MUMBO JUMBO

The Obama Leaves Town phenomenon. No sooner he's on the plane, and mischief breaks out on the Hill. Senator Lindsey "Butters" Graham has pulled out of supporting a bill he helped create on climate change because he was miffed when he heard the immigration reform might go first. The bill was supposed to be tri-partite--Kerry (D.), Graham (R), Leiberman (I.-Knesset). Kerry has cancelled its Monday unveiling. Again over at the Republican ranch, Mitch McConnell, probably so that he can control the news cycle, says his party is unanimous in opposition to financial reform. He apparently hasn't told Olympia Snowe yet. She let drop that she is very eager to pass a bill that tightly regulates derivatives. Orrin Hatch is concerned this would inhibit American innovation--like Enron's old project of weather derivatives, for instance.

The media hyped the first couples weekend out of town as a "middle-class" type vacation to Ashville, North Carolina. People like Cokie Roberts believe the Obamas need to go to someplace normal Americans can relate to--like Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Well, the Free Republic is not having any of it. They claim Ashville is the "gay capital of North Carolina", the "San Francisco of Appalachia". They complain that the major media is not covering this story properly. What will disturb them further is Obama's visit to the 91-year old Rev. Billy Graham whom he has been in contact with. Unlike his son, Franklin, who is aiming to inherit the empire, Billy played a curious role in the civil rights movement, refusing to speak to evangelical gatherings that were segregated, and making it clear he supported a change in the South. Unfortunately, he also got bamboozled in "legitimizing" W's conversion to Christianity because he was considered respectable by Barb, unlike W's Dallas wackjob preacher.

This will not stem the criticism of the Pentagon dis-inviting Franklin Graham to their National Prayer meeting because of his frequently stated comments that Islam is wicked and evil and that the God of Islam is not the same one as the God of Judaism and Christianity. The Fox news crowd and the Baked Alaskan criticize Obama-appointed Pentagon officials--weirdly similar to W's officials--for being "politically correct" on Islam. It just seems to me that if you have hundreds of thousands of military personnel fighting and stationed in the Muslim world then maybe--maybe-- it's best not to pick a religious fight at this time. But that's exactly what they want--our wars in the Middle East are a religious crusade.

The teabagger organizers, Americans for Prosperity,are taking their show to Europe and going to work with Norway's right-wing party to help them organize and work the grassroots action. The Norwegian party happens to focus on illegal Muslim immigrants. It's curious to me that Norway is an oil producer and the financial backers of Americans for Prosperity are--Koch Industries.

Fighting Immigration since 1492. Little Billy Kristol claimed this morning that the new bill in Arizona will only be applied to about a dozen people. It's no big deal. I guess he'll say the same when the Hispanic community is forced to wear yellow sombrero badges on their clothes. Pink panty sheriff Joe Arpaio is an enthusiastic backer of the Juan Crow legislation and is visiting California to try and get them to adopt the same restrictions. New Mexico's Governor Bill Richardson has voiced concerns whether he's going to be picked up when he goes to Arizona Diamondbacks games. While Arizona may want to ethnically cleanse the state so that only white people will remain in Seizure City, it has accelerated Hispanic activism both there and across the country. The author of the bill Russell Pearce is a close "confidente" of the local neo-Nazi movement and regularly circulates white power e-mails to his supporters and cronies. The local Patriot militia movement is now recruiting vets with "kill records" to mobilize an armed force to monitor the borders. Local border sheriffs have told people that this isn't the wisest idea,particularly as the drug cartel can outgun the militias. The whole episode is a recipe for disaster. National Police Associations have weighed in opposing the law, because it interferes with real law enforcement work. Maybe everyone should just rent "No Country for Old Men" as a primer for what's going to happen. But who will "Walnuts" McCain use to cut the lawns at his 14 homes?

But who will stop the illegal invasion of America by the Canadians? Canadians constitute the fourth-leading group of illegals in the country. They will probably force us all to sing "The Lumberjack Song" in an effort to feminize the American male. Will we have to carry loonies?The Poles are number 10 and Ireland is number 17 in the illegal hit parade. FYI--a plurality of illegal immigrants are white collar workers. Maybe Arizona should start looking in office buildings instead of the barrio.

