Notes From The Front in Wisconsin

from John Waxey...

Markadelphia has asked me to put down some thoughts and my experiences on what is currently happening in Madison, Wisconsin because I happen to be right in the middle of it (literally). I am not watching from my porch or re-hashing what I see on the local and national news, I am on the front line amongst the crowds at the Capital. The reason I am there is that I am on the faculty of two local state institutions and have been working in the Wisconsin system for the last 12 years. Furthermore, my wife is a nurse at UW Hospital and both of us will be substantially impacted by Scott Walker's budget repair bill. Let's start with some facts about the situation with UW system workers.

1. I have been working with a 3% salary furlough for the past two years. A 4% pay increase that was approved 4 years ago was rescinded two years ago meaning that I am making the same salary that I made 4 years ago minus the 3%. It's not complicated to see that my salary is not increasing with the rising cost of living and hasn't done so for several years.

2. The budget repair bill will shave another 7% off of my salary leaving me with an overall 10% reduction in my salary. This means overall that for a composite full-time position (it's split between two institutions), I will make approximately 22,500 before taxes this year. That is with a Masters degree and being nearly finished with a doctorate.

You might ask why do I keep the job. Fair enough question and the answer is that my retirement package and health care benefits, in part, make up for the lousy pay. So, the comments I hear on Fox News and by people who are annoyed with the protests that state workers are living high off the hog and have been for years is not part of my experience. What I have experienced is constant compromise, pay reductions and class size increase since the fiscal disaster brought upon us by the Bush administration.

I get that we all have to sacrifice and I am willing to do my part, but remember that my wife will also be affected by this repair bill, so my house gets hit twice. Add to that this bill also takes away my hard-fought right to collectively bargain. Unlike the private sector, we do not get merit pay, we may not ask for raises, we do not have the opportunity for overtime (I'm not sure the last time I spent only 40 hours a week working during the school year) and the only opportunity we have to ask for even cost of living increases is in collective bargaining. What Walker wants us to do is to just shut-up and take what is given without question or complaint. There is no way to address work-place safety without the collective bargaining process. In essence, he wants to run the state like the private sector, but not allow us to be treated like workers in the private sector. That's unfair.

Walker's argument is that we are simply being asked to contribute more to our benefits, but that is without consideration to what our salaries are. By most studies, we, the workers of Wisconsin are underpaid by some 8% already by comparison to the private sector considering experience and education and that is just in general. University of Wisconsin System workers are dramatically behind on salary compared to other colleges and universities. Furthermore, he suggests this bill is to address shortfalls in the budget. What does collective bargaining have to do with budget shortfalls? What does forcing unions to vote each year on whether they should continue to exist or not have to do with budget shortfalls? What does eliminating mandatory union dues have to do with budget shortfalls? It doesn't have anything to do with it. Plain and simple, Walker wants to see unions collapse so that he (and future governors I suppose) can dictate the livelihood of the 177,000 state workers in Wisconsin. We are to just trust that he knows what's best for us and our families. That is not reasonable and is not the limited government that he and his Republican pals have promised.

One last thing for now...I find it infuriating that people who are backing Walker are referring to him as courageous. This is a man who has hidden from the people he intends to screw with this bill. He goes to Green Bay to tour a factory and meet with a dozen people while 13,000 people are protesting his power grab. He didn't come to the public workers of Wisconsin to discuss his bill, he won't face them and his excuse is he has nothing to offer. He is a coward by definition and a poor leader (even if you agree with his politics). Mr. Walker seems to think that his being elected meant that his agenda was given the A-Ok by everyone and that he would not actually have to govern, just enforce. Of course understanding the difference between those two things may have been covered in his senior year at Marquette, you know, the one that he dropped out of pulling a mighty 2.59 average. That was a cheap shot, but it also illustrates a failing I am seeing in most politicians these days. That is, the attitude that winning an election entitles them to push one agenda or another.

In Walker's first 6 weeks, he has proposed 117.2 million in tax breaks that will affect mostly wealthier people, he has attempted to cut my pay by another 7% and destroy my right to collectively bargain. He has pissed off nearly 200,000 workers and their families by not governing but trying only to enforce his un-creative and narrow-minded approach to repairing a deficit that is largely manufactured. This is why I am at the Capital today and tomorrow. God and Ed Schultz save us all.

State-Sanctioned Terrorism in South Dakota

A committee in the South Dakota legislature recently approved a bill that would have defined the killing of an abortion doctor as justifiable homicide. The bill has since been shelved, but anti-abortion activists have praised it because it would scare away abortion doctors. In essence, the bill is state-sanctioned terrorism.

And in the House of Representatives the new Republican majority started attacking abortion rights straight out of the gate by introducing a bill allowing abortions only in cases of "forcible rape." So, if you get date-raped by some loser who puts rufies in your drink or a horny step-father, tough luck.

What's behind these perennial attacks on abortion rights? It's obviously not an overweening concern for human life. A law that declares open season on doctors performing a legal medical procedure can hardly be considered pro-life.

And it's not about responsibility. If you get pregnant, and you know can't take care of the kid, or don't have the money for the proper prenatal care, or can't afford to take time off during the last part of the pregnancy, or don't have money for the actual delivery, or don't have the money to raise the kid, the responsible thing to do is to end the pregnancy immediately, before you put another burden on society.

And it's not about the sanctity of human life. Most anti-abortion activists oppose abortion in any of its forms, including the morning after pill. A fertilized ovum is still a one-celled blastocyte. It is not a living, breathing person in any sense. At all. Nor is a two-cell, four-cell, eight-cell, sixteen-cell blastocyte a human being. A five-week-old fetus is not a living, breathing, thinking human. It looks like a tadpole.

And functionally speaking, it's not a human being either. There's an old saw in biology, "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny." Basically, this says that fetuses sort of descend down the evolutionary ladder as they develop. Human and chick embryos have gill slits and tails. Though much of this theory has been discredited, you can tell just by looking that early-stage fetuses of salamanders, frogs, fish, rabbits, cows and humans bear much more similarity to each other than to their full-grown counterparts.

All animal fetuses start out with pretty much the same body plan. As the fetus develops certain changes are triggered. Males are identical to females until testosterone is released, and the ovaries transform into testes. Certain body parts come and go: for example, in manatees (legless sea mammals) the fetus has leg buds like all mammals, but they disappear at one point. And the thing that makes humans truly human -- the big cerebrum-- doesn't start forming until very late in the process.

So, prior to a particular point in development a fetus isn't really human. It's proto-human, yes, and might become human one day. The approach taken by the courts acknowledges this fact, positing a date of fetal viability. That's basically the point at which the fetus can breathe outside the womb, but that date could conceivably be moved earlier, to the point where all the major structures of a human being are present in the fetus. As technology and science improve we will undoubtedly revisit this issue, and rightly so. Whatever the number is, there's some point where a fetus is not really human, and after that point it is.

The question of what is human is at the core of this. We have decided that certain types of brain-injury patients have no potential to recover are no longer human, and can be terminated out of mercy. A fetus without the higher brain functions is in pretty much the same boat. I would rather err on the side of caution and make the standard of proof for euthanasia extremely high. But a fetus without a cerebrum has never been a living, breathing human being, so there's not much of a slippery slope here.

And hatred of abortion is not about potential. "You can't abort that baby. It might be another Einstein!" Many abortion foes are staunch supporters of the death penalty. While your average clod on death row will never become an Einstein, they certainly might be "born again" or experience some other spiritual rebirth and do something positive with their lives, helping others. This idea of forgiveness and rebirth is core to Christian theology; it's strange that so many so-called Christians are so adamant about killing people (this is one area where the Catholic Church is way ahead of and most American protestant denominations).

And many abortion foes support war, and some even support pre-emptive wars like the war in Iraq. One of our soldiers, or an Iraqi soldier, or an Iraqi civilian, or an Iraqi child could have potentially made an Einsteinian contribution to the world. So how could anyone calling themselves pro-life have condoned W's pre-emptive fling in Iraq?

