K Bai

 
At the end of this I am divorcing myself from writing about and dissecting anything that is political, so this will be a natural end to my relationship with this oh so wonderful, but sadly defunct site. The fellas and gals who usually contribute but lately have not been writing here, have nevertheless remained good friends across various other online milieus. In fact, in some form or another, they are people without whom I couldn't traverse my daily bridges or perform the usual duties in an orderly fashion; that is to say, without contact and interaction with them, life would grind even heavier.

Though he has been dealt a rough hand, Obama has disappointed this supporter back into his decades-old apathy and cynicism about politicians. More so now than ever, I truly believe nothing of import can be done in this country because there really is no consensus or majority to be had on anything. If 53% is considered a hefty win or a substantial margin for change, then truly nothing of substance can be passed or done here in the United States. Imagine what life would have been like had we been allowed to pass in school with 53% on our test scores. In fact, imagine if that were to be considered a majority or, rather, an A-like result.

My better half and I have been talking and planning our eventual emigration to a yet unknown country for 18 months and the plan is more alive now, after one year into Obama's administration, than before. For we both are truly convinced that this country is too large to effect any positive change on virtually anything. Too large and too equally and evenly divided. This country is primed for perpetual political stalemate.

Time after time Obama's administration, as well as Congress, has disappointed me by watering down proposed bills (health care is the star) and legislation in order to appease a government run by lobbyists (corporations). The change that was promised was a pipe dream. I should have known it. I should have known it like I always have, but I was guilty of being swept up by hope. I truly believed our politicians were capable of and ready for change. And like a young fool, I supported them. I invested myself emotionally and defended them. I cannot tell you how much time I wasted privately, whether through emails or phone calls or person to person interaction, arguing for the more liberal side. I would love to have that time and energy back; I would probably have been able to write half my novel by now.

The problem we have (and likely and truthfully not just in the States but mostly everywhere around the world) is that politicians look upon their chosen affairs as a lifelong job. Therefore the point is preservation, job security, perpetual longevity, nepotism. They have never cared for their constituency. They are not interested in making hard decisions or going against ingrained party lines because it is exactly that which puts one's job in danger.

The centrist position of a politician is analogous to and reinforces my belief in the inefficiency we have with a 50-50 split on most anything or everything. And the fact that corporations and banks---by nature animals committed to status quo---run our government and sadly within our empirical, capitalist, central-bank oriented system will always run our government, the political machine will never allow for full liberal or social inclination in our laws, teabaggers rest assured. It will never fully and truly be sensitive to our needs and our inextricable connection to our physical environment, and mandate change to improve the human condition. You can take that into the sunset and ride yourself out, cowboy. John Ford will see to it that you get a good exposure on that last screen shot.

And so it is that I end this personal struggle right here. I am not one to make resolutions, but this new year I am hoping to start and maintain a life as free of politics and involvement in them as possible. I don't quite care that I'll be labeled a cynic, a misanthrope, an apathetic citizen whose aim in life is indolence; at least I'll be much less bogged down intellectually, and have more free time to enjoy music, art, literature--you know, the things that truly count. My hope may be diminished on a grand, international scale, but there is a "local" life to be nurtured, brought up, guided, and educated. We are all cogs in the machine, yes, but some cogs tend to run smoother than others when they're not quite as concerned with the machinations of things. Once we realize the ghastly control exercised upon us by The Corporation (and our mind-boggling, consumer-driven blind refusal to oppose it), we can intellectually extricate ourselves from the system, Vaclav Havel stylee. The true, attainable idea of freedom that we still have in this country (although not for long) is the opportunity to divorce yourself from everything you deem detrimental in your life, and focus your efforts on a smaller, more local and personal microcosm.

I am growing a bushy moustache and a mullet, and I'll be donning incredibly truncated, tight, OP shorts and tube socks pulled up to my knees. If you should ever run into me, please refrain from talking about politics or the weather. Do feel free to buy me a drink, however. I am nearly broke and will gladly accept your gift. I drink most anything...in fact, I cannot think of something that offends me to the point of not accepting it gratis.

I'll see you around, gators.

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Obama at Oslo

 
There are days when the hours pass by with me feeling like I'm swimming in a bi-polar amniotic fluid of sorts. These are the days during which I curse myself for having voted for Obama, for letting him instill hope--all right, not just hope but a ton of it.

Looking at the health care "reform" Congress is slated to pass, I am infuriated at what a hunk of nothing this issue has become. I am on the brink of cynical apathy. I am on the brink of psychopathic pro-action. I am on the brink of desertion of both political affiliation and country. All of those at the same time.

Was Obama a naive Wonderboy who dragged all of us believers along to Washington---a 21st Century Mr. Smith? Or is he the typical Chicago-style politician? It's maddening, what the election of this man is doing to me. On. Off. On. Off. There are days when the only answer for me is to be found in my half-gallon bottle of Seagram's gin (hey, there's a recession going on and we're pinching Abe Lincolns wherever we can).

