On the 26th of October, what should have been a great moment in any high school kids memory turned into a nightmare seared in the memory of one young girl as it should be burned into all our psyches'.

A young girl who, as the newspaper stories say was a good church going kid and dreamed of joining the Police Explorers' but nonetheless wanted to "fit in" with the crowd in school.

When she left the dance and waited for her father to pick her up, she was apparently asked, lured into joining a group of students and non students who were, as we used to say, "drinkin' and actin' a fool."

She was somehow convinced to drink alongside this gang of fools and soon found herself the object of their insanity, and that is exactly what happened; a collective insanity that allows a group to attack the 'other' without any qualms, without any fear of consequence.

The news accounts go on to say that this young woman, a little girl really, she is only fifteen and probably just recently put away her Barbie's, endured a two and a half hour
rape and beating ordeal that can only be imagined. The goons were cheered on by their fellow ass-holes, as they repeatedly raped and otherwise defiled the soul of an innocent.

The San Francisco Examiner reports that the Richmond Police estimate that twenty or more men or boys were involved and that some had even taken pictures on videos on their cell phones.

The latest story out of Richmond is that this situation was inevitable, that the area where these heinous acts occurred was known to be a danger spot, and place just itching for the right elements to align themselves, as if this were a natural event that could not have been prevented. The area had no cameras, no patrols by school security, poor lighting and abutted a neighborhood known for gang activity.

That so many things were wrong and no action was taken is inexcusable, bordering on negligence and dereliction of duty; and I have read all the excuses...poor neighborhood, high unemployment, state budget cuts, and on and on. However at some point, we the people must take responsibility.

Little boys model what big boys do. Little girls model what big girls do.

To believe, as some do, that violent video games, sexualized hip-hop videos, the ugly words we call each other...bitch...ho...the inability of parents to monitor and behave in a way that sets an example to them.

These kids are no different than other kids in the U.S. most want to succeed in their dreams, but what they lack is a moral center, and if there is no moral center, well, nature abhors a vacuum.

Don't confuse 'moral center' with this religion or that religion, it has more to do with watching out for your kids and mine. Be aware of the influences that get in the way of growing a good human being.

Snitch, if the idiots selling their fear in our communities believe they can get away with anything, they will continue to hold our kids hostages and by extension they hold us in their grip.

As I said at the beginning of this rant, I don't know this girl, but I'm sure you and I have passed her on the street, seen her on the bus and probably sat next to her on BART.

Look to your left, and look to your right, she's probably standing right next to you.

1. God, in whatever iteration has only one commandment; Love Thy Neighbor. Everything else is fine print or disclaimers.

2. Nothing is comparable to the smile of a newborn. Even if it's only gas.

3. Kindle and Sony readers are not books. There is a connection with the author that can only be had by anticipating the future that is the next page.

4. Friends are priceless; acquaintances, not so much.

5. Con un amor se borra otro amor

6. You have to suit up in order to get in the game. No one ever hit a home run from the bench.

7. Music, like books, can only be duplicated digitally, there are no digital musicians.

8. I find I cannot hold grudges. Too heavy, and it clouds my vision.

9. There are not enough smiles, no matter how many there are.

10. Music should be an integral part of life. It should be savored like fine wine.Only the good stuff ages well.

After one of the most contested elections in recent history, one in which all manner of idiotic statements were made about the eventual winner of said contest; many of us were pleasantly surprised to see that the American electorate were finally coming to their senses after many years of political machinations, fears of the bogeyman lurking behind every corner, and even where the all monsters hide...under the bed.

Well, there were many of us who that once the election was done with, we could get on to the business of building and shoring up all that had been destroyed and let rot after many years of laizzes-faire mismanagement that had been the hallmark of not only the Bush administration, but of many aspects of the Clinton so-called third-way style of governance.

Now, I understand that to lump William Jefferson Clinton with the likes of GWB may cause some consternation among members of the Democratic Party; however let's understand that it was not only the eight years of the Bush administration that got us in the mess we find ourselves in.

Granted that the economic growth experienced during the Clinton years, is to a great extent, preferable than the wholesale idiocy that describes the mess that we find ourselves in. having said that, let's not look at the Clinton years as some pre-Pottersville existence, It was under the Clinton administration that, in an effort to streamline federal 'bureaucracies', fast-tracked FDA approval for drugs that we are now learning are not the magic pills that we were led to believe they were. After that, we saw the gutting of federal agencies tasked with the safety of we, the people. OSHA oversight was non-existent under the Bush administration. however, let's not forget that none of this would have occurred without the acquiescence of our elected officials, Democratic and Republican alike. It is unfortunate that in this rush to get 'government' off our backs we are left with 'rushes' to the market of drugs and other items that have proven to be detrimental to ourselves and our children.