And it's not about innocence. We condone the deaths of innocents all the time. We have killed thousands of innocent Afghan and Iraqi citizens. Thousands of innocent people die in this country every year because they don't have adequate health insurance. We allow guys like Jared Loughner to buy high-capacity semiautomatic weapons on demand, and then are shocked when they use them to kill innocent people. Thousands of asthma and emphysema sufferers die each year from high ozone and particulate levels in the air. We drink and then drive (everyone who drinks has a funny story about driving drunk) and then have accidents that kill innocent people on the highways by the thousands every year. But that's all collateral damage because of our "rights" and "freedoms."

And it's not even about dead fetuses. Estimates of the percentage of pregnancies that end spontaneous abortions ("miscarriages") are all over the map, from 10 to 25 to 75%. Yes, you read that right: some experts think that as many as 75% of all fertilized ova fail to implant and just slide on through. If the latter number is correct, that would make God the biggest abortionist of all.

So why do people really oppose abortion? Do they want to keep women under their thumbs? Is it about vengeance and retribution? Do they want to make women pay for having had sex? Is about saving souls?

I don't know. But does it really make sense to punish a woman by forcing them to bear a child they don't want or can't afford? Aren't the pain and shame of going through an abortion punishment enough? Does it make sense for the government to interfere with the personal decisions of a woman over her own body and inflict unwanted children on that woman and on society?

More "Failure" at GM

Hmm...

Less than two years after entering bankruptcy, General Motors will extend millions of dollars in bonuses to most of its 48,000 hourly workers as a reward for the company's rapid turnaround after it was rescued by the government.

So, perhaps those nine words aren't so terrifying after all.

The company made $4.2 billion in the first nine months of 2010 and is expected to announce a fourth-quarter profit soon.

Another quarter with a profit...hey, that's pretty great!

Anyone out there care to retract their statements on how "Government Motors" was a giant mistake?

It's About Time

I've been in Natalie Munroe's shoes more times than I can count. After putting up with endless bullshit from the youth of America, she finally cracked and let loose a spiel on her blog that has ended with her suspension. Her analysis of the youth of America is, in some ways, correct.

Yet her mistake was putting too much of the blame on the students and not enough where most of the problem truly lies...the parents. I suspect that's why she got in trouble. I'm willing to be that it wasn't a student that ratted her out but a parent who got called on their lazy bullshit and, rather than take responsibility for their child's horse shit attitude, turned to Munroe as a scapegoat. Until more parents take responsibility and actually fucking parent, this malaise is going to grow. Nikto wrote about his very problem recently and so have I.  Can we all say Michael Jordan Generation?

After all, I can only do so much if they don't want to do their work. If they decide that they know they are going to make it as an athlete or recording artist and don't think they need a back up plan, there's only so much I can do. Remember, it's what they see as success defined, within the functionality of our society, that's the real problem. I'm going up against the onslaught of the images of corporate America which their parents buy into as well. Ms. Munroe and I are only one fifth of the primary agencies of socialization. As I will continue to say (probably forever), the mass media is the 400 pound gorilla in the room. They have smothered the other four agencies just like BP oil all over the Gulf.

The other side to all of this is Munroe's lack of reflection. This was also part of her undoing. Certain people become teachers for all the wrong reasons. They think they can connect with the youth of America but they really can't. They also don't have the thick skin that one needs (as I do) to let insults bounce right off and go into oblivion. I've had students hurl insult after insult at me and I just laugh. That just pisses them off even more. Clearly, Munroe couldn't handle this and part of me thinks that she lacked that coolnees with which kids can connect. The youth of today can smell "DORK" a mile away and woe be to anyone who has this built into their personality. This would also be where the lazy teacher rag that I sing quite often chimes in. If you aren't a very creative person to begin with and lack width of vision, you will not intrinsically motivate your students.

So, it was probably a combination of all of these things that caused this mini mushroom cloud in Pennsylvania. It's my hope that this incident acts as a catalyst for change. Kevin Baker is fond of saying, "Let's take off...nuke the site from orbit...it's the only way to be sure" when it comes to our education system. What he fails to see is that our education system is one small reflection in the extrinsically motivated cesspool that is our entire culture.

The reason why we are seeing more and more stories like Ms. Munroe's has to do with the giant flaw in the entire system. We have allowed the mass media to dictate our behavior and socialize our children as well as....everyone else. There are pockets of success here and there but you'll have to pardon my cynicism when I say that as long as we continue to function like this, President Obama's call for our country to out innovate the rest of the world will be pure folly.

In the final analysis, it's going to take a mass effort on the part of all of us to change the paradigm of how our culture operates. Parents, teachers, communities, and peer groups are going to have to regain control of socialization from the mass media. They need to take responsibility for themselves and actually dedicate their time to achieve this goal. It's going to take patience coupled with the willingness to manage complexities in order to shift the way our culture works.

Anyone out there think our ADD society can do it?

Making Complete Sense

Ah, now I get it. 

A 51% majority of national GOP primary voters erroneously think President Obama was not born in the U.S. 28% know that he was. With the latter, Palin’s favorability rating is 41-52—other than Ron Paul, the only candidate these voters view negatively. But with birthers, she has a soaring 83-12, far higher than for any of the others.

I completely understand Sarah Palin now and why she is as popular as she is.

He's Correct!

There are a few things on which Mitt Romney and I agree. At the recent CPAC conference, Mr. Romney stated that Canada created more jobs than the US. This statement was verified by the folks at Politifact which is illustrative (once again) that they are not in the tank for the left. Here are they are rating a statement as "True" made by a Republican (although he probably is an impure RINO to some of you).

More importantly, however, is the fact that a country with socialized medicine can create jobs. I was under the impression that all of those countries were falling apart and looked like Detroit now. What the--??!!?? How dare Canada with its liberal ways beat us at something!

Thanks for the heads up, Mitt!

Wow, I'm Not At All Surprised.

Americans Are Horribly Misinformed About Who Has Money

Denial is not a river in Egypt.

Get Out of the Way?

For the last few months, we've been hearing a classic line from the right. It goes something like this.

If the government would only get out of the way, the economy could take off.

Like many things they say, it's a giant pile of steaming shit and, sadly, has the distinct odor of the John Birch Soceity. I smell a lot of Koch on this mound of poo...

According to the National Science Foundation, the federal government funds 57 percent of basic research, compared to less than 18 percent for business, 15 percent for colleges and universities and 11 percent for nonprofits. And business only funds about 6 percent of university-based scientific research.

And take a look at this table which shows that the Evil Government has been a major contributor to science for the last half century. They've also given tax breaks to companies that engage in research which has saved each of these businesses billions of dollars. This was begun under President Reagan. The government also sets standards which provides a framework for companies to work more efficiently.

This is all great information. And where did I find it all? Well...here.

Yeah, that's right...PolitiFact...a topic that has recently come up in comments. Politifact has become yet another (in a very long series) of sties that is "liberally biased." TRANSLATION: I am a conservative who wants to win arguments, can never be wrong, and don't like what they say. Therefore, they are liberally biased. 

As we will soon see, the next step will be to a). completely ignore Politifact's analysis of Democratic statements or b). applaud (spin) them for being factually based while the Republican statement analyses are faulty and riddled with errors. How convenient. I'm fairly certain this will occur for this post.Well, they are just going to have to get used to it because now I'm going to link a whole shit load of Politifact and Factcheck articles which have caught my fancy of late.

Anyhoo, The government has been an integral part of innovation which has lead to the United States being leaders in the world when it comes to innovation. The notion that they need to get out of the way is ludicrous when you consider the facts. They need to be very much leading the way given their successful track record.

Makes Reagan's nine terrifying words seem awfully silly.

I Didn't Need A Poll To Tell Me That!

Poll: GOP voters just want to win

Sixty-eight percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents surveyed for a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Tuesday said they prefer a nominee who stands a real shot at winning in the general election but with whom they may have ideological disagreements. Meanwhile, 29 percent said want a candidate who they agree with on all the important issues.