The latest Afghanistan troop announcement sent me reeling. This is the aptly-named "graveyard of empires." Ask Ghengis Khan. Ask Alexander. Ask Brezhnev/Andropov/Chernenko/Gorbachev. I've been reading Steve Coll's "Ghost Wars" in order to understand our long, complex history of covert and overt involvement in this land, and the further I get into the 700-page account, the more horrified I become at the quick sand in which we're about to drown.

And then, there was this morning. I listened to The Kid give his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech via my computer, and--regarding the possible U.S. negotiations with the Taliban---heard this:

“I know that engagement with repressive regimes lacks the satisfying purity of indignation. But I also know that sanctions without outreach -- condemnation without discussion -- can carry forward only a crippling status quo. No repressive regime can move down a new path unless it has the choice of an open door.”

Damn you, Obama. How can anyone not love the line: "...the satisfying purity of indignation." ? Maybe I'm severely blinded by cunning linguists. Maybe that's my problem here. I am, admittedly, a weak man; prone to corruption and much vice.

And so it goes...

The Third Hand...

There’s a concept I’ve been discussing with my Father recently; a concept I’ve given to calling, the “Third Hand”.

When a Political Figure acts against his nature, for whatever reason, there’s usually some other force at work, something we don’t see.

Put a simpler way, you got one hand on Obama pulling him one way, you got another hand pulling him in reverse, and then comes another hand (hint-hint: a Third Hand), which pushes him the way he actually goes.

Think of it like this, if there’s a situation where Obama does something to deliberately anger his base, logic suggests that the alternative, whatever it may be, is far worse.

Thus, we come to the release, or non-release, of those Abu Ghraib Photos, and the President’s reversal on that decision. My fellow Progressives/Liberals are justifiably upset by the decision…or maybe not so justifiably.

Looked at on its own, by itself the decision to withhold those photos is indefensible. Lord knows people I read, admire and respect have been dumping all over it. (Though I will say, David Kurtz in TPM comes very close to the explanation I'm about to give you, and...after all...he's a professional, and got there first, so...kudos.)

But…and I hate to bring the West Wing into anything…but it’s like President Bartlet said in the episode Hartsfield’s Landing (Episode 58, Season 3): “See the whole board…”

What do I mean by that?

Ask yourself, what happened? What made President Obama change his mind, or more to the point, has something changed that would make President Obama change his mind??

I’d say, yes.

Mind you this is just a theory, but at the same time...

Since the last week of April, beginning of May, there has been a considerable uptick in the violence in Pakistan, as the Taliban has moved ever closer to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan (within 60 miles, so it seems). Now, the United States has been using Aerial drones to ice people across the Pakistani Border. The Pakistani Government has been upset about that, but since Pakistani’s Prime Minister is Asif Ali Zardari (aka Benazir Bhutto’s widower) and Islamist Militants were the ones who killed her, I don’t think he’s that upset…you know what I mean?

(In fact, should I mention that the Pakistani Government wants "ownership" over U.S. Drones? God, I hope we told them "hell, no.")

The situation was so bad that General Petraeus said that Pakistan was two weeks from falling, and the President was asked about the security of Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal at his last press conference.

But something has happened into the interim. Pakistan’s population has decided that they don’t much like the Taliban, or Taliban rule. In fact now that the Taliban has closed within 40 miles of the Capital, suddenly, we don’t have to bribe the Generals into defending their own country anymore. They’re actually (finally) pulling troops off the Indian border to get into the fight with the extremists. In fact, it’s creating something of a humanitarian crisis as refugees flee the fighting.

So, we are left with a situation where the Pakistani Military has finally gotten off its collective, and ineffective ass to start dealing some payback to the Taliban. There's popular support for the offensive in mainstream Pakistan, and all this is coming off recent American pressure to do so.

...and into this hyper-mega-combustile mix, some folks want to release some 2000 more photographs of Americans torturing Muslims?!?

Can you say…Danish Cartoons?? Times ten??

The President said that these Photographs were "not particularly sensational, particularly when compared to the painful images we remember from Abu Ghraib." Maybe, maybe not. We only have his word on this. I've heard in some quarters, these photos were pretty bad. They were bad enough to have Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman write the President a letter begging him to not to release the photos. (It's too bad they couldn't have gotten a Democrat to sign that letter. I would have been helpful if it was bipartisan.)

With the Pakistani populace finally seeing things our way, why do we want to go and insert into the discussion something that makes the Pakistanis start thinking that the Taliban has a point?!?

Listen, some of the stories I’m seeing are using a specific word: stall and/or delay. I think the Administration is eventually going to release these photos, on their own accord. Either that, or I wonder how far they'll fight the case in court. Either way, they’re not going to release those photos yet, not until Pakistan stabilizes.

