In my previous post, I delved into the bizarre career and behavior of Oklahoma's junior U.S. Senator Tom Colburn, M.D.
Today's post is about his equally dysfunctional senatorial partner from Oklahoma, James Mountain Inhofe.
The problem in writing or discussing Inhofe is trying to figure out where to begin and to sort out and give priorities to the massive amounts of lunacy and complete stupidity which are the foundations of his being.
First, a little background on his political career.
Inhofe was first elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1966 and then two years later to the State Senate. He ran for governor in 1974 and lost, and then two years later was again defeated in an attempt to win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He stopped the downward skid in 1978 when he was elected mayor of Tulsa where he served until 1984.
He then was the head of the Quaker Life Insurance Company which almost immediately went into receivership and was eventually liquidated.
Undaunted, he again ran for the U.S. House and won in 1986. He served there until 1994 and then rode the Republican Contract With America Express into the U.S. Senate. His campaign was based on "god, guns and gays." He has been entrenched there ever since.
To understand Inhofe (if that's possible) you must understand that he has gone from being a devout christian to being a fanatical christian. Every action he takes as a senator is the result of his convoluted thinking about religion (Christianity, more precisely) and his view of its role in American political thought and action.
Inhofe recalled several years ago in an interview with an Assemblies of God publication when he was smotten...or whatever it is that happens when god supposedly touches you.
EVANGEL: "Talk about your personal journey to faith in Jesus Christ."
INHOFE: "I accepted Christ on September 22, 1988, at 2:30 in the afternoon in the Members’ Dining Room in the United States Capitol. I was 54 years old. I always thought I had been a follower of Jesus and had accepted Him, then suddenly realized that that hadn’t happened. All the burdens of life were shifted, and I said, 'God, it’s Your problem now.' It worked."
I am struck by several things in reading this. First, what is it specifically about the Member's Dining room that lends itself to religious conversions? Second is the phrase "God, it's your problem now." What problem is that? Also, does this mean Inhofe sees himself as abdicating his responsibility as a public official to address and find a solution to "the problem" or any problems we face as a country? God, after all, will take care of everything so Jimmy Boy doesn't have to do a damn thing!
Inhofe's public mutterings really garnered attention right after Sept. 11, 2001. Not to be outdone by the likes of Jerry Falwell and Ann Coulter when it came to dumb ass comments about what either caused the attacks or what we should do in response, Inhofe, as always, used the bible as his source for the answers regarding the attacks.
"One of the reasons I believe the spiritual door was opened for an attack against the United States of America is that the policy of our government has been to ask the Israelis, and demand it with pressure, not to retaliate in a significant way against the terrorist strikes that have been launched against them."
Inhofe believes there are biblical passages from the Old Testament which specifically guide us in what we should do about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Never mind that this on-going 75+ year conflict unfolded long after the bible was written.
Inhofe has said from the floor of the Senate that god gave the West Bank to Abraham and his descendants, and if the U.S. doesn't get behind eliminating the Palestinians, it violates god's law.
To detail all of Inhofe's utterly absurd and deranged statements, actions and policy positions would mean creating a document as thick as War and Peace. Instead, here is a list of some of his most egregious acts.
It was Inhofe who personally blocked the nomination by President Clinton of James Hormel, who is gay, to be the U.S. Ambassador to Luxemburg. He tied the nomination up for weeks before Hormel was finally approved.
Inhofe portrayed Hormel's sex life as salacious. Later, his own staff was caught downloading tons of porno from the Internet onto their Senate computers. When pressed, Inhofe wouldn't comment saying to do so would be "in deference to legitimate privacy concerns."
Inhofe continually tries to promote and push his fundamentalism into the the U.S. government. He sponsored the Religious Freedom Amendment that would have required accommodation of religion in all government actions, especially in schools. When pressed as to whether this would include Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, etc., he responded that anything other than Judaism or Christianity isn't a "real" religion and wouldn't be constitutionally protected.
When the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City was bombed in 1995, Inhofe was asked how many people worked in the building. He jumped on this sudden opportunity to chastise bureaucrats saying "it depends on how many federal workers played hooky today."
Global warming is the one issue where Inhofe displays his profound stupidity. His war chest bulges with money given his campaign by oil and gas interests and Jumpin' Jimmy jumps as high as they ask. He has repeatedly argued that global warming is due to “natural changes.” “God’s still up there,” Inhofe said, and to the extent there is warming going on, it is “due to the sun.”
Finally, there was his response to the Abu Ghraib scandal. When the media, and then the public, raised hell over the actions by the military in Iraq when it came to the treatment of detained prisoners, Inhofe yelled out that he was "outraged over this outrage."
A good friend in Oklahoma summed it up best when he said "Jim Inhofe is a 15 watt light bulb that somehow thinks he is 50 watts."
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
OKLAHOMA OK? PART I
Two months ago, probably 95 percent of Americans could not have correctly answered "who is Tom Coburn?"
Today, that number is probably 90 to 92 percent. Remember, we are asking folks to identify a United States Senator. These are everyday American citizens, roughly a third of whom couldn't find the U.S. on an outline map.
The hypothetical drop from the mid to low-nineties no doubt stems from the recent attention Coburn has garnered in which he has a) been involved in trying to both end, as well as cover up, the sexual affair by fellow Republican Senator John Ensign; and b) made an insensitive comment to Judge Sonia Sotomayor during the judiciary committee hearings on her Supreme Court nomination.
A little background is in order. Coburn is an Oklahoma physician from Muskogee who was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994, served three terms, stepped down, resurfaced and then was elected the Sooner State's junior U.S. Senator in 2004. The senior senator is James Mountain Inhofe. Coburn and Inhofe combined have an intelligence capacity that maybe hits three figures. Certainly the two of them are leading the parade of fruitcakes who make up the ultra-right wing of the Republican Party. Today's post is a look at Coburn. The next will be a look at Inhofe.
Let's begin by considering Coburn's role as a medical doctor. I thought Bill Frisk, the GOP senator from Tennessee was the dumbest schmuck to ever be licensed to practice medicine. Remember back in the Terri Schivo days when he said looking at footage of her on TV had pretty much convinced him she still was functional? He also once said he didn't know if HIV could be transmitted through sweat!
When Coburn first came to the Senate there was a full court press by the Republicans who then controlled both houses of Congress and the Bush II Administration, to dramatically restrict class action, mass torts lawsuits. Needing some kind of "expert testimony" to support their arguments, Coburn was asked to give his medical opinion on one example of medical procedures where the so-called evidence countered the argument in favor of the lawsuits. He selected the issue of breast implants and said "there's no science that shows that silicone breast implants are detrimental and in fact, they make you healthier."
Tom Terrific apparently missed the part over 10 years earlier where silicone breast implants were banned in this country because of their history of rupturing and spilling toxic fluids into women’s bodies.
A few years ago, there was overwhelming bipartisan support to ease unfair restrictions on credit card holders and the bill was headed to the President's desk for signing. At the last minute, Coburn tried to attach an amendment which would allow people to carry concealed weapons into National Parks.
I always thought that the role of the doctor was to tend to the sick and injured, promote health and generally protect the living. Coburn sees it differently and in fact has called for the execution of persons associated with performing abortions.
The range of his absurdity is very broad. He has complained that girls’ bathrooms in Oklahoma are bastions of lesbianism. How and why Oklahoma ladies rooms are afflicted with this problem is unclear.
Coburn is the epitome of homophobia and has railed, screamed and voted against every measure on gay rights, funding for HIV/AIDS and even condom distribution and use.
He once said, at a Republican political meeting according to the online magazine Salon.com, that “the gay community has infiltrated the very centers of power in every area across this country, and they wield extreme power. [The gay] agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today.”
He's probably right. Thanks to his bathroom warning, lesbians have been flocking in droves to Oklahoma.
Coburn and his staff once hosted an event in Washington for young aides and pages to preach about the evils of sex with multiple partners highlighted with a slide show illustrating genital infections from various STDs.
He also opposes a national recognition of environmental pioneer Rachel Carson's birthday and raised hell when the film classic "Schindler's List" was to be aired on television because it had scenes of "frontal nudity." Those damn Nazis. Why didn't they have the decency to let those people keep their clothes on when convincing them they were just taking a shower instead of being herded into gas chambers?
Coburn's most recent example of outlandish behavior came last week when in response to a comment made by Sonia Sotomayor on the Second Amendment, Coburn said she would have "some 'splainning' to do" a famous line uttered by Desi Arnez, the late Cuban musician and actor in the "I Love Lucy" television series. Anybody over 35 knew Coburn's intent was to mock Sotomayor's Hispanic heritage.
But his best move in all this time has been both his cover up and advocate bribery in the John Ensign matter. Coburn knew about Ensign's sexual fling for well over a year, yet worked hard to help keep it a secret. After all, Ensign is not only a fellow Republican, but also another born-againer and lives with Coburn in that strange world of the Family, the C Street boys in Washington who pray (and "lay") together.
It was Coburn who came up with the idea of Ensign's super rich father paying nearly $100 thousand to the mistress and her husband to keep them quiet.
In the end, Coburn may be lacking any real seniority in the Senate and is still Oklahoma's junior senator. What he is not lacking is a pattern of very frightening behavior and positions on the issues which are a threat to every American if it ever becomes policy or law.
Coburn is the perfect physician to "heal thyself."
Today, that number is probably 90 to 92 percent. Remember, we are asking folks to identify a United States Senator. These are everyday American citizens, roughly a third of whom couldn't find the U.S. on an outline map.
The hypothetical drop from the mid to low-nineties no doubt stems from the recent attention Coburn has garnered in which he has a) been involved in trying to both end, as well as cover up, the sexual affair by fellow Republican Senator John Ensign; and b) made an insensitive comment to Judge Sonia Sotomayor during the judiciary committee hearings on her Supreme Court nomination.
A little background is in order. Coburn is an Oklahoma physician from Muskogee who was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994, served three terms, stepped down, resurfaced and then was elected the Sooner State's junior U.S. Senator in 2004. The senior senator is James Mountain Inhofe. Coburn and Inhofe combined have an intelligence capacity that maybe hits three figures. Certainly the two of them are leading the parade of fruitcakes who make up the ultra-right wing of the Republican Party. Today's post is a look at Coburn. The next will be a look at Inhofe.
Let's begin by considering Coburn's role as a medical doctor. I thought Bill Frisk, the GOP senator from Tennessee was the dumbest schmuck to ever be licensed to practice medicine. Remember back in the Terri Schivo days when he said looking at footage of her on TV had pretty much convinced him she still was functional? He also once said he didn't know if HIV could be transmitted through sweat!
When Coburn first came to the Senate there was a full court press by the Republicans who then controlled both houses of Congress and the Bush II Administration, to dramatically restrict class action, mass torts lawsuits. Needing some kind of "expert testimony" to support their arguments, Coburn was asked to give his medical opinion on one example of medical procedures where the so-called evidence countered the argument in favor of the lawsuits. He selected the issue of breast implants and said "there's no science that shows that silicone breast implants are detrimental and in fact, they make you healthier."
Tom Terrific apparently missed the part over 10 years earlier where silicone breast implants were banned in this country because of their history of rupturing and spilling toxic fluids into women’s bodies.
A few years ago, there was overwhelming bipartisan support to ease unfair restrictions on credit card holders and the bill was headed to the President's desk for signing. At the last minute, Coburn tried to attach an amendment which would allow people to carry concealed weapons into National Parks.
I always thought that the role of the doctor was to tend to the sick and injured, promote health and generally protect the living. Coburn sees it differently and in fact has called for the execution of persons associated with performing abortions.
The range of his absurdity is very broad. He has complained that girls’ bathrooms in Oklahoma are bastions of lesbianism. How and why Oklahoma ladies rooms are afflicted with this problem is unclear.
Coburn is the epitome of homophobia and has railed, screamed and voted against every measure on gay rights, funding for HIV/AIDS and even condom distribution and use.
He once said, at a Republican political meeting according to the online magazine Salon.com, that “the gay community has infiltrated the very centers of power in every area across this country, and they wield extreme power. [The gay] agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today.”
He's probably right. Thanks to his bathroom warning, lesbians have been flocking in droves to Oklahoma.
Coburn and his staff once hosted an event in Washington for young aides and pages to preach about the evils of sex with multiple partners highlighted with a slide show illustrating genital infections from various STDs.
He also opposes a national recognition of environmental pioneer Rachel Carson's birthday and raised hell when the film classic "Schindler's List" was to be aired on television because it had scenes of "frontal nudity." Those damn Nazis. Why didn't they have the decency to let those people keep their clothes on when convincing them they were just taking a shower instead of being herded into gas chambers?
Coburn's most recent example of outlandish behavior came last week when in response to a comment made by Sonia Sotomayor on the Second Amendment, Coburn said she would have "some 'splainning' to do" a famous line uttered by Desi Arnez, the late Cuban musician and actor in the "I Love Lucy" television series. Anybody over 35 knew Coburn's intent was to mock Sotomayor's Hispanic heritage.
But his best move in all this time has been both his cover up and advocate bribery in the John Ensign matter. Coburn knew about Ensign's sexual fling for well over a year, yet worked hard to help keep it a secret. After all, Ensign is not only a fellow Republican, but also another born-againer and lives with Coburn in that strange world of the Family, the C Street boys in Washington who pray (and "lay") together.
It was Coburn who came up with the idea of Ensign's super rich father paying nearly $100 thousand to the mistress and her husband to keep them quiet.
In the end, Coburn may be lacking any real seniority in the Senate and is still Oklahoma's junior senator. What he is not lacking is a pattern of very frightening behavior and positions on the issues which are a threat to every American if it ever becomes policy or law.
Coburn is the perfect physician to "heal thyself."
