Spinner Vs. Spinner

The most boring news event on television is two spinners confronting one another. This is what passes for fair coverage on CNN. The host gathers together the assistant chair of the Republican Party and the assistant chair of the Democratic Party, and the two of them recite baloney manufactured by their propaganda machines. No one learns anything. Nothing could be less interesting.

NBC has a cheaper variant. On MEET THE PRESS the nameless host saves time by inviting only one spinner, then takes the chore of the opposite spinner into his own oafish hands. When interviewing a Democratic spinner, the nameless host become a Republican spinner. If he's talking to a Republican spinner, the nameless host assumes the mask of a Democratic spinner.

The best defense against the mindless waste of time called spinning is to flip to a different channel. The minute you spot a spinner, flip. Look for panel shows where the participants are analysts or historians. Some panels contain spinners, so remain alert.

Gilligan's Republicans

I'm sure someone has done this obvious task before--recast Gilligan's Island with the comics running for the Republican nomination. Gilligan, of course, will be played by Ron Paul, who is comically bumbling and dimwitted by nature. Michelle Bachmann as the irate Skipper. Thurston Howell is a fine role for Mitt Romney, and the useless Professor fits Newt Gingrich perfectly. Finally, the seductive Rick Santorum as Ginger, whose specialty is the reverse cowgirl.

And now for something completely different.

Mitt Romney is an Anchor Baby

This is how it goes. The father of little Mitty was a Mexican named George Romney, born in Mexico. George's Mormon father had moved to Mexico because polygamy was legal there (or ignored). Events during the Mexican Revolution frightened George's father, so the family fled to the United States when George was a child. Once George grew up and fathered Mitty, George had his anchor baby and could not be sent back to the land of his birth.

Now if you want to quibble, you might argue that George Romney's parents were American citizens or at least citizens of Utah all along. You might claim that Mitty was grandfathered into citizenship. I'm prepared to be reasonable. The way I see it, Mitt Romney is a perfect candidate for the Dream Act.

Local Banks

As some of you know, Occupy Healdsburg is urging people to move their money from the huge corporate national banks to smaller local banks, because the local banks actually use the money locally. That helps our economy. The Press Democrat this Sunday points out a good example. First Community Bank, Exchange Bank, and Luther Burbank Savings are lending money to Habitat for Humanity to buy foreclosed homes and rehab them for low income families. I have moved my money from Bank of America to Exchange Bank, which offers scholarship money (when possible) for junior college students.

Yesterday more than 300 people attended a memorial celebration of the life of Bob Boardman, a huge turnout from all over. Bob's gusto and positive attitude were maintained right to the end. His kith and kin did him proud on Sunday. We won't see his like again. He left an aching absence in our town and in my life.

The Windsor Democrats held a candidates' presentation forum for Democrats running for congress in our new district. In the end they made no endorsement. County Supervisor Mike McGuire read a letter from Assemblyman Jared Huffman. Jason Liles endorsed Stacey Lawson of San Rafael. For what it is worth--very little?--I support Normon Solomon, a sensible progressive with a long local record of working actively for peace and for help for those in need.

Vulture Capitalism

Vultures, we understand, are nature's useful dead flesh eaters. They soar high in a blue California sky, occasionally joined by their even larger cousins, the condors. I don't know if they are protected, but I would never harm one. They perch near the dying, then consume the carrion, recycling the calories, leaving behind nothing but bones and a little skin. Also I would never take a turkey vulture home because they stink of rotting meat and death.

Mitty Romney devoted his short working life to running up his inherited wealth, perching near companies in trouble, selling off their assets, taking out huge loans, then eating the dying companies, leaving behind only skin and bones. In some cases this sort of thing is probably needed in a capitalist economy. Maybe its useful. It's legal. But you wouldn't make a vulture President--he stinks of death.

Mitty Romney's Stand up Comedy

In the last day or two we've gotten a taste of Mitty Romney's sense of humor. He started by telling us that he "enjoyed" being able to fire people whose services didn't meet his needs (he was discussing health care). Romney was half-smiling, being daring. Many of us have changed doctors or dentists at one time or another, of course, but how many of us actually "enjoy" firing people? How oblivious do you have to be in order to take pleasure in crushing care providers?

