Wooderson, R.I.P.

On the last day of school every year, I dig out the film Dazed and Confused, a wonderful story set on the last day of school in 1976 in Austin, Texas and let its warm rays cascade over me. The music, the images, the theme and the style all mix up in a beautiful melange...so much so that at various points throughout the 103 minutes of this absolute gem, I well up and, by the end, I'm usually crying.

It's not from laughter nor is it from bong smoke getting in my eyes. It's from a deep sadness so compelling that more often than not it is overwhelming. I find myself getting up from in front of the television and going outside to breathe the clean, crisp summer air...sucking it deeply into my lungs...hoping that my mind, body, and soul will be soothed. And I will remember that time clearly...and feel like I am there again.

Most of the time it is not soothed and I find myself left with a deep yearning that goes unfulfilled nearly every day of my life.The simple reason for all of this is the titanic melancholy I feel at peaking back into a world that is long gone and has been dead for way too many years...just like all those endless, youthful summers that were eternally magical...always...

The film was released in 1993 and did bring about a brief waved of 70s nostalgia but that was soon lost to new trends, ideas and really fucking awful lifestyle choices. And that nostalgia was mostly filled with pretense although some bands like Oasis and Paul Weller sought to make a point of injecting Bowie, Zeppelin, and T Rex dripped style into their music and largely succeeded. Every year that goes by puts more and more distance between us and that wonderful world that Richard Linklater, the film's director and writer, showed us. What is this world like?

It's a simple place filled with people and laughter. The women are gorgeous in their hip hugging jeans and long beautiful hair. The men are extremely cool in their muscle cars, t shirts, jeans and chucks. There is no Facebook, no texting on cell phones, no iPods, nor DVD players. There's hanging out and actually having a live conversation while driving in a car and listening to an 8 track player as opposed to sitting in front of a computer. There are drive in movies and drive in burger joints. There's pot smoking in the bedroom and quick sprays of air freshener as the parents unexpectedly knock on the door.

Most of all, there is a lot of fun.

This fun reveals itself in a myriad of ways...a primary focus of which is to party with beer and pot. Looking at that the partying that goes in the film through the lens of 2010, the melancholy bubbles up and overwhelms me. In today's culture, this sort of behavior is either insanely surpassed by a whole host of unhealthy drugs like Chrystal Meth or is massively derided by narrow minded people who view any sort of drug taking as being The End. In some ways, the latter group is right. People smoke pot and drink these days for all the wrong fucking reasons. This is likely due to the fact that people are so much more stupid now than they were 35 years ago....Mike Judge's Idiocracy nearly complete and 500 years early:)

The dichotomy between today and 1976 is presented quite eloquently in the character of Wooderson (below, left), the first major role for Matthew McConaughey. It is my view that he is Linklater's answer to Joseph Campbell's mono mythical hero. Wooderson conveys universal truths about his place in history and transcends his own role in his culture while building new meaning regarding the relationship between the two. He is a Campbell archetype and he fits this role perfectly.

Stylistically, this is eloquently conveyed when he walks into the Rec Center with Randy and Mitch. The Tarrentino slo-mo backed with the choice track, "Hurricane" by Bob Dylan drives the meaning of this world home. The Rec Center was THE place to be back then.....even up to the summer before my senior year (1984). Every town had one filled with pool tables, Foosball and later Tron and Missile Command. Sadly, these are all gone now as people just stay home in their little cyberpunk pods of entertainment. There is no face to face conversation or checking out girls or boys in person. Instead, we have match.com and instant messaging via Twitter. Oh boy...

Every time I watch this film...every single time...my mind drifts back to my friends older brothers and sisters who lived through this age. As a 9 year old in 1976, they were the coolest people (next to my dad and John Lennon) I had ever seen. But it wasn't just them. Even my mom, age 30 at that time, would not stop playing Dreamboat Annie by Heart and Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. Those records are also mixed up in my 70s dreamwarp Monet haze. When I listen to them, I think of Dazed and Confused and when I watch the film, I think of those records even though there were songs from either album in the film. They are inexorably tied together.

All of the characters in the film exemplify this haze but none more so than Wooderson. He's in his 20s but he still hangs out with teenagers. This would never be allowed to happen today (in our hyper fearful and giant leap of paranoia culture) as he would immediately be considered "weird" and possibly a pedophile. He parties quite a bit...getting his "third wind" for another round of drinking and pot smoking at 4am on the 50 yard line of the high school football field. Again, if this happened today he would essentially be considered a gun running drug dealer who wants to destroy us all. In short, Wooderson would be labeled a loser by the narrow minded ass hats who sadly define our socio-cultural context today...his actions...deplorable.

But he does all these things, though, throughout the course of the film while working for the city and contemplating a return to college....just like most of the people I knew back in the day. As he speaks of himself earlier in the film, one gets the sense that he generally has a handle on his life...he parties hard but works hard as well. Unlike the youth of today, he doesn't feel like he is entitled to anything.
Sadly, the youth of today imagine themselves as Vinnie Chase (Entourage) or a cast member of The Jersey Shore and their idea of partying and fun is done within the framework of these images. It's empty...hollow...monumentally selfish...devoid of any real passion...completely lacking in the important elements of deep soul...music..and love. In short, it is nothing like the world of Dazed and Confused where people got ripped but it meant something. Ironic that the youth of today are far more "dazed and confused," than the youth of 1976 who honestly weren't either at all.

We see wisps of the World of Wooderson here and there. A great example of this would be the voice of Kelly Jones and his music with Stereophonics. The Subways and the Stone Temple Pilots are two other bands that seem to have shining hints of this forgotten world. For the most part, however, it's gone. Our society has moved on and that wonderful culture that truly meant so much to me and many others is effectively dead and buried.

For the most part people just don't live, love and party like they did in the film Dazed and Confused...like they did in the 70s. Either they are too square, too uptight, too boring or the exact opposite...too wild, too crazy, and far too out of control. Far too infrequently, I see a ray of hope.

On this rare occasion here and there, I'll sit with some friends...a few of the them women in hip hugging jeans...have a conversation that's actually in person...listen to some great music (playing actual vinyl!)...and remember...if only for a few, fleeting moments....that wonderful world. If I'm lucky, I might actually feel like I'm back there. Most times, though, someone will pull out a cell phone and look at their texts.

Rest in Peace, Wooderson. At least I will always remember you.

My Heroes

I was just about to put up a post about the Muslim Center and some recent thoughts when Peter King, Jerold Nadler, and Ali Mohammed (a street vendor) beat me to it. I will let their words express what I was thinking and feeling.

"Newt Gingrich is talking about Nazis and whatever, I mean, that means nothing," said Rep. Peter King, a Republican who has led the local opposition to Park51, a 13-story Islamic center that would include a prayer space with an imam, a 500-seat auditorium, a pool, senior center and meeting rooms. King, a plainspoken Long Islander, argues that the center would be insensitive to the families of Sept. 11 survivors, but noted that some of the most prominent national opponents to the project had taken their rhetoric too far, and until very recently, didn't seem interested in New York at all.

"First of all, this is real America," said King, sarcastically using Palin's phrase for the homeland. "The people who detached themselves from New York are all of a sudden embracing New York."

No shit. Well said, dude. And I don't even support your view on the center but boy oh boy did you perfectly convey their hypocritical bullshit.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the city's most outspoken supporter of the Muslim congregation's right to build the center, couldn't agree more. "It's disgusting," he said of the remarks by Gingrich and other Republicans who rarely expressed support for the city. "It is an attempt to exploit for purely political motives a sensitive issue. And to exploit people they obviously don't really care about."

