Saturday, May 29, 2010
RSS
I'm having trouble with the RSS feed and won't have time to fix it until tomorrow (it kept presenting episode 19 despite my attempts to change it) so please download episode 20. -cheers AM
Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Ogre-oids, May 26, 2010
Editor's note: Ogre-oids are compiled primarily from New York Times and Courier-Journal reports. If you follow this blog at all, you should at least read the Times daily.
On-going political and environmental crises in the Gulf. Today's Times reports that there were red flags that were ignored in the hours leading up to the 9:49pm explosion of the Deepwater Horizon on April 20, 2010. Among them were readings of building pressure and calculations from tests that showed something was wrong. The result has been oil gushing into the Gulf that has reached the coast and created a fishery disaster. A C-J report today adds to the mounting accounts of Obama administration coddling of big oil: regulators from the Mineral Management Agency received expensive gifts and pricey dinners courtesy of the very big oil companies they were supposed to be overseeing. Add this account to: allowing drilling to occur without permits; violating scientific protocol to assess environmental impact of drilling projects; admitting helplessness since the government did not support scientific investigation of the technologies and processes involved these operations, leaving the culprit, BP, as the only ones who can possibly do anything to stop oil from gushing--which for over a month now they have not. Oh well, at least they're not teachers!
Speaking of, Obama and the rest of America continue to scapegoat teachers and sabatoge education. Today's Times reports a Rhode Island panel voted 5 to 1 to reinstate an entire faculty of high school teachers in a poverty-ridden community. In February, Obama praised their firings, citing them as an example of accountability. Teaching in a poor high school is already a noble act and incredibly difficult. No one, including teachers, should be held responsible for things out of their control, like student apathy, variation in aptitude, and test performance. Certainly this is true for teachers in poor areas, where students typically have to work shit jobs in the afternoon and evenings, come from broken homes, and do not have the resources to succeed scholastically, despite the Disney one-in-a-million success stories the corporate media always make sure we hear about. In any case, when teachers screw up, it does not cost the tax payers $700 billion or wipe out an entire way of life for people who live and work on the Gulf Coast. If our country and government would support teachers and education instead of starving it for funds, there wouldn't have been an economic collapse or an oil spill in the first place, since an educated society behaves with some degree of wisdom, fairness, and awareness, you know, human virtues. Money-grubbing Americans should know: you get what you pay for. While Obama spends a fortune on wars, bank bailouts, and coddles big oil environmental recking crews, he starves education with his "Race to the Top" program that turns education into some kind of American Idol contest between the fifty states that inevitably will leave most states short-changed no matter what proposals they make or how their teachers try to do their jobs. Obama ignores science and education as a President, coddles people who destroy the environment and cost tax payers billions, then tells teachers they must be held accountable for things out of their control with a smidgeon of the resources available to big oil and the banks, who are never held accountable and even rewarded for collassal failures. With all that oil gushing, at least Obama can lube up America's teachers before he fucks them up the ass, to the cheering masses of America.
In the spirit of undermining education, the Kentucky House of Representatives approved $100,000 in its latest budget for a Christian school in Breathitt Co., despite a ruling last month from the state's Supreme Court that public funding for religious schools violates the state's constitution. Then again, poorly educated Americans are ignorant of the 1st Amendment--you know, that separation of church and state thing. Whatever.
Up in New York State, General Bloomberg and the NY state government continue to push for expanding chater schools, which are publically funded but privately run despite recent reports and investigations that show obvious corruption in how these "schools" spend money. One of many examples is the Oracle Chater School in Buffalo that will pay more than $5 million to a real estate partnership called KBSD to purchase a building appraised at $875,000 in value, then two years after the deal hired a partner of KBSD to serve on its board. That's known as Bullshit 101, for those of you who tested out of that course.
At least 30 dead in Kingston, Jamaica as soldiers go to war with a ghetto near the south coast to seize drug kingpin Christopher Coke wanted by the U.S. on extradition charges. A war on drugs . . . hmmm, finally a new approach to American governance.
The next time you bitch at your friends about how messy their apartment is, think about Thelma and Jesse Gaston, both in their 70s, who were found buried alive under their own home's trash. Thelma had injuries that looked like rat bites. Nothing like keeping neighborhood and family life in tact to ensure the well-being of the community.
On-going political and environmental crises in the Gulf. Today's Times reports that there were red flags that were ignored in the hours leading up to the 9:49pm explosion of the Deepwater Horizon on April 20, 2010. Among them were readings of building pressure and calculations from tests that showed something was wrong. The result has been oil gushing into the Gulf that has reached the coast and created a fishery disaster. A C-J report today adds to the mounting accounts of Obama administration coddling of big oil: regulators from the Mineral Management Agency received expensive gifts and pricey dinners courtesy of the very big oil companies they were supposed to be overseeing. Add this account to: allowing drilling to occur without permits; violating scientific protocol to assess environmental impact of drilling projects; admitting helplessness since the government did not support scientific investigation of the technologies and processes involved these operations, leaving the culprit, BP, as the only ones who can possibly do anything to stop oil from gushing--which for over a month now they have not. Oh well, at least they're not teachers!
Speaking of, Obama and the rest of America continue to scapegoat teachers and sabatoge education. Today's Times reports a Rhode Island panel voted 5 to 1 to reinstate an entire faculty of high school teachers in a poverty-ridden community. In February, Obama praised their firings, citing them as an example of accountability. Teaching in a poor high school is already a noble act and incredibly difficult. No one, including teachers, should be held responsible for things out of their control, like student apathy, variation in aptitude, and test performance. Certainly this is true for teachers in poor areas, where students typically have to work shit jobs in the afternoon and evenings, come from broken homes, and do not have the resources to succeed scholastically, despite the Disney one-in-a-million success stories the corporate media always make sure we hear about. In any case, when teachers screw up, it does not cost the tax payers $700 billion or wipe out an entire way of life for people who live and work on the Gulf Coast. If our country and government would support teachers and education instead of starving it for funds, there wouldn't have been an economic collapse or an oil spill in the first place, since an educated society behaves with some degree of wisdom, fairness, and awareness, you know, human virtues. Money-grubbing Americans should know: you get what you pay for. While Obama spends a fortune on wars, bank bailouts, and coddles big oil environmental recking crews, he starves education with his "Race to the Top" program that turns education into some kind of American Idol contest between the fifty states that inevitably will leave most states short-changed no matter what proposals they make or how their teachers try to do their jobs. Obama ignores science and education as a President, coddles people who destroy the environment and cost tax payers billions, then tells teachers they must be held accountable for things out of their control with a smidgeon of the resources available to big oil and the banks, who are never held accountable and even rewarded for collassal failures. With all that oil gushing, at least Obama can lube up America's teachers before he fucks them up the ass, to the cheering masses of America.
In the spirit of undermining education, the Kentucky House of Representatives approved $100,000 in its latest budget for a Christian school in Breathitt Co., despite a ruling last month from the state's Supreme Court that public funding for religious schools violates the state's constitution. Then again, poorly educated Americans are ignorant of the 1st Amendment--you know, that separation of church and state thing. Whatever.
