You know - for the kids...

Thursday, July 31, 2008

The not so common man

McCain’s latest ad, one of the more ridiculous I have ever seen BTW, attempts to mock Obama’s celebrity status by flashing images of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and a few thousand Germans while “Obama, Obama” is chanted in the background. Call me crazy but trying to discredit your opponent by pointing out that he is popular strikes me as somewhat counterintuitive. And if the real aim here was to portray Obama as an out of touch elitist, well Jake Tapper just crucified that theme today.

Whose daughter is friends with Heidi from MTV's The Hills?

Whose wife once told Vogue, explaining the purchase of a 7th or 8th house, this one a beach house, "When I bought the first one, my husband, who is not a beach person, said, 'Oh this is such a waste of money; the kids will never go. Then it got to the point where they used it so much I couldn't get in the place. So I bought another one.”

Whose family credit cards have been known to ring up more than $500,000 in charges in one month?

Just askin'…

Tapper is absolutely correct. And if the press were not so generally in the bag for McCain, one would think that more reporters would ask the ancient Senator how he can claim to be the man of the people in this campaign while wearing $500 Italian loafers. I have nothing against McCain’s choice of footwear. I am sure that Paris and Brittany would not bat an eyelash at dropping 500 bucks on a pair of shoes but it seems damned hypocritical for him to claim the mantle of the common man while rocking a pair of Ferragamo’s that cost almost as much as the average weekly salary.

Big money

It does not suck to be in the oil business right now.

Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, reported on Thursday that second-quarter income rose 14 percent, to $11.68 billion, the highest-ever for an American company.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Holy smokes!

Senator Ted “Tubes” Stevens has been indicted.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. Ted Stevens from Alaska, the longest serving U.S. Republican senator ever, was indicted on seven counts related to his holding of public office, a federal law enforcement official said on Tuesday.

The U.S. Justice Department has scheduled a news conference for 1:20 p.m. to make an announcement "regarding a significant criminal matter." The official said the news conference would announce the criminal charges against Stevens that have been returned by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C.

The Alaskan GOP delegation has to be the most corrupt ever seated.

Paging Ken Starr

Time was, this sort of thing would have captains of the Gingrich Revolution demanding a special prosecutor with ferocity of a rabid Rottweiler on PCP. Nowadays, well not some much. Indeed, I would be shocked if Goodling is indicted, much less actually prosecuted because, you know, it’s OK if you are a Republican.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Can I has New York Times column pleaz?

Seriously, why the hell are they paying William Kristol for this narrow-minded, elitist drivel? Here is just one nugget:

But the next morning, as I drove around the Washington suburbs, I saw not one but two cars — rather nice cars, as it happens — festooned with the Obama campaign bumper sticker “got hope?” And I relapsed into moroseness.

Shorter Kristol: If you live in my neighborhood and drive a Volvo, you should be happy and support McCain; anything less makes me want to cry.

We lost a member of the tribe

















She will be sorely missed. Lo has a eulogy befitting the Queen she was.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Oh no he didn’t

Look people, I am going to level with you. I love Batman, love, love, love. The character is without a doubt my favorite superhero and probably my favorite fictional creation. Call me weird or possessed by some vestigial remnant of comic books past, but that is the way it is. The Bat is an iconic figure that must be treated with a degree of reverence and respect. Something Joel Schumacher clearly did not understand when he made Batman and Robin, perhaps the worst film in human history. If there is greater injustice done to an imaginary character, I know not of it. That is perhaps, until Nathan Klavan’s absurd bloviating, titled (without intended irony, I am sure) “What Bush and Batman Have in Common”, in today’s WSJ Online (hat tip the Deus Ex Malcontent). In the immortal words of Samuel L. Jackson, “Motherfucker, please”.

Oh, wait a minute. That's not a bat, actually. In fact, when you trace the outline with your finger, it looks kind of like . . . a "W."[Ed. Note – this sentence alone should earn Klavan a beating]

There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war [Ed. Note – That’s because Klavan is an idiot. K THX.]. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.

