Monday, March 12, 2012
A Big Fat Idiot
Rush Limbaugh, lumbering to the defense of Joseph Kony, said that the "Lord's Resistance Army are Christians. It means God. I was only kidding. Lord's Resistance Army are Christians. They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops, to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them. That's what the lingo means, 'to help regional forces remove from the battlefield,' meaning capture or kill. So that's a new war, a hundred troops to wipe out Christians in Sudan, Uganda, and -- (interruption) no, I'm not kidding."
Friday, March 9, 2012
A Seat On A Plane
I don't always agree with Melissa Harris-Perry, but among the talkers on MSNBC she ranks first, along with Lawrence ODonnoll. Today she pointed out that it's not quite accurate to say that the Republicans who hate President Obama are racist. They hated President Clinton just as much, even though Clinton was a white centrist who lived in Wall Street's pocket. In the case of Obama the Republicans have a racist card to play--that's the difference. They use racism.
The question is why do Republicans hate mildly centrist Democrats like Clinton and Obama? It seems clear that the hatred is irrational, marked by accusations, in Obama's case, of his being a Fascist-Marxist-Islamist baby killer born in Kenya who wants to turn the USA into France. So loud and crazy is this campaign that there is almost no room for the Left to squeeze in its accusation that Obama leans to the Right.
The Republican base of angry old white men and the women who obey them has reason to be angry. The system has screwed them. Many have seen themselves or their children shoved back into the crowded narrow seats in the back of the airplane with the Latinos, pregnant women and African-Americans. They have been relegated to cheap seats when once they flew first class. Their place in the seating arrangements has changed. They don't know who did this to them, but they see the Latino sitting beside them and turn to face him and his President with white hot rage.
The question is why do Republicans hate mildly centrist Democrats like Clinton and Obama? It seems clear that the hatred is irrational, marked by accusations, in Obama's case, of his being a Fascist-Marxist-Islamist baby killer born in Kenya who wants to turn the USA into France. So loud and crazy is this campaign that there is almost no room for the Left to squeeze in its accusation that Obama leans to the Right.
The Republican base of angry old white men and the women who obey them has reason to be angry. The system has screwed them. Many have seen themselves or their children shoved back into the crowded narrow seats in the back of the airplane with the Latinos, pregnant women and African-Americans. They have been relegated to cheap seats when once they flew first class. Their place in the seating arrangements has changed. They don't know who did this to them, but they see the Latino sitting beside them and turn to face him and his President with white hot rage.
A Liberal President
One thing to keep in mind as we near the next Presidential election is this: that Barack Obama is the most liberal President to win the office since LBJ.
Even odder, the second most liberal President since LBJ was Richard Nixon. (Carter and Clinton, two Southern moderates, aided the deregulation process that has enriched the 1% and demonized the working class.)
We've climbed a long way down the ladder.
Even odder, the second most liberal President since LBJ was Richard Nixon. (Carter and Clinton, two Southern moderates, aided the deregulation process that has enriched the 1% and demonized the working class.)
We've climbed a long way down the ladder.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Rumors of War
Rumors of a war against Iran are circulating. With the exception of Ron Paul, the Republican Presidential candidates seem eager for a war. They are blustering like puppet Netanyahus. The public apparently wants Israel to bomb Iran, which would be nuts. My sense is that President Obama is working to avoid the conflict. If he persists his position might cost him re-election. I tend to be pragmatic about these matters but not when it comes to an unprovoked attack on another country. We cannot, in good conscience, attack or support an attack on Iran.
I haven't seen anything that convinces me that Iran is making a nuclear weapon. And if they are, I don't see how that gives another country the right to attack them. European and American intelligence sources have found no evidence that Iran is about to make a bomb. Nada. But the bluster continues to build. It's an election issue.
What will the impact of an Iran war be on the world's economic system? Just the rumor of war has driven up gasoline prices each day, every single day, for the last month.
I haven't seen anything that convinces me that Iran is making a nuclear weapon. And if they are, I don't see how that gives another country the right to attack them. European and American intelligence sources have found no evidence that Iran is about to make a bomb. Nada. But the bluster continues to build. It's an election issue.
What will the impact of an Iran war be on the world's economic system? Just the rumor of war has driven up gasoline prices each day, every single day, for the last month.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
A Double Date
(Recycled jokes) So Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum set up a double date. Newt arrives on time, bringing his three wives and two dead hookers. But Rick can't make it. His wife is in the hospital having a Republican governor removed from her vagina.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
THE HELP
I like the TV show done by Prof. Mellisa Harris-Perry. In fact, she's my favorite news show host. She is about the only one ready to engage with ideas. (She's on MSNBC on Saturday and Sunday morning early.)
I've been aware for some time that she disapproves of The Help. I wanted to know why, and this weekend she put on a panel to discuss the matter: herself (an academician of mixed racial background), a white woman professor who strongly disliked the movie because it did not present the true grimness faced by African Americans in the South, a black male comic, who kept out of the way, and an African American former house cleaner who now works for an association of such workers. As I had predicted, the former house cleaner enjoyed the film as much as I did, while the white professor denounced it, apparently on the grounds that she would have preferred either a documentary or a tragedy. In short, she was complaining that a comedy should have been a tragedy (which is jaw-dropping in its ignorance). She copmmented that no black woman in the film had been raped by a white employer (something that did and no doubt does happen). Another flaw she found was that a young white woman with a college education was functional in the film in finding a publisher for what the black women had to say--and that runs counter to the position that African Americans need no white connections.
