigation.
Here's a link to the entire McClatchy article.
More from the story:
The disclosure comes a little more than a week after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Goldman for civil fraud, accusing the firm and one of its vice presidents of allowing a long-time hedge fund client to help select the securities for a deal without telling the investors that the client planned to bet against the securities.
In America, the accused are innocent until proved guilty. Right now, this is just a civil case. But it looks more and more like certain officers of this corporation deliberately defrauded investors.
It would be such a pleasure to see these assholes doing the perp walk, on their way to someplace like The Tombs or Riker's Island, with bond set in the amounts that they defrauded from investors.
But alas, this is America, so I won't be holding my breath. Here, people that rich are especially innocent until proved guilty.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
A Modest Proposal Of Barter For The Republican Party
By Manifesto Joe
I've been reading about a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Nevada, and one who's being taken seriously (She's challenging Harry Reid), who suggests that one could use livestock to barter with your doctor for health care. Like, bring a chicken to your doctor.
Since we're talking about using livestock in the place of currency, I have a modest proposal for the Republican Party. Would they accept my pit bull terrier as a campaign contribution?
My pit bull terrier
I haven't asked him whether he's a Republican. But he's smarter than most of the Tea Party demonstrators, and he could be meaner in a fight. He's also housebroken.
One big problem is that he eats a lot. (Chicken is his favorite, by the way.) And, he's grown since this picture was taken. And, of course, they would have to pay for his rabies shots upon acceptance. And then there's the expense of obedience school ...
RNC, I await your response.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
I've been reading about a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Nevada, and one who's being taken seriously (She's challenging Harry Reid), who suggests that one could use livestock to barter with your doctor for health care. Like, bring a chicken to your doctor.
Since we're talking about using livestock in the place of currency, I have a modest proposal for the Republican Party. Would they accept my pit bull terrier as a campaign contribution?
My pit bull terrierI haven't asked him whether he's a Republican. But he's smarter than most of the Tea Party demonstrators, and he could be meaner in a fight. He's also housebroken.
One big problem is that he eats a lot. (Chicken is his favorite, by the way.) And, he's grown since this picture was taken. And, of course, they would have to pay for his rabies shots upon acceptance. And then there's the expense of obedience school ...
RNC, I await your response.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Teabonics: You Can't Fix Stupid, And Sadly, You Can't Keep It From Voting, Either
By Manifesto Joe
I hadn't heard about "teabonics" until the other day. There are Web sites dedicated to this new dialect of American right-wing culture.
Let's go linking:
No Amensty!
Even the copy desk at the Daily News saw this error!
I am not now, nor have I ever been, a socilist. (Or is it socialest?)
One of the big regrets of my life is that I didn't dedicate myself to larnin' a furrin lanaguage. I knows just enough Spanish to get myself into major trouble in Piedras Negras.
This hyar is clearly a fite for feedom. If I ever becomes a rich banker, I wants to charge them deadbeats a fee!
And now for something completely different...
I've been awfully busy lately. I have a night-shift job with a news organization, and it's demanding. But I try to keep up with things. The other day on one of the talking-heads TV shows on one of the cable news networks, they had a biker-looking dude who was there as a representative and spokesman of the Tea Party people.
He started his point by talking about middle-class Americans. He described these "typical" Americans as, say, a household bringing in $100,000 a year.
Hold the phone there, biker dude. Chain mail must be more profitable than I ever thought.
According to the U.S Census Bureau, the median household income in America is $52,000 a year. This man was describing a typical U.S. household as one making nearly twice that. Shit, if I were bringing that much dinero into my household, I would have absolutely no complaints and would pay my taxes gladly, hoping to get commensurate services.
This was a very revealing moment. What this is all about is ME ME ME. The profile of the typical Tea Party asshole is a white male, upper middle-class Republican, with just enough "education" to be dangerous. ("A little bit of education is a dangerous thing.") I suspect that this "education" generally consists of a lot of business administration courses. I had a couple of those during my 6-year acquaintance with the liberal arts, and if there's a place to be indoctrinated into right-wing, "free-market" misconceptions, that's where to find it.
Another revealing thing is that these people have no fundamental opposition to Social Security or Medicare. Either they or their parents have benefited from these "socilist" programs. But once more, this is obviously about ME ME ME.
These people have been vocal enough, and have shown up at enough rallies, to get themselves taken seriously by the MSM. Go back to the top and check out these links. These are the fortunate anthropoids of America. They have done just well enough, through dumbass luck, usually, to be dupes for the real elite. They are stupid enough to be the foot soldiers for people who have money stashed away in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.
Such imbeciles have been overcome before. I seriously pray that it can happen again.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
I hadn't heard about "teabonics" until the other day. There are Web sites dedicated to this new dialect of American right-wing culture.
Let's go linking:
No Amensty!
Even the copy desk at the Daily News saw this error!
I am not now, nor have I ever been, a socilist. (Or is it socialest?)
One of the big regrets of my life is that I didn't dedicate myself to larnin' a furrin lanaguage. I knows just enough Spanish to get myself into major trouble in Piedras Negras.
This hyar is clearly a fite for feedom. If I ever becomes a rich banker, I wants to charge them deadbeats a fee!
And now for something completely different...
I've been awfully busy lately. I have a night-shift job with a news organization, and it's demanding. But I try to keep up with things. The other day on one of the talking-heads TV shows on one of the cable news networks, they had a biker-looking dude who was there as a representative and spokesman of the Tea Party people.
He started his point by talking about middle-class Americans. He described these "typical" Americans as, say, a household bringing in $100,000 a year.
Hold the phone there, biker dude. Chain mail must be more profitable than I ever thought.
According to the U.S Census Bureau, the median household income in America is $52,000 a year. This man was describing a typical U.S. household as one making nearly twice that. Shit, if I were bringing that much dinero into my household, I would have absolutely no complaints and would pay my taxes gladly, hoping to get commensurate services.
This was a very revealing moment. What this is all about is ME ME ME. The profile of the typical Tea Party asshole is a white male, upper middle-class Republican, with just enough "education" to be dangerous. ("A little bit of education is a dangerous thing.") I suspect that this "education" generally consists of a lot of business administration courses. I had a couple of those during my 6-year acquaintance with the liberal arts, and if there's a place to be indoctrinated into right-wing, "free-market" misconceptions, that's where to find it.
Another revealing thing is that these people have no fundamental opposition to Social Security or Medicare. Either they or their parents have benefited from these "socilist" programs. But once more, this is obviously about ME ME ME.
These people have been vocal enough, and have shown up at enough rallies, to get themselves taken seriously by the MSM. Go back to the top and check out these links. These are the fortunate anthropoids of America. They have done just well enough, through dumbass luck, usually, to be dupes for the real elite. They are stupid enough to be the foot soldiers for people who have money stashed away in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.
Such imbeciles have been overcome before. I seriously pray that it can happen again.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Nostalgia For 'Good' Demagogues: Remembering Huey P. Long
Demagogues are always dangerous. But once upon a time in America, at least they would sometimes fight for the well-being of ordinary struggling citizens. Louisiana Gov. and Sen. Huey P. Long (1893-1935) comes to mind.
If only Sarah Palin had done half as much for Alaska before becoming a national figure.
Standard Oil is running the state again, Kingfish. America needs you, not Sarah Palin. -- MJ
If only Sarah Palin had done half as much for Alaska before becoming a national figure.
Standard Oil is running the state again, Kingfish. America needs you, not Sarah Palin. -- MJ
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Michael Steele's Speech, And 29 Dead Miners, Illustrate What's Warped About U.S. Conservative Ideology
By Manifesto Joe
Forget the silliness about the bondage bar and other misspent donor money. I heard some of Michael Steele's speech yesterday to Republicans at the New Orleans conference, and he embodies everything that is screwed up about their way of thinking. You know, the kind of thinking that creates mining disasters.
What I heard was the good old American dream thing, which Mr. Steele has dredged up many times. He's made a career of it. I guess there's nothing really wrong with that, if your life has been like the plot line of a Horatio Alger novel. His life appears to have been thusly charmed. I'm sure he's worked hard, and of course he had to overcome the stigma of racism. But his personal journey seems to have left him with no understanding of what reality is like for most Americans, and perhaps especially fellow African-Americans.
The reason people come to America from all over the world, Steele told the Republican audience, is that this is supposed to be the one great place on Earth where the tentacles of big government are restrained. It's the place where people are free to become what they are capable of, through hard work and talent.
Nowhere to be heard on any Republican lectern are the many talented, hardworking folks out there who one day found themselves stuck in the middle of the pack, in large part because there simply isn't room at the top for everyone who fits that description.
I hate to be the one to break it to you, Mr. Steele, but folks like that still have to worry about things like keeping (or even having) health insurance, being laid off and left with a meager, unreliable public subsistence in the meantime, having your IRAs and 401(k) tank because of Wall Street malfeasance, etc., etc.
And then, there are those 29 dead West Virginia miners -- dead because they were all but forced to work in unsafe mining conditions, by a lack of area jobs, for an owner who has dedicated his life to busting unions and bitterly fighting government regulations that might have spared some lives.
Mr. Steele did all the perfunctory government-bashing in his speech. At no point did he seem to even think of those dead miners, who perished as a direct result of eight years of anti-government governing by the Il Doofus administration.
A government with proper and right regulatory powers could have saved lives. Instead, a fatcat named Don Blankenship, whom I'm certain agrees with every word of Steele's speech, can now waddle around and oink as though he has no miners' blood on his hands.
As you can see from this video link, Blankenship is an example of what results when you elevate swine to high stations in life. He acts mighty tough, with his bodyguard and all. He talks about a cameraman getting "shot." Blankenship wouldn't have to do it himself; he's got hired guns for that purpose, no doubt. I'd like to see fat boy up against one of the younger men in his coal mines. That's an asskicking I would enjoy seeing.
Granted, I've known people who ended up doing jobs like coal mining. The following was less true in earlier times, but people who end up in such jobs nowadays usually aren't the sharpest pencils in the box. Even in the region of West Virginia that they are from, the best and brightest tend to perform well at the poor-to-mediocre schools in such places, then probably get out of Coaltown to go to a university and eventually some job that won't give them black lung.
Even they, the best and the brightest from such circumstances, generally start out in life with so many handicaps that they often do well just to make it into the middle of the pack. And, where they are from, they are the lucky ones. Brains and decent health both come to us at the whim of genetics. Those who lack one or the other -- there but for the grace of God go any of us.
When I hear someone talking the sort of talk I was hearing from Mr. Steele yesterday, I instinctively check to see if I've still got my wallet.
And if Don Blankenship were in a room with me, I'd keep my hand on it every second until he and everyone around him left.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Forget the silliness about the bondage bar and other misspent donor money. I heard some of Michael Steele's speech yesterday to Republicans at the New Orleans conference, and he embodies everything that is screwed up about their way of thinking. You know, the kind of thinking that creates mining disasters.
What I heard was the good old American dream thing, which Mr. Steele has dredged up many times. He's made a career of it. I guess there's nothing really wrong with that, if your life has been like the plot line of a Horatio Alger novel. His life appears to have been thusly charmed. I'm sure he's worked hard, and of course he had to overcome the stigma of racism. But his personal journey seems to have left him with no understanding of what reality is like for most Americans, and perhaps especially fellow African-Americans.
The reason people come to America from all over the world, Steele told the Republican audience, is that this is supposed to be the one great place on Earth where the tentacles of big government are restrained. It's the place where people are free to become what they are capable of, through hard work and talent.
Nowhere to be heard on any Republican lectern are the many talented, hardworking folks out there who one day found themselves stuck in the middle of the pack, in large part because there simply isn't room at the top for everyone who fits that description.
I hate to be the one to break it to you, Mr. Steele, but folks like that still have to worry about things like keeping (or even having) health insurance, being laid off and left with a meager, unreliable public subsistence in the meantime, having your IRAs and 401(k) tank because of Wall Street malfeasance, etc., etc.
And then, there are those 29 dead West Virginia miners -- dead because they were all but forced to work in unsafe mining conditions, by a lack of area jobs, for an owner who has dedicated his life to busting unions and bitterly fighting government regulations that might have spared some lives.
Mr. Steele did all the perfunctory government-bashing in his speech. At no point did he seem to even think of those dead miners, who perished as a direct result of eight years of anti-government governing by the Il Doofus administration.
A government with proper and right regulatory powers could have saved lives. Instead, a fatcat named Don Blankenship, whom I'm certain agrees with every word of Steele's speech, can now waddle around and oink as though he has no miners' blood on his hands.
As you can see from this video link, Blankenship is an example of what results when you elevate swine to high stations in life. He acts mighty tough, with his bodyguard and all. He talks about a cameraman getting "shot." Blankenship wouldn't have to do it himself; he's got hired guns for that purpose, no doubt. I'd like to see fat boy up against one of the younger men in his coal mines. That's an asskicking I would enjoy seeing.
Granted, I've known people who ended up doing jobs like coal mining. The following was less true in earlier times, but people who end up in such jobs nowadays usually aren't the sharpest pencils in the box. Even in the region of West Virginia that they are from, the best and brightest tend to perform well at the poor-to-mediocre schools in such places, then probably get out of Coaltown to go to a university and eventually some job that won't give them black lung.
Even they, the best and the brightest from such circumstances, generally start out in life with so many handicaps that they often do well just to make it into the middle of the pack. And, where they are from, they are the lucky ones. Brains and decent health both come to us at the whim of genetics. Those who lack one or the other -- there but for the grace of God go any of us.
When I hear someone talking the sort of talk I was hearing from Mr. Steele yesterday, I instinctively check to see if I've still got my wallet.
And if Don Blankenship were in a room with me, I'd keep my hand on it every second until he and everyone around him left.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sign Of The Times: Company Has Gotten Rich Helping Employers Fight Jobless Claims
By Manifesto Joe
A St. Louis-based company has gotten rich, and is getting richer, one of the old-fashioned ways: They profit off other people's misfortunes.
The Talx Corp. reportedly handles over 30 percent of the nation's unemployment claims, with a list of corporate clients that, The New York Times says, "reads like a roster of Fortune 500 firms."
How does this company handle jobless claims? Well, it helps the erstwhile employer fight every one it possibly can, for a fee. It's like the hired gun in Shane, famously played by Jack Palance, who is brought to town by the cattle baron to kill off a few homesteaders, with the expectation that the rest will soon turn yellow and leave the valley.
Here's a link to the entire NYT online report.
Of course, they don't prevent everybody from getting unemployment benefits. But Talx is paid to shoot first and ask questions later. They make a basic policy of contesting anything and everything, creating disastrous delays. In a certain number of cases, the would-be claimants do indeed become discouraged by the legal roadblocks, and just quit. A certain percentage of the "homesteaders" do turn yellow, and that is just what the Talx Corp.'s clients in Corporate America are betting on.
Even when the claimants doggedly hang on and eventually get their bare subsistence in benefits, the delays can bring on catastrophes. Check out the part of the NYT article on one former Walmart employee. He eventually won, but the legal maneuvering cost him plenty. He had to give up his apartment and move in with his sister.