Sometimes there is bipartisanship...cool!

Mohammed, like many other New Yorkers, has reached his saturation point. "They got nothing to do with New York and they don't care about New York," said the 56-year-old from Brooklyn, igniting a Marlboro Light. "They are trying to create propaganda."

Yes, they are. Perhaps it's possible...just possible...that New Yorkers, in their disagreement over whether or not this should be built, may have found some common ground. I applaud it!

Yet Another Reason

So, here is the other reason why I have changed the theme of my posts: 18 percent of this country think that Barack Obama is a Muslim. That number is up 7 percent from a year and a half ago.

No amount of snark, name calling, or bating will ever change these people's minds. Their frustration with their lives (more than likely due to their economic situation) have clearly overcome them. This would be a reason why we see such an outrage over the Islamic Center two blocks from Ground Zero. Historically, this makes sense. When times are tough, a certain group or demographic gets the blame for problems. Native Americans, the Irish, the Chinese, African Americans etc have all experienced this phenomenon. Now it's the Muslim's turn.

Over 60 percent of this 18 percent got this information from the media which I think is pretty sad. Wouldn't I be just like this "media" if I resort to telling jokes like this?

Teaching Math in 1950:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.
His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1960:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.
His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1970:
A logger exchanges a set "L" of lumber for a set "M" of money.
The cardinality of set "M" is 100. Each element is worth one dollar.
Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set "M."
The set "C", the cost of production contains 20 fewer points than set "M."
Represent the set "C" as a subset of set "M" and answer the following question: What is the cardinality of the set "P" of profits?

Teaching Math in 1980:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.
His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment:
Underline the number 20.

Teaching Math in 1990:
By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20.
What do you think of this way of making a living?
Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees?
(There are no wrong answers.)

Teaching Math in 2000:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $120.
How does Arthur Andersen determine that his profit margin is $60?
How many documents were shredded to achieve this number?

Teaching Math in 2010:
Un hachero vende una carretada de madera por $100.
El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?

Teaching Math in 2040:
ومسجل تبيع حمولة شاحنة من الخشب من أجل 100 دولا
تكلفة الإنتاج هو صاحب 5/4 من الثمن. ما هو الربح له ؟


Answer: Yes.

Early Look at The Senate Races 2010

The Senate races this year are certainly going to be interesting. While it's fairly certain the Democrats are going to lose a few seats, it's highly unlikely that the GOP will take back the Senate. The New York Times has a great overview of the Senate Race along with some seriously cool features. Here's my take.

Right now the Dems have 59 seats in the Senate. They can say goodbye to North Dakota, Indiana, Arkansas, Ohio, and Missouri. That puts them at 54. The GOP will hold on to New Hampshire and Louisiana despite the latter being held by David "Ladies of the Evening" Vitter. Sex scandals and seeing prostitutes just don't have the bite that they used to...no pun intended. So, at 54-46, what about the rest?

The GOP really blew it in Florida and my money's on Charlie Crist. The state went 60 percent Dem in the 2006 election and Crist has the name recognition and experience. Add in the fact that he is now and independent and will likely caucus with the Dems which means Kendrick Meek is SOL. So is Rubio for that matter. This is one of four examples of how the GOP moved farther to the right and why it will, in all likelihood, cost them.

The other three are Kentucky, Colorado, and Nevada. Nominating Rand Paul was a huge mistake. Kidnapping a woman and forcing her to smoke pot? That will not go over well. And look at the numbers in Kentucky. That's a large turnout for the Dems in the primary. In addition, look at the votes from the last three cycles. 47 percent in the blue column? That's much more than I would've expected in a solid red state. If Conway plays his cards right and plays to centrist issues, he could pull it off.

In Colorado, the GOP have a Rand like problem with Ken Buck. Mr. High Heels and Birthers are Crazy is going to be a real turnoff for large swaths of voters. I think Bennett hangs on here.

Then we have Harry Reid. The best thing that could've happened to him was Sharon Engle. Reid was, for all intents and purposes, done this year. Now he is in a dead heat with Engle who has ruminated on second amendment solutions for our country as well as dismantling entitlements like Social Security. Reid and the Dems must be salivating at the prospect of debates which will surely favor Reid and his calm (see: glass of warm milk at a reading of the Dewey Decimal System) manner. Add in the fact that Reid and Wayne LaPierre are good friends and I say Reid holds on.

I can't see Delaware, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, California or Washington going red. I know there are a lot of wishful thinkers out there but if you look closely at how the Dems are organized in these states, it just won't happen. Add in the fact the Feingold in Wisconsin, for example, wins in districts that have never voted for a blue presidential candidate in their history. Anomalies certainly abound.

So, I'm sticking with my prediction of 5 losses in the Senate. If Crist and Conway win, that's only 3 net losses but I am only human. I'll allow myself two mistakes in my other predictions.

Early Look at The House Races 2010

There has been quite a bit of talk in comments regarding the Dems getting their ass kicked on November 2nd. In looking at two separate analyses of the electoral map, I'm wondering how that is possible.

First up, we have the Cook Political Report which puts 214 House seats are Solid, Likely or Lean Democratic, while 181 seats are Solid, Likely or Lean Republican, and 40 seats are in the Toss Up column. No doubt, things are going to shift between now and the fall but I don't really see how the GOP is going to win 39 of 40 seats if we are operating in Cook's framework. This is especially true considering the fact that the Democrats have more money right now than the GOP.

The New York Times has a more realistic (and extremely cool!) map which I think illustrates the fluidity of the situation more accurately. They have 168-Solid Dem, 55-Leaning Dem, 31-Tossup, 18-Leaning GOP, and 163-Solid GOP. That basically puts 104 seats into play. The question is, if you are the GOP, where do you put your money? You would need to get all 18 of the leaning GOP (likely) which will put you at 181. Then you would need all 31 of the Tossups (doable) which would put you at 212. Now you need 6 of the leaning Dem (somewhat tough). Are these final 6 where you really spend your money? Again, I don't see an ass kicking here...just a possible eeking out of a victory or falling short. Of course, this could change but after looking at these numbers, I am revising my prediction for the House to 25 flips...which would put us at 230-Dem and 202-GOP.

As John Boehner said at a recent Monitor lunch, it will be an uphill climb. For once, I agree with him. When you look at the numbers this way, I guess I don't see the ass kicking.

Tomorrow: An early look at the Senate Races 2010.

Rhetorical Overreach

Joe Gandleman has a niece piece on the upcoming fall elections. The quote that stood out for me was this one.

I’ve long predicted that much will depend on GOP rhetorical overreach: if it gets to the point where Democrats rush to the polls due to polemics and the results are far less than the GOP expected on election day than Michael Steel and other party establishment bigwigs will be on the defensive.

If the GOP wants to see major gains and possibly take back the House in the fall, they will need to stop saying things like this.

“Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington,” Mr. Gingrich said on the Fox News program “Fox and Friends.” “We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There’s no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.”

While this certainly fires up the base of the GOP, this kind of language (in addition to being filled with flaws), alienates independent voters. It also fires up the soft vote that Michael Moore talked about in the clip I put up last week. Certainly, it demonstrates an intolerance that could turn off a wide variety of demographics.

Let's take a look at some key facts:

1. The Planned Site is NOT on Ground Zero but is two blocks away. Two blocks away is not sacred or hallowed ground. Again, not the attack site but an ordinary block in lower Manhattan. I guess my question would be...how many blocks away is respectful?

