In the best traditions of Dr. Kidglove, the Senate Majority Wheedler, Harry Reid of Nevada, raised the white flag before the battle had even started.
Emerging from the back room where he knelt to kiss the boots of Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, Harry Halfheart announced another one of those Democratic "compromises" that give the Republicans more than they ever wanted.
This surrender was on so-called filibuster reform. Reid had on the table two Democratic bills, one a milksop that would have made it only slightly more difficult for Republicans to bottle up legislation, the other a serious and fair effort to make possible genuine legislative debate in the Senate. He had at his disposal a so-called nuclear option that would have enabled him to reform the filibuster rules with just a simple majority -- which the Democrats have. He even threatened to use it. This brought McConnell to the table -- with absolutely no cards in his hand. Harry Half-Heart promptly threw his own full house on the table and declared, "I fold."
Another demonstration of how government works under a corporocratic oligarchy. An online essay today by Norman Soloman, author and founding director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, warned progressives against letting Kidglove's second inaugural address "make us the dupes of our hopes." Solomon wrote, "it was notably disingenuous for Obama to proclaim in his second inaugural speech that 'enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war' -- minutes after completing a first term when his administration launched more than 20,000 airstrikes, strongly escalated the use of weaponized drones and did so much else to make war perpetual."
After running through a partial list of Kidglove's other betrayals of progressive ideals. he called upon progressivesto come together and organize militantly. He worte, "the kind of empowered access we need will come from mobilizing grassroots power."
Here are excerpts from the first few comments generated by Solomon's piece:
Pressure the president as much as you desire. . . letter, fax, email, make a phone call. The keystone XL pipeline will be built, drone warfare will continue around the world, the police state will continue unabated in the U.S.
These programs aren't being enacted because the President is being pressured by Republicans. (They) continue becausethe Democratic party accepts money from the weapons manufacturers, the prison- industrial complex and the energy companies. A banker will be the new treasury secretary because large financial interests in N.Y. want a banker to be the new treasury secretary. The Democrats will not listen to public sentiment; they didn't listen to public sentiment on health care. Occupy Wall Street was publicly ridiculed by Democratic politicians -- before the encampments were decimated by Democratic politicians, before the message was co-opted into the 2012 campaign (so Obama could mimic the public's mood -- talking points for the president. He had every intention of promoting characters like the soon to be treasury secretary, Jack Lew, no surprises here.
Engaging with (this Administration) is a waste of time. Support the development of the Green (or Socialist) parties in your neck of the woods. Work on initiative campaigns locally and nationally to remove money from politics and to expand ballot access to third parties and disenfranchised voters.
The Democrats will sell you down river every fucking time and they'll try to make you feel scared and guilty for being aware of their manipulative clap-trap.
* * *
The Democratic party has been, far more often than not, the driving force for destruction of progressive policies and goals over the past 20 years . . . I'm running out of words that do justice to the insanity of it. And losing interest in taking it seriously. It's like trying to figure out how to "turn around" the Tea Party.
Without a viable third party, we might as well move north into organic communes and live humble lives of good conscience apart from the maddening crowd--forget about politics.
Politics have proven hopeless within the bounds of the duopoly as it stands and it has not the slightest interest in changing for the better. Money controls the entire system--including elections--and progressives will NEVER out-leverage that without commanding the ballot box via a progressive party. Without that, the Dems OWN us no matter how much it pisses us off--we'll never vote Republican. It's really just that simple.
Only a progressive third party can change this shit.
* * *
We have two substantial progressive "third" parties, and several more very small ones. But we need them to work together, and we need progressives still in the Blue Party to leave and come to us. Between these three posts, we've got the problem and some real solutions in a nutshell.
Amen, brothers. But, as Harry Half-Heart has just demonstrated once again, time and opportunity are running out.
"Don't tell Momma I'm a journalist; say I play the piano in a whorehouse."
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Enisled with Their Ignorance
Somewhere in our imaginations, according to a wonderful old children's book, there is an Isle of Conclusions, which "can only be reached by jumping."
Lately that island has become crowded with ignorant Americans, eager to blame certain foreigners for their own country's decline. Bestirred by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, Glen Back, Fox Faux News, et al, they have insinuated themselves into virtually every facet of our lives, espcially in but not limited to the United States House of Representatives.