Saturday, July 18, 2009
WHEN THEY GET BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
Have you been wondering what goes on inside the row house headquarters of "the Family."
This isn't a "family" like "All in the Family." No, this is a special sect or cult of primarily U.S. congressman and a governor or two thrown. They are avowed fundamentalist Christians believing they are at the forefront in leading the U.S. and, indeed, the world" and are engaged in a crusade of righteous and God-fearing might.
They see themselves as setting the standard for moral behavior and Christian values. While they are at it, they want Christianity to rule the world.
All this and sexual infidelity with bribery on the side.
The row house is located on what now is becoming the infamous C Street S.E., just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol.
The Family was founded in the mid-1930s as an ultra- conservative organization both politically and religiously. The group opposed the New Deal, and the whack job who came up with the concept, Abraham Vereide, claimed to have been moved to launch its founding when a vision of God visited him in the person of the head of the United States Steel Corporation. Quick, check on the supply of Thorazine and Haldol!!
The Family was little known and receiving no news coverage until the two most recent poster boys of naughty Republican behavior, Mark Sanford and John Ensign, got caught layin' cable with two babes who were not their wives. Surprise, both are members of the Family. Suddenly, a "who's who" of "family values" bible-quoting hypocrites who serve in public office, cropped up. Even a Democrat or two has been seduced by the rhetoric emitting from the brownstone structure.
They include the likes of Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Congressmen Zach Wamp (R-TN), Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Mike Doyle (D-PA). By the way, if your name was "Zach Wamp" don't you think at some point you would have legally changed all or part of it?
Not only do these guys routinely meet at C Street but several of them live there. They pay a mere $600 in rent which is a form of welfare given what rental rates are in D.C., especially in the neighborhood two to three minutes walking distance from the Capitol complex.
Which begs the question, what goes on between a bunch of married guys all living together in a building owned by a secret society? Men...married and otherwise...do, on occasion, head off together for things like fishing trips, golf trips, lets-see-a-game-at-every-major-league-ballpark-cavalcade, etc. But those are different. When it comes to the C Street boys all tucked in a cozy together for all the times when Congress is in session, something is a bit odd. Given recent developments during the collapse of the "family values" party can you say Mark Foley? Larry Craig?
As far back as I can remember, married members of Congress owned or rented homes in the Washington area and their wives and kids were with them and carrying on a typical family life. Just where are the wives and kids of these guys? It sure seems to me that these jesus-centered living arrangements allow for some flexibility when it comes to a bit of sexual inappropriateness whether it's a mid case of frottage inside the C Street house or full bore copulation outside of it.
A cornerstone of the Family's beliefs dating back nearly 75 years to its founding, is that the traditional concept of Christianity of helping the poor, the sick and the downtrodden is out the window. The Family basically says "fuck those people, this is about us and acquiring more wealth and power. It is really about you and me and our needs and self-gratification and all of this government involvement in serving the citizenry is taking away from what we want."
A case in point is Mark Sanford, the South Carolina governor recently caught high-tailing it to Argentina last month to chase pussy which wasn't his wife's.
A couple of months before he got caught with his pants down, Sanford was in the news because he was amongst a handful of Republican governors who announced they wouldn't accept any of their state's share of the Stimulus money. These fiscal conservatives would be damned if they took this money made available by the Obama Administration designed to help with the much-needed economic recovery.
Yesterday, the Huffington Post reported that Mysterious Mark "shed his fiscal conservatism on several taxpayer-funded international trips, including a South American jaunt that included time with his mistress and choosing expensive first-class or business-class seats while his aides sat in coach.
"Sanford, who once criticized other state officials for costly travel, charged the state more than $37,600 for one first-class and four business-class flights overseas since November 2005, expense records show.
Family value Mark charged the state $8,687 for a trip to Brazil last year that included business class.
Oh, yes, there was a side jaunt to fuck his Argentine mistress, Maria Belen Chapur.
In keeping with the true concept of the "have, have-nots" which is a hallmark of the Family, the rest of the state employees had to fly coach.
Caught with one hand in the state till and the other pulling down his zipper, Sanford had no choice but to repay $3,300 for part of that Brazil-Argentina poon tang jaunt.
His spokesman defended the governor's state travel as "very judicious."
A spokesman for the governor, Joel Sawyer, said sinful Sanford "compares very well" with previous state administrations when it comes to use of public money for travel.
That's nice, but were previous state officials getting laid in the process?
This isn't a "family" like "All in the Family." No, this is a special sect or cult of primarily U.S. congressman and a governor or two thrown. They are avowed fundamentalist Christians believing they are at the forefront in leading the U.S. and, indeed, the world" and are engaged in a crusade of righteous and God-fearing might.
They see themselves as setting the standard for moral behavior and Christian values. While they are at it, they want Christianity to rule the world.
All this and sexual infidelity with bribery on the side.
The row house is located on what now is becoming the infamous C Street S.E., just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol.
The Family was founded in the mid-1930s as an ultra- conservative organization both politically and religiously. The group opposed the New Deal, and the whack job who came up with the concept, Abraham Vereide, claimed to have been moved to launch its founding when a vision of God visited him in the person of the head of the United States Steel Corporation. Quick, check on the supply of Thorazine and Haldol!!
The Family was little known and receiving no news coverage until the two most recent poster boys of naughty Republican behavior, Mark Sanford and John Ensign, got caught layin' cable with two babes who were not their wives. Surprise, both are members of the Family. Suddenly, a "who's who" of "family values" bible-quoting hypocrites who serve in public office, cropped up. Even a Democrat or two has been seduced by the rhetoric emitting from the brownstone structure.
They include the likes of Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Congressmen Zach Wamp (R-TN), Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Mike Doyle (D-PA). By the way, if your name was "Zach Wamp" don't you think at some point you would have legally changed all or part of it?
Not only do these guys routinely meet at C Street but several of them live there. They pay a mere $600 in rent which is a form of welfare given what rental rates are in D.C., especially in the neighborhood two to three minutes walking distance from the Capitol complex.
Which begs the question, what goes on between a bunch of married guys all living together in a building owned by a secret society? Men...married and otherwise...do, on occasion, head off together for things like fishing trips, golf trips, lets-see-a-game-at-every-major-league-ballpark-cavalcade, etc. But those are different. When it comes to the C Street boys all tucked in a cozy together for all the times when Congress is in session, something is a bit odd. Given recent developments during the collapse of the "family values" party can you say Mark Foley? Larry Craig?
As far back as I can remember, married members of Congress owned or rented homes in the Washington area and their wives and kids were with them and carrying on a typical family life. Just where are the wives and kids of these guys? It sure seems to me that these jesus-centered living arrangements allow for some flexibility when it comes to a bit of sexual inappropriateness whether it's a mid case of frottage inside the C Street house or full bore copulation outside of it.
A cornerstone of the Family's beliefs dating back nearly 75 years to its founding, is that the traditional concept of Christianity of helping the poor, the sick and the downtrodden is out the window. The Family basically says "fuck those people, this is about us and acquiring more wealth and power. It is really about you and me and our needs and self-gratification and all of this government involvement in serving the citizenry is taking away from what we want."
A case in point is Mark Sanford, the South Carolina governor recently caught high-tailing it to Argentina last month to chase pussy which wasn't his wife's.
A couple of months before he got caught with his pants down, Sanford was in the news because he was amongst a handful of Republican governors who announced they wouldn't accept any of their state's share of the Stimulus money. These fiscal conservatives would be damned if they took this money made available by the Obama Administration designed to help with the much-needed economic recovery.
Yesterday, the Huffington Post reported that Mysterious Mark "shed his fiscal conservatism on several taxpayer-funded international trips, including a South American jaunt that included time with his mistress and choosing expensive first-class or business-class seats while his aides sat in coach.
"Sanford, who once criticized other state officials for costly travel, charged the state more than $37,600 for one first-class and four business-class flights overseas since November 2005, expense records show.
Family value Mark charged the state $8,687 for a trip to Brazil last year that included business class.
Oh, yes, there was a side jaunt to fuck his Argentine mistress, Maria Belen Chapur.
In keeping with the true concept of the "have, have-nots" which is a hallmark of the Family, the rest of the state employees had to fly coach.
Caught with one hand in the state till and the other pulling down his zipper, Sanford had no choice but to repay $3,300 for part of that Brazil-Argentina poon tang jaunt.
His spokesman defended the governor's state travel as "very judicious."
A spokesman for the governor, Joel Sawyer, said sinful Sanford "compares very well" with previous state administrations when it comes to use of public money for travel.
That's nice, but were previous state officials getting laid in the process?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
IT'S IN THE TREES
I am routinely reminded as to why as a species we have not advanced further than we have. Some scientists say we only use, on average, as little as 10 percent of our intellectual capabilities. When I, and others, wonder why we can't do more to cure diseases, live in balance and harmony and help raise the less fortunate masses up to a higher level, I need only look at the following.
In the last couple of weeks, large numbers of people have claimed either to have seen, or have taken away from their valuable time to go see, animate objects inside inanimate objects.
The one that is no surprise is the Virgin Mary. The other is Michael Jackson.
Now the Virgin Mary sighting is nothing new. For centuries she has managed to show up in the most outrageous places at least in the minds of backward, superstitious, uneducated morons.
This time it is a tree stump in Ireland.
Less than a week ago, a story appeared on the wires which had run in the Courier-Mail and was written by Charles Miranda stating, "it may look like a tree stump to some but for others it is a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary who appeared in a churchyard in Ireland after a willow tree was chopped down.
"The rural Irish village of Rathkeale in County Limerick is being inundated by hundreds of worshippers after workmen claimed the image of the Virgin Mary appeared in the remains of a felled tree in the Holy Mary Parish churchyard.
"Noel White, Rathkeale Community Council Graveyard Committee chairman, said workmen sprucing up the church land saw the image when they cut the tree.
"One of the lads said ‘look, our Blessed Lady in the tree,’ " Mr. White said yesterday.
"One of the other lads looked over and actually knelt down and blessed himself, he got such a shock. It was the perfect shape of the figure of Our Lady holding the baby."
The article went on to state how people from all over...up to 700 at one count...had converged on the site, light candles next to the stump and draped rosary beads over it.
A local priest refused to get caught up in the hype saying "I have seen the tree ... it's only a tree," he said.
The Irish Catholic Church has also called for calm and said it treated the phenomena with skepticism.
"While we do not wish in any way to detract from devotion to Our Lady, we would also wish to avoid anything which might lead to superstition,'' a spokesman said.
Two thoughts here: first, given Ireland's recent history with sexual and physical abuse of children I am surprised a priest would even have time to comment publicly about anything, given that his attention would most likely be focused elsewhere. Second, the church saying it wished "to avoid anything, which might lead to superstition" is remarkably banal: the whole thing, all of this stuff, is steeped in superstition. That's how the church manages to survive.
Apparently, the last time the country was plagued by massive joblessness in the 1980s there were numerous reported sightings of moving statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
One of the most infamous was in Ballinspittle in County Cork, where locals insisted they witnessed the statue of Our Lady floating in the air! Floating in the air?
The claims drew worldwide attention as busloads flocked to see the roadside grotto.
Such psychotic-induced sightings were not confined to the Emerald Isle. Let's drop in to the San Francisco area for another example of why as a species we are only a few steps removed from the savannahs of Africa several million years ago.
"Dude Sees Image of Michael Jackson in a Tree Stump" said the headline in a story on the Net written by Robert Paul Reyes. Reyes is a NewsBlaze writer on Politics, Pop Culture and Pointless Pontificating.
"People have claimed to see the image of Jesus in everything from a Cheeto to a piece of toast. Now a California man says a knot in a tree stump resembles the image of Michael Jackson," Reyes Wrote
Reyes talked to Felix Garcia of Stockton, who said he first noticed the image last Thursday while working in his yard.
Word spread and then crowds of people who were earlier were no doubt busy drooling, dragging their knuckles and stumbling around like adenoidal louts, started to gather near the home to get a glimpse of the image.
"Michael Jackson impacted our lives more than Jesus or any of the saints, it's understandable that folks with a spiritual bent would see visions of the King of Pop," Garcia was quoted as saying.
“Garcia claims to have noticed the image of Michael Jackson while working in his yard. But he probably said to himself "that tree stump sure looks like the King of Pop", while trying to decide which bills he could skip paying this month," Reyes added sarcastically.
"Let me go out on a limb, and predict that the Michael Jackson tree stump will soon be up for action on eBay.
"Folks will soon claim to see the image of Jackson on everything from a Doritos chip to a rotten banana."
The Jackson image story made me think back to the old Monty Python series that the BBC used to air on PBS here in the States. There was a hilarious skit called the Lumberjack Song. I think the title, at least for now, should be the "Lumberjacko Song." The original lyrics also seem to fit given Jackson's persona in recent years.
I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay
I sleep all night and I work all day
I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
I go to the lavat'ry
On Wednesdays I go shopping
And have buttered scones with tea
I cut down trees, I skip and jump
I love to press wild flow'rs
I put on women's clothing
And hang around in bars
I cut down trees, I wear high heels
Suspendies and a bra
I wish I'd been a girlie
Just like my dear papa
Saturday, July 11, 2009
FAMILY VALUES PART II; ULTRA-RIGHT RANTINGS VOLUME II
The Coe Brothers, David and Tim, have been more than a little busy the past few weeks.
Back in 2007-2008 Ensign had been banging Cynthia Hampton, wife of Ensign's best friend, Doug Hampton. Ensign got caught, but before he did, he took "family values" to a new level: he got his parents (primarily his father, Mike) to pony up roughly $100,000 to pay off Hampton so she would shut up and go away. The old man owns, among other things, the Mandalay Group which operates casinos in Nevada. The Ensign hush money payment proves that there are real "values" in having a rich "family."