2. It is not simply a Mosque. It is a community center with meeting rooms and a pool that offers more privacy to conform to religious restrictions. There is also going to be an auditorium for lectures.

3. Our Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and private property. If you vociferously defend the Constitution, as many in the GOP do every day, than you must defend the right for them to build their center there. To be against this Mosque would be incongruous if one claimed to be a defender of the Constitution.

As most of you know, I have a horrible prejudice against Muslim men. But the outrage over this is ridiculous. If anything, we need to show the world how tolerant we are and embrace them. This would demonstrate a clear separation between those who believe in the basic principles of freedom and tolerance (us) and those who do not (Hirabis).

And it is a stark example of Gandelman's rhetorical overreach. If I were a GOP strategist, I would tell them to get back to talking about the economy and jobs. That's where their greatest hope for victory lies.

A Loss For Words

"It's right on the inside of his skin"
"What is?"
"The number."
"What number? The number of Satan? Is that what you said?" I asked, trying desperately to understand.
"Yep. It's inside the skin flap on his arm...the number 666...imprinted on Barack Obama's arm."

I was at a complete loss for words. Making matters worse, he said all of this in front of my ten year old daughter who, sadly, is best friends with his ten year old daughter. We were at National Night out and all of our neighbors were gathered in the street around our house which is in the middle of the block. Jeff was my neighbor who informed me of the return of the anti-Christ.

Luckily, I didn't have to stay long as I had to coach tennis that evening. When I got home, my daughter was very upset as was my son. Jeff's daughter had been telling them all night that the government was going to take over everyone and send them to a re-education camp. My son told me that he liked his school and didn't want to leave at which my wife chuckled.

After a few minutes of explanation, I sat and reflected about Jeff and how much he reminded me of others in my life. In this reflection and the period of time since then, I have reached a conclusion: I will no longer be referring to the GOP as the "Cult" any longer. In addition, I'm going to make every effort to analyze what they say without being derisive. This, of course, does not mean I won't be critical or wonder where their reasons and facts are for a particular argument. It does mean that I am done personally attacking or labeling people that are on the right. I will also be relying more heavily on what they say as opposed to my interpretation of it. If they wish to continue to do that with me, it will be ignored and I will respond with impersonal comments. This will also hold true for any comments I have on TSM as well, although I think the transition will be more difficult over there.

Why the change?

As I listened to Paul, I realized that he was really just an unhappy soul. His outrage, much like we see across the country, is based on anomie....or a feeling of normlessness of not being able to function within our culture. Paul works as a mechanic on the rides at Valley Fair, a local amusement park, as well as several odd jobs during the winter. He feels that he deserves more and blames not himself but President Obama and Nancy Pelosi for his problems. Like many people, Paul has not achieved the material success in his life expected of someone his age (40s). This goal of monetary achievement is one of the cornerstones of our culture and, in the eyes of our society, Paul has fallen short and so it's really no surprise that he feels the way he does.

I said earlier that he reminded me of others in my life. My uncle Bill and my friend Pete from back in Wisconsin have the same views that he does. Neither are employed and both are staunchly right wing. They, too, blame Democrats for their lot in life and are angry...frustrated...that things have not worked out the way they want them too. Rather than examine their own faults, they blame the policies of the last 18 months as reason number one for their failure to be upwardly mobile. Their proclamations (my uncle: "That bitch in the House" Pete: "Our country is like the Soviet Union now with President Obama") have always made me sad and frustrated over the last two years.

But it was really Paul's recent declaration that Barack Obama was the anti-Christ that drained all of the snark, bitchiness, and downright obnoxious behavior right out of me. The enormity of it was too much to handle. It was a slow drain over the last two weeks and I have nothing left in me. I'm not perfect so I may slip from time to time but I just don't think my heart is in writing this blog the way I have been. These people need help not chastisement. They need an educator or, failing that, to simply be accepted...somehow....for what they believe.

Wait...huh?

I've been assured by some of my readers here and all the commenters over at TSM that Europe has become a cesspool of economic decline and that our current President's policies, similar to the Eurozone's, are sure to send us into a boiling pit of sewage.

Yet, reality doesn't jibe with this belief. Take a look at this.

As a whole the EU saw growth of 1% in the second quarter, as did the 16 countries that make up the eurozone. Germany and France, the two engines of the European economy, have both beaten analysts expectations. France's economy grew at a respectable rate of 0.6% in the second quarter. But the real story here is Germany. Not since the Berlin wall divided the country has Europe's biggest country seen growth of 2.2% in a single three month period.

France? Crap, there goes another whipping boy of the Cult Tribe doing something better than us. Shit, that's really gotta suck.

Interestingly, the ruling party of Germany employs a social market economic strategy. The mere mention of the word "social" in here is sure to unleash a volley of wordy squirts below but the numbers don't lie. It's working.

Perhaps that means that the reason why our recovery has been sluggish is because the "liberal commie" Barack Obama has coddled our private sector. Could it really be as simple as this?

The main elements of the Social Market Economy in Germany are basically:

• The Social Market Economy contains the central elements of the free market economy such as private property, free foreign trade, exchange of goods and free formation of prices.

• Other elements shall diminish occurring problems of the free market economy. These elements, such as pension insurance, health care and unemployment insurance are part of the social security system. The payments to the social security system are mainly made by the labor force. In addition, there are provisions to restrain the free market (e.g. anti-trust code, laws against the abuse of market power etc.).

Yes.

Perfect Summation

I don't think there is a better video that sums up Sarah Palin.



Elect candidates that understand the Constitution. You mean like our president who is a Constitutional scholar? Silly me, only certain people understand what the Constitution means...

And check out her reaction when Kathleen says that she is a teacher. It's "Ah...shit...another commie pinko who refuses to accept the Creed."

The Actual Cause For Concern

There certainly has been a lot of chest thumping these days when it comes to the fall election. The Cult Tribe will have people believe that they are going to "run Obama out of town."

Setting aside the fact that Mr. Obama isn't up for re-election until 2012, Democrats should have plenty of reasons to be concerned. Those reasons, however, do not include a sudden embrace of Cult ideology or an overwhelming transformation of part of the electorate. In their never ending quest to "win the argument," that is how the Tribe is painting the picture. People are now "seeing the light" and realizing the "failure" of liberal policies.

Odd, because there really haven't been any liberal policies at all. They might look that way when you shave the football field in half and call the 50 yard line liberal but the real progressives are the issue. The actual cause for concern was summed up quite nicely by Michael Moore last night on Countdown at 7:20 into this clip.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

So, it's the liberals and independents who lean liberal possibly staying home that will decide this election. The Right simply doesn't have the numbers to win regardless of how riled up they are or how energized their base is on November 2nd. Take a look at this list of polls regarding party identification. Consistently, more people identify themselves as Democrats. If there is low voter turnout, it favors the GOP. And that's why you see them going after groups like ACORN.

Thankfully, as Moore says, the hard core of the Dems will get out and vote. The alternative is a return to complete failure and a certain magnification of the problems we are trying to solve now.

An Unrealized Dream

I find myself feeling quite melancholy today and it's largely due to this editorial from the New York Times.

Once, in what seems like another eon of Republican politics, George W. Bush dreamed of building a multiethnic party that would achieve dominance in a nation where the words “majority” and “minority” were losing their meaning. Mr. Bush was adamant, in the days after the terrorist attacks of 2001, that American Muslims not become the targets of public resentment, and he later pushed a plan to offer illegal immigrants a path toward citizenship.

Republicans are now taking a decidedly different approach.

No shit.