And like W, Batman understands that there is no moral equivalence between a free society -- in which people sometimes make the wrong choices -- and a criminal sect bent on destruction. The former must be cherished even in its moments of folly; the latter must be hounded to the gates of Hell.

I would add more but I love you people and I am loathe to inflict anymore of this puerile, not to mention burningly stupid, trash upon you. So let me just lay it out straight – there are some similarities between Bruce Wayne/Batman and George Bush. They are both filthy rich and live in big, impressive houses. They are both scions of well-established, one might say, aristocratic families. And, well, that is it really. Because for these superficial commonalities, the main difference between the two render any such comparisons moot.

You see, the one incontrovertible truth that Mr. Klavan omits, of course, is that Batman gets the fucking job done. He is uber-competent. For starters, when the Joker comes for Batman, Batman does not go off and pick a fight with the Penguin. He does not trifle with unnecessary distractions. He focuses on the problem, takes matters (and necks) into his own hands and dispatches the Joker. Which leads to my second point; Batman handles the situation but does so with a minimum of collateral damage. He has the technology to reduce huge chunks of the city to rubble but a healthy respect for others and common decency prevents him from doing so. Batman understand that destroying Gotham in the act of saving it differs little from just chillin’ at Wayne Manor while the bad guys run amok. And last but certainly not least, Batman, despite his flaws, is a force for good, a selfless protector of the innocent, something George fucking Bush most certainly is not.

Looking Presidential












Barack Obama is on a stunning roll this week. With successful trips to Afghanistan, Iraq (having Nuri al-Malaki tacitly endorse his Iraq withdrawal plan totally cut the legs out from under Bush and McCain on that issue), and Israel under his belt, the Obama Charm Offensive and Audacious Hope Road Show appears to be conquering Europe. Two hundred thousand Germans eagerly greeted him in Berlin and his stop in Paris is likely to generate that kind of enthusiasm as well.

Boy is it going to be refreshing to not be embarrassed when the President travels abroad. And on this trip, Obama looks every bit the part.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

OK NPR, stop making me feel old

As I was cleaning up the kitchen tonight, NPR told me that the baby on the cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind album turned EIGHTEEN years old today. Wow.























So if you look back on the death of hair-metal with the same fondness that I do, then raise a glass to the boy whose picture lead the charge and remember the faded glory of goatees, muted flannels, and music that was a ton better than what we had then and most that we have now.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

If one has a son, one should expect such things

So as I was leaving work yesterday, trying to escape this ungodly heat we are experiencing, when I received the dread phone call from Lo.

“Meet me at the CHKD (Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters) Emergency room. J. fell down and cut open his head”.

My Oh Shit reflex kicked in pretty quickly and, wicked traffic notwithstanding, I tore ass down I-264, racing to the hospital. When I finally arrived, J. was alternating between bouncing around the ER like your average three year old to sobbing on his mother’s shoulder, like your average three year old with a pretty nasty head injury. Lo, not exactly the Rock of Gibraltar in moments of extremis (I love you honey but you know that is true), was cool as a cucumber. Seriously, after yesterday’s performance, I could not be more proud; she deserves a medal for that. Anyway, once I had a chance to make sure everyone was doing OK, Lo told me that what happened. And given J.’s genetic proclivity for Abrupt Ambulatory Failure (Lo and I are both as clumsy as Chevy Chase playing Jerry Ford and we appear to have passed on the “gift”), I kind of knew how this story was going to play out.

She had gone to pick J. up from school and when he saw her, he started running to her. At the proper moment to guarantee maximum crashieness, J. tripped, took a header into the vertical edge of a classroom door jamb and opened a half inch gash in his forehead. Hence, we found ourselves, for the second time in like 13 months, cooling our heels in the ER waiting room, pondering the number of stitches our boy would need.

Eventually, we were taken back for prep and the procedure. As J. was already freaking out and has an innate distaste for doctors, the decision was made to sedate him. That was when the real fun began. The wailing quickly morphed into giggling, then a boozy rendition of the “ABC” song and the boy that would not sit still for more than a minute looked up at us and said “Can I lie down?” It was too precious to quantify and funny as hell to boot. Lo and I were trying mightily and ultimately unsuccessfully to suppress our laughter but what can you do. Why, you can take a few pictures with your phone, of course.