A fortnight ago, for example, in Minneapolis-St. Paul, some jumpers-to-conclusions who work for TCF bank sent letters to Iranian students at the University of Minnesota notifying them that their accounts at the bank were being closed arbitrarily. University officials are concerned in part because TCF has had a special agreement with the university. It gives the bank the exclusive right to offer checking accounts accessible with the university's photo ID card. The university makes a million dollars a year in royalties from the deal.
"To have just an answer, why such a thing is happening," said one of the affected students, in law school. "Not just that they are exercising their right, but why they are exercising their right."
TCF spokesman Jason Korstange talked circles around the answers. He said TCF will review each student's account. and they could close the accounts sooner if they wished. In any event, the bank said, they would need to end any automatic transactions tied to the account.
The doubletalk prompted dozens of senior faculty and staff at the University to send the following letter to Jay Kosmick, TCF Vice President and Region Manager:
Our intention is not to generate ill will, but rather to urge better practices that befit an institution that works with and benefits from a diverse university community.
First, we must express our deep disappointment in TCF-Minneapolis Bank’s unilateral closing of the bank accounts of at least 22 UMN Iranian students citing possible violations of U.S. trade sanctions. As the students have not engaged in any illegal banking transactions, this appeared to be a case of discrimination based on national origin and unfounded “preemptive” stereotypes. As university faculty who research social practices and ideas, we recognized that TCF’s actions, whether intentional or not, fit precisely within the definition of xenophobia. In other words, allowing a person’s social and group category as the determining factor in assessing an individual without regard to his or her actual actions is textbook prejudice.
Second, we are perhaps even more dismayed by how TCF has handled the process and the aftermath of its actions - the holiday timing of the letters, the lack of empathy and compassion, the misplaced justifications, the dearth of case-by-case review, to name a few. Beyond being “tone-deaf,” we are struck by how distant and anti-social its response has been. . . .it takes little imagination to understand that the imposed closing of an important facet of one’s life can generate feelings of immense anxiety, betrayal, anger, injustice, dislocation, insult, and injury.
In this light, we – part of a growing group of faculty and staff members at the University of Minnesota – will switch our direct deposit from TCF Bank into a different institution and/or will close our accounts. We no longer feel comfortable having TCF be the responsible institution for our deposits. . . . .
We also believe that institutions can change; and that all individuals who work within institutions do not necessary agree with a particular course of action. We hope that you will share this letter with other decision-makers at TCF and attempt to reform some of the culture that led to these unfortunate acts.
(Signed by 14 senior faculty including department heads)
Deeply influenced by the American media's blind acceptance of anti-Iran "reports" that are unsourced, or leaked by friends of Israel's hawk government, somebody or bodies in that Minnesota bank jumped to the isle of conclusions and took inappropriate, perhaps even illegal actions.
The pity of it is that all over America, you merely have to cross the street to find similar attitudes and willingness to accuse on the basis of nationality, skin color or religious beliefs.
It has become The American Way and it only drags the country further down.
Lately that island has become crowded with ignorant Americans, eager to blame certain foreigners for their own country's decline. Bestirred by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, Glen Back, Fox Faux News, et al, they have insinuated themselves into virtually every facet of our lives, espcially in but not limited to the United States House of Representatives.
A fortnight ago, for example, in Minneapolis-St. Paul, some jumpers-to-conclusions who work for TCF bank sent letters to Iranian students at the University of Minnesota notifying them that their accounts at the bank were being closed arbitrarily. University officials are concerned in part because TCF has had a special agreement with the university. It gives the bank the exclusive right to offer checking accounts accessible with the university's photo ID card. The university makes a million dollars a year in royalties from the deal.
"To have just an answer, why such a thing is happening," said one of the affected students, in law school. "Not just that they are exercising their right, but why they are exercising their right."
TCF spokesman Jason Korstange talked circles around the answers. He said TCF will review each student's account. and they could close the accounts sooner if they wished. In any event, the bank said, they would need to end any automatic transactions tied to the account.
The doubletalk prompted dozens of senior faculty and staff at the University to send the following letter to Jay Kosmick, TCF Vice President and Region Manager:
Our intention is not to generate ill will, but rather to urge better practices that befit an institution that works with and benefits from a diverse university community.
First, we must express our deep disappointment in TCF-Minneapolis Bank’s unilateral closing of the bank accounts of at least 22 UMN Iranian students citing possible violations of U.S. trade sanctions. As the students have not engaged in any illegal banking transactions, this appeared to be a case of discrimination based on national origin and unfounded “preemptive” stereotypes. As university faculty who research social practices and ideas, we recognized that TCF’s actions, whether intentional or not, fit precisely within the definition of xenophobia. In other words, allowing a person’s social and group category as the determining factor in assessing an individual without regard to his or her actual actions is textbook prejudice.
