tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25953604567567151022024-03-05T00:12:58.756-08:00Stop the Inanity.Because this is what happens when no one's paying attention.brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-66016237806459033482009-12-23T22:18:00.000-08:002009-12-24T17:27:55.792-08:00Happy Only Two More Days of Having to Be Nice Day!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPDCv_biIZMzL5gkJiRMnSw5lJfj6ndoPtacOeF8I7ZSm-5kIUcqEcOI9qrrOyW1_Y1XejfdIomP4vZ27vwG-hz5JjemxHsElrKmlZVOUDNKL6XZBYimY8III_4Z5SkT0SasWi8Pc4SZ8/s1600-h/IMG_2364.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPDCv_biIZMzL5gkJiRMnSw5lJfj6ndoPtacOeF8I7ZSm-5kIUcqEcOI9qrrOyW1_Y1XejfdIomP4vZ27vwG-hz5JjemxHsElrKmlZVOUDNKL6XZBYimY8III_4Z5SkT0SasWi8Pc4SZ8/s400/IMG_2364.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418972976459964642" /></a><br /><div>Today, I'm going to actually do it. I'm going to finally come out of the closet...</div><div><br /></div><div>...about my deep and enduring affinity for Christmas. For pure fun and good times value, nothing tops it. Not even <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanukah">Chanukah</a>. There: I said it. <a href="http://www.torah.org/features/spirfocus/guilt.html#">I'm sorry, Mom</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>But I should also qualify this: What I really mean to say is that I have a deep affinity for Christmas <i>time </i>and all its dazzling splendor, as opposed to the actual commemoration of the holiday itself, whose meaning only begins to make sense to me midway through my fourth <a href="http://www.newbelgium.com/beer/fat-tire">Fat Tire.</a> As offensive as this will sound to most devout Christians, it never ceases to amaze - and startle - me to think that a holiday with such religious heft hinges on the assumption that a baby-god was once born of a <i>virgin</i>. And we're not talking about some floozy from around the way who's known for doing everything <i>but</i>. This is <i>Mary - </i>a blessed woman, a veritable saint - not <a href="http://www.quieroletras.com/img/photos/alike-a-virgin-album.jpg">some frizzed-out hood rat</a> from Paramus. And out of all the pristine women of Galilee, somehow <i>she</i> was the one who popped out a kid? That's right out of a <a href="http://www.otherlandtoys.co.uk/images/thing3.jpg">John Carpenter movie</a>, and it frightens me. </div><div><br /></div><div>So there's that. </div><div><br /></div><div>Also, nothing says <b>CIRCUMCIZED PENISES STAY HOME</b> quite like a midnight mass with an all-boys choir singing "Sweet Little Jesus Boy"</div><div><br /></div><div>So then what is it about Christmas that seduces a cynical Jewish kid from Upstate New York into purchasing and erecting a Christmas tree in his living room a whole month before the big day? (And no, fence-straddlers, there is no such thing as a "Chanukah Bush," unless...never mind. Too easy and sleazy.) Because, as you can clearly see, the religious significance of one of the holiest days on the Christian calendar has about as much impact on me as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim">Purim</a> has on the Pope. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's the <i>season</i> of Christmas that takes firm hold of my Star of David and yanks it off my neck with one quick, joyous jerk right around the first of every December - the Christmas <i>season</i>, with its unapologetic collision of unbridled sentimentality and decadent splendor, ceremoniously ushered in with the transformation of prosaic suburban enclaves into Santa's Workshops and wintry wonderlands. </div><div><br /></div><div>Really, how can anyone with a fully intact human soul remain impervious to the mirth, pageantry, and all-too-tiny window of altruism that permeates the American psyche for no fewer than two weeks each and every year? </div><div><br /></div><div>Even the most curmudgeonly of cynics must concede that the season's aura and energy inches us closer together, albeit temporarily, narrowing yawning divides between strangers and adversaries. </div><div><br /></div><div>Go ahead - ask yourself:</div><div><br /></div><div>Who's not going to hold the door for a mall elf? </div><div><br /></div><div>Aren't you more likely to reconcile with an estranged co-worker during an office Christmas party, as opposed to an office birthday party? </div><div><br /></div><div>Aren't you just a little less likely to come unhinged at the DirecTV customer support rep. after being placed on hold to "Silent Night" as opposed to Kenny G's rage-inducing "Songbird"? </div><div><br /></div><div>And, finally, is there or is there not a greater likelihood of you letting that Camry into your lane upon discovery that the driver is wearing reindeer antlers?</div><div><br /></div><div><div>For pure fun and good feelins' value, Christmastime is a perfect 10. Chanukah cannot hope to compete with the season's unstoppable colassus of warmth and happiness. Extract and isolate the secular aspects of Christmas day <i>itself</i> from the rest of the season's festivities, and it would alone remain an amazing, splendid magical force. Especially for children. </div><div><br /></div><div>But like countless other little Jewish kids, I was an outsider looking in at a mystical realm of joy, happiness, and abundance. The lights were luminescent, the trees gorgeous, and the songs sung in English. I sought refuge not in the lighted menorahs or the harmonic redundancy of "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel" and "Chanukah, Oh Chanukah," (Why must all Chanukah songs possess insufferably repetitive lyrics, my kid brain often wondered. Do they think I'll be convinced about the holiday's coolness by chanting the phrase "Festival of Lights" one more goddamn time?) but in the downplaying of the spirit of Christmas. Gentiles wonder how Jews can be so proficient at the arts of denial and bitterness. Easy: We start early. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>Santa Claus? Who wants to be around that red, hot, drunk mess? Christmas trees? I guess they're okay - if you hate the environment. An endless panoply of presents? The embodiment of pure, egregious excess, mass consumption, and hyper-materialism. And unless Santa's workshop is in Hunan Province, those stockings just might be laced with something other than care. </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>And those were just the eight-year-olds talking.</div><div><br /></div><div>Most Jewish parents find it difficult to comprehend their kids' Christmas envy. They shouldn't. Or perhaps Mom and Dad are also in deep denial:</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Sweetie, why would you care about that pile of opulently-wrapped gifts - most of which conceal the newest, hottest toys of the season - beneath that majestic fir tree when you can light candles and <b>say a </b><b>prayer</b>!</i></div><div><br /></div><div>On second thought, you're absolutely right, Mom. I lost my head there for a minute. Now if you'll excuse me while I turn on the TV to watch the menorah lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Plaz - oh, wait...</div><div><br /></div><div>...What I meant to say is I'm going to turn on the TV so that I can watch the Charlie Brown Chanukah sp - oh, wait...</div><div><br /></div><div>And so on.</div><div><br /></div><div>(Though, in retrospect, I do believe that the insipidly cloying tale of Rudolph could've been ramped-up a ton had the red-nosed reindeer instead been the only Jew or Muslim among his colleagues. Call him Reuben or Rachman. Just a thought.)</div><div><br /></div><div>So for me, the Christmas season was a time of dread and isolation which was only exacerbated by being the lone Jew in Mrs. James' third-grade class. </div><div><br /></div><div>Nevertheless, I had my suspicions about Mikey Stoneman - more commonly known back then as Messy Mikey, for the spillage of sticky matter that perpetually encompassed the area around his desk and for the permanent fudge ring that enveloped his slobbery mouth - who attempted to cast a subtle profile while partaking in all our class's Christmas festivities: Hunkered down at his desk in the back row of the classroom, Mikey devoured gingerbread men and candy canes during the class Christmas party, eagerly hung his disgraceful attempt at a hand-crafted Rudolph on the class' synthetic Christmas tree, and participated in the Secret Santa gift exchange. But there was always something amiss with Messy Mikey. First, the obvious: Stoneman. While not possessing the same cultural cache as Levi, Cohen, Abramowicz or Goldstein, for sheer Jewish-<i>ness</i>, you could do <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Gibson">much</a></i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Gibson"> worse</a> than having Stoneman for a surname. Dr. Stoneman, Michael Stoneman, D.D.S., Mike Stoneman, PhD - yeah, it works just fine. To make matters worse, in one instance, I overheard little <i>shiksa</i> cutie-pie Emily Lewis ask Mikey what religion he was (she must've sniffed it out, too), and Messy responded by saying he was <i>Christmas</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Emily:</b> You mean Christian?</div><div><b>Messy:</b> Oh. Yeah. Un-huh.</div><div><b>Emily:</b> But you said Christmas.</div><div><b>Messy:</b> (terrified silence)</div><div><br /></div><div>That Mikey faked his way through the lyrics to Silent Night during music class was even more damning. And I'm sorry, but for a little Christian kid, that's just unacceptable. Hell, even <i>I</i> knew the lyrics to that one; it was a rare moment in which a nine-year-old boy could belt out the words "young virgin" with passion, conviction and impunity. So, of all the Christmas songs, how could a nice gentile boy who existed to annihilate gingerbread reindeer cookies not know all the lyrics to "Silent Night"? Impossible. Unless, of course, he was...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">JEWISH!</span> </div><div><br /></div><div>As Thanksgiving - with its typical absence of fun and presents - passed (From a child's perspective, Thanksgiving existed to venerate gluttony, inertia, and the banishment of everyone under the age of fourteen to an undersized foldout table in the corner of the kitchen, right beside the effusion of steaming Turkey entrails piled high in the trash) and as late-November grinded mercilessly into the holiday season, I inevitably felt that same seismic scar re-opening between my gentile classmates and me. They flooded into class each morning, their anxious eyes growing wilder by the day. They buzzed about their new lush Christmas trees or about well-apointed houses choked in labyrinthian strands of blinky lights. There was much talk about garland and tinsel and stocking stuffers, items that were as familiar to me at that moment of my life as income tax returns and Astroglide.</div><div><br /></div><div>Mrs. James' Countdown to Santa, a homemade collage of magazine cutout Santa Clause images from back issues of <i>Better Homes and Gardens</i>, superimposed by a Bayer Aspirin calendar, swayed tenuously above the row of cubby holes in the back of the classroom. It just hung there, a garish, mocking reminder of my own personal countdown to jealousy and sullen introspection. </div><div><br /></div><div>But deep inside, Christmastime was something that I exalted, yearned for, and ultimately envied with the hot intensity that no Jewish holiday could assuage. That's right. I said it. <i>No</i> Jewish holiday. </div><div><br /></div><div>But what about <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover">Passover</a></b>? you might ask. Well, sure: If thoughts of lamb shanks, Philistine armies, and plagues of locusts fill you with warmth and glee, then maybe it can compete. And, I'll tell you want: You enjoy gnawing on that <a href="http://www.foodandthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/passover-matzoh.jpg">unleavened bread </a>and brisket; I'll be over here, helping myself to some of <i><a href="http://rugbycoachblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/christmasfeast08.jpg">this</a> </i>action.</div><div><br /></div><div>Okay, but what of <b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_kippur">Yom Kippur</a></b>, the holiest of Jewish high holidays - <i><a href="http://www.sadtrombone.com/">the day of atonement</a>? </i>'Nuff said.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_hashanah">Rosh Hashanah</a></b>? The Jewish new year, sans noise makers, champagne, making out with strangers, Dick Clark, and Times Square. The shofar, or ram's horn, serves as our version of a noisemaker, though it takes years to learn how to properly blow into it (ahem...), thus rendering the object utterly useless for celebrants who actually want to, you know, have fun <i>this </i>year. For pseudo-Jews like me, the most gratifying aspect of Rosh Hashanah is the knowledge that the Jewish calendar exceeds that of the Christian's by almost four thousand years. (It's 5770.) </div><div><br /></div><div>But unlike Messy Mikey, I had no latent desire to trade in my Star of David and yarmulke for a crucifix and communion wafer. I could care less about Christianity. But Christmas was another matter entirely. </div><div><br /></div><div>In retrospect, I can't honestly recall the exact moment in my life when I finally let myself succumb to the ecstasy of the Christmas season, but I'm sure there was a cute gentile girlfriend or two along the way that helped ease me in that direction (my current fiance being the emphatic <i>coup de grace). <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; ">And as I grew older, I gradually realized that the joy and gratification of indulging in the holiday spirit far outweighed the white hot acid of Jewish guilt gnawing relentlessly at the frayed edges of my soul. As though that wouldn't have happened anyway.</span></i></div></div><div><br /></div><div>But is it all a mirage? Is all the feel-good cheer the height of superficiality, or are does it leave a stronger, more enduring impression?</div><div><br /></div><div>As with all questions that address the human condition, it probably depends. </div><div><br /></div><div>The effects of Christmas cheer seem to work more as a drug of choice than an indelible cultural mindset. Like good weed, it's a mellow, pleasant, fleeting high that shouldn't be mistaken for our current national attitude toward charity and altruism. And so while the Christmas season has been known to help sew family grievances, increase the flow of money to the needy, and put <a href="http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/christmastruce.htm">a temporary halt to fierce and bloody military battles</a>, the depth of its efficaciousness is limited by its ephemeral nature. </div><div><br /></div><div>Rest assured, when Blu-Tooth Black Beemer Guy cuts me off on Ventura Blvd. doing fifty in late-July, clearing my front fender by mere inches, the spirit of the holiday season will be completely absent in my profanity-laced tirade, obscene gestures, and prayers for his imminent dismemberment. </div><div><br /></div><div>Christmas cheer will also remain conspicuously dormant from my thoughts and wishes in February, while I wait a few extra moments to hold a door open for a woman at Target, only to have her dash past without any acknowledgement whatsoever. </div><div><br /></div><div>And in April, when a diminutive blonde woman behind the wheel of a massive SUV lays into her horn as I wait for pedestrians to cross the street before taking my right hand turn, good tidings will go straight to hell as I whip around and flip blondie the angriest, most nauseous middle finger ever erected in the history of humankind. And in case, she misses the gesture, I will no doubt accompany and accentuate it with a merry FUCK...OFF! </div><div><br /></div><div>Season's greetings.</div><div><br /></div><div>To further belabor my point, could you fathom the driver of the Budweiser Clydesdale sleigh in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXvAVtwbemE">this commercial</a> yelling "Fuck off" upon getting sideswiped by the Coors dogsledding team? No? Exactly. And why not? Because it's fucking Christmas!</div><div><br /></div><div>Disappointingly, and for whatever reasons, we humans simply haven't evolved to the point where we can collectively behave with unconditional decency and compassion for longer than three consecutive weeks at a time. Think of it as the holiday equivalent of Los Angeles County: Once you exceed its ill-defined boundaries, all bets for rationality, grace, and dignity are off. Drive too far south, and you're in gangland; too far east, and it's gun rack nation; too far west, and you're being devoured by Bull Sharks. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, just as long as it's understood and accepted that everyone's going to be mean and nasty again come December 26th, we can move on and enjoy our holiday festivities for what they are. </div><div><br /></div><div>For me, it's enough to supersede the holiday's darker inclinations - our slavishly Pavlovian drive to purchase the newest generation I-phone or X-Box whenever we hear Bing Crosby work his golden pipes, or the overwhelming sense of loneliness that can beset, harass, and plague people who are distanced or estranged from loved ones during a time of such ebullience. </div><div><br /></div><div>Oh, but the lights! </div><div><br /></div><div>And the presents!</div><div><br /></div><div>And the crackling fireplaces, dangling stockings, sugar plums (never seen one, never eaten one, wouldn't know one if it were jammed down my esophagus - but SUGAR PLUMS!), festive caroling, and delusions of peace on earth. </div><div><br /></div><div>Merry Christmastime, everyone!</div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-21469902399130903192009-12-11T20:00:00.000-08:002009-12-14T06:49:41.758-08:00He's No Jesus<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVDi6_9danVEdnXifuwnjQpHmuaFiEYsCMo4Yq6aOzABLkonh6YHYqWno_VN_QWcxo-O68kfHCiBMNhAKgYqrx_BvoV337KYxhzUGmH2BwgxasYshvdR-N25TsNKVtICG21GxFJYkXJz8/s1600-h/IMG_2366.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVDi6_9danVEdnXifuwnjQpHmuaFiEYsCMo4Yq6aOzABLkonh6YHYqWno_VN_QWcxo-O68kfHCiBMNhAKgYqrx_BvoV337KYxhzUGmH2BwgxasYshvdR-N25TsNKVtICG21GxFJYkXJz8/s400/IMG_2366.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415104047207547266" /></a><br /><div>Okay, time for another quiz:</div><div><br /></div>What does a president who is responsible for perpetuating two separate but simultaneous wars - one with no end in sight and another that was initially predicated on a pile of misinformation and lies - say when receiving the Nobel Peace Prize?<div><br /></div><div>A.) "I realize how this must look (dry swallow), but I swear I really, really like peace (nervous laughter). Seriously - for the most part - I do."</div><div><br /></div><div>B.) "If you think this is ironic, you should see my Franklin Mint White Power figurines."</div><div><br /></div><div>C.) "War is like peace, except with rocket propelled grenades and tons of killing."</div><div><br /></div><div>D.) "So yes, the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace. And yet this truth must coexist with another - that no matter how justified, war promises human tragedy. The soldier's courage and sacrifice is full of glory, expressing devotion to country, to cause and to comrades in arms."</div><div><br /></div><div>You <i>too</i>, Obama? What in the hell happened to you? What happened to the kinder, gentler version of Hillary? What happened to the assurances of affordable health care, a cleaner environment, and vastly improved public education? What happened to the dovish commander-in-chief with the will, savvy, and moral compass to lead us out of two senseless wars so that we could get on with the business of rebuilding a flagging superpower? What happened to Black Jesus?</div><div><br /></div><div>And, just in case you've forgotten, Oslo, it's the Nobel PEACE Prize. According to the Nobel Committee, it's supposed to be awarded "...to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."</div><div><br /></div><div>It would've been a quaint gesture had the Nobel committee followed their own instructions and given the award to someone who's actually in some way responsible for bringing peace to a parcel of the world over the past year. Or, at the very least, the panel certainly could've awarded it to an individual who hasn't authorized "drone" attacks on Al Qaeda and Taliban strongholds that have been known to errantly kill innocent civilians. Or, might they have given it to someone who hasn't also authorized the outsourcing of torture to hotbeds of human rights such as Yemen, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Oman? There were other options.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/books/10book.html?scp=1&sq=greg%20mortenson&st=cse">Greg Mortenson</a> is still building schools and promoting literacy for girls in Afghanistan.</div><div><br /></div><div><div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/12/06/world/international-us-iran-opposition-mousavi.html?scp=3&sq=mousavi&st=cse">Mir Hossein Mousavi</a> is still inciting peaceful insurrection against Iran's oppressive dictatorial regime.</div><div><br /></div><div>Hell, and if you wanted to add a little glitzy-glammy star power to the award, <a href="http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/27-brad-pitt">Brad Pitt</a> is probably the most underrated actor-turned-humanitarian in the world. </div><div><br /></div><div>Or, with the absence of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Theresa">Mother Theresa</a>, there's always <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/4098423.stm">this</a> option, if you wanted to fill the sexy quota for this year's honor.</div><div><br /></div></div><div>Or how about this simple criterion: You cannot receive the Nobel Peace Prize if you have in any way, tangentially or not, been responsible for the death of another human being over the past year. Fair enough? No? Well...fuck.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not deliberately trying kick the president when he's down; but I am definitely a stringent advocate of maintaing standards. Giving a rarefied peace award to a wartime president is just stupid, and it only serves to detract from its prestige (like The Learning Channel pandering to America's dumb gene by preempting most of its educational programming with twenty-seven different versions of <a href="http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/american-chopper/american-chopper.html">"American Chopper"</a>). </div><div><br /></div><div>Here's another quote from <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/12/barack-obama-nobel-peace-prize-speech-text.html">Obama's acceptance lecture:</a></div><div><br /></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><blockquote>"We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicated violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations - acting individually or in concert - will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified."</blockquote></span></div><div><br /></div><div>Which is a powerful, if not valid, proclamation that's worthy of debate, discussion, and circumspection. But save it for a joint session of Congress, an Annapolis graduation ceremony, or even a State of the Union, because it's also a statement that's wholly inappropriate for a venue that has witnessed the pacific entreaties of Ghandi, Andrei Sakharov, Mother Theresa, Dr. King, Elie Wiesel, The Dalai Lama, and Aung San Suu Kyi. </div><div><br /></div><div><div>We're slapped in the face with the realities of human frailty, indignity, and imperfection every day, but if there exists a venue for the idealistic notion of a world that averts the moral bankruptcy of violent conflict, it should be in the halls of Oslo.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Ironically, Obama even evoked a quote from <a href="http://www.almaz.com/nobel/peace/MLK-nobel.html">King's acceptance speech from 1964</a>: "Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones."</div><div><br /></div><div>Note the absolutes in King's statement. Note also the absence of qualifiers and preconditions. In other words, note the absence of this:</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Violence never brings permanent peace...unless, of course, you're extremely careful against whom you use it - like suspected terrorists, for instance. Then it's okay. </i></div><div><br /></div><div>But King's actual Nobel speech offers no quarter for individuals like Obama, who choose to qualify or re-contextualize his words. For a man as morally intractable as M.L.K. Jr., there's no wiggle room; for politicians, statements such as these only offer value to the extent that they can be reinterpreted and ultimately stripped of their value. </div><div><br /></div><div>Yet in his acceptance speech, Obama implied that King's words were anachronistic and borderline irrelevant to his current course of action:</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><blockquote>"...But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince Al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms..."</blockquote></span></div><div><br /></div></div><div><div>Oh, no: The Hitler card. </div><div><br /></div><div>It's disappointing that an individual with the refined historical perspective of Obama compares the Al Qaeda terrorist network to Hitler's Third Reich. It's not the same, not even close.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Third Reich was an omnipotent, destructive behemoth, steamrolling its way through Europe. The Nazis were well on their way to annexing the entire European continent until they were choked by both the U.S. and Russian armies on two separate fronts. </div><div><br /></div><div>Al Qaeda is a web of loosely affiliated cells, operating mostly within the shadows and crevices of largely unwilling host nations. What makes Obama's comparison even more untenable is Al Qaeda's parasitic nature: It feeds on disillusion, disenfranchisement, poverty, and a tidal wave of anti-Americanism; attempts to bludgeon it with unrestrained military force or "counterinsurgency" have yielded disastrous consequences in both Iraq and Afghanistan, doing more to arouse regional anger and therefore bolster the network's ranks than any recruiting station every could. </div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></i></div><div>Al Qaeda is as much a state of mind as it is a terrorist organization. It thrives on the myth and mystique of American military imperialism. Each American counterinsurgency campaign comes accompanied by another rash of civilian casualties, giving further credence to the half-twisted belief that America is indeed an imminent global threat, which only serves to stoke the ire of future operatives.</div><div><br /></div><div>Familial, ethnic, and tribal ties are all integral to the the success and longevity of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other loosely affiliated terrorist networks. Ignoring their significance, as we often do, only serves to strengthen their stranglehold on Central Asia.</div><div><br /></div><div>In his speech, Obama also notes that some wars are "just wars." And if, by "some" he means approximately two (give or take) in the past century, then he's correct.</div><div><br /></div><div>The allied response to Germany's Third Reich, the Holocaust, and Imperial Japan in World War II was eminently just; the NATO response to Serbian genocide in 1996 was justified; putting the screws to the Sudanese government's <i>Janjaweed</i> death squad goons - chief culprits of the Sudanese genocide - <i>would </i>be morally justified. But how can one designate the interminable conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as "just" when most Americans have no idea why we're there or what's truly at stake - or what the <i>real</i> consequences of inaction might be? </div></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-26230776088518305232009-12-10T20:58:00.000-08:002009-12-11T19:41:27.145-08:00Morassistan Part I: Amateur Hour<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9JDjvIccVe9AX6ud2zkUtPCw232sT2VnXctAMXd-PwCic9J7H57tz_9gZsng2IXmImMesc_OtuoYlNKXUrwEn8K9N2yuBkSkx6DM3-zDDZCvkzp93vaOFvJfKt5UMLG7OzwlTaN8KFCY/s1600-h/IMG_2232.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9JDjvIccVe9AX6ud2zkUtPCw232sT2VnXctAMXd-PwCic9J7H57tz_9gZsng2IXmImMesc_OtuoYlNKXUrwEn8K9N2yuBkSkx6DM3-zDDZCvkzp93vaOFvJfKt5UMLG7OzwlTaN8KFCY/s400/IMG_2232.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5414189712837387442" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:33px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">All the good ones were already taken: Fuckedupistan, Whatthefuckistan, Ohfuckistan, We'refuckedistan, and so on. Therefore, in selecting a title for President Obama's latest no-win, no-way-out quagmire, I chose the name of a quagmire.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">By the time I publish this, the president will likely have already given an earnest entreaty to the American public, outlining his administration's intentions and expectations for the invasion-turned-conflict-turned-war-turned-occupation-turned-crisis in Central Asia.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">It's yet another perilous imbroglio for Obama, another toxic, stench-ridden carcass left behind by the most inept presidential administration in U.S. history that promises consequences global, historic, and possibly disastrous.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">And it will likely be Obama's undoing.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">That it's unfair to assess a first-term president whom, upon assuming office, was instantly saddled with a series of potentially cataclysmic conundrums - the global financial crisis, health care reform, a surge of violence in Iraq, a nuclear Iran, global warming, and Afghanistan-Pakistan - is beside the point. An individual with Obama's intelligence and perspicacity had to have realized that his decisions on these monumental issues would be fraught with indefinite outcomes, even in the most optimistic of scenarios. Or didn't he?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">In addressing each of them, he's backtracked, preemptively compromised, and receded into the background, leaving lesser talents to fill the temporary progressive leadership vacuum. (Even the staunchest of Democrats have, by this stage, heard enough Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi sound bytes to wonder if their Green Party card from Nader's 2000 presidential push is a.) still valid and b.) still crammed inside that old O.P. velcro wallet, amidst the endless flotsam of a cluttered glove compartment.) </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">It wasn't supposed to be like this. This was <i>our</i> guy, a visionary with the perfect mix of thoughtfulness, guile, and geopolitical aptitude to actually fix things - a president with the intellectual wherewithal and intestinal fortitude to bolster America's moral standing and to assess crucial situations based on factual evidence and probable outcomes rather than political expediency or a love of Christ. For once. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">But, as major office holders often do, Obama has become one of <i>them</i>, a mushy-middle talking point machine of the status quo. And like promising presidents before him, who sweep into office, crested upon a wave of idealism, optimism, and promises, Obama's ambitious agenda has been mutated by the realities of existing at the eye of every political storm in Washington, storms that L.B.J., Reagan, and Clinton used to their advantage but that men like Carter and Bush Sr. were ill-equiped to endure. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">Nevertheless, in the final analysis, it is Obama and Obama alone who will be held fully accountable. For all of it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">In a more perfect world, Obama would've had more than a nanosecond to exhale following his tour de force, goosebump-producing, crush-inducing inauguration speech. Using his overwhelming popularity as a rallying point for supporters and a catalyst for a new era of progressive legislation, conservatives would've had little choice but to slink into the background <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/01/are_the_republicans_still_rele">(as they initially did)</a>, and <a href="http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/2009/07/23/healthcare-reform-blue-dog-dems-corrupted-by-big-pharma-contributions/">Blue Dogs</a>, with their ties to Big Oil, Big Pharma and Big Insurance, would've been forced to the left lest they face the prospect of irrelevance. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">Consequently, I often wonder: What if instead of having to deal with <i>all </i>the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"> defining crises of our generation from the outset, Obama had the chance to gain some political capital by first addressing less pressing issues?</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><em></em></span></div><div><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">Here's the first draft of your speech on the importance of fiber in a healthy diet, Mr President!</span></em></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><i>Here's your Stay in School speech, Mr. President: You're up right after Jay-Z and before the cast from "Stomp." </i></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">Don't forget your monogrammed yarmulke for the Tolerance Summit at Temple Beth Hillel, Mr. President!</span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">Right over here, Mr. President, beside the shelter puppy and the formerly abandoned-in-a-Nike-shoe-box 3-legged kitten!</span></i></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">In the sage words of Billy Joel, it's just a fantasy.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">Instead, with his hand forced tonight, Obama will futilely articulate his plan for the crisis of the moment. He will offer vague objectives and occasionally speak in abstractions, as a leader must when discussing an eight-year conundrum that has revealed a monumental dearth of preparation, aptitude, and follow-through on the part of highly-touted military advisors, past and present. He will not mention that it has lasted longer in duration than World War II or that it has already rung up a $300 billion tab. He won't mention the painfully obvious similarities to Vietnam or that even some of his closest advisors believe that it is a war that is un-winnable (or, even beyond that, one that's not worth winning). </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">He will, however, convey the following:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">1. We must prevail in Afghanistan (whatever that means), lest it become a safe haven for Al Qaeda (which has long since departed); victory in Afghanistan means a safer, more secure America.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">2. Part of the strategy for winning in Afghanistan will entail the training of Afghani military personnel. This will take time, commitment, and will require a shift in mindset among Afghani troops and military officials.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">3. A "surge" of at least 30,000 additional U.S. troops will be necessary to engage "trouble spots" in mostly Southern Afghanistan's Helmond Province and the country's population centers.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">3. Our commitment to Afghanistan will not be open-ended (no, really, we mean it this time). </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">4. Pakistan better stop playing grab-ass with the Taliban or else we're taking our ball and going home. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">5. A series of platitudes to assure the American public that the deaths of servicemen and women will not be in vain, that the success of war is not measured in human casualties but in the triumph of freedom over tyranny (or some bullshit like that).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">He'll say all of this and more. But it won't matter. He'll speak passionately, fluidly and forcefully; it won't matter. And he'll make numerous appeals that are alternately rational, intellectual, and visceral; but it won't matter. Because, in this world, there are disasters that can't be cleaned up, people that will never change, and riddles that aren't meant be solved. Afghanistan's one of them. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:33px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><b>12/7 UPDATE:</b> After listening to the West Point address, I turned out to be right regarding Obama's talking points, which proves only that I know how to read and retain information that other journalists (get paid to) research and write. One thing I overlooked, however, was the prospect of a timed troop withdrawal, a possibility I didn't think the president would have the gall to mention. But <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/world/asia/02prexy.text.html?scp=1&sq=obama's%20west%20point%20speech&st=cse">in his speech</a>, Obama stated that a troop redeployment would commence, beginning in July of 2011 - a heartening announcement, to say the least. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><blockquote>"As commander-in-chief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home," Obama said.</blockquote></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><b>12/8 UPDATE: </b>Never mind. Apparently, that whole troop timetable withdrawal thing that Obama outlined in his address - and that <i>The New York Times</i> echoed in the following day's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/12/01/world/international-uk-afghanistan-usa.html?scp=9&sq=obama%20to%20begin%20troop%20withdrawal&st=cse">above-the-fold front page headlines</a> - will be contingent on too many moving parts to be of much consequence. From Monday's<i> Times</i>:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">In a flurry of coordinated television interviews, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other top administration officials said that any troop pullout beginning in July 2011 would be slow and that Americans would only then be starting to transfer security responsibilities to Afghan forces under Mr. Obama's new plan...