This is my boy on drugs. And posting that takes me out of the running for the Parent of the Year award.



















Shortly thereafter, the doctor and nurses got to work. Even with a local anesthetic and a sedative-induced haze, J. would not be still enough for them to do their thing so he had to be papoosed and restrained by two nurses. And God bless them; they did their level best to comfort him while the wound was cleaned and stitched. Let me say, everyone who worked on J. was absolutely marvelous. Really, I cannot say enough about how good they were with him, so big ups CHKD.

Four stitches and four hours later, we were released. J. is fine and escaped without a concussion, thank goodness. I took Lo and J. back to Lo’s car so that they could head to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal. After I dropped them off, I went to the store for booze because the doctor failed give us sedatives as well. On the way, I called my mother to tell her what happened. Her response was that of a woman who had taken multiple trips to the ER with her own boys: “Hmm. That remind you of anyone?”

With that, I had a good laugh and started to count my own scars. Boys will be boys. I just hope we can go better than a year before our next incident…

Monday, July 21, 2008

Please follow the exit signs

From the AP:

BAGHDAD - Iraq's government spokesman is hopeful that U.S. combat forces could be out of the country by 2010.

Ali al-Dabbagh made the comments following a meeting in Baghdad on Monday between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, who arrived in Iraq earlier in the day.

The timeframe is similar to Obama's proposal to pull back combat troops within 16 months. The Iraqi government has been trying to clarify its position on a possible troop withdrawal since al-Maliki was quoted in a German magazine last week saying he supported Obama's timetable.

I would prefer yesterday but 2010 is better than McCain’s hundred years. At any rate, it is long past time we got the fuck out.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Ouch

Just found out I blew the clutch in my truck.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Bummer

Amy Wambach, probably the best player on the US Women’s National team, broke her leg in a match yesterday and will miss the Olympics. I am still very much looking forward to watching this team but Wambach brought an offensive spark and a ton of experience to the team that will be very difficult to replace. This is obviously a big blow to the US prospects for a repeat Gold medal performance not to mention totally heartbreaking for Wambach and her teammates.
Here’s to a speedy recovery.

When the facts change

Extreme, often cult-like, devotion to free market ideology and supply-side economics is one of the hallmarks of modern Republican philosophy. It is used to justify wrongheaded policies such as budget-busting tax cuts and deregulation efforts that enrich companies at the expense of consumers. This blind and unwavering faith in unfettered markets is the rock onto which most conservative economics is anchored and deviation from which, in their eyes, equates to heresy.

Unfortunately for those true believers (and collaterally, the rest of us), this belief is mistaken. As the recent series of government interventions in the financial markets has proven, sometimes only governments are capable of stabilizing a market when things turn sour and despite the evidence supporting that idea, it is completely antithetical to the free market crowd. So, unable to square the circle and reconcile their beliefs with reality, Bush, McCain, and their fellow travelers cling to the failed ideology because they have no place to go. That is not the platform one wants to run on in a tanking economy. Harold Meyerson explains the GOP’s conundrum quite well in his Post column today.

An even deeper problem is that standard-issue Republican economic policy has run out of plausible mantras. The ritual extolling of markets and denigration of government make no sense at a moment when a conservative Republican administration is rushing to save the markets through governmental intervention.

Or, to use Reagan's construction: Republican economics is not the solution to our problem; Republican economics is the problem -- for our nation, surely, and also for candidate McCain.

In so much if the GOP base, free market orthodoxy, no matter how discredited, is still the coin of the realm and after a couple of decades of harping on the virtues of laissez-faire economics and a flatter tax code, Republican candidates are going to find it damn difficult to simply reverse course and embrace a more practical and less ideological approach. John Maynard Keynes famously once asked,”When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” Faced with the prospect of running on a firmly believed but ultimately failed ideology, Republicans in general, and McCain in particular, have no idea what to do.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Glenn Nye is looking to give Thelma Drake a race

The Pilot is reporting that the Democratic challenger Nye outraised the incumbent Republican Drake in the last cycle. It goes without saying that is good news for the home team.

