Moving Right Along

Whoah! My last post, I'm noticing, was Aug, 2006. That's four years ago!!

That's when my Mom's dementia reached a critical stage and I ended up having to move her into an Alzheimer's facility. It was downhill from there. The following February, 2007, HP offered an enhanced early retirement program which I decided I couldn't pass up. My Mom passed away on 23 April 2007 and my last day of work was 31 May 2007. Two life-changing cataclysms within a month of each other.

Long story short: I've been licking wounds ever since but now I feel like I'm ready to start letting my voice be heard.

I just hope that someone, somewhere feels that I have something worthwhile to say. We'll see.

An Immodest Proposal

My poor mailman. Every day he brings more pounds of mail from Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, James Carville, Charles Schumer, the DNC, the DFA and it never ends. All are asking, begging, shaming, cajoling, entreating me for money, and it's money that I'm happy to give. However, I also think back to 2004, 2002, 2000 and remember receiving the same appeals. I often responded to those pleas by writing out checks and in 2004 when the full ugly stink of the Bush presidency was apparent, I dipped into my meager pocketbook to the tune of a couple grand.

However, I also remember the anger and frustration at seeing my candidates ducking bullets instead of returning fire, of meeting slime boat attacks with a curious silence and the surprising and still puzzling news that the end of the 2004 campaign saw the loser with 15-20 million still in the bank.

So this year, I'm drawing the line.


Attention: Dr. Howard Dean, Hon. Rahm Emanuel, Sen. Charles Schumer, et al. If I'm going to continue to share my paltry means with the Democratic Party, I expect you to do a few things that I would be embarrassed to know that you haven't done yet.

1. Rent a nice economical but secure room somewhere and gather together a group of politically knowledgeable, dependably partisan and aggressively persuasive people with a fax machine and the fax numbers of all significant newsrooms across these 50 States. Tell this group that their job is to monitor all trash, sewage and other effluent spilling forth from the Republican noise machine and immediately formulate an effective response for each and every piece of poison and toxic waste that floats into the political discourse. Then fax it out to the media universe to counter lies, to set the record straight but most of all, to seize the initiative and not let Karl Rove once again control the conversation.

2. On the other side of the room, gather together a similar but more devious group with their own matching fax machine. Tell these people to dig up dirt about any Republican that is in a close race with a Democrat. And let me define dirt: Anything that exposes the Republican as being an enthusiastic corporate shill (to the detriment of their constituents), or a stealth religious fanatic or simply any kind of a hypocrite (which covers most of the current Grand Old Party).

3. On the 12th anniversary of the "Contract with America," I implore Minority Leader Reid and Minority Leader Pelosi to devise a catalogue of liberal ideals.

My immodest proposal is

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

  a. That no one is above the law no matter what position they hold in the government and each of the three branches of government is in all circumstances fully accountable to either and both of the other two.

  b. That all Americans are born equal as human beings and are entitled to maintain their self-respect and their freedom from catastrophic circumstances and should thus be provided at least minimal access to food, shelter and medical care.

  c. That while all citizens have a serious responsibility to their nation, their government should at all times respect their privacy, show them due respect and refrain from interfering in their affairs.

  d. That taxes are a burden to be shared by all and those who have reaped the greatest rewards from our free and prosperous society should return a greater share than those who have not.

  e. That families are the cornerstone of our nation and that families, in whatever form they exist, are to be supported so that they both provide a healthy nurturing environment for children to grow and develop as well as provide a medium for human affection, devotion and love to thrive and prosper.

  f. That social security and Medicare reflect our nation's unswerving commitment to fully guarantee a comfortable, safe and secure life for each and every citizen as they age.

  g. That while our nation's giant corporations provide essential products and services that generate much of our wealth, their interests must be balanced with the interests of its workers, our small businesses and the global environment.

  h. That consumers have a right to safe, usable and honest products and services and that the penalties for failing to deliver those should be grievous, since a breech of contract between supplier and consumer strikes at the very heart of the American business enterprise.

  i. That those whose labor drives our economy have full and unencumbered recourse to air grievances, block unfair and unsafe workplace practices, negotiate fair compensation and have the freedom to organize without hindrance.

  j. That this nation's history eloquently speaks to the necessity of having a viable two-party system and that the genius of our Constitution lies largely in its intricate and essential checks and balances which must never be subverted or undermined.

4. Finally, I implore all of the above-named Party figures. Please develop a third group whose mandate is to prepare, to brief and to groom all Party spokespersons who will appear on "talking head" shows, who will give press conferences, who will provide spin, who will in any way represent the message, the vision and the spirit of the Democratic Party, especially on the electronic media, so that they don't look unprofessional, so that they make compelling and lucid arguments, and so that they don't look weak and clueless against articulate, highly prepared and aggressive Republicans.