So, how do Talx employees sleep at night, knowing, as they surely must, that they are deliberately undermining a crucial strand of the already-meager U.S. social safety net?
The NYT reporter wouldn't ask that, of course, even if the company had authorized anyone to talk to the paper. But I've often wondered that about folks like, say, insurance adjusters as well. I assume that they are paid well enough to afford plenty of Ambien and/or single-malt Scotch.
With a big recession upon us, the tide may be turning. Talx has been raking it in this way for eight years, but the courts and a few states led by Wisconsin have taken action to curb some of the abuses.
In hard times, the American people need a populist champion to step up and lead the fight against this amoral corporate hired gun.
Shane, come back.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
A St. Louis-based company has gotten rich, and is getting richer, one of the old-fashioned ways: They profit off other people's misfortunes.
The Talx Corp. reportedly handles over 30 percent of the nation's unemployment claims, with a list of corporate clients that, The New York Times says, "reads like a roster of Fortune 500 firms."
How does this company handle jobless claims? Well, it helps the erstwhile employer fight every one it possibly can, for a fee. It's like the hired gun in Shane, famously played by Jack Palance, who is brought to town by the cattle baron to kill off a few homesteaders, with the expectation that the rest will soon turn yellow and leave the valley.
Here's a link to the entire NYT online report.
Of course, they don't prevent everybody from getting unemployment benefits. But Talx is paid to shoot first and ask questions later. They make a basic policy of contesting anything and everything, creating disastrous delays. In a certain number of cases, the would-be claimants do indeed become discouraged by the legal roadblocks, and just quit. A certain percentage of the "homesteaders" do turn yellow, and that is just what the Talx Corp.'s clients in Corporate America are betting on.
Even when the claimants doggedly hang on and eventually get their bare subsistence in benefits, the delays can bring on catastrophes. Check out the part of the NYT article on one former Walmart employee. He eventually won, but the legal maneuvering cost him plenty. He had to give up his apartment and move in with his sister.
So, how do Talx employees sleep at night, knowing, as they surely must, that they are deliberately undermining a crucial strand of the already-meager U.S. social safety net?
The NYT reporter wouldn't ask that, of course, even if the company had authorized anyone to talk to the paper. But I've often wondered that about folks like, say, insurance adjusters as well. I assume that they are paid well enough to afford plenty of Ambien and/or single-malt Scotch.
With a big recession upon us, the tide may be turning. Talx has been raking it in this way for eight years, but the courts and a few states led by Wisconsin have taken action to curb some of the abuses.
In hard times, the American people need a populist champion to step up and lead the fight against this amoral corporate hired gun.
Shane, come back.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Republican National Committee Spent Nearly $2,000 On Topless Bondage Bar
By Manifesto Joe
Here's the latest on the party of "family values." That is, if your family consists of 50-year-old right-wing skanks who love to be flogged by dominatrixes while wearing diapers.
This is from McClatchy Newspapers:
WASHINGTON — Under fire from both right and left, the Republican National Committee is investigating how and why it spent nearly $2,000 for "meals" at a bondage-themed strip club in West Hollywood featuring topless dancers simulating lesbian sex.
The party confirmed Monday that it reimbursed a California consultant for $1,946 spent at Voyeur, a high-end bar/lounge that's described on one Web site as "classic slutty" where "you might not be completely shocked at the almost naked women writhing on each other, but you will undoubtedly be in awe."
Here's the whole story, if I get the link html right this time.
And here's yet another link.
GOP: Dancing With the Whores?
My wife, morally a very conventional person, has opined in irreverent moments that there's nothing wrong with these right-wing pickle butts that a couple of weeks with a good whore wouldn't cure. I suspect that recent revelations have proved her theory wrong. I think such experience has long been there, and it hasn't yielded good results yet.
According to jezebel.com, Republicans and nerds (am I being redundant?) make the best customers for those practicing the oldest profession. Here's a link there.
On the Question of David Vitter
Mr. Vitter is a U.S. senator from Louisiana who is running for re-election in 2010. According to his Wikipedia bio:
In early July 2007, Vitter's phone number was included in a published list of phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates, a company owned and run by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, also known as the "D.C. Madam", convicted by the U.S. government for running a prostitution service. Hustler identified the phone number and contacted Vitter's office to ask about his connection to Palfrey.[21][22] The following day, Vitter issued a written statement:
“ This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible. Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there — with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way.[23] ”
The statement containing Vitter's apology said his telephone number was included in phone records dating from his days as a member of the House of Representatives.[10] Phone records show that Vitter's number was called by Palfrey's service five times, the first on October 12, 1999, and the last on February 27, 2001.[24] Two calls were placed while House roll call votes were in progress.[25][26]
On July 16, 2007, after a week of self-imposed seclusion, Vitter emerged and called a news conference. Standing next to his wife, Vitter asked the public for forgiveness. Following Vitter's remarks, Wendy Vitter, his wife, spoke. Both refused to answer any questions.[27][28][29]
As background, several news outlets reported that in May 1999, Vitter replaced Congressman Bob Livingston after Livingston resigned due to an adultery scandal.[5][30][31] Vitter said about Livingston's decision to resign, "It's obviously a tremendous loss for the state. I think Livingston's stepping down makes a very powerful argument that Clinton should resign as well and move beyond this mess", referring to Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky scandal.[32]
Oh, and by the way, Vitter has also been named as a client of New Orleans prostitutes when he was home. He reportedly liked for the hookers to make him wear diapers.
Damn, all this kinky shit makes me feel so straight-laced. I thought it was liberal Democrats who were supposed to be sleazy!
That leads me to a thought I've had a few times: Repression only represses; it doesn't eliminate the thought. I think right-wingers often grow up in homes that repress sexuality, and we're merely seeing what tends to emerge from that milieu when the people decide to "act out."
So, the next time you hear somebody call Obama a socialist, don't just think in terms of ideological foolishness. But -- it probably wouldn't be wise, either, to ask this Republican what color of silk panties he's wearing.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Here's the latest on the party of "family values." That is, if your family consists of 50-year-old right-wing skanks who love to be flogged by dominatrixes while wearing diapers.
This is from McClatchy Newspapers:
WASHINGTON — Under fire from both right and left, the Republican National Committee is investigating how and why it spent nearly $2,000 for "meals" at a bondage-themed strip club in West Hollywood featuring topless dancers simulating lesbian sex.
The party confirmed Monday that it reimbursed a California consultant for $1,946 spent at Voyeur, a high-end bar/lounge that's described on one Web site as "classic slutty" where "you might not be completely shocked at the almost naked women writhing on each other, but you will undoubtedly be in awe."
Here's the whole story, if I get the link html right this time.
And here's yet another link.
GOP: Dancing With the Whores?
My wife, morally a very conventional person, has opined in irreverent moments that there's nothing wrong with these right-wing pickle butts that a couple of weeks with a good whore wouldn't cure. I suspect that recent revelations have proved her theory wrong. I think such experience has long been there, and it hasn't yielded good results yet.
According to jezebel.com, Republicans and nerds (am I being redundant?) make the best customers for those practicing the oldest profession. Here's a link there.
On the Question of David Vitter
Mr. Vitter is a U.S. senator from Louisiana who is running for re-election in 2010. According to his Wikipedia bio:
In early July 2007, Vitter's phone number was included in a published list of phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates, a company owned and run by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, also known as the "D.C. Madam", convicted by the U.S. government for running a prostitution service. Hustler identified the phone number and contacted Vitter's office to ask about his connection to Palfrey.[21][22] The following day, Vitter issued a written statement:
“ This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible. Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there — with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way.[23] ”
The statement containing Vitter's apology said his telephone number was included in phone records dating from his days as a member of the House of Representatives.[10] Phone records show that Vitter's number was called by Palfrey's service five times, the first on October 12, 1999, and the last on February 27, 2001.[24] Two calls were placed while House roll call votes were in progress.[25][26]
On July 16, 2007, after a week of self-imposed seclusion, Vitter emerged and called a news conference. Standing next to his wife, Vitter asked the public for forgiveness. Following Vitter's remarks, Wendy Vitter, his wife, spoke. Both refused to answer any questions.[27][28][29]
As background, several news outlets reported that in May 1999, Vitter replaced Congressman Bob Livingston after Livingston resigned due to an adultery scandal.[5][30][31] Vitter said about Livingston's decision to resign, "It's obviously a tremendous loss for the state. I think Livingston's stepping down makes a very powerful argument that Clinton should resign as well and move beyond this mess", referring to Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky scandal.[32]
Oh, and by the way, Vitter has also been named as a client of New Orleans prostitutes when he was home. He reportedly liked for the hookers to make him wear diapers.
Damn, all this kinky shit makes me feel so straight-laced. I thought it was liberal Democrats who were supposed to be sleazy!
That leads me to a thought I've had a few times: Repression only represses; it doesn't eliminate the thought. I think right-wingers often grow up in homes that repress sexuality, and we're merely seeing what tends to emerge from that milieu when the people decide to "act out."
So, the next time you hear somebody call Obama a socialist, don't just think in terms of ideological foolishness. But -- it probably wouldn't be wise, either, to ask this Republican what color of silk panties he's wearing.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
With Health Care And Appointments, Obama Has Told GOP: I'm Not Jimmy Carter
By Manifesto Joe
I hope he's not LBJ, either, with the two foreign quagmires he inherited from Il Doofus. But he seems to have put the Republicans on well-deserved notice. He genuinely tried to work with them, and they are quite determined not to let it happen.
So, Obama decided to use the current congressional recess to put through 15 stalled appointments that are holding up the wheels of government. Here's the story from Yahoo! News.
The Republicans are, ironically, braying like jackasses about this, even after they have threatened the filibuster in many unprecedented ways to hold up routine nominations. I think they need to reconsider their choice of animal mascots. The elephant is a noble creature, famous for its memory. Nothing could be further from the current Republican reality.
Jimmy Carter is arguably the best former U.S. president -- a man unquestionably ethical, and of very high intelligence. Unfortunately, he wasn't prepared for the kind of partisan games he encountered in Washington, perhaps because of his lack of experience in the Beltway. He will always wear the albatross of "ineffectual" in retrospectives on his presidency. I think Obama, after a sincere period of bipartisan efforts, has concluded that this is not going to be the way to get things done in the current climate.
I worried about Obama at first, and confess that I voted for Hillary Clinton in the March 2008 Democratic primary here largely because of concern about Obama's relative inexperience. It would appear though, that a few years in the Senate, plus the expert background in constitutional law, prepared him much better than widely expected.
He hasn't delivered entirely on the promise, but something is better than nothing. I'll take something.
Hit 'em again, Barry.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
I hope he's not LBJ, either, with the two foreign quagmires he inherited from Il Doofus. But he seems to have put the Republicans on well-deserved notice. He genuinely tried to work with them, and they are quite determined not to let it happen.
So, Obama decided to use the current congressional recess to put through 15 stalled appointments that are holding up the wheels of government. Here's the story from Yahoo! News.
The Republicans are, ironically, braying like jackasses about this, even after they have threatened the filibuster in many unprecedented ways to hold up routine nominations. I think they need to reconsider their choice of animal mascots. The elephant is a noble creature, famous for its memory. Nothing could be further from the current Republican reality.
Jimmy Carter is arguably the best former U.S. president -- a man unquestionably ethical, and of very high intelligence. Unfortunately, he wasn't prepared for the kind of partisan games he encountered in Washington, perhaps because of his lack of experience in the Beltway. He will always wear the albatross of "ineffectual" in retrospectives on his presidency. I think Obama, after a sincere period of bipartisan efforts, has concluded that this is not going to be the way to get things done in the current climate.
I worried about Obama at first, and confess that I voted for Hillary Clinton in the March 2008 Democratic primary here largely because of concern about Obama's relative inexperience. It would appear though, that a few years in the Senate, plus the expert background in constitutional law, prepared him much better than widely expected.
He hasn't delivered entirely on the promise, but something is better than nothing. I'll take something.
Hit 'em again, Barry.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Friday, March 26, 2010
It's Hard To Imagine, But Somehow The Republicans Just Seem To Get More Stupid
By Manifesto Joe
If there was ever a time NOT to do this, this is exactly it. But, it's probably very good, in the vast scheme of things, that today's Republicans are not exactly masters of timing.
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., decided here and now, of all times, to use his authority to block a bill and hold up jobless benefits for a lot of desperate people out there. Here's the story.
My hopes and dreams for this country are somehow, in the long run, renewed. As ineffectual as Democrats have been, and for so long -- when they have pathetic cretins like this as their opposition, that is encouraging.
More on Coburn, by the way -- one of his "amendments" to the health care bill was to deny coverage of Viagra for rapists. Yep, that's sure going to stop a lot of rapes. Great that we have such moralists as Sen. Coburn up there at bat for us.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
If there was ever a time NOT to do this, this is exactly it. But, it's probably very good, in the vast scheme of things, that today's Republicans are not exactly masters of timing.
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., decided here and now, of all times, to use his authority to block a bill and hold up jobless benefits for a lot of desperate people out there. Here's the story.
My hopes and dreams for this country are somehow, in the long run, renewed. As ineffectual as Democrats have been, and for so long -- when they have pathetic cretins like this as their opposition, that is encouraging.
More on Coburn, by the way -- one of his "amendments" to the health care bill was to deny coverage of Viagra for rapists. Yep, that's sure going to stop a lot of rapes. Great that we have such moralists as Sen. Coburn up there at bat for us.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
If You Needed Any More Proof That Many Republicans Are Contemptable Goons ...
By Manifesto Joe
I confess that I own a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook (1971). It's an interesting curiosity of the time. There's even a section on hand-to-hand combat that offers good tips for anyone who might find himself/herself facing a younger, stronger opponent.
But I own a copy of that book, as I said, mainly just as a curiosity of the period. I have firm moral convictions against the needless taking of life.
It appears that many of our "friends" on the political right wing, right now, do not share such convictions. The thugs and kooks who comprise much of the grassroots support for the Republican Party have responded to the passage of watered-down health care reform by smashing windows, making death threats, sending envelopes with white powder in them, making the ugliest phone calls imaginable, etc., etc.
Here's a rundown of what's been happening since the passage of health care "reform," with focus on a facedown between bellowing Fox "News" telegoon Bill O'Reilly and Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.
On the right, there have been specious comparisons of these extreme reactions to those on the far left during the Vietnam War era. I'm old enough to remember the differences. The far left of 40 years ago was considered, and treated as, a lunatic fringe. Not so with Tea Partiers -- the Republicans have courted and encouraged them. Now, "suddenly," they're a problem, and the so-called mainstream of the GOP isn't sure what to do with them.
But they're still trying to spin the incidents to their advantage. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the second-ranking House Republican, accused Democrats of trotting out the various threats and vandalism to their political advantage -- "fanning the flames" was how he put it.