The C Street boys then got Ensign to write a letter to Cindy Hampton expressing remorse and calling off their fling. A copy of the letter was obtained by Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston. In true born-again fashion, Ensign, a long time mouthier of bible verses, references to god, the sanctity of marriage and all things holy and pure, made sure (or the C Street guys made sure) that there were a few references to the guy in the sky in the letter. In fact, most of the letter is about god.
"God never intended for us to do this."
"I walked away from him and my relationship with him has suffered terribly."
"I know he loves me and he loves you."
"He wants to restore Darlene to me and he wants to restore Doug to you."
"More than that, he wants to restore our relationship to him."
Then to be certain he could be trusted, the C-Street boys along with Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn (a Republican, natch) drove him to a local FedEx site to guarantee the envelope with the letter was sent off to the lovely Ms. Hampton. I suspect the money from daddy got to her via some other method.
Coburn is another in a long line of crackpots from Oklahoma, the same state that sent Jim Inhofe to the Senate. Coburn denied any involvement in the Ensign matter but that was refuted by his own staff, which said he was. Coburn then would not comment or respond to questions on the situation claiming that as "a physician and ordained deacon" in his church, it was privileged information. I'm trying to imagine what medical procedure Coburn would have been administering during all this. Checking to see if Ensign had the clap?
* * *
She recently introduced in the Oklahoma legislature a document, which blames “abortion, pornography, same sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, child abuse and many other forms of debauchery” for the country’s economic woes.
To rectify the problem, it suggests the following solution: “BE IT RESOLVED that we, the undersigned, humbly call upon Holy God, our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer, to have mercy on this nation, to stay His hand of judgment, and grant a national awakening of righteousness and Christian renewal as we repent of our great sin.”
Then there is Rush Limbaugh who must have at least a dozen writers he keeps on staff to produce commentary that I have to admit is very creative. Two recent examples are that President Obama is planning to ignore the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution and will simply continue in office with at least a third term. A week or so ago, he said that Michael Jackson's career hit its zenith when Reagan was in the White House, continued through Bush I and then begin to go into a free fall when Clinton took office and culminated with death while Obama was in the White House. He skipped over the Bush II eight-year nightmare.
Finally, we venture to Arizona where on June 25, the Arizona Senate’s Retirement and Rural Development Committee discussed the prospects for uranium mining in the state. During the hearing, State Senator Sylvia Allen (R), the vice chairman of the committee, argued in favor of mining by saying that the earth “has been here 6,000 years" and almost all of that time there were never any environmental protection laws and things seem to be fine."
Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Rockefeller, Jacob Javits & Co. have to be spinning in their graves.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Robert McNamara, Vietnam and Iraq
The death a few days ago of Robert S. McNamara may well have been the final chapter on the Vietnam War sans any expected future historical analysis.
All of the Presidents who conceived of, executed, slowed down and terminated the conflict are dead. The "best and the brightest" from the JFK and LBJ years are as well. Except, perhaps, for Henry Kissinger and some lesser known participants, everyone is gone. McNamara now joins McGeorge Bundy, Dean Rusk, Walt Rostow, Bill Westmoreland & Co. in that great DMZ in the sky.
Vietnam became so unpopular because to the average American, there was no end in sight. In World War II everyone could look at maps in their daily newspapers and weekly magazines and quickly understand why massive armies and navies were closing in on Germany and Japan. In the late 1960s and early 1970s an ever-growing number of Americans came to realize the original argument for sending hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops into this small country in Southeast Asia was making less and less sense. The argument was that we needed to stop communism in Vietnam and, more importantly, from it spreading throughout Southeast and Southern Asia. Hawks back then used to say things like "if we don't stop them in Vietnam, in three years they'll be in Hawaii." I used to try and envision boatloads of Vietnamese communists puttering across several thousand miles of the Pacific as part of an invasion armada focusing in on Honolulu and how the sophisticated U.S. Navy would be useless in stopping them.
Vietnam, by Ho Chi Minh's own admission, was a war of nationalism, not monolithic communism, and was designed to give the Vietnamese the right to their land and to control their destiny free from the likes of the Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, French and the Americans who for centuries had colonized the country.
Ho had told the French right after WWII when it was obvious that he and the Viet Minh were going to take up arms to kick the French out of their country that "you will kill 10 of my men and I will kill only one of yours. But in the end, you will tire and leave." After the fall of Dien Bien Phu in the Spring of 1954, the French left. By 1975, we too were very tired and couldn't get out fast enough.
The American policy (and the war) was riddled with false assumptions, hubris and lies. In the end, these caught up with us.
You would think that less than 30 years after we got out, U.S. officials would not have made the same basic mistake again. But we did. I won't bore everyone with Santyana's famous quote about not understanding history and making the same mistake twice. I will say that, like Vietnam, false assumptions, hubris and lies were the platform under which the policy for going to war in Iraq was built. Arguments, documents, investigations and in-depth analysis have today confirmed that the 2003 attack on Iraq, while different in its specific conditions and dynamics than Nam, was still predicated on complete mistruths. A clear example is the following which appeared recently in the New York Daily News. It was forwarded to me by my friend Tom Baines in Oklahoma City, an attorney of note, a former military officer and intelligence wonk, one of a few Democrats in the Sooner state and a man of keen intellect and insight:
Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein Bluffed About WMDs Fearing Iranian Arsenal, Secret FBI Files Show.
Saddam Hussein feared Iran's arsenal more than a U.S. attack, and even considered asking ex-President George W. Bush "to protect" Iraq from its neighbor, once secret FBI files show.
The FBI interrogations of the toppled tyrant - codename "Desert Spider" - were declassified after a Freedom of Information Act request. The records show Saddam happily boasted of duping the world about stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. And he consistently denied cooperating with Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda.
Of all his enemies, Iraq's ex-president - who insisted he still held office during captivity - hated Iran most.
Asked how he would have faced "fanatic" Iranian ayatollahs if Iraq had been proven toothless by UN weapons inspectors in 2003, Saddam said he would have cut a deal with Bush.
"Hussein replied Iraq would have been extremely vulnerable to attack from Iran and would have sought a security agreement with the U.S. to protect it from threats in the region," according to a 2004 FBI report among the declassified files.
Without Bush's help, "Iraq would have done what was necessary," he told FBI Agent George Piro in his Baghdad International Airport cell.
That didn't mean an alliance of evil with Al Qaeda, he insisted months into what he called a "dialogue" with Piro.
The interrogations unfolded in 2004 after his capture the previous December at the same farm where he said he'd hidden after orchestrating a failed 1959 coup plot.
Saddam denied ever laying eyes on the "zealot" Bin Laden, bent on striking the U.S.
He said he "did not have the same belief of vision" as the terror kingpin.
Saddam never sought Al Qaeda assistance because he feared the terror group would turn on him. To protect his country, the more likely ally "would have been North Korea."
Saddam also said the U.S. "used the 9/11 attack as a justification to attack Iraq" and "lost sight of the cause of 9/11."
The U.S. "was not Iraq's enemy," just its policies, Saddam explained.
Asked about WMDs, Saddam insisted: "We destroyed them. We told you."
"By God, if I had such weapons, I would have used them in the fight against the U.S," he added.
McNamara was vilified by the Vietnam anti-war movement. Post death blogger comments the past few days have varied a good deal but certainly there were the predictable "war criminal" and "may he burn in hell with LBJ and Nixon" rants.
I will say this in McNamara's defense. Thirty years after he left the Secretary of Defense post in the Johnson Administration, he publicly admitted he was "wrong. Terribly wrong."
My chances of being alive in thirty years are very slim but I will bet that none of the Bush II crowd...George himself, Rumsfeld, Rice, Cheney or Wolfowitz...will every use the word "wrong" when they publicly look back.
All of the Presidents who conceived of, executed, slowed down and terminated the conflict are dead. The "best and the brightest" from the JFK and LBJ years are as well. Except, perhaps, for Henry Kissinger and some lesser known participants, everyone is gone. McNamara now joins McGeorge Bundy, Dean Rusk, Walt Rostow, Bill Westmoreland & Co. in that great DMZ in the sky.
Vietnam became so unpopular because to the average American, there was no end in sight. In World War II everyone could look at maps in their daily newspapers and weekly magazines and quickly understand why massive armies and navies were closing in on Germany and Japan. In the late 1960s and early 1970s an ever-growing number of Americans came to realize the original argument for sending hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops into this small country in Southeast Asia was making less and less sense. The argument was that we needed to stop communism in Vietnam and, more importantly, from it spreading throughout Southeast and Southern Asia. Hawks back then used to say things like "if we don't stop them in Vietnam, in three years they'll be in Hawaii." I used to try and envision boatloads of Vietnamese communists puttering across several thousand miles of the Pacific as part of an invasion armada focusing in on Honolulu and how the sophisticated U.S. Navy would be useless in stopping them.
Vietnam, by Ho Chi Minh's own admission, was a war of nationalism, not monolithic communism, and was designed to give the Vietnamese the right to their land and to control their destiny free from the likes of the Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, French and the Americans who for centuries had colonized the country.
Ho had told the French right after WWII when it was obvious that he and the Viet Minh were going to take up arms to kick the French out of their country that "you will kill 10 of my men and I will kill only one of yours. But in the end, you will tire and leave." After the fall of Dien Bien Phu in the Spring of 1954, the French left. By 1975, we too were very tired and couldn't get out fast enough.
The American policy (and the war) was riddled with false assumptions, hubris and lies. In the end, these caught up with us.
You would think that less than 30 years after we got out, U.S. officials would not have made the same basic mistake again. But we did. I won't bore everyone with Santyana's famous quote about not understanding history and making the same mistake twice. I will say that, like Vietnam, false assumptions, hubris and lies were the platform under which the policy for going to war in Iraq was built. Arguments, documents, investigations and in-depth analysis have today confirmed that the 2003 attack on Iraq, while different in its specific conditions and dynamics than Nam, was still predicated on complete mistruths. A clear example is the following which appeared recently in the New York Daily News. It was forwarded to me by my friend Tom Baines in Oklahoma City, an attorney of note, a former military officer and intelligence wonk, one of a few Democrats in the Sooner state and a man of keen intellect and insight:
Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein Bluffed About WMDs Fearing Iranian Arsenal, Secret FBI Files Show.
Saddam Hussein feared Iran's arsenal more than a U.S. attack, and even considered asking ex-President George W. Bush "to protect" Iraq from its neighbor, once secret FBI files show.
The FBI interrogations of the toppled tyrant - codename "Desert Spider" - were declassified after a Freedom of Information Act request. The records show Saddam happily boasted of duping the world about stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. And he consistently denied cooperating with Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda.
Of all his enemies, Iraq's ex-president - who insisted he still held office during captivity - hated Iran most.
Asked how he would have faced "fanatic" Iranian ayatollahs if Iraq had been proven toothless by UN weapons inspectors in 2003, Saddam said he would have cut a deal with Bush.
"Hussein replied Iraq would have been extremely vulnerable to attack from Iran and would have sought a security agreement with the U.S. to protect it from threats in the region," according to a 2004 FBI report among the declassified files.
Without Bush's help, "Iraq would have done what was necessary," he told FBI Agent George Piro in his Baghdad International Airport cell.
That didn't mean an alliance of evil with Al Qaeda, he insisted months into what he called a "dialogue" with Piro.
The interrogations unfolded in 2004 after his capture the previous December at the same farm where he said he'd hidden after orchestrating a failed 1959 coup plot.
Saddam denied ever laying eyes on the "zealot" Bin Laden, bent on striking the U.S.
He said he "did not have the same belief of vision" as the terror kingpin.
Saddam never sought Al Qaeda assistance because he feared the terror group would turn on him. To protect his country, the more likely ally "would have been North Korea."
Saddam also said the U.S. "used the 9/11 attack as a justification to attack Iraq" and "lost sight of the cause of 9/11."
The U.S. "was not Iraq's enemy," just its policies, Saddam explained.
Asked about WMDs, Saddam insisted: "We destroyed them. We told you."
"By God, if I had such weapons, I would have used them in the fight against the U.S," he added.
McNamara was vilified by the Vietnam anti-war movement. Post death blogger comments the past few days have varied a good deal but certainly there were the predictable "war criminal" and "may he burn in hell with LBJ and Nixon" rants.
I will say this in McNamara's defense. Thirty years after he left the Secretary of Defense post in the Johnson Administration, he publicly admitted he was "wrong. Terribly wrong."
My chances of being alive in thirty years are very slim but I will bet that none of the Bush II crowd...George himself, Rumsfeld, Rice, Cheney or Wolfowitz...will every use the word "wrong" when they publicly look back.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Listening to the Guy in the Sky
When it comes to getting your marching orders from god, Democrats can't hold a candle to the Family Values Republicans.
Two recent GOP cultural icons and big-time news makers disclosed this past week that "the guy in the sky" has mandated recent decisions on their parts which will forever shape the course of American political history. They are none other than Mark "the Galloping Gaucho" Sanford and Joe "the Plumber" Wurlzebacher.
Actually, god took action in their situations that were individually the exact opposite of each other. I assume that if you can create the universe in six days this would not be too difficult. In the case of Sanford, he told Quick Zipper Mark to stay on as governor of South Carolina and in the case of Joe the Plumber that now is not the time for him to run for public office.
Joe the Plumber is not, nor has he ever been, a plumber. He is some disconnected buffoon the Republicans had hidden away in 2008 and then rolled out during the homestretch of the presidential campaign. He was to represent Middle America, confront Obama during a campaign stop in Ohio and somehow make the vast majority of Americans stop drifting toward the Democrats and go back to embracing failure after failure by the GOP. Within a week, Joe's "plumber's crack" had been exposed.
