American Gopnik

They Were "Too Graphic" Then, but Now They're So Last Year

2009-04-24T21:24:00.003-04:00

I remember when the second batch of Torture Fotos were first rumored to exist (about '04?); that they were too graphic and inflammatory to release to the public. We may speculate that they were not released because they weren't already on the net. So "more than 400 individuals were disciplined" (mostly enlisted men and sergeants, I'm sure), but I'd further bet that none of those disciplined were CIA agents known to have been present.

Why did those knuckleheads photograph themselves, unless they had been totally assured that their conduct was approved by the wraiths, and why do the spinners suppose the public is just as stupid and gullible as the hillbilly guards, just because we are. "It's the same all 'round the world, big man gets the meat, po' man gets the bone"

On "Traced" Mexican Guns

2009-04-19T12:49:00.002-04:00

I posted this comment on AR article, "The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come from US"

Those weapons “traced back” to the U.S., to whom, pray tell. They’re obviously not coming from Bubba’s Gun Shack or any other retail outlet or Homeland Security, the DEA, BATF, FBI, The State Dept., State and local police, HCI and the media would all be there the next day. Someone (sorry I don’t remember the site) speculated recently that many were from weapons supplied to the Mexicans by the USG, as military aid, diverted or stolen. Who knows ain’t saying, but I would be very surprised if any legitimate, federally licensed dealer is ever even indirectly linked to any of these weapons, and it would be child’s play to determine who the manufacturer and wholesaler sent them to.

Now I’m really curious how far back they traced; if their systems are so disconnected or incompatible they can’t even keep track of the info that they already have (which I don’t believe to be the case) or they don’t want to release the info for “reasons of national security”, that is, something that would embarrass or incriminate themselves.
I would like to know the results of the trace. Who were the last Americans to own these guns. “Remington shipped serial # xxxx to U.S. Dept. yyyy on zzz date”. Show me the money, I mean, bill of lading. Put up or shutup, already, Hoover and Co.

Then I read in an unrelated article about the pre-existing (to this issue) law that makes it illegal to divulge the trace information EXCEPT for Law Enforcement or National Security purposes, so they get to release the data or not as whatever fits their purposes.

From the NRA
"For more than five years, cities suing the gun industry and anti-gun organizations have sought access to confidential law enforcement data on firearms traces. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) compiles these records when it traces firearms in response to requests from law enforcement agencies.

Every year since 2003, the U.S. Congress has passed increasingly strong language to keep this information confidential. The legislation—a series of "riders" to the appropriations bill that funds BATFE—is widely known as the "Tiahrt Amendment," after its sponsor, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.)."

Now, putting my tinfoil hat on backwards, I assert that the prohibition on release of data is a good thing unless it is used by the government to avoid proving their allegations, especially if the Tiahart amendment was designed to protect "officers, informants, and other witnesses", and further, that "every year since 2003" this has been the main purpose of the amendment rather than the protection of innocent gun manufacturers and merchants. Holder & Co are merely playing the cards they have been given, in pursuit of their own goals, but it might be more trouble to pursue this strategy if someone forces the release of the data. Otherwise their assertions are no more valuable than mine.

Farewell to Alms

2009-04-14T14:52:00.004-04:00

http://www.goldmansachs666.com/

I saw this site featured on two very different sites, (exiledonline and counterpunch,), and thought it might be of some interest. They are looking for volunteers and running a "webinar" (stupid, dorky term, imo) Wednesday - April 15th at 6PM Eastern. I'm going to check it out, although I'm more interested in bringing down the public-sector criminal enablers than the gang-bankers themselves, what with the revolving door, the distinction is not that clear.

Eliot Spitzer, please call your office. All is forgiven and revenge is best served cold, no?

[UPDATE - I went to Spitzer's wiki page just to get his photo, but noticed this. In a nutshell, why he had to go.]

"He most notably pursued cases against companies involved in computer chip price fixing, investment bank stock price inflation, predatory lending practices by mortgage lenders, fraud at American International Group, and the 2003 mutual fund scandal. He also sued Richard Grasso, the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, claiming he had failed to fully inform the board of directors of his deferred compensation package, which exceeded $140 million."

Lucky thing for him they got him for boinking a prostitute; beats sleeping with the fishes! Also from the wiki;

"Later in the month, The Washington Post published a Spitzer opinion piece conveying his analysis of the financial crisis of 2008 and suggested remedies. Spitzer concluded the piece by saying that he hoped the Obama Administration would make the right policy choices, 'although mistakes I made in my private life now prevent me from participating in these issues as I have in the past.'"

Come back and fight, Eliot, nobody wants to live forever.

Better Days are Coming

2009-01-20T23:39:00.003-05:00

I, Ectomorph is losing faith in Blogging, and he even has readers. Although he writes mostly about Canadian politics, which might not be as exciting as it seems.

To make the urgency of the situation clear: if the federal government isn't forthcoming with an industry-wide "new topics" blogospheric bailout pretty soon, I, Ectomorph may be just one in a catastrophic explosion of blog failures that will threaten the very existence of ill-informed half-witted punditry as we have known it.

Have a bit more patience. I've been reading a lot of comments by the Hopeful (mostly on the Huffpost video of various stars "pledging" to Obama [if you've missed it, check it out; jawdropping - literally defies Parody.]) It's like a Galactic cruiser full of thousands of naive My Little Ponies and Bratz dolls just starting to cross the event horizon of reality's black hole, holding hands and singing the theme song from Exodus with Pete Seeger on banjo. So much stupidity it would make Mencken have to call his doctor with an over-four-hour boner and give any half-witted blogger enough material to seem like the bastard son of Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf.