Joseph Goebbels would have been proud of such pigshit. Who the hell has been "fanning the flames" of the Tea Party bozos since they got started?
Keep it up, Republicans. We real, working Americans might even be able to get a public option soon if you do.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
I confess that I own a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook (1971). It's an interesting curiosity of the time. There's even a section on hand-to-hand combat that offers good tips for anyone who might find himself/herself facing a younger, stronger opponent.
But I own a copy of that book, as I said, mainly just as a curiosity of the period. I have firm moral convictions against the needless taking of life.
It appears that many of our "friends" on the political right wing, right now, do not share such convictions. The thugs and kooks who comprise much of the grassroots support for the Republican Party have responded to the passage of watered-down health care reform by smashing windows, making death threats, sending envelopes with white powder in them, making the ugliest phone calls imaginable, etc., etc.
Here's a rundown of what's been happening since the passage of health care "reform," with focus on a facedown between bellowing Fox "News" telegoon Bill O'Reilly and Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.
On the right, there have been specious comparisons of these extreme reactions to those on the far left during the Vietnam War era. I'm old enough to remember the differences. The far left of 40 years ago was considered, and treated as, a lunatic fringe. Not so with Tea Partiers -- the Republicans have courted and encouraged them. Now, "suddenly," they're a problem, and the so-called mainstream of the GOP isn't sure what to do with them.
But they're still trying to spin the incidents to their advantage. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the second-ranking House Republican, accused Democrats of trotting out the various threats and vandalism to their political advantage -- "fanning the flames" was how he put it.
Joseph Goebbels would have been proud of such pigshit. Who the hell has been "fanning the flames" of the Tea Party bozos since they got started?
Keep it up, Republicans. We real, working Americans might even be able to get a public option soon if you do.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
GOP = Grand Old Psychoputzes: Poll Says 24% of Republicans Think Obama May Be The Anti-Christ
By Manifesto Joe
That's according to a newly released Harris Poll. That's right -- nearly one-fourth of Republicans in the sample think President Barack Obama may be the anti-Christ.
Where's the theme from The Twilight Zone when you need it?
Here's the story -- from The Raw Story.
Among the other responses: Two-thirds of Republicans think Obama is a socialist. Some 57 percent think he's a Muslim. And, 45 percent agree with Birthers that Obama wasn't born in the U.S. and therefore isn't qualified to be president.
I will concede that, during my years as a progressive/liberal blogger, I have seen examples of kookiness on the far left. But I've also noticed that it generally occurs in a very tiny "out-there" fringe group. Among Republicans, we're talking about 2 out of 3 who are so ignorant and/or psychotic that they told pollsters that they think Obama is a socialist. The genuine socialists out there have gotten good laughs out of that one. For those who might be reading this from a contrasting view, please pick up a Webster's dictionary and look up the definition of the word "socialism."
It's hard to gauge whether this is a product of ignorance or some sort of mass lunacy. I think it's some of both. John Avlon of The Daily Beast, who has written extensively about the Republican lunatic fringe, wrote about this survey:
The poll, which surveyed 2,230 people right at the height of the health-care reform debate, also clearly shows that education is a barrier to extremism. Respondents without a college education are vastly more likely to believe such claims, while Americans with college degrees or better are less easily duped. It's a reminder of what the 19th-century educator Horace Mann once too-loftily said: "Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge."
OK, so a hell of a lot of these people are simply old-fashioned dumbshits. It reflects the vintage John Stuart Mill thought: Not all conservatives are stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.
But there are some eerie parallels to other times and places where a sort of mass madness has occurred. I seldom watch Fox "News," because it's bad for my blood pressure. But when I've watched it, it looks a lot like a far-right version of what Soviet state TV must have looked like to the people of the former Soviet Union. It's a version of "facts" that's absolutely through the looking glass, and darkly. Yet, I've been in situations like in hospitals, convenience stores, etc., where the TV authorities had nothing but Fox "News" on, 24/7.
People are being indoctrinated in this manner each and every day. And not all of them are classically stupid, or bad people. Members of my wife's extended family are almost all Republicans. Many have good hearts. Where their heads are is another matter. Some do indeed believe that Obama is a Muslim, and that the Democratic Party has been dominated by "socialists" ever since the New Deal. And, if the poll results from Harris are a good indicator, they believe many other mentally disturbed propositions as well.
Mass stupidity, sadly, has always been with us. Mass madness comes and goes. I'm very worried that we're in one of those mass-madness periods. I really hope I'm wrong.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
That's according to a newly released Harris Poll. That's right -- nearly one-fourth of Republicans in the sample think President Barack Obama may be the anti-Christ.
Where's the theme from The Twilight Zone when you need it?
Here's the story -- from The Raw Story.
Among the other responses: Two-thirds of Republicans think Obama is a socialist. Some 57 percent think he's a Muslim. And, 45 percent agree with Birthers that Obama wasn't born in the U.S. and therefore isn't qualified to be president.
I will concede that, during my years as a progressive/liberal blogger, I have seen examples of kookiness on the far left. But I've also noticed that it generally occurs in a very tiny "out-there" fringe group. Among Republicans, we're talking about 2 out of 3 who are so ignorant and/or psychotic that they told pollsters that they think Obama is a socialist. The genuine socialists out there have gotten good laughs out of that one. For those who might be reading this from a contrasting view, please pick up a Webster's dictionary and look up the definition of the word "socialism."
It's hard to gauge whether this is a product of ignorance or some sort of mass lunacy. I think it's some of both. John Avlon of The Daily Beast, who has written extensively about the Republican lunatic fringe, wrote about this survey:
The poll, which surveyed 2,230 people right at the height of the health-care reform debate, also clearly shows that education is a barrier to extremism. Respondents without a college education are vastly more likely to believe such claims, while Americans with college degrees or better are less easily duped. It's a reminder of what the 19th-century educator Horace Mann once too-loftily said: "Ignorance breeds monsters to fill up the vacancies of the soul that are unoccupied by the verities of knowledge."
OK, so a hell of a lot of these people are simply old-fashioned dumbshits. It reflects the vintage John Stuart Mill thought: Not all conservatives are stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.
But there are some eerie parallels to other times and places where a sort of mass madness has occurred. I seldom watch Fox "News," because it's bad for my blood pressure. But when I've watched it, it looks a lot like a far-right version of what Soviet state TV must have looked like to the people of the former Soviet Union. It's a version of "facts" that's absolutely through the looking glass, and darkly. Yet, I've been in situations like in hospitals, convenience stores, etc., where the TV authorities had nothing but Fox "News" on, 24/7.
People are being indoctrinated in this manner each and every day. And not all of them are classically stupid, or bad people. Members of my wife's extended family are almost all Republicans. Many have good hearts. Where their heads are is another matter. Some do indeed believe that Obama is a Muslim, and that the Democratic Party has been dominated by "socialists" ever since the New Deal. And, if the poll results from Harris are a good indicator, they believe many other mentally disturbed propositions as well.
Mass stupidity, sadly, has always been with us. Mass madness comes and goes. I'm very worried that we're in one of those mass-madness periods. I really hope I'm wrong.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Thank You, Democrats: Health Care Reform Passes, 219-212 And 220-211
By Manifesto Joe
No, it's not the bill I would have wanted. I've advocated universal single-payer for decades. But, thanks to 220 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives (first cast as 219, with 220 on a companion bill), soon I probably won't have to worry about losing my health insurance if my employer were to lay me off.
Nor will I have to worry about being turned down for any new insurance because of my pre-existing conditions. Nor will I have to worry about a dollar limit on my coverage.
As I've said before, something is better than nothing. True, there will be no public option, so the mega-insurers will continue to siphon 30 percent of premiums for "administrative costs." They certainly don't stand to lose anything from this deal. But soon, there will probably be certain ruthless things that they cannot legally do, and that represents progress.
There may be more good developments now that action on the bill has gone this far:
It's clear now that the Tea Partiers are largely racist, homophobic goons.
For those who didn't read the reports, on Saturday, a Tea Party protester in Washington spat on Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., and Tea Partiers chanted the n-word repeatedly at Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. Lewis, who was brutally beaten during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, said he had not heard or seen anything like that since the bad old days. Tea Partiers also shouted "faggot" and "homo" at Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.
The next day, as the House vote neared, Tea Party leaders tried to distance their "movement" from such behavior. But the general silliness couldn't all be contained. Some Tea Partiers suggested that the incidents didn't occur, were fabricated by the black congressmen, or that Democrats had placed plants in the crowds to stir people up.
It's possible that such behavior isn't representative of Tea Partiers -- but not probable. There have been a number of past incidents, such as one recent episode captured on video in which Tea Partiers taunted a man apparently suffering from Parkinson's disease, telling him, "No more handouts!" and such.
The Tea Party "movement" looks more and more like a bowel movement to me. Let's just hope that eventually our system has the plumbing to dispose of such excrement.
Kooks and thugs aren't just on the streets. Some of them are House members.
This just in from Yahoo! News:
Last night, as the clock approached midnight and the long House debate on health care reform was finally winding down, Rep. Bart Stupak stepped to the microphone on the floor of the chamber to deliver his remarks. As the famously anti-abortion congressman was denouncing a measure to kill the deal he'd struck earlier in the day for President Obama to issue an executive order reiterating that no federal funds would pay for abortions, a voice suddenly shouted "Baby killer!"
Today, after a flurry of media questions about the identity of the shouter, GOP Texas Rep. Randy Neugebauer stepped forward as the offending shouter—though he stipulated he actually shouted, "It's a baby killer," in reference to the unamended health care bill, and has since apologized to Stupak for any suggestion that he personally was responsible for the killing of babies. Neugebauer's confession will help speed the episode's exit from the news cycle—particularly once President Obama signs the health care bill into law and Congress moves on to fresh controversies. But the "Baby killer furor" highlights a far more serious, long-term political dilemma for the Republicans: how to appear to be a respectable Party capable of governing while also providing political shelter for the highly motivated, though vocally disruptive, protest wing of the party associated with the Tea Party movement.
Here's the complete story.
It would appear that the childish arrogance of South Carolina's Joe "You Lie" Wilson wasn't necessarily an aberration.
Another of Texas' many GOP tantrum-throwers, Rep. Joe Barton, predicted that this bill won't last. I'm old enough to recall similar forecasts about Medicare and Medicaid from the 1960s. I'm not old enough to remember those about Social Security from the 1930s, but the Republicans of the time largely said the same kind of things.
This is just one battle, not the war. Now it's got to pass the Senate and get to Obama's desk before some psychopath shoots him. Then the Democrats are going to have to successfully run on this in the fall. If the Grand Old Putzes manage to regain control of the House and make big gains in the Senate, they may try to block funding for this bill. At least that's what former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney suggested during a recent Dallas stop on his book tour.
But, history was made Sunday night -- and the right kind of history, for a change. As ineffectual as Democrats have been over the past four decades, they've mostly been on the right side of socioeconomic issues in this country for at least a century. Wanna guess who's mostly been on the wrong side?
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
No, it's not the bill I would have wanted. I've advocated universal single-payer for decades. But, thanks to 220 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives (first cast as 219, with 220 on a companion bill), soon I probably won't have to worry about losing my health insurance if my employer were to lay me off.
Nor will I have to worry about being turned down for any new insurance because of my pre-existing conditions. Nor will I have to worry about a dollar limit on my coverage.
As I've said before, something is better than nothing. True, there will be no public option, so the mega-insurers will continue to siphon 30 percent of premiums for "administrative costs." They certainly don't stand to lose anything from this deal. But soon, there will probably be certain ruthless things that they cannot legally do, and that represents progress.
There may be more good developments now that action on the bill has gone this far:
It's clear now that the Tea Partiers are largely racist, homophobic goons.
For those who didn't read the reports, on Saturday, a Tea Party protester in Washington spat on Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., and Tea Partiers chanted the n-word repeatedly at Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. Lewis, who was brutally beaten during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, said he had not heard or seen anything like that since the bad old days. Tea Partiers also shouted "faggot" and "homo" at Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.
The next day, as the House vote neared, Tea Party leaders tried to distance their "movement" from such behavior. But the general silliness couldn't all be contained. Some Tea Partiers suggested that the incidents didn't occur, were fabricated by the black congressmen, or that Democrats had placed plants in the crowds to stir people up.
It's possible that such behavior isn't representative of Tea Partiers -- but not probable. There have been a number of past incidents, such as one recent episode captured on video in which Tea Partiers taunted a man apparently suffering from Parkinson's disease, telling him, "No more handouts!" and such.
The Tea Party "movement" looks more and more like a bowel movement to me. Let's just hope that eventually our system has the plumbing to dispose of such excrement.
Kooks and thugs aren't just on the streets. Some of them are House members.
This just in from Yahoo! News:
Last night, as the clock approached midnight and the long House debate on health care reform was finally winding down, Rep. Bart Stupak stepped to the microphone on the floor of the chamber to deliver his remarks. As the famously anti-abortion congressman was denouncing a measure to kill the deal he'd struck earlier in the day for President Obama to issue an executive order reiterating that no federal funds would pay for abortions, a voice suddenly shouted "Baby killer!"
Today, after a flurry of media questions about the identity of the shouter, GOP Texas Rep. Randy Neugebauer stepped forward as the offending shouter—though he stipulated he actually shouted, "It's a baby killer," in reference to the unamended health care bill, and has since apologized to Stupak for any suggestion that he personally was responsible for the killing of babies. Neugebauer's confession will help speed the episode's exit from the news cycle—particularly once President Obama signs the health care bill into law and Congress moves on to fresh controversies. But the "Baby killer furor" highlights a far more serious, long-term political dilemma for the Republicans: how to appear to be a respectable Party capable of governing while also providing political shelter for the highly motivated, though vocally disruptive, protest wing of the party associated with the Tea Party movement.
Here's the complete story.
It would appear that the childish arrogance of South Carolina's Joe "You Lie" Wilson wasn't necessarily an aberration.
Another of Texas' many GOP tantrum-throwers, Rep. Joe Barton, predicted that this bill won't last. I'm old enough to recall similar forecasts about Medicare and Medicaid from the 1960s. I'm not old enough to remember those about Social Security from the 1930s, but the Republicans of the time largely said the same kind of things.
This is just one battle, not the war. Now it's got to pass the Senate and get to Obama's desk before some psychopath shoots him. Then the Democrats are going to have to successfully run on this in the fall. If the Grand Old Putzes manage to regain control of the House and make big gains in the Senate, they may try to block funding for this bill. At least that's what former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney suggested during a recent Dallas stop on his book tour.
But, history was made Sunday night -- and the right kind of history, for a change. As ineffectual as Democrats have been over the past four decades, they've mostly been on the right side of socioeconomic issues in this country for at least a century. Wanna guess who's mostly been on the wrong side?
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Let's Buy Hannity And O'Reilly Blackboards And Have Proof That They're Crazy, Too
By Manifesto Joe
Glenn Beck plays the crying game, from multiple perspectives:
Keith Olbermann is in the habit of calling Glenn "Lonesome Rhodes." (For those unfamiliar, "Lonesome" is an Arkansas hayseed who rises to TV talk-show fame and soon becomes a megalomaniac, played superbly by Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd (1957).)