Prior to announcing that god told him to be patient and not run for office just yet, Joe had a few days earlier called for "stringing up" U.S. Senator Chris Dodd (D.-Conn.) No specific reason was given for this pronouncement, but I have to assume it has to do with Dodd's strong efforts for health care reform. Joe must believe enough inbred dopes out there still think he is a plumber and, therefore, doesn't want the government messing with the cushy health care benefits he gets through his union.
In some ways, though, my favorite recent utterance by Joe was not too long ago when he proclaimed the Constitution as "almost like the Bible" and that the the Founding Fathers "knew socialism doesn't work. They knew communism doesn't work." Joe would have us believe he knows how to replace a bad elbow joint under the bathroom sink. That's a good idea because he knows nothing about history. Madison, Hamilton, Washington, Wythe, Franklin, Rutledge, Sherman & Company reportedly never got around to addressing socialism and/or communism what with all the concerns and focus on Federal vs. States rights, separation of powers, elections, etc. Well, that and the fact that socialism or communism didn't even exist in the late 1780s. It would be nearly 60 years before both were really rolled out as economic and political theories by the likes of Marx. Joe is rumored to also believe that Lincoln was the first chief executive to address the nation on television.
Hey, when god talks directly to you, you can't be concerned with historical accuracies.
Nevertheless, Joe's talking to the guy in the sky is not nearly as entertaining nor as delusional as Sanford's. A little background: roughly two weeks after "returning-from-Argentina-where-I- was-fucking-my-hot-little-Latina" Family Values Mark let it be known that god spoke to him and commanded (or whatever gods do) that he was to stay where he was and not vacate the governorship. It's easy to see why this would happen.
Sanford, who has banged the bible relentlessly since becoming a politician, has belonged to a bible study group run by a guy named Warren "Cubby" Culbertson. Cubby (not to be confused with Carl "Cubby" O'Brien one of the original Mouseketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club show in the 1950s) runs a court reporting business in Columbia, SC when he isn't leading his charges in bible 101. Cubby has for many months been helping Sanford and his wife "work through" the problems associated with Family Values Mark nailing babes south of the border.
It gets better. Today's edition of Buzzflash has a story from Facing South: A New Voice for the Changing South. After reading it, it makes sense why god talks to Mark. The article is titled "Meet Gov. Sanford's Other Family."
Now he has a third family!!
Anyway, read on:
There was a cryptic moment in the emotional press conference South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford held last week to apologize for committing adultery.
"C Street," Sanford said, is where men face "hard questions." Later, in response to a question from a reporter, the Republican governor and former congressman said that he had been to "what we called 'C Street' when I was in Washington." Sanford was referring to the address of the Washington headquarters for The Family -- perhaps the most politically powerful religious group in Washington. Sponsor of the annual National Prayer Breakfast that draws leading U.S. politicians, the secretive Christian organization also known as The Fellowship was founded in Seattle in 1935 by Abraham Vereide, a Norwegian immigrant and itinerant preacher who worked with the city's poor and feared the pull of socialism.
He claimed that God appeared to him to warn that Christianity's preoccupation with the poor and weak was misguided, so Vereide began to minister to the powerful. He organized prayer breakfasts for political and business leaders to promote anti-Communism and anti-unionism, and the group later went on to work with dictators in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The family is headed by a man named Douglas Coe, who has controversially encouraged the men under his tutelage to follow Jesus with the same sort of blind devotion shown by Hitler's followers.
The members also refer to themselves as the "new chosen people," believing that the Jews broke their covenant with God. Incorporated today as a tax-free 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating under the name The Fellowship Foundation, the Family maintains a three-story, $1.1 million brick townhouse at 133 C St. in Washington -- a former convent that's now home to members of Congress while being treated like a church under tax law. In a meeting with his cabinet after his public confession, the New York Times reported, Gov. Sanford apologized for letting people down but said he has no plans to resign. He referred to the biblical story of King David: "the way in which he fell mightily ... but then picked up the pieces and built from there."
In a radio interview yesterday with Terry Gross of NPR's Fresh Air, Jeff Sharlet -- author of "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power" -- shed more light on the shadowy group and Sanford's connection to it. Sharlet, who is also the co-creator of Killing the Buddha, an online literary journal about religion, spent almost a month several years ago living at Ivanwald, The Family's two-story colonial house on a cul-de-sac in Arlington, Va. that serves as a training ground for the group's next generation. Recommended for membership by a banker acquaintance, Sharlet was in fact there on a reporting mission that besides his book led to a 2003 Harper's magazine story titled "Jesus plus nothing: Undercover among America's secret theocrats."
During the interview with Gross, Sharlet noted The Family's emphasis on the biblical King David story that Sanford referenced. In that tale, David sees the beautiful Bathsheba, decides he must have her, gets her pregnant, arranges to have her husband killed in battle, and then marries her. Asked by Gross whether he had a better understanding of the Sanford affair because he studied The Family, Sharlet pointed to the governor's King David reference:
That's actually one of the sort of core parables of The Family that I encountered, and describe this experience with David Coe, the son of Doug Coe, the leader, came around and gave us this long lesson. He says, 'What made King David great?' And the men I was with are all trying to say, 'Well, he loved God,' all this. He [says], 'No, No, that's not it. King David was a terrible man. You know, he was an adulterer and a murderer. So why is he a hero of the Bible?' And the answer is because God chose him. King David is beyond morality, in their limited understanding of scripture. ... I could almost hear Doug Coe's voice when Gov. Sanford was saying, 'I need to keep governing, because I'm like King David.'
The calls for Sanford to step down are growing louder, with a half-dozen newspapers, a majority of Republicans in the South Carolina state senate and U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.) all urging his resignation.
But the South Carolina newspaper The State reports that Sanford says he plans to stay "until they throw me out." After all, that's what King David would do.
Well, this explains it and it certainly makes a lot of sense. We men now have the perfect excuse: the next time the ol' lady confronts you for having a babe on the side just tell her it's what King David did.
Have a nice Fourth of July. Oh....and Michael Jackson. Still dead.
Two recent GOP cultural icons and big-time news makers disclosed this past week that "the guy in the sky" has mandated recent decisions on their parts which will forever shape the course of American political history. They are none other than Mark "the Galloping Gaucho" Sanford and Joe "the Plumber" Wurlzebacher.
Actually, god took action in their situations that were individually the exact opposite of each other. I assume that if you can create the universe in six days this would not be too difficult. In the case of Sanford, he told Quick Zipper Mark to stay on as governor of South Carolina and in the case of Joe the Plumber that now is not the time for him to run for public office.
Joe the Plumber is not, nor has he ever been, a plumber. He is some disconnected buffoon the Republicans had hidden away in 2008 and then rolled out during the homestretch of the presidential campaign. He was to represent Middle America, confront Obama during a campaign stop in Ohio and somehow make the vast majority of Americans stop drifting toward the Democrats and go back to embracing failure after failure by the GOP. Within a week, Joe's "plumber's crack" had been exposed.
Prior to announcing that god told him to be patient and not run for office just yet, Joe had a few days earlier called for "stringing up" U.S. Senator Chris Dodd (D.-Conn.) No specific reason was given for this pronouncement, but I have to assume it has to do with Dodd's strong efforts for health care reform. Joe must believe enough inbred dopes out there still think he is a plumber and, therefore, doesn't want the government messing with the cushy health care benefits he gets through his union.
In some ways, though, my favorite recent utterance by Joe was not too long ago when he proclaimed the Constitution as "almost like the Bible" and that the the Founding Fathers "knew socialism doesn't work. They knew communism doesn't work." Joe would have us believe he knows how to replace a bad elbow joint under the bathroom sink. That's a good idea because he knows nothing about history. Madison, Hamilton, Washington, Wythe, Franklin, Rutledge, Sherman & Company reportedly never got around to addressing socialism and/or communism what with all the concerns and focus on Federal vs. States rights, separation of powers, elections, etc. Well, that and the fact that socialism or communism didn't even exist in the late 1780s. It would be nearly 60 years before both were really rolled out as economic and political theories by the likes of Marx. Joe is rumored to also believe that Lincoln was the first chief executive to address the nation on television.
Hey, when god talks directly to you, you can't be concerned with historical accuracies.
Nevertheless, Joe's talking to the guy in the sky is not nearly as entertaining nor as delusional as Sanford's. A little background: roughly two weeks after "returning-from-Argentina-where-I- was-fucking-my-hot-little-Latina" Family Values Mark let it be known that god spoke to him and commanded (or whatever gods do) that he was to stay where he was and not vacate the governorship. It's easy to see why this would happen.
Sanford, who has banged the bible relentlessly since becoming a politician, has belonged to a bible study group run by a guy named Warren "Cubby" Culbertson. Cubby (not to be confused with Carl "Cubby" O'Brien one of the original Mouseketeers on the Mickey Mouse Club show in the 1950s) runs a court reporting business in Columbia, SC when he isn't leading his charges in bible 101. Cubby has for many months been helping Sanford and his wife "work through" the problems associated with Family Values Mark nailing babes south of the border.
It gets better. Today's edition of Buzzflash has a story from Facing South: A New Voice for the Changing South. After reading it, it makes sense why god talks to Mark. The article is titled "Meet Gov. Sanford's Other Family."
Now he has a third family!!
Anyway, read on:
There was a cryptic moment in the emotional press conference South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford held last week to apologize for committing adultery.
"C Street," Sanford said, is where men face "hard questions." Later, in response to a question from a reporter, the Republican governor and former congressman said that he had been to "what we called 'C Street' when I was in Washington." Sanford was referring to the address of the Washington headquarters for The Family -- perhaps the most politically powerful religious group in Washington. Sponsor of the annual National Prayer Breakfast that draws leading U.S. politicians, the secretive Christian organization also known as The Fellowship was founded in Seattle in 1935 by Abraham Vereide, a Norwegian immigrant and itinerant preacher who worked with the city's poor and feared the pull of socialism.
He claimed that God appeared to him to warn that Christianity's preoccupation with the poor and weak was misguided, so Vereide began to minister to the powerful. He organized prayer breakfasts for political and business leaders to promote anti-Communism and anti-unionism, and the group later went on to work with dictators in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The family is headed by a man named Douglas Coe, who has controversially encouraged the men under his tutelage to follow Jesus with the same sort of blind devotion shown by Hitler's followers.
The members also refer to themselves as the "new chosen people," believing that the Jews broke their covenant with God. Incorporated today as a tax-free 501(c)(3) nonprofit operating under the name The Fellowship Foundation, the Family maintains a three-story, $1.1 million brick townhouse at 133 C St. in Washington -- a former convent that's now home to members of Congress while being treated like a church under tax law. In a meeting with his cabinet after his public confession, the New York Times reported, Gov. Sanford apologized for letting people down but said he has no plans to resign. He referred to the biblical story of King David: "the way in which he fell mightily ... but then picked up the pieces and built from there."
In a radio interview yesterday with Terry Gross of NPR's Fresh Air, Jeff Sharlet -- author of "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power" -- shed more light on the shadowy group and Sanford's connection to it. Sharlet, who is also the co-creator of Killing the Buddha, an online literary journal about religion, spent almost a month several years ago living at Ivanwald, The Family's two-story colonial house on a cul-de-sac in Arlington, Va. that serves as a training ground for the group's next generation. Recommended for membership by a banker acquaintance, Sharlet was in fact there on a reporting mission that besides his book led to a 2003 Harper's magazine story titled "Jesus plus nothing: Undercover among America's secret theocrats."
During the interview with Gross, Sharlet noted The Family's emphasis on the biblical King David story that Sanford referenced. In that tale, David sees the beautiful Bathsheba, decides he must have her, gets her pregnant, arranges to have her husband killed in battle, and then marries her. Asked by Gross whether he had a better understanding of the Sanford affair because he studied The Family, Sharlet pointed to the governor's King David reference:
That's actually one of the sort of core parables of The Family that I encountered, and describe this experience with David Coe, the son of Doug Coe, the leader, came around and gave us this long lesson. He says, 'What made King David great?' And the men I was with are all trying to say, 'Well, he loved God,' all this. He [says], 'No, No, that's not it. King David was a terrible man. You know, he was an adulterer and a murderer. So why is he a hero of the Bible?' And the answer is because God chose him. King David is beyond morality, in their limited understanding of scripture. ... I could almost hear Doug Coe's voice when Gov. Sanford was saying, 'I need to keep governing, because I'm like King David.'
The calls for Sanford to step down are growing louder, with a half-dozen newspapers, a majority of Republicans in the South Carolina state senate and U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.) all urging his resignation.
But the South Carolina newspaper The State reports that Sanford says he plans to stay "until they throw me out." After all, that's what King David would do.
Well, this explains it and it certainly makes a lot of sense. We men now have the perfect excuse: the next time the ol' lady confronts you for having a babe on the side just tell her it's what King David did.
Have a nice Fourth of July. Oh....and Michael Jackson. Still dead.
Monday, June 29, 2009
I Just Met a Girl Named Maria
Women from Argentina have played a special role in American politics over the last 35 years...and it hasn't been to enhance U.S. - Latin American economic aid packages!
Maria Chapur, the mistress to South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, is the not the first steamy, hot-blooded Latin to snooker an American politician. And so far, she has not been able to topple him from power which was also the case in 1974.
Back in October of that year, Fanne Foxe (real name Annabelle Battistella) came close to toppling U.S. Congressman Wilbur Mills from his powerful perch as chairman of the House Ways and Means committee. Mills was a veteran Democrat from Arkansas. Back then, the Democrats still ruled in the South and virtually all committee chairmanships in both the Senate and the House were held by wily, Southern good ol' boys most of whom loved mash whiskey, a good cigar and a nice piece of ass on the side.