In Romney's circle everyone who counts is rich. They might get his jokes. (Romney ranks as about the 3,000th richest person in the USA.)

For his next joke, Romney told us that during his senate campaign against Ted Kennedy, he spent so much money that he forced Kennedy to raise opposition money by mortgaging his house. That anecdote, a real knee slapper, was meant to endear Romney to the Republican primary voters by mocking the departed Massachusetts liberal.

Have we ever seen a major Presidential candidate with less ability to relate to voters with ordinary incomes?

The Psychopathy Checklist

I don't put much stock in Robert Hare's psychopathy checklist, but just for fun we might want to check it against some of our political and corporate leaders. Hare estimates that about three million Americans are psychopaths. That means that if you go to a Santa Rosa Symphony concert, there are probably about three psychopaths in the audience and maybe one leading the orchestra. Keep in mind that psychopaths are often "deciders" who exhibit what humans call "leadership."

Leaders suffering from aggressive narcissism show many of the symptoms listed below:

• Glibness or superficial charm
• A grandiose sense of self-worth and pathological lying
  
• Cunning/ manipulative skills
• Lack of remorse or guilt for antisocial outcomes of their behavior.
• Shallow affect (genuine emotion is short-lived and self-centered)
• Callousness; lack of empathy
• Failure to accept responsibility for own actions

It's easy to point to examples of people who are glib, cunning, lack remorse and fail to accept responsibility for their own actions: Dick Cheney, Ralph Nader, Michele Bachmann, Noam Chomsky, Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, most corporate CEOs, Donald Trump, Mitt Romney, Paris Hilton, Ron and Rand Paul and so on.

Many of us are eager to follow at least one or two of them, aren't we?

No One Celebrates

People who said that it would make no difference if Obama or McCain won the Presidency, might want to consider the following message from President Obama.

"Early this morning, the last of our troops left Iraq. As we honor and reflect on the sacrifices that millions of men and women made for this war, I wanted to make sure you heard the news. Bringing this war to a responsible end was a cause that sparked many Americans to get involved in the political process for the first time. Today's outcome is a reminder that we all have a stake in our country's future, and a say in the direction we choose."

John McCain, outraged, has protested. He wanted the war to continue endlessly.

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We don't say it out loud, but the sacrifices made by our men and women and by the Iraqis were made for nothing. They died for nothing. The war was pointless, except that it made certain rich Republicans even richer. What we hear today, a few days after leaving Iraq, is that the Shia President has begun to crush the Sunni minority. As many predicted, the outcome in Iraq may be a new dictatorship to replace the old dictatorship, the real difference being that the new dictator will befriend Iran.

We can't face pointless deaths in an open way, but a war has ended and no one is celebrating.

Teabagger Studies

Studies of teabaggers have begun to reach us, and we can begin to form a more accurate picture of them. For instance, the Teabaggers have always been Radical Right Republicans and always will be. They have never voted for Democrats.

Teabaggers are old. They have no youth branch, but if they did they would look down on it because young people are not old. Teabaggers regard young people as fools.

Teabaggers approve of government programs to support wise old white semi-literate people. They disapprove of programs to help children, people of color and young adults. They don't care for public education, prenatal health counseling, student loans, etc. These things are, in the Teabagger's view, undeserved freeloading.

Teabaggers are as white as polished rice but not as smooth to touch.

Teabaggers like Newt Gingrich because he is an authentic butt-head who looks wisely ancient. Newt is their idea of an intellectual leader, someone has noted.

Teabaggers disapprove of the sciences and rational discussion. In their view, the idea that some people are better informed than others undermines democracy, which depends on a belief that all old men are equally wise.

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This is a curious era in the sense that we have a block of ignorant old people who dislike the young vs. a larger and growing block of young voters looking for change. Perhaps that is always the case, but seldom has the division been so stark. The election in 2012 will decide a generational struggle. The next year should be fascinating.