Second, we are perhaps even more dismayed by how TCF has handled the process and the aftermath of its actions - the holiday timing of the letters, the lack of empathy and compassion, the misplaced justifications, the dearth of case-by-case review, to name a few. Beyond being “tone-deaf,” we are struck by how distant and anti-social its response has been. . . .it takes little imagination to understand that the imposed closing of an important facet of one’s life can generate feelings of immense anxiety, betrayal, anger, injustice, dislocation, insult, and injury.
In this light, we – part of a growing group of faculty and staff members at the University of Minnesota – will switch our direct deposit from TCF Bank into a different institution and/or will close our accounts. We no longer feel comfortable having TCF be the responsible institution for our deposits. . . . .
We also believe that institutions can change; and that all individuals who work within institutions do not necessary agree with a particular course of action. We hope that you will share this letter with other decision-makers at TCF and attempt to reform some of the culture that led to these unfortunate acts.
(Signed by 14 senior faculty including department heads)
Deeply influenced by the American media's blind acceptance of anti-Iran "reports" that are unsourced, or leaked by friends of Israel's hawk government, somebody or bodies in that Minnesota bank jumped to the isle of conclusions and took inappropriate, perhaps even illegal actions.
The pity of it is that all over America, you merely have to cross the street to find similar attitudes and willingness to accuse on the basis of nationality, skin color or religious beliefs.
It has become The American Way and it only drags the country further down.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Cling to This New Identity, Barry
This was the week that Dr. Kidglove performed his most thrilling stunt: stepping into a phone booth, ripping off his street clothes, and emerging as Captain Courageous.
Staring the NRA bully straight in the rifle-scope, he told Congress to pass legislation banning so-called assault weapons and limiting the size of gun magazines to no more than ten rounds. Then he issued 23 presidential declarations intended to militate against further mass slaying in public places in this country.
We do applaud his noble goals. Now let us see if he achieves them -- or if he reverts to mild-mannered, easily -intimidated Dr. Kidglove the next time House Republicans say "Boo!" The Casper Milquetoast Democrats in Congress have already warned that the laws Capt. Courageous demanded might be very hard to pass. Poor dears.
Some in the media have praised Capt. Courageous for offering the boldest effort ever to control gun violence in the United States. That's a matter of perspective. Ten-round magazines would mean that school shooters could kill only ten youngsters, max, considerably fewer than the shooters at Newtown or Blacksburg. If numbers are all you care about, this would be progress.
I hope the round-heeled crowd in Washington gets behind Capt. Courageous on this one. Putting the entire Obama agenda into law would be a good first step toward sanity regarding armed citizens in the U.S.
Generously conceding moral neutrality to the practice of hunting wild game in a modern, civilized nation, the rest of the NRA gun crowd are, as the New York Post put it, nut cases.
From its inception, after all, the Second Amendment was a sop to slave owners, hardly the most admirable segment of the inchoate nation that became the United States of America. Brilliant as they were, prescient as they were in writing most of the document that is our Constitution, even James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were large-scale slave-owners. And "the militia" whose maintenance justifies the ironclad right of "citizens" to bear arms was in fact the militias of the southern states whose sole mission was to suppress any attempt at insurrection by slaves who outnumbered whites in broad swaths of the south, and to run down escaped slaves and bring them back to the lessons of the lash. The NRA's precious "right" to its private arsenals is writ in human blood.
Capt. Courageous, legal scholar and history buff, surely is aware of all of this. What irony, what travesty, if the nation's first black president were to cave on these issues, betraying the legacy of his forefathers.
Americans are buying guns at a near-record rate since Newtown. They're falling over themselves to join the NRA. They're nut cases.
It is time for government to save them from themselves. Keep on being Capt. Courageous, Barack Obama. Kidglove has has already caved to our lesser angels far too often. This isn't about budgets; it's about lives.
Staring the NRA bully straight in the rifle-scope, he told Congress to pass legislation banning so-called assault weapons and limiting the size of gun magazines to no more than ten rounds. Then he issued 23 presidential declarations intended to militate against further mass slaying in public places in this country.
We do applaud his noble goals. Now let us see if he achieves them -- or if he reverts to mild-mannered, easily -intimidated Dr. Kidglove the next time House Republicans say "Boo!" The Casper Milquetoast Democrats in Congress have already warned that the laws Capt. Courageous demanded might be very hard to pass. Poor dears.