Up in New York State, General Bloomberg and the NY state government continue to push for expanding chater schools, which are publically funded but privately run despite recent reports and investigations that show obvious corruption in how these "schools" spend money. One of many examples is the Oracle Chater School in Buffalo that will pay more than $5 million to a real estate partnership called KBSD to purchase a building appraised at $875,000 in value, then two years after the deal hired a partner of KBSD to serve on its board. That's known as Bullshit 101, for those of you who tested out of that course.
At least 30 dead in Kingston, Jamaica as soldiers go to war with a ghetto near the south coast to seize drug kingpin Christopher Coke wanted by the U.S. on extradition charges. A war on drugs . . . hmmm, finally a new approach to American governance.
The next time you bitch at your friends about how messy their apartment is, think about Thelma and Jesse Gaston, both in their 70s, who were found buried alive under their own home's trash. Thelma had injuries that looked like rat bites. Nothing like keeping neighborhood and family life in tact to ensure the well-being of the community.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Rand Paul Cancels Meet the Press Appearance
After possibly his first meeting with an intelligent opponent in Rachel Maddow, Rand Paul (son of Ron Paul, fellow possessor of the mental state of a 12 year old) has become the third major guest to cancel an appearance on Meet the Press in its 62 year history. via TPM
Right-wing Exploitation of Europe's Decline Ignores the Complexity of Its Problems
The May 23, 2010 front page of the NY Times features an article that gives momentum to a building ideological shift in Western Europe: the imperative to move away from generous welfare state systems that are products of left-leaning governments from the post WWII era. The gist is this: birth rates are declining, Baby Boomers are retiring, the Greek economic collapse has put a strain on the euro and the economies of the countries that use it, and the diminishing ratio between younger working adults and older retired workers makes the welfare state and its universal health care, early retirement, limited work week, and extensive vacations unsustainable.
Here's the problem: the welfare state itself is not the primary cause of Europe's problems. In fact, the welfare state is responsible for the unprecedented prosperity the continent has enjoyed over the last half century. Europe's current problems are largely the result of right-wing policies, not left-leaning government.
For starters, much of Europe's current problems are the result of the worldwide economic collapse of late 2008, the epicenter of which was Wall Street's criminal greed and right-wing policies that deliberately steer wealth upwards toward the rich and provided a safety net for the financial banks who were not allowed to fail according to free market principles. Second, the euro currency is a major culprit in Europe's problems. Poorer countries like Greece, Spain, and Portugal do not have the flexibility to adjust their individual currencies through deflation to increase exports. The stronger European economies in turn are weakened by the burden of sharing a currency with weaker euro members. France and Germany bailed out Greece because French and German banks hold Greek bonds. The motive of the euro was a departure from the original change of the European Union, which was to make Europe's economies collaborative to promote good relations and stop the on-going wars that ravaged Europe through much of modern history. The euro did not come into existence to promote the EU's mission; it came about so that Europe could become the next economic world superpower with a currency that would become stronger than the dollar. Europe has hurt itself drastically and unnecessarily by its desire to mimic America through the creation of the euro.
A shared economy and a shared currency are not the same thing. The former achieved the EU's goals; the latter is undermining them.
The biggest threat to Europeans' way of life is the growing mentality that since its system no longer works Europe will have to Americanize. But the euro has already Americanized Europe too much: just like the States share the dollar, Western Europe shares the euro. The shared currency has made the countries more like provinces or states, with less sovereignty and flexibility to govern in accordance with their own needs, particularly with regard to fiscal policy. Even worse, countries that don't have the flexibility to fix their own problems ensnare the rest of the member nations and bog them down as well.
The 20th century European welfare state may be unsustainable, but so is the 20th century American military-industrial complex. Europe may need to do things differently, but if it thinks all it needs to do is simply move from the left to the right, it will just substitute one unsustainable system for another, and likely spark the alienation and tensions that start social and international conflicts brewing. Not a good idea. Social unrest is not conducive to sustained economic strength. It is an inevitable by-product, however, of right-wing proclivities to oppress the masses, discriminate against ethnic outsiders, and exploit labor.
The consensus seems to be that European governments have to cut spending, and that austerity measures must take effect to prevent a collapse of the system. But America's wars on terror and drugs are insanely expensive, mind-bogglingly expansive, and are incompatible with smaller government (not to mention democracy, freedom, and human rights--pillars of Western Culture). While the rhetorical moment may be there for European right-wingers to say governments must cut spending, they need only look at their neighbor across the pond with its over-crowded prisons, deadly urban violence, and collassal oil spills to ponder the effects of cutting education and health care while promoting careless industry practice. Do you Europeans want America's problems on top of your own? More problems on top of the ones you already have is not what you want, trust me.
For decades American right-wingers have argued that Europe's liberal lifestyle has been made possible in large part due to the luxury European governments enjoy of not having to spend much money on their militaries thanks to NATO and America's heroic nuclear arsenal. Well, if the European state is not sustainable, then what long-term good has America's military industrial complex done for the continent? The U.S. military has failed to keep America out of wars and failed to support generous social programs in Europe. Europeans are kidding themselves if they think the Islamic hostility they face from immigrants is not stoked by American military imperialism in the Islamic world--another example of how right-wing policies are not in Europe's best interest despite the temptation to think otherwise. Obviously the only good the U.S. military does is to itself and the apparatus of arms manufactuers and trans-national corporations whose greed and plundering are the main causes of economic problems here in America and Europe.
My fear is that Europe's financial problems will be used as an excuse to end policies the right wing has never wanted in the first place: favorable working conditions for labor, higher taxes, investment in education and health care, without there being at the same time a comprehensive tightening of the belt by everyone. That would include the banks, the criminal justice system, and the corporations. Unless everyone is in it together, it doesn't matter what the reality of Europe's financial future is or what Europeans do to guard against a collapse. My intuiton tells me that the prevailing discourses about Europe's economy are directed toward fostering xenophobia toward immigrants, and a general right-wing power play to scapegoat and persecute social groups that don't measure up to Aryan standards. A generous, socially-minded government is better than a harsh and punatitive one, regardless of Europe's current situation. While changes obviously need to be made, they should be made wisely in the name of the well-being of the continent and the EU's mission of sustaining peaceful relations among all Europeans and all peoples. European leaders should be concerned over why Europeans aren't having children anymore, not the fact they want to enjoy their lives instead of returning to the "Arbeit macht frei" days that equate slavery with freedom. Whatever Europe does, for a continent that was ravaged by fascism just two generations ago, a wholesale shift to the right would be quite foolish, if not fatal.
Here's the problem: the welfare state itself is not the primary cause of Europe's problems. In fact, the welfare state is responsible for the unprecedented prosperity the continent has enjoyed over the last half century. Europe's current problems are largely the result of right-wing policies, not left-leaning government.