Do you like spanking, and who doesn't? It's going to be like the Superbowl and World Series combined of naked, gleaming Victoria's Secret-class dumbasses and that's just the Washington D.C. tent, not to mention Hollywood, Wall Street, London and Tel Aviv! Hang in for just a little longer. the world that Groucho told us about is coming into sight, right around the old sigmoid bend!

You Say Potatoe

2009-01-20T09:36:00.006-05:00

The recent shooting of fish in a barrel in Gaza has managed to push our own barbarism in Iraq down the memory hole. I've been labeled a " paleo dilettante " for comparing the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to that of the Hutus and Tutsis.

(She nailed me as a dilettante, but I'm not really a paleo, having no romantic attachment to a world that has ceased to be, and can probably never be recovered). It is an intra-tribal dispute going back to pre-history, and discussions of who hit who first are pointless. Ilana favors the Tutsi because they are "tall and better looking" and I favor them because I loved the Orlons. Whatever. She also links to a manly man...

There, I’ve said it: Afrikaners make the most spectacular paleos. “The modern Boer,” wrote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the popular British writer of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, is “the most formidable antagonist who ever crossed the path of Imperial Britain.”

And the modern paleo Boer is Dan Roodt. Roodt recently paid tribute to his Afrikaner ancestors’ “miraculous victory over the Zulu forces of Dingane during the Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838,” when “450 Afrikaners defeated an army of at least 13,000 Zulus without any losses in their ranks.” Roodt’s coda:

“The Day of the Covenant should be internationally celebrated among all those who believe that our Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian civilisation is still worth fighting for.”

No (unmanly) weirdness there.

Maybe, but it seems sort of strange that he would remember the slaughter of a large contingent of over-confidant natives armed with spears and hide shields and forget about the treatment of the Boers by the British, pioneering the modern technique of anti-guerilla warfare by rounding up and starving the Boer civilians until the fighters gave up, a bright marker on the road to the end of the "West". Generals Sherman and Custer, call your office. Again, whatever.

As an American I'm far more concerned with our own moral and strategic blunders. America, like Israel, has an enemy within that is lazy and parasitic, resentful and dedicated to our destruction and is much more numerous, powerful and better armed than the Palestinians. To avoid any confusion, I speak, of course, of the U.S. Government.

Fear Itself

2009-01-18T20:45:00.002-05:00

From The Daily Burkeman1:

"Yet they continue to behave like children, rather than the semi-super-humans of Zionist lore. " not to mention the evil geniuses of anti-semitic lore.

This really jumped out at me when I saw the street-party in NYC celebrating the Gaza incursion. Dancing and singing, they reminded me of a college football pep rally. Children, exactly.

It seems that they really believe their own propaganda, and for the first time I'm actually starting to fear for the Israeli people, who are instructed to be "as wise as serpents". Wouldn't it be smarter to at least pretend to be magnanimous in victory; iron hand/velvet glove kind of thing. Don't they have any doubts about American power and support, and America's track record of turning on it's allies?

Will Obama Hit the Ice Running?

2009-01-15T11:21:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I posted "Some Questions...", the second of which concerned Mike Whitney's contention that Obama needs to start writing large checks to stimulate the economy as soon as his hands warm up enough from the Inaugural ceremonies. Fortunately my research (that is casually reading my usual morning blogs) led me to a satisfactory answer without even using google, on LRC, Scott Rosen "Has a Stimulus Ever Been Necessary?". In a nutshell:

"Even this pseudo-recovery did not last for long as the economy fell back into a depression in 1937. New Deal advocates insist that this was the fault of reduced government spending. In part, they are correct because so much of the "expansion" was merely a reflection of government expenditures. The decline in government spending, however, did not retard private commercial growth which, had never really recovered in the first place. Even if this was a true recovery, Keynesian theory calls for budget reductions during a period of expansion. Moreover, if five years of government spending truly resulted in economic recovery (as the New Dealers claim), it seems far-fetched to believe that a slight retreat in the growth of the government would plunge the economy back into a severe depression."

[snip]

"The fallacy behind the call for economic stimulus is that declining aggregate demand is the mother and not the daughter of economic contraction. When left to its own devices, the market will return back to prosperity (consumer demand and all). Government intervention oftentimes has the effect of actually prolonging the crisis. The new administration would be wise to let the market adjust on its own and spare us the additional debt and debased currency that an active fiscal and monetary policy will yield."

I'm satisfied. (Except that I'd still like to know if Witney considers the massive Defense budget stimulus as effective as any other public works spending, or more generally, if some spending is more "effective" than others, questions of morality aside. For instance, a bridge or hospital may be used for many years while a cruise missile is only used once.)

Some Questions that Require Research (groan)

2009-01-14T11:46:00.002-05:00

I. Norman Finkelstein in Counterpunch

"And the second main reason for the attack is because Hamas was signaling that it wanted a diplomatic settlement of the conflict along the June 1967 border. That is to say, Hamas was signaling they had joined the international consensus, they had joined most of the international community, overwhelmingly the international community, in seeking a diplomatic settlement. And at that point, Israel was faced with what Israelis call a Palestinian peace offensive. And in order to defeat the peace offensive, they sought to dismantle Hamas.

As was documented in the April 2008 issue of Vanity Fair by the writer David Rose, basing himself on internal US documents, it was the United States in cahoots with the Palestinian Authority and Israel which were attempting a putsch on Hamas, and Hamas preempted the putsch. That, too, is no longer debatable or no longer a controversial claim."