I remember two distinct events from the presidency of George W. Bush that echo this piece. He gave a speech in which he stated quite directly that he would use "his FBI" to come down hard on anyone who harassed Muslims. He mentioned an example of a woman wearing a Burqa who was beaten. "If a woman is wearing cover," he said, "she is practicing religious freedom which is what this country is all about."

W was also the first (and only so far) sitting president to call for a state of Palestine.

Now, I am not a fan of Bush and think that most of his presidency was marred by incompetence and a pathological drive for financial dominance that at several moments bordered on criminality. But there is no doubt in my mind that George W. Bush was not a racist, prejudiced or any way discriminatory. Contrary to Kayne West's imbecilic comment, George Bush does not hate black people. Nor any non whites for that matter. And his track record proves this to be true. His in laws are Hispanic and his administration was the one of the most diverse in our country's history.

Given three issues that have come to the forefront recently, Bush's efforts have all gone to shit.

First, we have the "outrage" over building a mosque near (not on) Ground Zero. Second, we have several US Senators and Congressional reps calling for the repeal of the 14th Amendment. Third, we have the hard stance against illegal immigrants and much louder yelling for border enforcement. Put all of these together and it is plain to see that Bush's dream of a multiracial GOP is absolutely fucking gone. In its place is a terribly ugly ideology that serves only to alienate people who don't conform to a highly fictionalized ideal of what it means to be "American." Bai quite astutely compares the current GOP to the Know Nothing party of the 1850s. But let's get back to the subject at hand....W.

When Mr. Bush, a Texan fluent both in Spanish and in immigration policy, advanced a plan to reform the system in 2006, he was going directly into the teeth of that sentiment within his own party. His failure virtually guaranteed that his party — already beset by an unpopular war and mounting distrust from black Americans — would not become the broader coalition he had hoped to build.

I know it seems anathema for some of you but I honestly feel more sorry for the guy than I ever have. So what does that mean for the future?

This could be a problem for Republicans in the years ahead, as the American electorate rapidly grows more diverse. “You can win elections temporarily by accumulating large percentages of the white vote,” says Matthew Dowd, who was a top strategist in Mr. Bush’s two elections, “but over time, it’s unsustainable.”

I contend that everything we are seeing now from the Right...EVERY SINGLE WORD THAT COMES OUT OF THEIR MOUTHS....is the last gasp of a dying man. They know that this election and possibly 2012 are pretty much it for their type of politics. After that, our country's diversity is going to be increasing at an amazingly large rate.

So, how is it going to possible for them to build any sort of broader coalition or have a real future for their party?

Scaring White People For Fun and Profit.

Rachel was dead on right with this one. Pay attention to what John McCain says at 5:18.



"Violence the worst I have ever seen." Really? According to the FACTS presented here in this piece the EXACT OPPOSITE is actually true. I wish he and other Cult Tribe members would actually come out and say, "I want to scare you so you will come out and vote against the party who is actually doing something to solve our nation's problems which will result in my party being irrelevant." That's essentially their tactic. I wonder how long it will work.

Add in all the anti-mosque garbage lately and one has to wonder why people think that the Cult Tribe is prejudiced. Golly whiz, I just can't understand why Maher's opinion (not all Republicans are racist but if you are a racist then you are probably a Republican) is even remotely valid.

I guess it must be my lyin' ears again!

Ejected by the Cult Tribe

Remember this guy? He WAS South Carolina Congressional Rep Bob Inglis who made the unfortunate mistake of telling his constituents to turn off Glenn Beck during a town hall meeting. And now he is out of job completely...losing 71 to 29 percent in his primary last June. Why?

Because he wouldn't go along with the Cult.

Sanchez read from Inglis's recollection of a conversation with some voters: "'Bob, what don't you get? Barack Obama is a socialist, communist Marxist who wants to destroy the American economy so he can take over as dictator. Health care is part of that. And he wants to open up the Mexican border and turn [the US] into a Muslim nation.'"

Sounds like Cult Tribe 101. But who were these people?

"That was several 80-year-old couples that were expressing their views. And you know, what I should have said was, 'Over my dead body that's gonna happen. I can guarantee it's not gonna happen,'" said Inglis. "That would have been the better answer, wouldn't it? Rather than the one I gave, which is, 'Well it's not quite that bad, let's keep it within the realm of facts.'"

Facts? Bob...Bob...Bob...don't you know that whatever the Cult says are facts, are facts damnit!

Check out more of the interview.



Ingliss was an example of a Republican that I respected. Sadly (and as I have said a zillion times on here), they are a dying breed. If you ain't a hate spitting, fear mongering malcontent with wildly psychotic theories and made up facts, you are not welcome in the GOP this year.

I ask again, how can they win by moving further to the right? More importantly, how can they maintain party integrity in the future?

Walking at Wounded Knee

The man gripped my hand tight and wouldn't let go.

"Just some gas money...please," he whispered.

I knew he was playing on my guilt which was overpowering considering I was standing on the mass grave containing scores of Native American bodies massacred at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890. But I couldn't help it. I gave him a few bucks and he went on his way with his daughter.

For my entire life, I have wanted to visit this area of South Dakota. When I was a very young child, my dad would read passages from the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown to me and tell me a version of history that I had never heard. No John Wayne. No red faced savages. Just lie after lie...murder after murder...slaughter after slaughter. When we decided to take a family vacation there, we planned a day trip down to the massacre site and then back through the Badlands.

Getting to the site itself is slightly difficult. The roads in that part of the state are not clearly marked so we had to sort of guess that we were going in the right direction. The few miles leading up to Wounded Knee were massively depressing.

The site is on the Pine Ridge Reservation and as we passed through the several Native American communities on our way there, the poverty was staggering. Burned out trailers and dozens of cannibalized automobiles littered the landscape. Honestly, it looked just like the poverty one would see in a Third World country. It was awful. All four of us were pretty shook up by it.

When we got to Wounded Knee, we saw a few make shift dream catcher stands set up along with a few tourists. We made our way up to the monument and the grave to check it out. Here is what it looks like today.

Right before we walked under the cross, the man above approached me. There were a few Native Americans sort of hanging around with dream catchers to sell. As some other tourists came up, they drifted to them and my daughter and I walked around.

As I was reading the names on the monument, I started to think about a long debate/argument I had with juris a while back on the incident at Waco with the Branch Davidians. In several key ways, what happened at Waco is very similar to what happened at Wounded Knee.

In both cases, the government had a complete lack of understanding of the religious aspects of each group. With Wounded Knee, it was the Ghost Dance. With Waco, it was the Seventh Day Adventist. In both cases, the government overreacted (due to this ignorance), made unforgivable mistakes, and innocent people died. In both cases there was institutionalized discrimination of religion and, in the case of Wounded Knee, race as well. L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz, summed this up ugliness up quite nicely when he wrote in the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer:

The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untameable creatures from the face of the earth. In this lies future safety for our settlers and the soldiers who are under incompetent commands. Otherwise, we may expect future years to be as full of trouble with the redskins as those have been in the past.

This particular quote reminds me quite a bit of the illegal immigrant diatribes we hear from the Cult Tribe these days but that's a topic for another day.

The juxtaposition of Wounded Knee and Waco does reveal stark differences however. In addition to the racism we see above, Wounded Knee was also the culmination of an extermination of the indigenous people of the North American continent. Americans at the time believed it was their Manifest Destiny to take this land. Sadly, this is all too similar to other periods of time and leaders who have justified wholesale massacre of people.

And there certainly weren't any widespread allegations of child abuse as there were with Waco. The Native Americans at Wounded Knee were animists and didn't have a central figure like David Koresh at whom they heaped psychotic worship upon.

