++Everybody is cheering the firing of Bryan Fischer at AFA. But think about the implications of this. The AFA, not only is organizing but funding the RNC's trip to support the re-election of Bibi. No one would know about the American Family Association without Bryan Fischer. He has been their public face and their voice for the Obama years. They wouldn't have gotten to the Big Show without him.
++The first sign anyone focuses their attention on the group and complains they have bizarre and outlandish beliefs they throw Fischer under the bus. They still have not abandoned their beliefs. And Rightwing Watch and millions of Americans are deprived of entertainment. But AFA still gets to sponsor the trip for the National Republican Party. It only rejected Fischer's statement that the Holocaust was caused by gays but not his view that Judaism is a fake religion. I guess that Jewish guy who was crucified had a fake religion.
++Rev. Hagee was never fired when he called for a Second Holocaust--yes, he did. And Bibi greeted him after this statement instead of Joe Biden, who has been a staunch ally of Israel for his entire political life. The only reason the GOP disowned him was that he went after Catholics but Bibi never did.
++What is also an affront is Vishnu Jindal erasing Prophetess Cindy Jacobs call for people to attend his Prayer Rally. I love Cindy Jacobs. She is real Americana and not of the vicious kind, just loopy.She was probably the only draw to that event at LSU.
++Now this brings us back to Bibi and his alliance with people thought pernicious by Americans. Remember the Queen of Birthers, Orly Taitz and her frequent legal suits pretending President Obama couldn't be President. She bragged that Bibi friended her on Facebook and for once she actually produced the screenshot proving it. He never unfriended her.
++Now about gays and the Holocaust, do you realize when Auschwitz was liberated that the gays were put back inside to "serve out their time". True. You can look it up as Casey Stengel would say.
++For my personal entertainment, I call on AFA to rehire Bryan Fischer and apologize to him.
++Now during a time of Holocaust anniversaries, why doesn't anyone comment on the Koch Brothers dear aunt. Amazingly, she was convicted by the Nazis for stealing from prisoners in the death camps. Can you imagine! That's rough. She was tried by the allies and pressure by Americans was put to get her off and then she was tried by the Germans.
Showing posts with label Orly Taitz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orly Taitz. Show all posts
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Bizarro Americano
My web silence was an exercise in self-control. Otherwise I would be screaming and have to be put away in a rubber room. The flap over Park 51 is absolutely one of the most disgusting displays of bigotry in a year filled with them. I was waiting when the Republicans could come up with some patriotic kitsch to accuse Democrats of being un-patriotic. Karl Rove this morning went on television saying that President Obama hurt America's image abroad by endorsing the Muslim community center. I think sanctioning torture may have a more negative effect on our image than our President defending the Constitution of the United States and freedom of religion.
The reader would do well to read the New York Times coverage of the original project and the overwhelming response in Manhattan when it was proposed in December and the enthusiasm for the center's imam, who is a sufi. Yesterday, Fox news' radical Muslim cleric, the new Jeremiah Wright, was exposed by Huffington Post as an adviser to the FBI on counter-terrorism. But it doesn't matter. Senator Cornyn sent out a stream of e-mails from the National Republican Senate Committee asking voters to demand the position of the mosque from each Democratic candidate in the toss-up Senate races. Officially,the so-called mosque is now an wedge issue. Rep. King of New York had previously said immigration would be the wedge issue. But it looks like they have found one with more emotive punch. And it doesn't matter if you rationally dissect the whole argument.
It's important to see the logic of this episode for what it reveals about what we have come from during the Bush era. The "un-patriotic" position is to defend the constitution and the right of freedom to worship, the patriotic position is to ignore and violate the constitution for the nation's good. We barely lived through eight years of that nonsense but the "mosque" episode shows how in-grained this mentality is among conservatives. If we are to be "sensitive" to the feelings of the 9-11 families, could we at least recognize that 400 of the 3,300+ who died that day were Muslims.
Taking that logic further, Greta Van Cistern suggested that Glenn Beck should change the venue of "Restore His Honor" rally from the Lincoln Memorial where Dr. King gave his "Dream" speech to somewhere else because it offends "some people"--like me. And what about all those confederate memorials, when my family lost half its males in the Civil War. On the John Stewart Show, they came up with another logical consequence of this attitude. Catholic Churches have the right to build churches near grammar schools but should they, given recent scandals?
Hitler fan, Pat Buchanan actually acted as a voice of reason by saying that Newt Gingrich had gone too far about likening the community center to Nazis putting up signs near the Holocaust Museum or the Japanese putting up a Shinto temple near Pearl Harbor. Pat explained this as Newt having to ramp up the rhetoric because he is aiming at the same base as Sarah Palin in 2012. Mike Barnacle called Newt a political arsonist. Former Bush appointees and Republican Muslim-Americans appeared to express horror at the whole firestorm and say that there were no adults left in the Republican Party. Many of the orginal critics started pulling back saying they were for the right of Muslims to worship but they don't have to exercise that right. And now it really are the Democrats who have the problem because they are wishy-washy compared to the strong "real Americans".
Meanwhile in Texas, the courts ruled that a Sikh Temple, which had just been built, had to be destroyed because it offended wealthy suburbanites who worried their property values would be depressed. You might recall shortly after 9-11 Texans took to killing Sikhs because they thought they were Muslims. The Sikhs had to take to the airwaves to explain their religion and how they were not "them". I can't wait what will happen when the revised Texas school books go into effect.
The Queen of the Birthers, Orly Taitz lost her Supreme Court case. She had appealed her fine for wasting the court's time. First she tried teabag friendly Clarence "Chuckles" Thomas who turned her down. She then sought to authenticate his signature. Then she sought Judge Alito, who referred her request to the whole Supreme Court. Its ruling means that she can't pester them again.
In positive news, Rod the Blago was only convicted on one count in his corruption case. I know he's a scoundrel but he's entertaining in his ineptitude. The one count is something that has bugged me about federal cases for some time. Rod was convicted of "lying to the FBI". If you listened to his press statement, he said that he told the FBI agent he wanted a court stenographer to record the interview and the FBI refused. I am sure some lawyer will tell me why lying to the FBI when you are not under oath or charged with anything is a crime. But what about the law against self-incrimination?
