Sometime earlier in the year, when listening to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" on NPR I began to notice an infectious, wonderful laugh in the background of many episodes. Finally I deduced that the laugh belonged to Charlie Pierce. Was that the same guy who'd written "Idiot America", a book I had mostly enjoyed? Somewhere along the line, I think on one of Pierce's appearances on another NPR program, "It's Only a Game", I learned that Charlie writes "The Politics Blog" for Esquire magazine.
It is in that pursuit where Pierce's genius shines brightest for me. I don't know how he does it, but he generally writes much more than I can read. And most every post makes insightful, humane, and humorous comments of depth and breadth which are a joy to read. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Last week, Pierce made one of the most touching points about the tragic shootings in Connecticut, as he wrote, "There's also little doubt that the primary heroes of the day were schoolteachers — public school teachers — who hid children in closets and saved their lives, and who evacuated the children, leading them out through what had become a killing field in preposterously good order in what were the last hours of their childhoods, as one of the teachers said, with devastating accuracy, to a local TV station." (emphasis added)
I don't know if Pulitzer Prizes are awarded for writing on blogs, but if such a category exists, no one more than Charlie Pierce would be a worthier recipient.
Linked below is another gem. As I look at this for proofreading, I did not include the link on the Connecticut shooting, it must be some sort of device of Pierce's blog to insert and ensure attribution . The one I intended is the one labled, "Out on the Weekend."
Read more: Connecticut Shooting And We The People - The Horror Goes On - Esquire http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/connecticut-shooting-and-we-the-people-121412#ixzz2Fn8H5LVr
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/out-on-the-weekend-12212012
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Sad Days, Yet Again
Today the better angels of our nature must have wept. Certainly tears were spilled for the tragic loss of life among the victims of the gun madness in Connecticut. But because these are our "better angels", they must have also shed tears for the loss of a certain number of grains of hope in our nation.
Who can catalog the number of wanton sprees of violence loosed against our citizens in a given span of time? Since Columbine? Since the Colorado movie house shooting? Since Virginia Tech? Since Standard Gravure in Louisville?
In a few countries, which we would not likely group as our international peers, such as El Salvador, Colombia, Honduras, Jamaica, and Swaziland, guns kill more people per capita than in the U.S. But in those countries with which we most choose to compare ourselves, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, among many others, citizens shooting and killing citizens is a relative rarity.
To what do we owe this bloody distinction? Is it in our DNA? Or, more truthfully, is it in our NRA?
The United States is a nation, working toward a civilization, floating on a sea of compromise. Interest groups, historically at least, have had to settle for the truism of, "a half a loaf beats no bread at all." This basic tenet of governance seems to have eluded the National Rifle Association. This group of venal lobbyers, ostensibly speaking for its general membership, is committed to drawing lines, big, bold, indelible, lines in the sand of our national debate on guns. Politicians who dare step over those lines may feel the sting of the NRA whip, which could come in the form of a Teabagger primary challenger, or perhaps worse, the withdrawal of campaign largess. Toadying politicians at the state, local, and federal, level have bent over to accommodate the blued, barrel of logic brandished and thrusted by the NRA. Just a couple years back, local state representatives and state senators voted for the absurd proposition that gun regulation could not be permitted at the local level, thus allowing firearms to be legally borne into any public structure other than a courthouse. Today Indiana lives under that law. Thanks legislators, at least we can duck behind the stacks to dodge the lead when visiting a library.
After the Colorado movie house shooting it was common to hear, in the wake of that event, that it was not the time to discuss gun control. In all likelihood, those same slanted voices would offer the same twisted logic in the wake of this tragedy. To those voices I can only say, "shut the ---- up". This is precisely when to address the issue of senseless slaughter in a nation whose supine leaders are captive to the malevolent forces of the NRA and its radical right wing agenda. The gun lobby seeks to prevent any measure from becoming law if it would restrict guns in any way. Constant referral to the Second Amendment as permission to establish the U.S. as a free-fire zone is illogic at its worst. The most brilliant minds of the Eighteenth Century, of which it could be argued included our founding fathers, could not have conceived of firearms with the features of modern weapons, such as automatic weapons and hundred shot magazines. I believe the Second Amendment allowed for a militia to hold arms and that was that, but even if a more liberal interpretation is granted, to an Eighteenth century mind guns were muzzle loaded, cumbersome devices which would not allow a single person to go on the type of bloody rampage that's the hallmark of modern America.