What does he mean by "signaling"

II. Mike Whitney in Counterpunch

a. While a fairly good exposition of the economic problems facing Obama, there appears to be no discussion here about the Defence budget, it's effect on the deficit or its inflationary effects. Is any and all spending good for the economy?

b. "Still, many people think that stimulus is a waste of money that will send deficits into the stratosphere. Libertarians, for example, argue that the cure for a credit bubble shouldn't be more credit. They want to see debts written down and balance sheets back in the black. Their prescription is similar to Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon's in the 1930s who said : “Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers – purge the rottenness from the system.” Mellon's rant may sound consistent with free market dogma, but following his advice would lead straight to catastrophe. The markets would crash and there would be riots in the streets. It's better to err on the side of caution and give the economy a badly needed boost of stimulus.

Forbes recently ran an article which disputes the effectiveness of stimulus. According to the article, the European Central Bank (ECB) produced a working paper, entitled 'The Macroeconomic Effects of Fiscal Policy' which states:

"The empirical evidence suggests that government spending shocks have, in general, a small effect on GDP,' and 'can have a 'have a negative effect on private investment...Hiking government spending does little for economies, has a minimal impact on consumer spending, hits stock prices and can put off private investment." (Forbes)"

He does assert that the libertarian position "would lead straight to catastrophe", but doesn't explain why or how. Incidentally, Keyseians never seem to mention the Keynes recommended fiscal stimulus in downturns but also backing off when the economy is doing well; using the brakes as well as the throttle, which we haven't done since Clinton and arguably, since Nixon.

III. (need source) Supposedly, Gov. whatsisname was investigating sub-prime lending in 2003 before he was thrown out for diddling Ashley DuPre (funny I can't remember his name but I do hers ) but the investigation was shut down by the Feds. Seems pretty explosive if true. Anything to this?

Anybody? Bueller?

I'm (Barely) Ashamed of Myself

2009-01-12T19:19:00.008-05:00

I posted the following as a comment to a post at Barely a Blog, “Paleos Must Defend the West, And That Means Israel Too.” that she had originally posted on VDARE. I regret that I didn't make clear that I wasn't speaking as or for "Paleoconservatism", since I'm not conservative hyphenated or not. I admire and respect them, especially paleos, but I lack the philosophical and especially historical knowledge that may someday lead me to consider myself one. If pressed, I would say I was a paleolibertarian, brought into the light by Rothbard, Rockwell and Raimondo, but I still haven't come far from nihilistic anarchism and my god is still Conan's, Crom, who created the world and walked away. I'm also really sorry I called Hagee a fat fag, in that it was offensive to a really smart and sophisticated lady, the hem of whose skirt I am not worthy to touch, and that I also thereby cheapened my own argument, which was really that Americans need to concentrate on the huge beam in our own eye before we save the rest of the world. Of course, I was referring to the pig as a fag in the South Park sense, of one who couldn't do a pushup to save his life and has never fought for anything beyond the last piece of pie, and meaning no offense to actual homosexuals, who have never harmed me in any way, especially compared to porky chickenhawk fake-christian rube-herders and their numerous allies, many of whom call themselves "conservatives", but I digress. Here is the post:

“Have you noticed how socialist the U.S. has become?”

“The Jews” are among many who have found a way to exploit a fatal security flaw in the U.S. Constitution that has resulted in the death of our Republic and the growth of the One World State.(For the record, I don’t blame the Zionists for taking advantage of our government, I blame our government).

This project (Imperialism) must fail, will fail. Since we are evidently unable to re-establish the Republic we can only pray for the destruction of the Empire by the barbarians. It’s unfortunate that Israel has chosen to be the tip of the spear while counting on the support of fat f_gs like Hagee and his ilk, traitors to their own God and Country, while reaffirming that might makes right and giving no quarter to those they conquer. Reap the whirlwind, or not, but don’t expect loyalty from slaves. If I were free to choose, I might support Israel, since I’m not, it’s just Tutsis v Hutus to me.

I wish I were a more sophisticated writer, or could just shut up, but you make war with the army that you have, as a famous man, now forgotten, once said. Here's the deal; No one needs to defend the "West" which committed suicide no later than about 1914. It is a dead parrot. It has ceased to be. I would like to see it's return (hence my growing interest in Monarchism) but what we now have is a post-civilized, post-Christian order that utilizes many of the tropes, memes and concepts of the Christian era, (debatable as to however much they were actually followed in the good old days), to legitimate what is clearly a return to barbarism. The Iron Rule: "Do unto Others that which you would not have done to you", and it's corollary: "First, or they will." This is not Christianity, (turn the other cheek) or Judaism (as far as I understand it, which is an eye for an eye, but not preemptively, as now seems the case.) Personally I like the eye for an eye approach, or even turn the other cheek. Once. But no one seems to be familiar with the concept of asking for trouble, and never understands why the other guy is so edgy.

I understand the existential danger facing Israel, and can understand their anxiety, but this does not come close to explaining how it is my problem. If you fuck with the bull, you get the horn. The Israelis are starting to realize that slapping it and sticking a few needles in doesn't help, now they need to kill it, but I'm not sure if they have the cojones to dispatch it, short of the Sampson option. I also don't understand all the weeping about "the right to exist" when it's stipulated that right is might, which is what they most hate about Islam. I hope their G_d will help them. I know Crom won't. If you have to live in an Empire, you "might" as well enjoy the games. After all, you're paying for them. "Right?"

Monarchism

2009-01-03T10:17:00.004-05:00

I've recently come across several sites that discuss Monarchy as a potential alternative to the obviously flawed and increasingly failed democratic experiment, and have reached the point where my only real objection to monarchy is that I don't see any way to get there from here. William Lind has claimed to be a monarchist, although I haven't seen any further elucidation by him on this point. (I intend to do a lot more "research" on this, but at this time it's just an interesting itch on my consciousness. I remain a Stoic, the philosophy of slaves, because slaves are what Americans, if not humanity in general, have become for various reasons, not the least of which is "democracy". For purposes of this discussion I will drop the scare quotes and capitalization of various systems of thought because it's not clear that any of these systems are more than generalizations, except at the highest levels of discourse which I am not close to approaching, and may never reach. Nevertheless...)