Winning the argument...

PWNED!

The Purest Depth of Loathing

Right around this time of year, I make a comment at either my children's school or my school that is a catalyst for the crook eye, stink eye, or evil eye...actually all three. Generally speaking, it's the same comment every year and it goes like this.

I hate Black History Month.

At first, people think I'm joking. Then they realize I'm not. A quick glance at my bald head and they think I might be a member of the skin heads. This usually evolves into indignant anger and outright disgust...even when I explain why I hate it. It's terribly vexing.

I hate Black History Month because every month should be Black History Month. To put it simply, our curriculum should be similar to the theme and style of Ken Burns' fantastic documentary series, Baseball. If you haven't seen it, this is how the story of our history should be told...from the point of view of all people, not just the famous ones that have been heroified being belief. One cannot look at the history of this country without looking at the role of black people in our culture.

To set aside one month as a metaphorical highlight reel is akin to asking the one black friend you have to be a spokesperson for all blacks. It's simply ridiculous. I get the reasons why we do it but, in the end, it only makes it worse. People pay attention for one month and then our ADD culture tunes out the rest of the year and it's back to the myopic view of our history and culture. It's crap and I hate it.

I catch a lot of heat for not doing more at this time of year but I just tell people,

"Come see me the other 11 months of the year."

Super Socialist Sunday

As millions settle in to watch the big game today between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, half of them (who are likely conservatives) need to read Bill Maher's New Rule on the NFL. 

Hilarious! And more true than he realizes. The NFL is indeed socialism in action. Smaller market teams like Green Bay and Pittsburgh share revenue with the bigger market teams like the New York Giants and the high profile teams like the Dallas Cowboys. All the money goes into one pot and it is shared. Shared! What a concept...

Success is punished as the winner of today's game will be picked last in the draft. In addition, today's game is a double dose of socialism as the city of Green Bay (aka the GOVERNMENT) owns the the Packers. So if they Pack do go on to win, all the people in Green Bay will benefit and not just one tyrannical owner.

Sit back for a moment and think about the BILLIONS of dollars the NFL makes every year. To call them a success would be as much of an understatement as saying the Beatles were a pop group in the 1960s. The reason why they are successful is due to their framework which is completely socialistic. I know this will be tough concept for the conservative brain to grasp (as they are wired differently) so I'm going to skip over the part where I ask some of you to reflect. Instead, I will point the light of interrogation on myself.

Looking inward, I do not like what I see. I actually prefer baseball to football. As Maher astutely points out, baseball is the libertarian's dream...every man for himself...smaller market teams crushed by giants like the Yankees...hands off my cash...fuck sharing....and, until very recently, indentured servants. Ideologically, I am more in line with football yet I prefer baseball. WTF??!!???

Perhaps I need to re-think all of this. As I often lament, I will not stand for such hypocrisy!

A Simple Suggestion

"WAAAAAAH. They are trying to make me do something I don't wanna do. WAAHHHH"

No, that's not my 8 year old son. Nor are "they" making you do anything. First Lady Michelle Obama is suggesting that people eat less shitty food. Every first lady has a pet project and hers is childhood obesity. Because the Right has to counter every single thing the left does (winning the argument, never being wrong, bully power fantasies), Sarah Palin made a media event out of bringing sugar cookies to a school. Rush Limbaugh claims that Ms. Obama is coming to get your furnace.On Laura Ingraham’s talk show she challenged Michelle Obama to “get off our back and allow us as individuals to exercise our own God-given rights to make our own decisions.”

And what has to be the most idiotic fucking thing I have ever heard, Matt Drudge has suggested that Michelle Obama is to blame for the increase in pedestrian deaths because more people are walking per her suggestion. Are you kidding me? 

How about we take a look at the number of lard asses that die every year because they don't take a walk once in awhile? Must the right find fault with everything the Obamas do even if it is a good idea?

Yes. Yes, they must.

What's truly hilarious about all of this is these aren't laws. They are suggestions. Within a one mile radius of my house there is a McDonald's, a Dairy Queen, several greasy bars, and three grocery stores that all have fully stocked bakeries. The government is not regulating my ability to pile on to my gut.

Yet the fear is still there. More and more these days any remaining doubt that I had about the conservative brain being wired differently is being washed away. All Rush Limbaugh has to do is look in the mirror when he gets out of the shower to see that the government is not forcing him to do anything.

Comments Spam Problem Solved?

I thought I had the comments spam issue solved as the only one I saw in the spam filter recently was something in Spanish offering male enhancement services. Everyone seemed to be getting their comments through just fine. But then Guard Duck's comment yesterday ended up in there. Drat! Apologies to Guard Duck. I did publish it a little later but still this is a continuing problem, I guess.

What You Afraid Of?

It's been a few weeks since the tragedy in Tuscon reignited several debates. One of them was the gun debate and in all of the swirl of dialog, a question arose in my head.

What you are afraid of?

I am asking this question specifically to the gun rights folks that migrated to this blog from Kevin's site. After the Tuscon shooting, gun sales skyrocketed. Many gun rights proponents told me this was due to fear of a new wave of gun control yet the only thing that I have seen being seriously considered is a ban on the high capacity clips that are similar to what Loughner used. I guess I wouldn't have a problem with that but I'd like to see tighter controls on the mentally ill being able to purchase guns before that sort of ban.

I'm still lost, though. Was there another reason why people rushed out to buy a gun? I think so but I'll get to that in a moment. I get the fact that people should be able to own guns and use them for hunting, sport, and target practice. I even get the collectible side of it...I'm the world's biggest pack rat with comic books, CDs, and DVDs, books...so I get the obsessive need to collect.

But what I don't get is the ridiculous notion that an AR-15 is for home protection. Or a Glock with a high capacity clip is used to protect oneself on the street. Again, if it's just because they are cool and you want one, fine. I'm that way with stuff too. But don't give me the BS about protection. And that goes for just about every situation regarding protection.

In some situations, I can see it. I have a friend who lives in Chicago who got mugged a few times and bought a gun. She has since been nearly mugged three times and her gun has been an effective deterrent. Women protecting themselves....I get it...no problem. But I had someone tell me the other day that if Abe Lincoln had a gun, he would've been able to turn around and shoot John Wilkes Booth. He was serious but I just laughed at him. Where would he have kept it for easy access? In his hat?

Then it all dawned on me. In their continued adolescent power fantasy, people who (over) use the line of protection think they are living their lives in an episode of 24. Or in the film Die Hard where John McLane duct tapes guns to his back and tricks the bad guys. This is complete fiction. It NEVER happens like this. Yet these folks thinks that it does and that's a big problem. They are so afraid of...something...in their lives that they primarily reside in a world of fantasy (Ayn Rand) in which they are Campbell's archetypal hero...shooting their way to security.

I've always been a huge action film and TV fan. I love 24, the Die Hard films, and have been obsessed for over 20 years with HK action flicks (Chow with two guns=Mega) but I know that they are complete fantasies and have no resemblance to real life. The same person who told me that if Abe Lincoln had a gun, he would've been able to defend himself said the same thing of Gabby Giffords. This mentality is so silly that it's hard to even comment. She would've had no time to react and the one guy that was there with a gun didn't even draw it because was uncertain as to who the gunmen was during the incident.

This is how the real world works, folks. So, if you just like guns because they are cool to collect or you have a legitimate reason to defend yourself, fine. Fess up. If neither are true, however, I ask again.

What are you afraid of?

Proud To Be An American (Part 1)

It's cold up in the North Woods and several million of us around the country are now experiencing what we Minnesotans call a real winter. Yet, today, my heart is warmed because of this story.

Young women in evening gowns and young men in dark suits walked through a makeshift arch and to the stage during the Monday afternoon pep rally complete with cheerleaders, dance teams and the school band. So did two young women in suits, and the crowd cheered for each one.