But I digress...we are talking about teh stupid...that strange condition that seems to have taken over the minds of otherwise intelligent people.

It has become the practice of those who should know better to allow uninformed rabble determine the future course of this country; seriously folks, does anyone really believe that an address by the duly elected leader of this country should be viewed as some sort of political indoctrination that will somehow turn johnny and Judy into little Che Guevara's or worse yet little Mao's.

• James Greer, the chairman of the Florida Republican Party seems to believe that the message from an accomplished intelligent man, to whom hard work and diligent study habits helped him reach the pinnacles of success we should all wish our children would aspire to, is somehow a message of political propaganda

• Death panels and killing grandma; The insurance industry has helped spread this canard through the the so-called grassroots organizations that are funded through the very same insurance industry...talk about circular logic. I know too many people on the receiving end of these "Death Panels"...insurance underwriters who deny coverage and are then rewarded with bonus' at the end of the year. I have a friend whose wife is fighting lung cancer, and no, she is not and never has been a smoker...she has however lost her job because of her treatments and was forced to pay Cobra premiums that they could not afford and are now on a waiting list for Medicaid because Medicare will only pay for eighty percent of the cost for chemotherapy, yet somehow, through all this, they still have to put food on the table and a roof over their heads...these are people who worked all their lives. paid their taxes, and did all those things a good citizen does. The insurance companies do a great job at denying benefits and 'killin grandma' while teh Stupids are all over television spewing hatred and ignorance.

• Teh Stupids even inject themselves into the arena of foreign policy, when confronted with the fact that the myth of WMD's were not just myth but outright lies, they feign shock that anyone would impute less than noble intentions in bringing a war without necessity to a country that had nothing to do with the baseless and cowardly attacks of 9/11. Tom Ridge has backtracked on his assertion that threat level warnings were not politically motivated. I believe his next tome will be one to defend Bernie Madoff against charges that he actually stole money from people, after all, how dare one assume that a man like Bernie the philanthropist do anything that was not in the interest of his clients...and yes...I know one has nothing to do with the other...but please remember we are talking about Teh Stupids.

• Obama and Hitler...this is the one that Teh Stupids have really rallied around...and the one that is the most offensive, I was born five years after the end of WWII, I still remember as a young child the arrest and trial of Adolf Eichmann, while perhaps not the architect of the final solution, he more than most, executed that horrific assault on the human race. The images are still in my head of Eichmann behind the bulletproof glass as he utilized what would be the excuse du jour..." I was just following orders", an excuse that would be reiterated throughout the years by all manner of monsters...it is an excuse that that has become the sine qua non in the world today... West Bank...Rwanda...Dafur...Abu Ghraib, and sadly too many more to name. You can hardly pick up a newspaper or read the intertubes without some reference to man's inhumanity to man, some crime committed in the name of some God, Allah, Yahweh. you name it, it's been done.

• This is how far we have fallen, we are arguing with people who truly believe that the world is six thousand years old...we are arguing with people about whether health care is a right or a privilege...there are elected officials in this country who insist that their version of Christianity is the one true one...we have universities in this country who are turning out some of the most uneducated graduates one has ever seen...and these are the people who will lead this country into the future.
  

So what do we do...it seems that we are outnumbered by Teh Stupids...we write our letters to the editors...we write our congresspeople...we show up at town hall meetings, and yet...Teh Stupids continue...

And that's that!!

Let's see...it's been about a month since I've posted anything here, or anywhere else for that matter; but now, seeing as how all sorts of new exciting things have been happening, it's time to put my two cents where I probably shouldn't.

There are so many things, one has to wonder where to start, I mean there were the first hundred days of the Obama administration; there was that whole Twitter phenomenon; the Miss California brouhaha, and whether or not Charlie Crist was going to run for the Senate seat that is being vacated by Mel Martinez. Apparently Mel wants to spend more time with his family. Oh...and let us not forget the Padre Alberto story that has South Florida, particularly, the Miami area all verklempt over the idea that a good looking priest might be in love with a woman who seems to be an adult.

Anyways...I'm going to try address each of these and maybe some other stuff, let's see how it all plays out. So here goes, in no particular order of importance:

• The first hundred days thingie really seemed like an exercise in idiocy, this administration is so new that to try and extrapolate what it may or may not accomplish is like wondering where the relationship is going after the first unchaperoned date to Sunday ten o'clock mass. It makes absolutely no sense. Let's ask that question in January 2010; we may have a better idea then if the last election was the change we all hoped for. I believe that when all is said and done, we will have seen progress in a way that will fundamentally alter the sense of of who we are as a nation and where we need to be as a people.