At about 2 a.m. one morning in October of '74, Wilbur was driving Ms Foxe around down near the Jefferson Memorial. The fetching Fanne was a stripper who did a fair amount of disrobing back then in the nation's capitol. She had been known to cavort with Mills for some time. Problem was he was drunk that morning and hadn't bothered to turn on his headlights. The cops stopped him near the Jefferson Memorial. When they did, Fanne, in a panic, leapt out of the car. Obviously a bit shit-faced herself, she quickly surmised that she could escape by jumping into the Tidal Basin which flanks the Memorial. I guess she thought she could swim to the other side and emerge somewhere near the Lincoln Memorial. One of the cops jumped in after her and dragged her out of the water. She and Wilbur were hauled off to the slammer and the next day the entire country knew about Wilbur and Ms. Foxe who was dubbed "the Argentine Firecracker."
Back in the 1970s, no one talked about "family values" and the religious beliefs of public officials were pretty private. For Mills this was good because a month later, his constituents were not fazed by his early a.m. pursuit of nookie and reelected him to yet another term by roughly 60 percent of the vote. He served until 1976, retired and died in the early 1990s. Ms. Foxe continued to take her clothes off, later wrote a book about her affair with Wilbur and recognizing an opportunity when it presents itself, dropped the firecracker reference and anointed herself "the Tidal Basin Bombshell." Today, she is living back in Argentina.
Which brings us back to Ms. Chapur. In fairness, she is NOT a stripper. In fact, not all that much is known about her and how and where she and the Governor met is still vague. However, rumors are running amok that she is not the first babe our family values, bible-banging, jesus-loving governor has had. A Detroit-based blog claims to have evidence and names and that Sanford previously was schtupping at least two other women prior to Maria. It appears that when it comes to banging on the side, he likes both "the poon and the tang."
Republicans who, for the most part, screamed for Bill Clinton's scalp when it was proven that Monica Lewinsky gave him a hummer in the White House, have not been as vocal when it comes to punishment for Sanford. One noted exception is Ron Christie, a long-time GOP spokesperson and unwavering apologist for both Bush and Cheney (he worked for both during the past administration) who on yesterday's Ed Show on MSNBC called for Sanford to immediately resign and for the governor to repay what appears to be state money totaling roughly $8,000 used so he could go "cry for five days" in Buenos Aires. Christie said he was personally outraged.
Compare Christie's response to that of Fat Ass Rush Limbaugh. If you haven't heard his latest on the causes of Sanford's philandering, I swear I am not making this up. As you read it, you have to be struck by the very strong possibility that Limbaugh has to spend an enormous amount of time carefully creating and crafting this insane bullshit. I cannot imagine that he actually believes a majority of the stuff he spouts. This from a posting a few days ago on chattahbox.com:
According to Conservative radio talk show host and all around bombastic pontificator, Rush Limbaugh, Governor Mark Sanford went off the deep end this past week, disappearing for six days, cheating on his wife and jetting to Argentina to be in the arms of his mistress, because President Obama’s economic policies crushed his spirit. Got that? Although Republicans gamely attempt to blame President Obama and the Democrats for most of the nation’s woes, this latest example falls in a category all its own. Besides the economy, the unemployment rate and the violence in Iran, Republicans can now use Limbaugh’s new Meme to blame Obama for Republicans who cheat on their wives and other indiscretions, especially erratic behavior that “defies logic.” What an ingenious concept! Now Republican politicians can attend all night orgies with hookers or fire up a blunt in the halls of Congress and say: “Obama’s stimulus made me do it.” During Thursday’s radio show, Limbaugh spoke about Gov. Mark Sanford’s recent behavior as defying logic and this led Limbaugh to seriously surmise, that Sanford’s spirit must have been crushed from Obama’s economic policies. “All this hope and change…Obama is trying to kill spirit,” said Limbaugh. “People are saying screw it before Obama takes away their money…their houses.” Limbaugh didn’t stop his inane analogies there. Oh no, there is more. “This is almost like, I don’t give a damn, the country’s going to Hell in a handbasket, I just want out of here, Limbaugh said. “[Sanford] had just tried to fight the stimulus money coming to South Carolina. He didn’t want any part of it; he lost the battle. He said, what the hell. I mean, the federal government’s taking over…what the hell, I want to enjoy life.” “The point is, there are a lot of people whose spirit is just…they’re fed up, saying, To hell with it, I don’t even want to fight this anymore, I just want to get away from it,” said Limbaugh. Limbaugh went on to reiterate his statements, blaming Obama for Sanford cheating on his wife saying, “The Democrats are destroying the country, we can’t do anything to stop it.” So, let’s recap. Because of President Obama’s economic policies implemented to prevent the complete collapse of our economy, mostly due to eight years of damaging Republican policies under the Bush administration, Republicans like Gov. Sanford are saying to themselves, “To hell with it,” “I just want to get away…” “What the hell, I want to enjoy life.” According to Limbaugh’s reasoning, Gov. Sanford then cheated on his wife, abandoned his four children and his constituents, despondent, muttering under his breath “…I don’t even want to fight this anymore…” “To hell with it,” and then in a Zombie-like state boarded a plane to Argentina to be in the loving arms of his South American “exotic” mistress.
And all of this behavior can be attributed to Democrats ruining the country and Obama’s economic stimulus. Limbaugh is a genius! It’s Obama’s fault. The stimulus made me do it!
Maria Chapur, the mistress to South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, is the not the first steamy, hot-blooded Latin to snooker an American politician. And so far, she has not been able to topple him from power which was also the case in 1974.
Back in October of that year, Fanne Foxe (real name Annabelle Battistella) came close to toppling U.S. Congressman Wilbur Mills from his powerful perch as chairman of the House Ways and Means committee. Mills was a veteran Democrat from Arkansas. Back then, the Democrats still ruled in the South and virtually all committee chairmanships in both the Senate and the House were held by wily, Southern good ol' boys most of whom loved mash whiskey, a good cigar and a nice piece of ass on the side.
At about 2 a.m. one morning in October of '74, Wilbur was driving Ms Foxe around down near the Jefferson Memorial. The fetching Fanne was a stripper who did a fair amount of disrobing back then in the nation's capitol. She had been known to cavort with Mills for some time. Problem was he was drunk that morning and hadn't bothered to turn on his headlights. The cops stopped him near the Jefferson Memorial. When they did, Fanne, in a panic, leapt out of the car. Obviously a bit shit-faced herself, she quickly surmised that she could escape by jumping into the Tidal Basin which flanks the Memorial. I guess she thought she could swim to the other side and emerge somewhere near the Lincoln Memorial. One of the cops jumped in after her and dragged her out of the water. She and Wilbur were hauled off to the slammer and the next day the entire country knew about Wilbur and Ms. Foxe who was dubbed "the Argentine Firecracker."
Back in the 1970s, no one talked about "family values" and the religious beliefs of public officials were pretty private. For Mills this was good because a month later, his constituents were not fazed by his early a.m. pursuit of nookie and reelected him to yet another term by roughly 60 percent of the vote. He served until 1976, retired and died in the early 1990s. Ms. Foxe continued to take her clothes off, later wrote a book about her affair with Wilbur and recognizing an opportunity when it presents itself, dropped the firecracker reference and anointed herself "the Tidal Basin Bombshell." Today, she is living back in Argentina.
Which brings us back to Ms. Chapur. In fairness, she is NOT a stripper. In fact, not all that much is known about her and how and where she and the Governor met is still vague. However, rumors are running amok that she is not the first babe our family values, bible-banging, jesus-loving governor has had. A Detroit-based blog claims to have evidence and names and that Sanford previously was schtupping at least two other women prior to Maria. It appears that when it comes to banging on the side, he likes both "the poon and the tang."
Republicans who, for the most part, screamed for Bill Clinton's scalp when it was proven that Monica Lewinsky gave him a hummer in the White House, have not been as vocal when it comes to punishment for Sanford. One noted exception is Ron Christie, a long-time GOP spokesperson and unwavering apologist for both Bush and Cheney (he worked for both during the past administration) who on yesterday's Ed Show on MSNBC called for Sanford to immediately resign and for the governor to repay what appears to be state money totaling roughly $8,000 used so he could go "cry for five days" in Buenos Aires. Christie said he was personally outraged.
Compare Christie's response to that of Fat Ass Rush Limbaugh. If you haven't heard his latest on the causes of Sanford's philandering, I swear I am not making this up. As you read it, you have to be struck by the very strong possibility that Limbaugh has to spend an enormous amount of time carefully creating and crafting this insane bullshit. I cannot imagine that he actually believes a majority of the stuff he spouts. This from a posting a few days ago on chattahbox.com:
According to Conservative radio talk show host and all around bombastic pontificator, Rush Limbaugh, Governor Mark Sanford went off the deep end this past week, disappearing for six days, cheating on his wife and jetting to Argentina to be in the arms of his mistress, because President Obama’s economic policies crushed his spirit. Got that? Although Republicans gamely attempt to blame President Obama and the Democrats for most of the nation’s woes, this latest example falls in a category all its own. Besides the economy, the unemployment rate and the violence in Iran, Republicans can now use Limbaugh’s new Meme to blame Obama for Republicans who cheat on their wives and other indiscretions, especially erratic behavior that “defies logic.” What an ingenious concept! Now Republican politicians can attend all night orgies with hookers or fire up a blunt in the halls of Congress and say: “Obama’s stimulus made me do it.” During Thursday’s radio show, Limbaugh spoke about Gov. Mark Sanford’s recent behavior as defying logic and this led Limbaugh to seriously surmise, that Sanford’s spirit must have been crushed from Obama’s economic policies. “All this hope and change…Obama is trying to kill spirit,” said Limbaugh. “People are saying screw it before Obama takes away their money…their houses.” Limbaugh didn’t stop his inane analogies there. Oh no, there is more. “This is almost like, I don’t give a damn, the country’s going to Hell in a handbasket, I just want out of here, Limbaugh said. “[Sanford] had just tried to fight the stimulus money coming to South Carolina. He didn’t want any part of it; he lost the battle. He said, what the hell. I mean, the federal government’s taking over…what the hell, I want to enjoy life.” “The point is, there are a lot of people whose spirit is just…they’re fed up, saying, To hell with it, I don’t even want to fight this anymore, I just want to get away from it,” said Limbaugh. Limbaugh went on to reiterate his statements, blaming Obama for Sanford cheating on his wife saying, “The Democrats are destroying the country, we can’t do anything to stop it.” So, let’s recap. Because of President Obama’s economic policies implemented to prevent the complete collapse of our economy, mostly due to eight years of damaging Republican policies under the Bush administration, Republicans like Gov. Sanford are saying to themselves, “To hell with it,” “I just want to get away…” “What the hell, I want to enjoy life.” According to Limbaugh’s reasoning, Gov. Sanford then cheated on his wife, abandoned his four children and his constituents, despondent, muttering under his breath “…I don’t even want to fight this anymore…” “To hell with it,” and then in a Zombie-like state boarded a plane to Argentina to be in the loving arms of his South American “exotic” mistress.
And all of this behavior can be attributed to Democrats ruining the country and Obama’s economic stimulus. Limbaugh is a genius! It’s Obama’s fault. The stimulus made me do it!
Friday, June 26, 2009
DOWN GOES JACKO AND THE WILD BULL OF THE PAMPAS
I woke up this morning and Michael Jackson was still dead.
I couldn't care less because, personally, I never gave a shit about this guy when he was alive. So, why concern myself with him now.
However, for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford Jacko's demise couldn't have come at a better time. Toss in Farrah Fawcett croaking yesterday as well and Sanford can rest assured that in a 24 hour news cycle, his name won't be mentioned but once, perhaps twice.
This is because contemporary media, especially broadcast, has a history of jumping all over a breaking story involving some celebrity and riding it until its legs fall off and it collapses on the ground. Remember when Anna Nicole Smith went down? (Note: that's when she died, not all the guys she blew.) The media was on that story around the clock for a solid week. And for what reason? That broad had contributed absolutely nothing to society unless you think marrying some 90-year-old altacocker for his money, flaunting your tits in Playboy and continually getting fatter by the week is important to our societal well-being.
So Sanford, the violent unrest in Iran, health care reform, the economy and tonight's episode of "So You Think You Can Dance Your Stupid Ass Off" will disappear from the public eye for the foreseeable future.
This Blog will, nevertheless, stay focused on what matters. Like an elected official having a piece of ass on the side 5,000 miles from home.
So, let us return to Mark "the wild bull of the Pampas" Sanford. First the specifics of his affair take the prize among the most recent marital indiscretions by American politicians. I mean you can't top "he's hiking the Appalachian...oh, wait, he's in Argentina." Second place. I suppose, would have to go to Bill Clinton for getting head in the Oval office and then taking the cigar to new levels as a sex toy.
The real issue, as the vast majority of us know, is the hypocrisy that accompanies all this. It is also about the GOP brand and the fact that is now tarnished to a point never before seen in modern American political history.
First, we must acknowledge that naughtiness isn't confined to the Republicans. Besides the aforementioned Clinton, we also have Elliot Spitzer and John Edwards. Throw in Rod Blagojavich and Louisiana Congressman Bill "Deep Freeze" Jefferson and the Democrats have certainly contributed to the world of sleaze.
The difference is, of course, that the Democrats have not spent the last 25 to 30 years pontificating about so-called morality and "family values." Not doing so in no way justifies bad behavior. The critical point is that Republicans leapt to the far right a few decades back and convinced enough American voters that Democrats, especially the liberal kind, were immoral, dope-smoking, atheistic, lustful sinners (hey, that kinda' sounds like me!") and in doing so controlled American politics. They did so by conning enough gullible citizens that God was supporting their party and their candidates and covered the various mediums with images of them, their spouses (in almost all cases, wives) posing with their very cute and very white six to eight kids.