Yet, the similarities between Waco and Wounded Knee can't be ignored. Of course, this doesn't mean that I'm going to go all Tea Bagger on all of you and hate the "Gubmint" but we do need to examine why this continues to happen. There is a decided leap to instant fear by people in this country to hate what they do not understand and act irrationally. This is true regardless of your political stripes. Because we are the government, they become the mechanism for this fear and the results are often tragic...as they were four days after Christmas one hundred and twenty years ago.

Back

For those of you who were wondering, I'm back after a vacation out to South Dakota. I saw many wonderful things with my baby blues and let me tell you all, I am a man transformed. The trip down to the Wounded Knee massacre site was quite humbling.

I will be talking about what I saw as well as many of the thoughts that I had rolling through my head as I had a massive download of Americana in the last four days. Stay tuned...

If He Were In Al Qaeda...

Last Sunday, Bryon Williams loaded up his car with guns and body armor and headed to the San Francisco offices of ACLU and the Tides Foundation. He was sick and tired of them and was going to send a message. Thankfully, the police stopped him in a shootout. More fortunately, the only injuries policed suffered were from broken glass. Police have said that Williams may not have been acting alone.

While it's possible that others may have been involved in aiding him or he may have been a part of a small group of malcontents on a lower level, the overall issue of him "acting alone" is not in question. Like Scott Roeder, Williams is yet another member of the Cult that just couldn't take it anymore.

The 45-year-old Groveland man has a history of anti-government and anti-corporation behavior, and a deep-rooted hate for liberal causes, authorities said. He reportedly ranted at one point about "the way Congress was railroading through all these left-wing agenda items," according to published reports.

Railroading through left wing agenda items? That's The Cult 101, baby.

Talking Points Memo has a story about how Glenn Beck has spent a lot of time discussing the Tides Foundation. No doubt, it's possible that this group will become another ACORN...falling victim to libel and entrapment in what clearly is the Cult goal of destroying any social causes. Beck has described at length how the real agenda behind Tides is more sinister.

The Tides Foundation, they started laying the groundwork on this back during the Reagan administration. They have been assembling an army that we have laughed at and have dismissed as a bunch of community organizers. "These people are bullies," Beck said. "These people are thugs."

Of course, Beck can't be held responsible for Williams' actions, right? I mean, it is OK to yell fire in a crowded theater, isn't it?

Of course it is in the land of the Cult. Sharon Angle, the Cult nominee in Nevada running against Harry Reid, had this to say.

You know, our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment in there for a good reason and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. And in fact Thomas Jefferson said it's good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years.

I hope that's not where we're going, but, you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.

Taking people out is what Sarah Palin talked about when she put up this map (left) of the United States which literally targets Congressional candidates. Silly me, though, I'm sure I'm just imagining all of this. And, naturally, I'm "just as bad."

Dan Gainor, the Vice President of the Media Research Center (a Cult group), offered $100 to anyone who punches Democratic Florida Representative Alan Grayson in the face. Following this comment, came a death threat to the Congressman's office which claimed that "10 people are going to kill Grayson in the next 24 hours."

But again, correlation does not mean causation. I mean, my lyin' ears and eyes must be fibbing up a storm because Williams is a "lone nut" who is just like all the liberal loonies out there...loonies who are encouraged by Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosito to hurt or kill people. Silly me (again). I must remember that there is balance and that there are two sides (hurling sound of Mark throwing up in his mouth) to every story.

Indeed, comparisons should always be drawn. Because if Williams were a member of Al Qaeda...

Still Running The Show

As blk and I drove home from the fantastic film "Inception," our conversation turned to politics as it usually does. BLK has been trying to get me off of the Cult meme and shift into defining the current form of the GOP as being more tribal. His points are very well taken. They do behave in quite a tribe like fashion and I may shift some of my views on this slightly. Perhaps a tribal cult?

One of the points we poured over in amusement was how The Tribe (let's just try it out for this post and see how it works:)) really has only one goal: to win the argument. They do this by desperately trying to prove anyone left of them wrong. We see this in comments all the time in regards to yours truly. There's not really much critical thinking on my posts--just the driving force of proving me wrong. That's all that really matters. Reality certainly doesn't matter.

The same thing holds true for the issue of racism. The Tribe will never admit their obvious racism and take any chance they get to accuse the left of racism. Sonja Sotomayor is racist, for example, and Rush Limbaugh is most certainly not. They take great delight in sifting and searching for any racist remark made by non white people. If they find even a kernel of one, whoops of delight are seen exploding all over the blogsphere, the radio and Fox News. "See? They're racist!! So that means we're not!!!"

Take a look at what happened with Shirley Sherrod. Right wing blogger Andrew Brietbart wanted desperately to prove that the NAACP is racist--he wanted to win the argument--so he put up an edited video of Sherrod reflecting on her own struggles with bias. It turns out that the much longer version of the video paints a much different picture. In no way did she harm any white farmers in Georgia.

This whole incident proves a few things. To being with, it proves blk's point about how the Tribe is really only interested in winning. They aren't interested in confronting these issues in a serious way. They simply want to point and accuse others of what is, in reality, their problem. It also shows how people like Brietbart and Fox News get to be complete dicks and get away with it. BLK and I discussed this as well. People like Rush and Glenn Beck can say whatever they want and be assholes. Even elected GOP leaders can be dicks. In their assholeishness, they have created a seemingly fool proof position in which all outcomes are desirable. If they are ass hats with no response from the left, then the left is weak. If there is a response, then it's "Look at the rabid and insane Lib!" See, people expect the GOP to be rabid and insane so it's OK when they do it.

Best of all, though, is we have yet another answer to Last in Line's question. How can you still bitch about conservatives when they aren't in power?

Because nutless monkeys like Ben Jealous listen to them.

The Eye of the Beholder

"Mark, you are a fuckwit. Obama has betrayed us."
I didn't say anything as he was ranting. Sometimes it helps to let people get it all out.
"He is going to drive this country into the toilet. He is a traitor."
Finally I had to say something. I'd heard this so many times.
"What exactly is he doing to betray us or our country?"
"Everything. All of his policies," he spat back at me.
"So what are you saying, then?"
"Mark, Barack Obama is not a socialist. He's not a Democrat. He's a fucking country club Republican. In fact, all of the Democrats have betrayed me and I've had it. I'm joining the Socialist Party of America. There are not liberals in the Democratic Party."

The preceding conversation took place in my family room two Sundays ago with a friend whom we will call Greg. Truly, it was one of the most bizarre ones I have ever had. Greg spent most of the night getting drunk and screaming to me about a variety of issues. Needless to say, he is not a very happy person. He blames everyone else for his problems and feels that he is entitled to..well...anything he wants. No doubt, he would be a poster child for Fox News and Rush Limbaugh as a fine example the stereotype of the left. Glenn Beck would make a shit load of Greg and were he ever to find himself in the spotlight, it would be a fantastic coup for the Cult.

Of course, the most amusing thing about the whole exchange was how similar it was to the ones I have with my conservative pals. Take out the word "not" and everything else contains the same amount of anger and hate. On the one hand we have a group of people that think Obama is a socialist spewing vitriol and then we have others like Greg who spew equally that he is not.

So is he?

Well according to this poll, 55 percent of Americans say that he is a socialist. But we all know that polls are not always accurate.

A recent article in my favorite news publication, The Christian Science Monitor, looked at this issue in depth. For I think the first time in any news story related to the "Obama is a socialist meme," someone actually asked (gasp!) some socialists what they thought.