A Mexican-American was jailed in Arizona two days ago for not having a birth certificate on him when he went to the truck weigh station. Now, I know I don't have my birth certificate on me or even know at this point where to find it. And for "birthers" I'm in real trouble because I don't have a long-form, live birth certificate and was never given one so I guess I can't run for the Presidency, despite my votes in three states in 1972. Also, I am very certain that my forebears never came to the United States legally--there was no immigration at the time. So I'm in big trouble. And with the Patriot Act, allowing the government to strip anyone of their citizenship, I'm in even bigger trouble.

From a political point of view, it's the Arizona action that will mobilize those very groups the Republicans don't want voting in the mid-terms. Their whole strategy is to mobilize their base, depress the Democrats base and count on the usual low turnout for blacks, Hispanics and students. With a 37% turnout--the average of an off year election, 18% of the country are considered teabaggers so Republicans figured they had a lock. I'm suggesting that the Arizona immigration law, the Virginia anti-gay and pro-Confederate and anti-climate change laws, Chrissie destroying the public education system in New Jersey, and other state-wide mayhems will generate a much larger turnouts of the Democratic base than previously thought.

While some of us struggle to discover why and how the radical right seems to dominate our airspace and the news coverage of the Obama era, Neal Gabler writes "Screaming Extremism" in today's Boston Globe. The piece goes at the phenomenon from a more psychological perspective, citing the results of Johns Hopkins University studies on crowds and group reactions. He claims that we are likely to see more extremism, not less both here and abroad because ideology now works in a globalized information environment. Since we are now saturated with information, there is a greater urge for people to want to be heard. The way you get heard is to be aggressive and loud. "The savage movement and vicious individual gets more attention." They are more dedicated to standing out amid the clutter and they have to go further in their actions to do so. Gabler warns that any cause now can justify violence because this serves as a form of advertising. And he says quite frankly we reward high-decibel hate in the form of the lucrative livings made by the Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs of the world. We have now integrated extremism into our own entertainment world and our politics. He says extremism works.

So maybe conservatives are right. According to the National Journal poll, 56% of the right wants the Republican Party to be more closely aligned with the teaparty crowd; another 22% want it to be very closely tied to the teaparty group. For the good of the country, they're not right.

But who are the teabaggers? At the Tax Day teabagger event in Washington D.C., a Republican pollster conducted a survey that reveals a dramatic split within the group between the Christianists and the Libertarians. The two top candidates for President are Palin at 15% and Ron Paul at 12%. 43% of teabaggers say they are "value voters" (Christianists) and 42% say they are libertarians. One-third make over $100K; 62% earn over $62K. 49% are between the ages of 45 and 62. 64% are male and only 36% are women ( Democrats take note.) One-third claim they own a small business.

12% of the teabaggers claim they voted for Barack Obama. And stunningly, 11% will vote for him again in 2012. Another 27% do not know whether they will vote in the next election (2010). 53% of those surveyed will not vote for Sarah Palin--period.

51% believe that the Government should not promote any private values. 46% believe the government should actively promote "traditional values". In comparison, a Gallup poll of Republicans says that 67% believe the government should promote "traditional values". This indicates how far the GOP has gone to be a prisoner of the Religious Right.

So why are they angry? The least important issue for them is same-sex marriage. But 59% of the Palin crowd are angry about this. 48% of the teabaggers are angry about the moral direction of the country. 50% are angry about abortion. 73% are angry about government intrusion into the private lives of Americans. I would have loved the pollster to have broken the last answer out to get some idea what government intrusion means.


The Traditional Values Coalition are proud of being included as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They sent out a press release yesterday exclaiming this. SPLC says that they foment hate against gays--which they do.

Dr.Tiller's killer is upset with jail and has filed a habeas corpus suit wanting out. He claims that the judge was too tough on his bail requests citing the possibility he would engage in further violence. I guess you might get that impression since he was part of the "sovereign citizen" movement, regularly communicated his desires to kill abortion doctors to Operation Rescue, and gunned Dr. Tiller down in his church while the doctor was gathering the collection from the congregation. But maybe he's had change of heart.

If you want to get a feel of any future impeachment charges against President Obama, just follow Representative Issa as he tries to pin everything from SEC employees watching porno, the Goldman Sachs case, and the acceptance by the auto industry of higher gas mileage. These are all trial balloons to lay the groundwork if the Republicans win back the House. Right now, he's trying everything and seeing whether anything sticks.