My first exposure to this point of view was probably from J.K. Baltzersen on LRC, which lead me to his Wilson Revolution Unplugged blog. At the time I considered his interest in monarchism as either tongue-in-cheek speculation or a kind of nerdy casual fandom like "Lives of the Rich and Famous". The sort of thing that still makes me yearn for the return of the Guillotine, although I have come to realize how much of my political thought is simple romanticism combined with fatal doses of class envy and hatred. My conservatism, as far as it goes, is what's left after going down every other philosophic rabbit hole I could find without turning up any rabbits. I expect that any rabbits I find here will be long mummified, yet, dig we must.

The most powerful and persuasive arguments I've seen along these lines are those of Mencius Moldbug at Unqualified Reservations concerning the restoration of the Stuarts. Since he doesn't use labels on his posts you'll have to dig a bit to find these. but it's well worth the effort, although almost everything he writes is (I would say, except for my unfamiliarity with the material) rather overlong and windy. His style is very eighteenth century, but doesn't really require that much familiarity with the background. It's very self-contained and he more than explains himself, but you will have to dig for it. Twitter it ain't. I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't even know what Jacobism was/is. Thanks to public schooling my knowledge of history pretty much begins about 1776, although luckily I went to school in Virginia and was taught Virginia History which is the most important part of American history, apart from Damn Yankee history, which one needs to know to defend against, at least.

More or less by accident (chasing back commentator's profiles somewhere) I came across Theodore Harvey's Royal World blog, which is totally fascinating to me. He claims to have debunked Jacobism, and is a big fan of the Windsor's and especially Elizabeth (whom I like) and Charles (not so much, but I'm unfortunately easy to persuade. We'll see...). He is very anti-republican, which is counter-intuitive to me, but I have to keep an open mind on matters about which I know very little, and claims to have voted for Ron Paul in the primaries, so there may be a lot of common ground. He lost me in his defense of Caroline Kennedy as being part of an American aristocracy and his defense of nepotism in politics as being part of the monarchic ideal, which seems completely wrong and part of what I most hate about our system. I would like to see an Amendment forbidding the close relatives of any politician from elected office. No more Kennedys, Clintons or Bushes, please. The fact that Joe Kennedy was able to parlay his background in smuggling and his mob contacts into a Presidency for his otherwise unremarkable and feckless son is hardly a qualification for the appointment of his valley girl granddaughter to the Senate and launching her on the quick path to the Presidency, although the Senate is pretty much of a bull-pen for unqualified nepotistic scoundrels. At least Obama and Jim Webb got in on their own efforts and wrote their own books, but maybe it's just my democratic roots showing.

This is the heart of my reservations about monarchy and aristocracy in general. Every royal line can be traced back to some mud- and gore-covered thug who was able to best his equally thuggish rivals and establish dominance and eventually legitimacy over his vassels. The strongest and smartest were able to bring in the most able of their subjects to cement their positions for their families and eliminate rivals, and I'm sort of okay with that. I've come to regret the loss of the European royalty and what has become of the various revolutions and it's clear that we've reached the end of the democratic experiment. I've long felt that a king would be better than rule by common clowns; a king could decide as a matter of policy or whim to give the serfs a break and a democrat simply cannot, but I can't see how we can re-establish some kind of actual aristocracy, so at this point the best I can say is I'm a loyal thermadorian and hope for the worst, loyal only to my own family. If Charles can eliminate the scum in the Commonwealth (which he is unlikely to attempt) I'll bend the knee. Until then, subvert, withhold, sabotage and endure.

See Which one Fills up First

2008-11-06T10:01:00.002-05:00

I seriously believe the the two parties work major elections out in advance; that it is scripted and fixed. Okay, I am a conspiracy buff, and I also don't know the actual methods or identities of those evil few, but some things are just so out of plumb, they can't be accidents. Why did Kerry just shuffle and mumble through his last campaign? Because he was taking a dive and just barely trying to make it seem realistic. Why didn't McCain even pretend to be realistic and flexible if not also articulate and knowledgeable? The election was decided when the Democrats used their corrupt primary system to choose the best candidate of a sorry bunch, and the Republicans, inexplicably, used theirs to choose the worst (after Guiliani). Just when the world is fed up up with America, and the last penny has been emptied from the treasury, everybody rushes to the other side of the boat and starts singing in unison about equality and justice. It's obviously a punch and judy show, but we can't stop watching, or ever quite come to disbelieve, even though Plato demolished the whole scam years ago.

Hope in one hand...

2008-10-31T22:43:00.002-04:00

http://www.freeandequal.org/ is sponsoring a vice-presidential debate that might not suck.

"Christina M. Tobin, President of Free and Equal Elections, announced this afternoon that Libertarian Party vice-presidential candidate, Wayne Allyn Root, Constitution Party vice-presidential candidate, Darrell Castle, and Independent Ralph Nader running mate, Matt Gonzalez, have formally agreed to a three-way vice-presidential debate to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada this Sunday November 2, 2008."

Especially interesting as the first actual "debate" debate of this season, as opposed to the Lehrer-style love note passing, the first debate where any subject may be covered, and the participants are not constrained say anything. I hope it goes well. Will watch for on utube, I guess. I would be pleasantly surprised if it were on CSPAN.