The sheer volume of Aqua Net used must have burned a new hole in the Ozone Layer

So I just came across the line up for some music festival called Rocklahoma. All I can say is holy shit. Given the choice of listening to 4 days of hair-metal or jabbing an ice pick into my ear, I would give the latter sincere consideration. Seriously, how many hours of Warrant, Extreme, Queensryche, Dokken and Ratt (just to name a very few) are you good for?

The big win

Congress overrode Bush’s veto and restored full Medicare and TriCare payments to doctors. Equally important, the measure funds those payments with monies that would have gone to the less efficient, for-profit insurance plans, undercutting the conservative effort to privatize the Medicare system. This is the first time in a very long while that the interests of citizens has trumped those of the insurance industry. That in and of itself is worth celebrating.

So congratulations Democrats, after a couple of weeks of rolling over for the President, y’all finally found your backbone. Now, let's see how long the line will hold.

Sometimes you get what you ask for

Thomas Friedman has a really good piece in the Times today. His basic message is yes, the US has made all kinds of mistakes in the past few years but we still retain some moral authority, especially compared to the alternatives.

About as low as one can go

As reprehensible as I find people that would exploit 9/11 for political gain, there ought to be a special place in Hell for those that do so just to make a buck.

A controversial billboard bearing a photo of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and a warning not to vote for a Democrat has sparked outrage in Orlando, Fla.

Next to a photo of the Twin Towers burning, the billboard reads "Please Don't Vote for a Democrat." Beneath the message is the name of a Web site that markets $5 CDs of a song, "Please Don't Vote for a Democrat," by Mike Meehan of St. Cloud.

This is Guinness world record territory for douchebaggery.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Red to Blue

E. J. Dionne has a pretty good piece up today discussing Virginia’s shifting demographics and how Obama might capitalize on that change.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Operation “Ruin Everything” proceeding apace

Having successfully destroyed the nation’s economy, military, and international reputation, the Bush Administration has set its’ sights on the last vestige of government not yet completely molested; environmental policy. Now some of you may question whether or not I am being too generous with that characterization, what will Bush-backed legislation like Clear Skies and the Healthy Forest debacle and you may have a point. But the Administration has yet to foul the beaches, so their efforts on the environmental front are unfinished. To that end, the President has killed the moratorium on offshore drilling meant to protect coastlines from the hazards attendant to oil exploration and extraction.

But no worries; I am sure that is going to work out fine, especially for tourism-heavy economies like Florida, California, Virginia, etc. Really, how can this go wrong?

Sign o’ the times

Were it not for the fact that I think this is such an apt metaphor for the current state of affairs in America I would not even mention it but last night Miss Venezuela won the Miss Universe pageant while Miss USA fell down for the second year in a row. Art (or pageantry anyway) imitating life, etc.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Disqualified

John McCain admits in an interview with the Times that he is firmly stuck in the early 20th century.

Q: But do you go on line for yourself?

Mr. McCain: They go on for me. I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need – including going to my daughter’s blog first, before anything else.

Q: Do you use a blackberry or email?

Mr. McCain: No

Mark Salter: He uses a BlackBerry, just ours.

Mr. McCain: I use the Blackberry, but I don’t e-mail, I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail.

“I am learning to go online myself”. “I don’t e-mail”. WTF? Now I grant you that because I work in IT, maybe my expectations of computer literacy are skewed a tad higher than the average but come on. I would not hire anyone in a professional capacity that was not competent with basic modern technologies like e-mail and the Web. And that goes double (triple, infinity?) for someone that wishes to be President. Seriously, we are talking minimum requirements here people.

