The Iranian "Madness"

First, let me thank those of you who have offered kind words about the death of our beloved wife and mother, taken unfairly before her time, a terrible blow to all kind and decent people everywhere. Your comments have been noted and deeply appreciated.

But life does go on and the journey to the west is both mostly predictable and certainly inevitable. While one is tempted to concentrate on his or her personal problems there are larger problems that are more important and sometimes less understandable. One of these problems for me has to do with Iran. I simply do not fully understand the obsession we and the Israelis have with Iran, nor do I understand why at least some other countries have been convinced to play along with our obsessions.

In spite of all the propaganda and negative news coverage I simply do not believe Iran is a threat to either the U.S. or even Israel. I do not believe they are about to make a nuclear bomb, I do not believe that even if they had such a bomb it would pose a threat to the U.S., Israel, or the entire world as some (mostly Bibi Netanyahu) would have us believe. Even more fundamentally, I do not believe that anyone in Israel or the U.S. believes in this utter nonsense. It seems crystal clear to me that the threat has nothing whatsoever to do with the bomb or the actual behavior of Iranians. It has to do with the threat to Western-European hegemony in the Middle East. The U.S. and Israel are the last two colonial powers that do not want to give up their control of Middle East oil production. This is in my opinion not only stupid but eventually hopeless, just as it is proving to be in Middle and South America.

First of all, the age of oil is going to come to an end eventually. Second, has anyone seriously reflected on how much oil we could have purchased with the apparent three trillion dollars we have wasted trying to control it instead of just buying it? If we had bought it fairly it would have no only benefitted us, it would also have greatly benefitted those who wanted to sell it, rather than being devastated and destroyed as they have been they could have thrived happily selling their most important product. The Western-European presence in the Middle East has always from the very beginning been driven by colonial greed rather than hogwash about spreading democracy and/or Christianity to the heathens. We are now witnessing the last vestiges of former colonial power being eroded by people who have had quite enough of it, and Iran is a perfect example as our history of interfering with their country is well known. Furthermore they have tried repeatedly for a negotiated solution only to have been summarily rejected. I would like to believe that Obama’s crippling sanctions are motivated by his sincere desire to avoid another illegal “war” in the Middle East and placate the Israelis but I could be wrong. The sanctions are themselves basically stupid as other countries violate them and they only serve to harm mostly innocent children. Our behavior towards Iran, along with that of Israel, is nothing short of barbaric, a classic example of the worst kind of colonialism. How it will end I do not know, but if Obama successfully prevents a “war” he should receive credit for it although the price the Iranians are being made to pay is exorbitant beyond belief.

I firmly believe that at this moment in time the greatest threat to peace in the Middle East, and indeed the world, is not Iran, it is Israel and the United States of America, the last colonials.

I do not generally indulge in post mortems, but I am haunted by how different the situation would be if our criminal Supreme Court had not anointed George W. Bush as President of the U.S. instead of Al Gore,

God said this is our land, land in which we flourish as people... we want our cattle to get fat on our land so that our children grow up in prosperity; and we do not want the fat removed to feed others."

Jomo Kenyatta

It Ain't Over 'til it's Over

It ain’t over ‘til it’s over, and I think it’s over, this ridiculous four year campaign for the Presidency of the United States, that is. Can you imagine any other country on earth exhausting so much money and time trying to select a leader for the next four years? We have managed to take an event that should take maybe a month or two at most into a non-stop four-year enterprise. Who benefits from this farce? What is the point? Why do we put up with this? As near as I can tell most of the benefits must have to do with the media, especially television, who reap enormous profits from the advertising that is now so much of the process. And who owns the media that profits the most? Why, surprise, the very corporations that manage the whole show. I guess you might have noticed that we are already talking about the 2016 elections, will Hillary run for President or not, and so on. U. S. elections are now an ongoing soap opera rather than a serious attempt to manage a country. It’s the nonsensical entertaining the nonsensical.