Several of the students in the crowd didn't understand what all the fuss over the lesbian couple."Some people are against it, but they don't care if they walk down a stupid runway," said Maggie Hesaliman, 14.


Melissa Biellefe, 16, said, "We're a pretty respectful school. Our rule is just let people be who they are."

The crowd cheered for each one. We have come a long way since stuffing homos into paddy wagons, haven't we? Kids today don't look at people as being gay or straight. They look at them as people. Thank God. Although this younger generation has several other challenges (the chief one being learned helplessness but that's just the MJG at work), one thing is very clear: on the whole, they don't give a crap if someone is gay. No doubt, there is still bullying that goes on but I view this as a dying gasp more than a recurring trend.

When events like this happen, the future is quite clear. The end of discrimination and bias against homosexuals is nearly upon us.

Proud to be an American (Part 2)

Continuing with the warming heart trend, I have to admit that I have taken a liking to John Boehner. Maybe it's the fact that he is a man not afraid to show emotion. Or maybe it's that he seems fairly moderate for a Republican. I don't know. His words and actions have thus far done nothing really to piss me off. In fact, he's said a few things I agree with since he has taken over the mantle. I suppose the Health Care repeal thing sucked but it was little more than a political stunt.

And I have to say that I'm really irked at left wing pundits for making fun of the guy for crying as often as he does. In fact, I think it really sucks that Maddow and Maher have made fun of him.Yes, it's self involved but so what? Aren't we all? I know I am. If people on the right start counting emotion as relevant (it's called being human) and move towards individual reflection, shouldn't that be applauded? I will if no one else will.

(CLAP CLAP)!!!!!

No Shit

If traffic lights were invented today, the Republican Party would be against them.

No shit. And so begins Anthony Schlaff's wonderful opinion piece in a recent issue of the Christian Science Monitor.

It's a very honest discussion about how the word "freedom" has been hijacked by the conservative movement in this country. As with many things today, we need to unhijack it.

This thought experiment about traffic lights points to how simplistic and wrong-headed current Republican rhetoric about freedom is. Freedom is about rights, choices, and opportunities. Government action, whether through laws or taxes, does not necessarily restrict freedom. As with traffic lights, it can enhance freedom, and we need to be thoughtful, not reflexive, in how we view what we ask of government.

This is really all I have been saying. So have many other Democrats and even some (no longer pure) Republicans. Yet, we are now Hitler. Or Commies. Or whatever demonized bullshit word they come up with for the week.

As for the notion that the new health-care law robs us of freedom because it is a mandate, let us not forget that we as a society created our government to make our choices and we used this mechanism to do so. This was an exercise of our freedom!


Freedom starts with the opportunity to make choices, including the choice of whether to act individually or collectively. A choice once made sets us on a more limited path – but are we not freer for making choices rather than remaining forever frozen in a prechoice world of possibility but no fulfillment?

Therein lies the problem...acting collectively. Any sort of talk involving collective action is quickly demonized. This would involve following a law that some people (8 year old boys and/or adolescent power fantasists)  don't like. Right around now is where I imagine my 8 year old son, shouting, "I DON'T WANNNA!!!!!!"

Well...too bad....is what I usually say...followed by "Grow Up."

But here's the best part of the whole piece.

I know of no one on the left of the political spectrum who accepts the right's characterization that they are against personal responsibility. They believe in both personal and social responsibility, as these are complementary, not competing, notions. Trying to address major public problems with just a greater push for personal responsibility is like tying one of our hands behind our back. We must leverage social responsibility, too, enabling us to use both hands to tackle our toughest problems.

Complementary, not competing notions. This is what I have been saying all along. It has to be both.

Schlaff ends the article with a question.

If public schools or public drinking water and sewer systems were invented today, would Republicans oppose them, along with the traffic lights?

Sadly, he answers this in such a way that it demonstrates the enormous naivete on the part of the left. The answer is a simple YES because the conservative movement in this country worships (fake) people like Daniel Plainview. To them, Plainview is the perfect hero.

After I read this piece, I reached a conclusion. I am going to make it my life's mission to demolish Reagan's Nine Terrifying Words and all that lies behind them. They are a boy's fantasy meant strictly to undermine government efforts at regulation and to encourage private industry greed.

In short, they are a lie.

Shocked (Not)

Well, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission report is in. The collapse of 2008 was caused by:

• Excessive borrowing and risk-taking by households and Wall Street.
• Systemic breaches in accountability and ethics at all levels.
• Corporate Mismanagement, Ineptitude and Greed
• Widespread failures in financial regulation.
• Dramatic breakdowns in corporate governance.
• Policy makers who were ill prepared for the crisis.

The best part, though? The report definitively proves through undeniable facts that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac  were not the cause of the problem and, in fact, followed Wall Street and the sum prime companies into their maze of greed and insanity.

Of course, this didn't stop Peter Wallison from offering up his lone dissent, described quite eloquently by Joe Nocera in a recent New York Times article.

Or that Peter Wallison, the American Enterprise Institute scholar and the fourth Republican F.C.I.C. commissioner, had already released his own, one-man dissent — a lonely, loony cri de coeur that placed the blame for the financial crisis entirely on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and federal home ownership policies, a position so contrary to the facts that even his fellow Republican commissioners did not agree with him.

The commission’s analysis of the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — a hotly contested battleground — is utterly persuasive. You may recall a few months ago, when I scoffed at Mr. Wallison’s contention that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were ground zero for the financial crisis, he told me that he had seen internal documents that would prove him right. His dissent does not deliver the goods. Instead, it is the report itself that is chock-a-block with internal documents conclusively showing that the two government-sponsored entities followed Wall Street and the subprime companies off the cliff, rather than the other way around.

I'm certain that we will continue to hear cries of Fannie/Freddie for years to come. No doubt we will also continue to hear the mouth foaming about  the Community Reinvestment Act as being the problem. Both of these canards are rooted in the anaphylaxis about entitlements and illustrate a clear denial of what caused the problem which is so eloquently detailed in the report.

None of this is anything new to me, of course. I've been saying it for months if not years now. And I don't really hold out much hope, even if Elizabeth Warren does, that the new finreg bill will help. Until there are real consequences for greed (jail and/or liquidation of all assets) and a decided shift in how our country defines success (intrinsically as opposed to extrinsically), we don't be getting anywhere.

I do take heart, though, that Inside Job was nominated for an Academy Award.

Role Models

The best line from President Obama's speech was this

That responsibility begins not in our classrooms, but in our homes and communities. It’s family that first instills the love of learning in a child. Only parents can make sure the TV is turned off and homework gets done. We need to teach our kids that it’s not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair; that success is not a function of fame or PR, but of hard work and discipline.

Hmm...the Michael Jordan Generation?

Gripe all you want about our education system (and there is PLENTY to grip about) but it starts with ridding our culture of COP (checked out parents). As I have been saying for quite a long time, the first agency of socialization is the family. If the family falls into the mass media fly trap definition of success, it's hard to break out. Of course, it does help that President Obama is a role model.

On election day of 2008, I went over to my children's school to help out with the mock vote. I get done an hour and a half before my kids get done so I volunteered to assist kids with the touch screens for the all school vote. Some black kids were talking about LeBron as they came in and sat down to vote. They all voted for Obama and then one of the turned to me and said, "If Barack Obama wins, that means I could be president too now, I guess." They spent the rest of the time talking about how cool it would be if he won.

It helps when they see someone who looks like them succeeding at something other than sports.

Friday Funnies

Between Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and the Onion, do we really need MSNBC or Fox News any more? The way that humor and sarcasm have come to define political analysis is quite fascinating these days.

The Onion has always spared no one from its wrath and a recent issue is no exception.

Congress Honors 9/11 First Capitalizers

"It is high time we paid tribute to those who sensed the direness of the moment and immediately sprang into action on that terrible day, exploiting it for personal gain," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Tuesday. "These were the thoughtless men and women who selfishly showed us that in desperate times, the most callous among us will always be there to step forward and do whatever it takes to get a piece of the action."

