"Bud Lite" will be served at the Peace Picnic of the 21 Century to be convened by Obama, with Gates and Sgt. J. Crowley in attendance. If this is a "teachable moment" it should teach the White House to offer a decent domestic beer. Jesus Christ, a Sam Adams would have been a nice gesture: a brew from Massachusetts that does not make one gag as does Bud lite.
This is what passes for leadership from the President as the Congress is being sodomized by the health industry lobbyists and the military-industrial complex is stuffing its pockets through no bid contracts introduced in the House, defense appropriations bill. To say that these are obscenities is just too kind a description. As the "Blue Dog Dems" rail about spending for heath care, they mostly remain supine over the defense over runs and corruption of the political process that is the earmarks process that allows for pork barrel projects to bloat the defense bill.
Perhaps, the Congress is suffering under the illusion that the financial press is creating that the markets have been rebounding and that the worst is over; so, business as usual. This is too bad for all of us. For the average guy who's pension has lost 40% of its value over the last year, the next downturn will just leave him on the mat where he is already. The banks are hugely exposed to mortgage ARM resets that are coming do over the next two years and the commercial real estate market is sliding off a cliff.
So, sipping lousy beer in the garden with Skip and Jim just doesn't cut it...this country has weigh bigger stuff to deal with than the contra-temp of the Affaire Gates. I can just see how young Black Men are going feel safer because Skip Gates has gotten his pound of flesh from the Cambridge Police Department. Yeah, this is a teachable moment all right...smoke and mirror anyone?
http://www.washingtonpost.com
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Beers and Understanding, A Latin Beat
While Gates and his police officer partner, will be sipping beer at the White House, a NYT editorial put La Affaire Gates in perspective. The Immigration and Custom's Enforcement Agents have been trashing the Constitutional rights of Latinos and violating due process and search and seizure laws. The Cardozo Law Clinic has produced a report on hundreds of cases of ICE agents in violation of basic rules of law. trampling over the lives of defenseless immigrants and non-citizens and citizens. Just reading the few details of the report mentioned in the NYTimes editorial is revolting.
It makes me laugh that Obama has so much time for Skip Gates and his troubles while this outrage got zip comment from the Oracle on Pennsylvania Avenue. The report showed a systemic and long standing program of criminal behavior on the part of gangsters with badges and loaded weapons. This report should produce a wave of firings and arrests of ICE agents for crimes under official cover of the law. Of course, this type of report gets written about every twenty years. I wonder where the Latino politicians and media are when something like this should produce mass protest....? The faceless, the poor, with limited English, and no power....perfect as a punching bag for the agents of the state...who was in charge? Who let this happen?
Meanwhile, the papers are reporting the undoing of the el-Presidente's health care fantasy. He has been swallowed up and spit out by his own party....Of course, he can say, " Well, who else do they have to vote for." The said truth is that Obama and the Democrats are set themselves up for a backlash from independent voters who rightly feel they have been defrauded. And so it goes.
Http://nytimes.com
It makes me laugh that Obama has so much time for Skip Gates and his troubles while this outrage got zip comment from the Oracle on Pennsylvania Avenue. The report showed a systemic and long standing program of criminal behavior on the part of gangsters with badges and loaded weapons. This report should produce a wave of firings and arrests of ICE agents for crimes under official cover of the law. Of course, this type of report gets written about every twenty years. I wonder where the Latino politicians and media are when something like this should produce mass protest....? The faceless, the poor, with limited English, and no power....perfect as a punching bag for the agents of the state...who was in charge? Who let this happen?
Meanwhile, the papers are reporting the undoing of the el-Presidente's health care fantasy. He has been swallowed up and spit out by his own party....Of course, he can say, " Well, who else do they have to vote for." The said truth is that Obama and the Democrats are set themselves up for a backlash from independent voters who rightly feel they have been defrauded. And so it goes.
Http://nytimes.com
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Bad Seeds and Other Hilarity
I saw a heart warming advertisement for a film called, " Orphan." Suffice it to say that it looked like a pile of Bat Guano. But, a story about "bad seed" movies got me thinking, not always a good thing. It appears that preteen and junior high kids are a new horror type...This may be believable to anyone who has been out on the street when a junior high has been emptied upon a street at dismissal time. But, to call the little tykes demon seed is, perhaps, stretching it a bit. This there is a long tradition in literature and film that portrays children as perverse or possessed....I have found that to be true only with the onset of puberty....One institution in America has consistently demonized children and made money doing so...the Catholic church. See our blog entry on the Ryan Report and it's implications for the United States July 7, 2009.