I mean, really, how can anyone take this seriously? Billions of dollars have been spent over months now promoting one or another candidate (probably already chosen), even though by the admission of most observers no one has paid any attention until now, and some acknowledge there are even still undecided voters. What was the point of all this expenditure? This is, to put it mildly, madness. Government and governing is no longer serious business in the U.S., it is simply entertainment, sound and fury signifying nothing. Whichever candidate wins they will still be beholden to the powers that be, Wall Street and the massive corporations that control the world. It’s true that Obama may be given license to make some basically cosmetic changes, improve the middle class, build some bridges, offer a bit more health care, continue to allow contraception and abortion, maybe even increase taxes a smidgen on the filthy rich, but they won’t even notice it and it won’t make any significant difference as long as the powers that be continue to rake in their profits. They don’t care about all these minuscule changes that will, even if generous, do nothing to seriously affect the status quo. American capitalism will survive, the rich will continue to get richer, the poor may stop getting poorer, but the basic swindle will continue. Marx failed to realize that the poor could be placated by “a six-pack of beer and a long-legged whore on Saturday night” (not an original observation by Morialekafa).

President Obama is not a socialist, far from it, in spite of what the lunatic right seems to believe. The basic system will remain intact with just a few adjustments here and there. We will no doubt continue with our heads buried in the sand, ignoring global warming, increasing poverty, environmental devastation, everything that truly matters, while fussing over a Black President, who said what to whom, what did he/she really mean by that, is cleavage in fashion this year, and what will Lindsay Lohan do next. And oh, yes, should we unilaterally, illegally, unconstitutionally, and immorally attack Iran to please Bibi. It’s the American way.

Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy.

George Bernard Shaw

The Less They Know...

It appears to me that the less one knows the more authoritatively they speak. Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan, for example, has now said that preventing Gay marriage is a human universal. This is just not so. Among American Indians there was a custom known as the berdache that involved such marriages. I am pretty certain that such marriages also occurred in at least some other cultures. Similarly, opponents of Gay marriages often argue that a marriage between a single man and a single woman are the most natural form of marriage, also not true. First, the preferred marriage choice on a worldwide basis is polygamy although it is true that most marriages involve only one man and one wife which seems to be the most practical form as most men cannot afford more than one wife. But the number of wives one is allowed to have varies from one to more, including in rare cases even hundreds of wives and concubines.

There is also found in some cases polyandry, the marriage of one woman to two or more husbands. This was very common among the Toda of India, the two or more husbands usually being brothers. The first child or two of such a marriage was claimed by the eldest brother, subsequent children were believed to be the children of other brothers irrespective of who the actual biological father was.

As I have not followed my anthropological career for many years my memory may be a bit faulty on these matters, but I remember enough to know that marriages can involve many things that do not follow the one man one woman claim. Among the Nuer in Africa, for example, if a woman’s husband dies without leaving a child she can marry again, or even bring in some other man to give her a child that will legally belong to the deceased husband. Similarly, she can even marry the ghost of a brother and have a child in his name. As I dimly recall she can even marry another woman if the woman has sufficient cattle to be considered a man, and produce children in her name. Anyway, those who make claims about universal monogamy being the only preferred or “natural” marriage pattern simply don’t know what they are talking about, but of course, that doesn’t keep them from being authorities on the subject.

Speaking out of ignorance seems to be quite typical in the United States. Take the case for the claim of socialism against Obama. Those who argue that Obama is a socialist appear to have little or no knowledge of socialism. Obamacare, that might be considered by some to be a form of socialism, is quite definitely not socialism for the simple reason that it still involves private insurance companies. It is not a program run by the government as, in fact, it ought to be. It is quite clear the only efficient and affordable form of health care would be a single payer system as most other industrialized nations have, but Obama did not even try to push such a system. A single payer system will ultimately prevail because it is the only really affordable option, other than providing no care at all as Republicans seem to favor, the “I’ve got mine the hell with you system.” Similarly, when Obama rescued the auto companies he did not nationalize them, the government did not take them over and run them as any socialist would have done. The claim that Obama is a socialist is poppycock pure and simple, made by people who have no idea what they are talking about.

