Scrappy Dogs Can Swim

It's raining hard here, and I read the following item in our newspaper. "The rain came so fast that a homeless Republican couple who had built a platform to use as a bed inside a 36 inch culvert along Santa Rosa Creek were violently flushed out of the pipeline and into the creek while they slept. " This event left them and their Republican dog Scrappy floundering in cold water, but all three had made it to the bank by the time firefighters arrived.

(To be truthful, I added the party affiliation. It just struck me as likely, given the state of Republican thought these days.)

The Guilt of Susan Rice

At first glance the attacks made by Sen. John McCain on UN Ambassador Susan Rice seem inexplicable, something like the attack on Iraq after the Twin Towers fell. In that case we took revenge by attacking a country at random, so to speak. Susan Rice had nothing to do with the murders in Benghazi. Therefore, she is the right person to hold responsible. At second glance, though, McCain's reasoning becomes less stupid. This is his argument. Susan Rice must have been given the unclassified account of the Benghazi incident, prepared by the CIA, and she was also given the secret classified account prepared by the CIA. When she went on TV, she repeated what was in the unclassified account. She should have presented the secret classified account and then--I guess--have been tried for treason and gone to prison. McCain's case here is undeniable, and it is backed up by two facts the Democrats will have trouble denying: Susan Rice is a woman, and she is not an old white man.

Celebrating War

About 150 years ago my great-grandfathers were fighting in the Civil War. They were privates in the American Army (sometimes called the Union Army). My family never had much luck when it came to promotions. Anyway those times are getting a long look on current TV programs devoted to history. Most of what I have seen are lectures by history professors (not bad, usually) and talks by park rangers (empty blather). What you seldom see in the lecture audiences is black people. They don't attend. Why not? 

Well, my guess is that black people view Civil War programs as white people telling stories about white people. The other reason is less appetizing. In many of these talks, especially by national park employees, the Civil War is presented as a noble battle between two equally noble sides led by fine Christian gentlemen like Robert E. Lee and Abe Lincoln. The attitude is that it is a shame one side had to lose. So here's what I suspect. Black people might not consider the slave-whipping Robert E. Lee good material for nobility. He was, for starters, a traitor. According to Grant, Lee's army fought for the worst cause this country has ever known: the extension of slavery to new territories. And then Lee ruined his own army by making rash assaults on well defended positions. 

In life Lee remained a vicious bigot as long as he drew breath.

Lee's excellent but fake reputation was part of a political shift that occurred during the period running from about 1880 to 1945 (I'm guessing at dates). During that time in America it was fine to be a racist as long as you were polite about it. Racism was common among Great White Men and found all over the nation. Accepting the South back into the Union and binding the country together meant keeping company with loony bigots, and that was no problem--until Hitler's example made racism seem trashy, low class and not respectable. Odd, isn't it? Hitler woke us up.

If we want people of color to take an interest in American history, we need to tell the truth about what happened and who did what to whom.

Why Hate Obama?

The other day I heard a social scientist giving a talk on the Tea Party, which she had studied in depth and with respect. One of her conclusions was that Tea Party people were not usually racist but that they hated President Obama with a terrible passion. 

I have not studied the Tea Party closely. What I know comes from TV, which probably tapes the most racist protest signs it can find at Tea Party gatherings. In an interview, one Teabagger claimed that the Tea Party was open to people of any race.  In that sense the party might not be racist.

So why do they hate Obama? My guess is that they hate his intelligence, his well-fitted suits, his grace, his kindness, his tolerance, all of which are foreign to teabaggers. They hate diversity. They hate his strange name. They hate Hawaii, Kenya, Indonesia and Chicago--and Europe. They hate Harvard Law School. They hate the fact that Obama has won a majority of the vote in two Presidential elections. They hate his Christianity, his Islamic and Buddhist coloring, his faith in prayer (which I do not share), his supposed Nazi beliefs and Stalinist leanings, his lack of macho posturing. They hate the idea that a white American woman married a black man from Africa and had a child. They hate the Other. But of course they aren't racist.

Tit for Tat

Hamas and Israel are currently attempting to kill civilians again. As usual Israel has escalated the original violence, generating more recruits for Hamas. President Obama is calling for a cease fire.
Escalation is the wrong response for either side. 

The most effective response (given game theory) when four people get wounded on your side is to wound exactly four people on the other side. Not five people or three people. The effect of an automatic tit for tat strategy is that the conflict becomes an unrewarding empty ritual, and people see that and it dies out.
 
The current conflict is not a war between the peoples of Gaza and Israel. It is a war between the leaders of Hamas and the leaders of Israel, fought for the purpose of keeping in power the leaders of Israel and Hamas. No doubt they hate one another--but they work together so well.

If You're Black, Get Back

A few weeks back, John Sununu revealed that President Barack Obama was "not very bright." Within the Republican bubble, the evidence seemed overwhelming. Obama did not have white skin. End of case.  Today Senator John McCain, the man who picked Sarah Palin to run as his Vice Presidential candidate, told us that UN Ambassador Susan Rice is not very bright. Inside the patriarchal Republican bubble, the evidence against Rice is compelling. She is a woman, so she can't be  bright. Also her skin is not white. (For some reason the term "loathsome racist creeps" comes to mine.)