It would be more amusing if it wasn't exactly true.

A Modern Philanthropist

Recently Robert Burton, a big donor to the UConn football team, wrote a letter demanding the return of millions of dollars of he donated to the university and his family name removed from the football complex.

Burton Capital Management LLC is a hedge fund. They recently forced a Colorado printing company to put Burton's guys on the board of directors. It's hard to know the merits of that action from the short mention in the article, but it shows that Burton isn't afraid to throw his weight around.

Burton said that he didn't expect "veto power" over the selection of the new coach, he just wanted to "add value and comments on any prospective candidates."

If Burton is telling the truth about not expecting to exercise veto power over the football program, he's a narcissist who constantly needs his ego stroked. If he's lying, he's a vindictive control freak who thinks he's running the football program at a public university.

According to another article:

Burton said his company will also start sending its managers to Syracuse University's business school for training instead of UConn, and will no longer pay for its $50,000-per-year luxury suite at Rentschler Field.

And you can add blackmail to the list of Burton's crimes. (Note that said luxury suite is another tax-deductible perq of corporate execs, who use company money to fund their own personal entertainment at public expense.)

This is a rare example of an American corporation having its temper tantrum exposed to the nation. It shows how much power these guys think they have over public institutions like a state university football program.

President Obama mentioned corporate tax reform in his State of the Union address. It's obvious from the maze of loopholes that is corporate tax law that corporations have had pretty much complete control over tax law for decades But now they think they own college football too? Of course they do. They pay for a huge number of utterly pointless bowl games to satisfy their egos and stamp their names on three-hour blocks of TV time.

And the thing that really galls me about Burton is that hedge funds like his are among some of the worst actors in the economy, making the bubble worse and actually designing investment vehicles intended to fail. These guys make money by killing American companies and putting Americans out of work.

As this episode shows, corporations don't give money to colleges and politicians out of the goodness of their hearts. They expect some kind of return. Some corporate philanthropists expect that return to be a burnishing of their reputation, to make themselves look better in the public eye, to build a better university for their employees to attend. Or, like Bill Gates, spend billions of dollars curing diseases for poor people in other countries.

But others obviously expect the recipients of their largesse to do what they say: hire a football coach, pass favorable tax laws, or get rid of regulations that stop them from polluting the air and water we all breathe and drink. Or they're like Massey Energy's Don Blankenship, who paid to get a state supreme court judge elected to rule in his favor (and the judge did. Twice!).

It's not like we didn't know that corporations wield this kind of power. It's just so rare that we see such a blatant public display of arrogant power mongering. And still we have corporate apologists telling us that government is the problem and those poor defenseless corporations are totally at the mercy of bureaucrats.

America has had a long hard slog against corporate robber barons: Teddy Roosevelt's trust-busting of monopolies, FDR's fight against union busting, Eisenhower's warning against the military-industrial complex. The shipping of manufacturing jobs to Mexico in the last century and high-tech jobs to India and China in this century. But the robber barons are coming back like gangbusters, and they're not even trying to hide their disdain for the very idea of public institutions like universities.

Guys like Burton think they own this country lock, stock and football program. But you know what? I'd like nothing better than to see Burton and his ilk keep their filthy money and take their names off all our stadiums.

Head....Hurts....:(

Last night, Michele Bachmann (MN-06) delivered the Tea Party response to President Obama's SOTU address. For the most part, it was fairly predictable. But that's not the speech that has everyone scratching their heads this week. Last week, Ms.Bachmann delivered a speech in Iowa (see: dipping toe in water for possible presidential run now that Palin is tanking) which left many to wonder why someone so incompetent is leading anyone.

Here is the speech in its entirety. C-Span ran the whole thing so we have it all. I didn't want to be accused of taking anything out of context. If you don't want to watch the whole thing, pay close attention to minutes 24 to 26.



Anyone care to explain WTF she is talking about?

Immigrants to this country were always treated like crap and there certainly was no equality. Our entire history is filled with people from different cultures and races being treated like shit. Sorry, but that's human beings, folks. And John Quincy Adams was not a Founding Father. His father was but he was not. He was in short pants when this country was born. In addition, small point but I think that her use of the word 'forebearer' is also incorrect. I think she meant "Forefather' because forebearer is the noun form of the verb forebear which means to restrain from, avoid or cease; to endure or tolerate; to keep oneself in check or control oneself under provocation.

How ironic...

The real head scratcher, though, was her statement about how the people that wrote the Constitution worked tirelessly to end slavery. Um....Michele? THEY OWNED SLAVES!!!!

It would be OK to excuse this if she was just another fringe person spouting lunacy but this woman is the head of a very large and powerful caucus in the United States House of Representatives. She has won her district three elections in a row with record contributions from around the country. She is a leader of the conservative movement with many supporters and has been dubbed the head of the Tea Party.

Are you kidding me?!!?

Delusions are not opinions, folks. Our history is filled with a lot of good, a lot of bad, and a whole lot of ugly. To put this kind of spin on it goes beyond batshit. It's irresponsible. People look up to our leaders and trust that they will be competent enough to use our history as a learning tool. Her view of US History is destructive. Pure and simple.

I truly hope this means people will stop listening to her.

Half Time=Over

Re: The State of the Union Address.

Well done, Mr. President!

A Perfect Fit (6 and 7 of 20)

Does anyone out there have their suits tailor made? I don't. It's Men's Warehouse for yours truly which I don't mind.

But if you are wealthy you get the equivalent of that when it comes to investments.

Because of their wealth, the rich can get portfolio managers to create investment products customized to their own particular needs. One option is structured notes, which are complex securities that use derivatives to give investors exposure to particular investment strategies. Also, rather than invest in a mutual fund like everyone else, the wealthy can ask prominent mutual fund managers to create separately managed accounts designed to reduce their tax bill and fees.

Question: how does one regulate "structured notes?" I don't think there is a way to do it so y'all will have to pardon me when I LMFAO in hearing the lies about the government taking over everything. In fact,. nearly every time I hear someone say that, somewhere a portfolio manager and his clients are having a pretty good laugh, saying, "Mission Accomplished." In essence, this is who the Tea Party is actually working for in a fully funded way. It's entitlements for the wealthy.

In addition, I don't think it's possible to regulate hedge funds. They are far too complex and our government is far too neutered to do anything about it.

The wealthier you are, the easier it is to diversify and hedge—both because you can hire skilled money managers to construct those strategies and because you have the resources to spread among many different assets and products.

I can't understand why it's so difficult for people to understand that when you have this kind of freedom, you have more power. When you have more power, you get to dictate the terms of how our economy works and, thus, consolidate that power through shutting everyone else out.  I was recently asked in comments if economics was a zero sum game. In a perfect world, it's not.

We don't live in a perfect world.

We live in a world where the pie is constantly artificially inflated and the wealth in our country is being controlled by fewer and fewer people who are very adept at changing the rules of the game. As President Obama delivers his State of the Union tonight, pay close attention to the GOP response and what the conservative pundits have to say. Nearly all of what they say will have one central theme: more money for less people.

And anything else is communism.

Beautiful

State of Delusion

On Tuesday, President Obama will give his State of the Union address. The Republican response will be from Paul Ryan. And the Tea Party response (?!) will be given by Michele Bachmann.

I've never been a fan of the 'response' regardless of who is president. The whole response thing was, of course, started by the GOP back in the Johnson era. That first one was given by Everett Dirksen and Gerald Ford on January 12, 1966. The irrational fear of 'Big Government' was kicking around even back at that time.

As soon as it started, the whole thing smacked of adolescent gaming...my 12th level Druid is better than your 12th level Wizard...N'yah N'yah!! Moreover, it's the school yard bully 'I must get in the last word' deal as well. This was very apparent during the Clinton years when the GOP (much like they are now) simply could not accept Clinton as president. He won! How dare he? Much of their outrage is centered around their delusion that President Obama is an illegitimate president.