Oops, I should have checked freeandequal before I replied. I didn't watch the Nader debate, because I can't watch Nader and I was pissed and mystified by Barr not attending. (that convinced me to "support" Baldwin [I had already contributed to the Barr campaign {and I'd like my fifty bucks back}]) So this may be the second interesting debate of this season. I'm withholding judgement until I see the video, if I'm wrong I'll admit it. I still hold a grudge against Nader for killing the Corvair, and for introducing Joan Claybrook to the world. Dude makes me squirm.

I finally watched the Nader-Baldwin debate as far as I could; the two, two-minute introductory speeches. Shorter version Chuck Baldwin, "We support the Constitution". Shorter version Ralph Nader, "We want to do a whole long list of Unconstitutional things". I couldn't watch anymore. Sorry. It may have been interesting, but what I meant was "the first actual 'debate' debate of this season that was actually watchable". We'll see.

Raimondo Recommends

2008-10-30T10:55:00.005-04:00

My comment concerning Ron Paul and Justin's endorsement of Nader over at Taki's

Justin - I agree with your choice, but I don't think Ron Paul should be a factor in how you reached your conclusion. Ron Paul was right to dissolve the coalition when he did, because the Revolution was obviously unstable and only held together because of one Man. We need a stable coalition base and at least a handful of Pauls, some of whom may be the Congressmen of both parties that voted twice against the bailout bill. (Incidentally, if you're going to vote, take the trouble to find out how your Congressman voted on this at RP's Campaign For Liberty. Some of these "public servants" in both parties need to be sent on their way; now's your chance.)

We were enthusiastic and cooperative largely because we were getting attention. The point of the money-bombs was the money-bombs, for instance. Since no one, even at the highest point of enthusiasm expected to win (and if they did they were delusional) the goal was to expose the corruption in the system and the complicity of the media, which he did in blazing triumph. The Republicans made a major mistake (from their POV) by including him in the debates.They gambled that RP would make a fool of himself and fizzle out early, like Tancredo, which would have happened if he hadn't gone out swinging. Suddenly, this "nut" is telling the whole country, in detail, about the scam, and counter-punching hard when idiots Guiliani and Mormon boy whazziz name took the bait. At least McCain was smart enough to shut up and smirk instead of getting bitch-slapped like he would have. And later, the depantsing of Hannity. Mwah! Mission, (as far as it would go) accomplished.

My point is, however unfortunate, the Paul campaign is over, he is not a candidate and I respectfully submit that you should have left him out of your calculus for this piece. My conclusion is that Nader is a better choice than the Tweedles, and an acceptable third choice if Baldwin or Barr are not on your ballot, McKinney is head and shoulders over the Tweedles on foreign policy and no worse on domestic. What we're really looking for is a high percentage of protest votes. Then we all (together) need to start pulling up the rails in front of the Obama express.

Senate Races - the Good, the Bad and the mostly Ugly

2008-10-28T13:57:00.004-04:00

"good " Senators up for re-election
names in bold are at risk and could use some extra help, donations, etc.

John Barrasso (R-WY) (safe)
Thad Cochran (R-MS) (safe)
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)(no clear favorite)
Michael Enzi (R-WY) (safe)
James Inhofe (R-OK) (favored)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)(safe)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA) (leaning safe)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL) (safe)
Roger Wicker (R-MS) (no clear favorite) "expected to be quite close"
*Mark Udall(D) v. Bob Schaffer(R) for Wayne Allard's (Retiring "good guy)
Mark is House "Good Guy" Polls show Udall way ahead
*Tom Udall (D) v. Steve Pearce (R) for Pete Dominici (R-NM) (retiring "bad guy")
Tom is House "Good Guy" "NRSC...concede the seat to Udall"

"bad" Senators up for re-election
names in bold have a good shot and are worthy of extra support

Lamar Alexander (R-TN) (heavy favorite) opposed by Bob Tuke(D)
Joe Biden (D-DE) (safe) opposed by Christine O'Donnell (R)
Max Baucus (D-MT) (safe) opposed by Bob Kelleher
Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) (close) opposed by Jim Martin (D)
Norm Coleman (R-MN) (vulnerable) opposed by Al Franken (D)
Susan Collins (R-ME) (vulnerable) opposed by Tom Allen (D)
John Cornyn (R-TX) (vulnerable) opposed by Rick Noriega(D)
Dick Durbin (D-IL) (safe) opposed by Steve Saurberg (R)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC) (safe) opposed by Bob Conley (D) Ron Paul Democrat
Tom Harkin (D-IO) (safe) opposed by Christopher Reed (R)
John Kerry (D-MA) (safe) opposed by Jeff Beatty (R)
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) (safe) opposed by Dick Zimmer (R)
Carl Levin (D-MI) (safe) opposed by Jack Hoogendyk
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (vulnerable) opposed by Bruce Lunsford (D)
Mark Pryor (D-AK) (unopposed)
Jack Reed (D-RI) (safe) opposed by Bob Tingle (R)
Pat Roberts (R-KS) (favored) opposed by Jim Slattery (D)
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) (safe) opposed by Jay Wolfe (R)
Gordon Smith (R-OR) (vulnerable) opposed by Jeff Merkley (D)
Ted Stevens (R-AK) (vulnerable) opposed by Mark Begich (D)
John Sununu (R-NH) (vulnerable) opposed by Jeanne Shaheen (D)

info from http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Senate/senate_races.html

Constituent Response Team

2008-10-26T00:43:00.005-04:00

I'm really getting excited about this site, and I hope they can really get the word out before the election. I intend to send a donation; I've been looking through the site to see how much is there and I'm liking it a lot.

Capitalism with a Human Face?

