When Things Get Tough,The Weird Get Going

Australia has announced it will arrest Sarah Palin if she travels there because she urged violence on one of the country's citizens, Julien Assange, Mr. Wikileaks.

Seymour Hersh has a new book coming out that says that 8 or 9 neoconservatives hijacked our government and that a cabal of the Knights of Malta and Opus Dei guide our military adventures abroad. Why not? It's as plausible as anything else.

The California Highway Patrol has stepped up its investigations into the death threats against Jerry Brown.

Rudy Guiliani says that he will run for the Republican presidential nomination if Sarah Palin does. Guiliani hopes to gather support as a moderate. Poor Rudy. He's been away from the GOP for a while. Even George W. Bush couldn't run as a Republican now.

While Barack Obama's re-election office will be in Chicago, Newt Gingrich is going to locate his in Georgia. I wonder whether he's going to invite the men in sheets to participate in the grand-opening.

Barack is running ahead of all Republicans in the swing states with the exception of being behind by a point to Huckabee in North Carolina. But watch out Mitt is running only one or two behind in the pivotal Midwestern states. Here in the land of the Cooch, Obama beats all comers by big margins. I would like to see a PPP poll of Palin versus Obama in Texas.

Speaking of classy, the Teabagger who lost to Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson called today for a special election and said he wants to run again. The former Marine captured news for holding a fund-raiser by having guests shoot M-16s at targets with Giffords' face on them.

I hope the news of Giffords' recovery is accurate but I can't conceive of a recovery that will be anything but brutal.

Rachel Maddow has spent the week exploring our tendency to violence. Nancy Pelosi gave her the best subject to focus on--mental health. The healthcare bill actually created parity for mental health treatment--which is long overdue. Meanwhile mental health funding is being cut across the states.

There is little or no chance for any serious gun control legislation,despite Dr. Maddow eloquent arguments. The fact of the matter is we are an enormously violent people and have mythologized violence so it has been so deeply internalized in our speech and actions. But one welcomes her delving into the issue once again. The attractive part of the Rachel Maddow show is that Dr. Maddow remains intellectually curious and wants to raise questions which others are too lazy or cynical to ask. Good for her.

It looks like the lab tests of the Spokane bomb are yielding clues that indicate the culprits live in nearby neighborhoods.

Mike Malloy went on a justifiably rampage on the air last night concerning one Glenn Beck. People had drawn a moral equivalence between Malloy's wishing ill on conservatives and the current violent rhetoric on right-wing talk radio. Last night he talked about Glenn Beck's obsession with Frances Fox Piven, the 78-year old City College professor and political theorist. Beck has been fixated on Dr.Piven calling her "an enemy of the constitution" and claiming her recent article in the Nation called for violent revolution, which it did not. Mike Malloy read the death threats against Piven on Glenn beck's own website and asked why a moderator did not shut down the violent threats against her. One person posted her home address and phone number. In the past week, Dr. Piven has reported receiving direct death threats because of Beck's tirades. The former chair of the American Sociological Association once proposed in 1966 the provocative idea that people overwhelm the public welfare rolls to bring about a guaranteed national income. Beck claims that ideas like these have made our economic system unsustainable.

The good news is that the Center for Constitutional Rights has mailed a letter to Roger Ailes, Beck's boss and mentor,requesting Ailes "order Mr. Beck to cease and desist his allegations against Dr. Piven." I wondered when some action would be taken on this issue. Beck is already linked to three cases of attempted assassination--the famous Tides Foundation case, the Pittsburgh police killings and the death threats against a Washington congresswoman.

While writing this, Keith Olbermann signed off on his last Countdown. Wonder what that is all about. MSNBC thanked Keith and sort of implied don't let the door hit you on your way out. One wonders about the corporate hijinks involved. The Young Turk now takes the 6pm slot and the rest is murky.

This also reminds me of some recent beefs with the progressives on their concerns about Barack Obama. It is true that Social Security has absolutely nothing to due with our national debt. While Republicans are chomping at the bit to eliminate social security, why all this concern about President Obama. Even the Catfood Commission with DLCer Erskine Bowles and conservative Alan Simpson repeatedly defended the centrality of social security to our social welfare system and only suggested the raising of the retirement age about a generation down the pike. The raise in retirement went up a year after a couple of decades and about 50 years further it would be two years up. In any event, it would affect my son by a year, and if I had grandchildren maybe two years. This proposal has drawn constant fire and the progressive caucus is up in arms challenging President Obama to defend social security. I respect the caucus to do so if they trained their guns at the real enemy, instead of the President.