Personally, I want the photos released, too, but I'm personally okay with this decision as long as it's only a stall, or a delay...and not an outright cancellation.

At the end of Hartsfield's Landing, Sam Seaborn (in case you don’t remember, played by Rob Lowe), asks President Bartlet (Martin Sheen), a question. The answer is one that is both simple and complicated all at the same time, and is one of the reasons (I trust) we all voted for the President in the first place:

SAM

I don’t know how you... I don’t know the word. I...don’t know how you do it.

BARTLET

You have a lot of help. You listen to everybody and then you call the play.

I think the President might owe us a better explanation than the “safety of American Troops”, which is both true and hollow all at once. But this advice is coming from his Generals (something we all thought Bush didn't do enough of), and its coming from his OLC (who may actually have read a Law Book or two in their careers).

Still, I think the real reasons play across a far wider board...one we all should try to see, but that the President is ultimately responsible for.

Please remember, there was a reason we decided we wanted this man to call the plays.


UPDATE (5:26pm Pacific): For the record, I beat Joe Klein to the punch.



Originally posted at Fort McHenry.

Are The Tea Parties Racist??

I was flipping around Daily Kos today, and they posted a question that’s been on my mind for the last couple of days.

These…Tea Parties (I’m going to avoid calling these people Teabaggers)…

…are they for white people only?

‘Cause I’m looking at the photos, and…I ain’t seein' no people of color…

Anywhere.

Jim Crow Protest Rallies?

Really?

Are you kidding me?

Fortunately, I am not the first to have this thought. It turns out that a site called Jack & Jill Politics has been on this way before I was.

I'm not 100% percent convinced in the arguments they present in their piece. Still, I think they're onto something.

Are these the same people who were yelling "Terrorist" and maybe even "Kill Him" at some McCain-Palin Rallies not than long ago? To paraphrase the Governor of Alaska, you betcha.

Did we expect these people to simply engage in the debate and suddenly accept the fact that Barack Obama legitimately won the election? If Norm Coleman is any measure...

Does anyone…anywhere see any people of color in any of these photos in a participatory capacity, and not acting as Security Guards, Cameramen...or worse, picking up after these people?

Couple this with a report from DHS says Right Wing Extremism is on the rise thanks to the Economy (and blaming the Black President for it), there is always reason to be concerned.

Whatever reservations I have about their particular arguments, they did offer a handy guide to sniffing out an undercover racist attack on the President. It goes as follows (with corrections for grammar):

1) Is [said attack] unique to Obama. Is it a phrase we’ve never heard before applied to any other president or is it something we haven’t heard in recent memory?

For example: he’s not an American citizen or he’s a socialist who’s planning re-education camps for young people.

2) Is [said attack] illogical or impossible. Does the assertion plainly contradict the facts?

For example: not an American citizen, socialist, tax raiser, re-education camps for young people.

3) Is [said attack] repeated, over and over, by a desperate person whose team lost badly in the last election and who adopts a wide-eyed, credulous, nodding stare pronouncing the lie slowly, precisely, with a watchful eye to see if the listeners are buying it.

For example: not an American citizen, socialist, elitist, drug seller, tax raiser or terrorist. (aka, the entirety of the Glenn Beck Show)

Optional: Does the assertion cause nervousness, embarrassment or confusion among non-blacks (who are listening to said attack)? When other white people such as Tom Brokaw or John Stewart sense something wrong and start to ask questions like "Do you really believe that?," you know for sure you’re in the racist attack zone.

UPDATE 4:49PM Pacific: Michelle Malkin does not count. She started these damn things, and besides, I'd put her personal racially sensitivity quotient at about zero.


Originally posted on Fort McHenry.

Bo.

Finally, something to lighten the damn mood.   The first dog has arrived.

This Is Why I hate on the Media (Swine Version)

 
I've had it up to my thinning, graying crown with the American press corps; and with people in general. I am fully convinced we are the most despicable animals in universal history, and I ain't just sayin' this 'cause I'm the resident curmudgeon here.

This morning is abuzz with the nay-sayers and critics of Obama's press conference last night. The consensus among the swine periodistas is that the Prez appeared too non-plussed, too rational, too "...distant and intellectual" (according to Republican strategist Matthew Dowd, who in the past has extolled Obama's virtues). If we are to believe this excrement---and a lot of us do---then our leader is apparently a disconnected elitist smoking Gauloises cigarettes out on the West Wing porch, without any interest in or concern with the gargantuan economic outhouse in which we, and the rest of the world, find ourselves.

Ladies and gents, this is the type of horseshite that has, over the last thirty years, accumulated and finally tipped me over the edge of reasonable sanity. Never in my life have I seen such anti-education, anti-intellectual backlash as has been practiced in this country. "I" is the new scarlet letter, you hear that Nathaniel? I am baffled by the continuously low standards we are pushing onto ourselves and our children, and remain fully incredulous at what a negative connotation the word "education" continues to have in our vernacular. It's easy to recognize the psychology in this: set the bar low enough and no one stands to disappoint. Everyone wins, right? A nation of mediocrity forging through time and history like a blind donkey. But with guns. Big guns, at that.