</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">..."We have strategic interests in South Asia that should not be measured in terms of finite times," said Gen. James L. Jones, the president's national security adviser, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union." </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">"We're going to be in the region for a long time." </span></b></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">And now I'm really befuddled. Because, during his big West Point speech, Obama also said <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/world/asia/02prexy.text.html?scp=1&sq=obama's%20west%20point%20speech&st=cse">this:</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><blockquote>"The absence of a timeframe for a transition would deny us any sense of urgency in working with the Afghan government."</blockquote></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">And then this:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><blockquote>"This effort must be based on performance. The days of providing a blank check are over."</blockquote></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">Which, while gratifying to hear, is evidently just more lip service being paid to the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/world/asia/10poll.html?_r=1&hp">increasingly disillusioned American public.</a> In fact, ever since Osama Bin Laden was eclipsed as America's boogyman-of-the-moment by Wall Street CEOs, the war has been devoid of any benchmarks or assessments whatsoever - which can occur in a senseless, bullshit war, er, I mean when the main objective remains mired in ambiguity and indecision. So if our occupation of Afghanistan can't be measured in terms of timetables, either (according to Jones, Gates, and Clinton), how will we ever know when we can leave? More from <i>The Times</i>:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><blockquote>During his recent inaugural address, Mr. Karzai said that Afghan forces would be able to take charge of securing Afghan cities within three years, and could take responsibility for the rest of the country within five years.</blockquote></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><b>9/8 Update:</b> Corrupt-to-the-marrow Afghan President - and former American puppet dictator - Hamid Karzai has announced that it'll take another 15-20 years for the country's military and police forces to be able to sustain themselves financially, logistically, and culturally. Defense Secretary Bob Gates agreed that it will be "some time before Afghanistan is able to sustain its security forces entirely on its own." Gates <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/world/asia/09gates.html?scp=3&sq=karzai&st=Search">then added:</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><blockquote>"Whether that is 15 or 20 years, we'll hope for accelerated economic development in Afghanistan." </blockquote></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">And I'll <i>hope </i>for a pony who possesses a shock of silver fur through its mane and the power of song! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(Either way, neither is likely to happen and both will cost a shitload of cash. Admittedly, the pony might cost more. I still hope I get one.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">Then, on NPR's <i><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121246362">Morning Edition</a></i>, after being pressed by the fearsome Steve Inskeep, the irrepressibly sanguine McChrystal finally conceded that it could take five years before Afghani forces are capable enough to handle securing their country without the U.S. military and NATO changing their diapers every ten minutes. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">Five. Years. Minimum. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:medium;">Why Obama insisted on announcing a hard withdrawal timetable in the first place was puzzling, unnecessary, and shockingly amateurish. Revealing his hand in such a naked way - and on such a critical issue - in front of a national audience was striking for a man who, a little over a year-and-a-half ago, emerged from a bruising primary battle with the Clinton political juggernaut, and then, six months later, elbowed his way past Republican slime machine with the wind of the world at his back. </span></div></span></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-61157668332229265872009-11-27T13:28:00.000-08:002009-11-27T17:23:30.403-08:00Now At Creaky Wheel: Hipster Pirates and The End of Thanksgiving<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigWfY_kAeqEJWpyfDs5auQWCXYzsS1D76xpJ2ardrTgcEPT4awtovlWy59UweaEmdijxScic3rM7jCC86DwMRXwcOFAd5zRb75secOqi_UqzASlu89CLfI82Brwwm5r9NMmACNjpcbYUE/s1600/IMG_2340.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigWfY_kAeqEJWpyfDs5auQWCXYzsS1D76xpJ2ardrTgcEPT4awtovlWy59UweaEmdijxScic3rM7jCC86DwMRXwcOFAd5zRb75secOqi_UqzASlu89CLfI82Brwwm5r9NMmACNjpcbYUE/s400/IMG_2340.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408958951097613378" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9px1HvjRxus7B5y1cmM7k3664emycN5vfPDw0yciKT1i2Kr1ZoztJ8AK-cJ9kaSPfrsNKx-b0DLWo1ohwZVIDzAEu68jQ4SFmqBL5Nm7USGvsOqRT_JCja7AbB7subN_s94vC6pHdWw4/s1600/IMG_2337.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9px1HvjRxus7B5y1cmM7k3664emycN5vfPDw0yciKT1i2Kr1ZoztJ8AK-cJ9kaSPfrsNKx-b0DLWo1ohwZVIDzAEu68jQ4SFmqBL5Nm7USGvsOqRT_JCja7AbB7subN_s94vC6pHdWw4/s400/IMG_2337.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408953220540085970" /></a><br />Two things I just learned:<div><br /></div><div>1. Somali <a href="http://www.creakywheel.com/2009/11/french-navy-thought-somali-pirates-would-be-way-more-piratey.html">pirates</a> officially have more Wii gear than I do (the bastards). </div><div><br /></div><div>And</div><div><br /></div><div>2. Being expected to give <a href="http://www.creakywheel.com/2009/11/thanksgiving-day-to-be-re-named-this-sucks-day.html">thanks</a> is, like, so 2008.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">(Special thanks to the lovely and talented Katie Melech for her crafts work.)</span></div><div><br /></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-1242634866228238732009-11-18T21:07:00.001-08:002009-11-27T17:53:53.263-08:00Freak Show<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1sVZFGhE46cQoGK6uo3LxktRxYmhIyMs-dKi9oavySTCU-n3mC6OP76RCimNkzZNgIm34VAPhAiu7UW0qr0026RXAl6bJtv3xHbIhjcpXSDH7kRlOAS1KGAzNOyEkZaRZY3MNhyxYWI/s1600/IMG_2347_2.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 387px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_1sVZFGhE46cQoGK6uo3LxktRxYmhIyMs-dKi9oavySTCU-n3mC6OP76RCimNkzZNgIm34VAPhAiu7UW0qr0026RXAl6bJtv3xHbIhjcpXSDH7kRlOAS1KGAzNOyEkZaRZY3MNhyxYWI/s400/IMG_2347_2.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408896335461639202" /></a><br />Ladies and gentlemen, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/arts/television/17watch.html?scp=6&sq=sarah%20palin&st=cse">I give you</a> your 2012 Republican nominee for President of the United States:<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote>When Ms. Winfrey pressed Ms. Palin about why she would not mention the names of newspapers or magazines she read when Ms Couric asked her to, Ms. Palin said she found the CBS anchor's persistence "annoying." Still looking annoyed, she recalled how she left a rally "pumped up" and aglow only to pull back the curtain and discover Mr. Couric waiting with the camera and crew, or as she put it sourly, "There's the perky one again."</blockquote></span></div><div>In other words, <i>Katie Couric</i> is too much woman to handle for the person who aspires to be the next leader of the free world. </div><div><br /></div><div>Palin seems to have nicely filled the media vacuum left by the temporary absence of Bubble Boy and Octo-mom. And she will continue to be a headline grabber for as long as the American public continues to fetishize over her white-trash-wins-the-lotto rise to mediocrity. Or until a hermaphrodite has triplets after mating with itself.</div><div><br /></div><div>But over the past several years, major newspapers like <i>The Times</i> have lamented the fact that they've been forced to slash staff and resources due to budgetary constraints. Yet somehow they've managed to allocate resources for covering the non-story of Sarah Palin's book release. </div><div><br /></div><div>So why is <i>The Times</i>, a paper whose staple has always been hard journalism, pandering so unabashedly to the TMZ crowd? </div><div><br /></div><div>And if she didn't have an impossibly luminescent smile, a quirky Fargo accent, and perfectly aligned cheekbones, would anyone even remember Sarah Palin's name at this point? </div><div><br /></div><div>If 'Nanna Palin had a triple-chin, a uni-brow, runaway acne, <a href="http://eteamz.active.com/PatNeshek/images/Lumberg.jpg">80's glasses</a>, or a <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=badonkadonk">ba-donk-a-donk</a>, wouldn't that just make her the ugly female version of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_quayle">Dan Quayle</a>?</div><div><br /></div><div>Remember him? No? Exactly.</div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-82958604879111585392009-11-18T19:00:00.000-08:002009-11-22T22:15:02.474-08:00Should These Men Be in the Clink?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgvhlzHXjUZuiP_AbH6jltg1XVen7GK1YG8U025nrMUxYzsQkrPUsVI6tvxq7wE5-GYwJrew63wsmIzHXgaJuI0SyWoaA24UHraocLU3xMBi2JH90tB4hkSXtYGLsWThIpNWJm0N_S61o/s1600/IMG_2320.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 217px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgvhlzHXjUZuiP_AbH6jltg1XVen7GK1YG8U025nrMUxYzsQkrPUsVI6tvxq7wE5-GYwJrew63wsmIzHXgaJuI0SyWoaA24UHraocLU3xMBi2JH90tB4hkSXtYGLsWThIpNWJm0N_S61o/s400/IMG_2320.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407178456482412914" /></a><br />Andrew Jackson was instrumental in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson#Indian_removal">systematic eradication</a> of Native Americans; Harry S. Truman presided over the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Presidents Johnson and Nixon were both responsible for sending thousands of young men into the senseless meat grinder of Vietnam.<div><br /></div><div>And even Barack Obama continues to advocate the Bush-imposed, CIA-sponsored drone missile program responsible for killing unknown quantities of Afghani and Pakistani civilians. From Jane Mayer's "<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/26/091026fa_fact_mayer">The Predator War"</a> in <i>The New Yorker</i>:</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote>The first two C.I.A. air strikes of the Obama Administration took place on the morning of January 23rd - the President's third day in office. Within hours, it was clear that the morning's bombings, in Pakistan, had killed an estimated twenty people. In one strike, four Arabs, all likely affiliated with Al Qaeda, died. But in the second strike, a drone targeted the wrong house, hitting the residence of a pro-government tribal leader six miles outside the town of Wana, in South Waziristan. The blast killed the tribal leader's entire family , including three children, one of them five years old. </blockquote></span></div><div>Then:</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;">...because of the C.I.A. program's secrecy, there is no visible system of accountability in place, despite the fact that the agency has killed many civilians inside a politically fragile, nuclear-armed country with which the U.S. is not at war. Should something go wrong in the C.I.A.'s program - last month, the Air Force lost control of a drone and had to shoot it down over Afghanistan - it's unclear what the consequences would be.</span></div></blockquote><div>Yes...we...can - kill civilians at will.</div><div><br /></div><div>Is it still too early to label an (unofficial) Obama policy as stupid and rash? (That it was conceived by the Bush administration should've been enough evidence to give the current president and his war cabinet a looooooong pause. But no.)</div><div><br /></div><div>No wonder why so much anti-American venom exists in areas of the world where we routinely tread. The U.S. has developed a well-earned reputation for arbitrarily imposing its will in any region in which it feels the pull of destiny - leaving an indelible footprint in the process - and often forgetting or dismissing the possibility that denizens of other foreign countries have national pride just like we do. </div><div><br /></div><div>Imagine having your house errantly scrubbed off the planet by a drone fighter jet - an unmanned robotic flying machine, whose missles were loaded courtesy of a profit grubbing private contracting company. The flight would be piloted by a civilian in a cubicle in Langley, VA, who goes about the whole ordeal as though he's playing a fucking X-Box.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;">Using joysticks that resemble video-game controls, the reachback operators - who don't need conventional flight training - sit next to intelligence officers and watch, on large flat-screen monitors, a live video feed from the drone's camera. From their suburban redoubt, they can turn the plane, zoom in on the landscape below, and decide whether to lock onto a target.</span></div></blockquote><div>So it's a tad disingenuous to feign surprise at all the global rancor that's frequently directed at U.S. And to chalk it all up to Stars and Stripes envy, as we often do, is the height of inanity - and ethnocentrism. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>They're jealous of our freedom!</i></div><div><i>They're jealous of our liberty!</i></div><div><i>They're jealous of our way of life!</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Bullshit. </div><div><br /></div><div>(In America, <i>liberty</i> and <i>freedom</i> are the verbal equivalents of the American Flag lapel pin: cheap, visceral triggers predictably overused by demagogue politicians to instantly transform nationalistic pride into fierce electoral or legislative support. These two words have been used to dupe Americans into doing everything from supporting various war policies to rejecting gay marriage and universal health care proposals. For Big Square State Americans, they've attained a kind of religious significance. But their meaning remains an abstraction to residents of the developing world, who more likely concern themselves with the more tangible concepts of <i>peace</i> and <i>stability</i>.) </div><div><br /></div><div>The truth is, most citizens of the world would kill for our wealth; and by wealth, I mean the ability to adequately feed, clothe, and shelter themselves and their families. But as far as ways of life are concerned, I'd be willing to bet that most Afghani villagers would do fine without strip malls; cineplexes; The Real Housewives of Orange County; Healthy Choice; Hot Pockets; high fructose corn syrup; blue tooth; Blu-Ray; Going Rogue, Ford tough; trans fats; UPN; political attack ads; high-stakes standardized testing; health care rescission; pre-existing conditions; <a href="http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/radar.php?rid=vtx&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=no">doppler radar</a>; cable news gossip crawls; Bloomin' Onions; Crips, Bloods, and MS-13s; Nutra-Sweet; <a href="http://thecandymall.com/hp_zencart/images/cookie-crisp-cereal.jpg">Cookie Crisp</a>; sub-prime loans; hockey moms; <a href="http://www.seattlepi.com/dayart/20071123/450blackfriday_lede2.jpg">Black Fridays</a>; and exclusive interviews with Bubble Boy - providing they don't have to deal with their families being accidentally vaporized in the middle of the night by a viagra-fueled suburban dad with a receding hairline and a fancy for <a href="http://api.ning.com/files/snGfPz-fVtJbHytjuShGB3-G0frmzmgCt*J7WPyJeuPM42uWagsFUeoLzOWmZciwfTD76qTfUEGwaQsxsJ0OfDpHjS-p0Q48/gears_of_war_250_248370g.jpg">"Gears of War."</a></div><div><br /></div><div>But back to our hypocrisy, which has achieved almost galactic dimensions. When civilian atrocities occur as a result of a foreign leader's misguided or bellicose policies, they're labeled war criminals - miscreants deserving swift and firm justice from the international community. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milosovic">Slobodan Milosevic</a> and Saddam Hussein were both depraved shitbags and deserved what they got.</div><div><br /></div><div>But, in 2008, former Peruvian president <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Fujimori">Alberto Fujimori </a>- a slimy, Machiavellian third-world hack of a politician - was brought up on charges of crimes against humanity for his government's ruthless campaign against the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shining_Path">Shining Path</a>, an oppressive extremist organization known for domestic terrorism (think Latin American Taliban - with Communists). Not surprisingly, Fujimori fled to Japan, hoping to evade criminal charges, but he was eventually extradited back to Chile and convicted of human rights abuses and corruption. He now sits in a prison cell when not performing nightly geisha shows for <i>los hermanos</i> of cell block C. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now...</div><div><br /></div><div>...in your wildest dreams, can you imagine Bush Jr. ever idling in a prison cell? Can you ever fathom the Hague or the International Court of Justice charging him with war crimes, obstruction of justice, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_of_aggression">war of aggression</a>, torture, intent to assassinate a foreign leader, or conspiracy to commit murder (all charges that could conceivably be levied against the former president)? </div><div><br /></div><div>Will he ever even be investigated?</div><div><br /></div><div>The answers to the above questions: No, no, no, and no. And that's because, when U.S. presidents engage in ruthless tactics that result in the death of innocents, it's justified as the inevitable price of war. Rarely is further explanation necessary, unless you consider <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jGBtfQuB6g">"I'm the decider"</a> to be sufficient. Naturally, the majority of the mainstream media rarely questions this claim, as they understandably have their hands full with hourly Sarah Palin "Will she or won't she?" updates. </div><div><br /></div><div>The most recent evidence of Commander-in-Chief recklessness is the news of a 2007 bribery scandal in which key Blackwater (a private military contractor hired by both the State Department and the C.I.A. - and championed by the Bush Administration) personnel attempted to slime off hush money to Iraqi government officials in exchange for keeping quiet following a mass civilian slaughter by Blackwater storm troopers in Nisour Square, Iraq. In the end, 17 civilians were killed, including children who were murdered when at least one of the Blackwater reps hurled grenades inside a nearby school. From <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/world/middleeast/11blackwater.html?sq=blackwater&st=cse&scp=2&pagewanted=print">The New York Times:</a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote>Blackwater approved the cash payments in December 2001, the officials said, as protests over the deadly shootings in Nosour Square stoked long-simmgering anger inside Iraq about reckless practices by the security company's employees. Americans and Iraqi investigators had already concluded that the shootings were unjustified, top Iraqi officials were calling for Blackwater's ouster from the country, and company officials feared that Blackwater might be refused an operating license it would need to retain its contracts with the State Department and private clients woth hundreds of millions of dollars annually.</blockquote></span></div><div>Now known by the West Hollywood gay rave club-esque name <a href="http://revart.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/poets_buttlesspants.jpg">Xe</a>, Blackwater was originally contracted out by the Bush Administration prior to the war in Iraq. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'd speculate that just hearing a word as cryptically criminal as Blackwater would give a guy like Dick Cheney a massive boner (for him, at least). <i>Blackwater!</i> Maybe that's why the firm won an exclusive no-bid contract to further putrify Iraq with the stench of even more death and corruption. Or perhaps it was because Blackwater's former CEO, Erik Prince, started as an intern in Daddy Bush's administration. Or maybe it's that Prince <a href="http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Prince_Erik">had donated</a> over $200,000 thousand to the Republican party by that point? Or that Prince is a fundamentalist Christ freak with a penchant for civilian carnage, just like <a href="http://timesonline.typepad.com/faith/images/2007/08/08/bush_at_prayer_2">Junior</a>? It's difficult to pinpoint, really. </div><div><br /></div><div>Blackwater was never actually affiliated with the U.S. military operation in Iraq. The firm was - and is -privately owned, which enabled it to operate free from the constraints of the <a href="http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/genevaconventions">naggy, sissified rules </a>of combat by which American G.I.s must adhere. </div><div><br /></div><div>And because Blackwater had carte blanche in Iraq for six years, the dark lords of the Bush Administration could always say, "We don't know anything about these guys: Their operation is completely independent from our jurisdiction."</div><div><br /></div><div>Once again: Bullshit.</div><div><br /></div><div>While the past and current presidential administrations continue to squirm away from their ties to profiteering firms like Blackwater, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halliburton">Haliburton</a>, and KBL (at least publicly), citizens throughout the world forced to suffer at the hands of these immoral parasites have no choice but to associate their malicious deeds with U.S. policy.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm sure all of this makes me sound like an unappreciative, anti-American, communistic freedom-hater. Quite the opposite. </div><div><br /></div><div>I've seen what this country can be: altruistic, unified, charitable, and even, at times, open-minded. We wept for the victims and families of 9/11 in '01; sent money, food, clothes, and volunteers after the disasters in Sri Lanka and then New Orleans (though far too late in the case of Katrina) in '05; ousted an inert, Republican-controlled Congress from the majority in '06; and elected an intelligent, thoughtful, black man to be our president in 2008. </div><div><br /></div><div>America the Beautiful is also hegemonic, short-sighted, and ruthlessly self-serving. For better or worse, when our republic feels the least bit threatened, we collectively dust off the plastic CVS American Flags (made in China), flip on hi-def. cable news, turn our adversary's homeland into "Blade Runner," and tune out global outrage directed at us.</div><div><br /></div><div>None of this is new information.</div><div><br /></div><div>What's so galling is our leaders' refusal to ever admit even a scintilla of wrongdoing. Intoxicated by their vision of living in a world in which developing countries simultaneously resemble ours and yet submit to our every whim, they design policy around the unrealistic notion that cultures can be coerced into modernity, democracy, and...liberty. </div><div><br /></div><div><div>Both Bush and Obama insist that the post-9/11 world in which we reside is a dangerous one. They're right. Genocide, civil war, and oppression abound. But living in the cross hairs of American foreign policy might be the most treacherous of all. </div></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-91047002671442162452009-11-07T21:35:00.000-08:002009-11-07T21:41:53.539-08:00Creaky Wheel Special Report: Paas Easter Egg Kits Enable Iranians to Better Hate America<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYO6X4sEi_TEwMz0vcXorcySJnaWbq5mWCZ-hnD09mt-ILj-y8p3xPzrMIouvx8BVstZgvyObOgFC4Gj7BxLrvZi_5_O9ZrCOCrjR3hXzfF2SbeQPH2iGZ3QEnwtA9RGs109pdhBTG5vY/s1600-h/IMG_2317.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYO6X4sEi_TEwMz0vcXorcySJnaWbq5mWCZ-hnD09mt-ILj-y8p3xPzrMIouvx8BVstZgvyObOgFC4Gj7BxLrvZi_5_O9ZrCOCrjR3hXzfF2SbeQPH2iGZ3QEnwtA9RGs109pdhBTG5vY/s400/IMG_2317.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401603870086926338" /></a><br />Click <a href="http://www.creakywheel.com/2009/11/death-to-america-day-not-as-hateful-as-it-used-to-be-iranian-clerics-claim-1.html">here</a> to read about how Mullah Mullah sets Iranian youth on the path toward American contempt.brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-90345557877565943252009-10-25T12:32:00.000-07:002009-10-25T18:23:35.909-07:00Creaky Wheel Special Reports: Naughty Lincoln and Lame-Ass Ghosts<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhGDKyH6D61ntYQKS2hIQd4AGksJLylh_OA-njsTjMhQpjF-zsF3yoMq-FOjPlyU59NbvC9WPWu2zo_VBkRw2bwl70r0q8n0kn7qzN-NoyKklne4PDleqvaqgBLLzBMj3Olw2xQPiu5dE/s1600-h/IMG_2265.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhGDKyH6D61ntYQKS2hIQd4AGksJLylh_OA-njsTjMhQpjF-zsF3yoMq-FOjPlyU59NbvC9WPWu2zo_VBkRw2bwl70r0q8n0kn7qzN-NoyKklne4PDleqvaqgBLLzBMj3Olw2xQPiu5dE/s400/IMG_2265.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396702698220242946" /></a><br />Ah, Halloween: That most wonderful time of the year...<div><br /></div><div>Click <a href="http://www.creakywheel.com/2008/10/sexy-leper-creepy-uncle-rated-top-halloween-costumes-for-08.html">here</a> and <a href="http://www.creakywheel.com/2009/10/oceanside-man-disappointed-by-unimaginative-ghost.html">here</a> to read me mocking it all.</div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-29555297654557520572009-10-18T10:59:00.000-07:002009-10-18T12:49:22.496-07:00A Violation of Kindergarten Fairness Part II: The First Tenet of EINKILK, A.K.A. Share Everything<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVaWEDL2y6-po8iNevjMIaujmMCVeEYQ4rXOYzpaYKum7yP8az9uexhcQZcNgsloVPjHrKwsudUWnJ0Ue1DbV_dV5oGbY2fIBg_Nnlqqs5jl-G6Ztf1rxCHuNLPHklhpAFeHAnLmyaI8o/s1600-h/IMG_2224.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVaWEDL2y6-po8iNevjMIaujmMCVeEYQ4rXOYzpaYKum7yP8az9uexhcQZcNgsloVPjHrKwsudUWnJ0Ue1DbV_dV5oGbY2fIBg_Nnlqqs5jl-G6Ztf1rxCHuNLPHklhpAFeHAnLmyaI8o/s400/IMG_2224.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394028029687996498" /></a><br /><div>For those who missed <a href="http://stopinanity.blogspot.com/2009/10/violation-of-kindergarten-fairness-part.html">the previous post</a>, </div><div><br /></div><div>A. How dare you? And...</div><div><br /></div><div>B. The following are ways in which we've all failed to live up to the tenets of the <a href="http://www.amiright.com/album-covers/images/album_Scott-Baio-Scott-Baio.jpg">Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten</a> (EINKILK) poster from the early-1980s. For this week's EINKILK post, I will start with the tenet listed at the top of the poster:</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Share Everything.</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Seems easy enough, right? Too bad it goes against every imaginable aspect of human nature. That a shrill, piercing "MINE!" is one of the first words embraced by toddlers is probably not a coincidence. And that I look outside my window as I write this and see a quiet, suburban street lined with attractive homes, buffered by barriers of iron gates or stone walls - and in some cases, an impregnable combination of both - as their first line of defense against the scourge of emo teenage skateboarders, is indicative of a society that fetishizes over the concept of sole ownership. </div><div><br /></div><div>Hilariously, one of the more opulent homes, set back amidst a phalanx of looming eucalyptus and fir trees, has a cutesy, Casper-inspired "Happy Halloween!" sign draped from its towering, perpetually locked iron gates, thus turning a generic autumnal salutation into an ominous threat. </div><div><br /></div><div>Which begs the eternal question: How high would Jesus' impregnable wrought iron gate encompassing his estate be?</div><div><br /></div><div>This obsession with sole ownership isn't restricted to Southern Californians and their preoccupation with material goods. I can recall, as a newspaper boy in suburban Upstate New York, having neighbors on my route with POSTED: NO TRESPASSING signs affixed to modest oak trees that loomed over perpetually muddy, postage stamp front yards. And the image of a paunchy middle-aged guy wearing the requisite stained wife-beater, brown dress socks, bermuda shorts, and plastic sandals, gaining increased satisfaction with every THUD as he hammers the nails to his NO TRESPASSING sign deeply into the pulp of said tree, was a continual source of wonder and amusement for my adolescent mind. </div><div><br /></div><div>As we've seen throughout the past several months, our primal hoarding impulse, our pathological obsession with maintaining ownership over <i>our</i> stuff - no matter how shitty it is - has gone zoonotic, seamlessly pervading the health care reform debate while inhibiting any degree of substantive reform. From James Surowiecki's "Status Quo Anxiety" piece in <i><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2009/08/31/090831ta_talk_surowiecki">The New Yorker</a></i>, </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;">Behavioral economists have established that we feel pain of losses more than we enjoy the pleasure of gains. So when we think about change we focus more on what we might lose rather than on what we might get. Even people who aren't all that happy with the current (health care) system, then, are still likely to feel anxious about whatever will replace it...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;">...After all, although people tend to feel that they own their health insurance, their entitlement is distinctly tenuous.</span></div></blockquote><div>Macroscopically speaking, for the U.S. to even have a fighter's chance of achieving successful health care reform - and maintaining its slightly misnomered "superpower" status, for that matter - we need to collectively move away from this unwavering preoccupation with ourselves and closer towards a greater willingness to share in the sacrifices of building and maintaining a healthy, wealthy, just society. That means embracing the glimmering path towards socialism, then communism, then, ultimately, the liberal wet dream of fascist rule.</div><div><br /></div><div>Just kidding, you nutty conservatives. Wipe the slobber off your faces. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not talking about erecting mass communes and handing all our worldly possessions over to the Politburo. I'm talking about sharing. <i>S</i><i>omething</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>What that means, at least for the short term, is the willingness to play fair, to look out for our fellow citizens, to do what Mom said when she "asked" us to share our cookies with Tommy or Billy or Yuri or whomever that scrappy little kid was who switched schools mid-term and sometimes ate his own boogers but never had the good fortune of getting any cookies in his lunch to eat. (My mom: "I don't give a flying fig that he smells like vinegar. Give him at least two of your damn Newtons!) </div><div><br /></div><div>When we shared our Fig Newtons with booger-eating Tommy for the first time, some of us discovered that there was great deal value in doing so. For one thing, Tommy was happier - not simply because he was inhaling processed yummy goodness but also because now he realized, consciously or not, that there was another kid in the godforsaken world of fourth grade who had his back. </div><div><br /></div><div>Alliances are a good thing, whether they're forged with Moscow, Beijing, the house next door, or the kid at the end of the same lunch table. </div><div><br /></div><div>And just <i>maybe</i> another kid sitting nearby took notice of your kindly gesture and adopted it as his own behavioral template. (Maybe tomorrow he tosses Tommy or another perpetually ignored kid a bag of Wise chips, cheese doodles, or the Holy Grail of junk food orgasms: the Hostess fruit pie.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Believe it or not, kids commit these acts of kindness every single day. But this is hardly breaking news; it's common courtesy, kindergarten ethics. So at what point did we all become one great big pile of self-obsessed fancy-pants jack-offs?</div><div><br /></div><div>For one thing, in a society that places a disproportionate emphasis on mass consumption and individual accomplishments and not nearly enough on the responsibility to one's community, the drive for altruism fades rapidly as we enter adulthood. </div><div><br /></div><div>(Ah, isn't it about that time of year again - you know, when we start getting bombarded with all of those gauzy heartwarming ads in which the husband flashes his trophy MILF the keys to a brand new Lexus, which is, low and behold, waiting in the driveway wrapped in a red ribbon. Now, the wife's reaction has always fascinated me, as it ranges somewhere between a "So?" and a "You know, sweetie, this is just <i>really</i> thoughtful of you." Which has always seemed odd. Or maybe receiving a $50 thousand car on Jesus' b-day is really that prosaic for the super 1 percent. As an even bigger slap in the face to the already raw sensibilities of Americans struggling through an interminable recession, maybe this year an ad agency will put out a commercial wherein a B of A executive endorses a government-issued check over to Boeing, thus commencing the purchase of an upgraded private jet for his new mistress.) </div><div><br /></div><div>So...</div><div><br /></div><div>...That the U.S. postures as the paragon of ethics and morality runs counter to the ways in which we actually deal with the less fortunate. In fact, the richest country on earth has:</div><div><ul><li>750,000 homeless</li><li>131,000 <a href="http://www.nchv.org/background.cfm">homeless veterans</a></li><li>37 million people <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/04/poverty_numbers.html">living below the poverty line</a> (larger than the entire population of California)</li><li>Approximately 45 million people without health insurance</li><li>20 percent of all of its children currently receiving welfare</li><li>The top 1 percent of households <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/national/29rich.html">owning 57 percent of all corporate wealth</a></li><li>An infant mortality rate that holds at 6.7 per 1,000 births (45th in the world)</li><li>An average life expectancy that ranks 50th in the world</li><li>Approximately 700,000 of its citizens file for medical bankruptcy each year. (In France, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada and Japan combined the number is zero.)</li></ul></div><div>We need to start sharing our cookies again. Which means we - along with our leaders - need to stop bragging about how wonderful and bountiful we are and start behaving like the nation we could and should be. A nation more like...France. Again, from T.R. Reid's <i>The Healing of America</i>:</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"></span><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;">Whenever the French talk about health care, they invoke the concept of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;">solidarite</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;">, the notion that all French citizens must stick solidly together to help one another in time of need. "The solidarity principle," explains Professor Rodwin, "requires mutual aid and cooperation among the sick and the well, the inactive and the active, the poor and the wealthy, and insists on financing health insurance on the basis of ability to pay, not actuarial risk."</span></blockquote></div><div>For starters, that means a health care system that makes actual patient health its first priority, rather than a complete afterthought. Which might mean each of us paying slightly higher taxes so that <i>everyone</i> has a shot at living a healthy, humane existence. What's that you say? Sharing's still not your bag? Well, have no fear, because more people covered by basic health insurance means fewer people using the E.R. as their primary care provider. And guess who pays for those (even more) expensive E.R. visits? </div><div><br /></div><div>You do.</div><div><br /></div><div>From <i>The Economist's</i> <a href="http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=13899647">"Heading for the Emergency Room"</a>:</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote>With the truly poor, the free-riders turn up at emergency rooms. This is hugely inefficient, because pricey late interventions and operations could very often have been avoided with a much smaller investment in preventive care. Insured people and taxpayers are forced to cross-subsidies such "uncompensated" and wasteful treatments to the tune of tens of billions of dollars per year.</blockquote></span></div><div>Granted, some people feel as though these freeloaders should be restricted from receiving any treatment at all - even in the gravest of emergencies. And they're called assholes. </div><div><br /></div><div>Many individuals with degrading or degenerative ailments, such as diabetes or heart disease, turn to the E.R. when their condition becomes irreversibly grave because they couldn't afford regular or preventive treatments in the first place, placing even greater financial strain on an already teetering system. From a recent <i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/opinion/11sun1.html?scp=1&sq=the%20baucus%20bill&st=cse">Times</a></i> editorial:</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote>People without insurance tend to delay seeking medical care until their diseases, like diabetes and incipient cancer, become so severe that they require emergency attention and often cannot be treated effectively. The rest of us pay for their charitable care through taxes or higher premiums on private insurance.</blockquote></span></div><div>So you see, this really isn't just about holding hands and singing "Kumbaya." Or giving away Fig Newtons. Sharing is practical, for the short and long term.