Political corruption and you: perfect in New Jersey! You got to love love the theatrics around the commentary concerning the recent commotion about play to play politics in New Jersey. When ha sit been any different? And, does it make things work or is there actually a problem here? What yo ask? A very simple question. Does corruption lessen the efficiency of the political process or make it work. It is a wonderful question for poli sci classes and bar room conversations. Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney in New Jersey gets to posture about money corrupting politics....gee, josh Opie!
The best part of the corruption story is the rabbi connection. After the scandals of the Catholic Church's cover up of pedophilia, this looks like mere parking ticket violations by independent contractors...some exotic Syrian sect...how interesting.
California apologizes to the Chinese. The story of the exploitation of Chinese laborers and it correlative racism is not just a California story. The United States Government turned a blind eye to it; happily, it was just a part of the exploitation of cheap labor on a global basis: Chinese, southern European Slavic groups. The needs of industrial capitalism and robber baron greed were a symphony of misery, death and humiliation for tens of millions of contract labors in from the late 18th Century to the present....yes, my dears, we have our undocumented aliens and white slave trade still going on under our noses. Still, it was nice that Arnold acknowledged how Leland Stanford got the money to build his university.
Political corruption and you: perfect in New Jersey! You got to love love the theatrics around the commentary concerning the recent commotion about play to play politics in New Jersey. When ha sit been any different? And, does it make things work or is there actually a problem here? What yo ask? A very simple question. Does corruption lessen the efficiency of the political process or make it work. It is a wonderful question for poli sci classes and bar room conversations. Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney in New Jersey gets to posture about money corrupting politics....gee, josh Opie!
The best part of the corruption story is the rabbi connection. After the scandals of the Catholic Church's cover up of pedophilia, this looks like mere parking ticket violations by independent contractors...some exotic Syrian sect...how interesting.
California apologizes to the Chinese. The story of the exploitation of Chinese laborers and it correlative racism is not just a California story. The United States Government turned a blind eye to it; happily, it was just a part of the exploitation of cheap labor on a global basis: Chinese, southern European Slavic groups. The needs of industrial capitalism and robber baron greed were a symphony of misery, death and humiliation for tens of millions of contract labors in from the late 18th Century to the present....yes, my dears, we have our undocumented aliens and white slave trade still going on under our noses. Still, it was nice that Arnold acknowledged how Leland Stanford got the money to build his university.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Gates Soap Opera Now on the Air!
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. continues to provide his followers with more entertaining rhetoric about his harrowing encounters with The Leviathan of state power...cop in Cambridge. America is a twitter over this comedy of errors.
According Yahoo News 22 July 2009, Boston is in a food fight over the Affaire Gates. We remain a yawing. The Obama is supposed to have said that the cop was stupid. Not the best move from a far. Oh well, the show must go on...I am reminded of Fred Sanford, clutching his heart and calling to Elizabeth. But, I liked Red Fox's performance...more authentic and well played.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/2009722
According Yahoo News 22 July 2009, Boston is in a food fight over the Affaire Gates. We remain a yawing. The Obama is supposed to have said that the cop was stupid. Not the best move from a far. Oh well, the show must go on...I am reminded of Fred Sanford, clutching his heart and calling to Elizabeth. But, I liked Red Fox's performance...more authentic and well played.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/2009722
A Gastro-Intestinal View of the Legislative Process
We have been amazed by the similarity of the functioning of the intestinal tract and the legislative system of the House and Senate. In the end, the results are the same for both systems, a steaming pile of offal.
Many years ago, before most of you could read, Walter Karp wrote a book, Indispensable Enemies: The Politics of Misrule in America. This book makes my point in a somewhat more genteel fashion. Karp was a friend of the divine Lewis of Lapham, one of the finest chroniclers of the decline of the American Imperium. Lapham has kept Karp's work alive through the journal Harpers' Magazine. those of you have had the joy of reading Lapham rip the imperial jesters another one, understand that he does not recommend political writing that is light weight. So, go and find Karp and clutch his book to your bosom and then, read it. It is as timely now as it was when it came out decades ago. It removes the mystery of how the two party system is actually a one party plutocracy and explains how it got that way.
As the health care "reform" legislation is mangled in Congress, You will understand the silliness of this exercise in democratic appearances and be able to see the ugliness of the real process.