So now, today, the day of the Newtown, Connecticut murders, let us reflect on how the NRA might dial back its insanity and return to a more sensible view of guns. I would say that any long gun suitable for hunting or target shooting be allowed, but the number of rounds the gun holds should be limited. Assault weapons should be prohibited. Large magazines should be prohibited in any firearm. Pistol ownership should be legal, but the ability to carry the weapon in public should be drastically curtailed and subject to sensible, limited use. Any legal firearm should carry with it the responsibility to show mental capacity and emotional stability to allow for ownership. Some form of registration should be adopted. Firearm safety instruction should be a requirement of ownership.
At the very least, the NRA should have to prove that certain types of weapons have a legitimate place in civilization. It may be fun to shoot a machine gun or an AK-47, but what is a legitimate use for those weapons? If no honest, legitimate use can be shown, the National Rifle Association needs to back away from supporting those weapons and focus its efforts on promoting the safe use of legitimate firearms. Otherwise, the NRA needs to accept that its role in creating a free-wheeling gun culture in the USA has bloodied its hands. And, perhaps after Newtown, or perhaps after the next, or the next after that incident, the NRA will find that no amount of bluff and bluster can stop the citizens of the United States from balancing out the gun lobby's radical agenda.
Who can catalog the number of wanton sprees of violence loosed against our citizens in a given span of time? Since Columbine? Since the Colorado movie house shooting? Since Virginia Tech? Since Standard Gravure in Louisville?
In a few countries, which we would not likely group as our international peers, such as El Salvador, Colombia, Honduras, Jamaica, and Swaziland, guns kill more people per capita than in the U.S. But in those countries with which we most choose to compare ourselves, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, among many others, citizens shooting and killing citizens is a relative rarity.
To what do we owe this bloody distinction? Is it in our DNA? Or, more truthfully, is it in our NRA?
The United States is a nation, working toward a civilization, floating on a sea of compromise. Interest groups, historically at least, have had to settle for the truism of, "a half a loaf beats no bread at all." This basic tenet of governance seems to have eluded the National Rifle Association. This group of venal lobbyers, ostensibly speaking for its general membership, is committed to drawing lines, big, bold, indelible, lines in the sand of our national debate on guns. Politicians who dare step over those lines may feel the sting of the NRA whip, which could come in the form of a Teabagger primary challenger, or perhaps worse, the withdrawal of campaign largess. Toadying politicians at the state, local, and federal, level have bent over to accommodate the blued, barrel of logic brandished and thrusted by the NRA. Just a couple years back, local state representatives and state senators voted for the absurd proposition that gun regulation could not be permitted at the local level, thus allowing firearms to be legally borne into any public structure other than a courthouse. Today Indiana lives under that law. Thanks legislators, at least we can duck behind the stacks to dodge the lead when visiting a library.
After the Colorado movie house shooting it was common to hear, in the wake of that event, that it was not the time to discuss gun control. In all likelihood, those same slanted voices would offer the same twisted logic in the wake of this tragedy. To those voices I can only say, "shut the ---- up". This is precisely when to address the issue of senseless slaughter in a nation whose supine leaders are captive to the malevolent forces of the NRA and its radical right wing agenda. The gun lobby seeks to prevent any measure from becoming law if it would restrict guns in any way. Constant referral to the Second Amendment as permission to establish the U.S. as a free-fire zone is illogic at its worst. The most brilliant minds of the Eighteenth Century, of which it could be argued included our founding fathers, could not have conceived of firearms with the features of modern weapons, such as automatic weapons and hundred shot magazines. I believe the Second Amendment allowed for a militia to hold arms and that was that, but even if a more liberal interpretation is granted, to an Eighteenth century mind guns were muzzle loaded, cumbersome devices which would not allow a single person to go on the type of bloody rampage that's the hallmark of modern America.
