Category: Politix

I have been listening online to Neil Young’s powerful new CD “Living With War,” and I am deeply moved.

Since “For What It’s Worth” and “Four Dead in Ohio,” Neil Young has always been there speaking his mind, putting his career and his reputation on the line to say what needs to be said, what so many believe and what a lot of his peers are too busy or too afraid to say. Thank God for men like him, and to hell with the Republican attack dogs who will try to diminish this statement by saying Neil was born in Canada, so he has no right to protest. (What bullshit!!) Listening to this music is inspiring, and I hope a lot of people start now getting inspired. There is a lot of work to be done to clean up the horrible mess our “leaders” have created in the past six years, and it’s going to take a whole lot of inspiration, energy, focus and, yes, anger.

“Living With War” is an exhilarating experience. Old guys like me remember what power can be generated with music. Now you’ll get to feel it too.

Is everybody ready for the “Iranian threat?”

The Republicans are getting indicted right and left, and voters are disgusted with their corruption. The Bush Administration has been exposed over and over again as incompetent, from their bumbling Iraq war “strategy” to their inept response to Hurricane Katrina. Republican members of congress up for reelection are running for the hills, the White House staff is getting the hell out of town and President Bush, who claims he pays no attention to opinion polls, surely must be aware that opinion polls are saying that two out of three people have a very low opinion of his performance in office, even as regards his only strong suit, blasting the living daylights out of other countries. What’s a committed right-wing Christian fundamentalist neocon puppet president to do?

How about scaring the pants off everyone in the country with another imaginary threat from a middle eastern country?

That’s right, folks, THE IRANIANS ARE COMING, and they’ll keep on coming until the elections in November. Rove, Cheney and Bush know that most Americans do not agree with their radical right-wing agenda, but one thing we can all agree on: We don’t want any third-world Islamist countries waggling their nucular programs in our faces. Next thing you know they will have The Bomb and we all know they’re evil enough to use it. We might have to act preemptively, because we don’t want our wakeup call to be in the shape of a mushroom cloud, do we?

I know if you’re reading this that you won’t be fooled by such crap. It was not true in Iraq, and it’s not true now. The Administration’s own experts admit that Iran is at least five years away from getting an atomic bomb. But it’s your responsibility not to let your friends, family and neighbors fall for it, either. Talk to them and make sure they understand what a load of bullsh*t this is, and how it has no purpose but to scare us into voting Republican again. Remind them of how all the justifications for attacking Iraq turned out to be phony, and ask them if they’re ready to believe the same wacky stories from the same people a second time in three years. Would they want to pay — with their money, their descendants’ money and the lives of their children — for the staggering cost of a new war with Iran? Suggest that Iran is not much of a threat, and certainly if our government has any brains or any diplomatic skills at all they ought to be able to negotiate something with Iran in five freakin’ years. Point out the quagmire that Bush’s Iraq adventure has turned into and ask what the benefits have been. Three dollar gasoline? How would they like to pay ten dollars? The president of Iran thinks oil prices, which are reaching new record levels every day now, are too low.

In short, can we just agree that the Republicans have screwed up and screwed us, and can we stay focused on the important task of getting them away from the rudder as soon as the polls open this November? We can be patriotic without being pro-Bush. We can be safe without being psychotically paranoid.

The Rove-Cheney-Bush Administration has got nothing left but fear and hatred. Get ready for the Iranian threat, a constant flow of hints, warnings, leaks, posturings and public statements calculated to make you think that Iran will be lobbing nuclear warheads at you by Christmas.

And don’t believe a word of it.

Forgive me. I know this is cheap and lazy.

Here’s a referral for your reading pleasure: Go and read Jane Smiley’s article Notes For Converts on The Huffington Post. Make sure you have a half hour or so to spare before you start, because you are going to want to read the whole thing.

In it Ms. Smiley attempts to explain to confused former Bush supporters exactly how they have been betrayed by their hero, and how they have unwittingly taken part in their own betrayal. Jane’s eloquent outrage almost made me stand up and shout.

Whether your sentiments lie with the Left or the Right, you should read this article. That’s all.

I won’t bother to crank up an indignant rant about this.