• I do not watch beauty pageants and care very little for them, and by beauty pageants, I include the various and sundry versions of beauty pageants; Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, American Idol (I know I will probably catch hell for that one)...I don't care who won Iron Chef America or Japan for that matter, I don't give a hoot who was booted off what island or apprenticeship. Don't care who got chopped, diced or whatever else happens to contestants. I especially dislike any and all pageants that involve children. The idea that women must strive to meet some idealized version of beauty is anathema to me. I say this as the father and grandfather of one daughter and three granddaughters. The opinions of this young woman on same sex marriage are about as relevant as mine are on quantum physics, and about as informed. When a story like this dominates the news cycles it makes wonder if we have already dealt with important stuff, and nothing else needs to be done...Universal Health Care...check...Stable economy....check...Troops are home and receiving the plaudits and care they deserve...check.

• Twitter...What can you say about an application that really has no socially redeeming values, I mean really, are you that important that I need to know what you are doing in 140 characters or less...if it's that important and you need to talk to me...try calling. I realize that this a radical idea, but those numbers on your Blackberry, LG, iPhone are there so that you too can experience what Alexander Graham Bell must have felt...a voice at the other end. A couple of years ago, my eldest son says to me..."Dad...I want you to join Twitter so that I can keep you up to date as to my comings and goings...". I could not see the need then, and I sure don't see the need now. Really...how many more electronic leashes do we need?

• Charlie Crist is running for the Senate, Mel Martinez wants to spend more time with his family, I wonder just what is going on here. Crists' approval ratings here in Florida are through the roof, but if you drill down as to the 'why', one has to wonder. Other than hitching his wagon to the President's star, Crist does not have a gubernatorial record to speak of. The first budget that he will sign is full of draconian cuts that will affect many state employees, schools will face deeper cuts, tuition at state universities will increase and counties are facing shortfalls that will impact first responders. State employees who have not had a raise in approximately three years will now face a two percent cut in pay for those making more that 45k a year. That is one hell of a record to run on...the only possible silver lining to the gathering clouds is that Alex Sink may end up being the first female governor of Florida.
  

• El Padre Alberto: Ok...this one is new to me...I had a doctor's appointment on Monday...he's a great guy, second generation Cuban-American from La Republica de Miami...he decided to bring me up to date on all things Miami. Disclaimer: I love Miami...it's like being in a foreign country without having to pass through Customs...I love all the different cuisines you find there...Haitian, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Brazilian. Great food from Ecuador, Argentina, Guatemala, although I must that I like New York Knishes better than Miami or Miami Beach Knishes. Anyhoos...so this Padre Alberto Cutie, a forty something hunky Catholic priest who has some sort of following among young Catholics has done the unthinkable...he fell in love with a thirty something women who is a good looking as he is hunky, at least that's what my Mom says...Well. the diocese has not wasted any time in punishing this priest for this seeming heresy...they have apparently stripped him of his priestly duties and have taken him off the air. He hosted a call in show on Radio Paz in Miami dealing with everyday issues concerning the youth in Miami.

• The swift response to this heretical behavior stands in contrast to the horrific and laggardly approach the real scandal of pedophilia in the clergy, Catholic or otherwise. Let's make sure we understand this correctly...a good looking forty-something man is in love with a good looking thirty something woman...the horror!!!

• I end with this thought...Twitter sucks...we have solved all the other problems in the world so that we can now focus on a clueless beauty pageant contestants, Miami is safe now...now we can focus on the troubles of two people who seem to be in love...and Charlie Crist is going to run on his gubernatorial record...such as it is.

So...there ya go

 Otherwise known as the "Teabaggers Revolt" I tried to stay away but like any wild car wreck, you don't want to look, but it's impossible to look away. A little background; I live in Central Florida, aka the buckle of the Bible Belt. Polk County is the largest of all Florida Counties in terms of area The Green Swamp begins in the northern part of the county, if church attendance were to be made mandatory, it would happen here first or maybe after Texas....but I digress.

 I decided I would toddle on down to the county seat to see for my self how this whole Tea Bagging...er...Tea Party thing was going to play out.
I fully expected the turn out to be huge, and by that I mean that there would be hundreds of people turning out to shake their collective...oops...collective is a socialist word. I fully expected to see hundreds of people show their solidarity...crap...wrong word again...that they would come together in fellowship (good church word) to protest the governments plan to take away the hard won money from millionaires all over the U.S. I also expected to see all the good millionaires from the County, but I believe most had already taken off to Europe, The Bahamas,or the Caymans in order to visit their money.

 I was delighted to see that Dozens and Dozens of people were able to take a stand against, I'm not really quite sure what. You see, on one side of the park people were milling about in what I can only assume was just a day in the park, while on the other side, people were carrying signs and placards showing their solidar...oops...fellowship with the poor downtrodden...wait...that's not why they were there either.
It turns out that there were myriad reasons that inspired these folks to forego Wednesday church meeting. Some were there to speak out against the nefarious plan that the President has hatched to take away our assault weapons, others were there to voice their approval against all things conspiratorial. I must say though, no Black Helicopters.