"I have been making a living telling people Obama is not a socialist," says Frank Llewellyn, national director of the Democratic Socialists of America. "It's frustrating to see people using our brand to criticize programs that have nothing to do with our brand and are not even working."Adds Billy Wharton,co-chair of the Socialist Party USA: "I am not even sure he's a liberal. I call him a hedge fund Democrat."

This jibes with what I have been saying all along. Politically speaking, he bears quite a bit more in common with Dwight Eisenhower than the socialists. The real problem is this:

What Mr. Johns [Heritage Foundation], Mr. Gingrich, and others brandishing the "socialist" s-word are really complaining of is a return to the policies of John Maynard Keynes, the English economist who advocated vigorous government involvement in the economy, from regulation to pump priming, says labor historian Peter Rachleff of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn."Socialism suggests getting rid of capitalism altogether," says Dr. Rachleff. "Mr. Obama is not within a million miles of an ideology like that."

That's pretty much where I am at although I think in the current environment, Kenyes is woefully outdated. The current financial overhaul is certainly a step in the right direction. Let's see if it actually goes back to controlling private industry more effectively as was the case with Glass-Steagall. This control means no more making money by changing the rules and/or engaging in criminal activity...which is why Johns, Gingrich and other Cult leaders are so pissed off.

Invariably, when this topic also comes up, we hear stories of the federal government and GM. This is where the Cult spins its yarns.

The government has already used its ownership stake to impose sweeping mandates and regulations on the companies, such as closing hundreds of dealerships, he says."They forced changes in management that should more properly have been left to the company's private shareholders," says Johns.

Not true, according to GM. The US did not exert pressure to close the 1,100 shuttered dealerships, says spokeswoman Noreen Pratscher. "The government has taken a very hands-off approach."

A "hands off" approach? Well, that simply won't do. How dare GM say that the government has been hands off. That's not in the script!!!! Noreen must be a Feminazi. Or a Marxist. Or Hitler. Just pick one.

And what about AIG? That's got to be a great example of Obama's socialism. The federal government owns 80 percent of it, right? That is socialism.

There are two flaws in this theory, however. First, the takeover was actually begun under George W. Bush. Unless he is also secretly a socialist, the whining about Obama running AIG seems silly in light of this fact. Second,

The takeover of an ailing company whose collapse might ruin the US economy is not socialism, says Van Gosse, a Socialist and historian at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. "Let's just say AIG was profitable, and you thought it was better if it was in public hands. That would be socialistic."

Yep. So, what exactly is Obama if not a socialist?

"FDR tried all kinds of things and was accused of all kinds of things," says Tom Cronin, a presidential scholar at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. "But in retrospect, he is someone who helped capitalism survive."

If President Obama is successful, that is exactly what he will be as well: The Savior of Capitalism...much to the chagrin of my pal Greg. I guess I better hide my liquor the next time he comes over.

Papers please, Juden

So, let me see if I have this straight. Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the rest of the Democrats are all Nazis who are going to enslave us all and put our population into re-education camps. But Jason "JT" Ready is not a Nazi, is a true patriot, and will keep us all safe.

Apparently, Mr. Ready spends his days, along with some other members of the National Socialist Movement, patrolling our border for any illegals. "We're not going to sit around and wait for the government anymore," Ready said. "This is what our founding fathers did."

Hmm....haven't I heard that somewhere before? Verbatim?

Ready, a 37-year-old ex-Marine, is different. He and his friends are outfitted with military fatigues, body armor and gas masks, and carry assault rifles. Ready takes offense at the term "neo-Nazi," but admits he identifies with the National Socialist Movement.

I don't know about the rest of you but just the mere action of cutting and pasting this paragraph gave me an erection.

And he hates the term "neo-Nazi" but does identify himself with the National Socialist Movement? Makes perfect sense to me:)

Ready said he's planning patrols throughout the summer."If they don't want my people out there, then there's an easy way to send us home: Secure the border," he said. "We'll put our guns back on the shelf, and that'll be the end of that."

Isn't that the same thing that Sarah Palin said in the video I put up here a few days ago?

I wonder if Ready is enough of a meta-thinker that he might--just might--grasp Manzi's thoughts on immigration.

We should reconceptualize immigration as recruiting. Assimilating immigrants is a demonstrated core capability of America's political economy — and it is one we should take advantage of. A robust-yet-reasonable amount of immigration is healthy for America. It is a continuing source of vitality — and, in combination with birth rates around the replacement level, creates a sustainable rate of overall ­population growth and age-demographic balance.

We should think of immigration as an opportunity to improve our stock of human capital.

Anyone think Ready and others like him will understand this?

I won't hold my breath.

Corporate Force A Go Go

BLK sent me this piece recently. The basic gist of it is that corporations are now using their tool (literal and figurative) known as the government to jail people for not paying debts. Many of these debts aren't really debts at all. Some were paid off long ago and then re-surfaced as still being owed because...well...private corporations are douche bags and want to fuck people over...draining every last cent out of them that they can.

"The law enforcement system has unwittingly become a tool of the debt collectors," said Michael Kinkley, an attorney in Spokane, Wash., who has represented arrested debtors. "The debt collectors are abusing the system and intimidating people, and law enforcement is going along with it."

Yeah, but it still must be all about government power, right Cult members? Even though, debtors prisons were abolished a long time ago, our plutonomy has resurrected them again in keeping with their aristocratic fantasies.

Here is the follow up which essentially illustrates the shriveled penis also known as our government attempting to do something about it.

No Doubt...

From his analyses of interaction in different groups, Georg Simmel concluded that groups often find it convenient to think of nonmembers or outsiders as somehow inferior to members of the group. But why does this familiar in-group/out-group bias develop? Simmel explained it as arising out of the intensity of interactions within the group, which leads its members to feel that other groups are less important. Once they have identified another group as inferior, it is not a great leap to think of its members as enemies, especially because doing so increases their sense of solidarity.

A perfect summation of how I am viewed/treated at TSM. Even more ironic considering that Simmel was a neo-Marxist and a contributor to the Frankfurt School.

Cult=No Practical Application In Reality

What A Shame

For those of you cult members who have been spewing New Black Panther bullshit to me, or NBP (aka the new three letter acronym for Fox News), for the last week, take a look at this. Boy are you people fucking stupid.










Apparently, the decision not to file a criminal case on this matter occurred before Obama was even in office. The case was downgraded to a civil case ELEVEN DAYS BEFORE PRESIDENT OBAMA TOOK THE OATH OF OFFICE, TWENTY SIX DAYS BEFORE HOLDER WAS BECAME AG, AND NINE MONTHS BEFORE THOMAS PEREZ WAS PUT IN CHARGE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION. I put this all in caps for those of you who have trouble understanding time and facts. So, the reality is that it was the Bush Administration that thought there was nothing much to this case at all. I guess that means they support the anti-white racism of the NBP, according to Cult logic.

The other thing that is just fucking hilarious about this whole story is that the precinct in which the "voter intimidation" occurred is a heavily Democratic district? Why would they intimidate their own voters? Unless they were simply a thuggish group of assholes, much like the Phelps buttholes, that have no relationship whatsoever with the Obama administration...except the fact that they are black.

Hmmm....I wonder if Cult members understand that black people don't all think the same...

As to why the Obama administration dropped the civil case, here is a pretty thorough explanation.

