The Peeking

My brother pointed out to me that in Sonoma County I have new freedoms, never before seen, and I should thank Supervisor Efren Carillo, his excellent attorney and a jury of Carillo's peers for them. It is now legal for me to leave my house at 3:30 A. M. clad only in underpants and socks, carrying two beers, and walk around in public to my heart's content. I can tap on the bedroom windows of the women in my neighborhood and scratch holes in their window screens. That's now legal. It is exactly what Efren Carillo did. After two 911 calls from one woman, Carillo was arrested, charged with peeking and eventually tried and found innocent. 

You might want to know on what Supervisor Carillo based his defense. He had three arrows in his quiver, one for his underpants and one for each sock.

Carillo began by telling the jury that he had been drunk on the early morning in question. That was probably enough defense right there, but the arresting officers claimed the supervisor had been sober.  Second, Carillo testified that he had an enormous ego and thought himself welcome in any garb. That clenched his innocence right there. And, third, Carillo stated that he had never intended or done any peeking--he went shoeless outside trying to get laid. Case closed, for pete's sake. 

Putin's NeoFascism

It's remarkable that so few have noticed that Russia has become a totalitarian neo-Fascist state with Putin as dictator. It may be that the irony is too great. At a huge cost Russia defeated Fascism  in the last century--and 70 years later it has adopted neo-Fascism as its ideology.

We all understand that Russia is being run by an oligarchy of corporations with Putin in charge. Some may not realize that Exxon Mobile, British Petroleum and other global corporations, who stand above mere nations, work hand in glove with Putin's oil and gas corporations in joint projects in places ranging from Siberia to the Caribbean. These arrangements remind me of the links between American and German corporations before the Second World War. 

Even more to the point, Putin has adopted the German strategy of using ethnic reunification to revive his nation. Germany set out to unite Germans living in other countries with the Fatherland, much as Putin is doing with Russian speakers in the nations near Russia. Like the Germans he sets ethnicity against ethnicity in situations where Communism, for example, set one class against another. Like Germany Putin has gone to war against gays and the effete West and its culture (as he sees it). But are any prominent people pointing this out? Maybe you have to be really old to remember last century's ideologies.

The Oiligarchy

 Someone on TV used the term "oiligarchy." I think I can define that term. It's the major oil and gas companies, industries that belong to no nation. In a way they run the globe, often working together on projects.  (Putin is an important member.) 

We used to argue about why we had attacked Iraq. We blamed our media and the Neo-Cons and the stupidity of American voters and others. Many things contributed to the war, but America entered it for one reason. George Bush and Dick Cheney were members of the oiligarchy. British Petroleum and Exxon Mobile and others wanted Iraq's oil. We can think of this as the first world corporation war, and the decision was not made in one country. It was made by people who tower over mere nations. America was given the main tasks to perform. We got used.


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Affirmative Inaction

I used to think that if American bigotry succeeded in banning affirmative action by public universities, the admissions committees would find ways to mitigate the racism. I once sat on an admissions committee, and all sorts of odd things did occur.

More interesting, the effort to keep black people in a second class status has backfired on bigots in a peculiar way. The results at UC-Berkeley came out recently. I don't have the exact statistics in front of me, but next year's new class will be over 40% Asians with Latinos in the high 30s, Whites just below Latinos, and Blacks below 5%. (Don't ask me how they counted Black, Asian or White Latinos or other groups who sometimes do well on tests like Episcopalians.)

When putting together a new class, the idea is to admit students who will succeed and who will constitute a great mix. You want tuba players, preacher's daughters, cowboys, rich kids, humorists, athletes, sculptors, business majors, Catholics, etc. Or maybe you just want those expert at taking standardized tests?

I Should Have Had My Pants On

Back in July, Sonoma County Supervisor and hard-drinking gift-to-women Efren Carillo was arrested in the street in the small hours of the morning. He was clad in both socks and shorts and holding two beers, one can for himself and a second, more thoughtful can he had intended to offer a neighbor woman whose name he could not recall.  She'd made a 911 call when Carillo had attempted to find a way into her home. He is currently being tried for misdemeanor peeking. During the first day of testimony we learned that Supervisor Carillo had said the following to the police: "In retrospect, I should have had my pants on."

Cliven Bundy and Mahatma Gandhi

You probably know who Cliven Bundy is, a freeloading, baggy old millionaire rancher in Nevada who has grazed his cattle on federal land for 21 years without paying the required fee. Last week we saw a showdown on TV. Bundy made it clear that he does not recognize the federal government. They sent men to confiscate some of his cattle in lieu of payment, and Bundy, with the aid of many armed men, blocked them. The feds, avoiding bloodshed, left empty handed.

Bundy is a western type I've seen before. What was new was that a commentator compared him to Mahatma Gandhi. There is some truth in that. Both men (as another commentator mentioned) formed, in childhood, a deep attachment to cows. Gandhi held that the cow is mother to millions of Indians. "She pleads before us on behalf of the whole sub-human species for justice. . . ." Gandhi believed that the central fact of Hinduism is cow protection. Bundy protects his cows, willingly putting the lives of his family and supporters on the line if it comes to armed conflict. Gandhi said that "my ambition is no less to see the principle of cow protection established throughout the world." Bundy is more modest, attempting only a major revolution in one nation. Also he loves a good t-bone, especially that little medallion of rich meat found in the upper left corner. 

Why Voters Are Alienated

According to the NPR, 3% of Americans are millionaires. In Congress 50.2% of of the members are millionaires. A majority of the Supreme Court are millionaires. The President is a millionaire.