I'm a bit worried that he's more like a fascist version of psycho TV anchorman Howard Beale in Network (1976). Beck has made the comparison himself. I'm not making it in any flattering manner. Is he or ain't he nuts? And which way is he more dangerous? We report. You decide.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Glenn Beck plays the crying game, from multiple perspectives:
Keith Olbermann is in the habit of calling Glenn "Lonesome Rhodes." (For those unfamiliar, "Lonesome" is an Arkansas hayseed who rises to TV talk-show fame and soon becomes a megalomaniac, played superbly by Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd (1957).)
I'm a bit worried that he's more like a fascist version of psycho TV anchorman Howard Beale in Network (1976). Beck has made the comparison himself. I'm not making it in any flattering manner. Is he or ain't he nuts? And which way is he more dangerous? We report. You decide.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Monday, March 15, 2010
History Is Written By The Winners: Texas Schoolbook Flap Nothing New
By Manifesto Joe
The old story goes like this: In Texas in the late 1940s, two Hispanic men walk into a restaurant and sit, waiting to order. The wait person comes up and tells them, "We don't serve Mexicans."
One of the men replies, "I don't want to eat a Mexican."
Thankfully, it's been illegal since 1964 for Texas restaurants to exclude Hispanics. Not so, however, with our state's public-school textbooks.
On Friday, the State Board of Education, now dominated by "conservatives," voted 10-5 to preliminarily adopt a social studies curriculum that, according to the dissenting minority, fails to recognize the achievements of minorities in Texas history.
Among other things, the board rejected a proposal to have the books mention that Hispanics were among the fallen heroes of the famous 1836 siege of the Alamo. That doesn't seem like much to ask -- I recall that Seguin, a town in the South Texas region where I'm from, is named after Juan Seguin, one of the great Hispanic heroes of the Texas Revolution. There were others besides him, and the men at the Alamo.
Things got a little ugly the day before. One of the minority members of the board, Mary Helen Berlanga of Corpus Christi, walked out of the session Thursday, accusing her fellow board members of "whitewashing" the social studies standards.
"I'm leaving," Berlanga told The Associated Press. "We can just pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don't exist."
One place I'm not going to go is -- how Texas became part of the U.S. It's often been characterized as an outright theft from Mexico. Judging from what all I've read, it was a multifaceted, messy clash between two cultures that would have produced grievances had it gone either way.
The point is, one of the basic facts pushed by the minority board members is that there were quite notably Hispanics among those who rebelled against the dictatorship of Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Refusing to recognize them does indeed seem like a cheesy, Anglocentric whitewash.
When I think of all the cities, towns, rivers and such here with Hispanic names -- San Antonio, El Paso, Corpus Christi, Laredo, Amarillo, San Angelo, Agua Dulce, Port Lavaca, Gonzales, Del Rio, Palacios, Padre Island, the Rio Grande, the Brazos River, etc., it leaves no doubt as to the huge imprint that Hispanic culture has had here. Our indigenous cuisine, known as Tex-Mex, is a blend of food from two cultures. Yet, the whitewash continues. The "English only" movement is alive and well, and there remain many "Minutemen" chapters who have immigrants with Hispanic surnames in the crosshairs.
But, sadly, this is nothing really new. "History" by omission has left gaps in Texas schoolbooks for generations.
In high school, my best subject was history. I won two academic awards, and placed out of 6 college hours of U.S. history by taking a CLEP test. Yet, I've learned more history in some ways through independent adult reading than I ever did in school. To wit:
-- The U.S. basically picked a needless fight with Spain in the 1898 Spanish-American War, and seized the European country's colonies. A "pacification" of the indigenous population followed in the Philippines, one which, during the first years of the 20th century, led to the deaths of about 1 million Filipinos. The Turkish slaughter of Armenians about a decade later is often referred to as the first great genocide of the 20th century. Wrong -- that describes what the U.S. did to the Philippines years before. None other than Mark Twain was a leader of the opposition to the "pacification." "Thirty thousand killed a million," referring to the size of the U.S. military force and their victims, was a slogan of the opposition.
-- Now we get into an area long known to CIA insiders as "blowback." The former Spanish colony of Cuba became an American puppet state for decades. The U.S. turned the island into a big plantation/casino/whorehouse, at the expense of the indigenous population, and then acted shocked, shocked, when communist rebels overthrew the Batista regime and remain in control 51 years later. Hey, how did that happen?
-- The U.S. had a long history in Nicaragua before the modern Sandinistas overthrew the Somoza dictatorship. The Somoza family led a succession of puppet governments for decades after American soldiers chased Sandino and his rebels around the Central American countryside. Our Marines were down there so many times, they should have just renamed the place Camp LeJeune South.
-- In Iran, the CIA, with a contingent led by Teddy Roosevelt's grandson, overthrew a legitimate nationalist government in 1953 and set the Shah back up in power. In 1979, the situation blew up in "our" faces, and a militant anti-American government has been in power there ever since. Hey, how did that happen, too?
I could go on, but that would make this post too long. Suffice it to say that "official" history has always been written by the "winners," or at least the majority. The real stories are often only available from unofficial sources. Those who have somehow managed to learn better, well -- they shouldn't be the least bit surprised that it's still going on.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
The old story goes like this: In Texas in the late 1940s, two Hispanic men walk into a restaurant and sit, waiting to order. The wait person comes up and tells them, "We don't serve Mexicans."
One of the men replies, "I don't want to eat a Mexican."
Thankfully, it's been illegal since 1964 for Texas restaurants to exclude Hispanics. Not so, however, with our state's public-school textbooks.
On Friday, the State Board of Education, now dominated by "conservatives," voted 10-5 to preliminarily adopt a social studies curriculum that, according to the dissenting minority, fails to recognize the achievements of minorities in Texas history.
Among other things, the board rejected a proposal to have the books mention that Hispanics were among the fallen heroes of the famous 1836 siege of the Alamo. That doesn't seem like much to ask -- I recall that Seguin, a town in the South Texas region where I'm from, is named after Juan Seguin, one of the great Hispanic heroes of the Texas Revolution. There were others besides him, and the men at the Alamo.
Things got a little ugly the day before. One of the minority members of the board, Mary Helen Berlanga of Corpus Christi, walked out of the session Thursday, accusing her fellow board members of "whitewashing" the social studies standards.
"I'm leaving," Berlanga told The Associated Press. "We can just pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don't exist."
One place I'm not going to go is -- how Texas became part of the U.S. It's often been characterized as an outright theft from Mexico. Judging from what all I've read, it was a multifaceted, messy clash between two cultures that would have produced grievances had it gone either way.
The point is, one of the basic facts pushed by the minority board members is that there were quite notably Hispanics among those who rebelled against the dictatorship of Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Refusing to recognize them does indeed seem like a cheesy, Anglocentric whitewash.
When I think of all the cities, towns, rivers and such here with Hispanic names -- San Antonio, El Paso, Corpus Christi, Laredo, Amarillo, San Angelo, Agua Dulce, Port Lavaca, Gonzales, Del Rio, Palacios, Padre Island, the Rio Grande, the Brazos River, etc., it leaves no doubt as to the huge imprint that Hispanic culture has had here. Our indigenous cuisine, known as Tex-Mex, is a blend of food from two cultures. Yet, the whitewash continues. The "English only" movement is alive and well, and there remain many "Minutemen" chapters who have immigrants with Hispanic surnames in the crosshairs.
But, sadly, this is nothing really new. "History" by omission has left gaps in Texas schoolbooks for generations.
In high school, my best subject was history. I won two academic awards, and placed out of 6 college hours of U.S. history by taking a CLEP test. Yet, I've learned more history in some ways through independent adult reading than I ever did in school. To wit:
-- The U.S. basically picked a needless fight with Spain in the 1898 Spanish-American War, and seized the European country's colonies. A "pacification" of the indigenous population followed in the Philippines, one which, during the first years of the 20th century, led to the deaths of about 1 million Filipinos. The Turkish slaughter of Armenians about a decade later is often referred to as the first great genocide of the 20th century. Wrong -- that describes what the U.S. did to the Philippines years before. None other than Mark Twain was a leader of the opposition to the "pacification." "Thirty thousand killed a million," referring to the size of the U.S. military force and their victims, was a slogan of the opposition.
-- Now we get into an area long known to CIA insiders as "blowback." The former Spanish colony of Cuba became an American puppet state for decades. The U.S. turned the island into a big plantation/casino/whorehouse, at the expense of the indigenous population, and then acted shocked, shocked, when communist rebels overthrew the Batista regime and remain in control 51 years later. Hey, how did that happen?
-- The U.S. had a long history in Nicaragua before the modern Sandinistas overthrew the Somoza dictatorship. The Somoza family led a succession of puppet governments for decades after American soldiers chased Sandino and his rebels around the Central American countryside. Our Marines were down there so many times, they should have just renamed the place Camp LeJeune South.
-- In Iran, the CIA, with a contingent led by Teddy Roosevelt's grandson, overthrew a legitimate nationalist government in 1953 and set the Shah back up in power. In 1979, the situation blew up in "our" faces, and a militant anti-American government has been in power there ever since. Hey, how did that happen, too?
I could go on, but that would make this post too long. Suffice it to say that "official" history has always been written by the "winners," or at least the majority. The real stories are often only available from unofficial sources. Those who have somehow managed to learn better, well -- they shouldn't be the least bit surprised that it's still going on.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
DeLay Brings Yet More Shame Upon Texas -- Those Shiftless Unemployed
By Manifesto Joe
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay embodies a chapter of Texas history that I wish could be forgotten. But, he keeps resurfacing in all sorts of repulsive ways, including his embarrassing turn on Dancing With the Stars. Then on Sunday, he goes on CNN's State of the Union and basically says that people are unemployed because they want to be.
Here's the Huffington Post report on this, including a brief transcript.
DeLay, while he was out and about making an ass of himself, also voiced admiration for senile Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning for tying up the Senate and screwing around hundreds of thousands of people, federal employees as well as the jobless, for days before finally backing down.
Mr. DeLay obviously needs to be enlightened about a few things. Let's just start with my own situation.
If I were to lose my job tomorrow, catastrophe would soon follow. Unemployment benefits generally run about $300 a week. That's not exactly an incentive to stay jobless. With the mortgage payments I've got to make, and the debt I have to service because of past illnesses in my family, and my own chronic health condition stemming from severe allergies, that wouldn't go far at all. Job loss for me, now, would likely mean bankruptcy, and probably having to sell my home for much less than it's worth.
Mr. DeLay also has obviously never known any common person who has endured a prolonged period of unemployment. I know a man who went through this ordeal, and he's a Type 1 insulin-dependent diabetic, too. He went through months of sleepless anxiety over his situation. And, ever since rebounding from this job loss, he's been scraping by on part-time jobs. He's never had money to retrain for something else -- not on the bare subsistence that unemployment benefits provide.
Leaving office in a cloud of scandal apparently wasn't enough to shame Mr. DeLay into private life. He seems to feel a compulsion to make a fool of himself again and again, years after his initial disgrace.
Texas has already had plenty of people, including one of the worst U.S. presidents ever, to make us look bad. Put a sock in it, Mr. DeLay.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay embodies a chapter of Texas history that I wish could be forgotten. But, he keeps resurfacing in all sorts of repulsive ways, including his embarrassing turn on Dancing With the Stars. Then on Sunday, he goes on CNN's State of the Union and basically says that people are unemployed because they want to be.
Here's the Huffington Post report on this, including a brief transcript.
DeLay, while he was out and about making an ass of himself, also voiced admiration for senile Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning for tying up the Senate and screwing around hundreds of thousands of people, federal employees as well as the jobless, for days before finally backing down.
Mr. DeLay obviously needs to be enlightened about a few things. Let's just start with my own situation.
If I were to lose my job tomorrow, catastrophe would soon follow. Unemployment benefits generally run about $300 a week. That's not exactly an incentive to stay jobless. With the mortgage payments I've got to make, and the debt I have to service because of past illnesses in my family, and my own chronic health condition stemming from severe allergies, that wouldn't go far at all. Job loss for me, now, would likely mean bankruptcy, and probably having to sell my home for much less than it's worth.
Mr. DeLay also has obviously never known any common person who has endured a prolonged period of unemployment. I know a man who went through this ordeal, and he's a Type 1 insulin-dependent diabetic, too. He went through months of sleepless anxiety over his situation. And, ever since rebounding from this job loss, he's been scraping by on part-time jobs. He's never had money to retrain for something else -- not on the bare subsistence that unemployment benefits provide.
Leaving office in a cloud of scandal apparently wasn't enough to shame Mr. DeLay into private life. He seems to feel a compulsion to make a fool of himself again and again, years after his initial disgrace.
Texas has already had plenty of people, including one of the worst U.S. presidents ever, to make us look bad. Put a sock in it, Mr. DeLay.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Mr. Greenjeans For Governor Of Texas
By Manifesto Joe
Last week, Texas' long-suffering Democratic Party overwhelmingly voted for Houston Mayor Bill White as the nominee to challenge Gov. Rick "Governor Goodhair" Perry in November.
Even though White looks remarkably like Mr. Greenjeans from Captain Kangaroo, and is perhaps even less telegenic, he's believed to be the first Texas Democrat since Ann Richards to have a realistic chance at upsetting a GOP opponent for governor. But it's hard to tell that when one talks to many Anglos around here -- almost all members of my wife's large extended family are Republicans.
White has the image of a bald, bland, moderate technocrat, which should play to his advantage in a conservative state. Of course, the other side is painting him as a flaming closet liberal. That's not surprising, though I would give some Texas Republicans credit for being a shade to the left of Mussolini.
Another thing that may work in White's favor -- a surprising number of independent Texans, after more than nine years, are sick of having a laughingstock for governor. Perry had three challengers in the 2006 general election, and won with less than 40 percent of the vote. He could be vulnerable this time as well.
But Perry, for all his surface buffoonery, has something in common with fellow buffoon George W. Bush -- he somehow keeps winning. He's already Texas' longest-serving governor, and if he wins again, he'll be on his way to 14 years in office. In purely vote-getting terms, he must be doing something right. In trouncing U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and wingnut Debra Medina in last week's GOP primary, he certainly seems to have kept his base among the Republican right wing.
Here's a sample of the kind of silliness Texans can expect if they have the poor judgment to elect Perry for another four years. During the primary campaign, Governor Goodhair proposed a sort of cyber high school for those at high risk of dropping out. In other words, high school by computer for those whose family situations make it hard for them to be in class five days a week.
This is a harebrained idea straight out of Highland Park, where they must think everybody has a battery-powered laptop and a smart phone. It's certainly out of touch with the realities of the barrio, the ghetto and the colonia. It's even out of touch with the circumstances faced by many working-class Anglo kids.