For starters, much of Europe's current problems are the result of the worldwide economic collapse of late 2008, the epicenter of which was Wall Street's criminal greed and right-wing policies that deliberately steer wealth upwards toward the rich and provided a safety net for the financial banks who were not allowed to fail according to free market principles. Second, the euro currency is a major culprit in Europe's problems. Poorer countries like Greece, Spain, and Portugal do not have the flexibility to adjust their individual currencies through deflation to increase exports. The stronger European economies in turn are weakened by the burden of sharing a currency with weaker euro members. France and Germany bailed out Greece because French and German banks hold Greek bonds. The motive of the euro was a departure from the original change of the European Union, which was to make Europe's economies collaborative to promote good relations and stop the on-going wars that ravaged Europe through much of modern history. The euro did not come into existence to promote the EU's mission; it came about so that Europe could become the next economic world superpower with a currency that would become stronger than the dollar. Europe has hurt itself drastically and unnecessarily by its desire to mimic America through the creation of the euro.
A shared economy and a shared currency are not the same thing. The former achieved the EU's goals; the latter is undermining them.
The biggest threat to Europeans' way of life is the growing mentality that since its system no longer works Europe will have to Americanize. But the euro has already Americanized Europe too much: just like the States share the dollar, Western Europe shares the euro. The shared currency has made the countries more like provinces or states, with less sovereignty and flexibility to govern in accordance with their own needs, particularly with regard to fiscal policy. Even worse, countries that don't have the flexibility to fix their own problems ensnare the rest of the member nations and bog them down as well.
The 20th century European welfare state may be unsustainable, but so is the 20th century American military-industrial complex. Europe may need to do things differently, but if it thinks all it needs to do is simply move from the left to the right, it will just substitute one unsustainable system for another, and likely spark the alienation and tensions that start social and international conflicts brewing. Not a good idea. Social unrest is not conducive to sustained economic strength. It is an inevitable by-product, however, of right-wing proclivities to oppress the masses, discriminate against ethnic outsiders, and exploit labor.
The consensus seems to be that European governments have to cut spending, and that austerity measures must take effect to prevent a collapse of the system. But America's wars on terror and drugs are insanely expensive, mind-bogglingly expansive, and are incompatible with smaller government (not to mention democracy, freedom, and human rights--pillars of Western Culture). While the rhetorical moment may be there for European right-wingers to say governments must cut spending, they need only look at their neighbor across the pond with its over-crowded prisons, deadly urban violence, and collassal oil spills to ponder the effects of cutting education and health care while promoting careless industry practice. Do you Europeans want America's problems on top of your own? More problems on top of the ones you already have is not what you want, trust me.
For decades American right-wingers have argued that Europe's liberal lifestyle has been made possible in large part due to the luxury European governments enjoy of not having to spend much money on their militaries thanks to NATO and America's heroic nuclear arsenal. Well, if the European state is not sustainable, then what long-term good has America's military industrial complex done for the continent? The U.S. military has failed to keep America out of wars and failed to support generous social programs in Europe. Europeans are kidding themselves if they think the Islamic hostility they face from immigrants is not stoked by American military imperialism in the Islamic world--another example of how right-wing policies are not in Europe's best interest despite the temptation to think otherwise. Obviously the only good the U.S. military does is to itself and the apparatus of arms manufactuers and trans-national corporations whose greed and plundering are the main causes of economic problems here in America and Europe.
My fear is that Europe's financial problems will be used as an excuse to end policies the right wing has never wanted in the first place: favorable working conditions for labor, higher taxes, investment in education and health care, without there being at the same time a comprehensive tightening of the belt by everyone. That would include the banks, the criminal justice system, and the corporations. Unless everyone is in it together, it doesn't matter what the reality of Europe's financial future is or what Europeans do to guard against a collapse. My intuiton tells me that the prevailing discourses about Europe's economy are directed toward fostering xenophobia toward immigrants, and a general right-wing power play to scapegoat and persecute social groups that don't measure up to Aryan standards. A generous, socially-minded government is better than a harsh and punatitive one, regardless of Europe's current situation. While changes obviously need to be made, they should be made wisely in the name of the well-being of the continent and the EU's mission of sustaining peaceful relations among all Europeans and all peoples. European leaders should be concerned over why Europeans aren't having children anymore, not the fact they want to enjoy their lives instead of returning to the "Arbeit macht frei" days that equate slavery with freedom. Whatever Europe does, for a continent that was ravaged by fascism just two generations ago, a wholesale shift to the right would be quite foolish, if not fatal.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Ogre-oid: GOP Candidates Call for Nuke Tests
Both Republican Senate candidates say they would support a resumption of underground nuclear weapons tests, presumably in Nevada, to help modernize the nation's weapons stockpile.
Mike Lee signed a "Peace Through Strength" pledge Monday, crafted by a handful of national security organizations. The pledge consists of several defense policy positions, including protecting national sovereignty, not trying enemy combatants in U.S. courts, energy security and the modernization and testing of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
"We need to always have our eye on the ball for developing new weapons systems and that is going to require new testing," Lee said in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Ogre-oids, May 20, 2010
Obama's anti-science response to the Gulf Spill. Oceanographers accuse the Obama administration of failing to conduct adequate scientific analysis of environmental damage and permitting BP to obscure the scope of the spill's impact. Scientists say there may problems occuring from plumes of oil that appear to be spreading beneath the surface of the ocean. The flagship vessel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) was off the coast of Africa and was not redirected to the Gulf until May 11, three weeks after the disaster began. NOAA is criticized as being "derelict" in analyzing conditions beneath the sea. A prominent oceanographer says that the government's efforts have been a "catastrophic disaster" and that no one is paying attention to a "vast ecosystem being exposed to contaminants."
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindel reports "heavy oil is coming into our wetlands." The governor says "it's past time to act" and criticizes BP, the Coast Guard, and The Army Corps of Engineers. More evidence of Obama's complacent and indifferent reaction to the moutning crisis. A procedure that could shut the drill well off completely won't be ready until next week. BP is so scattershot and clueless that it has been taking email suggestions for stopping the flow, even getting advice from Kevin Costner. "If you build it, it will stop spilling," or something like that. In the meantime, BP has been successful in taking a full page public relations ad in today's Times assuring us they are doing everything to correct the problem. I guess in the real world, words speak louder than actions.
Teachers face worse job market since Great Depression. Where is the stimulus package for teachers? Even upscale suburban districts prepare for huge layoffs. How does this mean that unemployment is improving? What about the future of education? Schools have their pick of teachers, and teachers' market vulnerability will make them even easier pawns for adminstrative agendas based on around teaching to the test and controlling curriculum. In the meantime, teachers serve as scapegoat #1 for the country's economic and social problems. Sounds typical of a poorly educated society.
Necro-fest, Obama Style. In the last two days, nine U.S. servicemen have been killed, bringing the total U.S. deathtoll in Afghanistan to 1,000. But thanks to the attempted bombing at Times Square, Obama and the American people have the political fodder necessary to continue their necro-orgy for the foreseeable future. Perhaps laid-off teachers should get into the handy-wipes business. These attacks followed annoucements from the Taliban before Karzai's visit to D.C. that they would begin a series of offensives against U.S. forces, which U.S. military spokesmen blew off--futher testimony to their lack of deliberative credibility.