The Bush Administration has started something in Iraq that has gotten completely out of control. Tens of thousands of human lives have been ended (including a couple thousand of our own), many many more crippled and maimed. The financial burden stands at over 350 billion dollars, at the same time that ill-advised tax cuts for the wealthy make it unlikely that we’ll be able to pay the bill. And the reasons given for the attack have proven to be untrue, if not outright lies.

Americans are fed up. No one believes President Bush any more, but he persists in his folly, staging photo-op maneuvers in Iraq and mounting PR campaigns to convince us that this adventure is worthwhile, or even important.

A basketball coach who screwed up this badly – assuming he didn’t get fired – would be rethinking, regrouping and reorganizing the team and the strategy. Why is Bush so stubborn in the face of all the evidence? Is he in it for the oil and war profits that he and his family and his friends are gaining? Does he really think he can force Western-style democracy on the Middle East? Or is he just plain stupid?

Whatever it is, this is one anniversary I hope I don’t see again.

If today’s “neoconservatives” spoke in plain English and said right out loud what their real agenda is,

most of us would recoil in horror, and the Republicans wouldn’t be able to win an election for dog catcher for the next fifty years. The last right-winger who tried this was Barry Goldwater in the presidential election of 1964, and the voters handed him his butt by a landslide margin of two to one. So near and yet so far, eh, Republicans?

But the Repubs/Neocons are a crafty bunch, and to prevent this kind of embarrassment in the future they decided to modify – just a bit – the words they used to describe their vision for the U.S. and the world, to sort of, um, obscure their true intentions and meanings, while making sure “the base” can figure out what they are talking about. In fact, over the decades what they have done for all practical purposes is create a new language altogether, a language so twisted and arcane that it only seems like English.

For example, you may think you know what is meant by the phrase “class warfare.” Revolution, anarchy, cities burning, unwashed masses mindlessly slaughtering the wealthy with machetes and looting their homes, right? Uh-uh. The new meaning of class warfare is “…any attempt to raise the minimum wage.”

Since the neocons are in charge now and we have to listen to them and their new language all day on Fox, I looked up The Republican-to-English Dictionary on the internet, so I could keep up. This thing first started appearing in late 2001, as nearly as I can tell, back when Democrats/liberals/progressives still had a sense of humor. It exists all over the place in various permutations, and I take no credit for it.

Here are a few entries:

bipartisanship: Sometimes also seen as “spirit of compromise.” Willingness by Congressional Democratic leaders to support, accept or fail to oppose public policy proposals from President Bush and the Republican Congressional leaders despite the mutual understanding that the proposals are not supported by a clear majority of the American people. When used by Republican leaders this term is synonymous with capitulation.

big government: Any attempt by a duly constituted public authority to regulate or put limits on the power of private corporations or make them responsible for the consequences of their actions, with the exception of the gaming or entertainment industries.

compassionate conservatism: Consists of smiling while cheating women, minorities and the working class out of their share of the nation’s productive output. Replaces the term friendly fascism.

death tax: New Republican term used to replace the traditional term “estate tax,” one of the traditional mechanisms in a democracy to ensure that a self-perpetuating aristocracy is unable to establish itself then capture and subvert democratic institutions. Fully 98% of the U.S. population is unaffected by the estate tax, which primarily burdens the 200 families in the U.S. with a net worth greater than $1 billion.

fair and balanced: Republican term meaning archconservative news source serving as a tool of corporate interests while masquerading as impartial. Examples include Fox News, the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal, etc.

get over it: Warning to the listener that questioning the legitimacy of George W. Bush’s claim to the presidency will not be tolerated as a topic for American citizens to discuss. As a threat it recognizes the vulnerability of the Bush regime to the growing popularity of the observation that Bush won fewer votes than his opponent in Florida as well as nationwide. Please note, you may also hear this idea expressed as “Stop your whining” and/or “Deal with it.” [Also, “We won. Shut up.” – Editor]

illegal vote: Any ballot in which the voter did not precisely follow the exact requirements as set forth in the voting instructions, and in the case where the voting instructions were erroneous or unclear any vote for a non-Republican. Note: this rule does not apply to military ballots. (See related term, legal vote.)

legal vote: Any ballot in which a Republican’s name can be interpreted as having been indicated by the voter. (See related term, illegal vote.)