5. And most important of all. Please find a way to develop, disseminate, and enforce message discipline. Unless and until Democratic spokespersons are on the same page with the Party's message (and there should be one), the Republicans will continue to play them off one against the other.

And who am I to be making these demands of the High and the Mighty? In a word, I am nobody. I am simply a voice in the crowd, a random citizen saying what I feel needs to be said. I am one of the horde of small contributors who together hope we can make a difference.

I am also serious when I say that I have no intention of sending good money after bad. If the leadership of the Democratic Party elects not to make a convincing stand against Republican hegemony this election cycle, then there's nothing that my paltry few dollars can do to stem the tide. If the corporate heroin is so irresistible, if the elites' siren song is so compelling, then my lonely voice in the crowd must remain in obscurity. I can only say, I tried.

Finally, and sadly, I'm hearing other like voices in this bluest part of the bluest of states. And that news should serve as a wake-up call to Party leaders.

Patience is not unlimited. And time is running out.

Half of Americans Still Think Saddam Had WMDs

This is not only unbelievable, but profoundly disappointing and even downright scary. Read the article posted on Alternet. Amitabh Pal, of the Progressive, writes a full discussion including who's at fault for this disinformation.

This Week in Review: 1984, Meet Soviet America

The only good thing I can say about the terror bombshell dropped on US voters last week is that it was an "August Surprise" and not an "October Surprise." But don't think for a minute that Karl isn’t planning a “September Surprise," an "October Surprise" and even a "November "Surprise."

My thought above dramatizes the mental state the Bushoviks have created over time to provide themselves with Election Insurance. Dramatic disclosures dropped during election cycles smell bad because they've used them shamelessly and repeatedly in the past. And we’ve all heard the tale of the boy who cried wolf, right?

But the reality is far worse. It's time we acknowledge the stark truth of US politics: This country is in the grip of a clique with aggressive ambitions and with a propaganda machine whose only purpose is self-preservation and self-propagation.

Welcome to the merger of 1984 with Soviet America.


Ned Lamont's victory over Joe Lieberman highlighted a glaring truth: The US has moved decisively from speaking Standard English to Orwellian Newspeak.

War is peace. Lies are truth. And we are so there.

Lamont's victory as a "tragedy" for the Democratic Party has been plastered across cable and broadcast news and trumpeted by everyone from Lieberman himself, to Mehlman, Cheney and Bush. The Party has fallen into the hands of dangerous "left wing fanatics" who hate America and want to “cut and run” from Iraq.

These are only the latest and most egregious examples of a ruling class willing to say and do anything to stay in power. And their ambitions clearly run beyond staying in power. They are entrenching themselves deeply into American government, American society and above all into American culture to install their agenda permanently into American history. Since their hateful agenda requires self-propagation, it is not an easy sell, so they must lie, spin, and exaggerate to candy coat the bitter pill.

This is reminiscent of the Russian press during the Soviet era. State-run organs like Izvestia , Pravda and the Tass News Service unabashedly and shamelessly spouted the party line, however counter-intuitive and transparent the lie. The problem was that everywhere one looked there were obvious signs the ideology had failed. Therefore the “truth” had to be “sanitized” to maintain dogmatic purity. The result was that after a while no one took Soviet "journalism" seriously. Soviet citizens shrugged and rolled their eyes a lot when they read a newspaper or watched TV.

Soviet Realism should be very familiar to Americans in the Bush era. The whole reign of Bush II has been the World Series of incompetence and cluelessness. The only reason it has eluded exposure has been the compliant and complicit US press. With the near total collapse of American journalism and it’s metamorphosis into a mouthpiece for the corporate elites (aka Republican Party et al), any hope of everyday citizens getting unbiased news has nearly evaporated.

The only near-term remedy for Newspeak in the press, is the same aggressive hostility with which the Right has so successfully neutered the MSM. Now even mild critical mention of a Republican coming from journalists is met with a thermonuclear email dump, foaming mouths with teeth bared across talk radio and outraged fulminations from False (Fox) News.

So, folks, are we in for a penny, or in for a pound?

Until and unless the left begins to grow some backbone, show some outrage and make itself feared, then I suspect we are going to continue drifting in the political doldrums much as we have since Bush II’s accession.

It’s near impossible for individuals to become effective agents of change without affiliating themselves with a group. The groups are out there and they need to aggressively recruit citizens to fill out their ranks. Just as concerned citizens need to find a group and join up. And then they need to join the battle.

I wrote a suggestion to MoveOn.org recently (viewable here). I urged MoveOn to launch an intensive media watch, much like the right has done and perhaps modeled on the very effective NRA model. When media outlets tilt against progressive interests, they should be instantly and intensely enlightened. Should that not work, should the outlet continue to undermine progressive interests, then start a drive to cancel subscriptions and avoid advertisers. Progressives who are part of Nielsen and Arbitron surveys should avoid cable news channels and broadcast news throughout the survey period.