For starters, America has already become largely divided into two groups: people who have personal computers, and those who don't. The latter group tends to be either very young or very old, and above all, poor. How likely is it that a minority teenager, perhaps being raised by a working single mother or a grandmother, will have easy access to a Web-connected personal computer? These days, there would be some. But the computer-less among us would include a heavy concentration of youths who are probably at the highest risk to become dropouts.
Ah, but can't they get cheap computers for teens whose families can't afford them? And wouldn't that be no more expensive than having the kid attend school in the conventional way?
OK -- now, what happens when the computer crashes? One of the big reasons yours truly is posting for the first time in over 10 days is that my computer was infected with a "rootkit." I wrestled with that for days, running anti-virus software that was ineffective. Finally, I had to pay a tidy little sum to a geek service to get my machine disinfected. In cyber high school, where is that money going to come from?
Anyway -- I don't know much about White or what he advocates for the state. I suppose we'll learn more about that in coming months. But I'm already for him. I'll take the bland technocrat over the laughingstock any day.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Last week, Texas' long-suffering Democratic Party overwhelmingly voted for Houston Mayor Bill White as the nominee to challenge Gov. Rick "Governor Goodhair" Perry in November.
Even though White looks remarkably like Mr. Greenjeans from Captain Kangaroo, and is perhaps even less telegenic, he's believed to be the first Texas Democrat since Ann Richards to have a realistic chance at upsetting a GOP opponent for governor. But it's hard to tell that when one talks to many Anglos around here -- almost all members of my wife's large extended family are Republicans.
White has the image of a bald, bland, moderate technocrat, which should play to his advantage in a conservative state. Of course, the other side is painting him as a flaming closet liberal. That's not surprising, though I would give some Texas Republicans credit for being a shade to the left of Mussolini.
Another thing that may work in White's favor -- a surprising number of independent Texans, after more than nine years, are sick of having a laughingstock for governor. Perry had three challengers in the 2006 general election, and won with less than 40 percent of the vote. He could be vulnerable this time as well.
But Perry, for all his surface buffoonery, has something in common with fellow buffoon George W. Bush -- he somehow keeps winning. He's already Texas' longest-serving governor, and if he wins again, he'll be on his way to 14 years in office. In purely vote-getting terms, he must be doing something right. In trouncing U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and wingnut Debra Medina in last week's GOP primary, he certainly seems to have kept his base among the Republican right wing.
Here's a sample of the kind of silliness Texans can expect if they have the poor judgment to elect Perry for another four years. During the primary campaign, Governor Goodhair proposed a sort of cyber high school for those at high risk of dropping out. In other words, high school by computer for those whose family situations make it hard for them to be in class five days a week.
This is a harebrained idea straight out of Highland Park, where they must think everybody has a battery-powered laptop and a smart phone. It's certainly out of touch with the realities of the barrio, the ghetto and the colonia. It's even out of touch with the circumstances faced by many working-class Anglo kids.
For starters, America has already become largely divided into two groups: people who have personal computers, and those who don't. The latter group tends to be either very young or very old, and above all, poor. How likely is it that a minority teenager, perhaps being raised by a working single mother or a grandmother, will have easy access to a Web-connected personal computer? These days, there would be some. But the computer-less among us would include a heavy concentration of youths who are probably at the highest risk to become dropouts.
Ah, but can't they get cheap computers for teens whose families can't afford them? And wouldn't that be no more expensive than having the kid attend school in the conventional way?
OK -- now, what happens when the computer crashes? One of the big reasons yours truly is posting for the first time in over 10 days is that my computer was infected with a "rootkit." I wrestled with that for days, running anti-virus software that was ineffective. Finally, I had to pay a tidy little sum to a geek service to get my machine disinfected. In cyber high school, where is that money going to come from?
Anyway -- I don't know much about White or what he advocates for the state. I suppose we'll learn more about that in coming months. But I'm already for him. I'll take the bland technocrat over the laughingstock any day.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Obama Needs To Remind McCain Once More: 'The Election Is Over'
By Manifesto Joe
There's nothing in the Constitution about a three-fifths Senate majority required for approval of anything. It's time to run these obstructionist shitheads over.
The Thursday show, intended to be a public summit on health care, ended up illustrating one thing quite clearly: Congressional Republicans are going to obstruct anything that President Barack Obama tries to do. It's time to roll over these assholes with a Peterbilt truck.
During the exchanges, Obama reminded Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that "the election is over." McCain snippily came back with something like, "Yes, I'm reminded of that every day."
Obama ignored that and took the high road. I'd say he's taken the high road long enough. I wish to God he'd said something back like, "Well, I'm here to remind you of that again today, senator."
It's time to throw that 60-vote Senate "rule" out, and put these right-wing, special-interest-ass-licking minority shitheads in their proper place. The American people want health care reform, and they clearly voted for it. A simple majority in both houses of Congress, followed by a presidential signature, can bring it. Let's have it. And since we're at it, let's do the public option, too.
I'm not sure what the ramifications would be in November, but it looks as though the Democrats are damned if they do, and damned if they don't, anyway. It's time to rip these sons of bitches three or four new assholes.
Democrats -- real ones, that is -- it's time to go barefisted. These people have used the filibuster with unprecedented frequency, even to block midlevel nominees. It's time to turn them into road kill. Make the filibuster history, and give this country back to the American people.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
There's nothing in the Constitution about a three-fifths Senate majority required for approval of anything. It's time to run these obstructionist shitheads over.
The Thursday show, intended to be a public summit on health care, ended up illustrating one thing quite clearly: Congressional Republicans are going to obstruct anything that President Barack Obama tries to do. It's time to roll over these assholes with a Peterbilt truck.
During the exchanges, Obama reminded Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that "the election is over." McCain snippily came back with something like, "Yes, I'm reminded of that every day."
Obama ignored that and took the high road. I'd say he's taken the high road long enough. I wish to God he'd said something back like, "Well, I'm here to remind you of that again today, senator."
It's time to throw that 60-vote Senate "rule" out, and put these right-wing, special-interest-ass-licking minority shitheads in their proper place. The American people want health care reform, and they clearly voted for it. A simple majority in both houses of Congress, followed by a presidential signature, can bring it. Let's have it. And since we're at it, let's do the public option, too.
I'm not sure what the ramifications would be in November, but it looks as though the Democrats are damned if they do, and damned if they don't, anyway. It's time to rip these sons of bitches three or four new assholes.
Democrats -- real ones, that is -- it's time to go barefisted. These people have used the filibuster with unprecedented frequency, even to block midlevel nominees. It's time to turn them into road kill. Make the filibuster history, and give this country back to the American people.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Monday, February 22, 2010
'Amaricas Congress Woman,' Moron Michele Bachmann, Is Entitled To Her Own Opinion, Not To Her Own Version Of History
By Manifesto Joe
You read that title right. The Web site www.michelebachmann.com actually has America misspelled, and with no apostrophe. Do a search. I don't frequent her home page, so I have no idea how long the Yahoo! search engine has been like that.
Texas has long had a Republican Party platform that makes John Birch Society screeds from the 1960s look moderate. So, I would have thought that no other state could produce a blend of moronic and psychotic quite like this. I'd have to say that Minnesota "Congress Woman" Michele Bachmann wins the prize, far and away, over anything this state has ever produced. Her head is so far up her ass, it's threatening to emerge from her throat.
Here's a video, courtesy of no-spin C-Span, showing Bachmann in all her egregious reign of error:
For someone who knows anything about American history, this batshit insanity is so breathtaking that it's hard to know where to begin. And it was spoken by a member of Congress, on the House floor. Of course, I have to throw in that this is a member of Congress who went to college at Oral Roberts University. (aka "Anal" Roberts)
Well, OK, for starters -- the "Hoot-Smalley" tariff was actually the Smoot-Hawley protectionist tariff. It was enacted in 1930, by a Republican-controlled Congress, and signed into law during the first year of the Great Depression by Republican President Herbert Hoover. It predated the New Deal by well over two years. Hoover told the American people that "prosperity is just around the corner." Joblessness rose to nearly 25% before he left office.
Bachmann's Ignorance About History is Nothing Short of Obscene
Let's go on. Calvin Coolidge became president in August 1923, closer to the middle 1920s rather than the "early" 1920s that she talks about. The postwar recession in America was long over by then. It was his thick-headed, horny predecessor, Warren Gamaliel Harding, who inherited a recession. If I recall correctly, Harding played poker and drank whiskey with the larcenous Ohio Gang, and made lots of kissy-face and little nasties with Nan Britton in the White House broom closet, waiting for the whole ugly mess to blow over. He died relatively young, dumb and possibly happy.
Anyway, by Bachmann's "historical account," the "Roaring Twenties" are supposed to have followed Coolidge's supply-side economic policies, which could not have gone into effect until the midpoint of the decade. I have the historical impression that the unbalanced "boom" of the Twenties was already well under way by 1923. Unfortunately, a lot of small towns and rural farm areas weren't included in the "boom." I recall this as one of the weak underpinnings of the 1920s U.S. economy.
Then, according to the scribes of Bachmann Land, the economic downturn that followed the stock market crash of 1929 was supposed to have been a manageable recession. I hear this is what she told CPAC conventioneers in her recent speech to them.
But that evil collectivist demon FDR managed to get the "Hoot-Smalley" tariff passed in 1930, which was an unprecedented feat, since Roosevelt was governor of New York state at the time and the Republicans still controlled Congress.
Yep, then the unemployment rate during that "manageable recession" got close to 25 percent during the grim winter of 1932-33. FDR, still governor of New York, had his evil collectivist tallons dug into the country's fair loins, long before he took office on March 4, 1933.
Aleister Crowley, eat your Satan-worshipping heart out. That FDR dude had astounding mind-control powers that left you and your magic circles in the damp English dust.
Anyway, the American people supposedly suffered for 10 long years under the yoke of that demonic collectivist FDR. But somewhere in the dregs of my mind, I seem to recall that unemployment, though still high, generally trended down after he took office. And, he was obstructed by a right-wing Supreme Court that declared two of his crucial programs unconstitutional. He managed to eventually work around them, and by 1940 the annual unemployment rate was down to 14.6 percent. Then it plunged into single digits when that demonic, collectivist federal government stepped in and put the country on a war footing.
A Basic U.S. History Test for Members of Congress
I hear that Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., proposed during a speech to Tea Party imbeciles that the U.S. should bring back literacy tests for voting.
I have a better idea -- not mine originally, but I want to help give this a hearing. Michele Bachmann is a prime example of why all members of Congress should be able to pass a basic literacy test in American history.
I'm not a historian, but I almost didn't have to be. I took a CLEP test when I was a senior in high school and placed out of 6 hrs. of American history. (Yeah, I know, what a braggart, and why the hell ain't you rich?)
Point is, I would expect even the fucking dumbest member of Congress to know more genuine American history than Michele Bachmann. I don't think a basic cultural literacy test for our Washington reps is something that should be out of the question, since Mr. Tancredo is bringing up standards of republican democracy here.
I find it deeply embarrassing that someone with this much shit for brains can even hold office this high. It makes me feel shame for our country that anyone out there even listens to this fool. Then, there's the matter of how she ever got elected to be anything, even dogcatcher. I own dogs that seem smarter.
By the way, where have the news media been during all this? I know they've been treating right-wingers deferentially, for fear of being accused of liberal bias. But reporters aren't supposed to be just stenographers with amnesia. Joseph Pulitzer said the 3 most important things in journalism are "accuracy, accuracy and accuracy." Politicians should be held to a similar standard. They are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
You read that title right. The Web site www.michelebachmann.com actually has America misspelled, and with no apostrophe. Do a search. I don't frequent her home page, so I have no idea how long the Yahoo! search engine has been like that.
Texas has long had a Republican Party platform that makes John Birch Society screeds from the 1960s look moderate. So, I would have thought that no other state could produce a blend of moronic and psychotic quite like this. I'd have to say that Minnesota "Congress Woman" Michele Bachmann wins the prize, far and away, over anything this state has ever produced. Her head is so far up her ass, it's threatening to emerge from her throat.
Here's a video, courtesy of no-spin C-Span, showing Bachmann in all her egregious reign of error:
For someone who knows anything about American history, this batshit insanity is so breathtaking that it's hard to know where to begin. And it was spoken by a member of Congress, on the House floor. Of course, I have to throw in that this is a member of Congress who went to college at Oral Roberts University. (aka "Anal" Roberts)
Well, OK, for starters -- the "Hoot-Smalley" tariff was actually the Smoot-Hawley protectionist tariff. It was enacted in 1930, by a Republican-controlled Congress, and signed into law during the first year of the Great Depression by Republican President Herbert Hoover. It predated the New Deal by well over two years. Hoover told the American people that "prosperity is just around the corner." Joblessness rose to nearly 25% before he left office.
Bachmann's Ignorance About History is Nothing Short of Obscene
Let's go on. Calvin Coolidge became president in August 1923, closer to the middle 1920s rather than the "early" 1920s that she talks about. The postwar recession in America was long over by then. It was his thick-headed, horny predecessor, Warren Gamaliel Harding, who inherited a recession. If I recall correctly, Harding played poker and drank whiskey with the larcenous Ohio Gang, and made lots of kissy-face and little nasties with Nan Britton in the White House broom closet, waiting for the whole ugly mess to blow over. He died relatively young, dumb and possibly happy.
Anyway, by Bachmann's "historical account," the "Roaring Twenties" are supposed to have followed Coolidge's supply-side economic policies, which could not have gone into effect until the midpoint of the decade. I have the historical impression that the unbalanced "boom" of the Twenties was already well under way by 1923. Unfortunately, a lot of small towns and rural farm areas weren't included in the "boom." I recall this as one of the weak underpinnings of the 1920s U.S. economy.
Then, according to the scribes of Bachmann Land, the economic downturn that followed the stock market crash of 1929 was supposed to have been a manageable recession. I hear this is what she told CPAC conventioneers in her recent speech to them.
But that evil collectivist demon FDR managed to get the "Hoot-Smalley" tariff passed in 1930, which was an unprecedented feat, since Roosevelt was governor of New York state at the time and the Republicans still controlled Congress.
Yep, then the unemployment rate during that "manageable recession" got close to 25 percent during the grim winter of 1932-33. FDR, still governor of New York, had his evil collectivist tallons dug into the country's fair loins, long before he took office on March 4, 1933.
Aleister Crowley, eat your Satan-worshipping heart out. That FDR dude had astounding mind-control powers that left you and your magic circles in the damp English dust.
Anyway, the American people supposedly suffered for 10 long years under the yoke of that demonic collectivist FDR. But somewhere in the dregs of my mind, I seem to recall that unemployment, though still high, generally trended down after he took office. And, he was obstructed by a right-wing Supreme Court that declared two of his crucial programs unconstitutional. He managed to eventually work around them, and by 1940 the annual unemployment rate was down to 14.6 percent. Then it plunged into single digits when that demonic, collectivist federal government stepped in and put the country on a war footing.
A Basic U.S. History Test for Members of Congress
I hear that Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., proposed during a speech to Tea Party imbeciles that the U.S. should bring back literacy tests for voting.