I wonder: what exactly would have made the media happy last night? To stand before an irrational, sabre-rattling, fist-shaking rabid dog spewing revolutionary bile and incoherent solutions? If so, may I suggest they migrate their critiquing arses down to Venezuela and take a look at what's happening down there.

At one point during the conference, newly-minted Press Corps Douchebaggius Extraordinaireus Chuck Todd stood and delivered this doozy.

It was nothing less than astounding, considering what we now know about lack of responsibility and accountability from banks and the likes of AIG. But then again, it shouldn't be too outrageous or revolting. News outlets are, after all, owned by corporations. Or insufferable despots like Rupert Murdoch. Oh wait...that's redundant.

This is why I hate on the media...

It’s a nothing story, but it shows how the media bends over backwards to twist things into whatever shape they want to, or care to.

The Hill has a story on its website today: McCain creams Obama — in NCAA picks.

McCain’s bracket has 14 teams picked correctly headed into the Sweet Sixteen, placing him in the 94th percentile after the first weekend of play.

Okay. Fine. Congratulations to the Senior (and I mean, Senior) Senator from Arizona.

One problem. There's this little piece in the Politico, an article called Obama's bracket looking up, which says:

The president's NCAA tournament bracket looked a lot better Sunday when he correctly picked 14 of the 16 teams to reach the regional semifinals.

So…ummm…you want to run this by me again?!?

Oh, and welcome back there, (S)wine.

Originally posted on Fort McHenry.

Por Ahora (Part Deux)

 
Good morning. Remember me? I've been locked away for a while but way-ell...I've been keeping my eye on you. Yes you, Señor El Presidente Douchebag Chávez. Some of us here in the "North American Empire" are actually endowed with the education and ability to not only read, but analyse and form opinions and...as far as I can tell, are still allowed to criticise governments.

For our dear readers who haven't yet scoured the news wires this morning, El Presidente launched an uncalled-for, disrespectful salvo at the U.S. yesterday on his usual, interminable Sunday babblefest of a show, calling President Obama "ignorant," and saying he has a lot to learn about Latin America.

“At least one could say, ‘poor ignorant person,’” Chávez said, adding that Obama “should read a little bit so that he learns about the reality.”

Chávez continued his usual diatribe: “If Obama respects us, we’ll respect him. If Obama tries to keep disrespecting Venezuela, we will confront the North American empire.”

May I remind our loyal readers what I wrote in my original piece (December, '08) on this Castro-wanna-be clown:

...despite the muscle flexing, tough talk, and anti-American rhetoric, Chávez knows full well he's engaged in an interdependent political game with the United States to buy his country's oil. What most people don't realize is that Venezuela has no other market for the greater part of its oil: heavy crude.

Heavy crude is special stuff and is not for the average refinery. The majority of Venezuela's oil can only be processed in the specialist refineries run by Hovensa (a joint venture between US refiners Hess Corp and PdVSA) located in the US Virgin islands, among other places. Meanwhile, the U.S. readily accepts the Venezuelan heavy crude because without it the heavy crude refineries would close. There is no other supplier of this special crude available, so the U.S. would lose around 11% of its total domestic oil products supply in one fell swoop.

The result is of the 2.15 million barrels per day (mbpd) Venezuela pumps presently, 1.35mbpd has to go to the U.S. Simply put, without Venezuela, U.S. refineries will close and the country will have an oil supply crisis. Meanwhile without the United States, Venezuela will have no market for the lion's share of its crude, and thus Señor Presidente would be voted out.

Forget dependence on foreign oil; when will the American people and politicians realise that a total and complete divorce from reliance upon oil via innovation and the harnessing of alternative sources will not only spearhead the effort of a global movement to save this rapidly-declining planet, but will in effect get these irrelevant bozo Commie barbudos off our backs once and for all? These insufferable parasites hang around rattling their sabres like flies for a reason: we continue to produce and provide the manure which attracts them.
(source for Chávez quotes: The New York Times)

The ANTIs

 
And oh how the mighty have fallen, as Lincoln's Grand Old Party ain't looking so grand lately, its leaderless power vacuum apparently now being filled by that insufferable ogre, Rush Limbaugh. "I WANT the new president to fail," he told listeners on his show recently. Hear it again in case you missed it: he wishes the administration to go down in flames. Did that sink in properly? As you struggle to pay your mortgage, if you haven't already foreclosed, or as you pump down the heat to save a fistful of bucks, or stretch that loaf of bread you've had frozen for a couple of weeks now. Why, not too long ago under the leadership of another administration, those words constituted near treason; they were un-American...perhaps even "terroristspeak."