Only by hitting in the profit center will any impact be felt, will any changes result.

Over the long term, a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President need to restore the “fairness doctrine.”

The policy of the United States Federal Communications Commission that became known as the "Fairness Doctrine" is an attempt to ensure that all coverage of controversial issues by a broadcast station be balanced and fair.

Airwaves in the United States are the property of the people. They are leased out on the condition that the lessee serve the public interest and not become a political tool. If political viewpoints are to be presented through the electronic media, they should either be balanced by alternative viewpoints, or be paid for by those wishing to express that opinion. One-sided advocacy must stop.

Finally, and this could be the subject of an entire posting of its own, we simply must find a way to separate money from politics. We must implement campaign finance reform. Otherwise, the rich will always win and the rest of us will always dine on their crumbs.

Hate Bush? Nah. Can't Be Bothered.

Right wingers often try to defuse criticism of The Leader by accusing critics of being "Bush Haters." Talking heads of the O'Reilly, Krauthammer, and Jacoby ilk hurl the term like a thunderbolt from Olympus. I guess to them (and all "right-thinking" people like them) hating Bush is on par with hating apple pie, Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother Theresa.

My own reply to the "allegation" of Bush hating is, "No." My reaction to Mr. Bush is on the one hand, a profound and an anguished embarrassment, and on the other thorough-going outrage. When you consider the line of Presidents from Washington to Clinton and find George W. Bush there, it's a total mismatch. He just doesn't belong. Of course, Right Wingers will quickly point out that Bill Clinton doesn't belong there either, but I'll refute that. There are many things that you can legitimately lay at Bill Clinton's doorstep, but he was no lightweight. He had a vision, he had the political acumen to survive breathtaking adversity (often of his own making), and he was unfailingly well-spoken and clearly focused on the issues of his time.

George W. Bush, from the first moment I became aware of him, failed my own personal smell test. For a time I couldn't figure out what bothered me about him. I finally fell back on my 20 years as an airline airport supervisor. In dealing with many angry, frustrated and often volatile people, I developed a keen nose for sensing a phony. And that's what bothered me about George W. Bush. The man is a phony.

His biography explains a lot. He is the scion of a wealthy New England establishment family. His grandfather and father were wildly successful, both in business and politics. He is likely not one who learned to take "no" for an answer. His journey through the Ivy League was preordained and funded both financially and academically by family tradition. His military obligations were dealt with as such families deal with those things: Calls were made, strings were pulled, outcomes were secured. Even irresponsibly walking away from the commitment was rewritten and covered up. Later, various ill-starred business failures were cushioned, resolved and reversed by the omnipresent family retainers.

Simply put, this man is a spoiled brat with a hyper-developed sense of entitlement. His biography was easy to revise and refashion into the Right Wing idol he is today. His past peccadilloes were simply "not discussed" because they happened "before he found Jesus." (Try and imagine that working for Bill Clinton.) He ran for President in 2000 as a "compassionate conservative" who assured America that he was a moderate, a centrist who would bring respect back to the Presidency.

In short, George W. Bush is the result of packaging, of product placement, of costuming and makeup. His persona was created to gratify the various right-wing appetites for an action figure that would poke a stick in the eye of the hated "liberals." Whether his political views were thoughtfully arrived at and genuinely held, I have no way to know. Whether his religious conversion, his finding Jesus, was bogus and a political calculation, I would not presume to guess. However, when cast against the backdrop of the rest of his life and his actions of late, one has to think that it's all about appearance, about selling the product, about controlling the agenda.

Almost everything George W. Bush did after taking office belied his moderate campaign assurances. One of his first appointments was John Ashcroft as Attorney-General, a certifiable right wing extremist and religious fanatic to boot. To date, he has done nothing to demonstrate any integrity, any honesty, any acknowledgement that he only holds office with the support of a scant 50% of the population. Yet he has recklessly and ruthlessly implemented an extremist and esoteric agenda which clearly benefits only a small clique of wealthy and powerful interests.

It would be very easy to "hate" George W. Bush, but that would give him far too much credit. He is a figurehead, a puppet and a shill for the corporate elites who paid for his elevation to office and whose interests he so fervently promotes. Hate in that context is simply not a useful tool to express ones view of Bush.

Embarrassment is unavoidable. That the packaging worked, the contrived religiosity sold and the strained "authenticity" was bought hook, line and sinker by half of this country is profoundly disillusioning.

Outrage is almost automatic. One can scarcely glance at Bush's trail of blunders, favoritism and perversion of our institutions and history without feeling a withering and intense outrage that this wonderful country has fallen into such unworthy hands, that this land for which so much blood has been spilled has fallen into the grip of Philistines whose only thought is to promote and enrich themselves.