</div><div><br /></div><div>And despite what some indignant redneck at a town hall meeting in Tuscon might scream, sharing is <i>not</i> a euphemism for Socialism, Communism, Fascism, or whatever-the-hell-else ism that jumps into his head - and is caught on camera - at that particular moment. It's compassion - one of the key ingredients that supposedly separates human beings from packs of ravenous jackals. </div><div><br /></div><div>To protect ourselves from the exploiters of our future generosity, it's also high time we become more engaged on key civic issues and political races so that we can, in turn, elect public officials who hopefully won't embezzle or misallocate these new streams of benevolence. </div><div><br /></div><div>That means steeling ourselves against the tide of red meat issues with which political campaigns so egregiously flood the media, distractions that actually impact so few people yet somehow manage to pulsate the vein on so many a forehead.</div><div><br /></div><div>But ask yourself, which of the following issues has a greater impact on U.S. citizens? Income tax allocation or euthanasia? Affordable health care or school prayer? Having clean air to breathe and safe water to drink or David and Terrance doing the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d6FOA_HZi8">Hora</a>?) </div><div><br /></div><div>Yet Americans get sucked in time and again by cynical ad campaigns generated by right-wing interest groups, invoking the cataclysmic demise of "values," a word which, loosely interpreted, has come to mean the outright contempt for lifestyles that don't revolve completely around an arbitrary interpretation of strategically targeted portions of the New Testament. </div><div><br /></div><div>And not that it matters much coming from a half-assed Jew, but with all their sanctimony, intolerance, divisiveness, hypocrisy, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-megachurches11-2009oct11,0,1223443.story">multi-million-dollar mega-churches</a>, and Precious Moments Figurines, Jesus Christ would loathe these charlatans, I promise you. </div><div><br /></div><div>And one last thing: Private health insurers have every intention of <i>not</i> sharing in the moral obligation of providing a necessary service for American citizens. After all, these are for-profit money machines, largely automated behemoths that are free from regulatory constraints and beholden only to their shareholders. Again, from <i>The Healing of America</i>:</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote>It's revealing that, in the lingo of the U.S. health insurance industry, the money paid to doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies for treatment of insured patients is referred to as "medical loss." That is, when health insurance actually pays for somebody's health care, the industry considers it a loss.</blockquote></span></div><div>We've been duped into believing that private insurers are the <i>sine qua non</i> of our health care system; in reality, they're not only completely superfluous (care to have your colonoscopy performed by Tim in underwriting? Or how about a tonsilectomy by Marcy in human resources?), but also the primary reason for the mess in which we find ourselves. A government-run single-payer plan could easily, efficiently, and humanely fill the void left by these parasites. From Matt Taibbi's Rolling Stone piece <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29988909/sick_and_wrong">"Sick and Wrong"</a>:</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote>In the real world, nothing except a single-payer system makes any sense. There are currently more than 1,300 private insurers in this country, forcing doctors to fill out different forms and follow different reimbursement procedures for each and every one. This drowns medical facilities in idiotic paperwork and jacks up prices: Nearly a third of all health care costs in America are associated with wasteful administration. Fully $35o billion a year could be saved on paperwork alone if the U.S. went to a single-payer system - more than enough to pay for the whole goddamned thing, if anyone had the balls to stand up and say so.</blockquote></span></div><div>Taibbi's last point is critical in understanding the true essence of this ongoing fiasco. Physicians, politicians, academics, journalists and bloggers have fixated on four main factors leading to the health care system's seemingly irreversible tailspin: As a nation, we overspend, overeat, and over-treat. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then, when all is lost, we place the reform process in the hands of Capitol Hill's most pathological <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cycle=2010&type=I&cid=N00001758&newMem=N">teat suckers</a>, who, after years of engorging themselves with corporate money, turn around, with straight faces, to inform the public that introducing a public option would never work long-term. And why not? Because it would cripple private insurance corporations' profit margins.</div><div><br /></div><div>I shit you not, they actually say stuff like this. From <i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/health/policy/30health.html?scp=2&sq=max%20baucus&st=cse">The New York Times</a></i>:</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;">Senator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada, said he feared that a government plan would prove so popular it could never be uprooted. "Does anybody believe Congress would let this public plan go away once it has a constituency?" Mr. Ensign asked. "No way. Once it's started, you will never get rid of it."</span></div><div><br /></div><div>It's good to know that being under investigation by the Justice Department for a violation of ethics hasn't dampened Ensign's sense of humor. But then, we get this from Ensign's buddy, Chuck Grassley:</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote>But Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the committee, said a government insurance plan would have inherent advantages over private insurers "Government is not a fair competitor," Mr. Grassley said. "It's a predator." He predicted that "a government plan will ultimately force private insurers out of business," reducing choices for consumers.</blockquote></span></div><div>If a government-run public option is predatory, let me be eaten raw. </div><div><br /></div><div>From Robert Creamer of <i><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/when-private-insurers-cla_b_220135.html">The Huffington Post</a></i>:</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;">To compete, private insurance companies would be forced to change the way they do business. They would have to end all of those practices that American consumers have grown to hate, cut administrative costs - maybe even cut CEO pay. Of course since the CEO of Cigna makes $26 million -- 65 times the salary of the President of the United States -- he could afford several million dollars in belt-tightening.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;">They could compete - but they would have to change the way they compete. That's what they are fighting tooth and nail to avoid - and that's also the whole point of health care reform: to change the incentives that determine how the players in the health insurance market do business day to day.</span></div></blockquote><div>And now, a public service announcement, courtesy of the American Foundation for Insurer's Rights.</div><div><br /></div><div>Cue<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QPMvj_xejg"> this guy's</a> voice:</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">We've heard about the women and children of Darfur, subject to mass rapings and killings by Sudanese warlords; the starvation of Congolese refugees, forced from their homeland by a brutal civil war; and the women of the Middle East and Central Asia, who all too often fall victim to rigid and severe social strictures. Many endure mutilation, torture, and so-called honor killings for alleged crimes they never commit. These are all grave injustices. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">But what about insurance company CEOs? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">Forced to compete with the government (socialism), they too will become hopeless victims. Victims of too much competition (pussies), too much choice for consumers (come back - we were just kidding!), too much transparency (see, what had happened...), and the systemic elimination of eight-figure bonuses (worse than The Holocaust). </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">Sadly, many of these individuals have spent years doing little more than cashing checks. Because neither they nor their companies possess an actual skill, these out of work executives - with palms like the coating on a freshly molted wax worm - will be forced back to the mean streets of Rodeo Drive, Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, and Champs Elysses with little more to do than to shop for high end merchandise all day, every day, for the rest of their lives.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">Thankfully, with your help, this tragedy is preventable. So, please, join with us to ensure that all insurance company CEOs can maintain their yearly bonuses - bonuses that, while greatly increasing the overall cost of healthcare, also go to pay for back alimony, exclusive country club memberships, male breast reduction, penile enlargements, and really, really fast speed boats with cool names like "Child Support, Shmiled Support," and "CUL8TR."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;">Remember: It's up to all of us to maintain the status quo. Thank you. God bless. And God bless America.</span></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-71702816624449999692009-10-16T10:06:00.000-07:002009-10-16T10:25:33.832-07:00Creaky Wheel Breaking News: Murrieta, CA Man Wins Nobel Prize in Physics<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis47KaHzQ9qafrJ9BFSeNRkV2HRd_S1pGDYjEMAN04rK8djwvGbZpWoCKFHa5AJt4T0WVwKCczIZm26mS4ftxPhU4zD9USsHLjOnybs3iJ5kc6heJIkak0-bCZIaU4yoNap0J801LaP1Q/s1600-h/IMG_2226.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 312px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis47KaHzQ9qafrJ9BFSeNRkV2HRd_S1pGDYjEMAN04rK8djwvGbZpWoCKFHa5AJt4T0WVwKCczIZm26mS4ftxPhU4zD9USsHLjOnybs3iJ5kc6heJIkak0-bCZIaU4yoNap0J801LaP1Q/s400/IMG_2226.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393250184112825970" /></a><br />Click <a href="http://www.creakywheel.com/2009/10/riverside-man-wins-nobel-prize-in-literature.html">here</a> to see what can happen when you dream big.<div><br /></div><div><br /></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-42364760575682667972009-10-04T18:07:00.000-07:002009-10-11T11:52:35.520-07:00A Violation of Kindergarten Fairness Part I: An Introduction to EINKILK<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFFVLy4WDyQYKyvdEd1p1q9gS3hUdMHH2M8s1IslGHs16H-FnvrSQET4sm7kQpfV63saUjhFlyK2GbXh8HOn4ccMo7SL89VMOedBulyxhcOKPoAfcMe0KQFCzER3X_IUDklExE6xGGwBA/s1600-h/IMG_2217.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFFVLy4WDyQYKyvdEd1p1q9gS3hUdMHH2M8s1IslGHs16H-FnvrSQET4sm7kQpfV63saUjhFlyK2GbXh8HOn4ccMo7SL89VMOedBulyxhcOKPoAfcMe0KQFCzER3X_IUDklExE6xGGwBA/s400/IMG_2217.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391417172725151362" /></a><br />Most of us have seen <a href="http://www.heartwarmingstories.net/everything.htm">the poster</a>. <div><br /></div><div>The first time I caught a glimpse of it was in a <a href="http://www.spencersonline.com/">Spencer's Gifts</a>, back in the early 80s. It was displayed inside one of those aluminum-framed plastic poster flippers, sandwiched among a cluster of 80s detritus: Muppet Babies (flip), <a href="http://www.amiright.com/album-covers/images/album_Scott-Baio-Scott-Baio.jpg">Scott Baio</a> with feathered mullet and cut off half shirt (flip), <a href="http://www.eightiesonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/1981ne_physical.jpg">Olivia Newton John</a> clad in active "Let's Get Physical" headband and skin-tight Sassons (ful......ip), Sebastian Bach licking his double-necked guitar (flip), a florescent velvet-on-black rendering of <a href="http://photoshopnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/epiphone_ace_frehley.jpg">Ace Frehley</a> (flip). <div><br /></div><div>But The Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (henceforth to be referenced as EINKILK) poster wasn't as easy to dismiss. Sure, it was maudlin and perhaps a bit trite - even to my naive 13-year-old eyes. (Although back then, in my sub-articulate disapproval, I likely filed EINKILK under "gay" in my mental rolodex. <i>Gay</i>: the seemingly boundless category assigned by adolescents across the nation for all things effete or uncool - ironic since at the time I was probably wearing irregular Bugle Boy khakis - "pegged" at the ankles - from Marshalls and a white, cropped, acid-wash jean jacket.) </div><div><br /></div><div>In retrospect, maybe it was the tone of the poster that startled me more than anything else. </div><div><br /></div><div>As a non-religious Jewish kid, it jolted me away from my own "Don't fuck with me; I won't fuck with you" moral comfort zone and into the Precious Moments-bedazzled realm of Born Again Christian candy-coated preachy-ness. Still, I couldn't repudiate the poster's overarching theme: Be nice; be considerate; take it easy on yourself and others. In other words, don't be a dick.</div><div><br /></div><div>Today, the EINKILK poster is little more than a quaint relic from a less cynical era. Though America in the 80s will be forever identified with the scourges of the Cold War, cocaine consumption, material vices, greed, Reaganomics, and <a href="http://www.inthe80s.com/clothes/images/user-image-1191169969.jpg">Z-Cavariccis</a>, it was also a simpler time. While repression was still in bloom, cooler-than-thou hipster irony had yet to gain enough momentum to steamroll every last fragile vestige of sincerity in the public domain. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now, sentiments such as EINKILK get re-packaged into kitsch - Urban Outfitters T-shirts, SNL sketches, or perhaps a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OXnI6wQylc">Zach Galiafanakis</a> bit. In the 80s, it was occasionally okay to be unabashedly corny; now, if you're caught wearing a powder blue My Little Pony T-shirt, it's with a wink-wink and a nod-nod to your cronies - an assurance that it's all just a cute, ironic ruse. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>Get it? I'm cool, so why would I ever <b>really</b> wear a My Little Pony shirt - because My Little Pony's corny and saccharine and for little girls who dream about having little ponies as pets. Unlike me, who dreams about slaughtering them and cooking their parts in vats of broth. Though a T-shirt depicting such would be too obvious, thus tarnishing my image as a clever modern master of dripping irony.</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Those of us old enough to recall that far back know that, in the early-80s, the face value of things held more currency. Back then, <b>hope</b> was more than a mere campaign slogan and there was only one glossary definition of <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Abraham%20Lincoln">Abraham Lincoln</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Okay, that last thing was uncalled for. I apologize.</div><div><br /></div><div>In contrast, EINKILK was conceived, I presume, without a hint of pretense, irony, or self-mockery. It's a poster that softly admonishes: <i>These are the fundamental tenets of humanism, ones you probably should've picked up when your life still revolved around snack time, nap time, and surviving the rapacious child-eating monster holed up in your closest. And if you don't know them by now, learn. Or fuck off. </i></div><div><br /></div><div>EINKILK is <i>the</i> manifesto for the dogma of touchy-feely righteousness. And like any dogma - be it the Old or New Testaments, The Koran, Dianetics, or How to Win Friends and Influence People- there are kernels of truth to be found amidst the heaping piles of bullshit.</div><div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></b></div><div>So ridicule EINKILK if you choose. But if the players responsible for this nation's health care mess - fat cat insurance and pharmaceutical executives; an out-of-touch media; conniving Capitol Hill lobbyists; morally corrupt insurance underwriters, the GOP propaganda power-puke machine; the food industry; timorous Democrats; and an overfed, over-treated, out-of-shape, and under-informed populace had just followed its 12 simple tenets, most of us wouldn't have to freak out about keeping our already tenuous coverage every time we switch jobs, get laid off, or discover an oblong mole on our asses.</div><div><br /></div><div>In subsequent posts, I will make a direction connection between the not-so-lofty standards of EINKILK and how we, as a society, have done everything possible to violate them (though I'm still struggling conjure a remotely relevant metaphor for <i>Warm Cookies and Cold Milk are Good For You</i>. My suggestion box is wide-open for that one. </div></div></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-68080302900315059132009-10-03T16:13:00.001-07:002009-10-04T14:48:34.408-07:00Grassley: Government is a "Predator"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bfTkAwdazIAZxc7xZzaBrgTV9i8OpEfyqaSPM3mWCG_9X_BOVo4Jnv141eZZRC4KPwl3AboSmhkRLd1QGsAPb7fOtwFUlP8NXxJN_4hyphenhyphenOFMN1O-X5oEEiip6eF29YKP-BTXOXYKn1lM/s1600-h/IMG_2216.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4bfTkAwdazIAZxc7xZzaBrgTV9i8OpEfyqaSPM3mWCG_9X_BOVo4Jnv141eZZRC4KPwl3AboSmhkRLd1QGsAPb7fOtwFUlP8NXxJN_4hyphenhyphenOFMN1O-X5oEEiip6eF29YKP-BTXOXYKn1lM/s400/IMG_2216.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388842288703845394" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Say what you will about the Republicans, but they sure as hell know how to stay on message, irrespective of whether that message is quasi-rational or bordering on the maniacally insane. You see, West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller had a proposal this week that would've offered a fiscally responsible public option to compete with health insurance companies, which would inevitably temper their current stranglehold on the health care system. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">From </span><i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/health/policy/30health.html?scp=2&sq=max%20baucus&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The New York Times</span></a></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Mr. Rockefeller said the Congressional Budget Office had estimated that a government insurance plan could slice $50 billion from the cost of Mr. Baucus's bill, originally put at $774 billion over 10 years...</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">..."The public plan will be optional, "Mr. Rockefeller insisted. "It will be voluntary. It will be affordable to people who are now helpless before their insurance companies."</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">After Rockefeller's proposal was predictably rejected by his buddies in the Senate Finance Committee, New York Senator Chuck Schumer took his own shot, issuing a similar proposal. Naturally, that went down in flames, too.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Mr. Schumer said the public option would hold down costs because it would not have to generate profits, answer to shareholders or incur marketing expenses.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It would also save over $300 billion a year in dumb-ass administrative waste, which would cover the entire cost of a public option. Oh, and in case anyone still cares, it would offer a happy medium between getting raped by an Aetna insurance adjuster and never having to worry about filing for medical bankruptcy. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Ronald Brownstein, senior writer at the National Journal, quotes economist Len Nichols, who emphasizes the need for a public option if there's to be reform of any kind - since health insurers are, you know, greedy, profiteering bastards.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Locally dominant insurers often pay providers excessive reimbursement rates to discourage them from participating in rival insurance plans. That dissuades other insurers from entering the market, which, in turn, frees the leading insurer to raise its premiums to cover the inflated reimbursements. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"The only people who lose in that," Nichols says dryly, "are the patients."</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In other words, a competing public option is both ethically and fiscally responsible, insofar as it would prevent private insurers from their business-as-usual tactic of exploiting a flawed health care system. Oh, and by the way: Duh.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So then what's the problem? Well, if you haven't already heard, there's a war on. </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/health/policy/30health.html?scp=2&sq=max%20baucus&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The War on Logic:</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"></span></span><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the committee, said a government insurance plan would have inherent advantages over private insurers. "Government is not a fair competitor," Mr. Grassley said. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"It's a predator."</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> He predicted that "a government plan will ultimately force private insurers out of business," reducing choices for consumers.</span></span></blockquote></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">There you have it. Private health insurers do everything in their power to drop sick and needy individuals from their roles (by instituting a practice called <a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_06/018667.php">rescission</a>) - and get to vastly increase their premiums on a moment's whim - they've been known to hold open enrollment on the upper floors of non-retrofitted buildings so as to discourage elderly, handicapped, and chronically ill people from signing on, and <i>government</i> is the predator? <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">Hello, my name is Charles Grassley, and I'm full of shit.</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And just to review, Grassley's claiming that, if there is a public option to compete with private insurance companies, the private insurers will go out of business. Why ever might that </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">be</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">? Would it have anything to do with the fact that a public option would be cheaper, of equal or better quality, more efficient, more accessible, and waaaayyy less terrifying? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Sounds to me like private insurance companies are building an inferior product and either: </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A. Need to get up off their collective asses and improve their product</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Or</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">B. Need to either step aside or diversify their brand (Aetna golf clubs, Kaiser Mouth Wash, Wellpoint Douche Bags, etc.) </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Or how about the perfect synergy: A Blue Cross fast food franchise? Serve up fried chicken sandwiches and other thousand calorie bombs in the dining area, and then, replacing Playlands with on-site clinics, offer customers on-site bypass surgeries, amputations, and other invasive procedures resulting from obesity and diabetes. You can call it Blue Burger. Yummy.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">What's odd about Grassley's point is that I've always been admonished by conservatives about how free and unfettered markets are the cornerstone of capitalism - the party's preferred economic dogma - and hence, the path toward economic salvation.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Until, that is, the losers are the ones who contribute piles and piles of money to your campaign coffers. Per Matt Taibbi's Rolling Stone piece </span><i><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29988909/sick_and_wrong/print"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Sick and Wrong</span></a></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Getting movement on a public option - or any other meaningful reform - will now require the support of one of the three Republicans in the group: Grassley (who has received $2,034,000 from the health sector), [Olympia] Snowe ($756,000) or [Mike] Enzi ($627,000).</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This is what the prospects for real health care reform come down to - whether one of three Republicans from tiny states with no major urban populations decides, out of the goodness of his or her cash-fattened heart, to forsake forever any contributions from the health-insurance industry.</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Too bad there's no opposition party in control of 3 out of the 4 branches of government to call out the GOP on its unabashed hypocrisy and corruption. Oh, wait...</span></div><div><br /></div><div>Before I leave you today, and because the Democrats won't, let Wendell Potter, former head of public relations for CIGNA, remind you once again whom the real predators are:</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div><object width="500" height="405"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mv1FwOCNoZ8&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Mv1FwOCNoZ8&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="405"></embed></object>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-60605363137837887442009-10-02T20:08:00.000-07:002009-10-03T11:06:09.483-07:00Where My Kindle At!?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVT9w8Y_xECLCfR43vk9eEffXp8rWCoxRnc95tRd3OKCk3uqUrti7GKZeuv0I9QHveVaBLn3PLWh8UhQUciOzGxNAfbV8c26d7G5CtlQ4VgCNiWObxVYPm59ur6AD7XzUU9CBLDWphmww/s1600-h/IMG_2205.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVT9w8Y_xECLCfR43vk9eEffXp8rWCoxRnc95tRd3OKCk3uqUrti7GKZeuv0I9QHveVaBLn3PLWh8UhQUciOzGxNAfbV8c26d7G5CtlQ4VgCNiWObxVYPm59ur6AD7XzUU9CBLDWphmww/s400/IMG_2205.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388436389787708674" /></a><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I'm one of the few human beings left on the planet under the age of eighty-five who still gets up every morning and cracks an actual newspaper. For many who still even bother to read the morning news, it's straight to the Kindle, iPhone, Reader, or laptop. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Not me.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I get a physical rush from the tactile feeling of a virginal newspaper in my hands, the muted, grainy, sickly gray hue of the paper stock folded horizontally at its center, and the eighth-night-of-Chanukah-like anticipation of wondering what the front page headlines will be as the brooding, cynical bastard within me prematurely simmers over the fact that the most important story of the day will undoubtedly be buried somewhere around page </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/us/politics/29gitmo.html?scp=1&sq=guantanamo%20deadline%20may%20be%20missed&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A-27</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">To me, the newspaper is a crack-of-dawn companion, a distinguished mentor, and a loyal partner in commiseration. As I'm not a morning person, I rely on it to shake me from my somnambulant stupor with its heaping slabs of social injustice, worldly carnage, and hyperbolic, counterintuitive, and insufferably didactic op-eds. Oh, and did I mention the horoscopes (Me? I'm a Leo!)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Although I do make an occasional foray into the world of online news, it's never the same. I don't have a Kindle yet and possibly never will ($299.00), so I'm surely missing out on </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Generation/dp/B00154JDAI/ref=kindxw_ddp"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">all that goodness.</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> And, as much as that cute, trim, unassuming - yet agonizingly smug - hipster on the </span><a href="http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mac commercials</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> might want me to feel otherwise, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">my </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">laptop monitor screen is just an austere face glaring up at me, awaiting my next command. Rather than passive-aggressively admonishing my ambivalence, </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukeHdiszZmE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">a la HAL</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, it silently hectors me with precisely the same harrowing news stories that my cuddly newspaper seemingly reveals to me with kid gloves. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Okay, so maybe that last part's all in my head. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Still, in a strange way, there's just something so comforting about physically holding that newspaper and all its ominous headlines in my hands - an illusory sense of empowerment, perhaps - as though I'm not a victim of destiny but rather an active participant? Maybe. Because I sort of feel like, if I can hold it in my hands while reading it, everything will probably turn out all right. Did I fail to mention that I'm a control freak?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But, on an apparently slow news day (aside from a hell cauldron brewing in Afghanistan, an impending health care reform bill that's sure to be either DOA or utterly ineffectual, and a defiant, dangerous, and increasingly volatile Iran dithering about a possible stockpile of weapons-grade uranium), my usual morning raft of sanity offers me </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/books/01book.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=multi%20media%20reading&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">this little beauty</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> from its front page:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In the age of the iPhone, Kindle and YouTube, the notion of the book is becoming increasingly elastic as publishers mash together text, video and Web features in a scramble to keep readers interested in an archaic form of entertainment. </span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Because reading words is, you know, like hard and stuff. Sometimes I feel that this country would make so much more sense to me if I were a 15-year-old girl.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Incidentally, at what point will </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">watching video</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> become too taxing on our intellect? Will then every video-capable device come with a pygmy wizard-gnome, there to sagely explain us through the mental rigors of guys getting whacked in the nuts with sledgehammers or two coeds making out in their dorm room? Once again, from the same </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Times</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> piece:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">On Thursday, for instance, Simon & Schuster, the publisher of Ernest Hemingway and Stephen King, is working with a multimedia partner to release four "vooks," which intersperse videos throughout electronic text that can be read - and viewed - online or an iPhone or iPod touch.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Wheee! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I can't wait to see how they "intersperse" video footage of Jake's impotence-induced demise due to his unrequited love for a woman he can never physically attain in </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Sun Also Rises</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. No worries, though: I'm sure it'll be well-acted and tastefully done, as only vooks can do. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Jake: I see you were out with Cohn again.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Brett: Yeah. So?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Jake: No, I was just...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Brett: Look, I need me a REAL man. Someone who can satisfy ALL THIS!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Judging from the breathless tone of the rest of the article, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Times</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> is clearly taking an if-you- can't-beat -em-join -em tack on this new abomination - uh, I mean synergy - because they, along with most other newspaper publications and publishing houses, are doing everything in their power just to remain solvent and relevant in an age in which information is perpetually condensed, compressed, and then power-vomited into the public sphere at light speed. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In other words, they're happy just to be up and running; any strategy at this point that will enable them to remain in business will be eagerly employed, whether it's incorporating vooks, streaming video, or mimes acting out the latest developments in health care reform. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But what's most gallingly unforgivable for me is that </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Times</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> article frames innovations such as the video-text/novel hybrid as a revolutionary movement in literature, rather than what it is more likely to be: the continued demise of written language and overall literacy. Disagree? According to </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-01-08-adult-literacy_N.htm"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">USA Today</span></i></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, approximately 32 million American adults are not skilled enough to read anything beyond a children's book, though on the bright side, it also means they're still fully capable of reading </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The USA Today</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. Buh-dump-bump!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">At the very least, atrocities like "vooks" are the canary in the coal mine in the slow, lumbering slide into an anti-intellectual abyss (Though if you were to counter that the re-election of George W. Bush was, in fact, the seminal moment of our burgeoning </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0O7_3o3BrI"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">idiocracy</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, I would have no rebuttal.) </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The following is an excerpt from Susan Jacoby's </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Age of American Unreason</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, a book that I find exceedingly appropriate for this very occasion:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"></span></span><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The debasement of the nation's speech is evident in virtually everything broadcast and podcast on radio, television, and the internet. In this true, all-encompassing public square, homogenized language and homogenized thought reinforce each other in circular fashion. As George Orwell noted in 1946, "A man may take a drink because he feels himself a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks." It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></blockquote></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">(Not that I'm one to point fingers, but, extrapolating from</span><a href="http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/001703.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> these statistics</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, more American adults have </span><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-06/2005-05-26-voa2.cfm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">watched NASCAR on a regular basis </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">over the past year than have </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/aug/22/news"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">have read a book</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Even more disappointing is </span><a href="http://ase.tufts.edu/faculty-guide/fac/mwolf.childdev.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Maryanne Wolf's</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> apparent complicity in this movement. A few years back, Wolf penned </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain,</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> a staid but exceptionally informative reader about the ways in which the human brain adapts to, and hopefully masters, the mentally arduous task of reading. In </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Times</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">' article,</span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/books/01book.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=multi%20media%20reading&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> she states:</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">There is no question that these new media are going to be superb at engaging and interesting the reader.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But in her book, Wolf emphasizes the systematic nature of becoming a proficient reader, that it is often a slow, cumbersome process that is fully actualized through fits and starts - it's difficulty deriving from the fact that the act of reading is </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">not a </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">skill that humans innately possess. From </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Proust and the Squid</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">: </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Learning to read is an almost miraculous story filled with many developmental processes that come together to give the child entry into the teeming underlife of a word usable by the child. Socrates and the ancient Indian scholars feared that reading words, rather than hearing and speaking them, would prevent our ability to know their many layers of meaning, sound, function, and possibility. In fact, early reading exposes - during the moment of acquisition - how many of the multiple, older structures contribute to each layer as they come together to form the brain's new circuitry for reading.