What disgusts me to no end at a time like this is the GOP partisan bickering and refusal to support the new stimulus package which passed the House a few days ago. Are Republicans that out of touch with reality that in their delusionary state they honestly believe we need more tax cuts for the rich and corporations? The very things that got us to this deplorable state?

"I WANT the new president to fail..."

Maybe the Republicans don’t think there is an emergency. Remember now, it was Phil Gramm, John McCain’s economic guru, who told us last summer that the pain was all in our heads, that this was a “mental recession.” And so the 20,000 jobs Caterpillar has announced it's eliminating, the 8,000 cut by Sprint Nextel, and 7,000 axed by Home Depot, all within the last two days...all of this is in our heads.

The Republican answer? Tax Cuts! Jesus, these people need to be committed. It's infuriating to stand by and listen to this decades-old rhetoric, which has somehow brainwashed reasonable Americans into thinking that as of Tuesday this country is being led into the realm of Communism. Are you kidding me? Wake up! You're getting ready to be evicted and you're worried about two gay men marrying. Or from out of the suspended unknown that is space-time continuum, through a hidden wormhole, some colonialist redcoat will materialize, break down your front door, and take away your beloved guns.

If anything, the stimulus package is not large enough. But the GOP won't stand to hear it. It's complaining that Republican members are being pressured into accepting the deal. Pressured! Imagine that, actually holding politicians accountable for making a ballsy decision without pussyfooting around and working backroom deals with influential businesses back home.

Imagine a political system in which decisions are being taken without consulting with parasitic lobbyists and hangers-on offering comp-ed packages of all-inclusives in the Caymans.

The GOP has become the party of Anti. Anti-abortion, Anti-immigration, Anti-gay marriage, Anti-union, Anti-anything that the rational mind of a hard working American can fathom to do in order to help himself and his fellow human being.

This is the party that preached fiscal discipline and then cut taxes in time of an un-ending war with a phantom enemy. This is the party that still wants to decimate Social Security and Medicare. This is a party that, given a choice between Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, would choose Ronald Reagan in a heartbeat.

Notes From The Couch

 
Something weird and rare happened yesterday down south here: it snowed. Big time. Well, at least for these parts (7 in.). Big, beautiful flakes and great, soft, dry accumulation. When it was all said and done in the late afternoon, the place looked like something similar to Innsbruck or Lausanne. I trekked into work early to catch the brouhaha online, but was promptly sent back home by my panicked boss, via email. Apparently the roads were going to get worse. And so back I went. And indeed they did (the roads, the roads!).

I poured a few fat fingers of cognac and settled into the couch (damn, gotta get those pillows re-stuffed) to watch the party. I was disgusted to see W march out to "Hail to the Chief" one last time, looking as clueless and moronic as ever; that smug, I-only-answer-to-one-father smile pasted on his face. And amused to see Cheney being pushed slowly in a wheelchair by some Nurse Ratched (hopefully) type---he donning a cane and looking like a washed-up pensioner being impounded into an assisted living facility. I can dream, no? H.W. aka Papa Bush was looking fragile. He wallowed down like a penguin; a weird, purple ascot tied around his turkey neck. Will these bastards ever die? Highlanders, the lot of 'em!

I wasn't digging the Yo-Yo Obama-Mama/Itzhak Perlman quartet playing some shitty, American neo-classic garbage composed or arranged by John Williams. I'm sorry, but couldn't we have just stuck to a healthy dose of Beethoven? Is he not genius enough? Or Mahler? Give me a break with John Williams. Everything he's ever composed has sounded like a jingle for that "Beef, it's what's for dinner" campaign the National Cattlemen's Beef Association hit us with a few years ago (okaaay, I know that was Aaron Copeland's "Rodeo" which also sucks, but dammit, all these guys sound the same: COMFORTABLY MEDIOCRE).

Pastor Rick Warren is a fatcat douche. That's all I have on that.

I loves me some Aretha, but jaysus...that hat. I couldn't concentrate. For some perverse reason, all I could think of was Ms. Franklin standing there butt nekkid clad only in that Sunday sermon headgear. Shudder!

I liked the inaugural poem written by Elizabeth Alexander, who teaches at Yale University. But holy mother of all gods did she butcher it with her reading. People were seriously yawning during the recitation. Which sucks, because it is a nice, good, simple piece---a modern piece. The one thing I cannot fathom is why it took Ms. Alexander an entire month to craft the 161-word poem. I mean, I'm all for brevity, and I know a bit about it, but goddamn; that's an average of 5.3 words per day. When you have all day! And it's not like it was some sort of Shakespeare sonnet, come now. The one thing that modern poetry should reflect is urgency--like a punk song. Two minutes and out. I don't believe poems ought to be eternal, definitely not modern poems.