So now, today, the day of the Newtown, Connecticut murders, let us reflect on how the NRA might dial back its insanity and return to a more sensible view of guns. I would say that any long gun suitable for hunting or target shooting be allowed, but the number of rounds the gun holds should be limited. Assault weapons should be prohibited. Large magazines should be prohibited in any firearm. Pistol ownership should be legal, but the ability to carry the weapon in public should be drastically curtailed and subject to sensible, limited use. Any legal firearm should carry with it the responsibility to show mental capacity and emotional stability to allow for ownership. Some form of registration should be adopted. Firearm safety instruction should be a requirement of ownership.
At the very least, the NRA should have to prove that certain types of weapons have a legitimate place in civilization. It may be fun to shoot a machine gun or an AK-47, but what is a legitimate use for those weapons? If no honest, legitimate use can be shown, the National Rifle Association needs to back away from supporting those weapons and focus its efforts on promoting the safe use of legitimate firearms. Otherwise, the NRA needs to accept that its role in creating a free-wheeling gun culture in the USA has bloodied its hands. And, perhaps after Newtown, or perhaps after the next, or the next after that incident, the NRA will find that no amount of bluff and bluster can stop the citizens of the United States from balancing out the gun lobby's radical agenda.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Live Bitter For Less
"They pay low wages, then the taxpayers pick up the tab for food stamps and Medicaid. They need to take care of their people. They need to be responsible to their workers." *
Vanessa Ferreira
The way we shop today comes with a hefty price tag. Gone are the days when locally owned, independent retailers played on a level playing field. I can recall numerous independent stores that used to populate downtown New Albany. Business for those shop owners may not have been as easy as one might think in retrospect. I didn't know any of the store owners, so I can't speak from first-hand knowledge about their financial situations. I do know that they began to wither and fade away as strip shopping centers and the malls began to assert their dominance of the American way of commerce. And I know that coincident with that displacement of local retailers by national chains, several things happened: small towns across the United States became mostly hollow shells, barely resembling their former bustling pasts, American-made goods were displaced by cheaper foreign-made products, community-focus became unfocused as more and more daily tasks were undertaken not downtown or in a neighborhood store, but out the road.
The arrival of Walmart is problematic in any community. It comes as a wave to a listing boat. Now well into the third or fourth decade of big box stores, small towns are filled with under-served customers. So, as the Walmart arrives many of the up-to-that-point survivors witness the disappearance of their remaining customer base. More business goes out the road.
Walmart's dominant size affords it a domineering role in the nation's commerce. Small manufacturers are not able to satisfy the endless appetite of the chain. So, to fill the mega-retailer's shelves production is shifted to near-slave wage production mills in China. American jobs don't go out the road, but across the sea, and meaningful environmental regulation goes out the window. This becomes a cost we all (those of us who derive our breaths, and our drinking water from the common atmosphere) must bear. And why do we bear this cost? Low, low prices of course.
Ms. Ferreira's words quoted above point out that we're all Walmart now. As Sam Walton's six heirs enjoy the sweet of low prices, we enjoy the bitter of helping the chain keep those prices low. As the hyper hypnosis of hype settles in to the nation's consciousness, and we marvel at the power of Black Friday as the steroid of choice for our economy, we should heed Ms. Ferreira's assessment, "They (Walmart) need to be responsible to their workers." I would add, so we don't have to be.
Since we are all responsible for keeping the giant afloat, I say, let's unionize the crew and let, as Henry Miller might have called it, the cosmodemonic seller pay its own bills.
A responsible retailer of Walmart's heft may not be able to undue all of the ill-effects it has loosed on the country, and unionization may not be the most direct step in that direction, but at least it's a start.
And at Walmart stores around the nation on Black Friday the giant will be challenged by union organizers and protesters supporting the union cause. A responsible step we can all take is to step away from Walmart and support those who are supporting our workers at Walmart.
* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/walmart-strikes-black-friday_n_2174166.html
Vanessa Ferreira
The way we shop today comes with a hefty price tag. Gone are the days when locally owned, independent retailers played on a level playing field. I can recall numerous independent stores that used to populate downtown New Albany. Business for those shop owners may not have been as easy as one might think in retrospect. I didn't know any of the store owners, so I can't speak from first-hand knowledge about their financial situations. I do know that they began to wither and fade away as strip shopping centers and the malls began to assert their dominance of the American way of commerce. And I know that coincident with that displacement of local retailers by national chains, several things happened: small towns across the United States became mostly hollow shells, barely resembling their former bustling pasts, American-made goods were displaced by cheaper foreign-made products, community-focus became unfocused as more and more daily tasks were undertaken not downtown or in a neighborhood store, but out the road.