Along these lines we hear Romney and others babbling on about how the 47% or others think they are entitled to health care, food stamps, and government support of all kinds and so on. Others babble about “God-given” or “Natural rights.” As I have said previously, probably more than once, there are no God-given or Natural rights. If you receive health care or unemployment insurance or some such benefits you do so by virtue of living and participating in a decent, caring, responsible group of people who have decided to look after and help each other deal with the exigencies of human life. That is the basic purpose of government in spite of what that nitwit Saint Romney wanted us to believe. The differences in attitude towards government could not be more stark than they are at the moment in the coming election. Obama believes we are all in this together, Romney and his other vulture capitalists promote the most primitive form of social Darwinism in which each individual is on his or her own, a way of life that is obviously incompatible with any form of government other than naked capitalistic greed in which people basically cannibalize each other with only the wealthiest surviving until the inevitable collapse. In all known cultures that have survived over time the members are not only obliged to help each other in difficult times but do, in fact, generously do so. Only vulture capitalists who prey on those who stand in the way of their holy profits seem to depart from this universal pattern of human life. Take away their millions and billions and put them on their own and see how far they get in life. It would be a noble experiment.

The last capitalist we hang shall be the one who sold us the rope.

Karl Marx

I'm Back, I Think

I thought I had completely gone through the various stages of life one experiences on the journey to the west: infant, child, mister, sir, grandpa, pops, old Mr. L... However, now that my wonderful wife has departed, ending her journey to the west, I have achieved still another title, "Poor Old Mr. L..." From the time she died on the 15th until just today it has been a nightmare experience. There is so much to do and I am so helpless. I know how to do virtually nothing and having to learn even the basics of everyday existence, all those things my wife did for almost 30 years. I find that it takes me a week to do what she could accomplish in a single morning. I believe I will survive, at least for a time, but I know from observing my father and a few friends that husbands do not last very long after they lose their wives.

Having been oblivious to anything for the past ten days I am not really surprised to learn that Romney/Ryan are tanking and that Obama is completely outclassing them. Both of them strike me as spoiled brats that have no idea how ordinary people live and cope, and they seem to lack even the most basic qualities of empathy and understanding. They seem unable to understand they cannot gain the White House simply by badmouthing Obama and offering no specific solutions of their own, of course they have nothing besides the usual "smaller government, lower taxes mantra" that has already failed miserably. I think, at least I hope the public is on to the absurdity of this position. If not perhaps they will deserve what they get if these two "unprepared for prime time" candidates somehow manage to get elected.

I do not see how they can possibly be elected as they have managed to alienate virtually every voting block there is except for the hard core racists and uneducated Whites (they may even be losing some of them). One of these nitwits in Montana has suggested there will be a revolution of Obama is re-elected. Actually, I think a revoultion is much more likely if he does not get re-elected. The only way he will not be re-elected is if the Republicans somehow manage to actually steal the election. And given the fact that Obama is now far ahead in most polls, and the Republicans only have thier base (if that), if Obama is defeated it will only have been possible because of outright fraud, thus disenfranchising the electorate and destroying the democratic process (such as it is).

It is being said by some that Romney's last chance will be the coming debate on October 3rd. I cannot imagine Romney can best  Obama in a debate and I hope he leaves with his tail between his legs. Of course if he loses the Tea Party clowns will say he wasn't really their candidate anyway and will probably continue their insane behavior. The only real solution to this problem is if the Democrats manage to control both the Senate and the House, as well as the Presidency, in a victory so massive it will virtually destroy them and perhaps even the Republican Party itself (at least for several years).

What goes around, comes around.