The decision not to further pursue the civil case reflected long-standing practice regarding Section 11(b), which prior to the Bush administration had last been used to stop a statewide voter-caging effort. The allegation that would have supported pursuing a broader case was the idea that there was a nationwide effort to place New Black Panthers at polling stations for the purpose of suppressing white votes -- the original complaint read that the NBPP "made statements and posted notice that over 300 members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense would be deployed at polling locations during voting on November 4, 2008, throughout the United States." The career attorneys recommended dismissing the case on the basis that there wasn't enough evidence to support that claim.

Seems pretty obvious and straight forward to me. But I know that Barack Obama was born in the United States.

Sweet

I was just about to revise my numbers upward for GOP gains in the fall when three things happened.

First, some Rand Paul classics have surfaced with him discussing the evils of Social Security and Medicare. One of the gimme seats for the GOP has now become a neck and neck race with Dem Jack Conway polling even with Paul. Rand-O might want to consider that old people are usually the ones who vote in higher numbers and while many may hate the government, they love their Social Security and Medicare.

By the way, I'm still waiting for one of my conservative readers to explain to me what would've happened to all that Social Security money had it been privatized prior to 2008. Ed? Anyone?

Second, we have David Vitter, still the GOP nominee despite the fact that he admitted to having sex with prostitutes. Not a big deal for me because I think it should be legalized anyway but I have to laugh at the people that support him but yell about Tim Geithner not paying his taxes or Rangel's lawbreaking. It's not __________ when we do it!!

Anyway, ol' Dave had this to say about the birther lawsuits.

I support conservative legal organizations and others who would bring that to court. I think that is the valid and most possibly effective grounds to do it.

Wow. I wonder if this will affect his lead in the polls. And didn't President Obama already produce his birth certificate? I know...I know....I just don't get it.

But Michelle Bachmann certainly gets it. Appearing at a right wing conference in Colorado, Bachmann had this to say about our current leadership.

We will talk a little bit about what has transpired in the last 18 months and would we count what has transpired into turning our country into a nation of slaves.

I'm sorry but I have to laugh. I was raked over the coals for using the word "slaves" as a metaphor in a discussion about corporate power over at TSM and I have yet to hear a peep about Bachmann's use of the word. It's not ______ when we do it!!

Honestly, I really can't wait until the party really gets started after Labor Day. It's going to be a real treat to see these three, Palin, and Engle saying things on camera.

And my numbers stay the same...20 lost in the house and 5 in the Senate.

The Return of The Son of Corporate Force

In comments, I recently asked the question

What happens when that individual liberty is threatened or taken away by private corporations?

to which I got the following responses.

"I'll go first, but I'm sure your last comment will be brutalized. "

"Oh lawdie, lawdie, you aren't going for another Corporate Abuse are you? Seriously, that horse is DEAD."

"1. The Federal government's job is to limit the use of fraud or force. If a private corporation tries to persuade you or pressure you economically to give up your freedom, it is not the government's job to forcibly curtail your freedom to be a dumbass."

"2. I have yet to see you demonstrate where a private corporation has curtailed freedom through fraud or force except through the agency of government. So "step in" and do what, exactly? Defend the corporation that has already bought them out, as evidenced by the fact that they are already able to use government as an agency of force against you?"

"You got anything but a handful of bullshit?"

"Show me an example where a private corporation has curtailed freedom and we'll talk."

Sure. Let's talk.

A while back I came across this piece regarding the situation in Mossville, Louisiana. I didn't write anything about it because I wanted to see how some things played out first but here is the gist of what is going on. Apparently, several companies including Citgo, Firestone and PPG industries have turned this area of our country into a toxic wasteland. To be quite frank, they have killed people. And our government has done nothing about it for DECADES.

Now, to be fair, they haven't exactly curtailed freedom in the strictest sense of the word...that is, of course, if you consider being dead being "free." From my standpoint, living a life free of cancer would be a nice freedom to have. Sadly, that is not the case for the residents of Mossville.

"I got cancer. My dad had cancer. In fact, he died of cancer. It's a lot of people in this area who died of cancer," says Herman Singleton Jr., 51, who also lost two uncles and an aunt to cancer.

Singleton and many others in this predominantly African-American community in southwest Louisiana suspect the 14 chemical plants nearby have played a role in the cancer and other diseases they say have ravaged the area.

For decades, Mossville residents have complained about their health problems to industry, and to state and federal agencies. Now with a new Environmental Protection Agency administrator outspoken about her commitment to environmental justice, expectations are growing.

As of this writing, the only "justice" they have received has come in two forms. The first was winning a hearing before the International Commission on Human Rights which means basically zilch to corporate America.

African-American residents of Mossville, a community just west of Lake Charles, have won a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on charges that the U.S. government has violated their rights to privacy and racial equality in not forcing local chemical plants to stop polluting.

Racial equality? Oh boy...that's going to drive the Cult into an apoplectic rage:)

Mossville is adjacent to 14 chemical plants and refineries that release millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, land and water each year, according to federal and state records. Several of the companies and their predecessors have been involved in releases of chemicals that have eaten the paint off cars, killed bushes and trees in people's front yards, and polluted adjacent waterways.

Wow. It sounds like their lives are filled with freedom....

The second form of "justice" was the EPA getting off their asses and agreeing to do testing to see if Mossville qualifies for Superfund assistance from the government. But all that would do is pay off the residents and help them relocate. The 14 companies that are operating there would continue merrily along. Take a look at this report which contains details and data of what they have been up to around Mossville. This report was from 13 years ago! And now something is finally being done?

One of my favorite commenters, Ed Heckman, wrote this in another thread.

How many times do we have to tell you that one of the legitimate purposes of government is to prevent the use of force and fraud before you understand that we mean that force and fraud are wrong, and that therefore, we are NOT promoting a completely unregulated market?

I guess what I'm wondering in regards to the Eds of our country is if the government's job is to prevent force, which in this case is essentially forcing people into ill health and death, AND if our government has become overrun by Socialism/Marxism/Fascism, where exactly is the government when it comes to Mossville? What would you have them do?

The reality is that Mossville is yet another example of how the massive deregulation of the last 30 years has removed government protection and allowed corporations to act as they desire. If people like Ed are not promoting a completely unregulated market, why is it that they support interests that allow the Mossvilles of our country to happen? And don't think for a moment that this is the only area of the country where corporations get to do whatever they want.

Take a look at this map and see how your state ranks.

But the real disconnect from reality that I don't understand will surely come in comments for this post. I was asked to show an example of how a corporation has curtailed the freedom of individual citizens. I have now done that and have called for the legitimate action by government (that has done NOTHING) to stop this horrendous situation that has been going on for decades. What does this mean?

Basically, I'm a Marxist.

AHHHHHHHH!!!!! RUN!!!!!

One would think that the Cult has plenty of things to rip President Obama on these days. Jobs are still in Shitsville...AfPak is a mess...there are still a gazillion gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf...

But no. Oh no. What are they upset about?

Muslims are taking over space. Outer space, that is.

I was left this in comments recently.

And help me understand (through a liberal prism) why the head guy at NASA said this on Al Jazerra TV- "When I became the NASA administrator -- or before I became the NASA administrator -- he charged me with three things. One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math, he wanted me to expand our international relationships, and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering," Bolden said in the interview.

First of all, the "head guy" is Charles Bolden. Let's try to use names and not sound like a secondary character from the film Idiocracy. Second, so what? Islam has made historic contributions to science. Pick up a fucking history book and read all about it. A simple Google search will show you how their advances in math, physics and a whole host of other disciplines changed our world. So, he's right. We do have a lot to thank them for in regards to their contributions. Although, most of that thanks should be given to those Islamic scientists from 8th to the 13th centuries. I'm certain a scant few would respond positively as a great deal of their culture is now run by their own versions of Dick Cheney.