liberal: Once commonly used to mean “one who is open minded,” Republicans have successfully redefined this word to mean dangerous, irresponsible and unpatriotic fanatic.

partisan: In common Republican usage is now defined as any mean-spirited, illegitimate and unpatriotic attempt by non-Republicans to question the current administration’s goals or methods, or to call for debate, or to ask for consideration of alternatives.

patriot: Anyone proud to be a Christian, God-fearing Republican, who believes strongly in the immutability of the status quo. See traitor.

property rights: Laws designed to protect the interests of the oil, timber, mining and livestock industries and enable them to exploit public lands to secure private profits.

special interest: Formerly this phrase was reserved for economic interests who sought special privilege. In common Republican usage however it has come to mean any citizen or group of citizens who petition their government to respond to their concerns.

traitor: Godless humanists who may either be domestic enemies of the state (Democrats) or foreign enemies (Communists), and who continuously question the legitimacy of the Bush presidency even after patriots have clearly instructed them to “Get Over It.” (Please see Get Over It.)

unconstitutional: Any action that is not favorable to the Republican agenda.

welfare reform: Forced reintroduction of uneducated and unskilled workers into the job force to exert downward pressure on wage demands, undercut job training programs and ensure that corporate lobbyists continue to call for an easing of immigration restrictions rather than for improved education and training for American citizens.

Oh, wait. We don’t have to watch Fox News all day, do we?

I don’t want to be sucked into an endless war.

I’m referring to the social and political divide in the United States that seems to be getting wider every year, and its’ participants – you and me – ever more strident and intolerant. I’m old, and I don’t want to have to fight again for the rights and freedoms that I thought we had won: education, opportunity, privacy.

I don’t want to fight, but I am cornered.

As I wrote yesterday, the Supreme Court has shifted far to the right, and is getting ready to have another look at law which they have already declared unconstitutional by a one-vote majority. The factors are:

• The law in question bans many mid- to late-term abortions.
• A moderate justice – a woman – and a conservative justice have been replaced by two conservative guys, one of them them an outspoken critic of abortion rights, and…
• The Supreme Court answers to no one.

We have to hope that the lawyers arguing in favor of a woman’s right to choose what she does with her own reproductive system are smart, dedicated, well-researched and lucky. Even then we must face the reality that this Court has been stacked specifically to take away this hard-won right, the right to a safe abortion if that is your choice. My opinion is that this process will begin now.

The court is primed to say that abortion is illegal, but the upcoming decision won’t be the last word. It will only be one of many skirmishes that have been fought over this turf in recent years. The case the Court has decided to hear affects only a small percentage of medical situations that might involve abortion, so it will not be the end of the war.

But it will be a chip taken out of our rights, and the forces that support this move will then go on to the next level, and the next, until they have returned this country to the barbarian days of back-alley coat-hanger abortions and government intrusion into the most private areas of our lives.

Or until they are stopped.

Most opponents of abortion rights are sincere, and I respect them for acting on their beliefs, working for decades and electing guys like Bush, who has appointed guys like Roberts and Alito, who have passed the right-wing abortion litmus test. I respect them, but I have to oppose them.

I’m not sure if anything can be done about the case in question. We closed our eyes for a moments’ rest, and when we woke up, Howdy Doody was president and the Supreme Court was packed. Our bad.

The Court will do what it wants this time, but let’s get started now reversing the drift to the right that has led to this state of affairs. Letters to your elected representatives in Washington are helpful in the long run, even if they don’t seem to have any effect today or tomorrow.

And we have to be thinking about the long run. Today, for example, the state of South Dakota passed a law effectively banning all abortions. This law will be fought all the way to the Supreme Court. It will take years, but when it gets there, don’t you want everyone in Washington to know unequivocally where you stand? Do you want to take the chance that Bush (or someone like him) will have appointed another right-wing fundamental idealogue to the Court?

The majority of Americans favor a woman’s right to choose, and lawmakers need to hear this, so they will know how we want them to vote on future laws that are proposed, so they will stand up and support moderate court appointees and so they will propose legislation that protects our precious rights. Right now all they are hearing is the anti- point of view.

We must educate ourselves on this issue, and not assume that our rights are safe, because hey, they’re not! Not all of us can take it to the streets, not all of us can run for office, not all of us can afford to donate money, but everyone who wants to can do something. If you want to see what action you can take you might want to start here.