All of this has now gotten really ridiculous as the delusions of the Tea Party have slipped into the mainstream and, thus, we have a third state of the union delivered by Michele Bachmann. None of this would be happening if the economy was in good shape. People have given in to irrational fears and, as is usually the case, it's all the fault of everyone on the left.

I wonder how many state of the union addresses we will have in 2012. Four? Ten? I can just see the communists, skin heads, and the Maple Grove, MN ladies auxiliary getting in their two cents. If things don't get better economically, we might see more. Regardless of where they fall politically, the response to the State of the Union is ridiculous. It reeks of insecurity and is characteristic of an Orwellian drive to control the way people think. If a president that I didn't vote for stands up and says a bunch of crap that is either a lie or wrong (see: George W. Bush), why do I need someone from the Democratic Party to tell me it is? I can think and act for myself.

And that's one big difference between liberals and conservatives. The more I see things like this, the more I become convinced that it really does come down to how our brains are wired. I might not have liked what Bush said but I didn't feel the need to have a response to balance it out.. I knew he was wrong. The GOP (and the ultimate paranoids, the Tea Party) not only dislike what Barack Obama says but they don't want other people to like it.

In other words, they don't want him to win the argument....just like school yard bullies.

Cold

I've always winced a little a the 'Just How Cold Is It in Minnesota?' stories but this photo was too illustrative to pass up.

You are looking at a squirrel...frozen in place...in Redwood Falls, MN...just about two hours west of me. His hands are held up to his face and he never made it past that point. Horrifying, in many ways...



We build character here in the North Woods. Some don't make it.

They Ain't Listening Either

A while back, I wrote a piece about how the military is ignoring the anaphylaxis of climate change skeptics and pursuing a core strategy of going green. To keep up with all the latest and greatest at the DoD and their green endeavors, check out this link. Pretty cool, huh? Man, they've got a lot going on there!

A recent column in the Minneapolis Star and Tribune shows that there is another segment of our society that isn't listening to the climate change skeptics either: Business.


Problem is, for the skeptics -- business leaders didn't get the memo.Business isn't waiting for politicians to act. Sustainability has moved from the tributaries of society into the mainstream of commerce. CEOs "have a number of stakeholders that are pushing them in this direction," says B. Andrew Brown, partner and regulatory affairs department head at Dorsey & Whitney LLP. "Customers, investors, employees, even banks and insurance companies." 


Management is learning that an embrace of sustainability is a rich strategy in an intensely competitive global economy. It offers another approach to risk management (just ask Mattel's management about the cost of recalling millions of toys manufactured in China and tainted with toxic lead paint).It's also a way to lower costs and boost efficiency.

Many of my regular readers know that I spend a fair amount of time ripping the business community. I have to admit that this article was a welcome surprise and is, without a doubt, another example of my happiness (dare I say glee?) at being wrong. So who are these companies embracing this new core strategy?

Take Wal-Mart, the controversial retail giant. Five years ago, then chief executive Lee Scott launched Sustainability 360 with three major goals: Using 100 percent renewable energy, creating zero waste and selling sustainable products. With 2005 as its baseline, for instance, a Sustainability 360 goal was to hike fleet fuel efficiency by 25 percent by October 2008. It rose 38 percent instead, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 200,000 tons a year and saving the firm more than $200 million a year. That's real money, even for a behemoth like Wal-Mart.

I've never been a fan of Wal Mart but you have to give them props for this. Wow.

Who else?

Sustainability is a driver of innovation within companies like Dow Chemical and General Electric, creating new markets and profit centers. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are betting big with an eye toward earning a payoff from clean-tech innovations.


Global investment in clean energy of all kinds rose from $46 billion in 2004 to $200 billion in 2010.

As I have been saying all along, there's a lot of money to be made in green tech and it looks like we have a lot of private businesses paying attention.

The best part about all of this, though, is how the free market is actually leading the way. The article's overall tone is that business isn't going to wait for government to come up with a solution. Honestly, they'll be waiting a long time as long as the current form of the GOP is around although it is pretty hilarious to see that not admitting fault/winning the argument trumps making money with them and their supporters. I guess I was wrong about money being the most important thing to them. Clearly, it's pride.

So that's two things I'm wrong about. Seriously stunning.....:)

Unhijacking The Founding Fathers

Usually I put up a Bill Maher final New Rule without comment but this one needs a second audio track. How about we start with...It's about time someone did this!

For too long, conservatives and libertarians have cloaked themselves in the founding fathers and the Constitution. Much like they interpret the Bible (my way or a lake of hellfire for you), their view of the formation of this country is filled with delusions. Maher points out one of these when he describes Glenn Beck's propensity to dress up like Thomas Paine. In fact, if you want to know how close Glenn Beck is to playing with his own poo, read his 'version' of Common Sense. As I mentioned the other day, events that took place in the latter half of the 18th century have an historical context. Paine's Common Sense was written from the point of view of someone taxed by a monarch. Barack Obama is not King George III. This is going to be one of my new mantras, b to the w.

The other thing that Bill points out in this commentary is yet another sad (and tragic) making of a myth. Take a look at the photo at left. Somehow this image is historically accurate for a large segment of our country. There are a couple of my regular readers who have said as much in comments. The image here is so far from reality that I can't help but call it for what it is.


It's a child's fairy tale.

Many of you will jump to the conclusion that I am being mean or snarky. Quite the contrary. That's Maher's job. Mine is one of profound frustration and great sadness. The founding fathers were products of the Age of Enlightenment and the big ones (Washington, Paine, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Madison, Monroe) were Deists. Paine and Jefferson believed in the teachings of the morality of Christ and did not believe that he was holy nor resurrected. But somehow, through a very sad delusion, they were conservative and would've tarred and feathered any liberal or progressive. This is a sad perception that honestly causes so many problems that they are too numerous to list here.

Maher has some pretty great quotes from our founding fathers in this clip that more or less prove that, if they were around today, it's pretty clear that Sarah Palin would be accusing them of blood libel.

Why Am I Not Surprised?

I'm currently engaged in a discussion in comments regarding the memorial service in Tuscon last week (see also: Obama looks good, must be up to no good, he must fail). As usual, Jon Stewart illustrates the silliness of all of it in a much more eloquent fashion than I could.

"The people of Tuscon didn't know how to publicly grieve to our expectations."

No shit.

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The Sad Making of Myths

Sit back for a moment and think about Rosa Parks. What are the first images that come into your head?

Tired, old black woman...wouldn't give up her seat in the front of the bus to a white man...poor old woman beaten down by oppression...right?

Wrong. There is nothing in the above sentence that is factually accurate.

Rosa Parks was, in fact, 42 on December 1, 1955 when the bus incident occurred. Now some of you may think that is old but I'm 43 and, so if you do, fuck off! She wasn't tired from working either. She had two jobs. One was the job at the department store. The other was the secretary for the NAACP. In fact, the entire event was a planned protest and not the simple bus ride that myth making has made it into. Parks received training in peaceful resistance and had been planning for some time to not move if asked. Others had planned similar protests if the issue cam up. That seat, by the way, was in the back of the bus in the black section not the front of the bus. The law back then stated that if the front was full, blacks would have to make room for white people in the back. She was asked to stand up and didn't when a white man walked to the back to try to take her seat.

Many people believe that this famous photo (left) is an image from the incident. In fact, it was a staged photo. The man behind Ms. Parks is a UPI reporter and not some evil white man. Ms. Parks is also shown here in the front of the bus. During the actual event, she was in the mid back section of the bus and the driver came back, when the bus got more crowded, and moved the sign 'Whites Only' behind her and asked her to get up.

Over the years, the story has been simplified because people in this country need to have easy to swallow caplets. They can't take the time nor do they have the patience to think about the complexities of situations like this. They hear a few catch phrases, some pretty words, see a bright shiny object, and, before you know it, a myth is born.

This is also true of the Tea Party.