 I will say this, I took pictures of many signs and the folks were very polite, although I chose to not engage them in any political discussion. I did that for two reasons, a) no matter what I say, they still think the world is flat, and b)there was a scary looking dude with a "Hitler was elected, look what the Germans got" sign. He seemd to be everywhere I was. No, I am not paranoid, ok, just a little bit.

 Anyway...I've been gone from here for awhle, trying to stay away from the echo chamber, and yes, even Progressives can suffer from the "echo chamber" syndrome...but,

 I got pictures!!!!


I Got Pictures!!!!









 

I wrote a diary a while ago sort of pointing out the ridiculous arguments being put forth as to why the President has not cured all that ails us.
 
I was criticized for not tagging the post as sarcasm, satire snark, or some such. I accepted the criticism and re-read said diary.
That is what I set out to do today, however on my to look up stuff I found something that I thought was surely an a piece from the Onion.

The short answer; it was not the Onion who wrote this:
 
 

Fresh off his stint as a war correspondent in Gaza, Joe the Plumber is now doing political strategy with Republicans.

When GOP congressional aides gather Tuesday morning for a meeting of the Conservative Working Group, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher - more commonly known as Joe the Plumber -- will be their featured guest. This group is an organization of conservative Capitol Hill staffers who meet regularly to chart GOP strategy for the week.

That little gem was from the other satirical site...Politico

Yes it seems after their stunning "victory" and by 'victory",  I mean they got their collective asses handed to them in the 2008 elections, the GOP is feeling the love from all those new Republicans in Congress.

and it gets better:

"Wurzelbacher, who became a household name during the presidential election, will be focusing his talk on the proposed stimulus package. He's apparently not a fan of the economic rescue package, according to members of the group"

Ok, let's sum up:

 The GOP is soliciting advice from a guy who goes by an alias about subjects Im 'sure he knows nothing about, then again, they love them some Palin, alsothey refuse to listen to their constituencies.

Who will they ask next for advice. I hope it's me. I need the money.

I've been kicking the horrific numbers of proposed jobs lost during the past week around in my head.

 On Monday morning, we started the week with announcements from a number of companies that 43,000 jobs were going to be cut; later in the day that number was revised upwards to 70,000. That is one hell of way to start the week.

We hear on Friday that the new number of jobs lost would be in the neighborhood of 100,000, that's one hell of a neighborhood and it seems that the light at the end of the tunnel just may be an oncoming train.

I am not an economist, but  I am beginning to think that of all jobs in the world, the only ones that fail upwards are the pundit class, Wall Street CEO's and economists. Nice gig if you can get it.  

The sectors involved are varied; from Caterpillar, Inc. to Pfizer, from Boeing to Chico's, a Fort Myers, Fl. women's clothing outlet. That last one may not seem important, but if you're one of the 500 who will lose their jobs, it's important enough.

It's clear that before things get better, they are going to get a bit worse. According to CNNMoney .com on January 29:

·         The U.S. economy lost 2.6 million jobs in 2008, according to government reports. This includes 21,137 mass layoffs, a seven-year high. In a mass layoff, 50 or more workers are laid off at a time.

And from the same piece:

·         The job market isn't expected to get any better any time soon. The Council Board forecast two million job losses for 2009.

I know I may have taken a rather circuitous route to get to the title of this post, but it seems to me that wedapeople could or perhaps should do more to register our discontent.

From the AP: January 31, 2009

MOSCOW -- Thousands of protesters rallied against the government in cities across Russia on Saturday, reflecting mounting anger over the nation's economic woes.

The protests, among the largest yet, posed a challenge to the Kremlin, which faced little threat from the fragmented opposition during the years of oil-driven boom.

The largest march took place in the far eastern port of Vladivostok, where about 3,000 people denounced the Cabinet's decision to increase tariffs on imported cars. Some shouted slogans urging Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to resign.

And from FT.com:

By Ben Hall in Paris

Published: January 29 2009 09:11 | Last updated: January 29 2009 23:17

At least a million striking workers held demonstrations across France on Thursday in protest at the government's reform programme and its response to the economic crisis, demanding extra help for ordinary families in place of state aid for the banks.

 

Now, I'm not sure if the Russian and the French protests will bring about the needed changes, but I have to believe that, at least in the case of the French, mobilizing one to two million people to take to the streets will at a minimum bring to the table some strength in negotiations.

In the case of the Russian protests, Putin has to take into consideration that Russian workers are not to be taken lightly.

Now that we have a new administration in place, we must keep their feet to the fire. President Obama has his Economic team in place and I think he deserves some time to try and wrap his head around the problem at hand.