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And then:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The more a child is exposed to written words, the greater his or her implicit and explicit understanding of all language. </span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So how does Wolf reconcile her exhaustive research into the reading process with her current optimism for the video-text hybrid model? To be fair, she adds:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Can you any longer read Henry James or George Eliot? Do you have the patience?</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Intriguing question. Personally, I have plenty of patience for George Eliot. He's that NASCAR driver, right?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-42873826562565747452009-09-27T15:32:00.000-07:002009-09-27T15:38:10.556-07:00The GOP Has a Black Friend and They Want Everyone to Know About It.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHtLmrd_nIFPFXEgfzbYaexAvW6CAPJtwvj7XwvEAzjeBIKnNG7i59EI3xlR1iQI6IK5IJnsuL08Ipy10TL0sEWPUmStJ0laH0VhHEyxwmI2ABltDdlRC4Ks_scLnRVoKMhg03jjJ0cD4/s1600-h/IMG_2182.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHtLmrd_nIFPFXEgfzbYaexAvW6CAPJtwvj7XwvEAzjeBIKnNG7i59EI3xlR1iQI6IK5IJnsuL08Ipy10TL0sEWPUmStJ0laH0VhHEyxwmI2ABltDdlRC4Ks_scLnRVoKMhg03jjJ0cD4/s400/IMG_2182.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386279995718774386" /></a><br />Click this <a href="http://www.creakywheel.com/2009/09/ignoring-naysayers-researchers-continue-pursuit-of-black-friend.html">link</a> to read the full story at www.creakywheel.com.brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-38695691576646952712009-09-20T22:49:00.000-07:002009-09-20T21:39:11.806-07:00Meaningful Health Care Reform Will Happen When Unicorns Fly High and Free<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinhK59q_Wp3CPWhaPYj5GzznEBQINbshwjJtZ14uY8dIwHrOrw4wbgqyY9nDFOun7kX23zAQAUaJFHeMs6SkQacfZjroW0lJ2hOIW5ykfFVLn3yMJLHRK8fDreiDN14bPzsP9KCGgXJjo/s1600-h/IMG_2178.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382689348904771298" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 267px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinhK59q_Wp3CPWhaPYj5GzznEBQINbshwjJtZ14uY8dIwHrOrw4wbgqyY9nDFOun7kX23zAQAUaJFHeMs6SkQacfZjroW0lJ2hOIW5ykfFVLn3yMJLHRK8fDreiDN14bPzsP9KCGgXJjo/s400/IMG_2178.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Last week's presidential address to a joint session of Congress was a veritable clinic in public speaking. It has become trite to lavish praise upon Barack Obama for his mellifluous eloquence, but the speech had everything: policy details, emotion, grace, a steadfast tone, a twinge of ferocity, and a heartfelt homage to Edward Kennedy - the modern-day Congressional watchdog for the poor and dispossessed. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Despite the fact that Dixie-can Rep. Joe Wilson missed the memo about </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">not</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> turning the House floor into a Yuma town hall meeting - sans firearms and ankle holsters - while the President's speaking, Obama's speech may go down as one of the most consequential Congressional addresses of the past half-century. Or it will completely sink into obscurity, alongside George H.W. Bush's scintillating </span><a href="http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3420"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">1989 joint session address</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> in which the then-commander-in-chief ramped up the heat by tagging Dan Quayle to head a "Task Force on Competitiveness." We'll check back later to see how that one's working out.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But despite Obama's dogged assertions during his speech that a health care reform bill will be brought to full fruition on his watch, I sincerely doubt that it will significantly improve a shattered system, for several big reasons:</span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">First and foremost, our country's biggest impediment toward real reform of any kind is </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#cc0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">political inertia</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Politicians are notoriously skittish souls, constantly straining to justify their existence by pandering to their ill-informed, reactionary, or just plain change-averse constituencies. Some deem this set-up thoroughly acceptable and argue that political leaders adhering to the people's wills and whims is paramount for a healthy democracy. Somehow, though, I don't think Thomas Jefferson had </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKBa9K_vAm8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">this</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> in mind. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(By watching many of these gatherings on Youtube, I think I've discovered the modern right-wing permutation of the J</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnjaUoR15dU"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">edi Mind Trick</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, otherwise known as: "What ______ is doing right now is exactly what Hitler did. The evidence is out there. Go ahead and read up on it, and you'll see it's true.")</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Okay, so let me just get this straight: </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">you</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> get to make the psychotic claim, and then </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> have to do the research? Great. Totally unfair, especially since these lunatics never once tell you where one can find all the copies of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Hitler and Obama: Basically the Same</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. By the way, don't try Costco - out of stock.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Based on the existing constructs of our government, there's actually every reason to believe that the framers of the Constitution were at best ambivalent about the masses' ability to lead themselves. The fact of the matter is, we Americans often </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">do not</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> know what's best for us in a political context, all too frequently granting our emotions primacy over our own best interests. I submit to you </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcib62ibR0k&feature=related"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Exhibit A</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. And in Louisiana, a place where much of the population goes without health insurance, guess who public enemy number one is? You guessed it: </span><a href="http://www.yorapper.com/Photos/barack-obama-president.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">That commie bastard</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> from the country of Hawaii who's lobbying for universal coverage. From </span><i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/us/11vitter.html?scp=2&sq=david%20vitter&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The New York Times</span></a></i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/us/11vitter.html?scp=2&sq=david%20vitter&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Though nearly 22 percent of the state's adult residents have no health insurance - one of the highest rates in the nation - pollsters and political experts say voters in the state are overwhelmingly against Mr. Obama's health care proposals.</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">As individuals, whenever politics is concerned, our judgement can't ever be completely trusted; in large groups, even less so. When election time rolls around, we frequently vote for the wrong candidates. We vote for people we "trust," the ones who aren't too pedantic or professorial - people we want to have beers, catch ball games, or hit </span><a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=juice%20bar"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"juice bars"</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> with, as opposed to policy wonks like Al Gore, John Kerry, Bill Bradley, or even Hillary Clinton, whose wild fantasies would no doubt entail a 24-hour all-access pass to the Library of Congress archives. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Lawmakers, in their slavish devotion to our childish whims, pander to mechanisms known as tracking polls, which doesn't exactly make for creative problem solving or visionary lawmaking. So, that a full-fledged discussion regarding alternative methods of solving the health care crises - such as adopting a more preventive approach - is completely absent from the current debate should come as no surprise. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Still, this was supposed to be different. With a champion of social responsibility (right-wing translation: fascist) and progressive values (homos, baby-killers) in the White House and clear majorities in the House and Senate, this bill would be The One: A landmark piece of legislation that would pass in a timely manner </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">while</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> maintaining its overall integrity, as submitting to the GOP's political whims, whose unwavering support of the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries would render any bill virtually useless, would be largely avoidable. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So that even a modicum of dialogue regarding preventive care, single-payer, or any other progressive approach is absent from any of the pending legislation is further testament to Democratic ineptitude - as if anyone alive during the W. Bush administration needed more proof. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Think about it. As recently as </span><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/05/politics/politico/main4844108.shtml"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">this past March</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, journalists and pundits were writing the epitaph for the GOP, implying that its self-imposed Crazy Uncle Joe-Mumbling-in-the-corner-about-how-</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">they're</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">-all-taking-over image was effectively rotting the party from the edges inward, rendering it irrelevant in a new age of post-racial post-partisanship. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But then we discovered something else: Much like their Republican rivals, many centrists in the Democratic party seemed to possess a strange affinity for the always warm, fuzzy, and fluffy health insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Why might that ever be?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Top Democratic party recipients of health insurance industry donations (2005-2008):</span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Senator Max Baucus (Mont.)..........$413,000.00</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Rep. Earl Pomeroy (N.D.)...............$104,000.00</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Rep. John Dingell (Mich.)...............$180,000.00</span></li></ul></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Baucus' situation is especially horror-inducing, since he chairs the Senate Finance Committee, which is responsible for producing the Senate's version of a health care bill. So you probably don't have to rack your brain wondering what </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/healthcare/la-na-health-baucus17-2009sep17,0,3042131.story"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">his stance on a public option</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> might be. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Nor was there much evidence that establishing non-profit cooperatives - Baucus' alternative to the public option in legislation proposed by the House and by the Senate health committee - would work to compete with private insurers and bring costs under control. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The cooperatives "seem unlikely to establish a significant market presence in many areas of the country," the nonpartisan budget office concluded.</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Baucus - with his predilection for acting, looking, and legislating </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">exactly</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> like a Reagan Republican - may be a problem, but he's far from the biggest. Enter the serial parasites of politics, the GOP, and their largest recipients:</span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Sen. John McCain (AZ.)..................$546,000.00</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.)...........$425,000.00</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Rep. John Boehner (Ohio).............$257,000.00</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Rep. Eric Cantor (N.D.)..................$249,000.00</span></li></ul></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Cha-ching!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">McCain vehemently opposes a public option of any kind, as does McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, and Boehner, the House Minority Leader, and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor. Cantor's the GOP's rising star for this week, at least until he's either a. caught on tape soliciting a hooker in downtown Bismark or b. discovered to be a practicing Jew.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And then there's Washington Senator Olympia Snowe, a moderate Republican, which is sort of like saying she's the one in her party </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">least</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> likely to scream "I AM THE LIZARD KING!" before dousing herself in pig's blood and, finally, taking a dump in the middle of the Senate Chamber during a heated floor debate. A backhanded compliment, to say the least.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Snowe has the distinction of receiving </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/10/snowes-ties-to-health-car_n_213798.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">over a million bones in campaign contributions from the health care industry</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> throughout her career, which is even more cringe-worthy if you know that she's the swing vote on the Senate Finance Committee. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In other words, if you believe money talks in politics (and what evidence exists to suggest otherwise?), now would be a good time to bid farewell to a public option (beyond the existing and thoroughly socialist medicaid and medicare programs), unless, of course, you foresee Obama and his coterie of timid allies ramming a bill through both Houses - which, considering the stakes, would be wholly appropriate at this point. But, again, it won't happen. From Matt Taibbi's </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Rolling Stone</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> piece </span><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29988909/sick_and_wrong/print"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Sick and Wrong"</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The president and the Democrats decided not to press for the only plan that makes sense for everyone, in order to preserve an industry that is not only cruel and stupid and dysfunctional, but through its rank inefficiency has necessitated the very reforms now being debated. Even though the Democrats enjoy a political monopoly and could have started from a very strong bargaining position, they chose instead to concede at least half the battle before it even began.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Now about preventive care...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">...Designing policy around challenging individuals to exercise self-discipline and restraint remains politically unfeasible. You may as well call Americans a bunch of pork-fried fat-asses, which is exactly what we are. Over the past decade, obesity rates have skyrocketed, accompanied by across-the-board increases in Type-2 adult onset diabetes (which, alarmingly, is increasingly plaguing young children), hypertension, heart disease, colorectal cancer, and liver, kidney, and pancreatic failure. Why? Because we are a nation of lard-lusting sugar junkies. To hell with the pundits who claim that America has lost its zeal for producing anything of import. Where else but in the good ol' U.S.A. can you find - and find someone willing to eat - one of </span><a href="http://www.mopo.ca/uploaded_images/anatomy-of-a-hamdog-726949.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">these</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In a country with such an historically over-the-top contempt for the perils of "street drugs," is there any question that regularly indulging in things like ham dogs can be as dangerous as mainlining black tar heroin? It's probably more addictive, too. Oh, I've seen my share of indy movies in which gaunt hipsters shoot up in grimy bathroom stalls, but not once have I ever had the impulse to do so myself. And it has nothing to do with the "Just Say No" skit put on at my former Hebrew School (which was, quite disappointingly, performed in English). </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">How many of us - myself included - would take a massive chomp out of that Ham Dog goodness if it were sitting on a plate in front of us right this second, all warm and steamy and meaty? </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Uh, Alex, what is one-hundred percent?</span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">As humans, we have yet to evolve beyond our proclivity for overeating - especially foods that are typically high in sugars and fats. Five thousand years ago, this made sense. We were subsisting off the bounties - or lack thereof - that the natural world had to offer, and the ability to store fat was a boon, enabling us to survive lean times. When available, we gorged on fruits, as they contain massive amounts of disease fighting vitamins and minerals. From David Zinczenko, author of</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> The Abs Diet</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Since he first stood upright, man has also had a craving for sweets...Without our sweet tooth, we would have been happy to eat nothing but wooly mammoth and buffalo meat - the original Atkins program. But nature saw to it that we craved the foods that would make us healthy.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Sadly for us, the same biological rules still apply. Except now we're drowning in mass quantities of fatty, sugary, and synthetic foods, overproduced by agribusiness, over-processed by the food industry, and conveniently packaged in super-sized portions for our consumption. From Paul Roberts' 2008 </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The End of Food</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Food companies, although they no longer deny that larger portions are a key marketing strategy, vigorously resist any suggestion that these larger portion sizes actually encourage consumers to eat or drink more - a denial that has to qualify as one of the most laughable claims in the entire obesity debate. Not only have numerous studies shown that large portions always induce greater consumption, but it would be hard to understand why else the food industry would offer them. Given that consumers register the value of food primarily by eating it, if bigger portions didn't increase consumption and thus cause consumer to feel they were getting greater value for their dollars, no food company would bother offering larger portions in the first place.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Some of Obama's more lucid opponents (not the ones breaking into unbridled sobbing fits or threatening to douse themselves in kerosene) claim that all of the current proposals lack a deficit neutrality, meaning any of the health care plans, as currently proposed, would further burden the nation's ballooning federal deficit.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Perhaps. But, according to Berkley professor Michael Pollan, author of the groundbreaking</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> An Omnivore's Dilemma</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, who penned this op-ed in </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/opinion/10pollan.html?scp=2&sq=Michael%20Pollan&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Thursday's </span></a><i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/opinion/10pollan.html?scp=2&sq=Michael%20Pollan&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Times</span></a></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">We're spending $147 billion to treat obesity, $116 billion to treat diabetes, and hundreds of billions more to treat cardiovascular disease and the many types of cancer that have been linked to the so-called Western diet. One recent study estimated that 30 percent of the increase in health care spending over the past 20 years could be attributed to the soaring rate of obesity, a condition that now accounts for nearly a tenth of all spending on health care.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">That's a shitload of Ham Dog eatin'.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So it seems logical to me that eliminating the obesity epidemic by incentivizing Americans into adopting healthier, more active lifestyles would keep any of the current Congressional proposals financially solvent. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But for an assortment of reasons, this isn't an option. While Pollan and Roberts maintain that both agribusiness and the food industry are the main culprits responsible for thwarting a meaningful shift to a healthier America, I often wonder if maybe we're just victims of our own obstinance and rapacious excess, too set in our ways to significantly modify our atrocious eating habits and too lazy to elevate our heart rates for 30 sustained minutes a day. In other words, the average American is Jabba The Hutt </span><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30832809/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">with a gun rack</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And would corporations continue to market and sell </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilYucz8rrjzeNSFtWXQajzSw0VN5M7ztdSKUH7PTMzvjVEd5eQNbo6pNorhiG-t-NdzHel9X3i_pFVvMC3vIi10VC3CyHnX6HsZk7gEj9GbTwGdbbPHQbZNTz6QF-IIq5ZuWpPnTt4jYEn/s400/cinnabon.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">this</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> and </span><a href="http://static.baseballtoaster.com/blogs/u/griddle/2009/112/0006/big-mac_1080.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">this </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">and </span><a href="http://z.hubpages.com/u/363687_f496.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">these</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> if millions of Americans weren't slobbering all over their double-butts to devour them? Living in a so-called progressive enclave myself, I'm frequently confronted with restaurant waiters who blanch upon my ordering of a side of mixed veggies </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">without</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> the melted butter drizzle and Subway sandwich makers who pause to steel themselves after I order my turkey sandwich, no mayo on top. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"So, you want it beneath the meat?"</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"No, just hold it altogether."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"And put it on the side?"</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"No. Eliminate it." </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"And substitute Russian dressing?"</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"No. Hold the Russian dressing, too."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"And put it on the side?"</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">That's when I wonder: am I the only person who's made this request all day? All week? Ever? Am I </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">that</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> guy? Am I an annoying healthy food extremist, or has the rest of the of the world just collectively surrendered to </span><a href="http://img2.moonbuggy.org/imgstore/i-said-super-size-them-fries.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">their inner fat kid</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And let me just clarify that the response I typically receive from food service employees, such as the young woman at Baja Fresh who paused dramatically upon my request of a fish taco, sans aioli sauce (which is code for chile powder, ketchup, and a base of full-test mayonnaise - and nothing says </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">vive Mexico</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> quite like tilapia slathered in Helmann's), suggested not a peevish dismissal in the form of an eye roll, exaggerated sigh, or bitch slap, but rather a sense of utter panic, the type of which, hypothetically, might envelop a candidate for the second highest office in the world upon being asked which newspapers she reads - when in fact she's never read one. </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9go38MgZ4w8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Deep, profound panic</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(IMPORTANT NOTE: Alaska isn't a foreign country. But, apparently, </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVndfV4--5g"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Hawaii</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> is.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(IMPORTANT NOTE PART II: Mike Campbell's dry swallow at the 1:39 mark of the video is epic.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And suggesting to Americans that they should do both would probably amount to political suicide for the poor sap who proposed it, opening the flood gates to further allegations of fascism, naziism, and giving rise to an angry network of Twinkie brigades that would descend upon each state's Capitol in protest of their God-given civil right to morbid obesity. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Which is tantamount to that chain smoker, sitting on the outside patio of the coffee shop getting indignant over the fact that someone nearby has just politely asked for him to extinguish his cigarette: They just can't see past the fact that their self-indulgence has immediate adverse effects on the lives of others. And, remember, regardless of whether you're for or against a public health insurance option, at this moment, those of us who make an effort to live healthy lifestyles are paying the freight on the fattest Americans in the land. Remember, when a diabetic has his leg amputated, the physician gets to sing </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZElWBsoyvUo"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">this little ditty </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">while policy holders across the country watch as their premiums skyrocket. From the June 25th edition of </span><i><a href="http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13900898"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Economist</span></a></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Most doctors in America work on a fee-for-service basis; the more pills they prescribe, or tests they order, or procedures they perform, the more money they get - even though there is abundant clinical evidence that more spending does not reliably lead to better outcomes. Private providers everywhere are vulnerable to this perverse incentive, but in America, where most health care is delivered by the private sector rather than by salaried public-sector staff, the problem is worse than anywhere else.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Although I don't have a fundamental problem with sharing the wealth and pain when it comes to taxes and costs, why not give individuals financial incentives to live healthier lifestyles, rather than waiting for their blood-glucose levels to shoot into orbit? The following is my proposal from </span><a href="http://stopinanity.blogspot.com/search/label/Elephants%20in%20Rooms"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">a previous post</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The feds would disburse a series of tax rebates to individuals doing their diligence to improve their health. Join and attend a gym at least three times a week? Tax break. Improve your BMI? Tax break. Sustain a healthy BMI for a year? Tax break. Lower your blood pressure or bad cholesterol? Tax break. Etcetera. And each of these actions would be eminently measurable when linked to a national database.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But because patients who are at risk of contracting serious diseases are seldom dealt with until their ailments have reached critical proportions, more invasive - and expensive - procedures and longer hospital stays become necessary, adding further financial strain to individuals, taxpayers, and the overall health care system.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Which brings us to yet another seemingly inexorable burden on the health care system: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">over-treatment</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. Again, from </span><i><a href="http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13900898"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Economist</span></a></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The trouble is that many Americans are understandably happy with all-you-can-eat health care, which allows them to see any doctor they like and get any test that they are talked into thinking they need. Forcing people into "managed" health schemes, where some species of bureaucrat decides which treatments are cost-effective, is politically toxic; it was the central tenet of Hillary Clinton's disastrous failed reform of 1994. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But to some extent it will have to be done. There is solid evidence to suggest that by cutting back on unnecessarily expensive procedures and prescriptions, anything from 10% to 30% of health costs could be saved; a gigantic sum.</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But don't blame the doctors for this; blame the system. Like every other industry that employs human beings - be it law enforcement, education, firefighting, sales, politics, diamond mining, or custodial arts - there will always be a segment that egregiously exploits their status, sometimes using the most immoral methods imaginable. Whether or not a significant number of physicians are consciously trying to game the system is immaterial to the real problem, which is that such a system of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">fee for service</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> exists in the first place. From Dr. Atul Gawande's lauded </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">New Yorker</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> piece</span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> "The Cost Conundrum"</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Imagine that, instead of paying a contractor to pull a team together and keep them on track, you paid an electrician for every outlet he recommends, a plumber for every faucet, and a carpenter for every cabinet. Would you be surprised if you got a house with a thousand outlets, faucets, and cabinets, at three times the cost you expected, and the whole thing fell apart a couple of years later?</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Gawande would certainly know, as he's tethered to such an irreparably flawed system, witnessing much of the waste and mismanagement firsthand. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">During a recent office visit, my own general practitioner disclosed to me about the incessant expectation to order more scans and procedures. In the past, he said, doctors often took a wait-and-see approach in dealing with a patient's burgeoning symptoms. But now, because of the lure of compensation, the prospect of legal reprisals from patients (settle down conservatives - medical liability lawsuits </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/10/us/politics/AP-US-Health-Care-Briefing.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=medical%20lawsuits&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">comprise only 0.5 percent</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> of overall health care spending), and the fear that they will be ostracized by colleagues for taking the ethical high road (as apparently even the medical field is rife with bullying and douchebaggery), physicians are inclined to order superfluous MRIs and CT scans and to recommend expensive, invasive treatment procedures that ultimately prove ineffectual or even harmful to the patient. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And then, as I was getting up to leave, ol' Doc dropped the bomb on me (I'm paraphrasing): Why wouldn't I order an MRI every single time, he asked, if there's absolutely no downside in doing so?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Ponder </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">them</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> apples for a moment. Think about </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">all </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">the general practitioners throughout the nation. Now, assuming they all share a common mindset, how many hundreds of millions are being wasted on excessive MRIs alone? From </span><i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/weekinreview/26leonhardt.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The New York Times</span></a></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Even when doctors order costly treatments with serious side effects and little evidence of their being effective, as studies find is common, patients are loath to question the decision. Instead of blaming such treatments for the rising cost of medicine, many people are inclined to blame forces that health economists say are far less important, like greedy insurance companies or onerous malpractice laws.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Which is all the more reason to remove the burden - and temptation - that's inherent in the current system from the physicians' domain. Doctors are rigorously trained and highly skilled in the art of medical diagnoses and treatment; but they've yet to evolve past the rest of us when it comes to the nature of temptation. Also, in the gap of time that exists between my annual office visits, I want my doctor sharpening his talents - training his focus on new treatments, studies, and applications - rather than filling out hours of Byzantine paperwork, haggling with Aetna bureaucrats, or cutting lucrative kickback deals with Pfizer reps. Again, from </span><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29988909/sick_and_wrong"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Matt Taibbi's "Sick and Wrong"</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">There are currently 1,300 private insurers in this country, forcing doctors to fill out different forms and follow different reimbursement procedures for each and every one. This drowns medical facilities in idiotic paperwork and jacks up prices. Nearly a </span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">third</span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> of all health care costs in America are associated with wasteful administration. Fully $350 billion a year could be saved on paperwork alone if the U.S. went to a single-payer system - more than enough to pay the whole goddamned thing, if anyone had the balls to stand up and say so.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Furthermore, Americans seem just a tad too eager to project blame in this crises, be it unto the food industry for flooding the market with chin-proliferating eating options, the fat cats in Washington for feeding at the insurance companies' money trough, the pharmaceutical companies for profiteering at the expense of the sick and infirm, and the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;"><a href="http://stopinanity.blogspot.com/2009/07/if-everyone-in-us-gets-sensible.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">socialists</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> for abducting and indoctrinating our president so that he could do their eternal bidding for evermore. But at what point should we ask ourselves what </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">we're</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> doing wrong - or, at the very least, question what we, as patrons of a wasteful system, can do to help trim costs so that there's room for everyone under the health care umbrella?