NYPD stop and frisk measures--The NYPD has been stopping and frisking citizens, mostly minorities in their efforts to protect American freedom. The ACLU has filed suit over the fact the NYPD has kept personal information on record even from people were found not to have committed crimes or paid fines that meant their records should have been purged. Nothing like martial law tactics to uphold the American way of life.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindel reports "heavy oil is coming into our wetlands." The governor says "it's past time to act" and criticizes BP, the Coast Guard, and The Army Corps of Engineers. More evidence of Obama's complacent and indifferent reaction to the moutning crisis. A procedure that could shut the drill well off completely won't be ready until next week. BP is so scattershot and clueless that it has been taking email suggestions for stopping the flow, even getting advice from Kevin Costner. "If you build it, it will stop spilling," or something like that. In the meantime, BP has been successful in taking a full page public relations ad in today's Times assuring us they are doing everything to correct the problem. I guess in the real world, words speak louder than actions.
Teachers face worse job market since Great Depression. Where is the stimulus package for teachers? Even upscale suburban districts prepare for huge layoffs. How does this mean that unemployment is improving? What about the future of education? Schools have their pick of teachers, and teachers' market vulnerability will make them even easier pawns for adminstrative agendas based on around teaching to the test and controlling curriculum. In the meantime, teachers serve as scapegoat #1 for the country's economic and social problems. Sounds typical of a poorly educated society.
Necro-fest, Obama Style. In the last two days, nine U.S. servicemen have been killed, bringing the total U.S. deathtoll in Afghanistan to 1,000. But thanks to the attempted bombing at Times Square, Obama and the American people have the political fodder necessary to continue their necro-orgy for the foreseeable future. Perhaps laid-off teachers should get into the handy-wipes business. These attacks followed annoucements from the Taliban before Karzai's visit to D.C. that they would begin a series of offensives against U.S. forces, which U.S. military spokesmen blew off--futher testimony to their lack of deliberative credibility.
NYPD stop and frisk measures--The NYPD has been stopping and frisking citizens, mostly minorities in their efforts to protect American freedom. The ACLU has filed suit over the fact the NYPD has kept personal information on record even from people were found not to have committed crimes or paid fines that meant their records should have been purged. Nothing like martial law tactics to uphold the American way of life.
Alabama Crazy Land, Continued!
A geometry teacher from a county north of Birmingham has been suspended after the Secret Service took interest in his example of tangency: The assassination of President Obama. via
If the incident went down as reported the student that made the suggestion should have been admonished for it. I'm not sure the teacher should be fired but I'll bet money that these kids were all white and their parents are a bunch of closeted Klansmen.
If the incident went down as reported the student that made the suggestion should have been admonished for it. I'm not sure the teacher should be fired but I'll bet money that these kids were all white and their parents are a bunch of closeted Klansmen.
Alabama's GOP Ads: Crazy Land!
Since when is Dodge City in Alabama? Can you sue a political opponent for lible (being accused of being a criminal sounds like lible to me)? Does he thinks he's in a Sheriff's race in Kentucky, swinging a rifle around like that?
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Ogre-oid: Nun Excommunicated Without Hesitation
NPR reported today on the case of a nun in Arizona faced with a tragic and difficult decision. A woman 11 weeks pregnant with her 5th child was facing certain death if she didn't have an abortion.
But the hospital felt it could proceed because of an exception — called Directive 47 in the U.S. Catholic Church's ethical guidelines for health care providers — that allows, in some circumstance, procedures that could kill the fetus to save the mother. Sister Margaret McBride, who was an administrator at the hospital as well as its liaison to the diocese, gave her approval.
The woman survived. When Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted heard about the abortion, he declared that McBride was automatically excommunicated — the most serious penalty the church can levy.This nun faces complete expulsion from her chosen path in life over this: expulsion from her religion, her job, and her order. Meanwhile priests that fuck little boys and girls remain protected within the church. Fucking up the life of a living, breathing person is somehow less of a sin than saving a woman's life at the cost of a zygote. The only thing I can say is "FUCK THE CATHOLIC CHURCH."
Necro-fest, Obama Style: American Troop Deathtoll Exceeds 1,000
A car bomb that struck a U.S. convoy at the American base in Bagram Wednesday morning reportedly killed five or more American soldiers, pushing the total body count of U.S. dead past 1,000. Of course, in the written archive of losses of life in wars throughout history, this number is nothing, so it really doesn't matter. But the Times article graphically depicts the "mayhem and carnage" left from the explosion. Here are some details:
"Limbs and entails flew hundreds of feet"
"survivors lay in the road with missing limbs moaning for help"
"in a passanger bus, an Afghan woman lay dead in her seat, cut in half, with her baby still squirming in her arms. 50 yards away, a man's head lay on the hood of a truck"
"an Afghan soldier appeared carrying a large red trash bag filled with human brains"
This butchering and mutilation of the human body exemplifies the tireless obsession America and its war machine have with necrophilia--the fixation with corpses and mutiliated bodies, and the never-ending need to make more of them to stimulate gratification. The graphic carnage and 1,000th American death are courtesy of Barack "Change" Obama's escalation of the Afghan war, and a mind-bogglingly futile policy that perpetuates the mentality of his predecesor whom he promised to go in a different direction from during campaign season (imagine that).
A related article in today's times that prefaces a double-page spread of the 1,000 dead--mostly young men in their twenties--details the international debate that preceeded Obama's escalation in Afghanistan. European strategists said that an American increase in troops would only serve to increase casualties among civilians and soldiers alike. But just as Bush did with Iraq, Obama went against cautionary voices and went ahead with the troop escalation knowing that it was almost certain casualties would rise "before security improved." Here is the classic American insanity at work: near-certain loss of life is incurred in the name of speculative "improvement in security." How will security improve for the people today who lost their lives, brains, innards, limbs, and mother's? Obama is another war-mongering puppet, spouting hollow drivel about progressive politics and moving beyond the Bush-Cheney nightmare while simultaneously doing his best to re-create Iraq circa 2004-2005. The mounting loss of life, carnage, pain, and misery are never enough to bring the wars to an end, which is what any halfway decent leader would do. The U. S. has had a decade to accomplish something worthwhile in both countries and instead continues a huge-spending cycle of token achievements that inevitably give way to more casualties, destruction, and deteriorating conditions. The Times reports that in the time since the U.S. surge in Afghanistan, improvised explosive devices (I. E. D.s) have become more powerful and plentiful. Imagine that as well: as the U.S. has escalated its efforts in Afghanistan, its opponent, the Taliban, has done the same. It's almost like Ghandi was right when he said all violence does is lead to more violence. Meanwhile, Americans continue to get aroused by the "Power of Pride" that turns living humans into corpses. Americans' addiction to necrophilia and sadistic voyeurism distorts protracted war as a heroic devotion to victory, and the rising death toll continues to be a meaningless footnote to Obama's corpse orgy.