I will give him the benefit of the doubt, but I must say that I am somewhat underwhelmed by his choice at Treasury and about some of his advisors.  Larry Summers has already made his presence felt in the under emphasis on infrastructure spending and Geithner has been handed the wheel to the shipwreck he failed to see coming. These are people who for the most part live in an echo chamber reinforcing their own ideas and sadly, not allowing different ideas to find root in their imaginations.

They take to the streets, we email...one of the demands of the French workers is that the government provide... 'extra help for ordinary families in place of more state aid for banks'...what a concept.

I do not pretend to know who the French classify as "ordinary families', but I would suspect that their measuring stick is very much like ours, people who do what is expected of them, and in return they expect the  government do what is expected of it.

The Russian protests are demanding that the government step down because of the worsening economic conditions. They were met by riot police

They take to the streets...we email.

 

I honestly believe that except for a handful of people in the upper reaches of government, especially our representatives, have no first hand clue what it means to be without a job, to not know if the next decision is to pay the mortgage or buy medicine. Let's not forget that some of the most vociferous rants against universal health care are from the very same Senators and Representatives that receive the health care they would deny the rest of the population.

The very people who are in charge of the economy are, for the most part, members of the same country clubs as the bankers they are trying keep afloat. It's a funny thing when I read or hear that such and such bank, insurance company, brokerage house is too big to fail, and yet they get bigger and bigger and yet, still they fail.

 

They protest...we email.

 

The last eight years have for the most part been part and parcel; a massive exercise in greed and manipulation. From the highest reaches of government and finance, we have witnessed excesses that were the norm back in the days of the robber barons.

The rampant abuses are reminiscent of an uglier time in our history; the arrogance of wealth and power is now seen as the perks of being one of 'the boys'. This arrogance is seen daily in our political leaders and the so-called giants of Wall Street.

In 2000, George W. Bush was selected as the heir to the Presidency; just as in some of Europe's oldest monarchies, ability was trumped by being a member of the lucky sperm club. As is the norm in monarchies, one's aptitude or lack of same only becomes a problem when one is called to perform above one's ability, and as he have seen over the past years, he fails stupendously.

As an electorate, we missed the opportunity to 'throw the bums out' and instead chose to 'stay the course' and returned the same idiots to office and expected a different outcome; a sure sign of electoral insanity.

Many of us were criticized for our lack of enthusiasm for our elected officials, the problems in government were manifold; unqualified people were making decisions that would have a lasting effect on us. The Abu Grahib and Katrina scandals laid bare the horrible truth. We were on a ship without a rudder.

In 2006, it seemed like we were coming to our senses, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives was replaced by a Democratic one, but it was still business as usual.

Which brings us to the 2008 election, on the Republican side, it seemed like they were all trying to bring us kicking and screaming into the nineteenth century with their emphasis on more laizzes-faire economics and a nativist turn that would have scared even the Know-Nothings.  I would not have been surprised to see the retread of the Alien and Sedition Act of the eighteenth century.

Then came Barack Obama...skinny black guy from Chicago by way of Hawaii, and Indonesia. A one term U.S. Senator from Chi-Town, he really shook things up.  He denied the heir apparent the chance to run for president (pissin' off a bunch of folks, among them Hillary, Carville, the PUMA's, Chris Matthews, the Sunday Talking Heads, just to name a few).

November 4^th, 2008 and January 20^th, 2009 are days that will be marked forever in the history of the United States; not only did we undo the Republican majorities in both the Senate and the House of Republican, we also managed to elect the skinny guy from Chicago, we also swore him in as the forty-forth President of the United States.

Many things happened in 2008 that made this possible, McCain and Palin, the Wall Street bubble that had been threatening to explode finally burst, and then there was McCain and Palin. I just can't thank that old' maverick enough!

This brings us to the title of this post: The Failed Obama Presidency.

He has been in office for less than ten days and yet we still have all these problems to deal with.

·        Wall Street has not recovered the five thousand points that it lost over the past two years. On the contrary, it seems as if it has stagnated. The Masters of Ponzi, which may be a new post graduate degree, Madoff, Nadel et. al are not in jail, they are under house arrest. Roger Thain, late of Merrill Lynch spends over a million dollars to redecorate his office. All this and more.

·        Universal Health Care has not been passed...we who voted for Obama, must ask ourselves whether or not we have made a colossal error in voting for him. It's called leadership!!

·        The so-called 'Stimulus' bill is still tied up in Congress even though we own the House and the Senate. The fear of being bold seems to have taken hold, now is not the time for the timid.