2008-10-19T20:46:00.003-04:00

A response to another good Lindsay post - East Germans Getting Nostalgic for Socialism

I had a friend in the mid-80's that had escaped from Poland before the Solidarity thing. He was pretty apolitical but thought there wasn't much wrong with Communism in principle. My question to him was how they got anyone to do the shit work and hard labor if everyone was equal?

His answer was that it was done by prisoners and this was really the biggest problem, because they had to actually generate enough prisoners to fill the needed slots - curfew violations, improper documentation, drunkenness, trespassing, black-marketeers etc. because there wasn't enough actual crime to supply the manpower and the real psychos weren't suitable. This was very convincing to me, and today I look at America's gigantic prison-industrial complex with a wary eye.

It would seem that human nature works against any system, and that greed is probably a better basis for society than compulsion where everyone is either a prisoner or a guard. Equality can be a two-way street and it's much simpler for everyone to be equally poor than rich, or for some to be more equal than others.

I meant to mention. although it goes against my theory of the general evilness of all governments, the dozens if not hundreds of guys that worked to bury the reactor after Chernobyl blew up, even though they knew the were taking amounts of radiation that would inevitably lead to a slow and agonizing death. Not to mention the firemen that voluntarily went into and died in the WTC. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have, it's just a mystery to me. Maybe ideology only goes so far, y'think?

On Poetry

2008-10-19T12:59:00.003-04:00

I personally cannot read/understand poetry without being told by human or annotation what I'm supposed to be seeing. Without help, I might as well be reading a rock wall. I don't think it's a lack of intelligence or knowledge; I would guess it's something like riding a unicycle - quite difficult and without obvious benefit beyond the skill itself. I have noticed that I use a lot (too much) of metaphor in my own writing, which is probably just a rookie writing error, so I think I have the capacity to read poetry, but lack something crucial (training, persistence, imagination - I dunno).

I'm somewhat of a hermit, and most of my family is either non-literate or non-communicative, but I can only recall one person in my adult life that spoke of an interest in poetry and I don't how extensive her interest was. For most Americans it's teevee, movies and popular music, which is a large part of why I'm the aforementioned hermit. I'm to the point where the noise has died down enough for me to receive the signal, but I still don't know how to process it.

Which brings me to my final point. Poetry should probably not be taught to most kids. It almost seems like it's designed to turn them off. The esoteric seems like gibberish and the accessible is either trite (e.g. rock lyrics) or doggerel. I think that
Seuss and Silverstein are popular because they were illustrated, which helps focus the attention on a sufficiently small piece of the universe for the imagination to work with. See also greeting cards. I think this may be key to popularizing it. Good poetry stands alone, but most people need help with it. There are also a lot of graphic artists (and musicians) who are also not making any money, so it shouldn't be hard to find collaboration if the poet isn't too concerned about purity.

I'm going to have to stick to short non-fiction myself. I have a lot of ideas, but none are original, I'm afraid. Anecdote; I recently got a phone call from a girl I went to high-school with that still has some of my poems, which I mercifully don't remember, that I had given her. She asked me why I quit writing, and I told her that when I found out there were four billion people in the world I came to doubt my uniqueness.

Campaign for Liberty - Vote the Bums Out!

2008-10-17T21:17:00.003-04:00

I've been looking for some organized effort to penalize the Congressional thieves that voted for the BBBBB, without much luck, when, miraculously, comes a solicitation from Ron Paul's own Campaign for Liberty for just such a program. I was thinking about wasting my time picketing my polling place, but my own Thieves, Tom Davis (R-Pentagon) and John Warner (R-Hell), have wisely chosen not to run again, in the teeth of what should have been (before the bailout vote) a Democratic hurricane. For some strange, counter-intuitive reason, Democrats voted overwhelmingly for the big ripoff to help the guilty billionaires that caused the mess rather than the poor SOBs that got caught up in it. Whatever, dudes. None of them deserve a penny of taxpayers money, and the weasels that voted for it need to be voted out. From the press release...

"To do this, Campaign for Liberty plans to:

Produce and distribute slim jims specifically tailored to districts/states that tell how each Congressman and Senator voted. These will be available soon on the Campaign for Liberty web site for every district and state in the country.

And we will also print and distribute these pieces in as many of the key districts as funds allow.

Send a series of email blasts into many key districts and states, urging our members and supporters to contact the candidates and demand they oppose any further "bailouts."

Run hard-hitting newspaper ads in as many places as funds allow.

Run radio ads and hold news conferences announcing the votes cast on the bailout.

Flood key districts with tens of thousands of phone calls letting people know where their Congressmen and Senators stood on this very important issue."

Please contribute here.
My previous posts listing the good congressmen here
and the good Senators here

Get Exile(d) Right Now

2008-10-14T21:36:00.002-04:00

OMG - the new Exile is on fire lately, especially Eileen Jones. She snarky! Go there right now and read everything. then come back, y'hear?

There Al Loosers

2008-10-14T20:26:00.005-04:00

Attention blog commenters, here and especially elsewhere; Spellcheck is necessary but not sufficient. Heck, I couldn't spell necessary without it. Please be more attentive when using the following words, the misuse of which makes one seem less intelligent than one would prefer to seem, especially when commenting on Serious Political and Economic Matters. I'll be adding more as I see them.

Hear
Here
Know
No
Lose
Loose
Looser*
There
Their
They're
To
Too
Two
Your
You're
Were
We're
Ware
Where

Also, if it's not to much trouble, please avoid LOL, OMG and the like. I don't really know why it irritates the crap out of me, but it does, so knock it off. If you're a teenage girl, you can do it on your phone, I guess, but if you'd stop and pay attention in class, instead, you might not end up calling someone a moran on line.

* This one is especially painful, and I see it constantly. Unless your name is Cletus, be careful.