The arrival of Walmart is problematic in any community. It comes as a wave to a listing boat. Now well into the third or fourth decade of big box stores, small towns are filled with under-served customers. So, as the Walmart arrives many of the up-to-that-point survivors witness the disappearance of their remaining customer base. More business goes out the road.
Walmart's dominant size affords it a domineering role in the nation's commerce. Small manufacturers are not able to satisfy the endless appetite of the chain. So, to fill the mega-retailer's shelves production is shifted to near-slave wage production mills in China. American jobs don't go out the road, but across the sea, and meaningful environmental regulation goes out the window. This becomes a cost we all (those of us who derive our breaths, and our drinking water from the common atmosphere) must bear. And why do we bear this cost? Low, low prices of course.
Ms. Ferreira's words quoted above point out that we're all Walmart now. As Sam Walton's six heirs enjoy the sweet of low prices, we enjoy the bitter of helping the chain keep those prices low. As the hyper hypnosis of hype settles in to the nation's consciousness, and we marvel at the power of Black Friday as the steroid of choice for our economy, we should heed Ms. Ferreira's assessment, "They (Walmart) need to be responsible to their workers." I would add, so we don't have to be.
Since we are all responsible for keeping the giant afloat, I say, let's unionize the crew and let, as Henry Miller might have called it, the cosmodemonic seller pay its own bills.
A responsible retailer of Walmart's heft may not be able to undue all of the ill-effects it has loosed on the country, and unionization may not be the most direct step in that direction, but at least it's a start.
And at Walmart stores around the nation on Black Friday the giant will be challenged by union organizers and protesters supporting the union cause. A responsible step we can all take is to step away from Walmart and support those who are supporting our workers at Walmart.
* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/21/walmart-strikes-black-friday_n_2174166.html
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Am I Still Dreaming, Or Is This Karl Rove's Night Job?
Also too*, he'll probably wash that man right out of his hair.
*Permission granted by Charlie Pierce to quote the Queen of the Tundra.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Forward
We always risk making our leaders into blank canvases on which we paint our hopes. As the presidential race nears its end, I hope and I believe Barack Obama will be re-elected.
Humans have a neural reset which prevents us from feeling pain after the source of that pain has been withdrawn. The alternative would be unbearable. Emotionally, we heal from loss even though we remember, with sadness sometimes, or diminishing bitterness other times, the source of our emotional pain. Truly, time heals all wounds. And so, here we are today, some of us have turned against Obama because he didn't clean up all the mess left behind by the previous administration. Have we forgotten how close to total collapse the American, and probably the world, economy were when President Obama took office? Seven hundred thousand jobs were disappearing each month when he came into office. Today we have experienced 32 months of positive job growth. But the pain of the initial collapse of the economy is a distant memory for many of us, although painfully present for many more. It's like the house was on fire, now the panic is gone, but the formidable cleanup goes on and on. Perhaps, some of us confuse our impatience for his failure.
His progress has been stymied by the likes of the odious Mitch McConnell, Kentucky's senior senator, who famously said his number one objective was to insure that president Obama is kneecapped and made a one-term president. Forget the suffering of millions of Americans as you plot filibuster after filibuster, Senator, just ensure that your political position is protected and your paymasters are rewarded for their investments in you.
A retelling of the saga of how we got to where we are is not necessary. People have made up their minds by now. This election is in the books now, even though we have yet to get to the final page.
Instead, let's look at the blank canvas of 2012-2016.
President Obama will have in his second term an opportunity-rich environment. I hope he uses this canvas to paint a picture of America where money is not seen as speech, so we can wring the corrupting influence of money and lobbyists from our system. Then we might end the ridiculous spectacle of politicians grubbing for donations like so many hogs in a pen.