·        The Middle East in its current iteration is impossible to maintain, the inability to see this problem as a human rights issue is what is clouding the solution. Israel cannot maintain its territorial integrity as it stands today; the risk of a nuclear confrontation is too high. The Palestinians lack an honest broker that can be bold enough to suggest a radical solution. A two state solution is not a solution at all, a negotiated one state solution, in my opinion, is the only way out. It is a bold and radical proposition that deserves a chance.

There is an element of sarcasm in what I call 'The Failed Obama Presidency'; we've become so accustomed to immediate gratification that we've forgotten how long it took us to get into the position we find ourselves in. The issues we face today had its origins during the Reagan administration, they were exacerbated during the first Bush presidency and they were made worse during President Clinton's 'Third Way' when the DLC managed to turn the Democratic Party into republican 'lite'. The dismantling of The New Deal protections for workers continued apace throughout the  Dubya's administration and culminated in what we are facing today, malfeasance on Wall Street, crooked politicians, and ideologically driven opposition whose heroes are small minded and lacking in their civic and patriotic duties.

The Obama Presidency can only succeed if it takes the bull by the horns, this is what I voted for, and it is also what the American people expect from the 'skinny black guy from Chicago.

 

There you have it...or not.

Update: The House passed stimulus bill along party lines.

 Cross Posted at: http://betweentheheavensandthesky.blogspot.com/

 

Well, here we are again, another year has passed, a new beginning is on the horizon and all is not well in the world. We seem to start each year with the bestest of intentions, we resolve to do better by our families and friends, we promise to take time out for ourselves and embark on that self revelatory journey we have hope will lead us to that spiritual awakening we know is just around the next bend, just beyond that next hill, just on the other side of that cloud.

I'm going out on a limb and make my do or die projections for the year. I have a very scientific, data driven process that can only be describes as such, I bend over and with my nose touching my knees reach back and pull them out you know where...this being a family show and all, I won't go any further into detail; suffice to say my process is as accurate as all other psychics, clergy, soothsayers and the like. Although I must admit I missed that whole 'let's elect a black guy to the highest office in the land'...and for disclosures sake, I voted for the guy.

So here it is:

• The Republican Party will continue to self-destruct. They will insist that the only remedy that will work is one where only the right people get hand outs and the rest be damned. Sort of a return to the middle nineteenth century or as Scrooge would put it and I paraphrase; are there no poor houses, are there no debtor's prisons.
  

  
   

• The right wing of the right wing party will of course claim that all this Sturm und Drang is affecting us because we have not given the gods their due.
  

  
   

• Gay folks will be able to get married. Yep! It's going to happen, although I can't for the life of me figure why they would want to enter into a failed institution. Let's face it; marriage offers little benefit other than a tax break and making your parents proud, or not... What I believe should happen is to change the laws in order to allow homosexual and heterosexual couples to benefit from their commitments to each other. Allow the partners to make decisions concerning their children, their health care and all other decisions made daily by people who define their partnerships by whether someone in clerical vestments or dark suits bless their union. So let's be clear, Gay people will gain the right to marry, unfortunately they will also have the right to divorce, but that's another story for another time.
  

  
   

• Although we voted for the black guy from Chicago (and before anyone gets a little too wound up...he and I are very similar in complexion) no one should even begin to think that racism is dead in America, or the world for that matter. The ugly truth is that people will, and still are, judging folks by 'the color of their skin and not the content of their character'. We can count the number of Black and Latino elected officials at the local level and come up short.
  

  
   

• The issues in the Middle East are so far from any equitable solution that I expect it to get worse rather than get better. Israel believes that it has the divine right to this territory and the Palestinians believe that they too have the same right. The Palestinians are living, if you can call it that, hand to mouth, amidst rubble and privation, parents burying their children and children burying their parents. The cradle of the three great religions is becoming, or rather, has become a cauldron of bitter recriminations that must surely sadden Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. The two state solution proposed by the Western Powers will not see fruition in 2009. It is my opinion that the only solution is a one state democratic Israel with a negotiated repatriation of displaced Palestinians, after all, they too have a historic claim to the land.
  

 

• In 2009, France will be cool once again. Seriously, they have the best food in Europe and some of the best chocolates too.
  

 

• In 2009, Microsoft will attempt to re-invent the wheel. Windows 7 will make Vista look cool. They still haven't learned the lesson that people will pay for upgrades to their Operating Systems, but they don't want to have to buy new PC's every time Balmer hiccups. It makes no sense.
  

 

• Apple will survive even if Steve Jobs does not. Too many talented people there.
  

 

• So begins another year, lessons learned and some ignored; fret not though; the ones we did ignore have a nasty habit of coming round again
  

  
   

 

On a personal note...I will try very hard to...aww the heck with all that...I will continue to love my wife...my sons and daughter...my beautiful grandchildren...and follow the doctor's orders.