The judge ruled a mistrial on the remaining charges. Now that Rod is broke, Illinois taxpayers will have to foot his defense bill. The prosecutors argued that just because Rod was inept and could not pull his pay-to-play off still is a crime. I can understand why a juror might have a tough time finding guilt if a crime wasn't pulled off. Rod was lucky he got a jury trial because they represent only 1% of all federal trials. Former Supreme Court Justice Reinhquist warned the American legal profession that this trend was seriously threatening the right in America of a trial by jury. The primary reason for this is that defendents can not afford a defense and often the feds use Rico Laws to seize one's assets before any guilty pleas. In this case, the prosecution wanted to seize Rod's house.
The Ninth Circuit Court granted a stay on the Prop 8 ruling until the appeal is heard. The first and most important thing is that they granted a stay but did not discuss at all the reasons for it. The Prop 8 proponents argued that the gay couples, who brought the constitutional challenge, would not be harmed by a stay because they didn't plan to get married that week anyway. The good news is that the Ninth Circuit wants the case resolved quickly and adjusted their calender from December to September to begin hearings. Lastly, they requested Prop 8 proponents to show why this case should not be dismissed for lack of standing. Judge Vaughn Walker has already argued that they would not have standing in this case. A law professor wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the anti-gay crowd may be hoisted by the conservative petard because courts have severely restricted who has standing in various cases from environmental policy through other general interest cases. In this case, the Ninth Circuit has assigned a Merits Committee to rule on standing by December 6.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history, has endorsed the McColm Social Security plan of ending the cap on the FICA tax. Sanders wrote an op-ed calling out all those claiming Social Security is going bankrupt and pointing out what everyone has been saying that it can pay out every dime to people through 2039 and then it could only pay out 78% of the benefits owed. With the end of the cap on the tax, it would last an additional 75 years into the 22nd century.
Poor Paul Krugman, a Nobel prize winning economist, has to do battle with the Social Security crowd. His op-ed in the New York Times barely contained his annoyance with the stupidity of those arguing for a cut in benefits and an extension in age. This time Bernie Sanders sounded more professorial. Krugman does make the point that demographics may mean that the 2039 date for the trust fund may never come. It's just a hypothetical that economists believe may not be real.
Whoops. The Roper poll paid by AARP showed that 85% of adults oppose cutting Social Security to reduce the deficit and 72% "strongly oppose". Two-Thirds say their family would be hit hard if Social Security were cut. 80% say that Social Security alleviates the financial burden of taking care of parents. What's interesting is that the poll found that only 21% knew that if the Trust Fund were exhausted that Social Security would still pay only slightly reduced benefits.
The Roper Poll found that half of all non-retired adults would be willing to pay higher payroll taxes and 57% of those under 50 would be willing to pay such a tax so that Social Security would be there for them.
I awoke this morning to see a Christian television network broadcast a presentation by a white male in his 30s about why Democracy as an experiment was doomed to fail. This character explained that everyone could vote--that was the problem. The informed and the ill-informed. The informed ,according to him, were those who understood "the authentic common good", who had the long term interests of the civilization in mind. These people voted pro-life, anti-gay marriage and for God's laws. The uniformed voted for abortion on demand so they could have endless sex without consequences and the self-gratification of same sex relations. These uninformed were all narcissistic, showing the fallen nature of mankind. By voting in this manner, they were destroying civilization.
The only solution for this white male was a "benevolent dictatorship", which would enforce Christian values and prevent human beings from falling into self-destructive behavior. America was a good experiment but it was doomed to fail because of its sinfulness. This new form of government would preserve civilization from the "barbarians" like the Christian kingdoms of Europe in the Middle Ages. The only citizens with rights would be God's people. I wonder who makes that decision. It reminds me more Salazar in Portugal than Franco in Spain. This new ideal. I want to create a theocracy under the rule of the spaghetti monster. Frankly, I have never heard such alarming nonsense said in a matter-of-fact way even on the most extreme websites.
To lighten the mood, I have been listening to Brian Wilson's "Re-imaging Gershwin". Some cuts are great and others tend to spoil the Gershwin with Beach Boy production values.
The reader would do well to read the New York Times coverage of the original project and the overwhelming response in Manhattan when it was proposed in December and the enthusiasm for the center's imam, who is a sufi. Yesterday, Fox news' radical Muslim cleric, the new Jeremiah Wright, was exposed by Huffington Post as an adviser to the FBI on counter-terrorism. But it doesn't matter. Senator Cornyn sent out a stream of e-mails from the National Republican Senate Committee asking voters to demand the position of the mosque from each Democratic candidate in the toss-up Senate races. Officially,the so-called mosque is now an wedge issue. Rep. King of New York had previously said immigration would be the wedge issue. But it looks like they have found one with more emotive punch. And it doesn't matter if you rationally dissect the whole argument.
It's important to see the logic of this episode for what it reveals about what we have come from during the Bush era. The "un-patriotic" position is to defend the constitution and the right of freedom to worship, the patriotic position is to ignore and violate the constitution for the nation's good. We barely lived through eight years of that nonsense but the "mosque" episode shows how in-grained this mentality is among conservatives. If we are to be "sensitive" to the feelings of the 9-11 families, could we at least recognize that 400 of the 3,300+ who died that day were Muslims.
Taking that logic further, Greta Van Cistern suggested that Glenn Beck should change the venue of "Restore His Honor" rally from the Lincoln Memorial where Dr. King gave his "Dream" speech to somewhere else because it offends "some people"--like me. And what about all those confederate memorials, when my family lost half its males in the Civil War. On the John Stewart Show, they came up with another logical consequence of this attitude. Catholic Churches have the right to build churches near grammar schools but should they, given recent scandals?
Hitler fan, Pat Buchanan actually acted as a voice of reason by saying that Newt Gingrich had gone too far about likening the community center to Nazis putting up signs near the Holocaust Museum or the Japanese putting up a Shinto temple near Pearl Harbor. Pat explained this as Newt having to ramp up the rhetoric because he is aiming at the same base as Sarah Palin in 2012. Mike Barnacle called Newt a political arsonist. Former Bush appointees and Republican Muslim-Americans appeared to express horror at the whole firestorm and say that there were no adults left in the Republican Party. Many of the orginal critics started pulling back saying they were for the right of Muslims to worship but they don't have to exercise that right. And now it really are the Democrats who have the problem because they are wishy-washy compared to the strong "real Americans".