I'd like to see an America where the constitution clearly defines that a person is a person, and a corporation is a legal arrangement filed in a courthouse in Delaware. The absurd fiction that corporations are people ignores the slight advantage corporations have over humans--immortality. Unless we rein in this superiority of corporations over humans we risk undermining democracy. In the future we could see cabinet level positions for Coca Cola or Halliburton, oh that's right, we already had Halliburton in the government.
The President, in his second term, can work toward a sustainable economy where the health of the environment is not traded for trinkets in the marketplace. He can look toward
"green jobs" as the truest stimulus package, one in which we honestly assess the terrible, eroded, shameful, condition of our infrastructure and put American citizens to work in American factories and firms to rebuild American cities, roads, rails, bridges, sewer systems, electric grids, water pipe networks, parks, schools, and the list goes on and on. And, when we finish bringing these elements of the commons back up to reasonable standards we'll find that such a pursuit is the gift that keeps on giving, because we'll have to start all over again and continue the maintenance, but that will be for a later generation of Americans. As the old saw goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. The miracle of the Reagan Revolution is that so many people willingly let others eat our lunch, whether outsourcing corporations, blind-eye environmental regulators, or people in the present eating the lunch of future generations. It's time to realize we get nothing for nothing. The rich have taken a tax holiday and now it's over.
In his second term the President can broaden and refine The Affordable Care Act. The best refinement would be to allow all citizens to buy into Medicare as it competes on a level playing field with commercially-offered health plans.
I hope the President's second term is a period of peace and international cooperation.
He only has four years to paint this canvas. If he paints thoughtfully, and with concern for the future of the planet, he can go down in history as a great practitioner of the art of politics.
Humans have a neural reset which prevents us from feeling pain after the source of that pain has been withdrawn. The alternative would be unbearable. Emotionally, we heal from loss even though we remember, with sadness sometimes, or diminishing bitterness other times, the source of our emotional pain. Truly, time heals all wounds. And so, here we are today, some of us have turned against Obama because he didn't clean up all the mess left behind by the previous administration. Have we forgotten how close to total collapse the American, and probably the world, economy were when President Obama took office? Seven hundred thousand jobs were disappearing each month when he came into office. Today we have experienced 32 months of positive job growth. But the pain of the initial collapse of the economy is a distant memory for many of us, although painfully present for many more. It's like the house was on fire, now the panic is gone, but the formidable cleanup goes on and on. Perhaps, some of us confuse our impatience for his failure.
His progress has been stymied by the likes of the odious Mitch McConnell, Kentucky's senior senator, who famously said his number one objective was to insure that president Obama is kneecapped and made a one-term president. Forget the suffering of millions of Americans as you plot filibuster after filibuster, Senator, just ensure that your political position is protected and your paymasters are rewarded for their investments in you.
A retelling of the saga of how we got to where we are is not necessary. People have made up their minds by now. This election is in the books now, even though we have yet to get to the final page.
Instead, let's look at the blank canvas of 2012-2016.
President Obama will have in his second term an opportunity-rich environment. I hope he uses this canvas to paint a picture of America where money is not seen as speech, so we can wring the corrupting influence of money and lobbyists from our system. Then we might end the ridiculous spectacle of politicians grubbing for donations like so many hogs in a pen.
I'd like to see an America where the constitution clearly defines that a person is a person, and a corporation is a legal arrangement filed in a courthouse in Delaware. The absurd fiction that corporations are people ignores the slight advantage corporations have over humans--immortality. Unless we rein in this superiority of corporations over humans we risk undermining democracy. In the future we could see cabinet level positions for Coca Cola or Halliburton, oh that's right, we already had Halliburton in the government.
The President, in his second term, can work toward a sustainable economy where the health of the environment is not traded for trinkets in the marketplace. He can look toward
"green jobs" as the truest stimulus package, one in which we honestly assess the terrible, eroded, shameful, condition of our infrastructure and put American citizens to work in American factories and firms to rebuild American cities, roads, rails, bridges, sewer systems, electric grids, water pipe networks, parks, schools, and the list goes on and on. And, when we finish bringing these elements of the commons back up to reasonable standards we'll find that such a pursuit is the gift that keeps on giving, because we'll have to start all over again and continue the maintenance, but that will be for a later generation of Americans. As the old saw goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. The miracle of the Reagan Revolution is that so many people willingly let others eat our lunch, whether outsourcing corporations, blind-eye environmental regulators, or people in the present eating the lunch of future generations. It's time to realize we get nothing for nothing. The rich have taken a tax holiday and now it's over.