It frustrates me to no end the manner in which the Tea Party got its name. In fact, it would be one of those delusions, not opinions, that the conservative movement of this country holds. The Boston Tea Party was an event that occurred due to taxation without representation. On December 16, 1773, colonists, outraged by paying taxes to a monarch and an aristocracy an ocean away as well as the monopoly created by the East India Company, dumped three shiploads of tea into Boston Harbor.

The current Tea Party got its name from Rick Santilli who, in a CNBC broadcast, called for 'tea party' in the Chicago River on February 19, 2009. There had been planned protests before this but this is when the social movement was truly galvanized. And, as with the Boston Tea Party, the current Tea Party's cry is "Taxation without representation." Much like the story of Rosa Parks, we are seeing a myth being woven right before our eyes.

It is a delusion to say that we are taxed without representation. We all have representatives in Congress. We may not like them but, unlike the Boston Tea Party, we have the power to change that. Unfortunately, this requires time and dedication-two things people in our culture today are very reticent to embrace. Some have made Tea Partying a full time job but most are just pissed off and don't want to invest the time or attention to detail to actually solve any problems. They have heard their catch phrases, seen a few pretty words (the rebirth of the Don't Tread on Me Flag-another out of context myth), and marveled at their bright shiny object that is currently the latest social movement.

This myth has actually done a great deal of damage to the perception of our government. Barack Obama is not King George III. Nor is any other representative, Republican or Democrat. There is, however, an aristocracy but those in it are martyred by the Tea Parties as being oppressed by the socialists/fascists/nazis/communists that run our government. Yet the perception is twisted and we are left with this myth thanks to the Tea Party

The other side believes that people have a right to keep what they earn, and that taxing them to support others, no matter how needy, amounts to theft. That’s what lies behind the modern right’s fondness for violent rhetoric: many activists on the right really do see taxes and regulation as tyrannical impositions on their liberty.

A perfect summation courtesy of Paul Kruggman. I'll be talking more about his recent column in the future because I found it to be largely accurate but for now let's look at this statement. It's a complete myth. There are no tyrannical impositions on their liberty that come close to the ones we saw in the 18th century. It's not an opinion, it's a delusion and this is what I meant by not coddling these sorts of perceptions anymore.

Conveying historical context with the Tea Party is about as easy as pushing a 200 ton boulder up Mt.Hood. Seriously, have any of them read the Constitution which they hold up as a bastion of liberty?

Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;


To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;


To regulate Commerce among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

This is what the US Constitution says. Do they just skip over this part or do they have their own special interpretation of it?

I'm hoping that people look back on this time 55 years from now and they have not embraced the same myth that has been created around Rosa Parks. I'd like to see people wonder why on earth an organization called itself the Tea Party when the historical reference is completely inaccurate and totally out of context.

The cynical side of me is saying that I am being too naive. I wonder what lie teachers will tell their students about the Tea Party in 55 years.

Reflections on Today

Last fall, The Christian Science Monitor featured race as the cover story to their September 18, 2010 issue. I had planned to talk about it back then but decided to wait until Dr. King's day today. The entire article is fantastic and it's worth a long, soaking read. Central to the piece are seven lessons that we all need to heed.

Lesson 1: Recognize how far we've come

Compare the images of the early 60s to where we are now with the first black mayor elected to Philadelphia, MS. That's quite an achievement and there is no doubt that Dr. King would be amazed.

Lesson 2: Talk about race like a Southerner

From the article...

Contrast the quick national judgment of Sherrod (who was eventually offered reinstatement, but declined) with a recent experience David Hooker, a black community-builder, had visiting Oxford, Miss., another iconic civil rights town steeped in Confederate history. Mr. Hooker, who lives in Atlanta and teaches at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., stepped into the Ajax bar to order some food. A white Mississippian sitting at the bar said to no one in particular, but within Hooker's earshot, "I remember when they didn't let niggers in here."

Recounting the episode, Hooker says he replied, "That was crazy, wasn't it? I remember that, too."

Hooker adds: "He kind of looked at me, like, 'What do you mean? You're not going to be offended?' "

The two ended up having a 45-minute chat that spanned the election of Obama, the Ole Miss football team, and hopes for their kids.

This is how to handle situations like this: find common ground. Just beautiful...

Lesson 3: Leverage 'friendship potential'

Pettigrew says that the at times juvenile "he said, she said" tenor of the race debate in America can be attributed to a simple fact: Much of the rest of America has missed out on both forced and voluntary race reconciliation in the South. That process, Pettigrew says, has been driven by the growing class equality in the region, which has raised what he calls "friendship potential" in the public sphere.

This has to do more with ignorance and a decidedly condescending attitude that many white liberal northerners have about blacks in the south. We talked a great deal about this in that Beyond Diversity seminar I attended. It's dys-consciousness...I don't know what I don't know.

Lesson 4: Blacks love Southern opportunity

This lesson will certainly please the libertarians who post here.

"What's changed in the South is that people increasingly tolerate the individual," says Mr. Griffin, explaining his decision to return and invest in the town where riot police once turned back black civil rights marchers after they crossed the Edmund Pettus bridge on their way to Montgomery. "If there's prejudice today, it's more of a class thing than a racial thing."

Essentially, there are opportunities in the south that aren't available in the north because of a new found tolerance. This would go in hand with Lesson #1...recognizing how far we have come. Far, indeed, with blacks being core to many Southern businesses.

Lesson 5: Don't stereotype whites

"People think the only [ones] negatively impacted by Jim Crow's official and unofficial policies were African-Americans in the South," says Hooker. "But [prejudice] was taught by violence and coercion – deeply wounding ways of enforcing an unnatural behavior. Over time, that's as painful for the people who have had to maintain the system as it is for the people who were intentionally marginalized.

Agreed. There is an entire unrecognized group of victims here just like Hooker. It's hard to see them at times but that would come with contact, communication, and friendship.

Lesson 6: Segregation by any other name...

A group of historians – including Mr. Sokol and the University of Michigan's Matt Lassiter – are revisiting how the North and South diverged after the Civil War. One of Mr. Lassiter's findings is that Northern segregation happened largely by the same kind of government decrees that enshrined segregation in the South.

I agree completely. This would be one of Loewen's Lies. The north had just as much complicity in the south's institutionalized slavery.

Lesson 7: Keep moving forward

The hard one. I asked the leader of Beyond Diversity how I should tolerant of intolerance and her answer was, "You just have to recognize it as their truth. Say to them 'That's your truth' and I respect it.'" Easier said than done. I'd have to say that I've done a poor job of it thus far.

But articles like this give me a great deal of hope. Dr. King's legacy is on display for all to see in the year 2010.

We are going forward because of his life and his sacrifice.

Do You Want to Live Forever?

I've long been an avid reader and watcher of science fiction. There are lots of movies and books that deal with immortality: Highlander, Zelazny's This Immortal, Haldeman's Buying Time, Blish's Cities in Flight, much of Varley's and Niven's work, and pretty much any vampire story.

Who wouldn't want to live forever?

To tell the truth, a lot of people. Old, sick, lonely people.

Several years ago my wife's grandmother was in a nursing home. She was 96 years old, unable to walk, going blind, going deaf, and always in pain. Her husband was dead. All her friends too. She had outlived her eldest daughter. Even the small town where she'd lived most of her life had disappeared. She was all alone. So at one point she just gave up and died.

Until then I never understood why characters in immortality novels so often got weary with living forever. It seemed so unrealistic and stupid to welcome death. But I was looking at it from the viewpoint of a young, healthy person. Who wouldn't want to to live forever if you're strong and vigorous?

But that's not how it works. We weaken and decline as we age. Seeing through the eyes of my wife's grandmother, I finally understood. We slowly lose everything: friends, family, strength, mobility, vision, hearing, taste, control of our bowels. Sure, you can struggle on life support for years, live in pain, or have your mind dulled by drugs, or perhaps worse, lose it completely to Alzheimer's. But why?