Meanwhile in Texas, the courts ruled that a Sikh Temple, which had just been built, had to be destroyed because it offended wealthy suburbanites who worried their property values would be depressed. You might recall shortly after 9-11 Texans took to killing Sikhs because they thought they were Muslims. The Sikhs had to take to the airwaves to explain their religion and how they were not "them". I can't wait what will happen when the revised Texas school books go into effect.
The Queen of the Birthers, Orly Taitz lost her Supreme Court case. She had appealed her fine for wasting the court's time. First she tried teabag friendly Clarence "Chuckles" Thomas who turned her down. She then sought to authenticate his signature. Then she sought Judge Alito, who referred her request to the whole Supreme Court. Its ruling means that she can't pester them again.
In positive news, Rod the Blago was only convicted on one count in his corruption case. I know he's a scoundrel but he's entertaining in his ineptitude. The one count is something that has bugged me about federal cases for some time. Rod was convicted of "lying to the FBI". If you listened to his press statement, he said that he told the FBI agent he wanted a court stenographer to record the interview and the FBI refused. I am sure some lawyer will tell me why lying to the FBI when you are not under oath or charged with anything is a crime. But what about the law against self-incrimination?
The judge ruled a mistrial on the remaining charges. Now that Rod is broke, Illinois taxpayers will have to foot his defense bill. The prosecutors argued that just because Rod was inept and could not pull his pay-to-play off still is a crime. I can understand why a juror might have a tough time finding guilt if a crime wasn't pulled off. Rod was lucky he got a jury trial because they represent only 1% of all federal trials. Former Supreme Court Justice Reinhquist warned the American legal profession that this trend was seriously threatening the right in America of a trial by jury. The primary reason for this is that defendents can not afford a defense and often the feds use Rico Laws to seize one's assets before any guilty pleas. In this case, the prosecution wanted to seize Rod's house.
The Ninth Circuit Court granted a stay on the Prop 8 ruling until the appeal is heard. The first and most important thing is that they granted a stay but did not discuss at all the reasons for it. The Prop 8 proponents argued that the gay couples, who brought the constitutional challenge, would not be harmed by a stay because they didn't plan to get married that week anyway. The good news is that the Ninth Circuit wants the case resolved quickly and adjusted their calender from December to September to begin hearings. Lastly, they requested Prop 8 proponents to show why this case should not be dismissed for lack of standing. Judge Vaughn Walker has already argued that they would not have standing in this case. A law professor wrote in the Los Angeles Times that the anti-gay crowd may be hoisted by the conservative petard because courts have severely restricted who has standing in various cases from environmental policy through other general interest cases. In this case, the Ninth Circuit has assigned a Merits Committee to rule on standing by December 6.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history, has endorsed the McColm Social Security plan of ending the cap on the FICA tax. Sanders wrote an op-ed calling out all those claiming Social Security is going bankrupt and pointing out what everyone has been saying that it can pay out every dime to people through 2039 and then it could only pay out 78% of the benefits owed. With the end of the cap on the tax, it would last an additional 75 years into the 22nd century.
Poor Paul Krugman, a Nobel prize winning economist, has to do battle with the Social Security crowd. His op-ed in the New York Times barely contained his annoyance with the stupidity of those arguing for a cut in benefits and an extension in age. This time Bernie Sanders sounded more professorial. Krugman does make the point that demographics may mean that the 2039 date for the trust fund may never come. It's just a hypothetical that economists believe may not be real.
Whoops. The Roper poll paid by AARP showed that 85% of adults oppose cutting Social Security to reduce the deficit and 72% "strongly oppose". Two-Thirds say their family would be hit hard if Social Security were cut. 80% say that Social Security alleviates the financial burden of taking care of parents. What's interesting is that the poll found that only 21% knew that if the Trust Fund were exhausted that Social Security would still pay only slightly reduced benefits.
The Roper Poll found that half of all non-retired adults would be willing to pay higher payroll taxes and 57% of those under 50 would be willing to pay such a tax so that Social Security would be there for them.
I awoke this morning to see a Christian television network broadcast a presentation by a white male in his 30s about why Democracy as an experiment was doomed to fail. This character explained that everyone could vote--that was the problem. The informed and the ill-informed. The informed ,according to him, were those who understood "the authentic common good", who had the long term interests of the civilization in mind. These people voted pro-life, anti-gay marriage and for God's laws. The uniformed voted for abortion on demand so they could have endless sex without consequences and the self-gratification of same sex relations. These uninformed were all narcissistic, showing the fallen nature of mankind. By voting in this manner, they were destroying civilization.
The only solution for this white male was a "benevolent dictatorship", which would enforce Christian values and prevent human beings from falling into self-destructive behavior. America was a good experiment but it was doomed to fail because of its sinfulness. This new form of government would preserve civilization from the "barbarians" like the Christian kingdoms of Europe in the Middle Ages. The only citizens with rights would be God's people. I wonder who makes that decision. It reminds me more Salazar in Portugal than Franco in Spain. This new ideal. I want to create a theocracy under the rule of the spaghetti monster. Frankly, I have never heard such alarming nonsense said in a matter-of-fact way even on the most extreme websites.
To lighten the mood, I have been listening to Brian Wilson's "Re-imaging Gershwin". Some cuts are great and others tend to spoil the Gershwin with Beach Boy production values.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
June Primaries
Last night I watched as every network, pundit, Politico, Karl Rove predicted Bill Halter would win the Democratic primary in Arkansas. Virtually everyone in the Beltway predicted it. So there is a lesson here--the pundits don't know anything and they are overpaid to not know anything. It was an early night as Blanche Lincoln won her primary. Either way, it looks like the next Senator from Arkansas will be the extreme-right wing Republican Boozman. Of course, Blanche received a little help with some suspicious closing of stations in her rival's areas of strength.
The sultry Sikh Nikki Haley is on the verge of winning the Republican nominee for Governor of South Carolina. She promises to resign if people really prove she had two affairs. In the state, the shocker for Republicans was that incumbent congressman Bob Inglis looks like he will lose the run-off to an even farther right-winger. The other upset was the impossible victory of Alvin Greene, an unemployed vet, as the Democratic nominee to run against Jim DeMint.