I have a better idea -- not mine originally, but I want to help give this a hearing. Michele Bachmann is a prime example of why all members of Congress should be able to pass a basic literacy test in American history.
I'm not a historian, but I almost didn't have to be. I took a CLEP test when I was a senior in high school and placed out of 6 hrs. of American history. (Yeah, I know, what a braggart, and why the hell ain't you rich?)
Point is, I would expect even the fucking dumbest member of Congress to know more genuine American history than Michele Bachmann. I don't think a basic cultural literacy test for our Washington reps is something that should be out of the question, since Mr. Tancredo is bringing up standards of republican democracy here.
I find it deeply embarrassing that someone with this much shit for brains can even hold office this high. It makes me feel shame for our country that anyone out there even listens to this fool. Then, there's the matter of how she ever got elected to be anything, even dogcatcher. I own dogs that seem smarter.
By the way, where have the news media been during all this? I know they've been treating right-wingers deferentially, for fear of being accused of liberal bias. But reporters aren't supposed to be just stenographers with amnesia. Joseph Pulitzer said the 3 most important things in journalism are "accuracy, accuracy and accuracy." Politicians should be held to a similar standard. They are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
For The Record, My Real Name Is Not Joseph Stack
By Manifesto Joe
I've noticed my blog traffic stats picking up a lot since that nutjob in Austin crashed a plane into a building housing IRS offices. Of course, it would probably not be technologically possible, or at least not likely, for me to still be posting posthumously. But I want all out there to know, this isn't me, and I was as shocked as anyone else.
I guess the reason I'm getting this extra traffic is from obvious search words like "Joe," "manifesto" and "Texas." That would bring a certain number of people here even if they had no such intention.
It may also make what few regular readers I have curious as to why I hadn't commented about this yet. I wanted to see as much about this as I could before venturing an opinion.
From what I can tell, this was a guy who fell on hard times for two reasons. One, the tax code was changed in a way that was detrimental to him. Two, I'd say he made a lot of shitty decisions on his own. In any case, he came to demonize the IRS to such a degree that he would do a batshit insane thing such as this.
I can understand Mr. Stack being pissed off at the IRS. I've only had one run-in with them in my time on Earth, and I found them to be supremely arrogant assholes, almost unbelievably so. I suppose it's like with police agencies -- there are some good, dutiful folks among them, but the profession is such that it attracts a disproportionate number of jackasses.
But in hindsight, I didn't find the IRS to be any worse than a great many other American institutions, most notably health-care insurers such as Aetna. I'm singling them out for this reason: I took a couple of days of unpaid leave to be at my mother's deathbed. This insurance company, on a technicality, would not recognize the leave days as legitimate. Fortunately, my employer didn't want to fire me over this, and I wasn't being paid for those days anyway. But it goes to show how incredible things can get with such institutional psychosis. By the way, if you can help it, never buy any insurance product from Aetna. They will do anything and everything they can not to pay a cent, or do anything else. In my case, my employer leaves me no choice.
But, back to the Joe Stack case: I carefully monitored reactions among the wingnut fringe, and found many of them to be surprisingly careful. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh were assholes as usual, but relatively circumspect. There were many of the usual lunatic comments all over the Internet, but the higher-profile people seemed to take very careful steps for a change.
One notable exception is the newly elected Republican senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown. He managed to hurt himself somewhat; but of course, people have short memories.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/hottopics/archives/195075.asp
Bearing through tech problems, here's what he had to say about it. You may have to type the address in yourself.
Anyway, I read parts of Mr. Stack's "manifesto" that he put online. It's hard to make out anything linear there, other than that he fiercely resented having to pay income taxes. Must have been reading too much of that Ayn Rand BS. He was clearly an anarchist, but it's hard to figure out whether he was a "left" anarchist or a "right" one. There's no discernible straight line of thinking there.
In any case, he embodies the reason why violence for any cause, even one that seems like a good one, is inexcusable until it becomes absolutely a last resort. He killed a person who had nothing to do with his own life crisis, and he damaged the lives of many other uninvolved people. I don't know how he wanted to be remembered, but I feel certain it will be ignominiously.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
I've noticed my blog traffic stats picking up a lot since that nutjob in Austin crashed a plane into a building housing IRS offices. Of course, it would probably not be technologically possible, or at least not likely, for me to still be posting posthumously. But I want all out there to know, this isn't me, and I was as shocked as anyone else.
I guess the reason I'm getting this extra traffic is from obvious search words like "Joe," "manifesto" and "Texas." That would bring a certain number of people here even if they had no such intention.
It may also make what few regular readers I have curious as to why I hadn't commented about this yet. I wanted to see as much about this as I could before venturing an opinion.
From what I can tell, this was a guy who fell on hard times for two reasons. One, the tax code was changed in a way that was detrimental to him. Two, I'd say he made a lot of shitty decisions on his own. In any case, he came to demonize the IRS to such a degree that he would do a batshit insane thing such as this.
I can understand Mr. Stack being pissed off at the IRS. I've only had one run-in with them in my time on Earth, and I found them to be supremely arrogant assholes, almost unbelievably so. I suppose it's like with police agencies -- there are some good, dutiful folks among them, but the profession is such that it attracts a disproportionate number of jackasses.
But in hindsight, I didn't find the IRS to be any worse than a great many other American institutions, most notably health-care insurers such as Aetna. I'm singling them out for this reason: I took a couple of days of unpaid leave to be at my mother's deathbed. This insurance company, on a technicality, would not recognize the leave days as legitimate. Fortunately, my employer didn't want to fire me over this, and I wasn't being paid for those days anyway. But it goes to show how incredible things can get with such institutional psychosis. By the way, if you can help it, never buy any insurance product from Aetna. They will do anything and everything they can not to pay a cent, or do anything else. In my case, my employer leaves me no choice.
But, back to the Joe Stack case: I carefully monitored reactions among the wingnut fringe, and found many of them to be surprisingly careful. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh were assholes as usual, but relatively circumspect. There were many of the usual lunatic comments all over the Internet, but the higher-profile people seemed to take very careful steps for a change.
One notable exception is the newly elected Republican senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown. He managed to hurt himself somewhat; but of course, people have short memories.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/hottopics/archives/195075.asp
Bearing through tech problems, here's what he had to say about it. You may have to type the address in yourself.
Anyway, I read parts of Mr. Stack's "manifesto" that he put online. It's hard to make out anything linear there, other than that he fiercely resented having to pay income taxes. Must have been reading too much of that Ayn Rand BS. He was clearly an anarchist, but it's hard to figure out whether he was a "left" anarchist or a "right" one. There's no discernible straight line of thinking there.
In any case, he embodies the reason why violence for any cause, even one that seems like a good one, is inexcusable until it becomes absolutely a last resort. He killed a person who had nothing to do with his own life crisis, and he damaged the lives of many other uninvolved people. I don't know how he wanted to be remembered, but I feel certain it will be ignominiously.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
A Comments Exchange That Sums It Up: The Difference That I See Is You're Exactly The Same As You Used To Be
By Manifesto Joe
There are people on this Earth who are beyond rational arguments. This is from comments on the previous post.
A comment from Anonymous:
The bottom line is, I think the American people are tired of the failures of the Democratic party.
We need some fresh faces in the Congress. The American people understand this and this is why the Republicans are predicted by polls to make big gains in the Congress in the coming elections.
The Democrats had their chance and they blew it. Now, let's give the other party a chance. If we do, then we can once again enjoy the economic prosperity that Americans enjoyed for much of 2000 to 2007.
I urge all Americans to put the partisanship and pettiness aside. Vote GOP in November. I guarantee you that the Republicans will work hard to end the gridlock in Congress and they'll end all the nasty partisanship that the American people have become tired of.
My response:
Sorry it has taken so long to respond to the second poster, but it took that long for me to stop laughing.
What you are suggesting is analogous to someone in 1933 saying that the way out of the Great Depression would be to revert to the economic policies of Calvin Coolidge.
The Great Recession, the hole we're in now, didn't happen overnight, either. The economic mismanagement of 1981-93 and 2001-2008 set us up with huge deficits, and now obstructionist Republicans are against the Keynesian policy of deficits to help pull us out of this? Since when did they become concerned? When they voted, to a member, in the House against the Clinton economic plan in 1993, which eventually produced record surpluses before Il Doofus got in there and handed out tax bonanzas to his rich friends?
To you, nonpartisanship not only means capitulation, but also Einstein's definition of insanity: repeating the same process over and over, expecting a different result.
Republicans were in power most of the past 30 years. And, since they've packed the courts with right-wingers, the Supreme Court has basically handed them back the country by ruling that it's legal for the Fortune 500 to essentially buy Congress and the presidency. They had their chance, and now it's a cinch they'll get plenty more. Once they've run us into the ground as far as they had by 1932, then maybe the American people will REALLY wise up.
There are people on this Earth who are beyond rational arguments. This is from comments on the previous post.
A comment from Anonymous:
The bottom line is, I think the American people are tired of the failures of the Democratic party.
We need some fresh faces in the Congress. The American people understand this and this is why the Republicans are predicted by polls to make big gains in the Congress in the coming elections.
The Democrats had their chance and they blew it. Now, let's give the other party a chance. If we do, then we can once again enjoy the economic prosperity that Americans enjoyed for much of 2000 to 2007.
I urge all Americans to put the partisanship and pettiness aside. Vote GOP in November. I guarantee you that the Republicans will work hard to end the gridlock in Congress and they'll end all the nasty partisanship that the American people have become tired of.
My response:
Sorry it has taken so long to respond to the second poster, but it took that long for me to stop laughing.
What you are suggesting is analogous to someone in 1933 saying that the way out of the Great Depression would be to revert to the economic policies of Calvin Coolidge.
The Great Recession, the hole we're in now, didn't happen overnight, either. The economic mismanagement of 1981-93 and 2001-2008 set us up with huge deficits, and now obstructionist Republicans are against the Keynesian policy of deficits to help pull us out of this? Since when did they become concerned? When they voted, to a member, in the House against the Clinton economic plan in 1993, which eventually produced record surpluses before Il Doofus got in there and handed out tax bonanzas to his rich friends?
To you, nonpartisanship not only means capitulation, but also Einstein's definition of insanity: repeating the same process over and over, expecting a different result.
Republicans were in power most of the past 30 years. And, since they've packed the courts with right-wingers, the Supreme Court has basically handed them back the country by ruling that it's legal for the Fortune 500 to essentially buy Congress and the presidency. They had their chance, and now it's a cinch they'll get plenty more. Once they've run us into the ground as far as they had by 1932, then maybe the American people will REALLY wise up.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Are Republicans Obstructionists? Ask Rachel Maddow
This video pretty much explains itself. Congressional Republicans' knees jerk in opposition every time President Obama advocates something, anything, no matter what it is. They will even reverse themselves on policy. Here, the main topic is the economic stimulus. -- MJ
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Bottom Line On Palin: Politics Is A Profession Better Left To Professionals
By Manifesto Joe
The Sarah Palin crib-note controversy is just one more silly gaffe on Palin's part, but the big picture that emerges is that politics is simply not a business for amateurs. Palin merely joins a large list of people who have tried to become big-time politicians overnight, and found themselves in over their heads. And from what I've seen of Palin over the past year and a half, the sludge doesn't have to get too deep to submerge her.
Here's Stephen Colbert on this and related matters. This includes video of the crib-palm-note incident.
The Republican Party seems desperate for effective leadership if they are actually giving the likes of Palin her 15 minutes. I don't sell her too, too short -- she may be able to marshal enough of a foolish following to take her a pretty long way in that party. But, expect many more gaffes and missteps. She's a bush-leaguer trying to play in the majors. (As opposed to a George W. Bush-leaguer. He finally left office with a 22% approval rating, but that family name and connections got him plenty of trips to the plate.)
Palin has much company among unseasoned rookies who thought being in the public arena was going to be easy. Here's just a short list:
Jesse Ventura. I give Jesse credit for having more native intelligence than Palin, but a pro wrestling career and the mayorship of a small town didn't nearly prepare him to be governor of a midsize state. He's not quite a fool, but he took enough of a pummeling over four years to persuade him to leave this particular arena while he was still standing.
Jimmy Carter. Oh, he's been a model for ex-presidents. But his experience as a sort of citizen politician at the state level didn't get him in shape for Washington. He spent four long years growing into the job of president, and didn't show enough growth, early enough, to sell him for a second term. He was a workaholic chief operating officer in the job, never quite understanding what it takes to be able to delegate responsibility, get along with Congress, and see the forest as well as the trees. It's a shame, because by some accounts this was one of the brightest people ever to hold the office.
Kinky Friedman. "Why the hell not. ... How hard can it be?" The songwriter-humorist-novelist is certainly no dummy. But he found out, the hard way, exactly how hard it can be, and is, without the right background in public affairs and high-level debate. Because of his regional fame, he started a very promising independent candidacy for Texas governor in 2006, then got his ass thoroughly kicked over a campaign trail that culminated with his embarrassing performance in the general-election debate. He got 12.6% of the vote. He dropped out of the running for the Democratic nomination for governor this time, wisely. Not so wisely, he's running for the party's nomination for agriculture commissioner. Something tells me that even if he could get elected, we in Texas wouldn't quite have an updated version of Jim Hightower.
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Again, this is no dummy, at least not in any classic sense. But he had absolutely no business thinking that he was qualified to lead the nation's largest and now probably most troubled state. To illustrate how daunting this job is and how few people, even with the right experience, want it, California's attorney general and ex-Gov. Jerry Brown has been talked up as a good prospect for one last go at it. Well, at least Jerry's a veteran pro.
Debra Medina. For those unfamiliar, this is the third GOP hopeful, trailing incumbent idiot Gov. Rick "Goodhair" Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, for the 2010 Republican gubernatorial nomination in Texas. When a would-be politician goes on the Glenn Beck show on Fox and makes herself look kooky and foolish in comparison to Glenn, you know there's an enormous problem.
Bobby Jindal. After an upset win to be elected Louisiana governor and some initial promise, he's struck out and fallen flat every time the Republican high-rollers have invited him to the major-league plate. It's clear that he simply lacks the experience to become what the big dogs had hoped for.
Is it a coincidence that so many of these rank amateurs are Republicans? I'd say it just shows how desperate the GOP is for effective standard-bearers, for people who could follow in the footsteps of Ronald Reagan, or even Il Doofus, for that matter.
So, as per the question, how did Reagan, and Bush II, both Johnny-come-latelys to high office themselves, fare so well? Reagan was intensively schooled in politics before becoming a candidate for California governor in 1966, and his thespian and PR skills were well-honed before then. Il Doofus, in addition to benefiting from family connections, surrounded himself with seasoned political rogues like Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, which got him through many a difficult time. Some of the folks in the aforementioned list were smarter than these two in the purest sense of intelligence, but clearly not as "cunning."