Friday, July 11, 2008

A-Rod better get his check writing hand limbered up

I don’t normally get into the whole celebrity gossip thing because it mostly bores the shit out of me but I am trying to figure out what is the most embarrassing/baffling thing I have learned about A-Rod since his adultery story broke. Is it:

1. That he will apparently sleep with anything (strippers, Madonna, the neighbor’s mailbox, etc).
2. That he thinks Madonna is worth the millions he stands to lose in the divorce.
3. That he drinks Sex on the Beach.

1 and 2 are bad enough but come on, Sex on the Beach! No self-respecting straight man should be caught dead with that frou-frou cocktail unless he has lost a bet or is carrying it to his date. Hella-lame.

How do you when your campaign lacks discipline?

When you have to tell the press that your campaign co-chairman does not speak for you.

WASHINGTON – Texan Phil Gramm handed John McCain a huge headache Thursday by calling America a "nation of whiners" whose economic complaints are mostly "mental."

The Republican nominee-to-be rejected the colorful assessment from his campaign co-chairman – and even threatened him with exile to Europe's last communist dictatorship.

"Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I strongly disagree," Mr. McCain said, trying to tamp down the problem caused by his longtime friend, who holds a doctorate in economics and taught the subject at Texas A&M before moving to Congress.

That is great stuff guys, keep it up. Kind of reminds me of…

On the road with the Clown Show

As bad as he is on domestic soil, we really should be more considerate to the rest of the world and not let George Bush travel anymore. I swear to God, it seems like every time he hits international airspace, he sets his personality to Obnoxious Overprivileged Teenager. At times, his behavior is so awful that I can’t believe we elected this moron President, twice.

George Bush surprised world leaders with a joke about his poor record on the environment as he left the G8 summit in Japan.

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."


He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.

Jesus, what a douchebag. On the plus side though, when they make the movie, Will Ferrell will absolutely kill this scene.

We are so gonna be on the hook for this

Remember the S&L bailout in the ‘80s? A period of lax regulation and nonexistent oversight lead to massive failures in the Savings and Loan industry and the US taxpayer picked up the tab. The mortgage mess is looking a lot like that.

Shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued a week of freefall on Wall Street today, abruptly losing nearly half their value as investors ignored efforts by federal regulators to reassure about the financial health of the companies and focused instead on the risk that a federal bailout might wipe out the value of their stock.

Important pillars of the nation's housing market, Fannie and Freddie's ability to weather the current downturn in the real estate market has been called into doubt this week on several fronts. With the value of the companies' mortgage-related assets falling and the costs of borrowing on the rise, the Bush administration has begun studying what to do if either requires a federal bailout.

This is what happens when we put the economy into the hands of supply-side disciples and anti-regulation absolutists. Ever since Reagan, these folks have “achieved” a record of budget deficits, defaults, instability and recession. How many times do we need to learn the lesson that this shit does not work? And McCain is offering more of the same. DO NOT WANT.

Making the big stuff happen

Krugman lays out a not unrealistic vision for how, in the near future, the Democrats and President Obama can deliver universal health care.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

The House of No

In recent years, the GOP dominated Virginia House of Delegates has simply abdicated its responsibility to address the Commonwealth’s ever growing transportation needs (among other things) and the just adjourned special session proved no different. Traffic problems in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads are fast approaching gridlock, endangering economic growth for both areas and yet the Republicans’ anti-tax ideology has continually trumped finding practical, reliable sources of revenue that can fund our transportation needs. And the really stupid thing about all of this is that everyone agrees on two key facts; that there are several projects that must be done and that delays make those projects more expensive. We are simply putting off the inevitable and making it more costly to boot. Pure idiocy.

Look, it is hard to object to a 6 cent per gallon tax increase on gasoline when that cost is compared to the expense of burning fuel while sitting in congestion. It is high time that the citizens of Virginia reject the House’s pennywise and pound foolish obstructionism and send to Richmond rational, forward thinking delegates willing to say something other than no.

It is the odd day when I agree with George Will but…

…today he argues that beer is not only good but necessary to civilization. I must concur.

Today’s required reading

Gail Collins has a witty and to the point column today about the central underpinnings of Obama’s political philosophy. Here is just a bit but I urge you to read the whole thing.