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Problem is, at this point, there's simply no way a card carrying Democrat can make a case for frugal management and distribution of health care services, a la the Mayo Clinic, without piercing allegations from the right of care </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">rationing</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> - yet another jaunty Republican-recycled term from the Cold War era that evokes endless lines of defeated, stoop-shouldered, woolen-clad families, in sub-zero temperatures, awaiting a pair of rusty garden sheers so that they can take care of Uncle Yuri's growth before it grows to the size of a basketball. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(Judging from their growing reputation for intransigence and inaction, for most Republicans, no health care reform at all would be eminently preferable to what they dub "rationing.") </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">These are the nuts and bolts questions that need to be addressed and discussed in a controlled public forum, but they won't be because of all the piercing noise emanating from</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span><a href="http://stopinanity.blogspot.com/2009/08/republican-party-from-diabolical.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">the right-wing lunatic fringe</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, which has controlled the tone, tenor, and yes, content of the health care discussion since mid-July. A 55-year-old redneck who bursts into rage-fueled tears, while standing two feet away from a prominent senator, makes for a much better TV news lead-in as well.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And by right-wing lunatic fringe, I'm referring to the preponderance of the entire Republican party: the sound and fury signifying nothing </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/healthcare/la-na-armey12-2009sep12,0,2173104.story"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">leadership</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">; and the incendiary </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/15/caller-reduces-glenn-beck_n_233846.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">right-wing radio carny barkers</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, preying on the simple minds and base emotions of an ever-expanding </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-capitol-rally13-2009sep13,0,5742055.story"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">sea of gullible reactionaries</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> who have been waiting for this very moment so that they could have a reason - regardless of how misinformed, distorted, or flat-out wrong that reason may be - to channel </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/opinion/13dowd.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=maureen%20dowd&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">their simmering rage at a young, black Constitutional Law professor </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">with the audacity to assert his agenda.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And, yes, </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/15/us/AP-US-Health-Care-Heckling-Carter.html?scp=9&sq=jimmy%20carter&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Jimmy Carter was more right</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> than we'll ever know or want to admit.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The few moderate voices remaining within a party that was once noted for its proud patrician swagger have been muted by scores of paranoid lunatics. Crackpots like Sarah Palin, Mike Pence (the number 3 GOP House leader), Jim DeMint, Joe Wilson, and Chuck Grassley have eagerly assumed the mantle of screaming assassins in a party formerly known for its stolid, calculating persona. Pence, whom I can only hope was just thinking out loud when he said this, was quoted in the </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-capitol-rally13-2009sep13,0,5742055.story"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">L.A. Times</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> this past Sunday:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">How we as conservatives respond to these challenges could determine whether America retains her place in the world as a beacon of freedom, or whether we slip into the abyss that has swallowed much of Europe in an avalanche of socialism.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Mr. Pence, you receive zero points for being both unoriginal </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">and</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> clinically insane. And, if you're not insane, then you're just being a total demagogue d-bag - take your pick. (You know, it must be real nice to have a job where you can say whatever </span><a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Internet%20Turrets"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">random asinine shit</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> that pops into your head at a given moment...SOCIALIST! NAZI! TOAST! GUMMY BEARS!)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And, of course, let's not forget the verbal </span><a href="http://artbylt.blogs.com/.a/6a00d83451ded769e20115709c989d970b-800wi"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Abstract Expressionism</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> of the lovely </span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574400581157986024.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Ms. Palin</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Is it any wonder that many of the sick and elderly are concerned that Democrat proposals will ultimately lead to rationing of their health care by - dare I say it - death panels? Establishment voices dismissed that phrased, but it rang true for many Americans.</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">By the way, new rule (with apologies to Bill Maher): </span><a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/goy"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Goys</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> are no longer allowed to reference death panels, extermination camps, or Nazis every again. If you want to play the victim, you or your people actually have to </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">be</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> victimized at some point. And taking a hard tumbler off your ATV while chasing after </span><a href="http://mamrie.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/little-bunny.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">thumper</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> doesn't count. Nor are you a victim when the town issues you a cease and desist for when you and your buddies forge a makeshift </span><a href="http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/ufc-13.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Octagon</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> out of 2x4's, deflowered bed mattresses, Gorilla Glue, and chicken wire - and engage in late-night Pabst-fueled mixed martial arts set to a pulsing backdrop of Billy</span><a href="http://kevinnottingham.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/billysquire.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Squier </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">and </span><a href="http://www.jackyl.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Jackyl</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But I wouldn't be surprised if Palin's right about the term "death panels" resonating with many Americans, as we live in a country where Bill O'Reilly and his nightly adventures in shit flinging average five million viewers a night. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Ultimately, the denizens of big, square states are easily manipulated by whomever on the right barks the loudest, regardless if whether the message ever actually makes sense or not. Sprinkle a few catchy, anxiety-provoking buzz words into the equation and you instantaneously have yourself hoards of fear zombies, awaiting their marching orders. For old pros like O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, and Glen Beck, it's literally easier to do this than to hatch Sea Monkeys. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And it's unfortunate. Most of us have absolutely no idea how dire our situation can become at less than a moment's notice. We think we have sufficient health coverage, and that it'll be enough to weather the storm of illness or disease. But more than likely, it won't be. According to James Surowiecki, we "overvalue" what we already have, hence the reluctance to change. In other words, we humans are anxious little creatures with a predisposition for settling for the devil we know. From </span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2009/08/31/090831ta_talk_surowiecki"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Surowiecki's piece</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> in </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The New Yorker</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Behavioral economists have established that we feel the pain of losses more than we enjoy the pleasure of gains. So when we think about change, we focus more on what we might lose rather than on what we might get. Even people who aren't all that happy with the current system, then, are still likely to feel anxious about whatever will replace it.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It's a tragic flaw that we are seemingly so thoroughly possessed by our reptilian brain - by our fears, immediate desires, and anxieties - and so easily given over to mob and bunker mentalities. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Because, if right this moment, millions of Americans flooded the streets and, instead of withering under a sea of right-wing mendacity, demanded that health care in the U.S. become inherent to our civil rights, as much as voting, schooling, and getting a fair shake in a job interview, it would happen next week. But we won't. Because what if we get arrested during the protest and miss several days of work - and, as a result, get fired? Then we lose our health coverage, right? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Oh, shit... </span></div><div></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-47788052833303515542009-09-06T18:30:00.000-07:002009-09-07T16:26:14.712-07:00Communists Set to Invade Houston<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsY4IGVeh83uyQX6zl36QGhQ6q8XklhmgeKQjDuAiXtUL4lXUxRVZNvEngNk3YdLgNHaeDCwvjbBulCUi526RpSnLXzQ7bOJYnSVFwyuSIdwaiVmc1BZXHW9iag2LY4-Pm6G4G4ILHAOo/s1600-h/IMG_2181.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsY4IGVeh83uyQX6zl36QGhQ6q8XklhmgeKQjDuAiXtUL4lXUxRVZNvEngNk3YdLgNHaeDCwvjbBulCUi526RpSnLXzQ7bOJYnSVFwyuSIdwaiVmc1BZXHW9iag2LY4-Pm6G4G4ILHAOo/s400/IMG_2181.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378864777150595378" /></a><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">No B.S. It says so right </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/us/04school.html?scp=3&sq=obama's%20plan%20for%20school%20talk&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">here.</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;">President Obama's plan to deliver a speech to public school students on Tuesday has set off a revolt among conservative parents, who have accused the president of trying to indoctrinate their children with socialist ideas and are asking school officials to excuse the children from listening.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/us/04school.html?scp=3&sq=obama's%20plan%20for%20school%20talk&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Link:</span></a></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">If only. Maybe then we can get some real health care reform up in here.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But applying the word "socialist" to any person, place, or idea that in some way runs counter to the right-wing conservative agenda has quickly become a comfy verbal crutch for conservatives, like saying "death tax." "flip-flopper," or "tax and spend." </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/us/04school.html?scp=3&sq=obama's%20plan%20for%20school%20talk&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">From The New York Times:</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;">The Republican Party chairman in Florida, Jim Greer, said he "was appalled that taxpayer dollars are bing used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology.</span></span></div><div></div></blockquote><div><a href="http://www.stoptheinanity.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Like I've said</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, the GOP is rapidly becoming the party of Crazy Uncle Ned In The Basement Fiddling With His Scanner And Homemade Pipe Bomb Kit. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But many Americans - and most conservatives - still insist on ignoring the fact that, to some extent, we've lived in a society that embraces many components of socialism for decades (yes, even under </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Reagan</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">), and that a just, civilized society calls for it. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Also, that certain portions of the nation's economic sector are socialized doesn't </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">necessarily</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> require us all to wear our hair like </span><a href="http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/upload/yuiupload/1775686385.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">this</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, or change our flag's emblem to </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG_iQvEwT_maHZn3sUltvDNh73x_hlSScDt85kuweQi8q1DxVZRu-M69S2d0-eUA5itK5RTm-tihaJW4XV12glbrB53HvJZLqAKW3rS73q2ke0c9k5dkHIdoMI0evwX7Ia5Jk9aVtNTrY/s1600-h/IMG_2065_2.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">this</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, or to accessorize with one of </span><a href="http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/TD044/12532346.JPG"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">these</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> - or even to switch the national anthem from "The Star Spangled Banner," to "We Labor to Produce Grain." </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">What it </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">does</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> require is for us to accept the notion that there are certain areas of the economy that should be completely off-limits to profiteers. And I think that when most of us introspect, we see the virtue in the prospect of a socialized economy.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In fact, I've always insisted that most conservatives like the</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> thought</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> of being conservative more than than the application. So let's see if I'm right.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Here's a quick quiz all of you conservatives can take while taking a break from fortifying your End of Days bunkers, just to ensure you're as right-minded as you've always claimed to be. It'll either reinforce your political beliefs or cast doubt on the person you've always conceived yourself to be, sending you into an abysmal and prolonged existential crises. So slather some Helmann's over a couple of slices of raw Wonderbread, grab a pencil, and answer </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">true</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> or </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">false</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> to the following questions:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(Again, this quiz is for conservatives </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">only</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. So all you spineless cut-and-run liberals beat it - at least for now.)</span></div><div><ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I currently receive my mail from the U.S. Postal Service</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I have one or more parents who have, at some point, received medicare benefits</span></li></ol><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Now remember, conservatives: </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Just</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> put true or false. There's no need to justify, quantify, or expoundify upon your answers with disclaimers like, "But it ain't like we have a choice!" You </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">do</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> have a choice, and it's called moving to a godforsaken third-world country, where governments are in far too much disarray to provide social and civil services like these for their citizens. Oh, and when you get there, don't drink the water.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(NOTE: All modern industrialized nations - except for ours - provide these socialized services in addition to providing their citizens with some form of government-sponsored universal health coverage.) </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Now then. Let's continue.</span></div><ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I have one or more children who have, at some point, attended public school</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I have, at some point, attended community college and/or a state university</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I am the current recipient of weekly garbage pick-ups</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">If my house were to ever erupt in flames, I'd prefer a trained firefighter to put them out, as opposed to me with my 8-foot garden hose, hiked-up brown dress socks, wife-beater, and yellow sprinkler attachment.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">If given the choice, I'd prefer it if cops were given the responsibility for apprehending dangerous criminals, as opposed to, say, my cousin Richard.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I believe in a strong military that must also follow strict codes of conduct</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I believe that all military veterans should have access to low-cost comprehensive health services</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I have, at some point in my life, checked out a book from a </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">public library*</span></b></li></ol></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">*I considered omitting this question, as only </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/21/AR2007082101045.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">1 in 4 Americans have read a book</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> in the past year.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Finished, right-wingers? Good. Here's your key:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">1-4 "True" answers: Say hi to your militia for me</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">5-6 "True" answers: Nobody else has to know</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">7-10 "True" answers: Please recite the following - I, (state your name), am a bleeding heart, tax-and-spend, Kucinich-loving, left-wing liberal socialist - with closed markets and big government for all.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It feels good bein' liberal, doesn't it? Or not.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But fear not, conservative parents. Your child </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/us/04school.html?scp=3&sq=obama's%20plan%20for%20school%20talk&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">will not be forced to endure one moment</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> of Comrade Obama's insidious propaganda:</span></div><div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;">The schools will provide an alternative class for those whose parents object, a spokesman for the district, Lee Vela, said.</span></span></blockquote></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Will all Ted Haggard High students please report to The Hall of Creation. Juniors and seniors, please be seated beside the statue of Twelve Apostles grooming the brontosaurus; freshmen and sophomores, take a seat inside the Chamber of Abstinence. In lieu of listening to the president's subversive indoctrination, we will be showing today's educational video in five minutes, "</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Louis and Clark: Their Dark Journey Into Velociraptor Country</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">." </span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">One final note. We've all had to endure a puerile nonsense from conservative voices for the past month or so, as the health care issue has raged on. Within this thicket of irrational chatter has been allegations of socialism, fascism, the subversion of democracy, and the demise of our republic as we know it. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Fine. If some people think that by ensuring that slapping more stringent regulation on health insurance and pharmaceutical companies - along with offering a cheaper public alternative to these blood-suckers - is a slippery slope into turning this country into The Iron Curtain with Wall-Marts, then there's nothing I could ever write here that could convince them otherwise.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But what I would like to know is this: Where were the voices of rabid dissent when the previous administration was "subverting democracy"? Where were the raucous outcries, the town-hall gun crazies when </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYI7JXGqd0o"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">virtually every member of Bush's cabinet claimed, as a pretext for invading Iraq, that Sadaam Hussein was part of the braintrust behind 9/11 </span></a><i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYI7JXGqd0o"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">and</span></a></i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYI7JXGqd0o"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> that he also possessed W.M.D.'s, including nuclear arms?</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And why wasn't it a slippery slope to fascism when John Ashcroft used material witness warrants </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ashcroft-rights5-2009sep05,0,2169737.story"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">to arrest and detain innocent civilians</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;">Then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft violated the rights of U.S. citizens in the fevered wake of the Spt. 11 terrorist attacks by ordering arrests on material witness warrants when the government lacked probably cause, a federal appeals court said in a scathing opinion Friday.</span></span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Or when the Bush Administration hid behind the USA Patriot act </span><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4756403"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">so that they could circumvent the law in order to search citizens' homes?</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;">Mayfield was released after the FBI admitted his fingerprint had been mistakenly matched with one found at the scene of the Madrid attacks. The FBI has described this as a rare mismatch of a fingerprint that reveals little about the Patriot Act.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;">But the government has admitted to Mayfield that his home was searched secretly under a special court order authorized for intelligence purposes. The American Civil Liberties Union says that the search amounts to an abuse of the Patriot Act: It was conducted as though it were an intelligence search, when in fact agents were looking for evidence to use in a criminal prosecution. </span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And are you aware of the total number of town hall meltdowns that occurred when the Bush Administration was offering up no-bid contracts for the Iraqi reconstruction to their cronies in the private sector? I'll give you a hint: It was less than one.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And how many of us had a say in whether or not to invade Iraq? Isn't it </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">our</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> tax money that continues to feed this ceaseless campaign? Is it socialism that every citizen is forced to pay for two dubious wars? Fascism? Tyranny? Or just stupidity? I wonder how many years of free health care </span><a href="http://costofwar.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">$680 trillion</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> would buy us. </span><a href="http://www.californiahealthline.org/Articles/2009/3/18/Experts-Say-Cost-of-Obama-Health-Care-Plan-Could-Top-15-Trillion.aspx"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(Answer: Our children and grandchildren would be covered for life.)</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And isn't it fascist when the government won't let us marry the person we love - even if it means that that person is of the same sex? Is that an assault on democracy, since it inhibits the civil rights of millions of American citizens? Or does it not count because they're fags? I propose that all the anti-gay marriage members of the Senate set-up town hall meetings in San Francisco, West Hollywood, and Fire Island to discuss.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So why is the Bush Administration above such allegations when what they were engaging in was so much worse? Or does it all ultimately have very little to do about policy and a lot more to do with not trusting someone with Obama's I.Q. and skin color?</span></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-83773353020760636932009-09-05T22:09:00.000-07:002009-09-05T18:25:43.021-07:00Inglourious Basterds: Reflections From a Fallen Jew<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNm0KSpjsMT9N1S0ZIUT_zUomnN4d2tcYkLNdmSpinQHqtBkP10QJG3G2_CTdVRfi52ZeBqFjKXE-ULEiXEh_xtxIN2HiF_pWwa-HlxkH_rDT0mQMZYRSZT_Fpd6hhqGMQ8WmmtDh-g-0/s1600-h/IMG_2170_2.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNm0KSpjsMT9N1S0ZIUT_zUomnN4d2tcYkLNdmSpinQHqtBkP10QJG3G2_CTdVRfi52ZeBqFjKXE-ULEiXEh_xtxIN2HiF_pWwa-HlxkH_rDT0mQMZYRSZT_Fpd6hhqGMQ8WmmtDh-g-0/s400/IMG_2170_2.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378158394194386226" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I unapologetically, unequivocally love Quentin Tarantino movies. I call them </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">movies</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> as opposed to </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">films </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">because the latter connotes a pursuit of high art, whereas the word "movie" conjures images of plush seats, surround sound, good guys blowing away bad guys, five-dollar boxes of Junior Mints, and irresistible popcorn drenched in chemically engineered butter "topping." In other words, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">movies</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> are piles and piles of fun.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And yet, most of them suck. Hard. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Collectively, we see the suck coming from miles away; some of us silently (or not), snarkily berate the litany of overexposed superstars who preen for the camera throughout the rapid-fire tumult of their movie trailers. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Ooh, another Natalie Portman RomCom in which she's the quirky, smoking-hot would-be girlfriend who redeems a nebishy, aimless young man who just so happens to be played by no other than...</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Michael Sera!</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Of all the people! You don't fucking say?! </span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And I swear to the Jeebus, if I hear one more </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">He was a runaway from the streets; she just wanted to run away... </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I will never, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">ever</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> buy a fourteen dollar medium-sized popcorn again. You hear that, Mr. and Mrs. Loews?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Add that to the endless parade of sequels, re-makes, and re-hashes from the same tired genres and it's a miracle that people even bother to go to the cineplex anymore. </span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But that doesn't mean the good old-fashioned mega-blockbuster doesn't still have its place in modern film, providing it offers a different take on a familiar genre. Sadly, cineplex movies rarely offer anything we haven't already seen a million times or more. And yet, we go in droves. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">We pay money to see high-concept movies like </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">G.I. Joe</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> or </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Incredible Hulk</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, hoping in vain to get a new take on a beloved superhero. But the CGI effects leave me cold and the trite storylines even more so. In the end, it just inspires nerds like me to pine for my beloved stack of Marvel mint-condition Incredible Hulk comic books, which years ago (and by years ago, I mean yesterday) enveloped me in a world alternately grotesque, enchanting, and disturbing.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In the end, most big-budget films prove to be little more than glorified vehicles for mega-stars, offering us far less action, suspense and titillation than one could get from loitering about a 99 Cent Store parking lot, awaiting the next full-blown girl fight to break out over the last pack of expired Luden's. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And it seems that Tarantino is keenly aware of this, employing his considerable talents as a movie savant to corner the market on films that seamlessly fuse together an otherwise incongruous array of genres, images, characters, and film scores. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Who else but an insane genius would conceive of scoring plucky "Stuck In the Middle With You" over a pivotal scene in which </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CdW-4TRcDQ"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">a dutiful cop gets his ear sawed-off by a homicidal gangster</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> with a straight-edge and an affinity for one-liners?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Or how about having yet another murderous gangster doing </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLZl6R7JGCc"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Twist</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> with the wife of his underworld kingpin boss, in a 1950s diner, as Buddy Holly and Ed Sullivan impersonators look on... </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">...While, in the exact same film, his jheri-curled partner finds himself, post-redemption mode, in a greasy spoon amidst a Sergio Leone-styled Mexican stand-off against Pumpkin and Honey Bunny, two newlyweds poised to pillage every customer in the establishment.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Others may attempt these genre-bending mash-ups, but Quentin is the master. It can be argued that David Lynch does virtually the same thing, though his films ultimately leave many a filmgoer irritable or flummoxed: A typical Lynch film is glacially-paced, manically self-conscious and artistically precious. Which would be fine, save for the fact that they're also boring as snot.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Watching a David Lynch film is sort of like when one of your friends calls to tell you about the craziest/scariest/funniest dream they've ever had. To </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">them</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> it's the craziest or scariest dream ever; to </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">you</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> it's just one disjointed, monotonous strand of boredom. Basically, David Lynch is that friend, except instead of calling us in the middle of dinner to tell us about his lame dream, he gets to make $30 million movies about them.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Conversely, a Tarantino hodgepodge is nothing of the sort. The pacing of his films - save for the phlegmatic </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Jackie Brown</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> - are relentless, even in scenes where, seemingly, little else occurs beyond some bouncy dialogue and sleepy camera pans. Sure, you might have to listen to a handful of goons prattle on about "tuning out" after Madonna entered her "Papa Don't Preach" phase, or about how a foot massage is the next closest thing to sex. But such moments leave behind miles of tantalizing cues and clues about theme and character and are often tacitly embedded with obscure pop culture nuggets and incisive commentary on the human condition. And if someone gets their head blown off in the process, all the better.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Tarantino will be the first to acknowledge that he's made a career out of gleaning all the most kick-ass qualities from the </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXldafIl5DQ&feature=related"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Spaghetti Westerns </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">of Sergio Leone, the </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU61cmmJPVw"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">blaxploitation film</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> movement, Saturday afternoon </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=537MurkV2uU"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Kung-Fu Theater</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, and cheesy </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NmkXCSewdA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">B-movies</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> from the 60s, 70s, and early 80s - throwaway movies that were churned out on the cheap and then quickly cast aside by most audiences and critics. But Tarantino studied them, becoming a devoted student of exploitation cinema, and subsequently imbued his films with their best qualities. In some cases, as in </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Reservoir Dogs</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Jackie Brown</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Kill Bill</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> series, and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">From Dusk 'Till Dawn</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> (which he wrote but was directed by Robert Rodriguez), he even borrowed </span><a href="http://photobucket.com/albums/v473/antiquecorset/Journal%20Crap/larry.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">their actors</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Inglourious Basterds</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> has most of the telltale signatures of your typical Tarantino film: Crackling dialogue; slow burning tension leading into explosive displays of stylized violence; strong, tough female characters who are not to be fucked with; pulsing testosterone; and a genre mash that includes significant elements from traditional Hollywood war films from the 40s and 50s, Leone's Spaghetti Westerns, and "guys on a mission" movies like </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Great Escape </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Dirty Dozen</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">As I've said, genre bending and mashing is how Quentin rolls, whether one thinks he goes overboard or not. Personally, I do and I'd argue that he should've eased up a bit this time around. While I greatly admire him as an artist, Tarantino has shown the stubborn tendency to repeat himself. Since making Pulp Fiction, a cinematic earthquake that supercharged filmgoers and greatly inspired a generation of aspiring indy and action filmmakers, he's become infatuated with his own considerable talents. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(I still maintain that the great Pulp Fiction is the third-best film of the entire decade, nipping at the heels of the breathtaking </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Species 2</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> and the Citizen Kane-inspired </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Harmacy</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.) </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">To that end, one of the few flaws of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Basterds</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> is Tarantino's insistence on reminding us that we are in fact watching a Quentin Tarantino film and that, regardless of how far he removes us from the worlds of Mia Wallace, Vincent and Jules, and Mr. Blonde, we need not fret: No matter what happens, we'll eventually get served at least several heaping platters of Quentin - just so we know that this thing isn't some sissy-Mary commentary on unchecked bigotry or the iniquities of war. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In one pivotal scene, fictional German actress - and British spy - Bridget Von Hammersmark rendezvous in a hole-in-the-wall brew pub in Berlin, with three of "The Basterds," each posing as an S.S. officer, to plot the mass killing of Third Reich luminaries (yes, Hitler too). Without giving too much away, the scene is a prime example of Tarantino's ability to choreograph suspense while simultaneously lending further insight into the characters. For instance, within the scene, we ascertain that one of the Basterds, Sgt. Stiglitz, a tough, virulent German Jew, with a notorious reputation for murder and mayhem, is, surprisingly, easily rattled under duress and yet somehow able to restrain his violent tendencies. We learn this through the subtlety of Stiglitz's physical cues: his shifting eyes, the burgeoning droplet of sweat on his brow, and his struggle to maintain his signature angry scowl whenever the camera has an occasion to spy on him. It's a chilling moment, of which Hitchcock would approve, as we eagerly await the Sergeant's breaking point.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Gradually, the scene devolves into gorgeously cataclysmic mayhem, punctuated by a Mexican stand-off, an homage to Leone's Spaghetti Westerns, as well as to both </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Pulp Fiction</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Reservoir Dogs</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. The device is slightly indulgent and completely unnecessary, as it ultimately saps the scene of any real emotional gravity by over-stylizing what could have been one of the more poignant moments of the film.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And, while I'm typically one to celebrate Tarantino's proclivity for graphic violence, his depiction of a relentless bludgeoning to illustrate the film's extermination of a cartoonish Adolph Hitler, played by actor Martin Wuttke, is both cathartic and deeply troubling. For one, as Seth Rogen rightfully muses in </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Knocked Up, </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">it's nice to watch movies in which the Jews are kicking a little bit of ass for a change, as opposed to being portrayed as the eternal victims of intense ridicule, discrimination, and genocide. (I mean, I concede that blacks have had a worse go of it than us, but at least they got to root for Shaft. For years, our closest comparables were </span><a href="http://blog.newsok.com/staticblog/files/2008/09/neil-diamond.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">him</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> and </span><a href="http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/Raketnet/Drama/AnnieHoofd.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">him</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. Great talents, yes, but not exactly empowering for an 11-year-old bully magnet living in Upstate New York.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In real life, Hitler proved impossible to murder and, consequently, defile. By killing himself, he robbed the entire world of any modicum of justice and closure. Perhaps this is why killing him in effigy proves to be so perversely delicious. But I think it can be argued that the world doesn't deserve closure on a Satan incarnate like Hitler because of what he was able to accomplish by duping the masses into believing that he was a patriotic visionary as opposed to the apotheosis of evil. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But it's not Quentin Tarantino's obligation to set us all straight, nor is it part of his skill set. He's a professional entertainer, a story-teller, and among the most gifted filmmakers of the modern era. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And, in the end, if we can't learn what </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">not</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> to do from maniacal demagogs, it doesn't matter how many Pol Pot, Stalin, or Milosovic punching bags we set up in the basement; there will be another waiting to take his place, right around the corner.</span></div></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-53764206674159795362009-09-04T16:51:00.000-07:002009-09-07T18:13:25.226-07:00Dick Cheney Back in the News<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqx3RA4sSo-hTgV2JA50ZHQ9T8R9yUuRuYGknk4Xxq-uU8ubdqScYT_EKVwpZe9VL0sjdfDnj-QzNQ4F2EjBRVPd5QTBejT8CE6laOZSSKlBkwVmK0_ZtY7z4wCi8sRDCncl_nekKOISY/s1600-h/IMG_2180.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqx3RA4sSo-hTgV2JA50ZHQ9T8R9yUuRuYGknk4Xxq-uU8ubdqScYT_EKVwpZe9VL0sjdfDnj-QzNQ4F2EjBRVPd5QTBejT8CE6laOZSSKlBkwVmK0_ZtY7z4wCi8sRDCncl_nekKOISY/s400/IMG_2180.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378892463885581026" /></a><br />Dick Cheney is not a nice guy. But that doesn't necessarily preclude him from being an inadequate leader. The list of mean S.O.B.'s who were also stellar leaders is long and <a href="http://www.generalpatton.com/quotes.html">distinguished</a>.<div><br /></div><div>Unfortunately for Cheney - and the rest of the world - not only was he a notoriously cantankorous person, but he was also a train wreck of a two-term vice-president, influencing perhaps the most horribly calamitous series of policy initiatives of the past 50 years. </div><div><br /></div><div>Exactly how much influence he had in the Bush Administration is debatable, though it's his most recent comments that lead me to think that Grandpa Angry had more sway than he should have. From <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/08/25/us/politics/politics-us-usa-cia-cheney.html?scp=9&sq=cheney%20criticizes%20bush&st=Search">The New York Times:</a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;">President Obama's decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration's ability to be responsible for our nation's security," Cheney said.</span></div></blockquote><div>Same ol' Dick, going with the Democrats are Sissy-Marys smokescreen, though I hear that still plays well in <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1461517/posts">Abilene</a>. Look, it's real sweet that Cheney claims he's still out to save us all from a concept (terrorism), but I'm not buying it. The guy's out to protect his own ass.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;">In Mr. Cheney's view, it is not just those who followed orders and stuck to the interrogation rules set down by President George Bush's Justice Department who should be sheltered from accountability. He said he also had no problem with those who disobeyed their orders and exceeded the guidelines.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;">It's easy to understand Mr. Cheney's aversion to the investigation that Attorney General Eric Holder ordered last week. On Fox, Mr. Cheney said it was hard to imagine it stopping with the interrogators. He's right.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/opinion/03thu1.html?scp=4&sq=dick%20cheney&st=Search">Link:</a></span></div></blockquote><div>Here's the thing with Dick Cheney: He must have that climactic scene from <i>A Few Good Men</i> on a loop, in which Col. Jessep, played by Jack Nicholson, justifies his horrific misdeeds by ranting to the court that he exists to do the dirty work for which the rest of us have no skill, stomach, or will. Tragically for all of us, Cheney views himself in much the same way as the fictitious Jessup. </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;"></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;">Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104257/quotes">Link:</a></span></div></blockquote><div>Thank God Cheney's no longer on that wall.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#999999;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/opinion/03thu1.html?scp=4&sq=dick%20cheney&st=Search"></a></span></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-2998589991603352162009-08-29T12:41:00.000-07:002009-08-30T18:07:13.648-07:00Staying Pure, the Perils of Not Going All the Way, and a Little Fun With Role-Playing<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuxJgE6Uq2kQA416tEdVfd2LBNjZtUJ1NacGZLHF-DM_6nq4SjiLdYRbISdyp9yQqCBDNgTPZ0MMZsmN01Q5YpFUF381DCbGaDTqTWn-kqYymKpOyF7n5PUsOUfqjiDPpEBThXy4sodPM/s1600-h/IMG_2147.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuxJgE6Uq2kQA416tEdVfd2LBNjZtUJ1NacGZLHF-DM_6nq4SjiLdYRbISdyp9yQqCBDNgTPZ0MMZsmN01Q5YpFUF381DCbGaDTqTWn-kqYymKpOyF7n5PUsOUfqjiDPpEBThXy4sodPM/s400/IMG_2147.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375927291273183058" /></a><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now that I have your attention...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">As a rule, politicians are a skittish and mercurial bunch, though I'm pretty sure many of them aren't necessarily born that way. Seriously, how many of these guys woke up one morning as a bright-eyed Poli-Sci undergrad at The University of Tennessee or Northwestern - or wherever - and declared, "Ah, I can barely wait for the day when I can sell myself out to tobacco and pharmaceutical interests like a crab-infested Van Nuys crank whore!" </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But the environment in which politicians continually find themselves requires constant compromise of one's values and priorities. Even the most accomplished and tenured members of the House and Senate understand that doing so is the only way to remain politically viable.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We forget - or choose to ignore - that each and every member of Congress is responsible for:</span></div><div><ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Catering to the needs and desires of his constituency</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Adhering to his party's overall platform</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Helping to craft policy within bipartisan committees</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Not getting caught in a gay bath house with his legs wrapped around a slender Whole Foods stock clerk named Derek </span></li></ol><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And let's not forget the other seductive elements out there known for compromising politicians' personal ethics: campaign donors, pestering</span><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/drugs/2005-04-25-drug-lobby-cover_x.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> lobbyists</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, and ubiquitous interest groups. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">From The Washington Post</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The nation's largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosures and records.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Overall, health-care companies and their representatives spent more than $126 million on lobbying in the first quarter, leading all other industries, according to CRP and Senate data. PhRMA led the pack in spending and employs 49 former government staff members among its 136 lobbyists, according to The Post's analysis. Dozens of other former insiders are employed as lobbyists by Pfizer, Eli Lilly, the AMA and the American Hospital Association, each of which spent at least $3.5 million on lobbying from January through March.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/05/AR2009070502770.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Link:</span></a></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So let's play make-believe. Imagine you're a fiscally-conservative, socially moderate Republican congresswoman (which, in most southern states, makes you a left-wing liberal), who believes that every American citizen should have access to affordable health care. Most likely, here's what you'd be coming up against:</span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Much of your party wants to altogether eliminate the public health option. </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Your stone-age constituency needs complete assurance that not one cent of the package will be used for performing abortions - emergency or otherwise - stem cell research, and end-of-life consultations. </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A lobbyist from a prominent pharmaceutical company - let's call them Lurk - which has promised to support your re-election bid, has just called your office to remind you of their disapproval of a public health option</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The president is leaning on you and your congressional committee to keep an open mind about a substantial public component, which includes Hospice care and an additional tax on so-called platinum health plans. </span></li></ul></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">At this point, whichever position you take will inevitably be ridiculed, attacked, or flat-out rejected by </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">somebody</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. Ultimately, as long as you take a stand on something, there's no real way to avoid being labeled a sellout, capable of abandoning your personal ethics, your president, your crazy-assed constituency, or your party at the drop of a hat. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And that's all before the town hall meetings. Good luck with </span><a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/pastor_of_gun-toter_at_obama_event_day_before_even.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">those</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, by the way.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But it's politically unsophisticated to think that a politician can remain ideologically pure while holding onto her job for more than one term. Politicians must compromise their ethics, on some level, every single day - and I think it's important for us to remain cognizant of that. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It's the nature of the politician's job, for better or worse. But don't feel too sorry for them. They all make six-figures, with pretty damn good bennies (which might also explain the glacial pace of health care reform); most will have cushy jobs waiting in private sector law or lobbying firms when they're finally booted from office. Some of the more high profile ones will even get book deals or will carve out a niche amongst the screaming heads on cable news.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Which brings us to our president, Mr. Hope and Change himself. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">While I'm as guilty as anyone for chiding Obama's policy initiatives thus far, it's only because I naively wished for so much more. </span><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/05/29/obama_calls_for_universal_health_care_coverage_paid_for_by_government_business_consumers/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Based on his past assertions</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, I sincerely expected a more dogged push for universal health coverage. With, perpetually dyspeptic Rahm Emmanuel as his consigliere, a tidal wave of political capital, and strong majorities in the House and Senate, I truly expected all of us to have commie care by the 2012 </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">at the latest.</span></i></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Enter reality. The bible from his inauguration was still warm when Obama was faced with rescuing the U.S. economy from the complete and utter abyss due to 8 years of meltdowns, negligence, corruption, fiascos, and </span><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/1/4/165955/8461/231/680144"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">all-around suck</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Did Obama borrow Peter to pay Paul by funneling insane amounts of money into banks and automakers? Yes. Did it need to happen to prevent a nationwide economic collapse? Probably. Was it done by the most efficient, effective means possible? Well, if offering blank checks to Wall Street slime peddlers while not holding them to a much higher degree of scrutiny and transparency is effective and efficient then...yes. Is it all working, as our embattled Fed Chairman would have us believe? Maybe, but who really knows for sure at this point. Some days the economists are optimistic, </span><a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/international/2008/01/23/why-bernanke-was-wrong.aspx"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">some days not so much</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. Regardless, </span><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover/1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Wall Street's still raking us over the coals.</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Still, most sane citizens are strongly averse to having their tax money earmarked for failing banks, immoral CEO's, and intransigent automakers who refused to lower their CAFE standards and to take a hint when nobody wanted a fucking </span><a href="http://z.about.com/d/trucks/1/0/S/y/07_escalade_side.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">mastodon on wheels</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> anymore. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So we were forced to watch as </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">our</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Obama had his wings clipped by Detroit and Wall Street.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And now, because much of his political capital has been drained by unpopular - and some say ill-advised - decisions made to save a foundering economy, the president must play ball with the opposition party, the </span><a href="http://stopinanity.blogspot.com/2009/07/dont-be-fooled.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Blue Dogs</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, and congressional reps from Steve and Stacy Swingstate. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">He </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">must</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> compromise. At the very least, he must give something. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Problem is, in a civil and just society, health care is a service that shouldn't be compromised one iota - to the extent of offering ample, affordable coverage to every citizen. (This statement has been brought to you by every other developed nation on planet.) Yet it's baffling that our citizenry is still divided on this - that offering a greater breadth of coverage will somehow lead to rationing of care, a slippery slope on the way to </span><a href="http://stopinanity.blogspot.com/2009/08/republican-party-from-diabolical.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">killing Grandmas</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> and harboring terrorists.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">First of all, the private insurance companies already ration by virtue of avoiding or eliminating riskier individuals from their pools of prospective patients. They also practice the more traditional forms of rationing - you know, commie-socialist forms. From </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The New York Times</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And people who worry about the government's playing such a role may not remember that even now private insurers make decisions "about what is medically necessary and what is not," said Mike Thompson, a principal in the health care practice of the consulting firm Pricewaterhouse-Coopers. The private insurers, Mr. Thompson said, might decide that a certain cancer treatment was experimental, for example, and refuse to pay for it.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/us/25georgiaside.html?scp=1&sq=policy%20experts%20call%20fear%20of%20medical%20rationing%20unfounded&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Link:</span></a></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">One can only hope that some form of rationing occurs, as rampant over-treatment has proven to be one of the biggest monetary drains on an already wildly inefficient and wasteful health care system. From </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The New York Times:</span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Paul Ginsburg, the president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, said he was more concerned about the opposite of rationing: that lawmakers do not seem to be focused enough on controlling costs, by making sure people do not receive unnecessary care or unproven treatments.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/us/25georgiaside.html?scp=1&sq=policy%20experts%20call%20fear%20of%20medical%20rationing%20unfounded&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Link:</span></a></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But if Obama continues to shy away from his previous declaration that a robust public health care option is best way to ensure true reform, then to what degree will impending legislation change the status quo - if at all? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The fallout from such a compromise could prove disastrous. If a compromise of sorts is brokered and </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">some</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> needed changes are made - such as cajoling health insurance companies into ending the widely used practice of </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescission"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">rescission</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> - without systemically revamping the entire system, who really wins? Health insurance and pharmaceutical companies will win big, as they'll garner an additional 40-50 million paying customers. And most conservative politicians will win, as they'll no doubt be hailed by the ravenous cable news punditry as the patriotic underdogs who thwarted the venomous serpent of socialized medicine. Maybe even Obama will be lauded as "post-partisan" for trading the public option (which would ultimately bury both Big Health and Pharma) for the still ambiguous co-ops, which, at best, will offer up </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqNQCeYkMN0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">just enough competition</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> to the Blue Crosses of the world to make it appear as though a clean, fair game is still being played. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But what will we get out of it, other than having the privilege of overpaying for a half-assed, patchwork system that wastes resources and exploits American citizens? Maybe we won't get dropped from insurance roles when we endure a serious illness. But then we'll still have to file for medical bankruptcy upon discovery that our ailments exceed our coverage. (As I've repeated throughout many of my posts, two-thirds of all medical bankruptcies in the U.S. are filed by individuals who already had health insurance.) </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And let's say a cap </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">is</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> established, beyond which individuals would no longer have to pay for additional care and procedures. What would that cap be? $15 thousand? $20 thousand? It's hard to imagine the insurance companies settling for less. Either way, that the we continue to haggle over the price of a person's health and well-being in this country is, to me, barbaric and morally repugnant. And as in matters of preemptive war, </span><a href="http://www.nypost.com/seven/07112008/news/nationalnews/w__polluted_the_air_at_g8_summit_119403.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">the environment</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, and </span><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090826_law_not_torture_protects_national_security/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">torture</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, our nation insists on ceding the moral high ground to every other country in the world whose name doesn't end with either "bad" or "stan."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But the worst part about half-assed health care reform would be the illusion of closure and a job well done. It is both a blessing and a curse that, embedded in our nation's DNA is a need to, at some point, turn the page. In this instance, it would be a curse.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Ted Kennedy's death this week was simultaneously tragic, poignant, devastating, and ironic. Those who knew him best claim that his death comes at a time when the nation - and the health care reform movement - needs him most. Then again, pessimists might argue that his impact on such fractious negotiations would've been minimal, as his failing health would've limited him to figurehead status. For still others, Kennedy's death symbolizes the end of meaningful reform and the moral imperative of which he was such an impassioned advocate. From his August 19, 2008 speech at the Democratic National Convention:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">For me, this is a season of hope. New hope for justice and fair prosperity for the many, and not just for the few. New hope - and this is the cause of my life - new hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American - north , south, east, west, young, old - will have decent, quality healthcare as a fundamental right and not a privilege. we can meet these challenges with Barack Obama. Yes we can, and finally, yes we will.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/kennedy.dnc.transcript/index.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Link:</span></a></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/25/kennedy.dnc.transcript/index.html"></a></span></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-34689846539360411492009-08-27T19:35:00.000-07:002009-08-27T22:54:33.951-07:00The CIA is More Dubious Than That Faded M&M at the Bottom of Grandma's Candy Bowl<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJwBqt6nUOOldm2hSjawoWUHipgQzBZAWlu0XWbelY1Yk_z5wV8Jh9QAWgHG74aKVP0TMY1Xuw0kpat1vumprrivjY5H6td4Pbing_8DsCv7777SrpgLD8oOxaRZeaFS3Shdc5FVbs80k/s1600-h/IMG_2160.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJwBqt6nUOOldm2hSjawoWUHipgQzBZAWlu0XWbelY1Yk_z5wV8Jh9QAWgHG74aKVP0TMY1Xuw0kpat1vumprrivjY5H6td4Pbing_8DsCv7777SrpgLD8oOxaRZeaFS3Shdc5FVbs80k/s400/IMG_2160.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374883904860319538" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">For today's post: Fun with trivia.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So here goes: Which domestic, publicly-subsidized institution kills terrorist suspects during interrogations, </span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/rendition701/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">outsources torture</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> to </span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/02/14/050214fa_fact6?currentPage=1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">countries</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> with disgraceful human rights records, and operates within the shadowy legal crevices of both the Geneva Convention and our nation's constitution? Give up?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Click </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/us/politics/25detain.html?scp=1&sq=investigation%20is%20ordered%20into%20CIA%20abuse%20charges&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> to find the answer!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">From </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The New Yorker's</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> "Outsourcing Torture," Jane Mayer's 2005 piece which focuses on the CIA's not-so-clandestine practice of extraordinary rendition.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">What began as a program aimed at a small, discrete set of suspects - people against whom there were outstanding foreign arrest warrants - came to include a wide and ill-defined population that the Administration terms "illegal enemy combatants." Many of them have never been publicly charged with any crime. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/02/14/050214fa_fact6?currentPage=1">Link:</a></span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It's disturbing to know that a large government organization, primarily responsible for information gathering, is given the tether to behave like a band of thugs whenever it sees fit - at least until now. If Eric Holder has any say, the CIA will be getting the scrutiny it's deserved for some time:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The inspector general's report, by contrast offers details of abusive methods. During one session, a C.I.A. interrogator told Abd al-Rahim al Nashiri, charged with plotting the 2000 bombing of the Navy destroyer Cole, that if he did not cooperate with his captors, "we could get your mother in here" and "we can bring your family in here."</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">According to the report, the interrogator wanted Mr. Nashiri to infer for "phsychological" reasons that his female relatives might be sexually abused.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/us/politics/25detain.html?scp=1&sq=investigation%20is%20ordered%20into%20CIA%20abuse%20charges&st=cse">Link:</a></span></span></div></blockquote><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Wait - Quick quiz:</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Who</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> is Eric Holder (and no Wikipedia, damn you!)?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A.) The new Secretary of Health and Human Services</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">B.) Former NBA underachiever </span><a href="http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0706/gallery.nba.finals.15.most.memorable.moments/images/sampson.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Ralph Sampson's</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> separated-at-birth </span><a href="http://imgsrv.1010wins.com/image/DbGraphic/200811/1113492.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">twin brother</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">C.) The new Attorney General for the Obama administration</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">D.) The New President of Kurdranistanjihadlabad</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">E.) The 78-year-old guy at my gym who insists on galavanting around the men's locker room with nothing on from the waist down. He holds conversations, talks about real estate, and flosses his teeth - all without the benefit of pants, shorts, or undergarments of any kind. And, once again, for the sake of an image: He's 78.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Answer: You damn well better have chosen </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">C</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Whether or not Connecticut prosecutor John Durham's investigation can lead to any convictions is peripheral to the message this hopefully sends to the CIA and other </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">tax-funded </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">super-organizations. (That's right, town-hallers: The CIA is </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#CC0000;"><a href="http://stopinanity.blogspot.com/2009/07/if-everyone-in-us-gets-sensible.html">socialist</a></span> organization</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">!)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">That I'm a staunch advocate of strong, publicly-funded organizations that provide essential services doesn't mean I think they should be shielded from constant scrutiny and stringent standards. To the contrary, if I'm paying for something, I need to know the exact context in which my money is being utilized. For instance, currently my tax dollars - and yours - are being earmarked for each of the following projects:</span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Nation-building in Iraq</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Nation-building in Afghanistan*</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A rescue package for </span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/3850965/GM-and-Chrysler-agree-17.4bn-loan-rescue-package.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">automakers</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> from whom I wouldn't even accept a free vehicle</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Golden parachutes for </span><a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://a.abcnews.com/images/Business/ap_eight_ceos_090210_mn.jpg&imgrefurl=http://a.abcnews.com/Business/Economy/Story%3Fid%3D6849315%26page%3D1&usg=__Zisny1oaNYsHjmC8umdufBXY5D8=&h=240&w=320&sz=31&hl=en&start=16&um=1&tbnid=tkD06FQB7P77VM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=118&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbank%2Bexecutives%2Btestify%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">these pricks</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></li></ul><div><div></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">*Four American solders were killed Tuesday when their patrol vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan, NATO said, making the 2009 death toll for foreign forces in Afghanistan the highest since the war began nearly eight years ago. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/26/world/asia/26troops.html?scp=1&sq=2009%20deadliest%20for%20foreign%20forces%20in%20Afghanistan&st=cse">Link:</a></span></span></div></blockquote></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So if you ask me right now if I think it's okay for the CIA - an organization in which most of us have "invested" a great deal of money - to have legal immunity from torturing, maiming, humiliating and murdering individuals who have yet to receive due process in any sanctioned court of law, then my answer is a resounding "no." CIA employees should be held just as accountable for their actions as any other public servant, be they cops, public school principals, or postal workers. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And despite the fact that we've been admonished time and again to accept that we're in an interminable struggle with "evil-doers" for the safety and soul of our country - and therefore utilizing a panoply of harsh interrogation tactics are in the interest of national security - the fact remains that the CIA is </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">not</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> a crime fighting agency, nor are they a paramilitary organization. It's as much within their purview and expertise to strip down and waterboard a Guantanamo inmate as it is for a local firefighter to deliver your amazon.com order. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Add that to the fact that the CIA has also been contracting out critical military operations to no-bid contract winner Blackwater - a private "firm" that somehow exists with even less oversight than the CIA (and, oh, by the way: they're tax-funded too) - and we find ourselves in some serious ethical gray areas. From </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The New York Times</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">American spy agencies have in recent years outsourced some highly controversial work, including the interrogation of prisoners. But government officials said that bringing outsiders into a program with lethal authority raised deep concerns about accountability in covert operations.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/us/20intel.html?scp=4&sq=blackwater&st=cse">Link:</a></span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It would be negligent on my part if I didn't note here that the name "Blackwater" has become synonymous with the no-bid outsourcing of the morass in Iraq, from branches of the U.S. military to private firms with notorious reputations:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Blackwater employees hired to guard American diplomats in Iraq were accused of using excessive force on several occasions, including shootings in Baghdad in 2007 in which 17 civilians were killed. Iraqi officials have since refused to give the company an operating license. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/us/20intel.html?scp=4&sq=blackwater&st=cse">Link:</a></span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Also, when I think of a </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">firm</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, I think Sterling Cooper from "Mad Men" or maybe even McKenzie Brackman from "L.A. Law." But a group of trained mercenaries who air drop into hostile territory, guns blazing, with little concern for civilian life? That's not a firm; not even close. Could you imagine one of these guys in your office having to deal with a jamming copy machine? I'm sure you'd see a lot of </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CFvEi4fdXA&feature=related"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">this</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Before I shut it down for the evening, let me just add that I have no delusions about the nefarious character of many of the detainees formerly or currently being held in U.S. custody. I presume many of them have profoundly hostile feelings toward the U.S. and mean America nothing but harm and ill-fortune. But if the U.S. is intent on regaining the role of moral beacon for the solar system, we must end these practices instantly. In addition to being unethical, torture is an ineffective and inefficient intelligence gathering technique. In other words, </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/13/AR2007121301303.