Some in the media have praised Capt. Courageous for offering the boldest effort ever to control gun violence in the United States. That's a matter of perspective. Ten-round magazines would mean that school shooters could kill only ten youngsters, max, considerably fewer than the shooters at Newtown or Blacksburg. If numbers are all you care about, this would be progress.
I hope the round-heeled crowd in Washington gets behind Capt. Courageous on this one. Putting the entire Obama agenda into law would be a good first step toward sanity regarding armed citizens in the U.S.
Generously conceding moral neutrality to the practice of hunting wild game in a modern, civilized nation, the rest of the NRA gun crowd are, as the New York Post put it, nut cases.
From its inception, after all, the Second Amendment was a sop to slave owners, hardly the most admirable segment of the inchoate nation that became the United States of America. Brilliant as they were, prescient as they were in writing most of the document that is our Constitution, even James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were large-scale slave-owners. And "the militia" whose maintenance justifies the ironclad right of "citizens" to bear arms was in fact the militias of the southern states whose sole mission was to suppress any attempt at insurrection by slaves who outnumbered whites in broad swaths of the south, and to run down escaped slaves and bring them back to the lessons of the lash. The NRA's precious "right" to its private arsenals is writ in human blood.
Capt. Courageous, legal scholar and history buff, surely is aware of all of this. What irony, what travesty, if the nation's first black president were to cave on these issues, betraying the legacy of his forefathers.
Americans are buying guns at a near-record rate since Newtown. They're falling over themselves to join the NRA. They're nut cases.
It is time for government to save them from themselves. Keep on being Capt. Courageous, Barack Obama. Kidglove has has already caved to our lesser angels far too often. This isn't about budgets; it's about lives.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Doc Looks for Rx for the Filibuster
Doc and I were having lunch after our weekly tennis match. "Tell me," he began as our heart-healthy fare was served, "are we going to get that filibuster thing fixed?"
It was good to have something to talk about other than the lies being told about Obamacare.
"Well," I said. "There's a lot of money working against it."
"There's always a lot of money against anything that's good for people," he said. "It's the American Way.
"The filibuster has never been a good thing: look at who's done it and why. Remember those pictures of Dixiecrat Senators reading the Manhattan telephone book on the Senate floor to filibuster against the voting rights act? But at least back then they by gawd had to keep talking, had to actually filibuster in order to filibuster. Sooner or later they'd run out of spit, or patience, or talkers. That was the hope, anyway.
"Now with the silent filibuster, any damned nutcase of a right-wing Senator can block any bills or presidential nominations on a whim, or out of sheer contrariness. One cock-eyed son of a gun from Alabama or Mississippi can bottle up legislation to help 315 million of his fellow Americans. It's obscene.
"You've got this guy Vitter from Louisiana, single-handedly holds off the confirmation vote on EPA appointments in order to delay scientific assessments on the health risks of formaldehyde. Just happens that some of his biggest campaign contributors sell formaldehyde. You've got Mitch McConnell, top Repuglican in the Senate, filibustering on behalf of oil subsidies, filibustering to block efforts to mitigate the mortgage crisis, and filibustering against campaign disclosure reforms. Every damn one of 'em designed to help real people and opposed by fat cat campaign donors to ol' Mitchy-witchy. You've got this guy Shelby from Alabama, who is 85 per cent owned by Northrup Grumman. Richy boy puts a damn blanket hold on every Obama nomination in order to force the Administration to give a big fat contract to Northrup Grumman to build a new air fueling tanker. You've got Honest John McCain his very own self blocking a Labor department nominee the U.S. Chamber of Commerce didn't like, in exchange for the chamber's withholding money support from McCain's Tea Party opponent in the primary election. You've got FedEx pouring a mountain of money into Bob Corker's Senate campaign in Tennessee whereupon that good ol' boy obligingly filibusters the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill in order to demand a policy that prevents FedEx drivers from unionizing. You've got Mary Landrieu, the Senator from Exxon-Mobile-Chevron by way of Louisiana, blocking the vote on a senior OMB nomination until President Kidglove caves and allows more oil drilling in the Gulf after Deepwater Horizon defiled the thing for ages.