 

 

Sophia Nelson writes in the Sunday edition of the Washington Post...'It's my party, but I don't feel part of it'...and goes on to say how she pretty much had to hold her nose in order to vote for then Senator Barack Obama, and seems to suggest that the only reason the Senator won the election was because of the disaffection felt by Black and Latino voters to the Republican Party.

The Republican Party she describes existed for only a short period, a period of less than a hundred years, when it began to align itself with the most extreme elements in the American political landscape. The modern Republican Party, at least since the late 1940's has been the party of exclusion, isolationism, and xenophobia. There seems to be this tendency among Republicans that their party has been the party of progressive growth with a commitment to diversity. Where is the justification for this delusion?

Let's call this hallucination for what it is; at no time in modern history has the Republican Party made any real effort to reach out to the so-called minority community. Those who did come to the Republican Party, in my view, were practicing what I call ' political Darwinism', or rather, they become big fish in a small pond. They are held up as useful tools in order to appeal to some sort of 'pull yourself up by your boot-straps' fable. The role of class cannot be underestimated in this discussion of the Republican Party. Let's not forget that the so-called 'progressive' wing of the party is the 'country club' or Rockefeller wing of the party.

Yes, I said "class", that elephant in the room that no one seems to notice even though that elephant has been at the center of racial and class strife since at least the Goldwater years. The revisionist view of the GOP would have you forget Joe McCarthy, Goldwater's' eagerness to bomb the hell out the Vietnamese and his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and let's not forget the Birchers, the KKK in Indiana during the twenties, and on and on. Sophia Nelson would have us believe that Lee Atwater and Karl Rove really had the interests of African-American and for that matter the interests of Latino\as at the forefront of their ugly political machinations.

Now, the Sophia Nelsons' and Michael Steeles' of this world would have you believe that the Republican Party of the 1850's is the party we should be remembering, and not the more modern iteration; the Jesse Helms wing, or the not so subtle appeals for 'law-n-order' during the Nixon campaigns. that finally exposed the Democratic Party of the south for the racists that they were.

Sophia Nelson notices that out of the more than 2000 delegates, only thirty-six or so were African-American, and I would imagine that the number of Latino\a delegates could not have been much more. Voting against one's own self-interest has always fascinated me, I don't understand the disconnect that must occur in order to continually identify with a group that has made no secret of its' disdain for the African-American and Latino community.

Will President Obama be able to salvage a successful first term with all that needs to be done, i have no clue. However, looking to the Republican Party for solutions in the twenty-first century is a little like fixing your toilet by installing an outhouse in the back yard.

I almost lost my lunch when I read the following two days after the Presidential election;
"Historians: Bush presidency 'battered,' 'incompetent,' 'unlucky'
So says CNN on Thursday, November 6, 2008
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/06/bush.legacy/

That there is any discussion on whether the presidency of George W. Bush was unlucky seems to be the leif-motif of the true believers in this failed administration. That the Bush administration used it's sense of destiny to push an agenda espoused by the Christian Right is an historical given. From the appointment of political hacks like Monica Gooding who used political fealty and religious litmus tests to make hiring decisions in the Department of Justice to the clearly incompetent Michael Brown to head the FEMA response in New Orleans, the term "unlucky" is not a word I would use to describe the train wreck of the last eight years.

The CNN report found at the following link http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/06/bush.legacy/ attempts to make the case that all the Bush administration is the victim of some unforeseen mojo that will be better explained through the passage of time.

Now I will agree that the temptation to foresee how any particular administration will be viewed in the future is an exercise is Nostrodamian tea leaf reading, but there a few things that I can state with a degree of certainty; it is not the "unlucky" things that may or may not happen that determines the character of an individual or an administration, it is the response to that "unlucky" event that will reveal the true grit of an individual, a community, or an administration.

It was not the attacks on September 11th that defined us as a nation, it was the response of the community and country that came to the aid of the stricken that showed our true colors; a people who will stand together to heal a national wound.

It was the incompetent response to that tragedy that will mark Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld, who with their own agenda to re-fight the First Gulf war, led to four thousand plus Americans and untold thousands of Iraqi's to die and allowed Bin-Laden and his cohorts to escape into the Tora Bora area. The net effect is the trashing of the Geneva Convention rules against torture, maintaining secret rendition sites, and establishing an POW camp in Guantanamo, Cuba.

It was not the "unlucky" turn of events that led Hurricane Katrina to strike with such ferocity that left New Orleans no better than a waste land, leaving many dead and countless others homeless.
It was the incompetent response to that event by the Bush Administration that will forever define the old Reagan adage..."I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

This presidency is the logical progression of those intent on destroying what little is left of the New Deal programs and undoing the benefits that Union members were able to achieve.

The current financial crisis is the outgrowth of of the Reaganite Club for Growth policies that have that have permeate not just through the current administration, but with the tacit approval of the Democratic Leadership Council.