Biden came out and was sworn in on the most gigantic Bible I've ever seen. It looked like a Lilliputian prop out of "Gulliver's Travels." His wife somehow had the strength to hold it while he repeated the requisite pledge, but secretly I was hoping she'd chuck that baby at W. Of course, he's had practice and experience dodging flying objects so he'd probably have masterfully traversed that situation.

I don't believe Chief Justice John Roberts intentionally tried to trip up Wonderboy. But it made for a More Human (Than Human, you see what I did with that Rob Zombie reference here?) moment, and so I dug the hiccups from both men. Hey baby, they're on the spot before 200 + million. I'd be hemmana-hemmana-ing my way through that oath too. I can barely remember the Pledge of Allegiance as it is.

I didn't think Obama's speech was historical or on par with Lincoln's or FDR's or Kennedy's but who cares? I wasn't looking for that to begin with. And in a way it fit Obama's work ethic. No transcendent bullshit babies; there's work to be done. And so yes. No memorable lines. But no matter. By the by, the only thing we have to fear IS fear itself. And I ain't no longer asking what my country can do for me, 'cause I know it can't do shit. So...

That being said, I must admit to getting the shivers as Obama was sworn in. That has only happened to me one other time and for a different reason: I was listening to John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" album (remember albums?) and when "Resolution" kicked in, I got...well...verklempt. What can I say, I guess I'm a big softie after all. Yea, no.

I skipped the evening balling (stop snickering) and the usual nocturnal, awkward Prez and Veep dancefest with their wives, in favour of a home-made Mediterranean pizza and an installment of NOVA on PBS ("Green Economy and its Hurdles"), which thoroughly deflated and depressed me.

And so I was back to square-1 mentally speaking. But you wouldn't have it any other way. The first word I ever uttered as a baby was "curmudgeon." Seriously...

Hold Your Horses

 
I never set myself up in November to be gravely affected by the little ripples of disappointment I knew would slowly be trickling in from the incoming Obama administration, although I will admit to being swept up by the Change Movement, and believed in it wholeheartedly. I still do, but hold much less of an emotional ethos and much more of an utilitarian if not pseudo-cynical position on it.

Obama is ultimately a politician and he will do all that is necessary to survive and thrive inside the Beltway (not at the least neglecting his legacy), coupled with incremental alterations to national policy that will historically satisfy the mantra of his campaign: Change.

One significant example of backpedaling from the Obama administration is the signalled reluctance to look into Bush policies. In an interview broadcast Sunday on ABC's “This Week With George Stephanopoulos,” Obama said he was unlikely to authorize a broad inquiry into Bush administration programs like domestic eavesdropping or the treatment of terrorism suspects. However, he was quick to add that prosecutions would move forward if the Justice Department found evidence that laws had been broken.

For those of us with longer short-term memories, Candidate Obama broadly condemned some counter-terrorism tactics of the Bush administration and its claim that the measures were justified under executive powers.

The Bush administration has authorized interrogation tactics like waterboarding that critics say tap danced outside federal laws and international treaties, and domestic wiretapping without warrants. But the details of those programs have never been made public, and White House officials have steadfastly held that their actions were legal under a president’s wartime powers.

There was no immediate reaction on Obama's decision from Capitol Hill. In resisting pressure for a wider inquiry, he risks the anger of influential Democratic lawmakers on Congressional judiciary and intelligence committees, and core constituencies who hoped his election would cast a spotlight on President Bush’s antiterror efforts.

On other terrorism issues, Obama suggested that his approach will continue to be more measured. He said the closing of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which once seemed to be an early top objective, was not likely to happen during the first 100 days of his administration.

These are the little ripples of disappointment washing ashore. However, I refuse to be altogether turned into the political curmudgeon that I had become on the heels of the stolen election in 2000. I believe in change, and I believe in government's ability to help us--despite the significant atrocities of the last eight years.

In the 1980s Reagan was successful in brainwashing us into thinking we can be left to our own devices and fend for ourselves. "Government is not the solution to our problem," he said. "Government IS the problem." It was the Sink or Swim attitude of Republicans toward the populace that falsely empowered Americans with the empty label of Rugged Individualism. I do not believe in that. I believe that government has the ability...in fact the DUTY to help us solve problems. I believe Change is coming, it's just arriving in little spurts instead of the fantastical Revolution we've been promised. Which is fine; America is still a God-fearing, conservative if not Puritan nation. For all the talk about being flexible and self-sufficient in any and every situation, we must be gently exposed and introduced to change---much like acclimating to a hot bath. Kid gloves are always necessary. Those and a leak-proof body suit.

"Barack the Magic Negro"

 
I wasn't initially appalled when I got word of this piece in the NY Times a couple of days ago. After all the garbage that was slung on the campaign trail by the McPalin consortium, this sort of radical, racist horseshit was par for the course from conservative extremists. I was, however, absolutely flabbergasted that the GOP would give this racist bullshit mixed reviews.