The same applies to this criticism of Obama calling for a re-evaluation of business regulations. Here he already has implemented an overhaul of our food security system for the first time since the 1930s,created a Consumer Protection Agency, restricted offshore drilling, toughened mine regulations, passed financial reform. Why the concern that he would undo everything he has just fought for. This guy doesn't get a break from the Right or the Left. But at least the Left nowadays raises policy criticisms or concerns, while the Right has nothing left upstairs anymore.

As I wrote before President Obama looks like he has done Boehner's work for him, cutting $58 billion in the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Coupled with the previous cuts ordered by Gates, Obama is now clocking in at about $100 billion in cuts, the target number for Republicans. FYI--President Obama also cut the deficit this year. You won't hear that on the major networks.

President Obama is moving toward Tuesday's speech with some significant news on the economic front and his own ideas about thoughtfully and gradually cutting the national debt. While the Washington Post thought the China-U.S. Summit was a symbolic success, it complained about its accomplishments. This seems to be the meme of every Summit. We didn't hear about the trade deals with India when he was there, we heard about his temporary failure in South Korea but not his ultimate success, and now we do not hear about the trade deals which will mean 230,000 more jobs for Americans.

The Council for Budget Priorities is out with their analysis of the Republican Study Group's prosed $2.5 trillion budget cut. They concluded it would gut vital government services. Interestingly, a recent poll shows that across the political spectrum the number 1 item to be cut is military spending. The House Republicans are claiming a mandate unlike the President Obama's victory with the largest popular vote in history. Somehow winning the House means a mandate. However, according to polls, the number one priority for the American people is jobs,cutting government spending is low on the list. It also should be remembered that both McCain and Obama ran on health reform but the House GOP has no plan to replace what they just repealed. Without any healthreform,the national debt will balloon unchecked for two decades. Likewise, they refuse to cut defense spending even though a plurality of Republicans support this and do not support cuts to Medicare and Social Security. The real problem is that having lost a decade already we can lost another one.

In the State of the Union, President Obama will have to lift us again,reassuring the American people that we are not in decline and that we must raise to the occasion to develop the technologies and energy sources for the 21st century. It's almost as if he must ignore the noise of the Right and maintain his steady composure as he tries to carve out the Vital Center. It is no mean task. Over two-thirds of our states face bankruptcy or its equivalent and without structural change we are looking at a permanent 8 percent unemployment figure. The social network is frayed and a whole sector of our society has abandoned the idea of a common good. Even if it is delusional, President Obama has to invoke the myths that strike a chord within the hardest of hearts. He also must remind America that its strength derives from diversity and replenishing our talents with immigrants. Somehow he must find the words to silence the growing voices for isolationism and xenophobia. This is his last chance before the end of his term. It's one of the few moments he can speak above the Congress directly to the American people.

Gore Vidal still is right, "President Barack Obama is too smart for the people he leads". Let's hope our Black Pilgrim meets the challenge.

Saturday Night Special

You can thank Glenn Beck for bringing the churches together. Tonight 25 Catholic theologians and evangelical leaders endorsed the health reform bill. The Catholic Health Group and the organization of Catholic hospitals approved on the abortion language in the bill. The U.S. Conference of Bishops and the Catholic Alliance for the Public Good also endorsed it. Seems the "social gospel" has some teeth after all.

One beef with classic Christians on this Glenn Beck flap--they have requested a dialogue with him. How Christian. Maybe the strict Calvinists have the right idea--Burn him at the stake.

Paul Krugman does his own analysis of Glenn Beck on "Born to Run" with a view that the unemployed Vietnam vet in the song is frustrated about finding work is what annoys Beck. Clearly, he would have gotten a job if he really wanted one. Hence, the vet is unpatriotic.

The other great "American artists" Beck defamed were The Beatles! Is that great? Maybe he was thinking about John becoming an American citizen. At his Rally To Restore Honor, Beck should call for the burning of all Beatle albums because John said the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus." Apparently, it takes Beck that long to catch up with popular culture.

Our condolences to Keith Olbermann and his sister for the loss of his father today. Theodore Olbermann (1929-2010) was a self-taught architect, who at one time designed literally every one of the Baskin-Robbins stores around the country. During the prolonged illness, Keith Olbermann used his experience with our health care system to dramatize the need for its overhaul. He pointed out that he and his father were fortunate because he could afford to pay for his father's illness, while a childhood friend he met in the same hospital literally had to sell his farm to care for his sick relatives.

Later, as the illness progressed, he used the occasion to talk about living wills and families discussing the options for the last days. This information was valuable and should be heeded by everyone. As Keith pointed out, these medical directives are really "life panels" not the death panels discussed by Sarah Palin and others. Having had to executive two medical directives for both my parents, it is emotionally hard but at the same time one is carrying out their real last wishes. And the decision was made for you. It was not yours alone to make. These are decisions made by the living as they consciously reflect on what medical measures should or not be taken to artifically extend life.