Diane Feinstein's Affair

As I understand it, Sen. Diane Feinstein learned today that she had had an affair, and no one had told her about it. She found out during an interview on national television. You can imagine her anger. The FBI had been investigating Feinstein for more than three months without reporting the matter. "They should have told me about this affair immediately, " the senator snapped at Andrea Mitchell, reporter. "Little people like you are not supposed to get information about sexual scandals before I do; and when I have an affair, I want to hear about it the next morning if not sooner. I'm not the richest senator in Washington for no reason."

The Gerrymander

Geoffrey R. Stone wrote:

"How could the Republicans have won 55 percent of the House seats at the same time that Mitt Romney received only 48 percent of the popular vote? Did that many people split their vote? It turns out the answer is "no." Although the Republicans won 55 percent of the House seats, they received less than half of the votes for members of the House of Representatives. Indeed, more than half-a-million more Americans voted for Democratic House candidates than for Republicans House candidates. There was no split-decision. The Democrats won both the presidential election and the House election. But the Republicans won 55 percent of the seats in the House. This seems crazy. How could this be?

"This answer lies in the 2010 election, in which Republicans won control of a substantial majority of state governments. They then used that power to re-draw congressional district lines in such a way as to maximize the Republican outcome in the 2012 House election."

Romney Wins!

Romney is not a loser. Jon Stewart noted that Mittly has been elected President of the Confederate States.

Obama Now White?

On November 6, ABC News analyst Matt Dowd stated twice that this "may be the last election that we see two white men run against each other for President." Dowd apparently suffers from the Stephan Colbert syndrome, which is the inability to see color.

Nate Silver Wins

To my blue eye, for the last six months the TV talking heads I watch have been finding the most threatening poll results each morning and then warning me of a hideous doom. But the statistics expert Nate Silver kept me sane. His careful daily analysis struck me as realistic, and he consistently had the President ahead in his race for re-election. Obama led from beginning to end. That was reality.

In the final week Silver came under attack from some of the TV gasbags on the Left and Right. They make a living inventing imaginary causes for thrilling nonevents. Silver was exposing them for what they are, entertainers with not a clue as to who was ahead in the voters' affections.

Silver said the Presidential race tilted about 9 to 1 in Obama's favor. He said that Obama would win the popular vote by about 2%. Silver listed every state in which Obama would prevail. 

It all came true. Thank you, Nate Silver. (Remember this name two years from now.)

Chances Are

Nate Silver has set the President's chance of reelection at 9 to 1 odds. The usual TV analysts have it at about 50-50, and many of them are angry with Silver, who might be making bloviation a lost art, unless Silver is totally wrong.

In Silver's favor he can add and subtract. He knows math and statistics, but statistics can be misleading. Hence, "there are lies, big lies and statistics."

My sense (but what do I know?) is that President Obama began with a small firm lead and will end with the same lead. I suspect that voters made up their minds six months ago. It was one of those choices--between a lunch of chicken or chicken poop--people on both sides found easy. Anyone agonizing slowly over a choice between Obama and Romney is a political idiot.

Reality

Reality is that which, when you don't believe in it, doesn't go away -- written by Peter Viereck, a conservative (back when conservatives were not nutters). Of course, we need an illustrative example: how about global climate change? 

Nate Silver has President Obama at about 9 to 1 to win Ohio. Fingers crossed.

Romney Reveals He Is A Lesbian

In the last week of his Presidential campaign, former governor Mitt Romney has revealed that he is a 47-year-old black Latina lesbian who entered this country from Venezuela without documentation. Born in Kenya, Romney stated that he had been raised on welfare in Hollywood, California, supplemented with aid from the several Muslim temples where his family worshiped, while maintaining their status as atheists.

In a speech delivered in Chicago, Romney pledged that on Day One of his administration he would require every adult woman under 40 to undergo at least one free abortion. His new plan to tax billionaires at 107% surprised some observers, but a Rassmussen poll taken after the talk revealed that Republican support for Romney suddenly increased from 93% to 99%.

You Can't Cure Stupid

Driving in my car today, looking for the address of an elderly woman who wants to be taken to the polls, I head another woman on the radio. She said that she was voting against President Obama because he went to a bad church for 20 years, that he was an atheist and that he was a Moslem. You can't cure stupid.

A business plan

The one daily newspaper in Sonoma County, currently owned from Florida, is being purchased by local real estate champions of the sort who bundle huge sums of money for conservative Democrats.  In other words, greed guys tied to Indian casinos, exploding developments, and the media that support them. The small group of 1%ers includes a former publisher (SF Chronicle), a former conservative Democratic congressman and two real estate moguls. They intend to take total control of the aspects of county government that interest them, aspects like who grants building permits. That's part of any good business plan, right?

Of course, that will not be much of a change--it might even be an improvement. 

Part of a Horse

One of the main things holding Mitt Romney back so far in this election is that he is a horse's ass. But what does that mean? It means he's a fool of a special kind, a kind that makes you cringe.  He's pompous and clueless, and no one likes him. Chris Christie doesn't like him. If Romney hadn't been born rich, he'd be childless and living alone. He's never felt a genuine emotion in his life other than envy. He's empty.

Nate Silver has President Obama as a four to one favorite over the horse's ass this morning. Five days to go.