It was not a good night for Mike Huckabee, almost all the candidates he backed lost their primary bids. The good news is that all of them were from the Christian Right. Sarah Palin endorsements have been hailed as important but on closer look that doesn't look like much. She backed Nikki Haley, and the California girls, but her congressional candidates lost. Even the Chicken Lady, Sue Lowden, who was backed by Palin, lost. And Palin's previous support in Idaho boom-a-ranged on the candidate.
As for the great new hot shots picked by the Republican Congressional Committee, all three in Iowa lost and four others have lost in previous primaries. These were the hand-picked candidates of the party, who were given wads of money. They were beaten by people who had served in elected office before and campaigned on local, not national issues.
The new theme of the media is that this is the year of Conservative Women. I guess the anti-incumbent theme was not working out. But to make that work, you have to include Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman as conservatives and not robber barons. Whitman spent an astonishing $70 million of her own money to win the Republican primary in California; Fiorina $7 million of her own. While both went hard-right, it's ironic that both had contributed to the Gore and Boxer campaigns in the past. The only real right-wing high profile winner last night was Susan Angle, the John Bircher woman in Nevada.
In the anti-incumbent fever generated by the media, someone walked back the Gallup polls over the last two decades where over 40% of Americans didn't want their own congressman elected. Comparing the years with return of the incumbent, this blogger found that it was roughly 85% incumbents being re-elected. This person explained that this was logical because our system is a majority system and roughly 40% of Americans always want their incumbent out.
There is nothing in last night's elections that given any clue of some over-arching theme this year. In Nevada, it looks like voters will split their ticket--vote against Rory Reid, and vote for Harry. The Republicans actually nominated someone normal in Brian Sandoval, who beat sex-scandal plagued Gibbons. The great GOP targeting of Harry Reid is looking like it's going up in smoke.
Americans don't seem to care for rank amateurs. Jerry Brown easily won the Democratic nomination for governor in California; and former Governor Terry Branstad won the Republican nod in Iowa. And, Obama as the Black Bogeyman seems only to work in the already Republican south. People seem more interested in local affairs and not the political line du jour. Even the "white supremacists" in Montana didn't pull off the coup in the Republican primaries. Maybe Americans really don't like overtly creepy people.
I was devastated by the loss of Moldovan-Israeli karate expert Orly Taitz, the Queen of the Birthers. It would have made the Secretary of State race in California interesting.
Even Judge Roberts embrace of America by the corporations, for the corporations doesn't seem to be panning out so well. The Supreme Court has knocked out the Arizona Fair Elections law, which would have allowed state funding of elections. The timing would benefit John McCain but no one else. But even still, the heavily corporate funded Republican "hot shots" lost. The wealthy candidates like Whitman, Fiorina and Linda McMahon have won but on their own dime.
So far, I'm still at a traditional view of the 2010 election--usual losses of the president's party according to historical lines--nothing so dramatic.
I keep watching the Texas governor's race. it seems the GOP is taking no chances but trying to facilitate the Green Party getting on the ballot.
The sultry Sikh Nikki Haley is on the verge of winning the Republican nominee for Governor of South Carolina. She promises to resign if people really prove she had two affairs. In the state, the shocker for Republicans was that incumbent congressman Bob Inglis looks like he will lose the run-off to an even farther right-winger. The other upset was the impossible victory of Alvin Greene, an unemployed vet, as the Democratic nominee to run against Jim DeMint.
It was not a good night for Mike Huckabee, almost all the candidates he backed lost their primary bids. The good news is that all of them were from the Christian Right. Sarah Palin endorsements have been hailed as important but on closer look that doesn't look like much. She backed Nikki Haley, and the California girls, but her congressional candidates lost. Even the Chicken Lady, Sue Lowden, who was backed by Palin, lost. And Palin's previous support in Idaho boom-a-ranged on the candidate.
As for the great new hot shots picked by the Republican Congressional Committee, all three in Iowa lost and four others have lost in previous primaries. These were the hand-picked candidates of the party, who were given wads of money. They were beaten by people who had served in elected office before and campaigned on local, not national issues.
The new theme of the media is that this is the year of Conservative Women. I guess the anti-incumbent theme was not working out. But to make that work, you have to include Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman as conservatives and not robber barons. Whitman spent an astonishing $70 million of her own money to win the Republican primary in California; Fiorina $7 million of her own. While both went hard-right, it's ironic that both had contributed to the Gore and Boxer campaigns in the past. The only real right-wing high profile winner last night was Susan Angle, the John Bircher woman in Nevada.
In the anti-incumbent fever generated by the media, someone walked back the Gallup polls over the last two decades where over 40% of Americans didn't want their own congressman elected. Comparing the years with return of the incumbent, this blogger found that it was roughly 85% incumbents being re-elected. This person explained that this was logical because our system is a majority system and roughly 40% of Americans always want their incumbent out.
There is nothing in last night's elections that given any clue of some over-arching theme this year. In Nevada, it looks like voters will split their ticket--vote against Rory Reid, and vote for Harry. The Republicans actually nominated someone normal in Brian Sandoval, who beat sex-scandal plagued Gibbons. The great GOP targeting of Harry Reid is looking like it's going up in smoke.
Americans don't seem to care for rank amateurs. Jerry Brown easily won the Democratic nomination for governor in California; and former Governor Terry Branstad won the Republican nod in Iowa. And, Obama as the Black Bogeyman seems only to work in the already Republican south. People seem more interested in local affairs and not the political line du jour. Even the "white supremacists" in Montana didn't pull off the coup in the Republican primaries. Maybe Americans really don't like overtly creepy people.
I was devastated by the loss of Moldovan-Israeli karate expert Orly Taitz, the Queen of the Birthers. It would have made the Secretary of State race in California interesting.
Even Judge Roberts embrace of America by the corporations, for the corporations doesn't seem to be panning out so well. The Supreme Court has knocked out the Arizona Fair Elections law, which would have allowed state funding of elections. The timing would benefit John McCain but no one else. But even still, the heavily corporate funded Republican "hot shots" lost. The wealthy candidates like Whitman, Fiorina and Linda McMahon have won but on their own dime.