Despite all the pundits claiming Nancy Pelosi doesn't have the votes to pass the healthcare bill--the Hill, Firedoglake,Politico among others--she told the AP today she is confident she has the votes. So the vote has been scheduled for next weekend-- as of now.

I wondered how Republicans are going to run in the 2010 campaign. First, like good film directors, you edit out the bad scenes. And you run on the present circumstances without reference to how we got here. For instance, I watched the new ad by Carly Fiorina against Barbara Boxer. "Carly" is running against a tired political hack who is more interested in herself. A Clever projection. Boxer as a liberal Democrat is characterized by her past behavior of raising taxes. There is no mention of voting for the largest middle class tax cut in history. The stimulus-- that was Boxer wanting more Federal Government spending, while California suffers from X percent unemployment. The stimulus is then linked to the Federal Government's $12 trillion deficit. So--raising taxes,no jobs, deficit and thinking of herself. Then while Terrorists plot to blow up airliners, Boxer thinks climate change is a threat to national security. She is for a climate change bill which The Wall Street Journal claims is the "biggest tax hike" in history. But, why don't we have A Change from the tired old career politician. Carly is a self-made women, who worked her way up and "only in America" could she run one of the world's largest corporations and she created tons of jobs. (Where she doesn't say and the Democrats should ask--since it wasn't in the United States.) So all the coded messages are there. Naturally, Carly doesn't say what she would actually do. A person who could make large profits for their company is a success and obviously will make government a success.

This seems to be the line of attack. Republicans are the premier marketing expert. Remember Making of a President by Joe McGinnis about Nixon's controlled media campaign. You have this controlled media campaign right now in Meg Whitman's run for Governor of California but in today's world there is Youtube. So, it's best not to throw a reporter out of a fake press conference or be caught turning a rally into an informercial without the audience's consent.

Today Scott Brown answered President Obama's morning radio address with an attack on the President "bitterly pushing healthcare reform while the country needs jobs." The line is he and the Democrats have wasted a year and a half doing nothing but working on healthcare reform while the rest of the country is unemployed, begging for jobs. This has been the refrain from John Boehner.

And, gentlemen, what would you do to create jobs? Given that you have opposed the stimulus package that has created 2.1 million jobs and the new jobs bill itself. Why, Cut taxes on corporations --those great job creators? And, they stress also tax breaks for small businesses. But here they are far behind the Obama Administration as more details about the President's program will come forth in the next few months. And, how do you reduce deficits? Why, adopt our man Ryan's plan to cut all entitlement spending.

After seeing the Carly ad, I'm convinced the pitch for new faces in Washington with private sector experience and the broad pitch without specifics can be effective. I expect you will see the same in the future from Mitt Romney.

Charles Cook, who believes the Democrats will lose the House this year, answered the DailyKos, who criticized his position. Cook recites all the negatives for Democrats and invokes his conversations with Beltway Democratic operatives. He accuses the Left of acting like The Right did in 2006 when he predicted heavy losses for the Republicans. His critics listed all the times he has gotten things wrong this century. To which he replies you have to compare that with predictions of others and he sniffs he makes a living at this. And we admittedly are all rank amateurs whatever your party.

But I'm still skeptical, even after seeing what I believe are the broad lines of the Republican attack. In 1994, when Republicans took the House for the first time in,I believe, forty years, there was a perception that the House had become one-party rule. There were a series of scandals for the Democrats that outweighed Republican scandals, which would come later. And there was one very important fact, which Democrats at the time would not admit, the Republican Party had become for the first time in my life the predominant party in American life. Party identification with the GOP surpassed identification with Democrats.

Today, Democrats far surpasss Republicans in party identification. The GOP is at the lowest levels since Goldwater lost in 1964. Also, the Republican Party is also the farthest right it has been in history. Having the House switch back after the Democrats have only been in control for four years and only had the Presidency for one seems pretty peculiar. Maybe recruiting people who were a success in the private sector is a way to proceed but I am very skeptical.

One thing you can be sure of--the Republicans will not campaign on what they truly believe or will do once in power. There will be no transparency about policy. It's all about power, not policy. And whatever policy there is, just watch who will financially profit.

An FYI--I have long held that business people are unsuited to politics. I don't believe they understand the woof and weave of politics and how to handle and persuade people. They have too much of a command-control mentality that quickly turns to disaster when they exercise political authority. They lend themselves to the authoritarian mind of the Republican Party but would be a disaster running a country. And recent private sector people lack all sense of proportion--witness the salaries that granted themselves. They didn't even consider the long term consequences for the well-being of their own corporations.

White Stripes new album next week.