The Journey to the West is Hard, Indeed

My lovely, talented, and most wonderful wife of almost 30 years, sixty years of age, in perfect health, who took care of herself religiously, suddenly and completely unexpectedly suffered a massive stroke on a Thursday afternoon and died on Saturday morning at 11.33 a.m. It was a shock unbelievable in its intensity for me and also for her many friends in the community. It was so unbelievable that many refused to believe it without further confirmation. Even now I find it impossible to believe. It was so unfair, so unjust, so completely senseless, and obviously should have happened to me rather than to her.

Linda was during her lifetime a daughter, sister, wife, mother, and the anchor of our life together. She was also at times a dancer, sailor, waitress, bookstore manager, researcher, anthropologist, linguist, scholar, teacher, chef, political activist, environmentalist, blogger, and a gifted poet. In the words of Walt Whitman’s, “Song of Myself,” she was, in fact, a “multitude.”

In New Guinea, where houses are constructed around a central post that supports all the rest of the structure, the leader of the group is often described as the “House Post.” There is no doubt whatsoever that Linda was our House Post, and now that she is gone that house will begin to crumble, fall into disrepair, and eventually disappear.

As a girl, Linda attended a Lutheran school and was steeped in bible studies, and later, in college, she also studied the bible. As a mature woman and anthropologist she came to realize and appreciate the superficiality of organized religions and the unbelievable diversity of religious beliefs around the world. Even so, she maintained her own spirituality. She fought for what she believed in, championed the downtrodden, neglected, and handicapped, and was, as she herself admitted, a true, “Bleeding heart Liberal.” She was one of the very best of humanity, a joy to know, a rare credit to the human species. There are no words to describe the void her untimely departure has left, nor are there enough tears to express our sorrow. She was to have become a grandmother in one month’s time. It is true, of course, life is indeed cruel and unjust. Now we are left with only memories of better times. The journey to the west is bitter and difficult but continues relentlessly.

Romney's "Cheap Shot"

You are no doubt aware by now of the complete ass Romney made of himself over the tragedy in Libya where our Ambassador and 3 other Americans were killed. Not only did he blurt out his idiotic comments before he had the facts about what happened, he made it obvious he was motivated by purely political motives, thus trying to score political points on the death of our representatives in Libya. He went on to babble about American values and how we should stick up for our values, apparently believing that mocking and slandering other religions is an American value. Most everyone is outraged by his statements, except for good ol’ Reince Priebus, the head of the RNC, who seems to be behaving as he must have when he was still the fourth grade. Romney has proven once again that he has little or no sense of what is appropriate behavior, either in general or politically.

Romney said, among other things, that the Obama administration (and therefore Obama) showed more sympathy for the attackers than the attacked. This is an absolutely outrageous charge to be made against the President of the United States. Indeed, outrageous is not a strong enough word. Why would Romney even think of saying such a terrible thing? I do not believe this is something that anyone would have said about a White President, no matter who he or she was. It is possible that Romney just spoke without thinking (not unusual for Mitt), but it is also possible (and I think perhaps even probable) that it was a calculated slander. The reason it could be made against President Obama as opposed to any other President is because it fits perfectly with the Republican campaign to label Obama as a Muslim, or at least a Muslim sympathizer. Romney and his advisors may have thought this would play really well with the Republican Tea Party base, and maybe it does. But if this was what was behind it, it labels Romney not only as a cheap political creep but also as a genuine racist slimeball.

I assume Romney, when he spoke of upholding American values, may have been thinking of our value of free speech, or at least that is what he would like us to believe. And yes, free speech is an American value, but merely saying that is a terrible oversimplification of what freedom of speech entails, or at least what it should entail. Like many things citizens of the U.S. enjoy, free speech has to have some constraints. You cannot, for example, falsely yell “fire” in a movie theater, nor as a property owner can you do absolutely everything you might want to do with your property if it is going to cause grievous injury to your neighbors. All freedoms come with responsibilities as well. In my opinion if some fundamentalist minister announces publically he is going to burn copies of the Koran, or if some anti-Muslim bigot in California makes a slanderous movie insulting Islam, they are seriously overstepping the bounds of responsibility in their exercise of free speech. And when their behavior results in the deaths of their fellow citizens because they have outraged at least some Muslims they should have to pay the consequences, just as should a person who falsely yells fire during a movie. There are more than a billion Muslims in the world, and probably about the same number of Christians. It simply will not do to try to provoke a religious war between them.