As the old saying goes: Don't get mad, get even.

Do You Belong to the "Democrat" Party?

I think that the first time I consciously remember hearing it was in a comment by Bob Dole. It grated from the first time I heard it and I guess I wondered if Dole just misspoke. Then I heard it again and then again and it quickly became clear that big time dissing was underway. The "Democrat" Party.

Hendrik Hertzberg's "Talk of the Town" in the Aug 7 & 14 issue of
The New Yorker discusses this issue at length. Click here to read the article.

It's almost the perfect put down for the Republicans to use because it sounds like bad grammar which helps burnish their good ole boy credentials and exalts the ignorance to which they seem so fervently to aspire.

Hertzberg's article speaks to the pejorative use of the noun "democrat" in lieu of the adjective, "democratic." It's like saying, "You're NOT democratIC." By misspeaking the name it quickly transitions into a put down.

I find it grating, but it falls a few terabytes short of being devastating. Again, most of the negative impact reverts to the speaker because they simply sound ignorant and ill-spoken.

The one development that I would vigorously protest, would be if the butt-heads in the media adopted the usage, and started saying "Democrat" Party. The name "Democratic Party" has been around even longer than Republican Party and if any name changes are to be made, it should be up to the members of the DemocratIC party to make them.

How would the Republicans like it if Democrats started referring to them as Repugnants? The Repugnant Party. I'm sure that's how most of us feel anyway, but of course most of us are way too polite to start doing that.

At least it's good English.

The Storm-Tossed Sea of Debt

Digby at Hullabaloo devotes a lot of space today to one of the US's scariest and least discussed problems, personal debt. Now that Bush has paid off his campaign contributors in the banking/finance industries by tightening the bankruptcy laws, the highway robbers can reach even deeper into our wallets. Click here to read. Below is a quote that Digby cites from a study by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. Click here to see.

In a survey of 1,000 adults, we find a public widely aware of the problem of growing household debt and overwhelmingly supporting solutions to this issue. The public’s concern over this issue results from perceptions of an economy performing unevenly, from perceptions of rising costs of living, and for a surprising and pressing number, from first-hand experience with excess or unmanageable debt.

Topping most people's list of scary items are catastrophic medical issues. There is no forgiveness, no slack, no margin for error. A case of cancer, a serious accident, or any number of unanticipated calamities can knock even the most frugal and sensible saver right out of the water.

There is also too much spending for toys and items of no consequence. Driving around Silicon Valley, you can see driveways laden with boats, monster (and beyond) trucks with bells, whistles and huge tires, seadoos, huge RVs and none of those come cheap. I'm constantly amazed to see teenagers at the car wash with shiny, new wheels that cost major bucks. Are people paying cash for all of this? Who can say, but those toys can add up to some huge monthly payments.

But what do we expect? I grew up in the 50's and TV was mercifully absent until I was in high school. Now kids are bombarded with commercials before they even learn to talk. Every stage of life is now marked by a "demographic." My mother once complained about a silly car commercial and I pointed out that she wasn't part of the target demographic.

It's almost disappointing how vulnerable and how easily manipulated people are by ads. But having said that, millions of dollars are spent on research, testing and production so that each ad strikes its target with maximum impact. We are a nation being driven to consume. It's almost portrayed as a patriotic duty to consume in order to keep the economy firing on all cylinders, keep the corporate coffers flush with ever-increasing revenue.

So is it any wonder that the pursuit of goods is driving so many deeper into debt? Digby's post isn't easy on the banking industry either, and rightly so:

It isn't taxes that are keeping American up at night and it probably isn't jobs, at least on a massive scale. It isn't even terrorism or the war.

It's debt. People are going to be looking for some help with this problem and one place to start would be to rein in these avaricious credit card companies who got a nice handsome payoff with that heinous bankruptcy bill. This is an issue to which average Americans can relate: greedy credit card companies who can literally raise your rates for any reason at all causing your debt to cascade from manageable to overwhelming overnight. It wouldn't be hard to fix. There used to be laws against usury --- we can just dust them off.

Not a day goes by that I don't get not one, but several pitches from banks to apply for their credit cards. I recently canceled one of my MasterCards because I just didn't use it anymore. I had to actually argue with the representative to get her to cancel the account. They don't let go lightly.

Where is all of this headed? I'm a cycle believer, and I think that if (God forbid) we don't have an economic disaster of some kind, that people are just going to get sick and tired of buying, of getting, of having.

It's ironic that we keep hearing about "values voters" and the rise of religion in the US, while at the same time what we see are "values shoppers" and the continuing upward spiral of consumerism. Materialism is winning so far. It will be interesting to see how long we can sustain this decades-long shopping spree without bankrupting vast segments of the population, as well as the Treasury of the US.