"Limbs and entails flew hundreds of feet"
"survivors lay in the road with missing limbs moaning for help"
"in a passanger bus, an Afghan woman lay dead in her seat, cut in half, with her baby still squirming in her arms. 50 yards away, a man's head lay on the hood of a truck"
"an Afghan soldier appeared carrying a large red trash bag filled with human brains"
This butchering and mutilation of the human body exemplifies the tireless obsession America and its war machine have with necrophilia--the fixation with corpses and mutiliated bodies, and the never-ending need to make more of them to stimulate gratification. The graphic carnage and 1,000th American death are courtesy of Barack "Change" Obama's escalation of the Afghan war, and a mind-bogglingly futile policy that perpetuates the mentality of his predecesor whom he promised to go in a different direction from during campaign season (imagine that).
A related article in today's times that prefaces a double-page spread of the 1,000 dead--mostly young men in their twenties--details the international debate that preceeded Obama's escalation in Afghanistan. European strategists said that an American increase in troops would only serve to increase casualties among civilians and soldiers alike. But just as Bush did with Iraq, Obama went against cautionary voices and went ahead with the troop escalation knowing that it was almost certain casualties would rise "before security improved." Here is the classic American insanity at work: near-certain loss of life is incurred in the name of speculative "improvement in security." How will security improve for the people today who lost their lives, brains, innards, limbs, and mother's? Obama is another war-mongering puppet, spouting hollow drivel about progressive politics and moving beyond the Bush-Cheney nightmare while simultaneously doing his best to re-create Iraq circa 2004-2005. The mounting loss of life, carnage, pain, and misery are never enough to bring the wars to an end, which is what any halfway decent leader would do. The U. S. has had a decade to accomplish something worthwhile in both countries and instead continues a huge-spending cycle of token achievements that inevitably give way to more casualties, destruction, and deteriorating conditions. The Times reports that in the time since the U.S. surge in Afghanistan, improvised explosive devices (I. E. D.s) have become more powerful and plentiful. Imagine that as well: as the U.S. has escalated its efforts in Afghanistan, its opponent, the Taliban, has done the same. It's almost like Ghandi was right when he said all violence does is lead to more violence. Meanwhile, Americans continue to get aroused by the "Power of Pride" that turns living humans into corpses. Americans' addiction to necrophilia and sadistic voyeurism distorts protracted war as a heroic devotion to victory, and the rising death toll continues to be a meaningless footnote to Obama's corpse orgy.
Continuing Ogre-oid: Trans-Ocean to Hide Money
After the chief executive of Transocean Ltd., owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, held a closed-door meeting with shareholders Friday, the company issued a terse statement after the Zurich stock market closed saying it would distribute some $1 billion in dividend to shareholders. News of the dividends, which amount to about $3.11 per share, came just days after company chief executive Steven Newman appeared before Congress to explain his company’s involvement in the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.When a company facing claims that exceed its assets makes distributions out to its shareholders, this may be attacked as a preference or a fraudulent conveyance under debtor-creditor law in many jurisdictions. But moving the money down the line to shareholders makes it much more unlikely that much of it will ever be recovered by the parties suffering from the leaks in the Gulf of Mexico—like fishermen, owners of coastal resorts, and the United States, which is now preparing to assume control of the efforts to stem the leak and launch a clean-up following the demonstrated inability of British Petroleum, Halliburton, and Transocean to do so. via
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Bat Shit Crazy X2
Michele Bachmann, meet Orly Taitz. I would love to see an hour long discussion between these two lunatics.
By the way, it appears that Orly Taitz (Queen of the "birthers") is running for Secretary of State of California! The mind boggles.
By the way, it appears that Orly Taitz (Queen of the "birthers") is running for Secretary of State of California! The mind boggles.
Art of War analysis of Thailand crisis
NY Times Propoganda Depicts Oil-Spill Containment Efforts as a Success
VOTE for TYLER ALLEN
One thing I do like about our country is that we still vote and do actually have a potential to make a difference in how our country is run. Voting alone is not nearly enough and sadly Americans tend to glorify and sentimentalize voting rather than seeing it as a civic responsibility that is part of a larger political system. In any case, I'm happy to say I voted today regardless of how meaningless my vote is to the bigger picture. Nobody gives a shit what I think, and since I'm not John Stewart or Steven Colbert it will never matter how smart or funny I really am. The point in America is to be a mindless groupie, not to appreciate human richness in all kinds of different people. It doesn't matter if you're absorbed by TV celebrities or sports coaches; it's all a puerile fixation with media and vapid fantasy. My vote matters because it matters to me. I do not role play the corpse and do not let the apathy and antagonism of my peers wear me down so that I become like them (yuk!). No matter how meaningless my peers try to make me feel I remember that the real reason writers write is for themselves.
Anyway, I voted today and I'm not going to tell you who I voted for except to tell you that I voted for Tyler Allen. He is the only candidate with concrete ideas that speak to Louisville's urgent needs to revitalize its downtown through a light rail transport system and eliminating overdepedence on the automobile, which obviously undermines public safety, environmental sustainability, and community vibrance. We have government to provide leadership because the life cycle is always moving forward. Most Louisvillians, the other candidates, most Americans in general checked out shortly after high school, or college at the latest, and are just slumbering through a never-ending routine, teaching themselves to be helpless, corporate butt plugs.
Anyway, I voted today and I'm not going to tell you who I voted for except to tell you that I voted for Tyler Allen. He is the only candidate with concrete ideas that speak to Louisville's urgent needs to revitalize its downtown through a light rail transport system and eliminating overdepedence on the automobile, which obviously undermines public safety, environmental sustainability, and community vibrance. We have government to provide leadership because the life cycle is always moving forward. Most Louisvillians, the other candidates, most Americans in general checked out shortly after high school, or college at the latest, and are just slumbering through a never-ending routine, teaching themselves to be helpless, corporate butt plugs.
Creationist Ad Running in Alabama GOP Gubernatorial Race
Will it turn out more people in Alabama believe in a superstitious, stone age creation myth than understand science?
Monday, May 17, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Civil Rights Movement brought to you by Gillette
Last night I attended "The Civil Rights Game" at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati between the hometown Reds and St. Louis Cardinals. The official title of the game was the "Gillette Civil Rights Game". Apparently, civil rights in America means everyone has the right to shave. I cannot think of a more obvious sign of how shallow this country's interest in civil rights is than to have it turned into a corporate slogan, one that creates an inane and non-existent connection between social justice, razors, and corporate profit.
The game was a hollow ceremony propped up by kitsch and sentimentality. Elderly athlete celebrities (nothing more inspiring than really old jocks waving at people they have no social connection to) who were once civil rights icons from decades ago were paraded around the outfield so people could look at them and clap. Social courage at its finest.