Republicans have tried to make much of their false claim that Obama is “weak,” and goes around the world apologizing for America, bowing to foreign leaders, and so on. Like all of their criticisms of Obama there is no truth to this. But interestingly enough Obama gets no credit for standing up to Netanyahu and trying as hard as possible to keep us from being involved in still another illegal, unconstitutional, and completely unnecessary war in the Middle East. Obama, almost uniquely for American Presidents, has refused to kiss the hem of Netanyahu’s trousers and give in to his every criminal wish. Obama is in a very difficult, almost impossible position, caught between doing what is right and proper and a U.S. Congress so in love with Netanyahu they are prepared to give him every green light to slaughter Arabs at will, indeed, they virtually urge him to do so in their apparently insane desire to keep us involved in perennial wars (have to keep the military/industrial/political complex in big bucks, you know). Romney has been slowly sinking in the polls. If this latest blunder is the last straw in his failing campaign for the Presidency so be it. And if, as some Republicans are saying, a Romney defeat will spell the end of the Republican Party, I say hooray! They certainly deserve oblivion after the last 20 years of their basically criminal enterprise. It couldn’t happen to a more disgusting bunch,

It is the nature of ambition to make men liars and cheats, to hide the truth in their breasts, and show, like jugglers, another thing in their mouths, to cut all friendships and enmities to the measure of their own interest, and to make a good countenance without the help of good will.

Sallust

Supersized, Privatized, and Polarized

I believe the United States of America, as a nation, is about to go the way of all empires. You might argue that we are not an empire but that would be mere quibbling over terms, obviously we are the closest thing to an empire that currently exists on this tiny planet we all must call home. I believe the reasons for this demise can probably be pretty well summed up by the verbs supersized, privatized and polarized. Granted this is a subject that cries out for a book length, if not encyclopedia length treatment, I cannot help but pose the situation as I see it.

The reasons for this demise are manifold, but there is little doubt we are a culture of the supersized. Obesity is a national problem for the first time in history, what with meals, soft drinks, popcorn, automobiles, housing, airplanes, and virtually everything we use having become far larger than ever before. Even our possessions are supersized with every wide spot in the road now having rows of storage facilities for the apparent millions upon millions of tons of stuff we thought we had to have but now have to somehow dispose of without actually taking it to the dump, dumps being also supersized to take care of the stuff we already take there, being unable, as yet, to simply dispose of it in outer space (we have already begun filling outer space up with our stuff). An economy based upon built in obsolescence, as ours has been for so many years is itself a form of supersizing. We have even supersized violence and sex, using any excuse for overemphasizing both themes whenever possible. And, of course, we have supersized our importance in the world with out unceasing claim of being exceptional.

Supersizing, while of great importance, is made possible by privatization, probably the most anti-national program ever conceived. Consider, for example, the importance of educating the young, who represent the future of the nation. Rather than providing our youths with affordable opportunities for education we have mired them in debt by forcing them to borrow money to even try to attain an education. This is, to put it mildly, completely absurd and came about because students were a prime target to sacrifice on the altar of profit. Consider our national elections that have become an ongoing process from the moment one President is sworn in to campaigning for the next election four years in the future. Who benefits from this ongoing process, why corporations, of course, who own the media that rake in billions. No one else benefits, not the electorate who just remain confused and misinformed and actually don’t even pay attention until to the last moment when they are then allowed to choose between two already chosen candidates. I see no reason whatsoever why the elections should take more than, say, a month. But where’s the profit in that? Similarly, the idea that you can privatize necessary human needs such as health care, energy, education, prisons, and even such basic necessities as water, is absurd on the face of it. Even the privatization of land is fraught with potential problems as land is just another word for the environment.