There was something horrifying in the positions taken by a woman who was, without doubt, well meaning.
There were two kinds of people missing from the panel. There was no producer. If there had been, she might have said that the film had been financed to send a message but also to sell tickets. The big ticket buyers in the USA are white, so it made sense to have several white characters (good and bad) play major roles. The panel also lacked a creative writer or literary critic, who might have pointed out that the film was a comedy. It wasn't an outlandish comedy like SOME LIKE IT HOT or FAST DAYS AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, but it was fiction and a comedy--and in an ancient exaggerated comic tradition. You know, the one where the wily servants outsmart their cartoonlike boss. I've enjoyed films in that genre many times, and the basic plot line must go back to the ancient Greeks.
Audiences love THE HELP, perhaps because it is a comedy. Where I live, household help is usually Latina, and I've seen people treat Latina workers with the same easy inhumanity we witness in the movie. I thank THE HELP for bringing this back to my attention.
I've been aware for some time that she disapproves of The Help. I wanted to know why, and this weekend she put on a panel to discuss the matter: herself (an academician of mixed racial background), a white woman professor who strongly disliked the movie because it did not present the true grimness faced by African Americans in the South, a black male comic, who kept out of the way, and an African American former house cleaner who now works for an association of such workers. As I had predicted, the former house cleaner enjoyed the film as much as I did, while the white professor denounced it, apparently on the grounds that she would have preferred either a documentary or a tragedy. In short, she was complaining that a comedy should have been a tragedy (which is jaw-dropping in its ignorance). She copmmented that no black woman in the film had been raped by a white employer (something that did and no doubt does happen). Another flaw she found was that a young white woman with a college education was functional in the film in finding a publisher for what the black women had to say--and that runs counter to the position that African Americans need no white connections.
There was something horrifying in the positions taken by a woman who was, without doubt, well meaning.
There were two kinds of people missing from the panel. There was no producer. If there had been, she might have said that the film had been financed to send a message but also to sell tickets. The big ticket buyers in the USA are white, so it made sense to have several white characters (good and bad) play major roles. The panel also lacked a creative writer or literary critic, who might have pointed out that the film was a comedy. It wasn't an outlandish comedy like SOME LIKE IT HOT or FAST DAYS AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, but it was fiction and a comedy--and in an ancient exaggerated comic tradition. You know, the one where the wily servants outsmart their cartoonlike boss. I've enjoyed films in that genre many times, and the basic plot line must go back to the ancient Greeks.
Audiences love THE HELP, perhaps because it is a comedy. Where I live, household help is usually Latina, and I've seen people treat Latina workers with the same easy inhumanity we witness in the movie. I thank THE HELP for bringing this back to my attention.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Stonewall at Gettysburg
I've been watching on TV a civil war history program, and on it a professor was asked what would have happened if Stonewall Jackson had lived to participate in the crucial battle of Gettysburg. The professor began with the obvious (that it's likely the battle would not have been at Gettysburg) and then went on to say that if Jackson had been at Gettysburg, the South would have won.
Baloney. If Jackson had been at Gettysburg, most likely he would have been killed near the peach orchard and by his own men. (We don't talk about fragging.)
Baloney. If Jackson had been at Gettysburg, most likely he would have been killed near the peach orchard and by his own men. (We don't talk about fragging.)
Friday, February 24, 2012
Ancient Campaign Stategies
Reactionary Republicans have roughed out a campaign plan they hope will win them the Presidency. Using an old Karl Rove strategy, but much mangled, they are identifying specific identity groups and working to win their support. For example, they are counting on the anti-contraception voters to push them over the top, along with the Birthers, the Truthers, the gold bugs, Confederate generals and the Anti-Saloon League. We have interesting months ahead.
Ancient
Campaign Strategies
Some of our local Democrats have worked out a strategy to win the open congressional seat. It goes something like this. The seat has been held by a woman, so it should always be held by a woman. As certain friends believed 40 years ago, all women should endorse the woman candidate and support her. Male Democrats can fuck off.
Progressives take a somewhat different view, which is that the people, united, can never be defeated.
Reactionary Republicans have roughed out a campaign plan they hope will win them the Presidency. Using an old Karl Rove strategy, but much mangled, they are identifying specific identity groups and working to win their support. For example, they are counting on the anti-contraception voters to push them over the top, along with the Birthers, the Truthers, the gold bugs, and the Anti-Saloon League. We have interesting months ahead.
Some of our local Democrats have worked out a strategy to win the open congressional seat. It goes something like this. The seat has been held by a woman, so it should always be held by a woman. As certain friends believed 40 years ago, all women should endorse the woman candidate and support her. Male Democrats can fuck off.
Progressives take a somewhat different view, which is that the people, united, can never be defeated.
Reactionary Republicans have roughed out a campaign plan they hope will win them the Presidency. Using an old Karl Rove strategy, but much mangled, they are identifying specific identity groups and working to win their support. For example, they are counting on the anti-contraception voters to push them over the top, along with the Birthers, the Truthers, the gold bugs, and the Anti-Saloon League. We have interesting months ahead.
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