Two political scientists did a big study and learned that public opinion on a given issue has no predictive value on whether a given policy will be adopted. On the other hand, where rich people stand on a given issue will often predict the legislative outcome.  What the average voter thinks counts for almost nothing. 

The Totalitarian Advance

Post-fascism is hard to define, but we see in many places in the world conditions that remind us of certain aspects of fascism without the full-blown fascist ideology. 

To steal a comment from Seymour Lipset, post-fascism is the extremism of the middle. Post-fascism in today's world, with its surplus populations, is a response to a situation in which many extra people live in countries. Some are, although native to their land, surplus, essentially stateless and no longer wanted. They lose the rights of citizens. The post-fascist drift no longer supports full citizenship for blacks in Mississippi or gays in Russia. And some people, unwanted immigrants, live in limbo.

On the periphery of wealthy countries, states are failing, and their inhabitants are attempting to move into the states that still function. Functioning states can--if they will--protect human rights.

Global capitalism thrives. Exxon Mobile, BP and nationalized Big Oil in Russia are joined at the hip in projects to drill all over the world, including the Caribbean.

Some states are more post-fascist than others. A totalitarian post-fascist state has a charismatic dictator known to all. That makes them easy to spot. The center of a post-fascist state is usually an ultra-nationalist reunifying ethic group. Imperialism is, for them, a means of achieving ethnic rejuvenation by expanding into neighboring states. They focus on conflict between ethnic groups rather than on class struggle. They purge or attack groups they see as inferior; and they promote racial solidarity.

These states tend to emphasize masculinity and social Darwinism while, simultaneously, claiming victimhood. Criticism is forcibly repressed, but even in totalitarian states different views continue to exist. Repression in the name of family values is common. Elections are falsified. What you get in the end are regimes of personal power. Meanwhile the West's appetite for appeasing dictators continues to grow in the shade of our nuclear umbrella.

The Return of Fascism

Fascism isn't hard to define, but we have had a problem knowing where to place Fascism on the political continuum. From its roots in 19th century thought until now, Fascism has drawn mostly on Right but also on Left belief systems. Confusing things more, the term "Fascist" was and is used loosely as an insult. 

A general definition might go like this: Fascism is a political system led by a dictator and emphasizing an aggressive militarism, ethnic nationalism and racism. Minority groups like gays and lesbians lose their status as full citizens with equal rights. The dictator is nearly always famous and Charismatic. (If you can't identify the dictator, then you are not dealing with a Fascist state.) Ethnic solidarity is a frequent theme. Taking territory by force from other countries in the name of ethnic solidarity is often a goal. Fascists typically view themselves as having a legitimate and terrible grievance, and they want revenge. They often see the United States as decadent and weak. A Fascist economic system is capitalist and dominated by big corporations, which form an oligarchy closely allied with the Fascist dictator.

I suppose that many national governing bodies have some of the characteristics listed above; Russia has them all. We should admit that while Hitler failed to conquer Russia, Fascism has won. To a considerable extent Fascism took hold in Russia because of the West's unwillingness to let Russia into the club, and that is now water under the bridge. What protects Russia today, aside from thousands of nuclear weapons, is the fact that Big Oil in the West (companies like BP and Exxon) are heavily invested in joint projects with Big Oil in Russia, drilling holes into the planet from Russia itself to the Caribbean. Corporations, you might say, rule. A renewed Russian empire is likely to work to Exxon's advantage.

The Planet Reagan

For those who missed the AP article, the Republican movement to name everything after our finest senile President, Ronald Reagan, continues. It has been joined by my Democratic member of congress, Jared Huffman, who has introduced a bill to change the name of Earth to Reagan. His hope is that once we live on Reagan, the Republicans may want to mitigate climate change.

James Gore, Lobbyist

In a recent poll, twenty-eight percent of likely voters interviewed said they support progressive Deb Fudge in her campaign to replace outgoing Supervisor Mike McGuire; 21 percent support the well-liked former Healdsburg Mayor Pete Foppiano; and 12 percent support former lobbyist James Gore. What is particularly interesting here is whether Gore, a Washington lobbyist for the wine corporations, can buy the election with money from the Sonoma County grape barons. With their hefty donations, Gore has raised more cash than the other four candidates combined. Gore is unqualified and an employee of the 1%, but can he (and they) buy an election? Look for Gore billboards, found alongside the roads with major vineyards. (This election represents current GOP thinking in Sonoma County.  Because Republicans seldom win, the GOP runs corporate Democrats like Gore for office. In this case what is at stake is majority control of the Board of Supervisors by corporations.)

Exxon Mobil In Russia

I know as little about complex foreign affairs as any journalist, but I have picked up from my reading the idea that Russia is now a capitalist nation devoted to a considerable extent to enriching its major corporations (who sponsor Putin). American and European corporations are heavily invested in Russian corporations, in joint projects, etc. Exxon Mobil, based in Texas, is exploring for oil and gas in the Russian Arctic. Exxon has several joint ventures with Rosneft in and outside Russia. Exxon operates and owns a major stake in  the largest offshore oil and gas project in the country, Sakhalin 1. And so on. BP and others are also heavily invested in Russia. That might explain why the corporate media have been telling us that Crimea is Russia and maybe Ukraine is Russia, along with Moldavia and so on. The bigger Russia gets, the better the investments look. (Someone recently added that Exxon and Russia have joint drilling ventures in the Caribbean.)