So far, I'm still at a traditional view of the 2010 election--usual losses of the president's party according to historical lines--nothing so dramatic.
I keep watching the Texas governor's race. it seems the GOP is taking no chances but trying to facilitate the Green Party getting on the ballot.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Go-Kart Races at Gitmo
Now we know why we can't close Gitmo--the US spent $500 million to construct a Go-Kart track, a Taco Bell, a Starbucks franchise and nifty neon signs that say "Welcome to the Pearl of the Antilles". I hope they allow the Uighurs to hold go-kart races to pass the time.
Rod Blagovich showed up at court today with the man who taught me how to write a lead graph for newspapers--the one and only Jimmy Breslin. In the prehistoric age, Breslin wrote for the New York Daily News and spent his time smoking stoogies in the newsroom, while I was to write a piece on the Angolan Civil War. "What's the most interesting thing you experienced?" "Walking along a riverbed at night guided by diamonds. shining in moonlight." "That's your lead." Then he went back to cheerleading the newsroom on to call into a local station, which was running a poll "Are you straight?" or "Are you gay?" . The gays had just taken a lead but with Jimmy's prodding the newroom pushed the poll back to a lead for straights. Cheers went up and deadline was just ten minutes away and he sat down and pounded out his column right on time.
Chris Hedges posted an article on Truthdig "The Christian Fascists are Growing Stronger". While I agree with his analysis, I disagree that they will become the force I had feared. Just keep them away from the school system.
Bernard Henri-Levy wrote a scathing op-ed in Europe against the Free Gaza Flotilla and lamented that a writer of the stature of Henning Mankell could fall trap to the disinformation. He did spend one sentence lamenting the stupidity of Israel's actions. But unnoticed was Henri-Levy's communications within Israel itself, where he asked Israelis to act more responsibly because people like himself, who had defended Israel against the European Left for years, have found it tougher to get traction in light of recent actions.
Former McCain aide, Tony Cordesman send a blast across the bow with the CSIS publication "Israel as a Strategic Liability". The piece found its way into articles in the New York Times. Cordesman warned that the depth of America's moral commitment to Israel does not justify or excuse actions by an Israeli government that unnecessarily make Israel a strategic liability when it should remain an asset. So far, there hasn't been the usual AIPAC blowback against Cordesman but there will be.
However, the same day of the seizure of the Turkish ferry, the head of Mossad Meir Dagan addressed the Knesset and said openly that Israel had become a strategic liability to the United States. A speech that received little press in the United States. He attacked the notion that it was somehow because Obama was elected President of the United States. He said he had been quietly warned by the George W, Bush administration about this and that the problem doesn't go away by waiting out Obama's term.
Even conservative columnist Ross Douthat has published two pieces now that call on Israel to adopt new strategies or else face destruction from within.
We've now had the Turkish Prime Minister vow to join the next flotilla, accompanied by the Turkish Navy. This was followed by Iran vowing to send its aid agencies escorted by the Revoutionary Guard. And, to top it off, German Jews are going to send their own ship to Gaza filled with musical instruments. "All tactics, not strategy" Bibi is now transitioning from F troop to McHale's Navy. We should have some naval battles shortly.
The good news is that there is now a spirited debate within Israel among the elites over the whole fiasco. For the last two days,Haaretz running op-eds blasting the "commando complex" and the "bunker mentality" of the coalition government. Prestigious voices such as Amos Oz and David Grossman have weighed in, arguing that Israel must understand the limits of forces. Doron Rosenblum quotes an Israeli official as actually calling the absence of Palestinian terror a "propaganda problem".
Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni submitted a motion of no-confidence motion in the Netanyahu government for its botched handling of the Gaza flotilla and claimed Israel could have avoided the international isolation it now faces. She accused the government of destroying Israel's stance in the world and its security in the Middle East. "This is not just a temporary event that will pass. This is a continuous process under which Israel is becoming isolated from the world." Naturally, Bibi demanded the opposition stand by him as he did the government during Operation Cast lead and the Second Lebanon War.
Meanwhile Joe Biden was trapsing around Egypt saying that the United States would be seeking ways to ameliorate the effects of the Gaza embargo and like a good scout called on the continuation of the proximity talks.
For trivia nuts, Bibi Netanyahu is a Facebook friend of Orly Taitz, the Queen of the Birthers, who is running for Secretary of State in California. If conservatives face an epistemic closure, the Likud party and their allies are also, surrounding themselves in the American echo-chamber of the right surrounded by people like Rev. John Hagee and others of the Religious Right. The tea Party movement itself is funded by two of Likud's biggest donors.
Until this Gaza episode, I had not known there were actually Israeli self-styled " neoconservatives" with journals and think-tanks of their own. From some of their writings, they appear to be very Americanized in their arguments. One of which argued that Israel should use the threat of its nuclear arsenal to make Arab states do what Israel wants. It's like they were channeling Dick Cheney's American nationalism. We now have Israeli exceptionalism but American-style. It's so strange that Ariel Sharon now towers over this crew as a wise statesman. It almost seems like he should wake up from his coma to shake some sense into the ruling coalition.
Col. Wilkinson has appeared now for an extensive three-part interview on Dick Cheney and his effects on America. Col. Wilkinson argues that Cheney is not a neo-con but an American nationalist, harkening back to the days of the America Firsters. While I had always associated America Firsters with isolationists,he argues that it was really not so. Instead,they argued for American nationalism and unilateral action abroad. What we conveniently forget is that the George W. Bush era was in fact the time of "National-Greatness Conservatives", the brainchild of William Kristol. Part of this greatness would be achieved by adopting the policy of "pre-emptory war" and massive de-regulation to fuel the economy. The glorious aftereffects we will be feeling for a long time to come.
If you like the idea of a more small ball America, Peter Beinart has a new book out--The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris (Harper, 2010)--in which he argues that the United States as the world's sole superpower has faded with the disaster of the last administration and can be replaced by an America that focuses on its internal development and cultivating a different relationship with the world. Once I've digested it, I'll report on its ideas.