This is not just about abortion. Women and men struggled through much of the twentieth century to achieve a just level of personal privacy and freedom. The tolerance expressed in the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade decision came about as a result of the battle for those rights and freedoms. Now those rights and freedoms are threatened again. We must read, learn, educate, demonstrate, donate and agitate to create an environment in which no president, no legislator, and no judge will ever again be able to consider revoking them.

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UPDATE: For more horrifying Supreme Court shenannigans, see this article posted today by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

This is not a political blog.

Seriously, I have written in the past about how I don’t want to focus on politics here. But I am interested in politics, and it’s hard for me to ignore certain events, when theory intersects with reality. Like today, for example.

The New Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case based on the Federal law prohibiting mid-term and late-term abortions, called by opponents “partial birth abortions.” What’s interesting about this is that the Old Supreme Court struck down an identical Nebraska law five years ago, and has since declined to hear any cases on the subject. The reason they struck down the law in the first place is that it made no exception for protecting the health of the mother, thus the government could have used it to force pregnant women and girls to risk their lives. The vote was five to four, with Sandra Day O’Conner voting in the majority. In any case, you’d think that would be that, and the Supremes would start looking around for other constitutional issues to consider.

But now John Roberts is in charge and setting the Court’s agenda, and Samuel Alito has replaced Sandra Day O’Conner. Roberts has agreed to revisit the Court’s position on a law that has been unconstitutional for the past five years, and I don’t think there’s much doubt how he and Alito will vote next year when this comes before the Court. After all, Alito is on record as saying that the landmark Roe v. Wade is bad law, and that it can be reversed by chipping away at it a little bit at a time. What a perfect opportunity for him to strike the first blow.

When Al Gore ran for President, and when John Kerry ran for President, we could have done something. We could have voted instead of staying home. Only a few popular votes would have made a difference. But in 2000 we were apparently overwhelmed by the evildoing of President Clinton, and by 2004 we were terribly frightened, so in both cases we had to elect the honorable and brave George W. Bush.

So Bush appointed these new guys, and there’s nothing we can do about them. They don’t have to pay any attention to what we want. Letter-writing and threatening to vote against them is useless, since they are not elected. Even throwing out the bums who appointed them won’t make any difference, since they have been appointed for life. They get to stay, for about thirty more years. We have to let them hear the case, deliberate, and vote on it, while we do what we seem to do best: Sit on our hands.

If Alito’s stated agenda of reversing abortion rights in this country a little bit at a time is successful, I think I’ll go into the abortion business. I’m not a doctor, but then if I were, I wouldn’t be allowed to perform abortions in our fundamentalist conservative future. I have a nice supply of coat hangers, sterilized with rum and a Bic lighter, so I think I’m qualified.

God forbid your little girl ever needs this service. If you’re wealthy, of course, you’ll always have access to safe, legal abortions overseas. If you’re not, get ready to send me your daughters.

Next: What can we do?

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED. SEE BELOW.

Holy shit, Dick Cheney has actually shot a guy.

That’s right, the Vice President sprayed a fellow quail hunter yesterday with shotgun pellets at a range of thirty yards. The shot hit Harry Whittington in the face, neck and chest, and he’s in the ICU at a hospital in Texas.

For some reason, the Vice President’s office didn’t announce this when it happened on Saturday morning, and in fact didn’t bring it up publicly for a whole day – after the shooting was reported on the web site of the local paper. They say they wanted to wait until Katharine Armstrong, the owner of the ranch where this took place had a chance to make the announcement herself, but of course I think otherwise.

I think Cheney has finally gone over the Rambo wall and is sending a message to Scooter Libby, Joe Wilson, Mike Brown(ie) and any other chickenshit “whistleblowers” that may be out there: “I might be the Number Two man in D.C., but I’m the baddest Dick in America and if you fuck with me I’m goan take you down.”

Nobody really knows how many heart attacks the guy has actually had. He may not have that long to live, and he may want to take a few scaredy-cat, anti-American, fetus-killing tax-and-spend liberals with him. Of course, the guy he shot is a millionaire Texas Republican lawyer, but I’m just sayin’ “watch your back.”