It's unfathomable to me, now almost a decade into the 21st century, that this despicable act is not unanimously condemned by all. "Barack the Magic Negro" (sung to the tune of "Puff the Magic Dragon") was distributed by Chip Saltsman, a candidate for GOP party chairman from Tennessee. The offensive jingle was of course broadcast on Rush "Is a Big Fat Idiot" Limbaugh's radio show.

Speaking to The Hill newspaper on Friday, Saltsman described it as a “light-hearted” gift that would be received in “good humor” by members of the Republican National Committee.

Thankfully, more than a couple of important party handfulls---Newt Gingrich and RNC party chairman Mike Duncan among them---have condemned the parody, declaring themselves shocked and appalled. However, on Saturday, black candidate for RNC chairman, J. Kenneth Blackwell (a former Ohio secretary of state) dismissed the hoopla as “hypersensitivity.”

“All competitors for this leadership position are fine people,” he wrote in an e-mail message.

Are they now? I bet they brush their teeth with Darkie Toothpaste and get served breakfast by Mamie The House Negro every morning before they head out to that sacred institution on the Hill to pass their legislative, racist nonsense.

For a party that had huge losses this year among minority voters, this ought to be the last, revolting straw that brings down the house. But fine, call me a humourless twit. I can get down with the best of the cockroaches and play that game too. I move for a counter-version titled "God The Magik Cracka" sung/rapped by Chuck D. from Public Enemy. That ought to take care of all GOP-ers and evangelicals alike, and ensure all-out, Bible-thumping riots throughout this great virtuous land of ours.

Obama's Spiritual Choice Causes Major Progressive Rift

 
Ladies and Gents, here's the first major rip in the Progressive fabric of hope and feel good ga-ga, which President-Elect Obama has so far woven: on Wednesday, the transition team and Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies announced that Rick Warren, pastor of the almighTAY powerful Saddleback Church, will give the invocation on January 20th.

Although the selection may not have been incredibly surprising---Obama and Warren are reportedly close; Obama praised the Megachurch leader in his second book "The Audacity of Hope"---this Progressive and humble contributing writer is mega-church-pissed. Warren is deeply entrenched in the religious right, and his position on social issues like gay rights, stem cell research, and women's rights are all out of the mainstream and are very much opposed to the progressive agenda on which Obama ran. As expected, the announcement of his selection yesterday set off a round of criticism by gay rights groups angered by Warren's support for California’s ban on same-sex marriages.

The choice of Warren is presumably an olive branch to conservative Christian evangelicals, which at first thought might make sense when looking toward re-election in 2012, but on closer inspection it's somewhat of a lost cause as the conservative Christian movement is highly unlikely to vote for Obama, no matter the state of the country in four years.

Or, perhaps, as another esteemed contributor to this site suggested privately: this is Obama's way of shoving the middle finger up the evangelical posterior, basically saying it doesn't much matter who makes him put his hand on the Good Book--as the Good Book ain't gonna be much help to those half-mil (and growing) unemployed waiting in line for their monthly check.

The nice thing about the ceremonies on January 20, however, is that in a departure from past inaugurations, which usually feature mundane, suicide-inducing operatic soloists, Aretha Franklin will perform. To that I tip my nonexistent fedora and give an un-affiliated and non-denominational AMEN MOTHA-SISTAH!

Well done, Guv'nah

 
I've never been a fan of governors, really. I imagine it has a lot to do with those I've had. I grew up in NY and blame Cuomo's state tax policies for reducing towns like Rochester and Syracuse into post-industrial wastelands with soaring unemployment. When I relocated to Washington, I liked Gary Locke alright, but he was followed by a thrice-recounted election that put that paragon of all inaction associated with Democrats, Christine Gregoire, into office, where she sat motionless for her first term. And though she won re-election with comparable ease, it was after one of the most bumbling, directionless campaigns I've ever seen (she would have lost if not for Obama, I believe).

From Huey Long through Ronald Reagan and Ahnahld right up to and including Sarah Palin, the office of state governor seems to attract a special brand of douchebaggery.

But, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich takes the friggin' cake. Or, have you been absent from this news cycle? I heard it all over Air America this afternoon, and found it quickly on HuffPo once I arrived home.

Well done, Rod. Way to smear your own party through your very affiliation. Extortion, pay-to-play politics, an attempt to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder.

And now it looks likely that his corruption will lead to a special election for Obama's seat, instead of a Democratic apppointment. How disposed to putting a Dem in that seat are Illinois voters likely to be while they're following the continuing investigation of Blagojevich.

I actually can see just one tiny sliver of silver in the dark cloud over Illinois. Perhaps this, combined with Obama's willingness to veer away from prescribed "progressive" politics (see: Cabinet) and his stated goal of ending partisanship, will help lead all of us away from party politics. Because, when it comes right down to it, Dems make just as good criminals as the Elephants do.