Today are the primaries in about a dozen states, which will be interesting to the extent that lunatics win their party's nominations. Off everyone's radar are the primary races among Republicans in Montana where there is a good chance the "white supremacists" will seize the party. South Carolina continues to amuse with charges that the Republican woman candidate for governor is a "ragtop", who is ashamed of her God (she's a Christian) and whose father, a Sikh, is organizing a Sikh conspiracy to take over the State. Also, she has been accused of having two affairs. For Democrats, the race to watch is the primary between Blanche Lincoln and Bill Halter. But it's an all-Republican show. By tonight, we will know whether Nevada will pit the Chicken Lady or the Teabagger against Harry Reid.
Lastly, Sarah Palin's new fence is higher than the old Berlin Wall. Joe McGinness is probably the greatest threat to our national security.
Rod Blagovich showed up at court today with the man who taught me how to write a lead graph for newspapers--the one and only Jimmy Breslin. In the prehistoric age, Breslin wrote for the New York Daily News and spent his time smoking stoogies in the newsroom, while I was to write a piece on the Angolan Civil War. "What's the most interesting thing you experienced?" "Walking along a riverbed at night guided by diamonds. shining in moonlight." "That's your lead." Then he went back to cheerleading the newsroom on to call into a local station, which was running a poll "Are you straight?" or "Are you gay?" . The gays had just taken a lead but with Jimmy's prodding the newroom pushed the poll back to a lead for straights. Cheers went up and deadline was just ten minutes away and he sat down and pounded out his column right on time.
Chris Hedges posted an article on Truthdig "The Christian Fascists are Growing Stronger". While I agree with his analysis, I disagree that they will become the force I had feared. Just keep them away from the school system.
Bernard Henri-Levy wrote a scathing op-ed in Europe against the Free Gaza Flotilla and lamented that a writer of the stature of Henning Mankell could fall trap to the disinformation. He did spend one sentence lamenting the stupidity of Israel's actions. But unnoticed was Henri-Levy's communications within Israel itself, where he asked Israelis to act more responsibly because people like himself, who had defended Israel against the European Left for years, have found it tougher to get traction in light of recent actions.
Former McCain aide, Tony Cordesman send a blast across the bow with the CSIS publication "Israel as a Strategic Liability". The piece found its way into articles in the New York Times. Cordesman warned that the depth of America's moral commitment to Israel does not justify or excuse actions by an Israeli government that unnecessarily make Israel a strategic liability when it should remain an asset. So far, there hasn't been the usual AIPAC blowback against Cordesman but there will be.
However, the same day of the seizure of the Turkish ferry, the head of Mossad Meir Dagan addressed the Knesset and said openly that Israel had become a strategic liability to the United States. A speech that received little press in the United States. He attacked the notion that it was somehow because Obama was elected President of the United States. He said he had been quietly warned by the George W, Bush administration about this and that the problem doesn't go away by waiting out Obama's term.
Even conservative columnist Ross Douthat has published two pieces now that call on Israel to adopt new strategies or else face destruction from within.
We've now had the Turkish Prime Minister vow to join the next flotilla, accompanied by the Turkish Navy. This was followed by Iran vowing to send its aid agencies escorted by the Revoutionary Guard. And, to top it off, German Jews are going to send their own ship to Gaza filled with musical instruments. "All tactics, not strategy" Bibi is now transitioning from F troop to McHale's Navy. We should have some naval battles shortly.
The good news is that there is now a spirited debate within Israel among the elites over the whole fiasco. For the last two days,Haaretz running op-eds blasting the "commando complex" and the "bunker mentality" of the coalition government. Prestigious voices such as Amos Oz and David Grossman have weighed in, arguing that Israel must understand the limits of forces. Doron Rosenblum quotes an Israeli official as actually calling the absence of Palestinian terror a "propaganda problem".
Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni submitted a motion of no-confidence motion in the Netanyahu government for its botched handling of the Gaza flotilla and claimed Israel could have avoided the international isolation it now faces. She accused the government of destroying Israel's stance in the world and its security in the Middle East. "This is not just a temporary event that will pass. This is a continuous process under which Israel is becoming isolated from the world." Naturally, Bibi demanded the opposition stand by him as he did the government during Operation Cast lead and the Second Lebanon War.
Meanwhile Joe Biden was trapsing around Egypt saying that the United States would be seeking ways to ameliorate the effects of the Gaza embargo and like a good scout called on the continuation of the proximity talks.
For trivia nuts, Bibi Netanyahu is a Facebook friend of Orly Taitz, the Queen of the Birthers, who is running for Secretary of State in California. If conservatives face an epistemic closure, the Likud party and their allies are also, surrounding themselves in the American echo-chamber of the right surrounded by people like Rev. John Hagee and others of the Religious Right. The tea Party movement itself is funded by two of Likud's biggest donors.
Until this Gaza episode, I had not known there were actually Israeli self-styled " neoconservatives" with journals and think-tanks of their own. From some of their writings, they appear to be very Americanized in their arguments. One of which argued that Israel should use the threat of its nuclear arsenal to make Arab states do what Israel wants. It's like they were channeling Dick Cheney's American nationalism. We now have Israeli exceptionalism but American-style. It's so strange that Ariel Sharon now towers over this crew as a wise statesman. It almost seems like he should wake up from his coma to shake some sense into the ruling coalition.
Col. Wilkinson has appeared now for an extensive three-part interview on Dick Cheney and his effects on America. Col. Wilkinson argues that Cheney is not a neo-con but an American nationalist, harkening back to the days of the America Firsters. While I had always associated America Firsters with isolationists,he argues that it was really not so. Instead,they argued for American nationalism and unilateral action abroad. What we conveniently forget is that the George W. Bush era was in fact the time of "National-Greatness Conservatives", the brainchild of William Kristol. Part of this greatness would be achieved by adopting the policy of "pre-emptory war" and massive de-regulation to fuel the economy. The glorious aftereffects we will be feeling for a long time to come.
If you like the idea of a more small ball America, Peter Beinart has a new book out--The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris (Harper, 2010)--in which he argues that the United States as the world's sole superpower has faded with the disaster of the last administration and can be replaced by an America that focuses on its internal development and cultivating a different relationship with the world. Once I've digested it, I'll report on its ideas.