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">it doesn't work</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. John McCain, a former POW and torture victim, </span><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,521157,00.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">agrees</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And so maybe the CIA should stick with what it does best: </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/19/AR2007071902217.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Initiating coups</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> against democratically elected governments. </span></div></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-51810914709417176372009-08-23T12:18:00.000-07:002009-08-27T22:55:12.238-07:00The Republican Party: From Diabolical Masterminds to That Urine-Soaked Guy on the Bus Mumbling Incoherently About Gummy Bears<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSlgKd8kmrANeO4lWCC2QYMWCTJflUoEUD90MqRCMGLX821mf9wlA12L0TojI6N0_DIyAOr1LLUlvl_IdsGcKd9REGA8n_sWIR3bqdqdpxTKrLXKHB0f8VxngQklAEjgnRXiK7LFzyKCE/s1600-h/IMG_2113.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSlgKd8kmrANeO4lWCC2QYMWCTJflUoEUD90MqRCMGLX821mf9wlA12L0TojI6N0_DIyAOr1LLUlvl_IdsGcKd9REGA8n_sWIR3bqdqdpxTKrLXKHB0f8VxngQklAEjgnRXiK7LFzyKCE/s400/IMG_2113.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373395654170990594" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I know: Duh.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But I just wanted to reiterate the utter lack of logic and rational thought that's infesting the GOP and its constituents these days. In the past, most of the party's disjointed, ill-conceived, or just plain machiavellian ideas came from up top - Milton Friedman, the father of fiscal conservatism; economist Grover Norquist, the 80s trickle-down Reaganites; the gentle souls over at The Heritage Foundation, Newt Gingrich, the architect of the 90s Republican Revolution; and the warmongering Neo-Cons of the Bush administration. The first step was seizing power. From Thomas Frank's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Wrecking Crew</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"First, we want to remove liberal personnel from the political process. Then we want to capture those positions of power and influence for conservatives. Stalin taught the importance of this principle. He was running the personnel department, while Trotsky was fighting the White Army. When push came to shove for control of the Soviet Union, Stalin won...With this principle in mind, conservatives must do all they can to make sure that they get jobs in Washington."</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So, for all you flag-waving, pendant-wearing patriots out there, the post-Goldwater conservatives owe much of their success to a communist dictator who committed genocide against his own people. I'm assuming back then that Norquist and other GOP operatives didn't roll this strategy out at a series of town hall meetings.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Overall, much of the Republican policy devised over the past, say, 30 years, has been hard-sold to the American public based on the promise of fiscal solvency. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">These policies - unfettered free market capitalism, supply-side economics, and systemic deregulation - we were told, would be implemented based on sound economic principles. Let individuals, rather than the government, take responsibility for their own wealth or poverty, Republicans said, for only the individual truly knows what's best for her or himself. The truly industrious and innovative will inevitably rise to the challenge, regardless of their race, class, or ethnicity. And let companies work outside of the government's clenched grip of regulation, for true competition and innovation accelerates when freed from the oppressive scrutiny of the government's watchful eye. In other words, let the markets decide which businesses succeed or fail.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But those paying attention since the advent of </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWzMyKSIbFY"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">voodoo economics</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> have observed these conceptions to be patently absurd. For one thing, socioeconomic status continues to be the biggest determinant in whether or not an individual is materially successful. The indigent are rarely given the tools during childhood necessary for them to later flourish into the industrious leaders our society demands. It's next to impossible to compete in the professional job market when you're 18 and still reading at a fourth-grade level. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">We've also witnessed the litany of calamities that deregulation - or insufficient regulation - can yield, as evidenced by the abysmal fallout from </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/us/20intel.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=outsiders%20hired%20as%20c.i.a.%20planned%20to%20kill%20jihadists&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">no-bid war contracts</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, sub-prime mortgage loans, credit default swaps, and massive seven-and-eight-figure payouts to Wall Street bank executives. Competition is all well and good (for the most part), but when financial juggernauts like Goldman Sachs engaged in market manipulation and securities fraud, no one was there to </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl8wTgpQtqs&feature=related"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">say this</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. From Matt Taibbi's "The Great Bubble Machine," an exceptional investigative piece from </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Rolling Stone</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The bank (Goldman) might be taking all these hideous, completely irresponsible mortgages from beneath-gangster-status firms like Countrywide and selling them off to municipalities and pensioners - old people, for God's sake - pretending the whole time that it wasn't gradeD horseshit. But even as it was doing so, it was taking short positions in the same market, in essence betting against the same crap it was selling. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29127316/the_great_american_bubble_machine">Link:</a></span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In other words, Goldman was hedging its bets against a market they essentially created. And, because they're Goldman Sachs (ooh, ahh!), everyone blindly bought into it. Everyone. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In the same piece, Taibbi emphasizes that Goldman has been sued and penalized numerous times over the years, which has had zero impact on its highly unethical banking practices, since the penalty fees - usually in the neighborhood of $100 million or so - are loose pocket change compared to the ridiculous amounts of cash the firm has been raking in from exploiting so many loopholes in the financial markets, many of which the SEC itself wasn't even aware of. Problem is, the Securities and Exchange Commission is the regulatory agency primarily responsible for taking market raiders like Goldman to task. Oh, but they didn't completely comprehend what Goldman was doing - so they claim - so I guess it's okay.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">To further explain the lack of effective oversight, the SEC, along with the last three presidential administrations, have been lousy with former Goldman execs. Reagan once said, "The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away." False.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The thing about Republicans is that, when they're in the minority, government is bureaucratic, ineffectual, even Orwellian. But when they're running the entire show, rather than continuing their harsh critique of big government, we hear a lot of </span><a href="http://instantcrickets.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">this</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Next, when thousands of ailing Americans were being summarily dropped from health insurance roles due to "prior undisclosed conditions," for years the only person who would even give them the time of day was </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BJyyyRYbSk"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">a portly firebrand filmmaker from Michigan</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">From the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">L.A. Times </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">comes a piece about insurance giant Wellpoint's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">modus operandi </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">toward patients crippled by severe illnesses</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But documents obtained by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and released today show that the company's employee performance evaluation program did include a review of rescission activity.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The documents show, for instance, that one blue Cross employee earned a perfect score of "5" for "exceptional performance" on an evaluation that noted the employee's role in dropping thousands of policyholders and avoiding nearly $10 million worth of medical care.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/17/business/fi-rescind17">Link:</a></span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">How charming. At this point, I'd like to take a moment to come up with a list of the most loathsome categories of human beings on the planet. This is an extremely intricate process, so I won't bog you down in all the minutia of how I determine my findings. Here it is: Top 5, worst comes first.</span></div><div><ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Puppy rapists</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Nazis (the German ones from WWII, as opposed to the ones currently infiltrating the Obama administration)</span></li><li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/business/31pay.html?hp"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">These guys</span></a></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Private health insurance company claims adjusters</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Taliban</span></li></ol></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">That's right, people: A guy who will slice off your right ear for playing techno music is likely responsible for fewer deaths than Chip over at Blue Shield with the troll pencils and the "I Love Dachsunds" screensaver.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And finally, there was the </span><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/news/profile/story/9961300/the_worst_president_in_history"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"I'm With Stupid"</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Administration's </span><a href="http://www.nrdc.org/BushRecord/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">stubborn refusal to put the regulatory clamps down</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> on the biggest environmental polluters on the planet.<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Now, I'm not suggesting that these expedient, ignominious, or just plain idiotic policies are things of the past. Without question, they'll return in some incarnation once the Republicans are firmly entrenched in our government again. What I am saying, though, is that now progressives have a whole new element to deal with: The batshit insane. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It's true. Instead of cloaking horrendous policy in brilliant propaganda campaigns and then applying pressure downward, onto the Great Unwashed, the Republicans are now a party that seemingly receives its cues </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">from</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> the most gullible, ignorant, reactionary, and paranoid of society's cognitive bottom-dwellers. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It's almost as though the intellectual line between right-wing demagogue and unemployed World War II grenade enthusiast has been completely eradicated. Unconvinced? Fine. Then how about a nice multiple choice quiz to prove my point. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">For the following questions, choose the individual that uttered each quote over the past 2 weeks.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">1. "This provision may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia if enacted into law."</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">a.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> The fella who lives out of a tent in the abandoned lot across the street from Kragen because he "refuses to pay taxes that are just going to be used for welfare and health care for illegals."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">b.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Your brother-in-law, Dave, a recent convert to Jews for Jesus and the current president of the Whispering Meadows homeowners association</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">c.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> House Republican Leader John Boehner</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">2. "We should not have a government plan that will pull the plug on Grandma!"</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">a.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> The guy pacing in front of Ralph's, clad in a fatigue-colored leotard, who constantly warns shoppers of the impending apocalypse</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">b. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Your former college roommate Doug, who, at 35, just quit his job and moved back in with his parents because he "wants to spend more time doing his art."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">c.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Republican senator Chuck Grassley </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">3. "The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgement of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system in downright evil."</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">a.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span><a href="http://www.creakywheel.com/republican_national_convention/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Sarah Palin</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">b.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> An unemployed, clinically insane gun enthusiast</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">c.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> All the above</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Here are your answers:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> 1. c 2. c 3. c</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">For me, this is something to watch closely in the months leading up to the November mid-term elections. Right now, the loudest voices in the GOP are coming from the most irrational and intellectually lazy segment of the party. Maybe the rest of the conservatives are ceding the pulpit to these crazies for the purpose of instigating more action among the right wing electorate for the purpose of thwarting Obama's agenda. Or maybe the party has actually morphed into a safe haven for right-wing extremists, racists, religious zealots, and unbalanced xenophobes - both among its leaders and throughout its constituency. Either scenario is equally disturbing and prompts me to wonder if Canadian winters are really all </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">that</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> bad.</span></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-389832103894401262009-08-19T11:33:00.000-07:002009-08-27T22:57:52.048-07:00Dear Mr. President:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif9sjdbzYTjgdk2amVkrBQNkpxXJYUvw21hS1yMY6XcbDSzQM6rysaFB3wwsZW_HZQ27LitMgfRbnELzQrHmwoWbJvHaQbCsR7VmNugneyDK0B-u5vrjoceV1idK1GGSUsucQfHHz2DGs/s1600-h/IMG_2127.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif9sjdbzYTjgdk2amVkrBQNkpxXJYUvw21hS1yMY6XcbDSzQM6rysaFB3wwsZW_HZQ27LitMgfRbnELzQrHmwoWbJvHaQbCsR7VmNugneyDK0B-u5vrjoceV1idK1GGSUsucQfHHz2DGs/s400/IMG_2127.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372531100517305074" /></a><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">With the deepest respect, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">p</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">lease alter your message. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">You are a skilled communicator and a </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tMLly_795o"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">brilliant rhetorician</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. You've given so many of us renewed faith in the political process and in the potential greatness of this country, based mainly on your ability to translate grandiloquent ideals into clear, cogent oratory. But whatever you've been trying to sell about health care policy is clearly not effective enough to permeate the stubborn miasma of thick-headed ignorance and shrill right-wing punditry. Here's the data from the latest Reuter's poll. I'm sure, like most of these things, it was given at a Reno Sam's Club - on some fold-out table cramped between 40-gallon vats of </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDIjePMr0Ak"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Grape Drink</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> and 20-pound boxes of Cocoa Pebbles.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Obama's approval rating on healthcare was at 41 percent, unchanged from last month, while 36 percent believed his reform plas were a good idea dn 42 percent a bad idea -- also unchanged from last month's NBY/Wall Street Journal poll.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-HealthcareReform/idUSTRE57I01T20090819">Source:</a></span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">While I realize that part of your strategy all along has been to refrain from presenting a detailed, comprehensive plan (SEE ALSO: Hillarycare, circa 1993), since doing so would give the Republican propaganda slime machine every opportunity to misrepresent it, what we all need to accept is that anything you ever say or do, from here until the end of your presidency, will be attacked mercilessly by the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swift_Vets_and_POWs_for_Truth"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">propaganda goons</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> of The Right Wing. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">If you, along with 100 other world leaders, were to help devise a fool-proof, multilateral strategy for world peace this afternoon, military contractors and NRA lobbyists would be swarming Congress by Thursday. By Friday, John Boehner would be bitching about being left out of the policy-making process. And by Saturday, Right-Wing PAC ads would be swarming red-state TV waves - interrupting "America's Top Model," "The Real Housewifes of Orange County," "Bridezillas," and "The O'Reilly Factor" (otherwise known, in many of these parts, as </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">the news</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">)"- throughout households in Arkansas, Montana, Kansas, and Wyoming to question the wisdom and timing of such a plan.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">World peace: Is it too much too soon?</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Inevitably, even </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt31nhleeCg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Harry and Louise</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> would weigh-in.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Louise:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> But Harry, it says here that all countries would be fully expected to comply with the new global peace, love, and unicorns agreement. That sounds like an awful lot of government control. Unicorns: Isn't that how Hitler got into power?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Harry:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Pretty much, Louise. Pretty much.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Regardless of what you say or how well you say it, Republicans will always find a way to drag your words into the sewer. The solution? Win the propaganda war. Appeal to Americans' emotions and anxieties. Solicit Madison Avenue to make the public option look smart, cool, or even sexy (Jesus, remember when they convinced us that we needed these?) </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Turn health care reform into a morality play, Mr. President. People are literally dying while the GOP - pasty, expedient, Kafka-esque bureaucrats and inhumane extensions of Big Pharma - exacerbate the situation by shielding mega-corporations and rejecting reform altogether.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Further, Mr. Grassley said this week that he would vote against a bill unless it had wide support from Republicans, even if it included all the provisions he wanted. "I am negotiating for Republicans," he told MSNBC.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/health/policy/19repubs.html?scp=1&sq=democrats%20seem%20set%20to%20go%20alone%20on%20a%20health%20bill&st=cse">Source:</a></span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Also, eliminate all the proxies (Pelosi, Reid, et. al.). These people have lower approval ratings than a straight masseuse at a Republican spa retreat. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">You're</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> the one who should be getting maximum exposure right now. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">You</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> own the bully pulpit: Order up an hour of prime-time (as most of the </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386676/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">good shows</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> are still on hiatus) and get in front of the TV camera so that America can be reminded of why it's in good hands.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Please alter the format.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Can we please cease and desist with the town hall meet 'n greets already? What exactly was the end game here? To give unemployed white trash a venue to vent their deepest fears and frustrations? To force already reviled congressmen and women to articulate health reform proposals that haven't even been fully conceived of yet? To give everyone an opportunity to finally show off their newest sidepiece? And great job sending Republican senator Chuck Grassley </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/health/policy/14panel.html?_r=1&hp"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">out and about</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. Grassley, whom I presume was sent out to promote aspects of a possible bipartisan plan, instead bragged to his Adel, Iowa audience about how he was responsible for withdrawing an "aggressive end-of-life" patient-physician consultation option (a.k.a. Operation Kill Grandma) from the committee bargaining table. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(Oh, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Chuck</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. Even if you did accomplish something as heroic as preventing the terminally ill from gaining access to home care in their final days, you needn't go popping off about it in front of a crowd that somehow confuses Hospice with concentration camps. Unless you meant to sink this whole gambit all along. Thank you, </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYabrQrXt4A&feature=related"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Fredo</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Having such a haphazard format in these places amounts to political suicide, Mr. President. It cedes far too much ground to what has proven to be enemy territory. I know you're a sports fan, so here's a baseball analogy: Assuming they were pitted against the loathsome Red Sox in a playoff series, would the Yankees ever agree to play the entire series at uber-hostile Fenway Park in the hopes of maybe converting one or two wayward Sox fans into Yankee-lovers? Exactly: Dumbest idea ever. Then, Mr. President, why are you doing virtually the same thing?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Most of these hostile individuals arrive in droves (thanks to aggressive harvesting by health-insurance-sponsored special interests), forming lines at the crack of dawn and crowding out most would-be sympathizers. As it turns out, these people come to bitch about everything from gun rights to the demise of civilization. In other words, many of these venues have devolved into </span><a href="http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/08/11/2026745.aspx"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">carnivals of right-wing lunacy</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. From </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The New York Times</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But most of those who spoke Tuesday seemed unlikely to vote in the Democratic primary. Many seemed concerned about issues that are either not in the health care legislation or are peripheral to the debate in Washington - abortion, euthanasia, coverage of immigrants, privacy.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/health/policy/12townhall.html?hp">Source:</a></span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I knew it. So after all this, it comes right back down to:</span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The stench-ridden blasphemy of two boys holding hands </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Those socialist sum'bitches wanna' take all my guns and ammonium nitrate away." </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Those damn Mexicans are takin' over." </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The sanctity of the sperm-egg merger. </span></li></ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Because these overindulged, right-wing divas have gained so much leverage over American politicians, now they believe as though they can say and do just about anything - including </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/opinion/13collins.html?_r=1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">toting around semi-automatic weapons</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> at public meeting places. From contributing </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">New York Times </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">op-ed columnist, Gail Collins:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Meanwhile, over in Arizona, a protester who showed up to meet the local congresswoman at a supermarket was removed by police when the pistol he had holstered under his armpit fell, bouncing on the floor and alarming the nonprotesting attendees. This, too, turned out to be legal, although the dropping part is not recommended.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/opinion/13collins.html">Source:</a></span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Also not recommended: Being a large, black, wealthy professional athlete engaged in </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/nyregion/21burress.html?scp=3&sq=plaxico%20buress&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">an eerily similar scenario. </span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">These maniacs need to be called out on their crazy. Be the alpha, Mr. President. Think </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZD_p1trwYM&feature=channel"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Dog Whisperer</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. You're Cesar effing Milan; they're an out-of-control </span><a href="http://thehamlet.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/jindal.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Shitzu-Yorki mix</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB-KKRLVmZc"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Here's a primer</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, in case you're still a bit apprehensive.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Otherwise, eliminate these slow-motion train wrecks of public discourse and replace them with one or both of these:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A nationally televised presidential-style debate</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> over health care policy, in which a competent, impartial moderator (think Jim Lehrer, perhaps the only real newsman left in the biz) presides over a dialogue between you and this week's sacrificial standard-bearer from the opposition party. This idea, proposed by a colleague of mine, is brilliant in its logic and simplicity. In this format, you will have the profound advantage against your opponent, be it Chuck Grassely, Bobby Jindal, Eric Kantor, Michael Steele, John Boehner or any other GOP scrub who's able to compose a complete sentence on-camera. Okay, so maybe not </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIdWxTt21hg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Bobby Jindal</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Why engage in such a debate? Because you're smart, eloquent, virtually unflappable. And because you have the evidence on your side: 45 million Americans are uninsured; an additional 2,000 lose their employee-sponsored health care every day; one-third of private health care costs go to administrative fees alone; two-thirds of American bankruptcies are of the medical variety; private insurers cannot be trusted to regulate themselves, as their policies have repeatedly proven to be wholly unethical and purely profit-driven; medicare and the VA - both fully backed by the government - have been solvent and largely successful for years (You'd most likely have a wheelchair riot on your hands if either were rescinded, replaced, or compromised).</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And then there's the ethical imperative: During one day, at an open clinic in Los Angeles, nonprofit </span><a href="http://www.ramusa.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Remote Area Medical</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> provided over 1,400 services to over 600 needy individuals - including breast exams, tooth extractions, and pap smears. Here's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Times</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">' </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/08/13/us/20090813-CLINIC_index.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">slide show</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But if you're really that wedded to the town hall format, why not </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">have one - but on </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">your </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">terms</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, Mr. President? Screen and hand-pick an audience who have submitted their questions ahead of time. And make sure all attendees are apprised of the specific, rigid ground rules, i.e., no speaking out of turn, no ankle holsters or loaded M-16s, no decrying that the fluoridization of our water supply has rendered our male earthling population impotent and/or vulnerable for an inevitable alien invasion, and no outbursts declaring the collapse of democracy.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I think that's it. Oh, actually, one more thing:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Find a way to hide Max Baucus:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/16/report_senator_max_baucus_received_more"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> guy's your point man on health care? Seriously? I mean...seriously?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">After speaking at a preventive-care conference here last week, he was swarmed by protesters. Or, in Mr. Baucus's words, "agitators, whose sole goal was to intimidate, disrupt and not let any meaningful conversation go on." There were a couple of people in the crowd "with YouTubes," Mr. Baucus added (meaning cameras)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/us/politics/19baucus.html?scp=5&sq=max%20baucus&st=cse">Source:</a></span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Mr. President, I hope you take all of these suggestions to heart, as I sincerely believe that they could bolster this country's chances for comprehensive health reform. I think I've also failed to mention that, as a geriatric myself (I am nearly 10 years old), I am more than merely a passive observer in this ongoing issue.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">God bless you, Mr. President. And God bless America.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Sincerely yours,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Bean the Bearded Dragon</span></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-43498469689634980742009-08-18T18:30:00.000-07:002009-08-21T14:32:32.382-07:00If I Call It A Co-Op, They Can't Call Me a Commie Anymore, Right?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLwDC3CcSOAhkJeC6N7GB6uXL4eyhaPo9mPOvMy71vBedMYMD_Pn_0dEauxt4StHvLSDmISZQm_CtCy8SMvmmr6DOtg92j8NQcADd0yNimavIgPSOIVPPsWR4qDGMt9iCOFx-bsD9mGR8/s1600-h/IMG_2135.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLwDC3CcSOAhkJeC6N7GB6uXL4eyhaPo9mPOvMy71vBedMYMD_Pn_0dEauxt4StHvLSDmISZQm_CtCy8SMvmmr6DOtg92j8NQcADd0yNimavIgPSOIVPPsWR4qDGMt9iCOFx-bsD9mGR8/s400/IMG_2135.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372532031697266386" /></a><br /><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 15.0px 0.0px; line-height: 22.0px; font: 15.0px Georgia; color: #333333"></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Wrong. They'll keep calling you that, because it's fun for them. But now they'll also go back to calling you a liberal, which is code for clearly having no plan whatsoever. Per </span><span style="text-decoration: underline; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/health/policy/18plan.html?_r=1&hp">The Times</a></span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/health/policy/18plan.html?_r=1&hp">: </a><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/health/policy/18plan.html?_r=1&hp"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:15px;"></span></a></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 22px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></p><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">The White House has indicated that it could accept a nonprofit health care cooperative as an alternative to a new government insurance plan, originally favored by President Obama</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">. But the co-op idea is so ill defined that no one knows exactly what it would look like or how effectively it would compete with commercial insurers.</span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span><p></p><p></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">You know what, though? I've become <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">far </span>too cynical. I actually think that health care reform is going to be amazing (when it happens) because we're finally going to see a cohesive network that utilizes an efficient, humane, cost-effective model to care for patients - because that was the whole point of this reform movement in the first pl - <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/health/policy/18plan.html?_r=1&hp">Oh, wait...</a></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px Georgia"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 22px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">The history of health insurance in the United States is full of largely unsuccessful efforts to introduce new models of insurance that would lower costs. And the health insurance markets of many states suggest that any new entrant would face many difficulties in getting established.</span></blockquote></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 22px; font: normal normal normal 15px/normal Georgia; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:16px;">Dammit. Health insurance and pharmaceutical companies, you may exhale.</span></p><p></p><p></p></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-86856412751422162682009-08-17T09:30:00.000-07:002009-08-21T19:08:47.653-07:00The GOP's Courtship of Our Reptilian Brain<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUEYjA_jlEs17P3TDFX772Z8Z_iAw6pFimW_bSXI2yfrRr0ui4w8b4iHBd3LaecpcMKRVUVDhqy-7FshRX3Bhd0VJ_r-ABuvQ4WW6ELAxotjYoQPp6ZaH1WJP9TcIiH6F7MieIQvMBzg/s1600-h/IMG_2101_2.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUEYjA_jlEs17P3TDFX772Z8Z_iAw6pFimW_bSXI2yfrRr0ui4w8b4iHBd3LaecpcMKRVUVDhqy-7FshRX3Bhd0VJ_r-ABuvQ4WW6ELAxotjYoQPp6ZaH1WJP9TcIiH6F7MieIQvMBzg/s400/IMG_2101_2.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371416121838630434" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Republicans. Aren't they just about the </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS4MI8fuXzw&feature=related"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">cutest things </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS4MI8fuXzw&feature=related"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ever</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">?</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">(Warning: This is a long but ultimately worthwhile post. Anyone who thinks they might have to go to the restroom, go now.)