The Green Buildup

 
One of my great hopes for the upcoming Obama presidency, coupled with the Democratic majority in both house of Congress, is a final turn away from the concept of "trickle-down" economics. Even Alan Greenspan admitted that he had underestimated the greed inherent in our economic system, a greed that has for decades prevented funds pumped into the top from actually reaching the bottom.

My in-laws are convinced that such a change in economic policy philosophy will mean the bankruptcy of their business, which has been in the family for 60+ years. Yet they provided to my mind the quintessential example of why trickle-down doesn't work the day they were showing us the photos and plans of a second house they were building on the sunny, dry side of our state while, without hint of irony, explaining to us how they had just cut the hours of all of their employees so as to avoid paying for health care benefits.

Anyway, the plan that turns away from trickle-down economics and make the most sense to me is the Green Buildup, a generic term I'm applying to the calls by Thomas Friedman and Al Gore among others for the government to dump massive cash into developing new clean-energy technology and infrastructure, and retro-fitting exitsting systems to mitigate current energy usage.

This just makes sense to me. It puts people to work, which can only help the economy as those people spend their earnings back into the system, creates opportunities for businesses, and works to solve our energy problems in a way that both addresses environmental concerns and strengthens our security position by decreasing dependence on a finite resource largely concentrated in some of the most politically unstable regions in the world.

What's the downside? That isn't a rhetorical question - I actually want to know what potential downsides or stumbling blocks could undermine this plan. Because, in absence of serious concerns, I'd put this on the agenda for day one of the Obama administration.

The World Is Watching

 
Been checking out all of the post-election coverage and I saw a bit about reactions around the world to Obama's victory.

One of the stations showed a montage of images from just about every region of the world that you can imagine and there was something specific that struck me.

Certainly I knew that a win by Obama would be seen as a positive thing by the international community, but this montage showed something I never thought I would see. Huge crowds of people in foreign lands flooding the streets carrying images of our President (or in this case President-elect) and American flags.

And neither one was on fire.

That might take a while to get used to.

Hope and Trust

 
This morning at work I walked into a conversation (literally at the water cooler) between two colleagues: a would-be, new mother of twins, and a "veteran" mother of 3. The more experienced woman was filling in her colleague on the (lousy) maternal leave policy we have as part of our outstanding state health plan: six weeks of un-paid time off, plus whatever extra days people can donate to her. We were quickly joined by our resident, ecclesiastical GOP mouthpiece---a man dangerously mis-informed and always quick to argue down anyone not of his party affiliation. I was filling up my water bottle, and mentioned that in Canada prospective parents may get up to one year half-paid leave (momentofchoice can amend my statement if necessary), and that there is even a possibility for "paternal leave," which gives the father ample time off to care for the baby.
"Yea, sure," opined our conservative, aggressive friend. "If you're willing to pay 68% of your salary in taxes."

To my delight, no one said anything. We just quietly walked away and left the poor sod standing there waiting for his cinnamon bun to finish heating in the microwave. I felt like printing out for him momentofchoice's brilliant column "All the Candidates Are Socialists, So What?" written here on Thursday, Oct. 30th, but then that would've taken up a minute or so of my time and my time is precious nowadays. And so we just left him there without saying a word. It was the right thing to do, believe me. We all know from unpleasant experience.

To-day was not a day to take up the same tired rhetoric with an ill-informed adversary. We've gone through particularly nasty political waters since this past summer, and last night's historic win was enough to speak volumes on behalf of most of us, and refute even more. To-day was a day for hope.

This morning, after hardly any sleep, I was processing what has transpired the last several months in this election, and reflecting on the puissant, cogent effect of hope in my life. Pontificating that, I was reminded of a powerful (but bittersweet) story in David Remnick's biography of Muhammad Ali, "King of the World." As an innocent, illiterate black man was about to be lynched by a white mob in the 40s, the victim looked out into the crowd's hate-filled eyes and--convinced that the current heavyweight champion of the world and saviour of the black community would magically pop out and save his life--he yelled out in exasperation: HELP ME JOE LOUIS!

It's a heartbreaking story; one of proportions so un-fathomable to me that I get shivers every time I think of it. So great and complete was the man's belief and hope in the power of Joe Louis, that in his last, desperate moments on earth he appealed to the champ to save his life.

Although this will sound macabre, out of line, and even disrespectful (none of it intended), I feel as powerless and desperate as the poor soul staring at his unjust death. I, too, feel like throwing up my hands in despair and screaming: HELP US BARACK OBAMA!

I realize it's an extreme comparison, but I have nothing left save bitterness and cynicism. I am a husband and a father and I shouldn't harbor such extreme emotions at such extreme levels. I am trusting this man to begin to re-open doors of opportunity, although not without my pledge of support and hard work. I realize I may be putting my only egg into one basket, but it is only because I feel I am at the end of the rope. I have nothing left.

Just hope.