It’s not his fault that we missed the message — although to be fair, he did make it sound as if getting rid of the “old politics” involved driving out the oil and pharmaceutical lobbyists rather than splitting the difference on federal wiretapping legislation. But if you look at the political fights he’s picked throughout his political career, the main theme is not any ideology. It’s that he hates stupidity. “I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war,” he said in 2002 in his big speech against the invasion of Iraq. He did not, you will notice, say he was against unilateral military action or pre-emptive attacks or nation-building. He was antidumb.

Ahem. After Incurious George, we need all of the antidumb we can get.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Nice work fellas

The Democrats capitulate on telco immunity. Jesus jumping Christ – you are the majority. Goddamn act like it.

Timetables

How does yesterday work for you?

BAGHDAD, July 8 -- Iraq's national security adviser said Tuesday that his government would not sign an agreement governing the future role of U.S. troops in Iraq unless it includes a timetable for their withdrawal.

The statement was the strongest demand yet by a senior Iraqi official for the two governments to set specific dates for the departure of U.S. forces. Speaking to reporters in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie said his government was "impatiently waiting" for the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops.

We have stayed far too long in Iraq and should never have gone besides. This is a huge opportunity for the US to make a (somewhat) graceful exit from this mess. Let’s see if the Administration is smart enough to take it. For the record, I doubt it.

You know how you sometimes get a song stuck in your head

So I woke up this morning with NoFX’s cover of Radio playing on a loop in my brain. When this happens, I can usually purge the song by listening to it a couple of times but oh no, not today. I have played this tune at least 15 times already and it is still in there, driving me crazy, like a chigger or Billy Mays.

And now I am passing it on, my gift to you.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Vick’s dogs

The Pilot has a wonderful story today about the successful rehabilitation of Michael Vick’s fighting dogs. It really is remarkable that so many of these poor creatures were saved.

In related news, their asshole former owner has declared bankruptcy from the confines of his cell in Leavenworth Penitentiary. And ladies and gentlemen, that’s what I call karma.

Monday, July 07, 2008

John McCain is full of shit

When I took math classes, all of my teachers require that I show my work to prove that I knew what I was doing. I suggest the media hold McCain to the same standard but I won’t be holding my breath.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) plans to promise on Monday that he will balance the federal budget by the end of his first term by curbing wasteful spending and overhauling entitlement programs, including Social Security, his advisers told Politico. The vow to take on Social Security puts McCain in a political danger zone that thwarted President Bush after he named it the top domestic priority of his second term.

McCain is making the pledge at the beginning of a week when both presidential candidates plan to devote their events to the economy, the top issue in poll after poll as voters struggle to keep their jobs and fill their gas tanks. “In the long-term, the only way to keep the budget balanced is successful reform of the large spending pressures in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” the McCain campaign says in a policy paper to be released Monday.


“The McCain administration would reserve all savings from victory in the Iraq and Afghanistan operations in the fight against Islamic extremists for reducing the deficit. Since all their costs were financed with deficit spending, all their savings must go to deficit reduction [emphasis mine].”

Leaving aside his plan to slash social programs while at the same time preserving the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans (like the McCains), what the fuck is this nonsense about “savings from victory in Iraq and Afghanistan”? Seriously, what the fucking fuck? The current budget deficit is like $400 billion per year. We are financing both wars by borrowing huge sums, mostly from Japan and China. We can’t save money that we don’t actually have. If John McCain doesn’t get that, he is not qualified to balance a checkbook much less be President.

Friday, July 04, 2008

On Patriotism

What with today being the Fourth and the current moronic political debate on whether each candidate is sufficiently patriotic, I thought that I would sit down, enjoy my first of what will prove to be many beers, and lay down my thoughts on the matter. I claim no moral or intellectual superiority on the subject, just that it seems everyone has their own definition and I wanted to put mine, for what it is worth, out there.