The teams wore "throwback" uniforms as though that somehow teleported all of us back to a time (before I was even born) when civil rights were something Americans took seriously and made a central part of their life's purpose (and when professional athletes just made a pretty good living like many other citizens instead of millions while lots of their fans are losing their jobs). Like anything else progressive or democratic, Civil Rights has become something to symbolize and archive as part of the past rather than a pillar of our culture that we Americans have kept vibrant and adapted to today's society.
I'm sure that Billy Jean King and Willie Mays waving to thousands of people who were texting, drinking, and pissing at the time generated such shock waves that Arizona will secede from the Major Leagues.
The game was a hollow ceremony propped up by kitsch and sentimentality. Elderly athlete celebrities (nothing more inspiring than really old jocks waving at people they have no social connection to) who were once civil rights icons from decades ago were paraded around the outfield so people could look at them and clap. Social courage at its finest.
The teams wore "throwback" uniforms as though that somehow teleported all of us back to a time (before I was even born) when civil rights were something Americans took seriously and made a central part of their life's purpose (and when professional athletes just made a pretty good living like many other citizens instead of millions while lots of their fans are losing their jobs). Like anything else progressive or democratic, Civil Rights has become something to symbolize and archive as part of the past rather than a pillar of our culture that we Americans have kept vibrant and adapted to today's society.
I'm sure that Billy Jean King and Willie Mays waving to thousands of people who were texting, drinking, and pissing at the time generated such shock waves that Arizona will secede from the Major Leagues.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Ogre-oids, May 14, 2010
Here's a list of Ogre-oids for tonight's (2010, May 14) MoPod episode:
U.S. is alleged to have allowed off-shore drilling without federally required permits. These projects include the one that recently led to the massive explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, an on-going epic ecological and economic catastrophe. Failure to secure permits before drilling ignores an endangered species requirement and warnings from scientists about the effects a disaster like the one that has happened courtesy BP and Halliburton. Biologists claim they have been bullied by agency officials to change the findings of their internal studies designed to assess the impact of off-shore drilling on marine life and the environment.
Relatedly, the government deliberately has been underestimating the volume of the oil spill, according to scientists who have criticized BP for not using well-known scientific techniques that would yield a more precise figure.
The Pope criticizes abortion and gay marriage during his trip to Portugual: more archaic hypocriscy from a haven for pedophiles unparalleled since the closure of Michael Jackson's "Neverland."
Obama expands plans to "modernize" U.S. nuclear arsenal. A biased verb choice for a plan that is out-of-date in an international age where secret agents and special forces should be hunting down and killing terrorist leaders instead of clinging to Reagan-era weapons stockpiling and perpetuating the military-industrial complex that siphons tons of money to lucrative deals with arms makers and dealers. This country is backwards, and lives in the illusion that increased military spending somehow counterbalances America's chronic military incompetence.
Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle (R) signed into a law allowing state workers to ignore repeated requests for the countless people obsessed with President Obama's actual place of birth. After two years of attempting to accommodate requests and assuage skeptics, the barrage of hostile emails and requests continue from people who are determined to believe that Obama is not American, no matter how much documentation or verification to the contrary.
Arizona bigots follow up Aryan anti illegal immigrant legislation with a law that will cut funding by 10% for Tuscon school systems that continue ethnic studies programs that State Superintendent Tom Horne insists "divides kids by race." Gov. Jan Brewer's spokesman says schools should recognize people as individuals not members of racial groups. Doesn't sound consistent with the rationale behind Arizona's illegal immigration legislation. Besides being anti-educational and ideologically driven to promote the message that "this is America, the land of opportunity, and if you work hard enough you can achieve anything," this agenda aims at silencing any cultural perspective besides that of rich conservative Americans and ending a program that has helped increase college enrollment by Hispanics.
U.S. is alleged to have allowed off-shore drilling without federally required permits. These projects include the one that recently led to the massive explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, an on-going epic ecological and economic catastrophe. Failure to secure permits before drilling ignores an endangered species requirement and warnings from scientists about the effects a disaster like the one that has happened courtesy BP and Halliburton. Biologists claim they have been bullied by agency officials to change the findings of their internal studies designed to assess the impact of off-shore drilling on marine life and the environment.
Relatedly, the government deliberately has been underestimating the volume of the oil spill, according to scientists who have criticized BP for not using well-known scientific techniques that would yield a more precise figure.
The Pope criticizes abortion and gay marriage during his trip to Portugual: more archaic hypocriscy from a haven for pedophiles unparalleled since the closure of Michael Jackson's "Neverland."
Obama expands plans to "modernize" U.S. nuclear arsenal. A biased verb choice for a plan that is out-of-date in an international age where secret agents and special forces should be hunting down and killing terrorist leaders instead of clinging to Reagan-era weapons stockpiling and perpetuating the military-industrial complex that siphons tons of money to lucrative deals with arms makers and dealers. This country is backwards, and lives in the illusion that increased military spending somehow counterbalances America's chronic military incompetence.
Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle (R) signed into a law allowing state workers to ignore repeated requests for the countless people obsessed with President Obama's actual place of birth. After two years of attempting to accommodate requests and assuage skeptics, the barrage of hostile emails and requests continue from people who are determined to believe that Obama is not American, no matter how much documentation or verification to the contrary.
Arizona bigots follow up Aryan anti illegal immigrant legislation with a law that will cut funding by 10% for Tuscon school systems that continue ethnic studies programs that State Superintendent Tom Horne insists "divides kids by race." Gov. Jan Brewer's spokesman says schools should recognize people as individuals not members of racial groups. Doesn't sound consistent with the rationale behind Arizona's illegal immigration legislation. Besides being anti-educational and ideologically driven to promote the message that "this is America, the land of opportunity, and if you work hard enough you can achieve anything," this agenda aims at silencing any cultural perspective besides that of rich conservative Americans and ending a program that has helped increase college enrollment by Hispanics.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
This is What a Terrorist Looks Like?
This is an actual television ad by Alan Grayson's (D-FL) opponent.
[update 5/15/2010: I just have to make some observations about this bizarre ad after watching it a few more times. I'm going to make these observations in the form of a script. "[...]" = language behind the logo.
Terrorist 1 screws the cap on a thermos and steps back like he did something dangerous.
T1: [...] How will I reach martyrdom after I am captured?
Terrorist 2: [...] If you spill the blood of the infidels [...] will allow yourself to be captured.
We w[ill u]se the infidel's lawyers and Miranda Rights to sp[rea]d our message. Then you will go to god.
Dan Fanelli [stepping into foreground. T1 continues to gesture in background. DF grimaces]: My name's Dan Fanelli. Send me to Washington and I'll send our enemies where they belong... and that's not to a courtroom.
[And where is the place they belong, Mr. Fanelli? A dungeon? An endless series of waterboarding sessions and other torture in Gitmo? A giant tower with a cross at the top like the Bastille for dimwitted Christians? These people want to return to the times of lynchings. Mean, hateful people, and here's one of their leaders. God help us if these people take power. We'll make the Nazis look like amateurs.]