Robert Lindsay is the Coolest Commie - Part III

2008-10-12T20:31:00.002-04:00

The following is comment to a good post on Lindsay's blog. It's very surprising how often I agree with him in light of the fact that I detest Socialism and he hates Libertarians. I would try to explain to him that what he calls neo-liberalism is not the free market, but I've never had much luck pursuading True Believers. If Rothbard couldn't convince him, I doubt if I could. I'm pretty confident that if he pays close attention to how the present market chaos is made even worse by government interference, he'll probably figure it out for himself. Obama is getting handed one of the biggest shitcakes in history and failure is baked in. If he's lucky he won't get blamed for the whole mess, but that looks like the script to me.

What really surprised me, though, was Lindsay reporting that he's a fan of Catholicism, (albeit the liberation theology version, which seems to me to combine the worst aspects of both socialist economics and Santeria. But I try to be tolerant). Previously, he almost had me convinced that Mugabe was just a misunderstood patriot, but that was my own fault for being a Lindsay fan. As Norm McDonald said in a joke where he had been fooled into killing his family by a friend posing as the Devil - "That's one for you, Bob."

Robert - a cliche but you truly never cease to amaze me. Am I surprised that you're not an atheist? Yes but, Catholic? Wow! I was raised a Catholic but you get to quit when you're eighteen. I believe in God in a very nebulous way, but I can't stand any of the spooky shit, mysticism, miracles, angels, trans-whatever, souls, guys in robes, etc. It's always been for the rubes and children of all ages.

That said, I'm 100% in favor of everyone else being religious, as long as they leave me alone. I kind of like Judaism minus the burning bushes and what not, but it was and is geared to preserving God's chosen people, which I'm not. So there you are.

Did you see that other Mel movie, Apocalypto? I don't think I took the ending the way he intended; after getting captured, enslaved, pursued and almost murdered many times, the dude makes it to the sea in time for the arrival of the Spanish, and just knows IT'S ABOUT TO GET EVEN WORSE, gathers up his family and heads for the hills. However comforting, religion is the eternal curse on humanity. It's not the opiate of the people, it's the 100% pure smack. I just believe in me. Yoko and me.

Senate Good Guys

2008-10-06T15:08:00.004-04:00

The following Senators voted against the BBBBB (Dodd amendment to HR1424). Again, you should vote to defeat any Senator who is NOT on this list.

Allard Barrasso Brownback Bunning Cantwell Cochran Crapo

DeMint Dorgan Dole Enzi Feingold Inhofe Johnson Landrieu

Nelson, Bill Roberts Sanders Sessions Shelby Stabenow Tester

Vitter Wicker Wyden

Most of these deserve to be defeated because of their support for the Iraq war, but that was then. We have an opportunity to link the next election to this vote and send a clear message that unconstitutional theft under the color of law will be punished.

Mr. Peabody Helps Jesus Save Capitalism

2008-10-05T18:04:00.005-04:00

"Put down that beaker of Ephadadrine, Sherman, and follow me to the WABAC Machine. Jesus needs our help!"

"But, Mr. Peabody, I think I've found a way to pay our electric bill. And then some!"

"Never mind, my boy. Thanks to the miracle of time travel, we'll be back literally before you know it."

"Very well, Mr. Peabody. What settings shall I use?"

"Naples, Italy; Jan.25, 1962."

"But Jesus wasn't in Naples in 1962."

"Don't be so sure, Sherman, but in any case we're going to visit one Charles Luciano. He's ill and may be more inclined to the truth than previously. I need some information about the olive oil business and Prescott Bush."

" 'Lucky' Luciano, the heroin king? Olive oil? Prescott Bush? Mr. Peabody, I believe I've found the answer to that missing case of Bronkaid!"

"Never mind that now, Sherman, just set the dials and initialize. Besides you know how my asthma has been acting up lately."

"Well, here we are, Mr.Peabody. How will we find Mr. Luciano?"

"Quite simple, my boy; although many of these houses have several burley watchmen at the gate, very few also have American Cadillacs with CIA agents waiting out front. Ah, here we are! Signor Luciano?"

"Si?"

"I'm Mr. Peabody, and this is my boy, Sherman. I'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind."

"Ha, you and everyone else! Hey, I've seen you on TV! You're a funny guy. 'Chicken-catch-a- Tory'! Haha! C'mon in!"

"What did you find out, Mr.Peabody?"

"Never mind, for now, Sherman, we need to move on. Set the WABAC for Florence, Italy, June 20, 1527. We're going to see the great Niccolo Machiavelli."

"Gee, do we have to go right now? The girls here are so friendly!"

"Sorry, Sherman, but even though we've got all the time in the world, paradoxically we're in a bit of a hurry right now. Those bills aren't going to pay themselves, and you can always come back 'later'."

"Okay, Mr. Peabody. Hang on! Not the leg! Bad boy!"

"Sorry, Sherman. As you know I sometimes forget my manners when the quarry is afoot."

"Here we are. Florence. How will we find Signor Machiavelli?"

"As you can imagine, this place is crawling with paranoids, but "Lucky" showed me the secret hand signal. You'll have to give it, though. What with my paws and all. Here's a picture."

"Gosh, that's the same as the Dogtown Crips! See, LA roxx! It's funny that they all use the same sign. What a coincidence!"

"A coincidence, to be sure. There's a likely-looking ghoul. Try it out."

"Is that the right counter-sign, Mr. Peabody? Like he's stroking his beard. Which he doesn't have."

"No, but we'll probably see it a lot. Try that guy."

"Yo! Yo. Whazzup?"

"Nicollo Machiavelli?"

"Who want's to know?"

"I'm Mr. Peabody and this is my boy, Sherman. I need to ask you some questions about "olive oil".