The thing that makes the origin of the United States special is what bound the nation together at its birth. We were not born of geographical boundaries, or a common language or religion or clan affiliation or some army telling us so. What this nation was based upon was a set of ideas that when commonly shared, formed a union that would willfully submit to government on the condition that the government would guarantee certain rights and consequently, the right of the people to cast off any government that does not. Jefferson’s remarkable eloquence condensed Democracy and a people’s right to it down to two sentences.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

We are a nation comprised of people from literally every corner of this planet, and in the case of Tom Cruise, others, and yet we are bound together by this notion that individual freedom trumps state power. That rights of the common man are equal to or even greater than those of King, Doge, Pasha, Sultan, Emperor, General, or Chief Executive Officer. That may seem unremarkable now but a couple hundred years ago, this was beyond radical. And that, to my mind, is the kernel of patriotism. That we are to be free of overzealous and intrusive authority; if you believe that and are willing to stand for it, then that in my book is patriotism. I don’t care what is on your lapel.

What patriotism is not is blind allegiance to the flag or boorish declarations of our greatness while unwilling to face up to our nation's flaws. America, on balance, has been a force for good in our relatively short existence. We have inspired a wave of liberty that has brought freedom to so many people. We have cured diseases, pioneered giant advances in technology, and secured other nations in times of war, famine, etc. The world is a better place today because our Founding Fathers laid down a marker and said this is what must be in order to create a more perfect union.

But that is the thing, isn’t it; the more perfect union. When our nation was born the word men meant white guys that owned land. For the first 90 odd years of our national existence, slavery was legal and we had to fight a war to end it. The next 100 or so years, those slaves and their descendants lived in a de facto apartheid state. Women could not vote until 1920. We have backed authoritarian governments for our own interests and ignore many a crisis for the sake of convenience or simple indifference. And let us not forget that to create this nation, we affected one of the worst genocides this planet has seen. And don’t get me started on MTV.

We are not a perfect union. We never were. But to me, a patriot recognizes our shortcomings, learns from our failures, and then wants to fix them. And that is why I am proud to be an American. We are a people that no matter how flawed, we are ever hopeful that we can, someday, get it right. We strive to perfect the union and we do improve it over time. In a nutshell, that is what I call patriotism. Knowing that this country has done a lot of good, done some bad as well, but loving it enough to always want to make it better.

Senator Jesse Helms is dead

When someone like Helms dies, I struggle with what to say. Part of me wants to go on an expletive dripping rant, tearing into him for his unreconstructed Jim Crow era racism and homophobia. But kicking around a dead guy, no matter how distasteful I find him, well, I just find that crass and off-putting. So let me say this: A giant in the conservative movement is dead. I neither celebrate his passing, nor will I miss him.

Today’s required reading

Krugman deconstructs the bullshit Wesley Clark scandal.

But the McCain campaign went beyond condemning General Clark’s remarks; it went out of its way to distort them. “This backhanded slap against John as not being a worthy warrior because he just got shot down is one of the more surprising insults in my military history,” said retired Col. Bud Day, who participated in a conference call organized by the campaign. In fact, General Clark had said no such thing.

You mean McCain and his surrogates lied? No BBQ invite for you Mr. Smartpants College Professor! Krugman then goes on the more or less challenge the media to not be such easily duped stenographers.

Furthermore, my sense, though it’s hard to prove, is that the press is feeling a bit ashamed about the way it piled on General Clark. If so, news organizations may think twice before buying into the next fake scandal.

Given that most of the mainstream media place McCain just below Jesus as their favorite being in the universe, I am not holding my breath. Seriously, some of these folks are so far in the tank for Saint John, they are under it.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Added bonus

Stephen Baldwin said that he would leave the country if Obama wins. Um, dude needs to get a grip. It is not like we would be a culturally poorer nation minus the Tito of the Baldwin clan. Seriously, Bio-Dome was like 88 minutes I will never get back.

Not sure what to make of this but…

…Rasmussen has Obama up by 5 (48-43) in Mon-freaking-tana. Now, Rasmussen doesn’t have the greatest track record and this may just be an outlier but for the race to be close there speaks volumes about just how damaged the GOP brand is. If McCain has to fight for votes in places like Montana, this race will move from “competitive” to “outright ass kicking” is very short order.