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Reflecting upon what's been happening in health care hysteria over the past month, I am immediately reminded of Ridley Scott's 1984 futuristic Reagan-era classic, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Terminator, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">starring the greatest action hero and worst California governor of the past 25 years.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In the film, we discover that the gay-pride-parade-bedazzled Terminator, an amoral futuristic </span><a href="http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/a/c/coulter_shooting_gun.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">cyborg</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, who possesses no regard for organic life, is hell-bent on killing "Sah-rah Kahn-ah." He stalks his prey relentlessly and ruthlessly, using the most destructive means at his disposal. Now, not only has some anonymous intergalactic douche programmed The Terminator to eliminate Connor; he's also apparently wired this monster to accomplish the task while simultaneously producing the greatest amount of violence, misery, and mayhem possible (Cue Arnie's Austrian accent: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Surgical strikes are for pussies.)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">During the first two acts of the film, we never once wonder about The Terminator's allegiance, though his snazzy Ray Bans, ass-hugging leather pants, PhD in ass-kickin', and deliciously hokey comebacks make him virtually impossible to hate (Add to that fact that, at this point, most of us didn't know he was Republican.) That is, until his "human" skin unsheathes and we finally see this thing for what it truly is: A cold, indomitable, malevolent incarnation of all things evil. It is at this point that most - if not all - of us resolve to root against The Terminator for the balance of the movie. Shame on us, though, for being seduced by Arnie's artificially pumped-up </span><a href="http://www.herdaily.com/blogimg/Entertainment/fat/arnold.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">moobies</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> and unforgettable one-liners, for we knew he was Timothy McVeigh on 'roids all along.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Enter the Grand Old Party of the past three decades, the pre-unsheathed Terminator, if you will, which continues to exist despite its ever growing reputation for faux folksy populism, exploitation of American fear, and an incessant reliance upon a seemingly endless reserve of American ignorance. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And in case there's any question in your head about this last point, please watch </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBGusPcNzxw"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">this.</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Oh, and Bill, you forgot to mention </span><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/22/opinion/polls/main657083.shtml"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">this</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">These characteristics of the GOP are not revelations to any progressives who've been paying attention to politics at any point between Nixon's "I am not a crook" and Palin's "I can see Russia from my house."</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And many of the Republican misdeeds we've witnessed since 1973 - Watergate, Iran Contra, Reaganomics, attack-dog politics, the Florida recount, alliances with Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, and all the major health insurers, the rise of cronyism, the courtship of "values" voters, Jack Abramoff, </span><a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=heck+of+a+job"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ineptitude</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, the prevention of scientific inquiry and research, chronic lying, </span><a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/02/bush-commutes-libbys-sentence/?scp=25&sq=valerie%20plame&st=Search"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">the suppression of dissent</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, Terri Shiavo, </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/us/politics/12firings.html?scp=1&sq=karl%20rove%20u.s.%20attorneys&st=cse"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">hardball politics</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, preemptive war, the accumulation of massive debt, wire-tapping, Swift-Boating, scapegoating, homophobia, no-bid contracts, and "Disaster Capitalism" - have done little to dissuade a large segment of the populace from continuing their unwavering support, irrespective of whether or not it's in their best interest to do so. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In his landmark 2004 book </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What's the Matter With Kansas, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Thomas Frank writes,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">On closer inspection, the country seems more like a panoroma of madness and delusion worthy of Hieronymous Bosch: of sturdy blue-collar patriots reciting the Pledge while they strangle their own life chances; of small farmers proudly voting themselves off the land; of devoted family men carefully seeing to it that their children will never be able to afford college or proper health care; of working-class guys in midwestern cities cheering as they deliver up a landslide for a candidate whose policies will end their way of life, will transform their region into a "rust belt," will strike people like them blows from which they will never recover.</span></blockquote></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And then:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Meatpacking Garden City [Kansas] voted for George W. Bush in even greater numbers than did affluent Johnson County. The blue-collar, heavily unionized city of Wichita used to be one of the few Democratic strongholds in the state; in the nineties it became on of the most consistently conservative places of them all, a mighty fortress in the wars over abortion, evolution, loose interpretation of the Constitution, and water fluoridation.</span></blockquote></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In a genius maneuver, the GOP discovered several decades ago that they'd never be able to hold power at any level of government based on their policies alone, which, for the most part, called for power-shitting on anyone not netting at least a mid- six-figure income: unfettered free markets, rampant deregulation, bare-bones social services, tax breaks for the wealthiest 3 percent, and the overall preservation of a system that maintains a strict socioeconomic order, making the rich richer, the poor more destitute, and the middle-class perpetually in the urinal. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But who in the hell would ever vote for a candidate espousing less healthcare, lower pay, and diminished social services for Joe and Flo Blow from East Idaho - in addition to a rigged game that funnels ever more money to the bankers and CEOs of this world? Exactly: No one. In their right minds, at least. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So why then does the working class - the demographic that can least afford another round of suppressed wages, job outsourcing, tax cuts for aristocrats, and de-fanged regulation - continue on with this endless cycle of political self-flagellation? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The answer to this question may lie in a dusty study in Northern California, some thirty-plus years ago.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">(The scene: Stanford's Hoover Institute, sometime in the mid-1970s. The door creaks open, revealing two patrician, middle-aged men in Brooks Brothers suits, sipping aged brandy. Both are balding almost by the minute. One is Karl; the other is Karl's lackey, Mr. Twizzlesticks).</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> This goddamned McGovern. Let's see: What qualities does the American citizen possess that we can most easily exploit to our electoral advantage? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. Twizzlesticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Well, first off, Americans love their bibles - and much of the country is trending toward Evangelical Christianity. So we definitely need to get on board with the J.C. - like yesterday. Then, there's that stubborn puritanical strain embedded in much of the nation's DNA - you know, no sex out of wedlock, unless, of course you then subsequently decide to keep the baby, get married and run for public office, no abortion - even in cases of rape and incest, no divorce - </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Even if, at some point you decide that you prefer young men named Chad giving you "neck massages" in the sauna room, </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. Twizzlesticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Exactly. Uh, where was I? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Incest.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Oh. Yeah. I was done with that, though. How about a distrust and general dislike of dark people - except maybe for some Hindi Indians? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> And Clarence Thomas.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Who's he?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Some pencil-pushing black dude with a law degree. We'll make him a Supreme Court Justice one day, just to make everyone think it's all on the up and up.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Of course, sir.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> How about also a dogged fear of change of any kind. These people need to know that we intend to keep this country looking like their favorite Thomas Kincaid painting for evermore. And no Thomas Kincaid painting I know of has Mexicans in it. Or blacks. Or gays. Or crackheads. Or socialists. Or fissures in the American social fabric. And another thing: The average American isn't terribly educated, well-read, worldly, or analytical. So keep things simple. Nuance is death on policy - people think that you're talking down to them. Or that you're a pussy. Neither is good. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Indeed -</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Good is good, bad is bad. You either have friends or enemies. You're either with the terrorists or against them -</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">: Sir?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Nevermind. We'll save that one for a special occasion. Are you getting all this down? This is prime stuff here.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Oh yes - of course.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> This snifter of 100-year-old cask-aged Scotch I'm drinking right now is either dry or it's not. Get me?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Absolutely, sir.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Freedom or bondage. Liberty or oppression. Open markets or communism. And remember, Middle America doesn't have the intellect to withstand the emotional power of their reptilian brains. We need to appeal to their reptilian brains! </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> What's a rep -</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Emotion, struggle, survival, desire, vengeance. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">scribbling frenetically) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It's all very biblical, sir.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Veeerrry biblical. Yahweh would've played exceptionally well in Kansas, had he made a gubonatorial run. These folks - and let's call them folks from now on - these folks need to think that their way of life is constantly under siege.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Under siege? From whom, sir? From what?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Twizzle, have you learned nothing from me? From</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> change</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. And they need reassurance from us that we will do everything in our collective power - providing they keep us in office - to protect them from the tide of change - from the gays and minorities and dirty movies and sexy clothing and rap music, and...and...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Commies, sir?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> And the commies. Especially the commies. Oh, also - get all this down...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Yes, sir. Go ahead.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> More guns.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> For whom?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> For everyone. Every damn one. These fools love their guns, almost as much as their god. We need to make sure that they know we're okay with that. Also, more war.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> More...war. By that do you mean defending other countries, defending our homeland, or preemptive war - or surgical strikes as a show of American might?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Yes. One last thing. Are you ready?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Of course, sir.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> No, I'm serious. You need to be ready for this one. Are you </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">really </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ready?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Absolutely, sir.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Okay. Here goes. More </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">flags</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. American flags. Everywhere. Draped from buildings, painted as murals on walls and billboards, fashioned into jewelry - pendants and so forth. Most importantly, we need to adopt it as the symbol of the new Republican party. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> But I thought that was the Dixie flag, sir.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Shut up, Twizzlesticks. No one likes a wise-ass.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> But sir?<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> What is it now?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> What if we promised to protect them from </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">real</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> things?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Wuh?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Real things. Like what if we said we'd protect them against bursting dams or polluted air or harmful pesticides or, God forbid, catastrophic illness? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">(Spits out his brandy, forces Twizzlesticks to clean up and refill his sifter, resulting in a five minute break in the action.) </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That sounds like a sensational idea, Mr. Twizzlesticks. And right after we do that, we can tell all the corporate hacks who've put us in this position to go straight to hell! Idiot!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> A thousand pardons, sir.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> You should have your honorary Yale law degree revoked this instant!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Mr. T-Sticks:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Sir, you're right. How can I ever -</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karl:</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> And your honorary MBA...and your honorary doctorate.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And...scene!</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">(Author's Note: The above conversation never actually took place. Or </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">did</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> it?)</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So now I present to you the worst recipe since my Aunt Tessie's ambrosia salad: A hot-button issue, typically off-message Democrats, </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/health/policy/18talkshows.html?_r=1&hp"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">an overly cautious president</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, a phlegmatic mainstream media, health insurance lobbiests, </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/opinion/13collins.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">angry, white - frequently armed - males over 50</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, incendiary </span><a href="http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/projection-much-glenn-beck-warns-fas"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">right-wing talk radio hosts</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, stratospheric levels of ignorance, the always well-oiled GOP fear machine, and the ill-advised town hall "I Feel Your Pain" open forum. (They may as well just dangle a sign across the facade of these places that reads, in scrawled chicken blood, "Welcome Rural Survivalists, Disenfranchised Loonies, and Heavily-Armed Cult Leaders.<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Naturally, the media is intoxicated by all the high drama of our nation's "Cops" alumni parading through these town halls, monopolizing microphones, and having conniption fits in front of their congressman or senator. Meanwhile, the handful of sane individuals who still possess most of their mental faculties, some of their original teeth, and actual questions about the nuts and bolts of health care policy get zero camera time and no impending reality show deal.<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Summoned by right-wing groups like </span><a href="http://mediamattersaction.org/factcheck/200908060003"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">FreedomWorks</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> and Americans for Prosperity - both with strong ties to the health insurance industry (surprise!) - many of the crazies at these venues have, predictably, turned irrational - even mobbish - engaging in far more screaming, name-calling, and emotional melt-downing than actual dialogue. From </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/health/policy/12townhall.html?hp"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Times:</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22px; "><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“This is about the dismantling of this country,” Katy Abram, 35, said forcefully to Mr. Specter, drawing one of the most prolonged rounds of applause. “We don’t want this country to turn into Russia.”</span></span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And then:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; "><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“It says plainly right there they want to limit the type of care elderly can get,” said Laurel Tobias, an office manager from Lebanon, referring to a bill in the House. “They are talking about killing people.”</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It says plainly right </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">where</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, exactly? Has Laurel Tobias of Lebanon, Pennsylvania somehow gotten her paws on an advanced draft of Congress' final health care proposal. She has indeed. Except it's the congressional draft that exists only inside her head, along with a firm belief in butterscotch waterfalls, rainbow-colored unicorns, and that Jesus' profile appeared in her Cocoa Pebbles this morning.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Because down here, on planet earth, such a thing has yet to be crafted. There's currently five different unfinished bills, each bouncing around a different congressional committee, with no real resolution in sight. So then who's responsible for manufacturing and propagating such falsities? Once again, from the </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/health/policy/14panel.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">New York Times:</span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; "><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">On Thursday, Mr. Grassley [Republican senator from Iowa] said in a statement that he and others in the small group of senators that was trying to negotiate a health care plan had dropped any “end of life” proposals from consideration.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And yet...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; "><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A pending House bill has language authorizing </span><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about Medicare." style="text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Medicare</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> to finance beneficiaries’ consultations with professionals on whether to authorize aggressive and potentially life-saving interventions later in life.</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Also known as killing Grandma. Seriously, how does one get from "aggressive and potentially life-saving interventions later in life" to "euthanize Nanna"? Oh, that's right - I almost forgot: We're dealing with professional bullshitters. Here's </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/health/policy/14panel.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">yet another nugget</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> from another key Republican voice:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; "><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The syndicated conservative </span><a href="http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/opinion/110446.php" style="text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">columnist Cal Thomas wrote</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, “No one should be surprised at the coming embrace of euthanasia.” The Washington Times editorial page </span><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/11/health-efficiency-can-be-deadly/" style="text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">reprised its reference to the Nazis</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, quoting the Aktion T4 program: “It must be made clear to anyone suffering from an incurable disease that the useless dissipation of costly medications drawn from the public store cannot be justified.”</span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Wait, you weren't aware that Obama and his congressional allies were Nazis? What cave have </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">you</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> been hiding in? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Are you </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/health/policy/14panel.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">sensing a pattern yet</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; "><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The extent to which it and other provisions have been misinterpreted in recent days, notably by angry speakers at recent town hall meetings but also by Ms. Palin — who popularized the “death panel” phrase — has surprised longtime advocates of changes to the health care system.</span></blockquote></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And here's the actual quote:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgement of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px;"><a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/palin-obamas-death-panel-could-kill-my-down-syndrome-baby.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Source:</span></a></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/palin-obamas-death-panel-could-kill-my-down-syndrome-baby.php"></a></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Bureaucrats? Subjective? Productivity? Look who's finally cracked open the shrink wrap on her Kaplan Vocabulary for the SAT flash cards! Nice work, Madame Crazy. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And, finally, </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/health/policy/14panel.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">sage words</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> from the always incisive Glenn Beck:<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; "><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“Sometimes for the common good, you just have to say, ‘Hey, Grandpa, you’ve had a good life.’ ” </span></blockquote></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Because he wields it with the facility that Renoir would have wielded his pallet knife, sometimes Beck's sarcasm is almost too subtle to discern. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Most of the people who've been screaming their heads off at town halls are precisely the types who should despise The Right's economic policies: They're frustrated, disenfranchised, unemployed - and scared shitless. These are individuals who shouldn't be shouting into a microphone, red-faced and teary-eyed, lamenting the onset of socialism (They should be so lucky!) They should be embracing a more humane society, one in which safety nets exist to protect us from financial, environmental, and health catastrophies - any of which can happen to any one of us at any time. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">From </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/business/01meddebt.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Times</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, comes the story of Lawrence Yurdin, a 64-year-old computer specialist:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; "><p></p><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Although the brochure on his </span><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/aetna_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More information about Aetna Incorporated" style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Aetna </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">policy seemed to indicate it covered up to $150,000 a year in hospital care, the fine print excluded nearly all of the treatment he received at an Austin, Tex., hospital. He and his wife, Claire, filed for bankruptcy last December, as his unpaid medical bills approached $200,000.</span></blockquote><p></p></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/business/01meddebt.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">then</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; "><p></p><blockquote><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“Underinsurance is the great hidden risk of the American health care system,” said Elizabeth Warren, a </span><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/h/harvard_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Harvard University." style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Harvard</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> law professor who has </span><a href="http://pnhp.org/new_bankruptcy_study/Bankruptcy-2009.pdf" title="Harvard study." style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">analyzed medical bankruptcies</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. “People do not realize they are one diagnosis away from financial collapse.”</span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Last week, a former </span><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/cigna_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More information about Cigna Corp" style="color: rgb(0, 66, 118); text-decoration: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Cigna</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> executive warned at a Senate hearing on health insurance that lawmakers should be careful about the role they gave private insurers in any new system, saying the companies were too prone to “confuse their customers and dump the sick.”</span></p></blockquote><p></p></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But we just can't help ourselves, can we? Imprisoned by a cascade of emotions, ignorance, and biases - all of which The Right adroitly reinforces through catchy sound bytes, double-speak, and an array of other common propaganda techniques seemingly lifted straight out of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Animal Farm</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Cliffs Notes - leaves the average American incredibly vulnerable to intellectual manipulation.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And instead of shunning these disingenuous, villainous thieves, nearly half of the American electorate continue to align themselves with them. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now that we see the villain for what it truly is, it's not too late to root for the good guys (assuming they still exist).</span></div></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2595360456756715102.post-63823551348620976782009-08-13T23:31:00.000-07:002009-08-25T21:46:46.651-07:00Seriously: You Should Probably Get Out of Here<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVkgba4n8xahHrrN0cGSJ-Ds-edL6BSSgRBxilF0duZZLvNRDrFIzwllmVR9C2-LtLQK5VWaFkEEQ-ygCG2Kyx2PagjMJdjGAjbtMgDlCddOjaqQPZR8GTRiU8PyI1M9aY3HgEeSVhGyg/s1600-h/IMG_2120.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVkgba4n8xahHrrN0cGSJ-Ds-edL6BSSgRBxilF0duZZLvNRDrFIzwllmVR9C2-LtLQK5VWaFkEEQ-ygCG2Kyx2PagjMJdjGAjbtMgDlCddOjaqQPZR8GTRiU8PyI1M9aY3HgEeSVhGyg/s400/IMG_2120.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371420508560025106" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So the Philadelphia Eagles have </span><a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4397938"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">just signed Michael Vick to a contract</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> for the upcoming season. Just a quick primer for those of you who don't closely follow the glamorous and majestic world of animal pit fighting/death matches: Michael Vick's the former NFL all-pro quarterback who was convicted two years ago of first lynching and then lobbing dead pit bulls into mass burials on his own property. He was also found guilty of orchestrating an underground dog-fighting syndicate. Said Dan Shannon, PETA spokesman, to the Associated Press:</span><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; line-height: 17.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color: #333333"></p><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">PETA and millions of decent football fans around the world are disappointed that the Eagles decided to sign a guy who hung dogs from trees. He electrocuted them with jumper cables and held them under water.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><a href="http://wtkk.everyzing.com/m/25876838/08-13-09-guest-dan-shannon-peta-spokesperson.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Source:</span></span></a></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In case you were wondering, Vick will be making $1.6 million this season. So here's a breakdown of the average annual salaries for occupations that are critical to the success of a thriving, stable society. </span></span><p></p><div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ER nurse: </span><a href="http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-Emergency+Room+Nurse/l-Sacramento,+CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">$54,000 </span></a></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Public school teacher: </span><a href="http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-public+high+school+teacher/l-Sacramento%2C+CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">$46,000</span></a></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Soldier fighting in Iraq: </span><a href="http://www.goarmy.com/benefits/total_compensation.jsp#chart"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Approximately $47,000</span></a></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Paramedic: </span><a href="http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-paramedic/l-Sacramento%2C+CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">$46,000</span></a></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Firefighter: </span><a href="http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-firefighter/l-Sacramento%2C+CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">$41,000</span></a></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Police Officer: </span><a href="http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-police+officer/l-Sacramento%2C+CA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">$44,000</span></a></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">NFL has-been dog-killer/mass grave digger: </span><a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4397938"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">$1.6 million</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> (with a vesting option for a second year at over $5 million)</span></li></ul></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Cool. I just wanted to make sure we still have our priorities in order.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">When interviewed, most of Vick's teammates - as well as his head coach - asserted that Vick has "paid his debt to society" and, therefore, deserves a second chance. From Eagles' coach Andy Reid:</span></div><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; line-height: 17.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color: #333333"></p></div><blockquote><div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I'm a believer that as long as people go through the right process, they deserve a second chance.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 17px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Verdana; "><a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4397938"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Source:</span></span></span></a></p></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 17px; font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Then this, from team captain Donovan McNabb:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 17px;font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 17px;font-family:'times new roman';"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px; line-height: 17.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color: #333333"></p><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I pretty much lobbied to get him here," McNabb said. "I believe in second chances and what better place to get a second chance than here with this group of guys. ... He's no threat to me, not for Kolb. We had the opportunity to add another weapon to our offense.</span></span></blockquote><blockquote><a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4397938"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Source: </span></span></a></blockquote><p></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So irrespective of whether a guy's a convicted murderer, as long as he's a "weapon on offense," it's all good?<br /></span></div></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That Manson - I know he's had his troubles, but when you have an opportunity to add a weapon on offense like that, you just go for it. </span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I get it that most professional athletes are coached to speak in unfettered streams of ambiguous cliches when approached by pushy sportswriters seeking a scoop. For the most part, they're probably better off doing so (Even the most eloquent among athletes, such as Derek Jeter, routinely use cliches as handy tools for talking to the media without having to actually say anything.)</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But I do think this is a moment in which these guys - namely Reid and McNabb - would be better served by playing the quiet game, as opposed to sounding even more mindless and insensitive than the typical jock. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">He's paid his debt to society.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> How? By doing what, exactly? By getting cooped-up with other felons and thugs for the past two years? By increasing his squat max? By being traded on the prison black market for a box of Kool menthols? Has Vick gone out of his way to voluntarily perform public service announcements upon his release? Has he donated a substantial chunk of his NFL or commercial endorsement earnings to PETA or ASPCA? Has he used his notoriety to speak out forcefully against animal abuse - or physical cruelty toward any/all living things?</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And then there's </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Everyone deserves a second chance.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Really? </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">D</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">oes</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> everyone deserve a second chance, and, more specifically, a second chance that involves making millions and the opportunity to once again reap the adoration of tens of thousands of cheering fans? </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So here's my not-so-bold prediction: If Michael Vick returns to the pinnacle of his profession (quaterbacking, not drowning furry animals), I can all but guarantee that he will be celebrated, unabashedly, by media and fans alike. And by the league that has seemingly welcomed him back with open arms. I think a safe estimate for his receiving the NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors would be 2012. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Priorities, people. Priorities. </span></span></span></div></div></div>brockdchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324815587188075558noreply@blogger.com0