Today are the primaries in about a dozen states, which will be interesting to the extent that lunatics win their party's nominations. Off everyone's radar are the primary races among Republicans in Montana where there is a good chance the "white supremacists" will seize the party. South Carolina continues to amuse with charges that the Republican woman candidate for governor is a "ragtop", who is ashamed of her God (she's a Christian) and whose father, a Sikh, is organizing a Sikh conspiracy to take over the State. Also, she has been accused of having two affairs. For Democrats, the race to watch is the primary between Blanche Lincoln and Bill Halter. But it's an all-Republican show. By tonight, we will know whether Nevada will pit the Chicken Lady or the Teabagger against Harry Reid.
Lastly, Sarah Palin's new fence is higher than the old Berlin Wall. Joe McGinness is probably the greatest threat to our national security.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Conspiracy's End
I love conspiracy theories. They are a form of gnostic knowledge about our political universe. Conspiracy theories are not disturbing; they are re-assuring, making sense of what doesn't. You can almost say that conspiracy theories are symptoms of our thirst for meaning. The reason our political hopes and dreams are thwarted is because there are larger forces and entities controlled by sinister personalities who really control the world and manipulate reality to their wants. You could even develop computer programs to generate conspiracies. I confess I subscribe to conspiracy theories, I like them. But this week has been a deflating one for all of us.
The assassinations of President Kennedy, his brother Robert and Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr. shaped my generation and ushered in an age of upheaval in our politics. Shortly after the assasination of her husband, Mrs Jackie Kennedy opined," How awful is it that Jack was killed by some little Communist shit?" And we have all dutifully fell in line trying to make it that he wasn't. The killing of the President has produced whole libraries of alternative theories, films and pieces of good to great literature. We have Oliver Stone's JFK, which posits the assassination was an inside job by the shadowy world of the spooks and military because President Kennedy wanted to end the Vietnam War, which we now know he did. Charles McCarry wrote a wonderful spy novel Tears of Autumn, which posits the Kennedy assassination was the product of Indochinese heroin dealers linked to the Diem family, who hired a French assassin. James Ellroy in Ten Thousand Cold Men writes with his full amp style of a complex plot involving Howard Hughes, CIA personnel and the mafia. Non-fiction books link the Gambino family, Jimmy Hoffa and the New Orleans mob into a fantastic, yet plausible plot of revenge for a series of perceived slights and wrongs. Conservatives speculate about the role of Fidel Castro and cite LBJ's dark interview near the end of his life, saying "We were running Murder,Inc. down there (in Cuba), anything could have happened". Much to my dismay, Norman Mailer, whom we could trust in these dark matters, wrote Oswald near the end of his life, basically confirming Jackie's original statement. But I thought Mailer had sold out to the spooks so he could finish the next volume of Harlot's Ghost, his epic novel about the CIA.
I think we now have an answer. Ted Kennedy's memoir True Compass has finally been published. If you grew up by the ocean, the passages that are most poignant concern his love of sailing on the sea, his memories of fleeing land after Bobby was killed and sailing from the Cape to Maine to be together with the sea and sky, as well as some of his last journeys out in his sailboat. In Washington, we have always heard that Ted knew about Jack's assassination and that before he died the truth would come out. I take it his account in the memoir was his truth. Chosen by the Kennedy family to meet with Earl Warren, since Bobby was engulfed with grief, he met with Chief Justice Warren. The debriefing took over five hours and Earl Warren filled Ted on all the details of the Commission's work including a critique of its shortcoming. In the end,writes Ted Kennedy the Commissions got it right. Later LBJ collared him and said it was the FBI's fault. They have interviewed Oswald and had him under surveillance but they failed to prevent the assassination. Unfortunately, the words as he wrote them ring true as the deaths of his brothers haunt the first half of the book and I think, knowing of his own impending death, he would have left another "truth" if he knew it.
The other event of my generation was Watergate, an episode in our history,along with the "secret invasion" of Cambodia, which broke the faith of a generation in the institutions of government. Another library has grown up around this third-rate burglary. Richard Nixon feared that DNC chairman Larry O'Brien, a lobbyist for Howard Hughes, knew about Hughes' on-going financial support of the President and would spill the beans and Nixon had to find out what O'Brien knew. The CIA and the military knew that Nixon wanted to re-organize the entire executive branch (see Dick Cheney) and they feared what he was up to with all the back channel negotiations going on with Moscow, the Vietnam Peace Talks and China so they got a bunch of former CIA hands to botch the operation to frame Nixon. Ted Kennedy himself plotted the overthrow of Nixon by planting Archibald Cox at the Justice Department so as to provoke the firings of the Special Prosecutor and set up a firestorm that would lead to Nixon's impeachment. Gordan Liddy speculated that Nixon had nothing to do with any of this. It was all John Dean's fault. Dean was dating Maureen, his soon-to-be wife, who Liddy speculates was working for an escot service. Dean knowing that Spencer Oliver, whose office was actually bugged, procured women for visiting Democratic officials to Washington, would have records about these transactions. So Dean ordered the break-in to destroy records that would be damaging to his wife's reputation and then snicked on President Nixon. After a ten-year lawsuit, this line of the Watergate story proved false and Liddy lost in court to Dean. So we are left the questions: Did Nixon order the break-in?--he said for years he didn't; what were they trying to find?; and what's on the 18 and half minute erasure of the tape?
And now we know and it's a bummer. John Dean in revising his old book Blind Ambition uncovered what people were looking for. Richard Nixon had just returned from China, which he considered his greatest triumph, only to be confronted with allegations by Democrats that the anti-trust suit against ITT had been dismissed because of bribery. Nixon furious that his greatest moment had been upstaged heard that there were allegations about kickbacks involved in the Democratic convention scheduled to take place in Miami. He loudly complained he wanted this information so the White House could use it against the Democrats. Hence the political arm of the White House went to work and bugged the wrong guy's office. They were supposed to bug Larry O'Brien's office and get papers documenting the kickback scheme. But then they were blown and Watergate for all its metaphorical power over all these years really was a third-rate burglary and Richard Nixon really didn't order the break-in. And the whole iss of bribes over ITT is false, also. And there were no kickbacks involved in the Democratic Convention either. And George McGovern did not receive campaign funds from Fidel Castro as one of the Watergate burglars claimed.
In the next two years with the advance of technology, acoustic scientists believe we will be able to reconstruct the erased 18 and a half minutes. I'm sure they will be disappointing.
