Paul Gullixson's Morons

Our sole daily newspaper, the corporate Press-Democrat, regularly publishes letters-to-the-editor sent in by morons. The editors do this to increase circulation. Moronic opinions incite rational readers to reply and encourage organized morons to buy the newspaper. Of course the newspaper cannot admit its true motives; this morning the paper published an official explanation for this troubling practice. "Because our fundamental belief in the importance of airing and confronting objectionable ideas--and our confidence in a reasonable public to properly engage the writer's sentiments--outweighed our desire to protect readers from dissent," editor Paul Gullixson lied in one of his usual sentence fragments. 

Mr. Gullixson manages to hint in his explanation that he does not agree with the morons who write in to say that it was understandable that 13-year-old Andy Lopez got himself shot seven times by a deputy sheriff because who can tell a toy gun from a real gun? (everyone I know?) and maybe the boy was cutting his last class of the day (what? what?). But if Gullixson believes that his rationale for publishing bat crap is convincing his readers, then he must consider us to be as moronic as his carefully chosen letter writers. 

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The Sasquatch Argument

More on reactions to the death of Andy Lopez, a 13-year-old with a toy gun who was shot seven times by a frightened sheriff's deputy. The Press Democrat continues to print letters apparently written by Sasquatches lurking among the redwoods. The newspaper loves these letters. I quote a typical Sasquatch argument: "Yes, it was a tragedy. Nobody disputes that. But if the deputy had waited for, let's say, three seconds to confirm, and the replica AK-47 was real, we could have had two dead deputies."

That's right, if you overlook the verb tenses. And if the boy had really been Sgt. York and Sonoma County had been a battlefield in France, those deputies would have been in big trouble. I have to join the Press Democrat in admiring the tight logic. It's a version of the Stand Your Ground position, which says that if you say you are scared, you have the right to kill anyone in front of you. That makes sense. If it later turns out to be a false alarm, no harm done. You will still be safe.

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New Scandinavian Cooking

When my children were small, I cooked macaroni and cheese badly for them, and since then my skills and interest have declined. I now cook oatmeal (like Wittgenstein, who ate oatmeal several times a day). That's about it. Susan, my wife, is a first-rate cook who is obsessed with the idea that I learn to be her personal chef, but that is another story. It is unlikely to happen. In this story I want to recommend a TV show called NEW SCANDINAVIAN COOKING. 

I suspect that I am watching reruns of a show made about five years ago, but I find it surprisingly entertaining. The host of the show is a Swedish dude who travels about Scandinavia and so on, standing outdoors in the snow and cooking really fine looking food. I have no idea why he cooks outdoors. Maybe all Swedes cook outdoors. The rural scenery is excellent. Sometimes he travels by horse. Sometimes he is joined by a striking woman, and in certain shows it is summer, and open-faced sandwiches in a Finnish style fill the bill.

Who Won the War?

After retreating from Gettysburg, many of the Confederate foot soldiers wrote home and told their families that the battle had ended in a tie or perhaps a victory.  That's how powerful the will to believe in a cause can be. Facts often do not matter, and for a foot soldier in the fog of war, facts can be hard to come by. We see the same phenomenon at work today in the Tea Party's war on women. That war, like the wars on drugs and on gays and on students and on people of color, has been lost, but the Tea Party cannot believe it. As far as they are concerned, the Confederacy can not lose. Defeat is not possible.

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The Ground Has Shifted

In Virginia, a swing state, a very weak Democratic candidate for governor was elected while losing the independent vote to his women-suppressing Republican opponent. For some reason, married women supported the Republican, but single women voted overwhelmingly for the Democrat. Single women and black people created the winning coalition.

Nationally the Democratic base is suddenly larger than the Republican base. In a country that has become sharply and cleanly divided without much of middle, elections become a matter of which side gets out its base. If both sides get out their bases, the Democrats will win. And that is a recent development.

On paper independents form a large block of voters, but studies have shown that individual independents consistently support one party or another. They don't swing from party to party. They are independents in name only. Let's call them INOs. 

The Rise and Fall of Chris Christie

As you have noticed, the Democratic Party put up token opposition to Chris Christie in his run for re-election as governor of New Jersey. It was probably a strategic decision--and a risky one. Christie, an expert at faking sincerity, is already grabbing with both hands for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016.  Fake sincerity has crossover appeal. What are the Democrats thinking?

1) The Democrats are counting on Gov. Christie to rip the Republican Party in two. While Christie supports the war on women and so forth, he is neither stupid nor baked in the bean. He will be backed by Corporate America. The Tea Party can't stand him, so maybe he won't win the nomination, but there's a risk that he will. 

2) So far the voters have paid little attention to Christie's past, but attention from the national media will change that. This man, expert in fake sincerity, once lobbied for Bernie Madoff.

3)  There is a lot of entertainment value in Christie's personality. He's a short, obese bully--a perfect candidate for mayor of Toronto--and when he's campaigning in Iowa, he will probably cuss out a rightwing preacher's wife on camera. Iowa may like that in a man but possibly not.

True Americans

This is what the Tea Party Republicans think. 

"True Americans are white males born in this country or Canada. See how inclusive we are? Voting restrictions on women and people of color are needed to keep True Americans in charge of the country. If True Americans lose control of the country, we will also lose the War Against the Poor."

Force Feeding Prisoners: Some Standard Operating Procedures at Gitmo

This is from Harper's Magazine, November,  2013. It is part of the current SOP for force feeding prisoners at Gitmo. 

"On occasion, a detainee undergoing enternal (sic) feeding (EF) will attempt to bite and swallow the feeding tube. The detainee may attempt to bite the portion of the tube outside the nose by turning his head and snaring the tube with his mouth, or may attempt to regurgitate the tube partially into the oral cavity and attempt to sever the tube covertly without opening his mouth. This is difficult to assess in the non-compliant detainee when it is necessary to affix a 'spit mask' over his mouth. If a detainee is actively attempting to turn his head to bite the tube between the nose and the EF bag, the RN will affix the tube to the midline of the detainee's nose and extend it upwards, affixing it with tape to the detainee's forehead."

Gelhaus and His Gun

A man named Westbrook was pulled over recently by the deputy who killed Andy Lopez. Westbrook reported the incident to the Sheriff's Department weeks before the 13-year-old Lopez was shot seven times by Deputy Gelhaus. This is part of his story, as published in the SF Chronicle. 

"Westbrook said he and a colleague were traveling south on Highway 101 near Highway 116 when Gelhaus pulled them over and then approached the BMW on the passenger side.

"There wasn't much room on the side of the highway, Westbrook said, so he rolled down his window and offered to move the car. That's when Gelhaus pulled a gun on him and yelled at him to turn the car off, Westbrook said. He said he responded that the car was already off.

"According to Westbrook, Gelhaus returned to his cruiser to write a ticket. Several minutes later, the driver said, Gelhaus asked him to walk back to his cruiser and then pulled a gun on him a second time, asking him if he had any weapons before frisking him.

"Westbrook said he finally asked the deputy why he had pulled him over, with Gelhaus referring to an illegal lane change. Westbrook said that's when he asked the deputy if he was OK. Gelhaus didn't answer, he said."

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