Last year the big flap over the health care bill was over death panels. The term itself was an outright lie. There were no death panels in that legislation. It was a provision to pay physicians for an end-of-life discussion with patients. Something that every elderly patient is going to have with their physician in any case, and something that was actually allowed for in previous legislation. It basically gave doctors a charge code for the discussion so that it could be properly accounted for, rather than bill it under some other category.

But real death panels do exist. One of them is the Republican-run government of Arizona. Jan Brewer signed a law cutting Medicaid payments for seven types of transplants. Two patients have died since the law went into effect in October, likely because of they were denied transplants.

And that's not the only death panel. Health insurance companies have life-time limits on the number of dollars patients can receive. The committees of the private companies that set these limits are death panels that decide who lives and who dies.

When you apply for insurance the company has a panel that looks at your medical history and decides whether they'll accept you. If you have any untoward risk factors -- say, you have cancer or need a heart transplant -- this panel of health insurance company employees will deny you coverage. In effect, sentencing you to death.

But wait, there's more! Other death panels include the statisticians who look at medical costs and decide what the premiums will be for insuring employees of small businesses. By putting these employees into their own tiny risk pools, they guarantee that the premiums will be high -- usually too high for most small businesses to afford, thus locking them out of health care coverage. If you work for a small company and have a disease, the insurance company will sentence you to death by making the premium too high for your employer to pay. Big employers can often avoid detailed scrutiny and all their employees get accepted automatically

That's the reality of health care today. We have private companies making for-profit decisions on who will live and who will die. The company can either cover thousands of additional families or pay the CEO a billion dollar stock bonus.

And when these private companies ditch you, who picks up the slack? Well, the federal government. When you're sick and destitute enough you'll qualify for Medicaid and you may be able to get some help. Unless you live in Arizona and need a certain type of transplant.

My point here is not really to slam Brewer for making hard choices on who lives and who dies. The cuts in Arizona may well be right thing to in the grand scheme of things. We only have so much money to spend on health care, and we've got to spend it on things that do the most good for the most people. Transplants are expensive and very often not successful, especially when there are other underlying risk factors, as is the case with at least one of the patients who died in Arizona. Transplants require that you live the rest of your life with a depressed immune system to avoid rejection, which is a time-bomb in itself.

I'm slamming the hypocrisy of people who railed against the health care bill and are now vowing to repeal it without offering any replacement. The core of the bill is common-sense provisions that Americans want: no limit on life-time payments, preventing insurance companies from denying coverage for preexisting conditions, preventing companies from dropping your coverage when you start getting expensive, and being able to get insurance if you lose your job.

The problem is paying for this. During the health care debate the Republicans refused to engage in any reasonable discussion of how to finance it. They ignored the nuance and subtleties of the problems that Brewer is facing now in Arizona. They made the public option -- obviously constitutional, since it's just a tax -- politically toxic, making it impossible for many Democrats to go along with it. Their only goal was to hand Obama a big fat defeat.

The Republicans need to stop playing political football with our lives and our health, and get serious about health care reform. Pretty much all Americans think we need the protections mentioned above, no matter what they think about the health care bill itself. You don't like being forced to buy insurance? I don't either, but someone's got to pay for it. Mitt Romney used to understand this, before he started running for president.

Right now we're paying much more for our health care than other countries do, for worse outcomes as a nation. People don't get regular care for problems as they arise. They wait until problems become critical and put them in the emergency room, which is ridiculously expensive. At which point their health is compromised and they'll have ongoing costs that will be much higher than if they had dealt with the problem in the first place. This is especially true with the epidemic of obesity and diabetes going on now.

The system is broken. There's too much overhead, mostly concentrated in the health insurance industry. We don't really need dozens of armies of private-sector beancounting middlemen to "manage" our health care system, especially when their interest isn't in actually cutting medical costs, but rather to get a percentage of an ever-growing pie. (Many of these companies are forming vertical networks, providing insurance and care. Which means they now have no incentive to cut costs).

The biggest problem with the health care bill is employer mandates, not the mandate that everyone get health insurance. It's just an accident of history that companies used health care as a cheap recruiting gimmick in the 50s. Employers don't pay for our food or housing (unless we're CEOs), why should they pay for our doctors? We should all be responsible for our own health care, as we are for other necessities. This would also put everyone should be in the same risk pool, since we'd all be directly insured instead of being segmented up by employer. Relieved of the direct burden of employee health care, companies should pay a tax to keep premiums lower for everyone, and to pay for Americans who can't buy their own insurance. The rate should be based on the amount of harm their industry causes to the health of their employees and Americans at large. McDonalds, Coke and Pepsi would have a real incentive to make healthier products. And Phillip Morris? Well, the handwriting has been on the wall for years.

There is at least one positive aspect to the Republican push for repeal and the individual mandate. It makes it that much more obvious that single-payer is the only logical way to do this. The Obama administration shied away from it because they wanted to the get the insurance companies on board. But in the long run I think everyone realizes single-payer is going to happen. It only makes sense. And it already exists for senior citizens, even though so many of those Tea Party protesters yap about keeping the government's hands off their Medicare.

Do we want to live forever? It's a moot question at this point. Our health care system should be focused on providing the longest, healthiest lives for the greatest number of Americans. We should all be paying for it because we're all using it: kids breaking their ankles skateboarding, young women having babies, annual medical and dental checkups. Everyone catches colds and needs vaccinations.

And at the end of it all death panels of neither government bureaucrats nor money-grubbing corporate execs should be deciding grandma's fate. She should be making her own decision with the advice of her physician.

My Lyin' Eyes

Take a look at this photo to the left.

It was recently added in comments and is, more or less, the sentiment of some posters in regard to yours truly. I am blaming the right for the tragedy in Arizona and their rhetoric or actions in no way, shape or form have anything to do with it. I'm a shameful person who, like this cartoon, is exploiting the tragedy for political gains.

Essentially, I am not a patriot like....Joe Wilson.

Take a look at Mr. "You Lie" in this photo. Here we see Congressmen Wilson hanging out at the Palmetto State Armory which (until recently) was selling a lower receiver for an AR-15 with the engraving "You Lie!" on it. This is seen clearly in the photo to the left of Congressmen Wilson. Apparently, though, he has not officially endorsed this. And after the shootings in Tuscon a week ago, the item has been taken down and is not available for sale.

Help me out, here, folks. The people that actually sell products like this are all good and are in no way at all related to any shooting at all...EVER! It's all the left's fault and they are the shameful evil ones! So am I!!!! AHHHHH, the shame!!!!!

I guess I must be deluded in thinking there was any sort of correlation between people that put things like this on guns and stirring up violent sentiment and actions. I must need my head shrinked!

Another Excellent Summation

I think it speaks volumes that our new Speaker of the House chose to skip the memorial service in Arizona and stay in DC. One need only look at his reason for skipping out to see yet another illustration of why I am a Democrat.

He had to go to a cocktail party.

Oh, Snap!

This is from a billboard in Tuscon. Apparently, it came down very quickly after the shooting which got me to thinking....Rush et al may be griping about blood libel but they sure are falling all over themselves to make changes. Palin took down her crosshairs map as well.

As is often the case with these folks, they remind me of my 8 year old son who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Several weak excuses are offered along with promises to continue to the behavior no matter what (!) but as soon as the threat of losing cookies forever (or, in this case, audience share) looms large, a rapid shift occurs in behavior.

But is it an 8 year old temper tantrum or an adolescent power fantasy? It seems to go back and forth. Perhaps it's both. This is an overall characteristic we see in today's version of conservatism...a sort of Neapolitan libertarianism. They really don't like rules and, quite honestly, don't seem to like people either. They just want to be able to do what they want and get pissed off to the max when they have to adjust. I wonder how many mouths foamed at taking down this billboard. Again, this is all they have.

As my friend Marc recently mentioned, in a near perfect description of the new right, when we were out at the pub recently , "They drove a Camaro in high school and this is their only intellectual outlet."

Front Loading

Here is Colbert from last night which serves as a most excellent front load to my piece below it.

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