And so, back to Sarah Palin. Like Ventura, she was mayor of a small town, and then served a rather short tenure as a state governor -- but not even of a midsize state. I have a hard time understanding what John McCain was thinking when he picked her, among all the prospects he had, as a VP running mate. I suppose he was shooting dice, hoping to energize a presidential campaign that was already floundering at convention time.
Palin's exposure on the national scene has given her a certain following, but she's got many long miles to go. One poll shows that 70% of the American people don't think she's qualified for the presidency. Wow -- ya think? The shocking news there was that 28% actually believe that she is.
Politics is a business for pros, Sarah. Bank your royalty money, and stay on Fox "News." You've got enough credibility to stay on the air there, since their standards are low. The American people, as dumbed-down as they seem by American Idol and video games, apparently aren't buying it, at least not yet.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
The Sarah Palin crib-note controversy is just one more silly gaffe on Palin's part, but the big picture that emerges is that politics is simply not a business for amateurs. Palin merely joins a large list of people who have tried to become big-time politicians overnight, and found themselves in over their heads. And from what I've seen of Palin over the past year and a half, the sludge doesn't have to get too deep to submerge her.
Here's Stephen Colbert on this and related matters. This includes video of the crib-palm-note incident.
The Republican Party seems desperate for effective leadership if they are actually giving the likes of Palin her 15 minutes. I don't sell her too, too short -- she may be able to marshal enough of a foolish following to take her a pretty long way in that party. But, expect many more gaffes and missteps. She's a bush-leaguer trying to play in the majors. (As opposed to a George W. Bush-leaguer. He finally left office with a 22% approval rating, but that family name and connections got him plenty of trips to the plate.)
Palin has much company among unseasoned rookies who thought being in the public arena was going to be easy. Here's just a short list:
Jesse Ventura. I give Jesse credit for having more native intelligence than Palin, but a pro wrestling career and the mayorship of a small town didn't nearly prepare him to be governor of a midsize state. He's not quite a fool, but he took enough of a pummeling over four years to persuade him to leave this particular arena while he was still standing.
Jimmy Carter. Oh, he's been a model for ex-presidents. But his experience as a sort of citizen politician at the state level didn't get him in shape for Washington. He spent four long years growing into the job of president, and didn't show enough growth, early enough, to sell him for a second term. He was a workaholic chief operating officer in the job, never quite understanding what it takes to be able to delegate responsibility, get along with Congress, and see the forest as well as the trees. It's a shame, because by some accounts this was one of the brightest people ever to hold the office.
Kinky Friedman. "Why the hell not. ... How hard can it be?" The songwriter-humorist-novelist is certainly no dummy. But he found out, the hard way, exactly how hard it can be, and is, without the right background in public affairs and high-level debate. Because of his regional fame, he started a very promising independent candidacy for Texas governor in 2006, then got his ass thoroughly kicked over a campaign trail that culminated with his embarrassing performance in the general-election debate. He got 12.6% of the vote. He dropped out of the running for the Democratic nomination for governor this time, wisely. Not so wisely, he's running for the party's nomination for agriculture commissioner. Something tells me that even if he could get elected, we in Texas wouldn't quite have an updated version of Jim Hightower.
Arnold Schwarzenegger. Again, this is no dummy, at least not in any classic sense. But he had absolutely no business thinking that he was qualified to lead the nation's largest and now probably most troubled state. To illustrate how daunting this job is and how few people, even with the right experience, want it, California's attorney general and ex-Gov. Jerry Brown has been talked up as a good prospect for one last go at it. Well, at least Jerry's a veteran pro.
Debra Medina. For those unfamiliar, this is the third GOP hopeful, trailing incumbent idiot Gov. Rick "Goodhair" Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, for the 2010 Republican gubernatorial nomination in Texas. When a would-be politician goes on the Glenn Beck show on Fox and makes herself look kooky and foolish in comparison to Glenn, you know there's an enormous problem.
Bobby Jindal. After an upset win to be elected Louisiana governor and some initial promise, he's struck out and fallen flat every time the Republican high-rollers have invited him to the major-league plate. It's clear that he simply lacks the experience to become what the big dogs had hoped for.
Is it a coincidence that so many of these rank amateurs are Republicans? I'd say it just shows how desperate the GOP is for effective standard-bearers, for people who could follow in the footsteps of Ronald Reagan, or even Il Doofus, for that matter.
So, as per the question, how did Reagan, and Bush II, both Johnny-come-latelys to high office themselves, fare so well? Reagan was intensively schooled in politics before becoming a candidate for California governor in 1966, and his thespian and PR skills were well-honed before then. Il Doofus, in addition to benefiting from family connections, surrounded himself with seasoned political rogues like Karl Rove, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, which got him through many a difficult time. Some of the folks in the aforementioned list were smarter than these two in the purest sense of intelligence, but clearly not as "cunning."
And so, back to Sarah Palin. Like Ventura, she was mayor of a small town, and then served a rather short tenure as a state governor -- but not even of a midsize state. I have a hard time understanding what John McCain was thinking when he picked her, among all the prospects he had, as a VP running mate. I suppose he was shooting dice, hoping to energize a presidential campaign that was already floundering at convention time.
Palin's exposure on the national scene has given her a certain following, but she's got many long miles to go. One poll shows that 70% of the American people don't think she's qualified for the presidency. Wow -- ya think? The shocking news there was that 28% actually believe that she is.
Politics is a business for pros, Sarah. Bank your royalty money, and stay on Fox "News." You've got enough credibility to stay on the air there, since their standards are low. The American people, as dumbed-down as they seem by American Idol and video games, apparently aren't buying it, at least not yet.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
R.I.P., Charlie Wilson: 1933-2010
By Manifesto Joe
U.S. Rep. Charles Wilson, D-Lufkin, couldn't be elected now in the Texas district he represented for 24 years in the U.S. House, and that's a shame.
One could argue that "Good Time Charlie" wasn't quite a role model. Near the end of his time in the House, the Republicans launched a series of campaign ads with a Robin Leach Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous sound-alike chronicling all the swell junkets and such that Charlie had racked up. He lived the high life of a freewheeling old-style politico, and he wasn't ashamed of it.
And, on foreign affairs, Charlie had a hawkish streak that ended up yielding very mixed fruits, to say the least. As was said in the Los Angeles Times obit, Charlie's legacy of getting money for the mujahedin fighters in Afghanistan "grew more complicated as the Muslim freedom fighters that Wilson tirelessly championed evolved into the Taliban, which would ultimately give haven to Al Qaeda." He didn't necessarily have the best judgment, in hindsight.
But on domestic issues, Charlie was a courageous progressive. He even used the word "liberal" in self-description, and did so unabashedly. I would trade in the sober reactionary Republicans who represent most of this state, any day you name, for a slightly whiskey-buzzed Charlie Wilson, any old time.
He had the reputation of a shameless playboy who invited scandal repeatedly during his political career. His congressional office was staffed by a bevy of women obviously hired at least as much for their looks as for their competence. But even the late Molly Ivins commented that, for all those bimbo trappings, Charlie's office was run about as well as anybody's on the Hill.
The public image of Charlie was not accurate, according to one of his closest friends. Again, from the L.A. Times obit:
Wilson's friend of 45 years, Buddy Temple, said the figure presented in the film (Charlie Wilson's War) failed to replicate the man he knew.
"Charlie was a go-to guy in Congress," Temple said at a news conference in Lufkin shortly after Wilson's death Wednesday. "The whole idea that he was this playboy who never paid attention to business was just as wrong as it could be."
This is not the time, but I'll eventually raise a glass of Mr. Jack Daniels to you, Charlie. We could use a few more like you, and a few less like, say, Tom DeLay.
Here's the full L.A. Times obit here.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
U.S. Rep. Charles Wilson, D-Lufkin, couldn't be elected now in the Texas district he represented for 24 years in the U.S. House, and that's a shame.
One could argue that "Good Time Charlie" wasn't quite a role model. Near the end of his time in the House, the Republicans launched a series of campaign ads with a Robin Leach Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous sound-alike chronicling all the swell junkets and such that Charlie had racked up. He lived the high life of a freewheeling old-style politico, and he wasn't ashamed of it.
And, on foreign affairs, Charlie had a hawkish streak that ended up yielding very mixed fruits, to say the least. As was said in the Los Angeles Times obit, Charlie's legacy of getting money for the mujahedin fighters in Afghanistan "grew more complicated as the Muslim freedom fighters that Wilson tirelessly championed evolved into the Taliban, which would ultimately give haven to Al Qaeda." He didn't necessarily have the best judgment, in hindsight.
But on domestic issues, Charlie was a courageous progressive. He even used the word "liberal" in self-description, and did so unabashedly. I would trade in the sober reactionary Republicans who represent most of this state, any day you name, for a slightly whiskey-buzzed Charlie Wilson, any old time.
He had the reputation of a shameless playboy who invited scandal repeatedly during his political career. His congressional office was staffed by a bevy of women obviously hired at least as much for their looks as for their competence. But even the late Molly Ivins commented that, for all those bimbo trappings, Charlie's office was run about as well as anybody's on the Hill.
The public image of Charlie was not accurate, according to one of his closest friends. Again, from the L.A. Times obit:
Wilson's friend of 45 years, Buddy Temple, said the figure presented in the film (Charlie Wilson's War) failed to replicate the man he knew.
"Charlie was a go-to guy in Congress," Temple said at a news conference in Lufkin shortly after Wilson's death Wednesday. "The whole idea that he was this playboy who never paid attention to business was just as wrong as it could be."
This is not the time, but I'll eventually raise a glass of Mr. Jack Daniels to you, Charlie. We could use a few more like you, and a few less like, say, Tom DeLay.
Here's the full L.A. Times obit here.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Sarah Palin And The Tea Baggers: Attack Of The 4.5-Inch Dickheads
By Manifesto Joe
The tea-party people held their first national convention this weekend in Nashville, and former Alaska novice Governor and bestselling airhead Sarah Palin actually tried to give them a rabble-rousing speech.
It was filled with lots of profound insights like: "How's that hope-y, change-y stuff working out for you? (Some news sources reported that she said, "ya," rather than "you." As in, "You betch-ya.")
So damned incisive, this one. So little to learn about this viewpoint, and so much time! Anyway, here's CNN's bid at giving some decent (I'd say generous) coverage to this March of the Goosestepping Retards. (Yep, Sarah, I said the R-word! At least your latest kid has a congenital excuse.) Click here.
That these are simply morons gathered for a sort of right-wing suppository-user's Woodstock is a no-brainer. The question is whether these dickheads are going to be able to sell this special brand of dickheadedness to a wider audience. Given the widespread stupidity of the American people, I'm just a little worried.
One thing that's clear is that my use of the epithet "dickhead" is not without substantiation. Said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland: "She also continues to rate better among men than women." Noting what an incredibly vapid fool this person is, it does appear that her looks are helping her among those right-wing men given to "thinking" with the smaller head rather than the larger one. Get your hands out of your pants, Bubba.
She appears to be marshaling some sort of drooling right-wing base behind her, but the smarter breed of Republicans had better be wary. I'd love to see a 2012 series of debates between Sarah Palin (alleged to have a degree from the University of Idaho, after several misstarts) and Barack Obama (law prof at the University of Chicago). That would be incredible fun.
Here's a little more from that CNN report, buried near the end:
Palin's experience has frequently been called into question, most recently in a book that chronicles the 2008 campaign.
"Game Change" by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann largely portrays the then-vice presidential candidate as wholly unprepared for the national stage and poorly versed in a range of pressing issues.
The book also alleges McCain aides quickly grew troubled with Palin's lack of understanding on key issues, including the job of the Federal Reserve, the difference between North Korea and South Korea, and the purpose of the war in Afghanistan.
Palin has called the book "a bunch of BS from [McCain campaign manager Steve] Schmidt and those guys," Palin said. "It's pretty made up."
Yep, I'm really going to believe her.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
The tea-party people held their first national convention this weekend in Nashville, and former Alaska novice Governor and bestselling airhead Sarah Palin actually tried to give them a rabble-rousing speech.
It was filled with lots of profound insights like: "How's that hope-y, change-y stuff working out for you? (Some news sources reported that she said, "ya," rather than "you." As in, "You betch-ya.")
So damned incisive, this one. So little to learn about this viewpoint, and so much time! Anyway, here's CNN's bid at giving some decent (I'd say generous) coverage to this March of the Goosestepping Retards. (Yep, Sarah, I said the R-word! At least your latest kid has a congenital excuse.) Click here.
That these are simply morons gathered for a sort of right-wing suppository-user's Woodstock is a no-brainer. The question is whether these dickheads are going to be able to sell this special brand of dickheadedness to a wider audience. Given the widespread stupidity of the American people, I'm just a little worried.
One thing that's clear is that my use of the epithet "dickhead" is not without substantiation. Said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland: "She also continues to rate better among men than women." Noting what an incredibly vapid fool this person is, it does appear that her looks are helping her among those right-wing men given to "thinking" with the smaller head rather than the larger one. Get your hands out of your pants, Bubba.
She appears to be marshaling some sort of drooling right-wing base behind her, but the smarter breed of Republicans had better be wary. I'd love to see a 2012 series of debates between Sarah Palin (alleged to have a degree from the University of Idaho, after several misstarts) and Barack Obama (law prof at the University of Chicago). That would be incredible fun.
Here's a little more from that CNN report, buried near the end:
Palin's experience has frequently been called into question, most recently in a book that chronicles the 2008 campaign.
"Game Change" by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann largely portrays the then-vice presidential candidate as wholly unprepared for the national stage and poorly versed in a range of pressing issues.
The book also alleges McCain aides quickly grew troubled with Palin's lack of understanding on key issues, including the job of the Federal Reserve, the difference between North Korea and South Korea, and the purpose of the war in Afghanistan.
Palin has called the book "a bunch of BS from [McCain campaign manager Steve] Schmidt and those guys," Palin said. "It's pretty made up."
Yep, I'm really going to believe her.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Obama, Not Quitting, Kicks House GOP Ass On Their Own Turf
By Manifesto Joe
Barack Obama may go down as a one-term president, given the corporate money that is almost certainly coming to bear against him after the recent Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance. But he's telling Republicans, with no uncertainty, that he's not quitting, and will be in their faces until the day he has to leave office.
Obama was very presidential, and nothing short of brilliant, during his videotaped encounter with House Republicans during their Baltimore retreat Friday. This may have been one last bid to get across to an intractable opposition that, with the current caliber of partisanship, absolutely nothing will get done. And, there will be somebody to blame for that.
The president hit many of these doctrinaire righties in an uncomfortable spot when he talked about their response to his general health-care overhaul proposal. This had the endorsement of former GOP Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker and Bob Dole, and of former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. It's a "centrist" proposal, Obama emphasized.
But, the Republican reception was such that, "you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot." There was uncomfortable tittering in the hall. Obama didn't back down or even blink once. That's what the response was like, he reiterated.
The Republicans in the House have been playing to their right-wing constituents, exaggerating a milquetoast overhaul into some "radical" government takeover of health care. Obama stood in front of them and basically told them so.