[bad video/soundtrack cut][thin white man with glasses, white hair, white shirt, striped tie stands in front of small plane next to/behind DF who points at him with both hands]
DF: Does this look like a terrorist? [turns toward stage right and gestures with both hands] or this? [T2 steps into shot]
[Well, Dan, the guy on the left does kind of look like the kind of person that would have something to do with either the gazillion dollar banking fuckfest we've had going on in this country for the last few decades or that he might be part of the BP apparatus that is destroying one of the most important spawning grounds on earth, yeah. The first guy looks like a terrorist to me. And of course the second guy looks like a terrorist. That's what you showed him as for half of the ad up to now!]
It's time to stop this political correctness and the invasion of our privacy.
[Wait, who's privacy exactly? Apparently not big, swarthy guys with a little bit of beard and eyes too close together. I think the word "our" is a Dixie dog whistle. "Our" = "white people." And if by "political correctness" you mean not racially profiling people (which is exactly what Dan means) then I'd just like to remind you that the worst act of domestic terrorism was carried out by some very white rednecks, not a big, brown guy with eyes too close together and stubble that I just saw playing a terrorist 20 seconds ago.]
Let's face it, if the good looking, ripped guy without much hair is flyin' airplanes into the twin towers, they have no problem being pulled out of line at the airport.
[So now he's saying if you're fit and well groomed you should expect to be pulled out of line? He's not saying if you're brown and fit and well groomed? Really? Nah, huh?]
This is an airplane, and this is a terrorist.
[Let's start with the airplane. I love that you can see the word "Experimental" clearly on the upraised door. This particular plane is a variation of a Burt Rutan design (of Spaceship 1 fame amongst many other amazing designs) which has a large, rear wing and a small canard at the nose with a pushing propeller at the rear. From it's earlier appearance behind the banker... or small business owner?... this is a 4 seater which means it is quite small. It's probably smaller than the plane that (white, American) guy crashed into the IRS building last year. You could probably fit several of them inside one of the airliners that brought down the twin towers with the wings on!
The terrorist is lifted from the ground into the frame by Fanelli, as if he was on his knees. Now, though, he has on a white turban that looks like it was wrapped by a protestant child, has a bomb that looks like an orange juice container strapped to his chest (with wires), and has duct tape over his mouth. I'm just guessing that the duct taped mouth is supposed to remind teabaggers of the Abu Ghraib torture pictures which they think is the way to go. You know that shit's gonna hurt coming off. So I guess his message is that the current administration wouldn't recognize that the guy with a bomb strapped to his chest might be up to no good?!? Seriously, Dan. Are you that stupid or are your supporters that stupid? Either way, humanity loses.]
Send me to Washington and get rid of that bum Alan Grayson and I'll make sure that guys like this [points to T1] get nowhere near things like this [points to small plane]. I'm Dan Fanelli and I approve this message.
[Wow. You actually called your opponent a bum after producing this ludicrous ad? You've got some balls, Mr. Fanelli, even if you have no brains.]
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Continuing Ogre-oid: Chinese Children Hacked to Death
Insanity rules. The series of attacks on school children in their schools seems to be a violent expression of economic and social injustice in China. This particular incident appears to stem from a property dispute, probably the State took possession of the killer's farm land to build the school. I can't understand this drive to kill children no matter how often it is explained to me. Does overpopulation play a role in these attacks? When population density collides with upward mobility is this the reaction of the human hive to cull its numbers? If so they're going to have to get with the poison gases and epidemics if they want actual change.
- AP
7 Chinese children, 2 adults hacked to death at China kindergarten; attacker commits suicide
Updated 08:35 PM May 12, 2010
BEIJING (AP) - An attacker with a cleaver has hacked to death seven children and two adults at a kindergarten in northwest China, the latest in a string of savage assaults on the country's schools. Eleven other children were wounded.
The killer, 48-year-old Wu Huanming, returned home after Wednesday's attack on the outskirts of the city of Hanzhong and committed suicide, the local government reported.
The official Xinhua News Agency, citing an initial police investigation, said Wu had feuded over the kindergarten property with its manager, Wu Hongying, who was among the victims.
It was the fifth such major assault on young students in China since late March and occurred despite increased security at schools countrywide.
- AP
Ogre-oid: Oil Industry Fights New Regulation
This article was published at Harper's online site this morning:
It takes real balls for the oil industry to fight against transparency and accountability in the middle of a massive oil spill, but that’s precisely what the American Petroleum Institute (API) is doing at the present moment. Even as the spill pours vast quantities of oil in to the Gulf and threatens Louisiana’s wetlands, API is working hard to defeat an amendment that would require all oil, gas, and mining companies registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to report how much they pay foreign governments for access to resources. The amendment, which supporters are trying to attach to the financial reform bill, is modeled on the Energy Security through Transparency Act, which was introduced last fall by Senators Ben Cardin and Richard Lugar.
“While API supports the goals of the amendment, we oppose the unilateral approach to revenue disclosure taken in the amendment, API feels that requiring only U.S-listed extractive companies to disclose revenues creates a competitive disadvantage for these companies in the global energy marketplace,” the Institute said in a letter to key lawmakers last week. In other words, API opposes the goals of the amendment.
more
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Glimmer of Hope? Tea Party Pressure Begins Melting GOP
So the teabaggers start having a real effect. Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT) is out of the race for the upcoming election. Bennett was eliminated from nomination in the second round of voting at the Utah Republican convention. If Bennett isn't conservative enough for these people (seriously, Bob Bennett, isn't conservative?) then they're liable to push their candidates so far out to the right that none of them can win. I bet they will win in a few places but mostly I think they're going to unseat electable Republicans with lunatics that will be beaten handily by their Democratic (or, I would prefer but know will never happen, independent left wing) opponents.
Republican Hypocrisy, Bondage Style
Today's CJ [I can't find the article Dave is referring to so here is another article about this same thing. -AM] reports that the Republican National Committee fired director Rob Bickhart and deputy Debbie LeHardy over allegations of lavish expenditures and reimbursements to attend a lesbian bondage-themed nightclub in Los Angeles. These are the same homophobes who want to cut spending on education, the arts, health care, and infrastructure because they are not important and a frivolous expense that supports people who do not act in the best interest of society. Ooooh, it hurts so good!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
We're about to record this week's MOpod (a day early) so start e-mailing your questions to mopod@psychicreform.com. And remember, all of our episodes are now available for (free) download at the mopod webpage.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Modus Operandi Podcast episode 16
MOpod episode 16 4/30/2010
(right click to save the mp3 to your hard drive or mp3 player)
This week Alan and Dave are joined by the one and only Boo LaCrosse. Alan and Boo are longtime friends displaced from New Orleans. Boo adds a nice dose of libertarian conspiracy-ness to the discussion.