"Walk with me. Leave the kid."

"What did you find out, Mr. Peabody?"

"Patience, my boy. For now, set the WABAC to Tel-Aviv, June 9, 25."

"But there was no Tel-Aviv, or for that matter, June in 25, Mr. Peabody."

"Sherman..."

"Shutting up, now. Here we go!"

"Wow, look at those dinks! Looks like San Francisco in '67."

"How do you know? Our series ended in '64."

"I meant 1667, but I did look around when we were in syndication. Ever heard of the Cockettes? the Fugs? What a stink! Man, when did they invent deodorant?"

"Just start flashing the sign, my boy. There's a likely-looking pair."

"I see you are a sailor. Step into my tent and all will be revealed."

"Pardon me, sir, it's far from my mind. I'm just looking for a good friend of mine. Calls himself Jesus, among other things. He's mc'ing a wedding party. Five wise virgins...five foolish. Ring a bell?"

"Yes, I know him! Follow me. And all will be revealed"

"Wait here, Sherman, and keep those kids out of the WABAC."

"How did it go, Mr.Peabody? Did you see Jesus?"

"Just for a second, he said he was headed out to the desert to be tempted. He winked at me. He didn't seem to be surprised to see a talking dog; evidently there's a lot of that around here. I saw the other rabbis, though; straightened them out. If they listen to me, no more oil problem, no cruxifiction, no fall of Jerusalem, no diaspora, no crusades, no dark ages, etc."

"But all those things happened, Mr. Peabody!"

"We can but try, my boy."

"What did you tell them, Mr. Peabody? About the oil?"

"Well, as you may know, the five wise virgins had enough lamp oil to last for the entire feast, but the five foolish virgins were short by varying amounts. 'Lucky' told me the thing about olive oil is that it can be all different quality as well as quantity and needs to be mixed right to burn right. Of course, he was talking about "olive oil", but the same principle applies; to make everybody a winner you got to give a little to get a little, and you always want to have another wise virgin around. I got that from Niccollo. Smart cookie, knows human nature. Even Rabbi Paulson got it, I think."

"But, I don't get it, Mr. Peabody. How does another Virgin solve anything?"

"Sherman, do you mean you've never heard of Extra Virgin Olive Oil?"

The Big Billionaire Bastard Bailout Bill

2008-10-05T11:28:00.005-04:00

These ladies and gentlemen voted against the bill both times.

HR1424 "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and HR 3997

You should vote against any incumbent except...

Aderholt Akin Altmire Bachman Barrow Bartlett(MD) Barton(TX) Becerra Bilbray Bilirakis Bishop(UT) Blackburn Blumenauer Boyda Broun(GA) Brown-Waite, Ginny Burgess Burton(IN) Butterfield Buyer Capito Carney Carter Castor Cazayoux Chabot Chandler Childers Clay Conyers Costello Courtney Culberson Davis(KY) Davis, David Davis,Lincoln Deal(GA) DeFazio Delahunt Diaz-Balart,L. Diaz-Balart,M. Doolittle Drake Duncan English(PA) Feeney Filner Flake Forbes Fortenberry Foxx Franks(AZ) Gallegly Garrett(NJ) Gillibrand Gingrey Gohmert Goode Goodlatte Graves Green,Gene Grijalva Hall(TX) Hastings(WA) Hayes Heller Hensarling Herseth-Sandlin Hill Hinchey Hodes Holden Hulshof Hunter Inslee Issa Jefferson Johnson(GA) Johnson(IL) Johnson,Sam Jones(NC) Jordan Kagen Kaptur Keller King(IA) Kingston Kuchinich Lamborn Lampson Latham LaTourette Latta Linder Lipinski LoBiondo Lucas Lynch Mack Manzullo Marchant Matheson McCarthy(CA) McCaul(TX) McCotter McHenry McIntyre McMorris-Rodgers Mica Michaud Miller(FL) Miller(MI) Moran(KS) Murphy,Tim Musgrave Napolitano Neugebauer Nunes Paul Payne Pearce Pence Peterson(MN) Petri Pitts Platts Poe Price(GA) Rehberg Reichert Renzi Rodriguez Rogers(MI) Rohrabacher Roskam Rothman Roybal-Allard Royce Sali Sanchez,Linda Sanchez,Loretta Scalise Scott(VA) Sensenbrenner Serrano Shea-Porter Sherman Shimkus Shuler Smith(NE) Smith(NJ) Stark Stearns Stupak Taylor Thompson(MS) Tiahrt Turner Udall(CO) Udall(NM) Visclosky Walberg Walz(MN) Westmoreland Whitfield(KY) Wittman(VA) Young(AK) Young(FL)

Stock up Now!

2008-10-01T19:20:00.003-04:00

I tried to buy a used shotgun today from the Clark Bros in Warrenton, Va about 11:00 am. I was told the computer was down. Returned at 4:00 pm; computer still down. Was told this happens frequently. How does this differ from a waiting period? What would stop them from never approving any sales, just by saying the computer is down? They also told me I have to fill out the form and wait for each individual purchase. This is unacceptable from a Constitutional viewpoint as well as common sense. It can't be good for the store's business.

My bs detector is off the scale. What, if anything, can I (we) do about this? It may be that this is how the store handles customers that are not approved, in order that the customer doesn't make a scene or blame the store somehow for the actions of the state, but this is just wrong. I'm mad as hell, and I'm going to take it some more, but I definitely don't believe it's any computer's fault. What is this, 1985, with a tandy computer and 300 baud dial-up modem? Make sure to get as many guns and as much ammo as you can, as soon as you can, if this is all it takes to stop you. Do like the Boy Scouts; be prepared.