Now the chickens have come home to roost because enough of them have been dragged out into the bright sunlight and revealed to be like so many of the gays they denigrated, the skirt-chasers the wagged their fingers at and the Robber Barons who were stuffing the money into their own pockets instead of tithing on Sundays.
Family values is the phrase they milked to death. They were clever enough to use "family" in the names of their various advocacy groups like the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. They loved to tell us that "the family" was the cornerstone of American society and without it (in the way they envisioned it) we were collectively doomed.
The media bought into it by never asking the question, "what are family values?" The answer is that there is no one standard for family values. Virtually every family has something called "values." The ultra-right, bible banging fruitcakes convinced America that it meant going to church every Sunday, making sure every pregnancy went to full term, putting your kids in Christian schools and stomping the shit out of every guy and lesbian you could find.
However, the rest of us have "values" for our family. For mine it means loving and supporting each other, teaching tolerance, being well-educated and informed and seeing to it the dogs have fresh water in their dishes.
A single mother with two kids has her "family values." The person committed to being single all their life has "family values." Hell, Ma Barker and her boys had "family values."
Simply, your family values are yours and not anyone else’s. And if you don't break the law in exercising them then they are just fine.
Mark Sanford seems to have his particular and rather peculiar set of family values. His wife and kids would appear to have a different set.
On a bigger scale, how the GOP views family values from here on out is up to them. But on the heels of Sanford, John Ensign, Larry Craig, Mark Foley and the Reverend Ted Haggard, they would be well advised to keep them to themselves and not interject them into future political debates. The great masses in the middle are simply not buying it anymore.
Oh, and Michael Jackson? Still dead.
I couldn't care less because, personally, I never gave a shit about this guy when he was alive. So, why concern myself with him now.
However, for South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford Jacko's demise couldn't have come at a better time. Toss in Farrah Fawcett croaking yesterday as well and Sanford can rest assured that in a 24 hour news cycle, his name won't be mentioned but once, perhaps twice.
This is because contemporary media, especially broadcast, has a history of jumping all over a breaking story involving some celebrity and riding it until its legs fall off and it collapses on the ground. Remember when Anna Nicole Smith went down? (Note: that's when she died, not all the guys she blew.) The media was on that story around the clock for a solid week. And for what reason? That broad had contributed absolutely nothing to society unless you think marrying some 90-year-old altacocker for his money, flaunting your tits in Playboy and continually getting fatter by the week is important to our societal well-being.
So Sanford, the violent unrest in Iran, health care reform, the economy and tonight's episode of "So You Think You Can Dance Your Stupid Ass Off" will disappear from the public eye for the foreseeable future.
This Blog will, nevertheless, stay focused on what matters. Like an elected official having a piece of ass on the side 5,000 miles from home.
So, let us return to Mark "the wild bull of the Pampas" Sanford. First the specifics of his affair take the prize among the most recent marital indiscretions by American politicians. I mean you can't top "he's hiking the Appalachian...oh, wait, he's in Argentina." Second place. I suppose, would have to go to Bill Clinton for getting head in the Oval office and then taking the cigar to new levels as a sex toy.
The real issue, as the vast majority of us know, is the hypocrisy that accompanies all this. It is also about the GOP brand and the fact that is now tarnished to a point never before seen in modern American political history.
First, we must acknowledge that naughtiness isn't confined to the Republicans. Besides the aforementioned Clinton, we also have Elliot Spitzer and John Edwards. Throw in Rod Blagojavich and Louisiana Congressman Bill "Deep Freeze" Jefferson and the Democrats have certainly contributed to the world of sleaze.
The difference is, of course, that the Democrats have not spent the last 25 to 30 years pontificating about so-called morality and "family values." Not doing so in no way justifies bad behavior. The critical point is that Republicans leapt to the far right a few decades back and convinced enough American voters that Democrats, especially the liberal kind, were immoral, dope-smoking, atheistic, lustful sinners (hey, that kinda' sounds like me!") and in doing so controlled American politics. They did so by conning enough gullible citizens that God was supporting their party and their candidates and covered the various mediums with images of them, their spouses (in almost all cases, wives) posing with their very cute and very white six to eight kids.
Now the chickens have come home to roost because enough of them have been dragged out into the bright sunlight and revealed to be like so many of the gays they denigrated, the skirt-chasers the wagged their fingers at and the Robber Barons who were stuffing the money into their own pockets instead of tithing on Sundays.
Family values is the phrase they milked to death. They were clever enough to use "family" in the names of their various advocacy groups like the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. They loved to tell us that "the family" was the cornerstone of American society and without it (in the way they envisioned it) we were collectively doomed.
The media bought into it by never asking the question, "what are family values?" The answer is that there is no one standard for family values. Virtually every family has something called "values." The ultra-right, bible banging fruitcakes convinced America that it meant going to church every Sunday, making sure every pregnancy went to full term, putting your kids in Christian schools and stomping the shit out of every guy and lesbian you could find.
However, the rest of us have "values" for our family. For mine it means loving and supporting each other, teaching tolerance, being well-educated and informed and seeing to it the dogs have fresh water in their dishes.
A single mother with two kids has her "family values." The person committed to being single all their life has "family values." Hell, Ma Barker and her boys had "family values."
Simply, your family values are yours and not anyone else’s. And if you don't break the law in exercising them then they are just fine.
Mark Sanford seems to have his particular and rather peculiar set of family values. His wife and kids would appear to have a different set.
On a bigger scale, how the GOP views family values from here on out is up to them. But on the heels of Sanford, John Ensign, Larry Craig, Mark Foley and the Reverend Ted Haggard, they would be well advised to keep them to themselves and not interject them into future political debates. The great masses in the middle are simply not buying it anymore.
Oh, and Michael Jackson? Still dead.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Fanatics...Republicans and other kinds
Fanatics, both Republicans as well as other types, have had a good deal of success the past few weeks when it comes to making stupid, inappropriate comments. Most have been directed at President Obama (even his wife), pending legislation, Democrats in Congress and legal issues.
Let's begin with the Letterman apology regarding a joke about Sarah Palin's daughter. The joke was over the top and Letterman's eventual apology was genuine. The next day Palin released a statement saying she accepted and then, as only she and her ilk can do, launched into a bizarre series of comments supporting the military and GI's equating the joke and her apology with the job they do to defend our freedoms adding that thanks to them, we have freedom of speech (actually, thanks to the men who wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights we have freedom of speech.) But I guess that's a minor point for the good governor of the 49th state.
"I won't buy a socialist car, which means I won't be buying a GM or Chrysler car for as long as the U.S. government owns huge blocks of the companies."
So proclaimed right wing commentator and evangelist Hugh Hewitt in a column he recently wrote for the Washington Examiner. So, Hugh would rather see hundreds of thousands of GM and Chrysler employees lose their jobs and both companies disappear than have to tolerate what every rational person sees as the temporary government involvement/ownership of the two car makers.
Next, if you are President of the United States, don't take your wife out on a date and don't spend a little time looking at historical sites when you are overseas. The date issue is, of course, the Saturday night a few weeks back with the Obama's zipped off to NYC to have dinner and see a Broadway show. The President picked up the dinner and show tabs, but Republicans whined that it was inappropriate to even go out during tough economic times. Never mind that the guy who led us into tough economic times, used to nick taxpayers for all of the time he spent in Crawford, Texas. As for sightseeing, that comment came from Iowa Senator Charles Grassley while Obama was in the Middle East and Europe in early June. Obama must be the first (this is that font thing again) President in the Senator's mind who ever stopped to look around while in another country. Dick Nixon touring the Great Wall back in the early 70s doesn't seem to count.
Then there is Glen Beck of Fox. There aren't enough blogs to accommodate the list of utterly stupid things this guy has babbled over the airwaves. However, among his better ones was in early May when he told his viewers (and he was quite serious) that ACORN had plans to assassinate him. He asked his viewers to make certain that if he suddenly died, to not accept it as an accident or suicide. He will have been assassinated.
Speaking of ACORN, Michele Bachmann is not letting up when it comes to jaw-dropping stupidity. Her latest involves the census. Simply put, she and her family will only provide information as to the number of persons residing in her home. The reason? Well, all that information required (by law, honey!) will only be used by the political enemies of god-fearing, flag-waving dip shits like her to conspire against them and to start up those reeducation camps she is convinced the Obama Administration will soon establish.
Finally is PETA. Granted it's not a Republican entity but it is comprised of brainless fanatics.
Earlier this week, President Obama was being interviewed by CNBC correspondent John Harwood when an annoying common house fly begin buzzing around the Commander-in-Chief's head. Obama didn't take long to dispatch the intruder. When it landed on his left hand, the most powerful man in the world delivered a death swat with his right hand that was quicker than a beam of light. A few seconds later, the camera zoomed in on the dead insect lying on a White House rug.
It generated several chuckles and grins but not the approval of PETA. Let me just say that I view animal rights fanatics with the same perspective I view religious and pro-life fanatics: mentally unbalanced lunatics who are basically the same people just seated in different parts of the room. If you ever want to get into their heads, read about their founder, Ingrid Newkirk. This bimbo needs to be in a lock-up unit. To use an animal example, she's crazier than a shit house rat.
PETA publicly protested Obama killing the fly and said they were sending him some goofball contraption called a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher.
Their message is that humans should tolerate and not eliminate disease-carrying insects like flies and mosquitoes. Let's put some of these cute little insect houses in Africa so we don't have to whack all the mosquitoes that kills hundreds of thousands each year through malaria.
Actually, I think we should use the Katcha Bug and trap several hundred cockroaches, a major carrier of numerous life-threatening maladies. Then let them go free in PETA headquarters.
It would be interesting to see how long it would take for PETA to call the Orkin man.
Let's begin with the Letterman apology regarding a joke about Sarah Palin's daughter. The joke was over the top and Letterman's eventual apology was genuine. The next day Palin released a statement saying she accepted and then, as only she and her ilk can do, launched into a bizarre series of comments supporting the military and GI's equating the joke and her apology with the job they do to defend our freedoms adding that thanks to them, we have freedom of speech (actually, thanks to the men who wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights we have freedom of speech.) But I guess that's a minor point for the good governor of the 49th state.
"I won't buy a socialist car, which means I won't be buying a GM or Chrysler car for as long as the U.S. government owns huge blocks of the companies."
So proclaimed right wing commentator and evangelist Hugh Hewitt in a column he recently wrote for the Washington Examiner. So, Hugh would rather see hundreds of thousands of GM and Chrysler employees lose their jobs and both companies disappear than have to tolerate what every rational person sees as the temporary government involvement/ownership of the two car makers.
Next, if you are President of the United States, don't take your wife out on a date and don't spend a little time looking at historical sites when you are overseas. The date issue is, of course, the Saturday night a few weeks back with the Obama's zipped off to NYC to have dinner and see a Broadway show. The President picked up the dinner and show tabs, but Republicans whined that it was inappropriate to even go out during tough economic times. Never mind that the guy who led us into tough economic times, used to nick taxpayers for all of the time he spent in Crawford, Texas. As for sightseeing, that comment came from Iowa Senator Charles Grassley while Obama was in the Middle East and Europe in early June. Obama must be the first (this is that font thing again) President in the Senator's mind who ever stopped to look around while in another country. Dick Nixon touring the Great Wall back in the early 70s doesn't seem to count.
Then there is Glen Beck of Fox. There aren't enough blogs to accommodate the list of utterly stupid things this guy has babbled over the airwaves. However, among his better ones was in early May when he told his viewers (and he was quite serious) that ACORN had plans to assassinate him. He asked his viewers to make certain that if he suddenly died, to not accept it as an accident or suicide. He will have been assassinated.
Speaking of ACORN, Michele Bachmann is not letting up when it comes to jaw-dropping stupidity. Her latest involves the census. Simply put, she and her family will only provide information as to the number of persons residing in her home. The reason? Well, all that information required (by law, honey!) will only be used by the political enemies of god-fearing, flag-waving dip shits like her to conspire against them and to start up those reeducation camps she is convinced the Obama Administration will soon establish.
Finally is PETA. Granted it's not a Republican entity but it is comprised of brainless fanatics.
Earlier this week, President Obama was being interviewed by CNBC correspondent John Harwood when an annoying common house fly begin buzzing around the Commander-in-Chief's head. Obama didn't take long to dispatch the intruder. When it landed on his left hand, the most powerful man in the world delivered a death swat with his right hand that was quicker than a beam of light. A few seconds later, the camera zoomed in on the dead insect lying on a White House rug.
It generated several chuckles and grins but not the approval of PETA. Let me just say that I view animal rights fanatics with the same perspective I view religious and pro-life fanatics: mentally unbalanced lunatics who are basically the same people just seated in different parts of the room. If you ever want to get into their heads, read about their founder, Ingrid Newkirk. This bimbo needs to be in a lock-up unit. To use an animal example, she's crazier than a shit house rat.
PETA publicly protested Obama killing the fly and said they were sending him some goofball contraption called a Katcha Bug Humane Bug Catcher.
Their message is that humans should tolerate and not eliminate disease-carrying insects like flies and mosquitoes. Let's put some of these cute little insect houses in Africa so we don't have to whack all the mosquitoes that kills hundreds of thousands each year through malaria.
Actually, I think we should use the Katcha Bug and trap several hundred cockroaches, a major carrier of numerous life-threatening maladies. Then let them go free in PETA headquarters.
It would be interesting to see how long it would take for PETA to call the Orkin man.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Beer at the Bank
Now for a little politics and sports.
First, I am somewhat of an unusual liberal Democrat. I own guns and like to hunt and fish. I like to smoke cigars, especially those great ones from commie Cuba. I hope someday to own a Ferrari 575 Maranello which gets about 11 miles to the gallon in the city and maybe 15 out on the highway. It also spews out a lot of crap that causes the earth to warm, ice caps to melt, the ozone to evaporate and babies and young mothers to die in droves. Still, it's the sexiest looking car imaginable, can hit 210 mph on a straightaway and turns the head of every hot looking babe it passes. Hey, it's a Ferrari!!