Now the conspracies lack the panache of those in the past. We are left now with Orly Taitz and her band of wingnuts and 9/11 truthers arguing that our President was born in Mombassa, Kenya (the city was then in Zanzibar) despite his mother never having been in that country. The court rejected her latest lawsuit and threatens to fine her $10,000 and a lawyer in Ohio is suing to have her disbarred. Conspiracies are not what they were.
Conspiracies do exist, of course. But the most dreadful thing is that inexplicable and horror events happen, which are deprived of any serious meaning because of the basic ineptitude of human beings. We are much more the objects of chance, whimsy and fate than we want to believe.
The assassinations of President Kennedy, his brother Robert and Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr. shaped my generation and ushered in an age of upheaval in our politics. Shortly after the assasination of her husband, Mrs Jackie Kennedy opined," How awful is it that Jack was killed by some little Communist shit?" And we have all dutifully fell in line trying to make it that he wasn't. The killing of the President has produced whole libraries of alternative theories, films and pieces of good to great literature. We have Oliver Stone's JFK, which posits the assassination was an inside job by the shadowy world of the spooks and military because President Kennedy wanted to end the Vietnam War, which we now know he did. Charles McCarry wrote a wonderful spy novel Tears of Autumn, which posits the Kennedy assassination was the product of Indochinese heroin dealers linked to the Diem family, who hired a French assassin. James Ellroy in Ten Thousand Cold Men writes with his full amp style of a complex plot involving Howard Hughes, CIA personnel and the mafia. Non-fiction books link the Gambino family, Jimmy Hoffa and the New Orleans mob into a fantastic, yet plausible plot of revenge for a series of perceived slights and wrongs. Conservatives speculate about the role of Fidel Castro and cite LBJ's dark interview near the end of his life, saying "We were running Murder,Inc. down there (in Cuba), anything could have happened". Much to my dismay, Norman Mailer, whom we could trust in these dark matters, wrote Oswald near the end of his life, basically confirming Jackie's original statement. But I thought Mailer had sold out to the spooks so he could finish the next volume of Harlot's Ghost, his epic novel about the CIA.
I think we now have an answer. Ted Kennedy's memoir True Compass has finally been published. If you grew up by the ocean, the passages that are most poignant concern his love of sailing on the sea, his memories of fleeing land after Bobby was killed and sailing from the Cape to Maine to be together with the sea and sky, as well as some of his last journeys out in his sailboat. In Washington, we have always heard that Ted knew about Jack's assassination and that before he died the truth would come out. I take it his account in the memoir was his truth. Chosen by the Kennedy family to meet with Earl Warren, since Bobby was engulfed with grief, he met with Chief Justice Warren. The debriefing took over five hours and Earl Warren filled Ted on all the details of the Commission's work including a critique of its shortcoming. In the end,writes Ted Kennedy the Commissions got it right. Later LBJ collared him and said it was the FBI's fault. They have interviewed Oswald and had him under surveillance but they failed to prevent the assassination. Unfortunately, the words as he wrote them ring true as the deaths of his brothers haunt the first half of the book and I think, knowing of his own impending death, he would have left another "truth" if he knew it.
The other event of my generation was Watergate, an episode in our history,along with the "secret invasion" of Cambodia, which broke the faith of a generation in the institutions of government. Another library has grown up around this third-rate burglary. Richard Nixon feared that DNC chairman Larry O'Brien, a lobbyist for Howard Hughes, knew about Hughes' on-going financial support of the President and would spill the beans and Nixon had to find out what O'Brien knew. The CIA and the military knew that Nixon wanted to re-organize the entire executive branch (see Dick Cheney) and they feared what he was up to with all the back channel negotiations going on with Moscow, the Vietnam Peace Talks and China so they got a bunch of former CIA hands to botch the operation to frame Nixon. Ted Kennedy himself plotted the overthrow of Nixon by planting Archibald Cox at the Justice Department so as to provoke the firings of the Special Prosecutor and set up a firestorm that would lead to Nixon's impeachment. Gordan Liddy speculated that Nixon had nothing to do with any of this. It was all John Dean's fault. Dean was dating Maureen, his soon-to-be wife, who Liddy speculates was working for an escot service. Dean knowing that Spencer Oliver, whose office was actually bugged, procured women for visiting Democratic officials to Washington, would have records about these transactions. So Dean ordered the break-in to destroy records that would be damaging to his wife's reputation and then snicked on President Nixon. After a ten-year lawsuit, this line of the Watergate story proved false and Liddy lost in court to Dean. So we are left the questions: Did Nixon order the break-in?--he said for years he didn't; what were they trying to find?; and what's on the 18 and half minute erasure of the tape?
And now we know and it's a bummer. John Dean in revising his old book Blind Ambition uncovered what people were looking for. Richard Nixon had just returned from China, which he considered his greatest triumph, only to be confronted with allegations by Democrats that the anti-trust suit against ITT had been dismissed because of bribery. Nixon furious that his greatest moment had been upstaged heard that there were allegations about kickbacks involved in the Democratic convention scheduled to take place in Miami. He loudly complained he wanted this information so the White House could use it against the Democrats. Hence the political arm of the White House went to work and bugged the wrong guy's office. They were supposed to bug Larry O'Brien's office and get papers documenting the kickback scheme. But then they were blown and Watergate for all its metaphorical power over all these years really was a third-rate burglary and Richard Nixon really didn't order the break-in. And the whole iss of bribes over ITT is false, also. And there were no kickbacks involved in the Democratic Convention either. And George McGovern did not receive campaign funds from Fidel Castro as one of the Watergate burglars claimed.
In the next two years with the advance of technology, acoustic scientists believe we will be able to reconstruct the erased 18 and a half minutes. I'm sure they will be disappointing.
Now the conspracies lack the panache of those in the past. We are left now with Orly Taitz and her band of wingnuts and 9/11 truthers arguing that our President was born in Mombassa, Kenya (the city was then in Zanzibar) despite his mother never having been in that country. The court rejected her latest lawsuit and threatens to fine her $10,000 and a lawyer in Ohio is suing to have her disbarred. Conspiracies are not what they were.
Conspiracies do exist, of course. But the most dreadful thing is that inexplicable and horror events happen, which are deprived of any serious meaning because of the basic ineptitude of human beings. We are much more the objects of chance, whimsy and fate than we want to believe.
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