Can you imagine what poor Karl Rove is going through right now? I sure wish I could have been there when he got this news.

• The administration’s poll numbers are down in almost every category, and most of them are below 50% approval.
• Hurricane Katrina won’t go away.
• Michael Brown has developed political rabies and turned into a vicious, snarling beagle.
• The lapdog New York Times ratted them out on the court-free domestic spying.
• Libby’s indicted.
• Social Security “reform” is dead.
• Delay’s indicted.
• Republicans are slipping and sliding up and down K Street on Jack Abramoff’s grease.
• The “war on terror” and the occupation of Iraq are going badly and getting damned unpopular.
• Even Rove himself remains under investigation by the bulldog prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.

It must be hectic to spin all this stuff every day so that it looks like it was exactly what they had planned and that it really is a good thing for America and Freedom. Now this.

“Cheney did what!? Was it self defense? Please tell me it was self defense. Can we say it was self defense? I want every doctor in Texas at that guy’s bedside, and no photographers. Oh, shit, what’s his face look like? Never mind, I don’t want to know. OK look. Here’s our story. The guy circled around – he might have been drinking – and he came up behind Cheney – no, he snuck up behind. He didn’t follow hunter’s protocol, he didn’t announce himself, it was his own fault. Get him to make a statement to that effect. It was his own fault.

“And God damn it, I don’t want to see pictures in the Times of Cheney laughing and holding up a bloody quail by the feet.”

UPDATE, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15, 2006: OK, it was funny for a minute, even though we all knew the joke was on poor Harry Whittington. But the party’s over, and I am ashamed of myself for making light of it. Whittington is in much worse condition than I knew. Some of the shot has worked it’s way inside, near his heart, and he’s had a heart attack and been returned to intensive care, where they intend to keep him for another week.

Cheney did not go public with this story for somewhere between 18 and 22 hours. The White House is acting like they didn’t have the full story for that long. Plus, they have been trying to make like Whittington himself is to blame for not “announcing his presence.” This is bullshit, of course.

Why the long delay? Is it because Cheney was drunk? Where is the police report? Or is this just another example of Cheney and the rest of his arrogant gang withholding information from the public, simply because they can?

Every hunter will tell you that the shooter is always the one responsible. When you fire, you have to know where everyone is. If you shoot someone, it’s your fault, end of story. At the very least, the Vice President should grow some balls, stand up, admit he made a stupid mistake and apologize to Whittington and his family publicly.

This is a case of criminal negligence. Fat chance there will be any prosecution, but at least Cheney should be man enough to take the blame. He will finally break his silence on television today at 6 PM Eastern time.

Surprise: He has chosen Fox News as the venue.

I wrote in my previous post that it may be possible to take back our country,

but that it would be necessary for everyone to help in the effort. Shephard suggested that I produce a list of whom to contact if you want to try and make a difference. So here’s the deal.

Everyone has to participate. You have to learn about the issues, and you have to vote. You can educate yourself on the internet (you’re already on the internet, right?) and also just by reading the paper and listening to news on the radio. Note that you will have to filter what you read and hear, but the only way to get good at that is to do it. It may take some time, but if we don’t get involved in what’s happening to the world we deserve what we get. For example, we have only ourselves to blame for the current administration in Washington. These guys won on the slimmest of electoral margins, while many of us stayed home. What if we had all voted?

In between elections you have to challenge politicians who do bad things. You can do this by taking part in demonstrations and by writing to your elected representatives and to newspapers. It’s important to make your voice heard on the issues that matter to you. How else can our elected officials know how we want them to act?

To summarize:

• Learn what’s happening to your world.
• Stand up and be counted in public ways. Don’t be afraid. Get some shit on your Permanent Record.
• Tell your representatives what you think (write to them).
• Tell everybody what you think (write letters to the editor).
• Vote. The Republican strategy has been to make you stay home on election day. They are not the majority, but they can win if we fail to oppose them at the polls.