One thing I was very proud of seeing was a U.S. president who can not only speak English, but do so extemporaneously and very eloquently. I think it bothers some of the Republicans that they are up against someone this articulate and formidable.
But the most important thing that happened Friday was that Obama signaled to the so-called "loyal" opposition -- let's see something realistic. He pointed out that the notion of 30 million more Americans being covered for health care at no additional cost is -- well, fantasy. And, the idea of offering private insurance coverage across state lines? Fine, but with no standards for such, the insurance companies are certain to cherry-pick healthy people, among myriad other possible abuses.
I was encouraged by something that will probably be what progressives will have to settle for, for the next 20 or more years, after the Supreme Court's decision to give the country over to huge corporations. Obama shows a fighting spirit, at least within the framework of trying to get results. He's not quitting.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Barack Obama may go down as a one-term president, given the corporate money that is almost certainly coming to bear against him after the recent Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance. But he's telling Republicans, with no uncertainty, that he's not quitting, and will be in their faces until the day he has to leave office.
Obama was very presidential, and nothing short of brilliant, during his videotaped encounter with House Republicans during their Baltimore retreat Friday. This may have been one last bid to get across to an intractable opposition that, with the current caliber of partisanship, absolutely nothing will get done. And, there will be somebody to blame for that.
The president hit many of these doctrinaire righties in an uncomfortable spot when he talked about their response to his general health-care overhaul proposal. This had the endorsement of former GOP Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker and Bob Dole, and of former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. It's a "centrist" proposal, Obama emphasized.
But, the Republican reception was such that, "you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot." There was uncomfortable tittering in the hall. Obama didn't back down or even blink once. That's what the response was like, he reiterated.
The Republicans in the House have been playing to their right-wing constituents, exaggerating a milquetoast overhaul into some "radical" government takeover of health care. Obama stood in front of them and basically told them so.
One thing I was very proud of seeing was a U.S. president who can not only speak English, but do so extemporaneously and very eloquently. I think it bothers some of the Republicans that they are up against someone this articulate and formidable.
But the most important thing that happened Friday was that Obama signaled to the so-called "loyal" opposition -- let's see something realistic. He pointed out that the notion of 30 million more Americans being covered for health care at no additional cost is -- well, fantasy. And, the idea of offering private insurance coverage across state lines? Fine, but with no standards for such, the insurance companies are certain to cherry-pick healthy people, among myriad other possible abuses.
I was encouraged by something that will probably be what progressives will have to settle for, for the next 20 or more years, after the Supreme Court's decision to give the country over to huge corporations. Obama shows a fighting spirit, at least within the framework of trying to get results. He's not quitting.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Friday, January 29, 2010
R.I.P., J.D. Salinger: 1919-2010
By Manifesto Joe
What were your favorite books in high school? If one of your answers was The Catcher in the Rye, chances are you were a misfit, at least in spirit, for some of your life.
Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of that much-read 1951 American novel, was a 16-year-old outsider who felt the pain of living on the outside, but still wouldn't have it any other way. The confirmed loner behind the book, J.D. Salinger, must have been writing a lot of autobiography there. From the time he was in his middle 30s, he lived reclusively on a New Hampshire farm, and he retired from publishing his work in 1965. He'd had enough of the larger world, and apparently found his own, to his liking, in utter seclusion.
I didn't think he would ever die. I thought they'd have to drive a stake through his heart.
I always felt that Salinger wrote enough of a book, and that I understood so well where he was coming from, that I was never very curious about what he was doing all those decades, or whether he had any other literary treasures locked away in his safe. He spoke for multiple generations of young male outsiders, and so eloquently that I empathized completely with his need for solitude.
Posthumous victory has come for Salinger in the small flood of renewed media interest in him right after his death, and even 45 years after his literary retirement. A man who spent more than half his life as a hermit, he's getting more attention now than almost all writers who seriously try to win the world's brief, icy recognition. Somewhere, he must be chuckling a little over that.
Not many people ever knew Salinger very well. But somehow, out there in the larger world, millions of us knew Holden Caulfield, and all too well. We caught glimpses of him in the mirror every day. Every time we got dumped by our shallow first girlfriends, every time we were repelled by the crude vanity of all the Robert Stratladers out there, every time we ran afoul of some musty character posing as a teacher, every time the essential cruelty of human existence became nakedly obvious -- we saw, and knew, Holden. He was the guy in the mirror.
I'm going on 54, and I still often see the world through Holden's eyes. There really isn't life after high school -- hell, life IS high school. The creepy, semicompetent teachers are all there -- they became bosses. The Stratladers become crude, paunchy has-beens who are still vain enough to presume to make a pass at your wife. The essential cruelty of human existence is still nakedly obvious too many times.
Here's to you, J.D., for getting to tell it like it is, one very glorious time. That's about as much as any misfit can aspire to.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
What were your favorite books in high school? If one of your answers was The Catcher in the Rye, chances are you were a misfit, at least in spirit, for some of your life.
Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of that much-read 1951 American novel, was a 16-year-old outsider who felt the pain of living on the outside, but still wouldn't have it any other way. The confirmed loner behind the book, J.D. Salinger, must have been writing a lot of autobiography there. From the time he was in his middle 30s, he lived reclusively on a New Hampshire farm, and he retired from publishing his work in 1965. He'd had enough of the larger world, and apparently found his own, to his liking, in utter seclusion.
I didn't think he would ever die. I thought they'd have to drive a stake through his heart.
I always felt that Salinger wrote enough of a book, and that I understood so well where he was coming from, that I was never very curious about what he was doing all those decades, or whether he had any other literary treasures locked away in his safe. He spoke for multiple generations of young male outsiders, and so eloquently that I empathized completely with his need for solitude.
Posthumous victory has come for Salinger in the small flood of renewed media interest in him right after his death, and even 45 years after his literary retirement. A man who spent more than half his life as a hermit, he's getting more attention now than almost all writers who seriously try to win the world's brief, icy recognition. Somewhere, he must be chuckling a little over that.
Not many people ever knew Salinger very well. But somehow, out there in the larger world, millions of us knew Holden Caulfield, and all too well. We caught glimpses of him in the mirror every day. Every time we got dumped by our shallow first girlfriends, every time we were repelled by the crude vanity of all the Robert Stratladers out there, every time we ran afoul of some musty character posing as a teacher, every time the essential cruelty of human existence became nakedly obvious -- we saw, and knew, Holden. He was the guy in the mirror.
I'm going on 54, and I still often see the world through Holden's eyes. There really isn't life after high school -- hell, life IS high school. The creepy, semicompetent teachers are all there -- they became bosses. The Stratladers become crude, paunchy has-beens who are still vain enough to presume to make a pass at your wife. The essential cruelty of human existence is still nakedly obvious too many times.
Here's to you, J.D., for getting to tell it like it is, one very glorious time. That's about as much as any misfit can aspire to.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Friday, January 22, 2010
With One Malevolent Decision On Campaign Finance, The Roberts Supreme Court Has Set Back Reform For Decades
By Manifesto Joe
Forget about the Massachusetts Senate election. Republican Scott Brown's win in a special election there is a minor setback compared to the Roberts court's 5-4 decision Thursday on campaign finance.
With the reaffirmation of the long-standing fiction of "a corporation is a legal person," the reactionary Roberts court has not only wrecked a century of movement away from that toxic idea. Now you can really forget about health-care reform, re-regulation of banking, and just about any other desperately needed overhaul you may have had in mind. We largely already had a plutocracy for much, if not most, of American history. Now it will be a wide-open auction, with the levers of government for sale to the highest bidders.
With virtually all restraints on the coffers of our corporate masters lifted by the judicial branch, it's all but certain that Republicans will make huge gains in the midterm elections in November, and also likely that Barack Obama will be a one-term president. In this decade we're probably going to see Supply Side 3, with Corporate America and wealthy individuals raking in still more immense gains at the expense of ordinary Americans. And the really sad aspect of it is that the people will largely have no one to blame but themselves, for failing time after time to see who their real friends, and enemies, are.
R.I.P., American republic
It was no mystery during all those years of Reagan, and Bushes I and II, what the intent was with all those right-wingers being appointed to the judiciary. These unelected people have the power to strangle the initiatives of the other two branches of government. And when the courts are stacked with reactionary ideologues, that's precisely what happens.
Labor unions are weaker than they've been for 80 years, so their money will be absolutely no match for what Corporate America will bring to the table. Unless some astonishingly good things happen within the next three years, look for Republicans to again become dominant with the inevitable financial largess, and for Democrats to atrophy once more into a timid centrist "opposition."
Plutocracy is now codified
If it wasn't plain enough after the theft of the 2000 presidential election, the U.S. has long been a plutocracy -- I would say that's been so since the years after World War II, almost uninterrupted, and off and on before then. Now, it's pretty much been made official.
With the corporate monoliths "free" to fund the candidates of their choice without limits, the American people will be saturated with laissez-faire propaganda, resulting in even more of them voting against their own interests, even more than they've already been doing for decades. They don't have to do this. In some locales on Earth, experience has taught common people to have a healthy skepticism about entrenched money and the power that naturally goes with it. Somehow, the American people never got in that habit, and experience has given them plenty of chances. Time after time, they seem to vote gladly to put the fox back in charge of the henhouse, then wonder what the hell happened to the chickens and the eggs.
Money becomes speech
"Rapid changes in technology -- and the creative dynamic inherent in the concept of free expression -- counsel against upholding a law that restricts political speech in certain media or by certain speakers,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion. "The First Amendment does not permit Congress to make … categorical distinctions based on the corporate identity of the speaker and the content of the political speech."
The tragedy of this decision lies precisely in "rapid changes in technology." The sheer might of corporate money, when it comes to the purchase of air time, print space, Internet content, etc., is exactly what makes this turn of events so dangerous.
The five right-wing justices who voted for this atrocity cited free-speech rights as the basis of the decision. There could be no greater irony, for this will result in unprecedented stifling of political ideas. "Free speech" will be the domain of those who have the money to buy advertising in assorted for-profit media. The cacophony of "free-market" and perpetual-war rhetoric will quite predictably drown out those who would, in a system of sane restrictions and a public hearing available to all, have a chance to be heard.
In countries where democratic political campaigns are publicly financed, they think we've been crazy to have been allowing big money to dominate our process as much as it already does. But then, people in those same countries also think we're crazy to have a health-care system driven by the profit motive, essentially run by Big Insurance and Big Pharm. For a country generally considered to have resurrected the democratic-republican form of government from antiquity, we now seem to be lagging very far behind the serious practitioners.
Political history tends to run in cycles of reform and reaction. The U.S. seemed to be just emerging from an overlong period of reaction, giving progressives hope that a long period of reform, similar to those of the past, was getting under way.
This decision, it appears, is going to give the forces of reaction the power to drown civic reform in the bathtub long before it gets started this time, if you will pardon my paraphrasing of Grover Norquist.
I honestly don't see much hope after this -- unless the American people, at long last, wise up. I stopped holding my breath on that one a very long time ago.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Forget about the Massachusetts Senate election. Republican Scott Brown's win in a special election there is a minor setback compared to the Roberts court's 5-4 decision Thursday on campaign finance.
With the reaffirmation of the long-standing fiction of "a corporation is a legal person," the reactionary Roberts court has not only wrecked a century of movement away from that toxic idea. Now you can really forget about health-care reform, re-regulation of banking, and just about any other desperately needed overhaul you may have had in mind. We largely already had a plutocracy for much, if not most, of American history. Now it will be a wide-open auction, with the levers of government for sale to the highest bidders.
With virtually all restraints on the coffers of our corporate masters lifted by the judicial branch, it's all but certain that Republicans will make huge gains in the midterm elections in November, and also likely that Barack Obama will be a one-term president. In this decade we're probably going to see Supply Side 3, with Corporate America and wealthy individuals raking in still more immense gains at the expense of ordinary Americans. And the really sad aspect of it is that the people will largely have no one to blame but themselves, for failing time after time to see who their real friends, and enemies, are.
R.I.P., American republic
It was no mystery during all those years of Reagan, and Bushes I and II, what the intent was with all those right-wingers being appointed to the judiciary. These unelected people have the power to strangle the initiatives of the other two branches of government. And when the courts are stacked with reactionary ideologues, that's precisely what happens.
Labor unions are weaker than they've been for 80 years, so their money will be absolutely no match for what Corporate America will bring to the table. Unless some astonishingly good things happen within the next three years, look for Republicans to again become dominant with the inevitable financial largess, and for Democrats to atrophy once more into a timid centrist "opposition."
Plutocracy is now codified
If it wasn't plain enough after the theft of the 2000 presidential election, the U.S. has long been a plutocracy -- I would say that's been so since the years after World War II, almost uninterrupted, and off and on before then. Now, it's pretty much been made official.
With the corporate monoliths "free" to fund the candidates of their choice without limits, the American people will be saturated with laissez-faire propaganda, resulting in even more of them voting against their own interests, even more than they've already been doing for decades. They don't have to do this. In some locales on Earth, experience has taught common people to have a healthy skepticism about entrenched money and the power that naturally goes with it. Somehow, the American people never got in that habit, and experience has given them plenty of chances. Time after time, they seem to vote gladly to put the fox back in charge of the henhouse, then wonder what the hell happened to the chickens and the eggs.
Money becomes speech
"Rapid changes in technology -- and the creative dynamic inherent in the concept of free expression -- counsel against upholding a law that restricts political speech in certain media or by certain speakers,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion. "The First Amendment does not permit Congress to make … categorical distinctions based on the corporate identity of the speaker and the content of the political speech."
The tragedy of this decision lies precisely in "rapid changes in technology." The sheer might of corporate money, when it comes to the purchase of air time, print space, Internet content, etc., is exactly what makes this turn of events so dangerous.
The five right-wing justices who voted for this atrocity cited free-speech rights as the basis of the decision. There could be no greater irony, for this will result in unprecedented stifling of political ideas. "Free speech" will be the domain of those who have the money to buy advertising in assorted for-profit media. The cacophony of "free-market" and perpetual-war rhetoric will quite predictably drown out those who would, in a system of sane restrictions and a public hearing available to all, have a chance to be heard.
In countries where democratic political campaigns are publicly financed, they think we've been crazy to have been allowing big money to dominate our process as much as it already does. But then, people in those same countries also think we're crazy to have a health-care system driven by the profit motive, essentially run by Big Insurance and Big Pharm. For a country generally considered to have resurrected the democratic-republican form of government from antiquity, we now seem to be lagging very far behind the serious practitioners.
Political history tends to run in cycles of reform and reaction. The U.S. seemed to be just emerging from an overlong period of reaction, giving progressives hope that a long period of reform, similar to those of the past, was getting under way.
This decision, it appears, is going to give the forces of reaction the power to drown civic reform in the bathtub long before it gets started this time, if you will pardon my paraphrasing of Grover Norquist.
I honestly don't see much hope after this -- unless the American people, at long last, wise up. I stopped holding my breath on that one a very long time ago.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