But that doesn't mean that they are "taking over space" as was intimated in this comment which, naturally, came from a variety of Cult information sources. "Muslims Threat To Space" and "Killer Niggers Go Free" are the two latest stories that are causing their undercarriages to turn decidedly unfresh. I don't get it. They have so much to go after Obama on and have the potential to take back many seats in both houses Congress this fall. Why are they on about this drivel?

Oh, that's right. Silly me. Their ideas have no practical application in reality which leads to the obvious conclusion that they have no real solutions.

Hurry Up!! Hurry Up!!!

Most of you know that I'm a big fan of Paul Krugman, Nobel prize winning economist and professor at Princeton. For the most part, his take on economic health of our country is the same as mine.

But I have to disagree with him in one of his latest columns entitled The Third Depression. To be honest, his "sky is falling" theme which dominates this piece reminds me quite a bit of the Cult's insistence that they are going to be sent to re-education camps.

We are now, I fear, in the early stages of a third depression. It will probably look more like the Long Depression than the much more severe Great Depression. But the cost — to the world economy and, above all, to the millions of lives blighted by the absence of jobs — will nonetheless be immense.

How does he know what is going to happen? I know he is an expert but nearly all of the experts were way off the mark on all economic doings in the last two years.

And this third depression will be primarily a failure of policy. Around the world — most recently at last weekend’s deeply discouraging G-20 meeting — governments are obsessing about inflation when the real threat is deflation, preaching the need for belt-tightening when the real problem is inadequate spending.

With only a small amount of the TARP money spent, why do we need to spend more money? Shouldn't we see what happens when all of it gets spent? The other issue that I'm wondering if Krugman is taking into account is where exactly the money is being spent. It seems to me Krugman is being pretty naive if he thinks that all of it is being spent to bolster our economy.

I guess I'm a little hesitant to accept more spending as the answer especially when it is backed up by such a "hurry up or we're all dead" meme. He is right about one thing, though. Completely going the other direction and embracing our inner Hoovers is also not the answer.

As far as rhetoric is concerned, the revival of the old-time religion is most evident in Europe, where officials seem to be getting their talking points from the collected speeches of Herbert Hoover...Why the wrong turn in policy? The hard-liners often invoke the troubles facing Greece and other nations around the edges of Europe to justify their actions. And it’s true that bond investors have turned on governments with intractable deficits. But there is no evidence that short-run fiscal austerity in the face of a depressed economy reassures investors. On the contrary: Greece has agreed to harsh austerity, only to find its risk spreads growing ever wider...

So I don’t think this is really about Greece, or indeed about any realistic appreciation of the tradeoffs between deficits and jobs. It is, instead, the victory of an orthodoxy that has little to do with rational analysis, whose main tenet is that imposing suffering on other people is how you show leadership in tough times.

I agree with this point. Comparing us to Greece is ridiculous as I have said before and cutting taxes is certainly not the answer although letting the cap gains tax cuts expire won't amount to much in the way of increased revenue...just less loss...though it will be nice to reverse this complete failure of an idea.

To me, Krugman seems over the top with his call for more spending. I agree that listening to the Cult on what to do about the economy is a very bad idea. That's what got us into this mess in the first place. But going spend happy isn't the solution either. In the final analysis, if people want less government involvement in the corporate world then it's really up to the private sector to unfuck themselves from their casino mentality and start practicing sound business again.

Given human nature, I'm not sure this can happen.

Ah-Ha!

I have always wondered why Rasmussen polls seem to be so off from other polls. Now I have my answer, courtesy of Andy over at Electoral-Vote.com

...the largest "nonpartisan" pollster is Rasmussen, who now works for Fox News. While Fox is theoretically a news organization, it has a definite slant on the world, that say, ABC News does not have. There is no evidence that Rasmussen makes up numbers, but there are other issues here. In particular, most pollsters, including Rasmussen, have a model of the electorate and normalize their polls to it. Very briefly, suppose Rasmussen believes that the set of likely voters (which is very different from the set of registered voters and very, very different from the set of people over 18) is 40% Republican, 30% Democratic, and 30% independent. If an actual poll turns up 200 Republicans, 200 Democrats, and 200 independents, he will weight each Republican respondent by 40/33, each Democratic respondent by 30/33 and each independent by 30/33 to compensate for the bad mix in his small sample.

So, when you see the daily Gallup poll, for example, running Obama's approval at about even (46-45 percent with 9 not sure. BTW, how can you be not sure? This country really sucks.....can't people just have a fucking opinion?) and Fox News has it at 47-45 yet Rasmussen has it at 45-55, we now know why. Rasmussen weights their demographics differently than other polls do with more people Republican in their eyes. Add in the fact that they ask question differently than other polls do to elicit a more conservative response. Here is an example.

Suppose that Democrats agreed on a health care reform bill that is opposed by all Republicans in Congress. Should the Democrats pass that bill or should they change the bill to win support from a reasonable number of Republicans?

Wow, that's cool.

I think it's a safe bet to say that Obama's approval rating is below 50 percent and will stay there until people start to feel better about their lives. There is nothing he can do about this. Our economy is seeing only minimal gains and probably will for some time. Again, there is nothing he can do about this because, as I have mentioned many times of late, the government is neutered.

A Sad End To Tradition

It is my sad duty to report that the Onion is no longer publishing fictional farce.

Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be

"Our very way of life is under siege," said Mortensen, whose understanding of the Constitution derives not from a close reading of the document but from talk-show pundits, books by television personalities, and the limitless expanse of his own colorful imagination. "It's time for true Americans to stand up and protect the values that make us who we are."

Wow. Did they nail it or what? It gets better.

"Men like Madison and Jefferson were moved by the ideals of Christianity, and wanted the United States to reflect those values as a Christian nation," continued Mortensen, referring to the "Father of the Constitution," James Madison, considered by many historians to be an atheist, and Thomas Jefferson, an Enlightenment-era thinker who rejected the divinity of Christ and was in France at the time the document was written. "The words on the page speak for themselves."According to sources who have read the nation's charter, the U.S. Constitution and its 27 amendments do not contain the word "God" or "Christ."

Hee hee....I'm giddy....

He believes that each detail he has pulled from thin air—from prohibitions on sodomy and flag-burning, to mandatory crackdowns on immigrants, to the right of citizens not to have their hard-earned income confiscated in the form of taxes—has contributed to making it the best framework for governance "since the Ten Commandments."

Paging TSM commenters....

Mortensen's passion for safeguarding the elaborate fantasy world in which his conception of the Constitution resides is greatly respected by his likeminded friends and relatives, many of whom have been known to repeat his unfounded assertions verbatim when angered.

Verbatim? Uh oh...

"The freedoms our Founding Fathers spilled their blood for are vanishing before our eyes," Mortensen said. "In under a year, a fascist, socialist regime has turned a proud democracy into a totalitarian state that will soon control every facet of American life."

The Onion completely nails The Cult. Well done, ma'ams and sirs....well done!!!

Independence From....?

Happy4th of July, Americans. 26 percent of you don't know what country from which we declared our independence according to this new poll.

This 26% includes one-fifth who are unsure and 6% who thought the U.S. separated from another nation. That begs the question, “From where do the latter think the U.S. achieved its independence?” Among the countries mentioned are France, China, Japan, Mexico, and Spain.

I can only do so much, checked out parents. Start giving a shit about the basics. Meanwhile, can we have high stakes testing for civics and history now? Pretty please?