Here are a few resources:

• Project Vote Smart. Type in your zip code at this site and get a list of all your elected representatives, including links to their web sites so you can get their addresses and write to them.
• The Huffington Post. Arianna Huffington used to be conservative, now she’s liberal. This is the direction everybody goes when they learn what’s happening in the real world. No matter – her site provides a forum for writers, artists, observers, politicians and pundits of all stripes, from centrist to leftist. You get to talk back to all of them.
• Donkey Rising. Also known as EDM, or The Emerging Democratic Majority. Here you’ll find (centrist) strategy and analysis of just how we will take back the nation. Again, you are able to contribute to the conversation.
• Open Secrets. Who is paying for your government? Follow the money at OpenSecrets.org.
• National Public Radio. Fair and in-depth reporting on news of the day. Read the news or listen online, or find your local affiliate station. There must be a reason the Republicans keep wanting to eliminate their funding.
• Move On. News, inspiration and involvement opportunities. Also, somewhere in there is a guide to writing effective, likely-to-be-published letters to the editor. (Someone let me know when you find it, OK?)
• TruthDig. This is where Robert Scheer went when the LA Times fired him for being too liberal. An interactive site featuring news, commentary and videos “…for people actively seeking to understand the world…”

Obviously this list is not exhaustive, nor is the Right represented at all (they do a fine job of that themselves). Not only that, but some of this stuff is hard reading. If we’d been paying attention for the past two decades this wouldn’t be necessary. But if you are concerned about the future, get started!

This is not a time to be timid. We can’t afford to lay low and keep out of sight. But we can improve things if we all take part. We haven’t come this far only to have Big Oil take over the government, strip us of our human and civil rights and send us off to Permanent War. If you’re afraid now, how will you feel when The Patriot Act is made permanent and the Supreme Court declares that anything is legal if the President says it is?

A groundswell is beginning. See the wave. Be the wave.

I’ve been working on a big. long-winded political post for the past few days,

photo stolen from truthdig.com

but after a while I realized it was all about me, which is not what I intended. I’ll finish it and put it here soon, but not today. Here’s what I want to say:

You can make a difference in our government. For half of American voters (and who knows how many non-voters?) it feels like the country has been stolen away, and there’s nothing we can do. I won’t take the time now to go through the litany of abuses we have been subjected to by the Rove/Cheney/Bush Administration. If you’re reading this you probably have your own list anyway.

But the government doesn’t respond to us, and many, myself included, have halfway given up. I just want to say that not one of us is going to change things, but all of us together can make a difference.

When the people took to the streets in the 1960’s and 70’s, we didn’t change things. We didn’t depose two presidents and bring an end to the insane and pointless war in Vietnam.

What we did was set the stage for those things to happen. We created a climate in which Senators Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern could say “Damn! There’s a constituency there! Maybe I’ll run for president on an anti-war platform!” We let Congress know that if they investigated the corruption and the crimes of President Nixon, there were millions who would back them. We gave them cover to be brave. It may have been only for a few months, but it was long enough to throw a criminal out of the White House.

Well, there’s another criminal there now, and there is very little political will to do anything about it. The Right has been effective at shutting us up, but they have never had much of a majority among the people of this country. Likely they are not in the majority at all.

There is no reason for us to remain silent any longer while our rights are taken away, our country becomes the most hated in the world and Big Oil runs the government. The Republican electoral “victories,” if you want to call them that, were on razor-thin margins. Decent people everywhere are tired of the smell coming from Washington. The administration’s poll numbers are the worst they have ever been. In an election held today they would be swept from office in a landslide.

There are State of the Union demonstrations tonight in cities around the world. Go to one if you can, and make some noise. The Democrats in Congress need your strength. They need to know that you want them to act. Their performance against the Alito nomination sucked, because they were afraid to be bold. Write to them and let them know you support vigorous action to take back the country, that they will not be punished for taking bold steps. Let them know that there is a constituency for honesty, integrity and action!

As I have said before, we will not be able to throw Bush out of the White House. That doesn’t matter. We have the opportunity to clip his wings and expose him as the useless and venal sack of doodoo that he has always been, rendering him powerless for the remainder of his term. If the Democrats make gains in the November elections this year we can start to reverse the right-wing trend that we have allowed to take place, while we watched silently, in ever-increasing shock. If we loudly let the Democrats know that we are there for them, that we are the majority, that we will not sit still for any more of the same, we can get this country turned right-side up again.

By yourself, you can’t do it. But without you, we can’t do it.

The revolution starts today.