And I like to drink. Drinking for a Minnesotan is a challenge since our liquor laws are akin to Utah's. Remember, it was U.S. Representative Andrew Volstead from Granite Falls, Minn. who helped usher in Prohibition. The law disallowing booze was named after him because he chaired the committee in which it was introduced and he eagerly walked it through Congress and into law. The person who was really behind it was Ohio Congressman Wayne Wheeler who founded some dumb ass organization known as the Anti-Saloon League. Justice was served when Wheeler died unexpectedly at the age of 58 when Prohibition was only a few years old. Served the worthless son of a bitch right, I say.
Back to Minnesota and its booze laws. Unlike the vast majority of states, we don't sell any kind of off-sale alcohol on Sundays. The Blue Law Backers must think god will smote you...or something...if you drink on the Sabbath. I’ve always thought Sunday well suited to having a few drinks. When the traditional brunch-time Bloody Mary is downed about the time the true believers exit the house of the lord there is a good chance a lot of people already have a nice buzz going. It gives new meaning to saying you “are in an A.A. program”…Atheists for Alcohol.
Minnesota was the first place that the Pleasure Prohibitionists (who have absolutely ruined life as we knew it in the Sixties and Seventies) decided that the sale of that piss-water beer sold at the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis had to stop after the seventh inning stretch in baseball and at the end of the third quarter in football.
Which brings me to the soon-to-open University of Minnesota football stadium. Originally, the plan was to sell alcohol in the suites and high-priced loge seats. The rest of the stadium would be off limits to even beer. Then Gov. Pawlenty and the legislature decided to stick their noses into this. The argument was very Minnesotan: we are all equal even when it comes to boozing. Pawlenty even went so far as to claim we are "not a two class state." That comment is filled with irony since he seems to think there is a distinct two class system when it comes to everything else like income tax structures. This is where the very rich pay a far less and fair proportion of state income taxes than do the rest of us. On this occasion, however, he linked arms with the state house and senate and passed a law saying beer must be made available to all of the roughly 50,000 people attending Gopher games. U of M President Bob Bruininks said no to that approach and announced he will recommend to the Board of Regents that no booze be sold at all. Not anywhere. There is even discussion about banning booze a fan brings to tailgate in University parking lots before and after the game.
This is a classic case of cutting off your nose to spite your face. Such a ban will mean the U Athletic Department will lose out on much-needed revenue to pay down the debt for the stadium. However, the biggest problem is with the several thousand people who shelled out a lot of money for the primo seats and suites where they were originally promised that booze would be available. The stadium web site even touts "the bar" which will be in the DQ Club behind the high roller seats between the two 40-yard lines on the home side of the field. I originally thought the DQ stood for Dairy Queen. Now I think it stands for "Don't Quaff."
So, all these people who have lots of money (some seats are $450 a game!!) are now not going to be able to have a drink as was promised. Besides the lost revenue, Bruininks and the Regents might want to start factoring in what they will be paying in legal fees to defend themselves in a lawsuit which is sure to come if this stupid idea isn't rescinded.
This is a plague on both houses. The legislature and the governor should never have touched this one. Lots of people over in St. Paul didn't think ahead. Some obvious things slipped right by them. One is that when people pay more for service they get more than those who don't. I am a liberal Democrat that realizes equality addresses providing opportunity and doing away with laws and regulations that prevent opportunity. However, when I fly coach on a commercial airliner, I accept that I am not going to get free drinks, great meals and the attention of some knock out stewardess. First class and coach are two distinctly different things. As a Democrat, if I want my picture taken with Barack Obama I have to pay for it. Probably $2k minimum. Somebody who can't pay doesn't get their picture taken with the Prez...or his babe of a wife, the cute kids or the damn dog!!
All right, a bonehead piece of legislation was passed and signed into law. Bruininks says he doesn't want to have beer universally available at TCF Bank Stadium. Guess what, Bob, it was for over a quarter of a century at the Dome and I am hard pressed to remember any wide spread unpleasantries taking place because people were drunk and out of control. I'm sure someone can cite the anecdotal occurrence or two that happened probably at every game and probably quite quietly and which the vast, vast majority of the fans were unaware. So, sell the stuff to everyone. In the case of students, everyone needs to show his ticket stub. It gets punched or marked each time a beer is bought and the limit is two per person. There, that takes care of the matter.
Finally, the biggest argument for booze at the Bank is that since 1952 when I was eight years old, I have been going to Gopher football games. Except for the years under Murray Warmath, I have seen far too many teams take the field that were so lacking in talent they would have been better off playing Division II football (the Salem and Wacker years come to mind) and I have seen far too many games where we had big leads pissed away by horrific coaching (can you say Gutekunst and Mason?) Therefore, I figured out a long time ago that if one is going to subject himself to this kind of football, it's probably smart to be a little liquored up.
Anybody who wants to discuss this further can contact me and we can delve into it over drinks.
First, I am somewhat of an unusual liberal Democrat. I own guns and like to hunt and fish. I like to smoke cigars, especially those great ones from commie Cuba. I hope someday to own a Ferrari 575 Maranello which gets about 11 miles to the gallon in the city and maybe 15 out on the highway. It also spews out a lot of crap that causes the earth to warm, ice caps to melt, the ozone to evaporate and babies and young mothers to die in droves. Still, it's the sexiest looking car imaginable, can hit 210 mph on a straightaway and turns the head of every hot looking babe it passes. Hey, it's a Ferrari!!
And I like to drink. Drinking for a Minnesotan is a challenge since our liquor laws are akin to Utah's. Remember, it was U.S. Representative Andrew Volstead from Granite Falls, Minn. who helped usher in Prohibition. The law disallowing booze was named after him because he chaired the committee in which it was introduced and he eagerly walked it through Congress and into law. The person who was really behind it was Ohio Congressman Wayne Wheeler who founded some dumb ass organization known as the Anti-Saloon League. Justice was served when Wheeler died unexpectedly at the age of 58 when Prohibition was only a few years old. Served the worthless son of a bitch right, I say.
Back to Minnesota and its booze laws. Unlike the vast majority of states, we don't sell any kind of off-sale alcohol on Sundays. The Blue Law Backers must think god will smote you...or something...if you drink on the Sabbath. I’ve always thought Sunday well suited to having a few drinks. When the traditional brunch-time Bloody Mary is downed about the time the true believers exit the house of the lord there is a good chance a lot of people already have a nice buzz going. It gives new meaning to saying you “are in an A.A. program”…Atheists for Alcohol.
Minnesota was the first place that the Pleasure Prohibitionists (who have absolutely ruined life as we knew it in the Sixties and Seventies) decided that the sale of that piss-water beer sold at the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis had to stop after the seventh inning stretch in baseball and at the end of the third quarter in football.
Which brings me to the soon-to-open University of Minnesota football stadium. Originally, the plan was to sell alcohol in the suites and high-priced loge seats. The rest of the stadium would be off limits to even beer. Then Gov. Pawlenty and the legislature decided to stick their noses into this. The argument was very Minnesotan: we are all equal even when it comes to boozing. Pawlenty even went so far as to claim we are "not a two class state." That comment is filled with irony since he seems to think there is a distinct two class system when it comes to everything else like income tax structures. This is where the very rich pay a far less and fair proportion of state income taxes than do the rest of us. On this occasion, however, he linked arms with the state house and senate and passed a law saying beer must be made available to all of the roughly 50,000 people attending Gopher games. U of M President Bob Bruininks said no to that approach and announced he will recommend to the Board of Regents that no booze be sold at all. Not anywhere. There is even discussion about banning booze a fan brings to tailgate in University parking lots before and after the game.
This is a classic case of cutting off your nose to spite your face. Such a ban will mean the U Athletic Department will lose out on much-needed revenue to pay down the debt for the stadium. However, the biggest problem is with the several thousand people who shelled out a lot of money for the primo seats and suites where they were originally promised that booze would be available. The stadium web site even touts "the bar" which will be in the DQ Club behind the high roller seats between the two 40-yard lines on the home side of the field. I originally thought the DQ stood for Dairy Queen. Now I think it stands for "Don't Quaff."
So, all these people who have lots of money (some seats are $450 a game!!) are now not going to be able to have a drink as was promised. Besides the lost revenue, Bruininks and the Regents might want to start factoring in what they will be paying in legal fees to defend themselves in a lawsuit which is sure to come if this stupid idea isn't rescinded.
This is a plague on both houses. The legislature and the governor should never have touched this one. Lots of people over in St. Paul didn't think ahead. Some obvious things slipped right by them. One is that when people pay more for service they get more than those who don't. I am a liberal Democrat that realizes equality addresses providing opportunity and doing away with laws and regulations that prevent opportunity. However, when I fly coach on a commercial airliner, I accept that I am not going to get free drinks, great meals and the attention of some knock out stewardess. First class and coach are two distinctly different things. As a Democrat, if I want my picture taken with Barack Obama I have to pay for it. Probably $2k minimum. Somebody who can't pay doesn't get their picture taken with the Prez...or his babe of a wife, the cute kids or the damn dog!!
All right, a bonehead piece of legislation was passed and signed into law. Bruininks says he doesn't want to have beer universally available at TCF Bank Stadium. Guess what, Bob, it was for over a quarter of a century at the Dome and I am hard pressed to remember any wide spread unpleasantries taking place because people were drunk and out of control. I'm sure someone can cite the anecdotal occurrence or two that happened probably at every game and probably quite quietly and which the vast, vast majority of the fans were unaware. So, sell the stuff to everyone. In the case of students, everyone needs to show his ticket stub. It gets punched or marked each time a beer is bought and the limit is two per person. There, that takes care of the matter.
Finally, the biggest argument for booze at the Bank is that since 1952 when I was eight years old, I have been going to Gopher football games. Except for the years under Murray Warmath, I have seen far too many teams take the field that were so lacking in talent they would have been better off playing Division II football (the Salem and Wacker years come to mind) and I have seen far too many games where we had big leads pissed away by horrific coaching (can you say Gutekunst and Mason?) Therefore, I figured out a long time ago that if one is going to subject himself to this kind of football, it's probably smart to be a little liquored up.
Anybody who wants to discuss this further can contact me and we can delve into it over drinks.
Friday, June 12, 2009
NO EXTREMISTS FOR US AMERICANS, THANK YOU
Back in the 1960s, the American political landscape was rocked hard by the escalating war in Vietnam. There was ever-growing displeasure with the conflict in general and the constant stream of dead Americans coming home for burial in particular.
At the same time, the Civil Rights movement had transferred from the non-violent and effective approach of Martin Luther King to riots and mass destruction in cities across the country.
Throw in the King and RFK assassinations and America was longing for a quick end to the war and a nice dose of Law and Order.
In 1968, there was enough of what Richard Nixon coined "the silent majority" to raise him from the political dead and plop him into the White House. He and the Republicans appealed to the building fears and critical perceptions a majority of the country had when it came to radical extremists on the Left.
The lesson here is that the majority of Americans doe not like political extremes be they far left or far right.
Four years earlier, Lyndon Johnson had trounced Barry Goldwater, the face of American Conservatism, in the Presidential election. At the time, Goldwater seemed to a significant number of Americans to be an extremist whose views, especially on foreign and military affairs, were frightening. In fairness 45 years later, it needs to be pointed out that Goldwater was a significantly different Conservative than the so-called Conservatives who make up today's GOP. The senator from Arizona had two major dislikes: Communism and big government. He muttered just enough times that if he were in the White House, nukes were an option in Southeast Asia to stop the commies. (Scary stuff to a country still recovering from the murder of JFK. We longed for peace and serenity.
In retrospect, had Goldwater somehow become commander-in-chief, it's a safe bet that U.S. participation in Vietnam would not have dragged on until the mid-1970s. Granted, instead of roughly 58,000 American dead it might have been 158,000 dead and the vast majority of Southeast Asia would have been a permanent wasteland.
However, Goldwater was also a bit of a Civil Libertarian. In today's atmosphere, he would not get involved in things like abortion or gay rights. He and his wife, Peggy, were major supporters of Planned Parenthood and one of their daughter's, Joanne, had an abortion in the mid-1950s when it was illegal. In fact, Goldwater himself arranged for it to be done in Washington, D.C. Later, Joanne, whose abortion was the result of a pregnancy involving her future husband, had three daughters all of whom would have abortions.
Goldwater had a gay grandson whom it is said received the same level of love and support from him as all of his other grandchildren. Goldwater, who died in 1998, was around during the time when the issue of gays in the military was getting a fair amount of play. He had been a pilot and rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the Air Force and the Armed Forces were a big deal to him. When asked about the "don't ask, don't tell" approach regarding gays in the military, Goldwater snapped "I don't give a damn if somebody is straight; they just have to shoot straight."
In his last years, Goldwater spoke often and openly about his fear of the radical right taking over the traditional American conservative movement. He especially ranted about the intrusion of religion in politics and TV evangelists spouting off in support of Republicans. He once remarked, that "every Christian ought to line up and kick Jerry Falwell's ass."
Contemporary Republicans rarely reference Goldwater these days. Reagan, in part because he was somewhat more successful when it came to seeking the White House, gets far more reference… that and, of course, his pro-choice, pro-god position.
Back to today's extremism.
It's 2009 and Obama has been in office just shy of five months. In less than 30 days, two innocent people have been murdered, one because he performed a fully legal medical procedure and the other because he was black. The two men held as suspects in these killings, are obviously mentally ill.