The problems we face as a nation are no longer being met by those who are presumably elected to serve the public interest. Polarization has become the reality of the moment. This is, I think, a kind of variation of the Morialekafa 20-60-20 rule, except it may be more correct ot think of it as the 10-80-10 rule. Even those proportions may be slightly too generous. What we seem to have is a situation where 10 percent of the population that already controls 80 percent of the wealth is trying to maintain and even improve their position, while another 10 percent understands what they are doing, and the 80 percent, having been poorly educated and fed so much propaganda are seemingly lost in a world of consumer goods, sporting events, and ignorance. When you have a population where so many believe angels are real, Obama is a Muslim, a majority don’t even know for certain who was responsible for the death of bin Laden, and so forth, you should know you are primed real trouble. Such is the condition the U.S. has fallen into in recent years. I fear if we continue down this path of certain failure we will, indeed, eventually fail.

Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone

John Maynard Keynes

Agent Garbo - book

Agent Garbo the Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day, Stephan Talty, 2012, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

This is a Spy tale that while true does read rather like a novel. Not only that, the tale itself is so fantastic you might well believe it is a work of fiction. I confess to finding it hard to believe that German Intelligence was so easily duped by one Spaniard and his almost completely fictional troop of spies and even a million man army that he at one time essentially made to disappear, and who managed to keep Hitler’s troops so confused about the Normandy landing they arrived only after it was too late to effectively prevent it.

What is even more incredible is the main character, a young Spaniard named Juan Pojol, who prior to becoming a double agent nicknamed Garbo (apparently because of his abilities along those lines), had accomplished very little in life, managed to become a spy at all, let alone one of the most successful of WW II. He knew nothing of espionage, but having seen both sides of the Spanish Civil War and becoming disenchanted by both sides, and having come to despise fascism and especially Hitler, decided on his own he should become a spy and work against the Germans. He initially attempted to volunteer as a spy for the British but as he had nothing but good intentions was ignored. He decided that if they were to take him seriously he would have to have at least something to show them he did have information. He then approached the Germans and finally encountered a German intelligence officer that gave him some invisible ink and rather minor instructions, with which he then convinced the British he was real. He was all by himself sending false information to the Germans before the British recruited him as a double agent.

Once he was actively engaged by the British he was given a handler who helped him enormously and worked closely with him throughout the duration of the war. He was allowed to feed just enough true accounts of activities to the Germans that he eventually became one of their most trusted agents. Over time he invented a host of other completely fictional spies who supposedly fed him information from various different locations. He made some serious mistakes a couple of times but somehow the Germans always fell for his explanations and had developed complete trust in him. Once, for example, he sent some extremely important information that was true, but arranged to have it delivered a day late. Garbo (Pujol) was regarded by the Germans with such respect he was awarded an Iron Cross, usually reserved for active troops serving in combat. Pujol’s most important deception, that saved literally thousands of lives, was his role in convincing the Germans the allied attack would occur at Calais when in fact it was to occur in Normandy. He and other British spies convinced even Hitler this was the case even though Hitler himself had been certain they would mount the attack on Normandy and only changed his mind at the last minute because of their successful deception. Some German officers even after the war did not understand what had actually happened.

One of the things I found most fascinating about this book is the discussion of the competence of both British and German Intelligence at the beginning of the war. There is little about the Germans aside from the obvious fact they were not entirely competent, but the British recruitment of spies, at least initially, was somewhat haphazard and brought together a collection of rather odd characters. There was Pujol himself, of course, not a likely candidate for such an important role, but there were others perhaps even more unlikely. Johann Jebsen, son of a wealthy Hamburg shipping mogul, with a monocle and Mercedes-Benz convertible who wore fine suits and dazzled beautiful young girlfriends, his friend Susko Popov, a Serb who became a double agent known as tricycle, a beautiful Peruvian girl known as Bronx, Brutus, a Polish air force officer, and elegant small and somewhat obnoxious man whose real name was David Strangeways, and many, many others: “For years, the intelligence services had been the home of clubbable young society men and veterans of the Indian colonial police force; ‘eggheads’ were looked down upon and rarely hired. Now the British government began signing up academics at a furious clip: historians, linguists and classicists for the spy services, and mathematicians and scientists for analytical jobs like codebreaking. Oddballs, such as the almost unfathomably brilliant Alan Turing, became the order of the day.” Somehow this unlikely group of eggheads managed to win the day.