In his second term the President can broaden and refine The Affordable Care Act. The best refinement would be to allow all citizens to buy into Medicare as it competes on a level playing field with commercially-offered health plans.
I hope the President's second term is a period of peace and international cooperation.
He only has four years to paint this canvas. If he paints thoughtfully, and with concern for the future of the planet, he can go down in history as a great practitioner of the art of politics.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
How Witless The Mittness With Which He Carries On
It became apparent during the early moments of this year's first presidential debate that Willard Romney would lie like a rug to become President of the United States. Untethered from that which we recognize as the truth, Romney has floated away from those of us bound to reality. At most any fair or festival some unfortunate, or perhaps aeronautically inclined, child will lose his helium balloon, and then we see the gas bag float effortlessly away from us. It is a prisoner of the winds, tied no more to terra firma until its lighter-than-air contents fail it, and it descends inert, lifeless and tethered once again to a shrub or a fence. Reality.
Unless Romney scrambles Lincoln's assessment of fooling all of the people some of the time , into "you can fool just enough of the strategically situated people to get 270 electoral votes", he will find himself, come Wednesday, like the spent balloon, ingloriously grounded.
That fate, I hope, comes to pass for Romney.
Theoretically, he could have run his campaign differently. It is theory because quite possibly Romney is such a product of his skewed, privilege-borne, vision of America and Americans that no other words, save lies, could have come from him. And he has birthed some whoppers. His insistence that Obamacare cuts $716 billion from Medicare is untrue, but it also offers a tip of the hat in the direction of Bush II in that it also plays a fear card, so Medicare recipients can be made afraid of losing life-saving benefits. Leave aside the fact that the$716 billion in Obama's plan cuts billions of over payments to providers of Medicare services, and elimination of subsidies to Medicare Advantage providers, like Humana, for senior citizen gym memberships and the like. Leave aside also that Medicare operates its massive bureaucracy on about three percent of overhead expenses while privately provided health coverage had to be mandated, through Obamacare, to limit its overhead costs to 20%. On Romney's delusional first day in office he plans to scrap Obamacare.
When the day that will never come, comes in Romney's mind, and in the mind of his fervid followers, he will also throw out other parts of Obamacare while surgically avoiding those parts of the plan, such as allowing young people to remain on their parents' health plan until age 26, that might appeal to his targeted voters. He would dismantle the plan by eliminating the mandates of the plan. His market-driven solution to health coverage would result in millions being left out of the nation's health plan. He doesn't want health coverage for citizens, he wants an applause line at rallies, he wants a bait and switch move.
Romney attacks the president for a failed attempt at green energy through the start up company Solyndra. This company went bankrupt, and Romney said half of all the federally assisted investments in green energy went belly up. In fact, about six per cent of federally supported green start ups failed. As a principal in a vulture capital firm, Bain, Romney should know that a failure rate on start ups south of ten percent is pretty good. In this case, though, a lie works better for his purposes. The lie better appeals to his extremist right wing backers in the carbon fuel industries to whom he would cater if elected.
While abortion is, of course, an emotionally freighted topic Romney could not bring himself to put distance between himself and his support of Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock. He didn't ask to have his endorsement ad for Mourdok taken down because he didn't want to possibly risk alienating the ardent foes of abortion with a hint of moderation on the point. He further risks any appeal to women voters by failing to support equal pay rules, such as the Lilly Ledbetter law. Women are rightly sensitive about wanting equal pay for equal work, and they fear such a plight befalling their daughters.
On the issue of Medicare the Romney campaign reveals much about the candidate's view of the American populace. In Romney's view the nation is a pool of Darwinian or perhaps Randian isolates on their own journey through life with little concern of other isolates making the same journey. John Sununu made a bombastic defense of the Ryan Medicare plan by reassuring voters that the cuts/reforms to Medicare would not, " affect those age 55 or older." So there you have it, the Romney philosophy is "if you've got yours why have any concern for those who don't?" Wouldn't that mentality have worked wonders during the northeastern hurricane, Sandy?