Nevertheless, the perception is that both situations rose out of an extreme right wing part of American politics. It is far, far right but the views, comments and position by those less far, far right (but still very right) only contribute to the extremist label Americans don't like.
Back in the 1960s, there was a significant difference between the SDS Weathermen and college students working on the Gene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy campaigns. In the end, it didn't make any difference to the majority of voters who flipped the switch in the voting booth for Dick Nixon.
Today, there are enough voters who will not see much difference between Michele Bachmann and James Inhofe when compared to Scott Roeder and James von Brunn. Yes, they know two of the four are psychotic. The other two are political radicals but they all seem to be milling about down at the far end of the field.
Combine all this with the constant barrage of stupid, rash commentary coming from the likes of Limbaugh, etc. and when 2010 rolls around, and unless there is a complete economic collapse, most independent, centrist Americans will not find the far right in America very appealing.
If you aren't paying attention to where you are standing in the political arena, it's easy to get painted with the same brush.
At the same time, the Civil Rights movement had transferred from the non-violent and effective approach of Martin Luther King to riots and mass destruction in cities across the country.
Throw in the King and RFK assassinations and America was longing for a quick end to the war and a nice dose of Law and Order.
In 1968, there was enough of what Richard Nixon coined "the silent majority" to raise him from the political dead and plop him into the White House. He and the Republicans appealed to the building fears and critical perceptions a majority of the country had when it came to radical extremists on the Left.
The lesson here is that the majority of Americans doe not like political extremes be they far left or far right.
Four years earlier, Lyndon Johnson had trounced Barry Goldwater, the face of American Conservatism, in the Presidential election. At the time, Goldwater seemed to a significant number of Americans to be an extremist whose views, especially on foreign and military affairs, were frightening. In fairness 45 years later, it needs to be pointed out that Goldwater was a significantly different Conservative than the so-called Conservatives who make up today's GOP. The senator from Arizona had two major dislikes: Communism and big government. He muttered just enough times that if he were in the White House, nukes were an option in Southeast Asia to stop the commies. (Scary stuff to a country still recovering from the murder of JFK. We longed for peace and serenity.
In retrospect, had Goldwater somehow become commander-in-chief, it's a safe bet that U.S. participation in Vietnam would not have dragged on until the mid-1970s. Granted, instead of roughly 58,000 American dead it might have been 158,000 dead and the vast majority of Southeast Asia would have been a permanent wasteland.
However, Goldwater was also a bit of a Civil Libertarian. In today's atmosphere, he would not get involved in things like abortion or gay rights. He and his wife, Peggy, were major supporters of Planned Parenthood and one of their daughter's, Joanne, had an abortion in the mid-1950s when it was illegal. In fact, Goldwater himself arranged for it to be done in Washington, D.C. Later, Joanne, whose abortion was the result of a pregnancy involving her future husband, had three daughters all of whom would have abortions.
Goldwater had a gay grandson whom it is said received the same level of love and support from him as all of his other grandchildren. Goldwater, who died in 1998, was around during the time when the issue of gays in the military was getting a fair amount of play. He had been a pilot and rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the Air Force and the Armed Forces were a big deal to him. When asked about the "don't ask, don't tell" approach regarding gays in the military, Goldwater snapped "I don't give a damn if somebody is straight; they just have to shoot straight."
In his last years, Goldwater spoke often and openly about his fear of the radical right taking over the traditional American conservative movement. He especially ranted about the intrusion of religion in politics and TV evangelists spouting off in support of Republicans. He once remarked, that "every Christian ought to line up and kick Jerry Falwell's ass."
Contemporary Republicans rarely reference Goldwater these days. Reagan, in part because he was somewhat more successful when it came to seeking the White House, gets far more reference… that and, of course, his pro-choice, pro-god position.
Back to today's extremism.
It's 2009 and Obama has been in office just shy of five months. In less than 30 days, two innocent people have been murdered, one because he performed a fully legal medical procedure and the other because he was black. The two men held as suspects in these killings, are obviously mentally ill.
Nevertheless, the perception is that both situations rose out of an extreme right wing part of American politics. It is far, far right but the views, comments and position by those less far, far right (but still very right) only contribute to the extremist label Americans don't like.
Back in the 1960s, there was a significant difference between the SDS Weathermen and college students working on the Gene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy campaigns. In the end, it didn't make any difference to the majority of voters who flipped the switch in the voting booth for Dick Nixon.
Today, there are enough voters who will not see much difference between Michele Bachmann and James Inhofe when compared to Scott Roeder and James von Brunn. Yes, they know two of the four are psychotic. The other two are political radicals but they all seem to be milling about down at the far end of the field.
Combine all this with the constant barrage of stupid, rash commentary coming from the likes of Limbaugh, etc. and when 2010 rolls around, and unless there is a complete economic collapse, most independent, centrist Americans will not find the far right in America very appealing.
If you aren't paying attention to where you are standing in the political arena, it's easy to get painted with the same brush.
Monday, June 8, 2009
RECKLESS JOURNALISTS AND ALL GOVERNEMNT IS BAD
STAY OUT. IT AIN'T WORTH IT.
This message goes out to young, inexperienced aspiring journalists.
There are some stories that are not worth it, especially when the story becomes you.
This week's announcement that the regime in North Korea sentenced Americans Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years of hard labor following their arrests a couple of months ago for illegally entering the country, should come as no surprise. This is on the heels of a similar set of occurrences in Iran where Roxana Saberi was arrested, tried and sentenced, but then released and returned to the U.S. roughly a week later.
The simple fact is that to get youself in such a perilous situation is nothing short of stupid. Dogs and small children use more common sense. In the case of Ling and Lee, both were working for Current TV, which is owned, at least in part, by Al Gore. I am a long time admirer and supporter of Mr. Gore but in this case, either he and/or his associates demonstrated a glaring lack of common sense and responsibility in allowing the two women to cross over the NK border from China to do this story. They were apparently investigating whether North Korean citizens were slipping over the border into China in search of food as well as rumors of North Korean women being trafficked into China for sex (geez, don't you think you were a male in a country of 1.5 billion people there would already be a fair number of babes for you to have sex with?) Anyway, Ling is especially well known for her daring (and often risky) reporting on everything from the drug war in Columbia to reports from the field in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As a former journalist, I appreciate, especially when so much of reporting has gone "soft" in recent years, the willingness to do stories on difficult subjects. Nevertheless, you do reach a point where you need to be prudent and put on the brakes. Regardless of how brutal the North Korean regime of Kim Jong-Il is and how equally repressive things are in Iran, the fact is that the careless behavior of three people has forced the U.S. Government into a tricky and quite unnecessary series of diplomatic moves to get their asses out of jail. In the case of North Korea, this mucks up trying to get them to get out of the nuclear weapons business.
In the end, the stories the three sought to report have been eclipsed by the stories about them and their lack of clear thinking.
I WANT A NURSE STANDING BETWEEN MY DOCTOR AND ME!!
One of the latest arguments by the Republicans, who are trying their best to scuttle anything resembling health care reform, is asking the question of whether we want the government "standing between us and our doctor." I suppose, at least in my case, the answer is "no" especially if he is about to given me a digital prostate exam. Otherwise, I am rather OK with the idea and especially after the evidence clearly shows that riding the train of private insurance for many decades has lead to a nightmare derailment for the majority of Americans.
This position by the Republicans and their supporters triggers in me a need to look at the bigger picture and to shed a little historical light on this subject of government in our lives.
Whenever we start to whisper about a national or public health care program in this country, invariably there is comparison to the rest of the world. The all-government-is-evil crowd somehow dredges up the arguments that have been thrown out there for years that once our health care system becomes run by the government, Americans will start dropping like flies because the system won't be able to deliver, we won't get the treatment we need, you will have to wait at least seven years to get in for a routine physical and America has the best health care system in the world otherwise why would kings, queens and prime ministers all come to the Mayo Clinic. All those people in Britain, Canada, Australia, France, Denmark, Italy, Israel, Spain, Luxembourg, China, Japan, the Netherlands, etc., are racked with disease, rarely live past seventy-five, have unhealthy babies, are fat, out-of-shape slobs and spend a disproportionate percentage of their annual income on health care.
No, sorry. That's the situation in the U.S.
Which brings up another, yet related, issue. The anti-government mind set in America.
For almost all of my life (and I'm 65) a very large segment of the American populace has bought into the premise that all government is bad and dysfunctional. Despite the recent, massive and well-publicized failures of huge segments of the private sector, too many Americans automatically assume that bright, competent and successful people all reside in the private sector while the public sector is mostly comprised of knuckle-dragging, lazy, paper-shuffling, stupid louts.
So, let's take a look at some of the many things the government does so badly:
* Delivers the mail.
* Fights fires and quickly responds to medical emergencies.
* Runs the military, which for over 200 years has had a very high success rate (OK, there was Vietnam.)
* Controls the takeoffs and landings of thousands of aircraft every day.
* Operates the largest national park system in the world.
* Gets tens of millions of people their Social Security checks on time each month.
* Monitors the foods and drugs we ingest.
* Oversees a legal system, which is the envy of almost all of the rest of the world.
* Issues you a fishing or hunting license in a matter of minutes.
* Administers a system of voting which, despite occasional screw-ups, works wonderfully.
* Enforces a document and its attached amendments, which protects us from them and each other. That would be the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, Mr. and Mrs. Anti-Government. I hope you appreciate it. It gives you and all Americans the right to openly voice your opinion without reprisal even though your opinions are often flawed.
This message goes out to young, inexperienced aspiring journalists.
There are some stories that are not worth it, especially when the story becomes you.
This week's announcement that the regime in North Korea sentenced Americans Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years of hard labor following their arrests a couple of months ago for illegally entering the country, should come as no surprise. This is on the heels of a similar set of occurrences in Iran where Roxana Saberi was arrested, tried and sentenced, but then released and returned to the U.S. roughly a week later.
The simple fact is that to get youself in such a perilous situation is nothing short of stupid. Dogs and small children use more common sense. In the case of Ling and Lee, both were working for Current TV, which is owned, at least in part, by Al Gore. I am a long time admirer and supporter of Mr. Gore but in this case, either he and/or his associates demonstrated a glaring lack of common sense and responsibility in allowing the two women to cross over the NK border from China to do this story. They were apparently investigating whether North Korean citizens were slipping over the border into China in search of food as well as rumors of North Korean women being trafficked into China for sex (geez, don't you think you were a male in a country of 1.5 billion people there would already be a fair number of babes for you to have sex with?) Anyway, Ling is especially well known for her daring (and often risky) reporting on everything from the drug war in Columbia to reports from the field in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As a former journalist, I appreciate, especially when so much of reporting has gone "soft" in recent years, the willingness to do stories on difficult subjects. Nevertheless, you do reach a point where you need to be prudent and put on the brakes. Regardless of how brutal the North Korean regime of Kim Jong-Il is and how equally repressive things are in Iran, the fact is that the careless behavior of three people has forced the U.S. Government into a tricky and quite unnecessary series of diplomatic moves to get their asses out of jail. In the case of North Korea, this mucks up trying to get them to get out of the nuclear weapons business.
In the end, the stories the three sought to report have been eclipsed by the stories about them and their lack of clear thinking.
I WANT A NURSE STANDING BETWEEN MY DOCTOR AND ME!!
One of the latest arguments by the Republicans, who are trying their best to scuttle anything resembling health care reform, is asking the question of whether we want the government "standing between us and our doctor." I suppose, at least in my case, the answer is "no" especially if he is about to given me a digital prostate exam. Otherwise, I am rather OK with the idea and especially after the evidence clearly shows that riding the train of private insurance for many decades has lead to a nightmare derailment for the majority of Americans.
This position by the Republicans and their supporters triggers in me a need to look at the bigger picture and to shed a little historical light on this subject of government in our lives.
Whenever we start to whisper about a national or public health care program in this country, invariably there is comparison to the rest of the world. The all-government-is-evil crowd somehow dredges up the arguments that have been thrown out there for years that once our health care system becomes run by the government, Americans will start dropping like flies because the system won't be able to deliver, we won't get the treatment we need, you will have to wait at least seven years to get in for a routine physical and America has the best health care system in the world otherwise why would kings, queens and prime ministers all come to the Mayo Clinic. All those people in Britain, Canada, Australia, France, Denmark, Italy, Israel, Spain, Luxembourg, China, Japan, the Netherlands, etc., are racked with disease, rarely live past seventy-five, have unhealthy babies, are fat, out-of-shape slobs and spend a disproportionate percentage of their annual income on health care.
No, sorry. That's the situation in the U.S.
Which brings up another, yet related, issue. The anti-government mind set in America.
For almost all of my life (and I'm 65) a very large segment of the American populace has bought into the premise that all government is bad and dysfunctional. Despite the recent, massive and well-publicized failures of huge segments of the private sector, too many Americans automatically assume that bright, competent and successful people all reside in the private sector while the public sector is mostly comprised of knuckle-dragging, lazy, paper-shuffling, stupid louts.
So, let's take a look at some of the many things the government does so badly:
* Delivers the mail.
* Fights fires and quickly responds to medical emergencies.
* Runs the military, which for over 200 years has had a very high success rate (OK, there was Vietnam.)
* Controls the takeoffs and landings of thousands of aircraft every day.
* Operates the largest national park system in the world.
* Gets tens of millions of people their Social Security checks on time each month.
* Monitors the foods and drugs we ingest.
* Oversees a legal system, which is the envy of almost all of the rest of the world.
* Issues you a fishing or hunting license in a matter of minutes.
* Administers a system of voting which, despite occasional screw-ups, works wonderfully.
* Enforces a document and its attached amendments, which protects us from them and each other. That would be the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, Mr. and Mrs. Anti-Government. I hope you appreciate it. It gives you and all Americans the right to openly voice your opinion without reprisal even though your opinions are often flawed.
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