By the way, we recommend a posting on the Daily Kos by Edgar concerning Canadian health care. Apparently, poor Edgar was subjected to "socialized medicine" and it worked and saved his life for a grand total of $18 dollars out of pocket and a $40 monthly premium. Those poor bastards up north.
Http://dailykos.com
Many years ago, before most of you could read, Walter Karp wrote a book, Indispensable Enemies: The Politics of Misrule in America. This book makes my point in a somewhat more genteel fashion. Karp was a friend of the divine Lewis of Lapham, one of the finest chroniclers of the decline of the American Imperium. Lapham has kept Karp's work alive through the journal Harpers' Magazine. those of you have had the joy of reading Lapham rip the imperial jesters another one, understand that he does not recommend political writing that is light weight. So, go and find Karp and clutch his book to your bosom and then, read it. It is as timely now as it was when it came out decades ago. It removes the mystery of how the two party system is actually a one party plutocracy and explains how it got that way.
As the health care "reform" legislation is mangled in Congress, You will understand the silliness of this exercise in democratic appearances and be able to see the ugliness of the real process.
By the way, we recommend a posting on the Daily Kos by Edgar concerning Canadian health care. Apparently, poor Edgar was subjected to "socialized medicine" and it worked and saved his life for a grand total of $18 dollars out of pocket and a $40 monthly premium. Those poor bastards up north.
Http://dailykos.com
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Gates and More Gates plus a House is Not a Home
Apparently, Harvard Prof Henry Louis Gates, Jr. owes a debt of gratitude to the Cambridge Police Department for giving him an idea for his next PBS special. It is unlikely that Dr. Gates will share any proceeds from the project with the local PBA. As all the world now knows, Gates was arrested on the porch of his home when he followed a cop onto his porch, insisting on the cop telling him what his name was and badge number. The cops had been called to Gates hoe by a neighbor who thought she saw two black men try to break into Gates home. Well, she was right. But, it was Gates and his limo driver. The cops actually showed up and questioned Gates. It would have been all over but for Gates indignation at being questioned by the cop who had n way of knowing that the PBS star was who he was. As the cop was walking out, Gates was getting more and more insistent and the cop finally arrested him for disorderly conduct.
The picture in the Washington Post shows Gates in a rather animated pose...a pose he insists he would not take under such circumstances..."wolfing" it. Apparently, As Gates was being arrested he had an epiphany: this happens to Black people without friends at the Harvard Law School....outrage, script for TV series, interview with media....charges dropped. Off to Martha's Vineyard to recover.from humiliation....
I'm sorry. If Dr. Gates needs to be rousted by the cops to be made aware that those less privileged than he is are at a significant disadvantage before the minions of the law, he needs to take a course in criminal justice in my Harlem neighborhood. Of course, the Rev. Al Sharpton will
fill him in on being poor and Black in America. What a circus.
Another Gates, A little white man in Washington D.C. has robbed billions from the military/industrial complex and almost gotten away with it. Sec. of Defense Gates seems to have prevailed in his quest to kill the supplemental appropriation for more F22 fighter jets. The useless, over priced and maintenance plagued plane was voted down in the Senate by decisive margin, with bi-partisan votes. it now goes to a committee to reconcile the conflicting votes by Senate and House. If Saxby Chambliss is not able to incite Russia to attack Alaska...you can see Russia from Alaska, the useless plane may be dead. This is a small miracle in the world of make work military contracting....Life is getting hard for everyone....Swing Low Sweet Chariot.....
On another front, Luke Mullins of U.S. News and World Report shows that the mortgage crisis is only accelerating and the Obama program to low foreclosures down has been a sham ( my word). Today, 1 in 84 Americans have received a filling of foreclosure. Thirty percent of homes in America are now in a negative equity position (house is worth less than mortgage). Some cute little Italian B School prof from U of Chi has interesting proposal for addressing the crisis. Professor Luigi Zingales proposes a debt for equity arrangement with banks. Seems sensible but will never work because it seems sensible....
The picture in the Washington Post shows Gates in a rather animated pose...a pose he insists he would not take under such circumstances..."wolfing" it. Apparently, As Gates was being arrested he had an epiphany: this happens to Black people without friends at the Harvard Law School....outrage, script for TV series, interview with media....charges dropped. Off to Martha's Vineyard to recover.from humiliation....
I'm sorry. If Dr. Gates needs to be rousted by the cops to be made aware that those less privileged than he is are at a significant disadvantage before the minions of the law, he needs to take a course in criminal justice in my Harlem neighborhood. Of course, the Rev. Al Sharpton will
fill him in on being poor and Black in America. What a circus.