The increasingly violent weather the world is experiencing has convinced scientists that the earth's climate is indeed changing. The northeastern hurricane was made worse by the higher sea levels. Romney's earlier reaction to the threat of global warming/climate change mouthed at the Republican convention mirrored the esteemed Limbaugh wing of scientific thought when the candidate snarkily opined that President Obama wanted to lower the level of the ocean and help heal the climatic woes. While of course that's a good laugh line among the de-intelligentsia, in the wake of hurricane Sandy, it's not quite so funny these days. And yet the avoidance of the issue of climate change was painfully obvious from both the Romney and Obama camps throughout the campaign.
Romney has disdain for nearly half of the nation as shown in the taped event where he speaks of 47% of the population as slackers and writes them off as lesser signs in the equation of our nation. Perhaps this is due to his availing himself of tax laws for which the rest of us don't qualify. Maybe that is why we can't understand that he simply wants to grease the skids for the vaunted job creators while putting in place policies to fund tax cuts for the rich on the backs of the middle class. Harry Reid charged that Romney paid no taxes for a number of years. Romney vehemently denied the fact, but recently, proof of Romney's tax-avoidance has surfaced.
The recollection of Romney's illusory truths could be a full time pursuit,and this is a pursuit no one need be worried with after early November. Fortunately for the nation, I believe enough of the electorate will see through the empty suit to realize that although Willard is a good salesman, he won't be closing this deal.
(Obama 310 or more electoral votes, or room to spare)
Unless Romney scrambles Lincoln's assessment of fooling all of the people some of the time , into "you can fool just enough of the strategically situated people to get 270 electoral votes", he will find himself, come Wednesday, like the spent balloon, ingloriously grounded.
That fate, I hope, comes to pass for Romney.
Theoretically, he could have run his campaign differently. It is theory because quite possibly Romney is such a product of his skewed, privilege-borne, vision of America and Americans that no other words, save lies, could have come from him. And he has birthed some whoppers. His insistence that Obamacare cuts $716 billion from Medicare is untrue, but it also offers a tip of the hat in the direction of Bush II in that it also plays a fear card, so Medicare recipients can be made afraid of losing life-saving benefits. Leave aside the fact that the$716 billion in Obama's plan cuts billions of over payments to providers of Medicare services, and elimination of subsidies to Medicare Advantage providers, like Humana, for senior citizen gym memberships and the like. Leave aside also that Medicare operates its massive bureaucracy on about three percent of overhead expenses while privately provided health coverage had to be mandated, through Obamacare, to limit its overhead costs to 20%. On Romney's delusional first day in office he plans to scrap Obamacare.
When the day that will never come, comes in Romney's mind, and in the mind of his fervid followers, he will also throw out other parts of Obamacare while surgically avoiding those parts of the plan, such as allowing young people to remain on their parents' health plan until age 26, that might appeal to his targeted voters. He would dismantle the plan by eliminating the mandates of the plan. His market-driven solution to health coverage would result in millions being left out of the nation's health plan. He doesn't want health coverage for citizens, he wants an applause line at rallies, he wants a bait and switch move.
Romney attacks the president for a failed attempt at green energy through the start up company Solyndra. This company went bankrupt, and Romney said half of all the federally assisted investments in green energy went belly up. In fact, about six per cent of federally supported green start ups failed. As a principal in a vulture capital firm, Bain, Romney should know that a failure rate on start ups south of ten percent is pretty good. In this case, though, a lie works better for his purposes. The lie better appeals to his extremist right wing backers in the carbon fuel industries to whom he would cater if elected.
While abortion is, of course, an emotionally freighted topic Romney could not bring himself to put distance between himself and his support of Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock. He didn't ask to have his endorsement ad for Mourdok taken down because he didn't want to possibly risk alienating the ardent foes of abortion with a hint of moderation on the point. He further risks any appeal to women voters by failing to support equal pay rules, such as the Lilly Ledbetter law. Women are rightly sensitive about wanting equal pay for equal work, and they fear such a plight befalling their daughters.