Support

Sometimes bad things happen to good people. That is life and if you expect it to be fair, you are guaranteed a sad and disappointing journey. But those rotten experiences are often the crucible in which we learn the true nature of friends, family, and communities. Indeed, the darkest times are often when people shine the brightest. That is just what is happening for Darcy Burner, a true blue progressive House candidate from the Seattle area and Netroots superstar.

Yesterday morning, Burner’s house pretty much burned to the ground and while thankfully her family escaped without injury, they lost everything. That alone must be a pretty devastating experience. Now imagine trying to recover from that while a candidate in a hotly contested House campaign. Something had to give.

So Burner’s Netroots supporters started a fundraiser to buy her campaign some down time and her family a brief respite to get their lives back in order (or some semblance thereof). In just over 24 hours, they raised $85,000 and essentially bought the Burner family a couple of weeks to recover. Sometimes, when bad things happen to good people, other good people get their back. It is stuff like this that renews my faith in humanity folks.

(hat tip to Atrios)

Epiphany

The Pentagon is finally publicly admitting what a lot of people have been saying for a while; that Bush’s Iraqi Misadventure has wrecked the US force readiness.

The nation's top military officer said yesterday that more U.S. troops are needed in Afghanistan to tamp down an increasingly violent insurgency, but that the Pentagon does not have sufficient forces to send because they are committed to the war in Iraq.

Navy Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said insurgent Taliban and extremist forces in Afghanistan have become "a very complex problem," one that is tied to the extensive drug trade, a faltering economy and the porous border with Pakistan. Violence in Afghanistan has increased markedly over recent weeks, with June the deadliest month for U.S. troops since the war began in 2001.

"I don't have troops I can reach for, brigades I can reach, to send into Afghanistan until I have a reduced requirement in Iraq," Mullen told reporters at the Pentagon. "Afghanistan has been and remains an economy-of-force campaign, which by definition means we need more forces there."
Mullen has raised similar concerns over the past several months, but his comments yesterday were more pointed and came amid rising concern at the Pentagon over the situation in Afghanistan, where insurgents have regrouped in the south and east.


Translation - the cupboard is bare and staying the course in Iraq risks failing in Afghanistan. Nice corner the Administration has painted us into and those idiots are still spoiling for a fight with Iran. Speaking of which, I wonder how much of this statement is aimed at quieting those war drums...

Hostages rescued in Colombia

From the NYTimes:

CARACAS, Venezuela — Colombian commandos in disguise spirited 15 hostages to freedom on Wednesday, including Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian politician held for six years, and three American military contractors.

It bears noting that not a shot was fired.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

I have a question

The entire McCain campaign is in high dungeon, bitching and whining about Wesley Clark’s non-questioning of McCain’s military service while at the same timing cavorting with the Swiftboat assholes that accused John Kerry of being a traitor in 2004 and whom McCain, at the time, denounced.

So my question is thus: where does Kerry find the restraint to not hunt down McCain and knock him the fuck out?

They didn’t call her the Queen of Mean for nothing

Leona Helmsley earned every bit of her uber-bitch reputation. She was pretentious, callous, preening, and self-absorbed bordering on sociopathic. But first and for most, the woman was mean, mean, mean. Think Cruella DeVille, but one that liked dogs. Stories of her tyrannical behavior and notorious petulance are rife but MSNBC.com has an anecdote regarding the distribution of her billion dollar trust that I think perfectly distills her true bitch essence.

The Times said Helmsley signed the mission statement in 2003 to establish two goals for the multibillion dollar trust that would dole out her assets following her death.

The first goal was to help poor people, the Times reported. The second goal was to provide for the care and welfare of dogs, the paper reported. In 2004, Helsmley, erased the first goal, the Times said
[emphasis mine].

And that is all you need to know about Leona Helmsley.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Where the hell is the Aleve?

Sometimes the media is so goddamn stupid it just makes my head hurt.

And no, being a fighter pilot does not mean one is qualified to be President. It means one is qualified to fly.

(hat tip to HuffPo)