Another Gates, A little white man in Washington D.C. has robbed billions from the military/industrial complex and almost gotten away with it. Sec. of Defense Gates seems to have prevailed in his quest to kill the supplemental appropriation for more F22 fighter jets. The useless, over priced and maintenance plagued plane was voted down in the Senate by decisive margin, with bi-partisan votes. it now goes to a committee to reconcile the conflicting votes by Senate and House. If Saxby Chambliss is not able to incite Russia to attack Alaska...you can see Russia from Alaska, the useless plane may be dead. This is a small miracle in the world of make work military contracting....Life is getting hard for everyone....Swing Low Sweet Chariot.....
On another front, Luke Mullins of U.S. News and World Report shows that the mortgage crisis is only accelerating and the Obama program to low foreclosures down has been a sham ( my word). Today, 1 in 84 Americans have received a filling of foreclosure. Thirty percent of homes in America are now in a negative equity position (house is worth less than mortgage). Some cute little Italian B School prof from U of Chi has interesting proposal for addressing the crisis. Professor Luigi Zingales proposes a debt for equity arrangement with banks. Seems sensible but will never work because it seems sensible....
Monday, July 20, 2009
Chance the Gardner: are we in that movie?
If you have not heard of the film or the book, "Being There," you need to see the film for the best commentary on the current political babble about the late economy of the United States. The plot goes something like this: an idiot becomes candidate for Presdient of the United States when people mistake his gardening advise as metaphors for insights about the economy.
So, when I heard the green shoots metaphor used in the financial press, I looked for the nearest pop corn stand. Is it possible that noboby in the administration had any down time between elementary school and their government service to watch one of the best movies on the illusions of power and the making of power through illusions? These folks need to let out more often.
A week of breathtaking analysis of Al Franken's ability to be boring like his Senate colleagues has shown that Al can look catatonic as the rest of the Senate members. We wee i enlightened by the headlines about Franken's seriousness. Jesus Christ, any idiot can be a Senator, look at Coburn or Sessions or Ensign. But, the country has lost a great humorist...not a very good trade at all.
The press is beginning to see Obama's move to the right as his strategic mistake....of course, there were people who said all along that he was not a liberal activist...nobody listened. Now, Obama sees that he is losing his supporters over the health care sell out, Gitmo and Afghanistan. The Democrats don't have to worry about the Republicans; the REPS will self destruct....But, there is no there there. The Democrats have refused to truly define themselves as an activist people's party. Too bad, they are going to lose the good will of many of the good, naive people who put Obama into the White House.
The Washington Post has a front line report front Afghanistan today that was brilliant and frightening. read it and as Country Joe once said, "We got to get out of that place, if it's the last thing we ever do." Anne Scott Tyson wrote a scary, brilliant piece. It sounded like Halberstram channeling his thoughts about Vietnam 40 plus years ago. And so it goes. Or, that the way it is.
http://washintonpost.com
So, when I heard the green shoots metaphor used in the financial press, I looked for the nearest pop corn stand. Is it possible that noboby in the administration had any down time between elementary school and their government service to watch one of the best movies on the illusions of power and the making of power through illusions? These folks need to let out more often.
A week of breathtaking analysis of Al Franken's ability to be boring like his Senate colleagues has shown that Al can look catatonic as the rest of the Senate members. We wee i enlightened by the headlines about Franken's seriousness. Jesus Christ, any idiot can be a Senator, look at Coburn or Sessions or Ensign. But, the country has lost a great humorist...not a very good trade at all.
The press is beginning to see Obama's move to the right as his strategic mistake....of course, there were people who said all along that he was not a liberal activist...nobody listened. Now, Obama sees that he is losing his supporters over the health care sell out, Gitmo and Afghanistan. The Democrats don't have to worry about the Republicans; the REPS will self destruct....But, there is no there there. The Democrats have refused to truly define themselves as an activist people's party. Too bad, they are going to lose the good will of many of the good, naive people who put Obama into the White House.
The Washington Post has a front line report front Afghanistan today that was brilliant and frightening. read it and as Country Joe once said, "We got to get out of that place, if it's the last thing we ever do." Anne Scott Tyson wrote a scary, brilliant piece. It sounded like Halberstram channeling his thoughts about Vietnam 40 plus years ago. And so it goes. Or, that the way it is.
http://washintonpost.com
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