On the issue of Medicare the Romney campaign reveals much about the candidate's view of the American populace. In Romney's view the nation is a pool of Darwinian or perhaps Randian isolates on their own journey through life with little concern of other isolates making the same journey. John Sununu made a bombastic defense of the Ryan Medicare plan by reassuring voters that the cuts/reforms to Medicare would not, " affect those age 55 or older." So there you have it, the Romney philosophy is "if you've got yours why have any concern for those who don't?" Wouldn't that mentality have worked wonders during the northeastern hurricane, Sandy?
The increasingly violent weather the world is experiencing has convinced scientists that the earth's climate is indeed changing. The northeastern hurricane was made worse by the higher sea levels. Romney's earlier reaction to the threat of global warming/climate change mouthed at the Republican convention mirrored the esteemed Limbaugh wing of scientific thought when the candidate snarkily opined that President Obama wanted to lower the level of the ocean and help heal the climatic woes. While of course that's a good laugh line among the de-intelligentsia, in the wake of hurricane Sandy, it's not quite so funny these days. And yet the avoidance of the issue of climate change was painfully obvious from both the Romney and Obama camps throughout the campaign.
Romney has disdain for nearly half of the nation as shown in the taped event where he speaks of 47% of the population as slackers and writes them off as lesser signs in the equation of our nation. Perhaps this is due to his availing himself of tax laws for which the rest of us don't qualify. Maybe that is why we can't understand that he simply wants to grease the skids for the vaunted job creators while putting in place policies to fund tax cuts for the rich on the backs of the middle class. Harry Reid charged that Romney paid no taxes for a number of years. Romney vehemently denied the fact, but recently, proof of Romney's tax-avoidance has surfaced.
The recollection of Romney's illusory truths could be a full time pursuit,and this is a pursuit no one need be worried with after early November. Fortunately for the nation, I believe enough of the electorate will see through the empty suit to realize that although Willard is a good salesman, he won't be closing this deal.
(Obama 310 or more electoral votes, or room to spare)
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Here's Another Fine Mess
God wants politics
God wants a good laugh
What God wants
God gets God help us all
-- Roger Waters, What God Wants-Pt.2
The crowd at IUS last night for the senatorial debate between top contenders Joe Donnelly and Richard Mourdock was treated to a bit of God's words being run through the man-filter, just to add that speck of imperfection the deity finds so amusing. My wife gasped and audibly said "Oh, my God." I was thinking about furnace pipes at the time, I believe, but the candidate's comment entered my brain nonetheless.
The whole affair was dismal by any measure. The moderator read questions, but did little else. His participation, now that I think about it, could have actually been taped and the fellow at the podium may have only been punching buttons on a recorder, which really makes more sense. The candidates were on hand to chime in on cue with rehearsed lines. I truly believe Donnelly mentioned his support for a balanced budget amendment and his participation in cutting $2.4 trillion dollars of government spending no less than three times. Joe D wants nothing to come between him and the antsy, still-discomfited Lugar supporters who are too embarrassed to sign on with an embarrassment like Mourdock.
Donnelly should heed Harry Truman's words that (paraphrasing here), "given a choice between a Democrat that sounds like a Republican and a true Republican, the voters will choose the real thing every time." Luckily, Truman didn't widen the choice to include a face off between a Democrat that sounds like a Republican, and a full-blown lunatic.
Also, luckily for Donnelly, and incidentally for Obama as well, the full-blown lunatic showed up last night while the cameras were running. If we Hoosiers are muttering to ourselves in some distant time about that idiot senator Mourdock, if we are embarrassed by yet another Mourdockism played back to national derision in, say, the year 2015, if we wonder then, "how in the world did President Romney get the votes to attack Belgium?" We'll be able to answer, honestly, we were warned about this fruitcake, but we did nothing. Maybe we thought, "he's just one vote, and anyway, he'll probably never run into Rand Paul, James Inhofe or any of the many Dunces of the Confederacy, so, he'll be a harmless little statement about Hoosier values."
Or, we can be adults, hold our noses and vote for Joe Donnelly, truly the lesser of two evils. Or, ignore the evidence and vote for Mourdock the evil of two lessers.
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