"And so you've got the so-called mainstream media listening to guys like Steven Duffield. Steven who? Duffield. Big time lobbyist. Says those damned Senate Liberals "want to gut the filibuster." Damn right they do. If real rules reform takes place, Duffield stands to lose about a quarter of a million dollars a year from selling -- yes, selling -- holds and filibusters to his corporate clients. 'You require advocacy,' he told them, 'before those Senators -- many of them backbench Republicans -- who may exercise their prerogatives to delay or obstruct.'
"You've got Investors Business Daily -- you know whose corner they're in! -- soberly taking the word of another big-time lobbyist, Martin Gold, that even the modest rules reform now on the table would be 'unprecedented and unwise.' Humbug! What's unprecedented is the way Repuglicans are using the filibuster. Almost 390 times just during the period Harry Reid has been majority leader. In all the years Lyndon Johnson was majority leader he had to deal with just one filibuster. One! Unwise? Sure, for Gold's clients: Qualcomm, Amazon.com, BAE Systems and a clutch of similarly altruistic corporations.
"So now I'm asking you, my editor friend, what if anything will be done about this? What have you got to say?"
I replied, "Doc, my friend, you've said it all. Lunch is on me this week."
It was good to have something to talk about other than the lies being told about Obamacare.
"Well," I said. "There's a lot of money working against it."
"There's always a lot of money against anything that's good for people," he said. "It's the American Way.
"The filibuster has never been a good thing: look at who's done it and why. Remember those pictures of Dixiecrat Senators reading the Manhattan telephone book on the Senate floor to filibuster against the voting rights act? But at least back then they by gawd had to keep talking, had to actually filibuster in order to filibuster. Sooner or later they'd run out of spit, or patience, or talkers. That was the hope, anyway.
"Now with the silent filibuster, any damned nutcase of a right-wing Senator can block any bills or presidential nominations on a whim, or out of sheer contrariness. One cock-eyed son of a gun from Alabama or Mississippi can bottle up legislation to help 315 million of his fellow Americans. It's obscene.
"You've got this guy Vitter from Louisiana, single-handedly holds off the confirmation vote on EPA appointments in order to delay scientific assessments on the health risks of formaldehyde. Just happens that some of his biggest campaign contributors sell formaldehyde. You've got Mitch McConnell, top Repuglican in the Senate, filibustering on behalf of oil subsidies, filibustering to block efforts to mitigate the mortgage crisis, and filibustering against campaign disclosure reforms. Every damn one of 'em designed to help real people and opposed by fat cat campaign donors to ol' Mitchy-witchy. You've got this guy Shelby from Alabama, who is 85 per cent owned by Northrup Grumman. Richy boy puts a damn blanket hold on every Obama nomination in order to force the Administration to give a big fat contract to Northrup Grumman to build a new air fueling tanker. You've got Honest John McCain his very own self blocking a Labor department nominee the U.S. Chamber of Commerce didn't like, in exchange for the chamber's withholding money support from McCain's Tea Party opponent in the primary election. You've got FedEx pouring a mountain of money into Bob Corker's Senate campaign in Tennessee whereupon that good ol' boy obligingly filibusters the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill in order to demand a policy that prevents FedEx drivers from unionizing. You've got Mary Landrieu, the Senator from Exxon-Mobile-Chevron by way of Louisiana, blocking the vote on a senior OMB nomination until President Kidglove caves and allows more oil drilling in the Gulf after Deepwater Horizon defiled the thing for ages.
"And so you've got the so-called mainstream media listening to guys like Steven Duffield. Steven who? Duffield. Big time lobbyist. Says those damned Senate Liberals "want to gut the filibuster." Damn right they do. If real rules reform takes place, Duffield stands to lose about a quarter of a million dollars a year from selling -- yes, selling -- holds and filibusters to his corporate clients. 'You require advocacy,' he told them, 'before those Senators -- many of them backbench Republicans -- who may exercise their prerogatives to delay or obstruct.'
"You've got Investors Business Daily -- you know whose corner they're in! -- soberly taking the word of another big-time lobbyist, Martin Gold, that even the modest rules reform now on the table would be 'unprecedented and unwise.' Humbug! What's unprecedented is the way Repuglicans are using the filibuster. Almost 390 times just during the period Harry Reid has been majority leader. In all the years Lyndon Johnson was majority leader he had to deal with just one filibuster. One! Unwise? Sure, for Gold's clients: Qualcomm, Amazon.com, BAE Systems and a clutch of similarly altruistic corporations.
"So now I'm asking you, my editor friend, what if anything will be done about this? What have you got to say?"
I replied, "Doc, my friend, you've said it all. Lunch is on me this week."
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