Unlucky or just plain incompetent?

Gimme a break!

Cross posted at

http://betweentheheavensandthesky.blogspot.com/

 I believe that we watched the unraveling of more that twenty years of the so-called conservative ascendancy, or as Fred Barnes quoted W.D. Burnham, Professor Emeritus at The University of of Texas at Austin in the Weekly Standard, November 2004..."If Republicans keep playing the religious card along with the terrorism card, this could last a long time. Referring of course to the 'permanent majority' being bandied about by the leading lights of the right wing, DeLay, Limbaugh, ad naseum. They were partially correct.
 
 The terrorism card did not have the desired effect, in spite of the 'dog whistles' within the McCain\Palin and the outright lies of the 527's acting on behalf of the Republican right wing. However it is my opinion that the religion card is still in play.

 The Obama Paradox is that while the campaign was able to GOTV in commumnities largely ignored by the Republican Party, it also brought to the voting booth many of the socially conservative elements of both the Latino and African-American population.

The sad truth is that while many people who voted for Obama\Biden voted proactively to bring the past twenty some odd years of political disgrace to an end; there are a good number of people who are still uncomfortable with the idea the of  "gay" rights, as if those rights rights are somehow greater than those afforded to us by our Constitution.

 It is not fantasy to believe that a member in good standing at your local Black Church in Oakland can vote for Obama\Biden on the one hand and then pull the lever approving Prop 8 with the other, or that while a Latino or Latina in Orlando may be chanting Si Se Puede, that they too would be approving Amendment 2.

 We are doing a decent job at exposing the 'Terror" card for the cynical tool it is in the hands of right wing demogogues.

 Now we should work just as hard in exposing the cynicism that 'religion' is playing in our national discourse of human rights.

There ya go.






 

Two more days, and I already feel like a junkie looking for his next fix. Two more days and I'm wondering, will everyone go back to sleep after what might be the most important election of the twenty-first century.

What arrogance.

We really have no idea how important or unimportant this election is really going to shape up compared to the truly horrendous problems we will surely have to come to grips with in the very near future. Some of them are obvious, some of them are not.

• The immediate problems in our financial sector is, in my opinion, have no easy solutions, yet, everywhere you turn only the most bland of ideas are getting any attention. We have chosen to infuse banks with capital, while leaving those who failed to see the oncoming train in charge. We, the taxpayers, own banks, yet we cannot set policy. We will be the last to be paid for our investments and the first to lose.
• Eleven trillion dollar debt.
  
• Health care costs are driving many families to the brink. Deductibles are too high, care is less than adequate. As long as health care is 'market' driven, I doubt that there will be much relief on the horizon. Unless of course of you are a member of Congress, then, no worries.
• Loose nukes. need I say more.
• Global warming and energy independence. Obvious problems. Not so obvious solutions.

If this election is going to have any historical effect, then we will have to look beyond the obvious and lay the groundwork for true sensible solutions.

Oh...my Wednesday morning prediction...
Obama\Biden win...we pick up six Democratic Senate seats...and thirty-five in The House...

How's that for pulling out something out of ones' arse.

Disclaimer: I am not a plumber, although I have changed my share of faucets and even changed a garbage disposal or two. I don't even think I know any plumbers. I am also not on speaking terms with any politicians. I am pulling this analysis out of you know where.

There was shocking news that came out of Columbus, Ohio. Apparently "Joe the Plumber" has endorsed the McCain-Palin ticket.
The AP reports that...

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tuesday, October 28th 2008, 5:04 PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Joe the Plumber endorsed Republican John McCain for president on Tuesday and agreed that a vote for Democratic candidate Barack Obama would be "a vote for the death of Israel."

Now I think everyone has the right to go to hell in whatever self-designed hand basket on wishes to, however, an endorsement for any political candidate should, at the very least be grounded in some sort of objective reality. The kind of reality that does not depend on false equivalences or aluminum foil conspiracies.

Joe da Plumber...no...I won't use that term anymore, the guy's name is Samuel J.Wurzelbacher,and from what I can tell, he is not licensed in the state of Ohio.

Normally, one can ignore the rantings of the delusional, and pray that they either get religion and see the light or remember where and when to get back on their meds. It is noteworthy only because the Media seems to want to extend his fifteen minutes.

Samuel J. Wurzelbacher seems to believe that Senator Obama is is going turn the country into a socialist state, and has the destruction of Israel somewhere hidden in his super-secret, hush-hush plan to turn us all into Marxists. 

I doubt that there are many new voters or any one born after 1988 who can define Marxism, or for that matter truly define the so-called free market. 

The silly season is truly upon us, when ill-informed people are given a pulpit and some even get elected.

There ya go!