(right click to save the mp3 to your hard drive or mp3 player)
This week Alan and Dave are joined by the one and only Boo LaCrosse. Alan and Boo are longtime friends displaced from New Orleans. Boo adds a nice dose of libertarian conspiracy-ness to the discussion.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Continuing Ogre-oid: Michael "Brownie" Brown
Ex-FEMA director Michael Brown today claimed that President Obama waited to respond to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico because he wanted an excuse to shut down offshore drilling.
more at TPM
Monday, May 3, 2010
Ogre-oid: BP
See this full set of pictures here.
When obtaining the license to build this enormous oil well that reached over a mile down into the water to drill, baby drill, BP said the chances of an explosion or catastrophic accident was next to zero. Aren't these same people making the same claims about nuclear power plants?Oh, and a little tidbit about this that brings a nostalgic image of the evil Dick Cheney to the mind's eye: Haliburton was the company that did the cementing, a process of injecting cement to line the well cap and the walls of the well to contain the highly explosive gases. Haliburton's cementing is also implicated as the cause of the gigantic Timor oil well blowout last year.
cross posted to my other blog
Obama Tells Rosa Parks to Sit in the Middle of the Bus
ALABAMA, 1950s: Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, boards a public bus and sits at the front, defying segregation laws that state she must sit in the back of the bus. The bus driver, a white male, confronts her.
BUS DRIVER: Hey--you're a colored woman--get your fat ass to the back of the bus where it belongs!
ROSA PARKS: Well, I really think you're position is wrong, but since you're a racist bigot conservative asshole, I will try and be a good citizen and see things from your point of view.
BUS DRIVER: I said get your colored ass back to the bus now, or I'll have the cops beat you and waterhose you!!!
ROSA PARKS: I do see your point. I know--in the name of democracy, why don't we comprise . . . I want to sit in the front, you want me to sit in the back, so I'll sit in the middle of the bus! How's that? Let me count the rows here . . .
Apparently, this revisionist exchange between Rosa Parks and the Confederate bus driver is Barack Obama's political utopia. This weekend at commencement ceremonies at the University of Michigan, the President once again rehashed his banal, uninspiring mantra about how we all need to listen to each other, understand one another's point of view, and work toward comprise. Of course this rigid, oversimplified agnostic logic means that bigoted and hateful positions on social issues must be treated with the same respect and consideration as enlightened and civilized positions. That is where Obama's words betray his shallowness and his cavalier attitude toward leadership. He insists that just because a position is a position that it must be given some credibility. Especially at this point in American history, he is totally off base. After more than thirty years of Republican arch-conservatism, one has to ask: how many more things have to go completely wrong before we stop listening to the people who want us to keep doing the same things? Endless war and suffering in Iraq and Afghanistan. The economy in the pits. Massive environmental damage off the coast of Louisiana--meaning even more people are now out of work. Meanwhile the rich continue to rake it in and the CEO's of investment banks are making record bonuses. Where would Obama himself be if his predecessors in generations past had "listened to the other side and worked toward compromise?" When Martin Luther King declared, "Free at last!" he was not talking about compromise, he was talking about freedom! Why am I or anyone else obliged to comprise with people who want to dominate and control me? When it comes to civil rights and freedom, where is the "middle ground" around which one can compromise? Politics is about who gets their way and who doesn't, and Obama's sugar-coated fairytale of democracy does as much to fight back against tyranny as his reticence toward Arizona's racist and discriminatory immigration laws. I'm 40 years old with a PhD and I don't need Obama to give me a Ronald Reagan-style dummed-down set of instructions on how to participate in my non-existent democracy. First of all, no one should listen to any point of view that lacks credibility. And credibility is as much about values as it is "facts." Any political position based on hatred, punishment, and persecution has no place in a democracy. The fact that millions of people hold dearly to such positions just means there are lots of people who thrive on hatred, punishment, and persecution; it does not validate the vapidness and venom of those views or make them any less incompatible with civilized behavior muchless institutionalized democracy. How pathetic and cowardly is it of America's first (50%) black man in effect to tell the rest of us we must hold bigoted and discriminatory views that degrade and subjugate us on par with our personal dignity? If Obama is right, and what we need is a more civil public discourse, then why would I or anyone else listen to a mob of hate-mongering tyrants in the name of democracy?
BUS DRIVER: Hey--you're a colored woman--get your fat ass to the back of the bus where it belongs!
ROSA PARKS: Well, I really think you're position is wrong, but since you're a racist bigot conservative asshole, I will try and be a good citizen and see things from your point of view.
BUS DRIVER: I said get your colored ass back to the bus now, or I'll have the cops beat you and waterhose you!!!
ROSA PARKS: I do see your point. I know--in the name of democracy, why don't we comprise . . . I want to sit in the front, you want me to sit in the back, so I'll sit in the middle of the bus! How's that? Let me count the rows here . . .
Apparently, this revisionist exchange between Rosa Parks and the Confederate bus driver is Barack Obama's political utopia. This weekend at commencement ceremonies at the University of Michigan, the President once again rehashed his banal, uninspiring mantra about how we all need to listen to each other, understand one another's point of view, and work toward comprise. Of course this rigid, oversimplified agnostic logic means that bigoted and hateful positions on social issues must be treated with the same respect and consideration as enlightened and civilized positions. That is where Obama's words betray his shallowness and his cavalier attitude toward leadership. He insists that just because a position is a position that it must be given some credibility. Especially at this point in American history, he is totally off base. After more than thirty years of Republican arch-conservatism, one has to ask: how many more things have to go completely wrong before we stop listening to the people who want us to keep doing the same things? Endless war and suffering in Iraq and Afghanistan. The economy in the pits. Massive environmental damage off the coast of Louisiana--meaning even more people are now out of work. Meanwhile the rich continue to rake it in and the CEO's of investment banks are making record bonuses. Where would Obama himself be if his predecessors in generations past had "listened to the other side and worked toward compromise?" When Martin Luther King declared, "Free at last!" he was not talking about compromise, he was talking about freedom! Why am I or anyone else obliged to comprise with people who want to dominate and control me? When it comes to civil rights and freedom, where is the "middle ground" around which one can compromise? Politics is about who gets their way and who doesn't, and Obama's sugar-coated fairytale of democracy does as much to fight back against tyranny as his reticence toward Arizona's racist and discriminatory immigration laws. I'm 40 years old with a PhD and I don't need Obama to give me a Ronald Reagan-style dummed-down set of instructions on how to participate in my non-existent democracy. First of all, no one should listen to any point of view that lacks credibility. And credibility is as much about values as it is "facts." Any political position based on hatred, punishment, and persecution has no place in a democracy. The fact that millions of people hold dearly to such positions just means there are lots of people who thrive on hatred, punishment, and persecution; it does not validate the vapidness and venom of those views or make them any less incompatible with civilized behavior muchless institutionalized democracy. How pathetic and cowardly is it of America's first (50%) black man in effect to tell the rest of us we must hold bigoted and discriminatory views that degrade and subjugate us on par with our personal dignity? If Obama is right, and what we need is a more civil public discourse, then why would I or anyone else listen to a mob of hate-mongering tyrants in the name of democracy?
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