Pujol paid a price in his family life for his service, at one point faked his death and lived undetected for several years to be eventually found and highly honored. If you like spy tales this is a particularly good one.

The Democratic Convention

I have just now turned off the Democratic Convention that I believe was very successful. If speechmaking, enthusiasm, and passion could win the election Democrats would win it hands down. President Obama was faced with an almost impossible challenge, making a better speech that Michelle and Clinton. I don’t think he did, but he did make another fine speech and certainly did not lose any points. I don’t know why in the world people think making speeches is a contest of some sort, just like a prize fight or a football game. One of the peculiar characteristics of American culture these days seems to be the belief that everything has to be a contest or competition of some kind. Even the cooking shows have developed into contests. Of course you might say the comparison between Obama and Romney isn’t really much of a contest as the latter isn’t even a worthy opponent.

I think I might have an idea about why it is the polls keep insisting this is going to be a close race, a nail-biter, and so on. Given the makeup of the electorate, with Blacks, Latinos, Women, young and old, and many others disenchanted with Republicans and so obviously favoring Obama and the Democrats, how is it possible the polls cannot be reflecting this? It makes no sense whatsoever to me as I would think if the truth were known Obama would be favored by a virtual landslide. I believe there is something strange, even dishonest about the polls. Remember that most polls are being conducted and reported by the MSM that obviously favors and protects Republicans. They have to maintain the race is truly close because they intend to steal the election. If there was a truly wide discrepancy in the polls and the Republicans should win the election it would appear to be obviously questonable because they must have stolen it. They would have no credibility. If, on the other hand, we can be made to believe it is really close, and then they steal it, it would be much harder to prove it was fixed. I don’t know if this is true, and it may not be true at all, but as I do not trust Republicans to play fair, what with their massive attempts to suppress the vote, their ownership of the voting machines, the huge fortunes they are putting into their attempt to defeat Obama, I would put nothing past them, nothing at all.

I was truly moved by the speech given by Representative John Lewis from Georgia, one of the first Freedom Riders and a victim of vicious beatings by those opposed to the civil rights of Blacks. He was there, he experienced what happened like few others, and has survived to become a fine Representative. I thought Jennifer Grandholm’s speech was also very effective as she spoke with passion and authority I had never seen in her before. Of course Joe Biden gave a fine speech and a wonderful description of his experience working with President Obama. Obama’s speech was perhaps not one of his very best, but it was fine and managed to portray Romney/Ryan as the bungling amateurs they really are. I found it interesting that neither Michael Steele nor Steve Schmidt, Republican analysts, could find anything bad to say about any of the Democratic speeches. I will be surprised if they don’t eventually jump ship and give up trying to defend the indefensible.

In fact, by any yardstick of reason or decency, unless Republican do succeed in stealing this election, I would be surprised if this does not spell the demise of their Party for years to come. It is already being said by some that this is the last time they can attempt to win an election by appealing to the angry, uneducated, White voters, and as they have grievously offended most everyone else I cannot see how they can recover without several years of massive changes to appeal to all those they have alienated. The electorate is changing dramatically and they are not keeping up with the changes. In my opinion, since the Clinton Presidency, what used to be a respectable political party has morphed into little more than a criminal conspiracy, and like all criminal enterprises deserves to be treated as such. I don’t think lying and stealing should be rewarded, and as that seems to be all they have to offer they should go the way of all such organizations. The wheels of justice turn slowly, but I like to believe they are still turning here in my wonderful country.

It does no harm just once in a while to acknowledge that the whole country isn't in flames, that there are people in the country besides politicians, entertainers, and criminals.

Charles Kuralt

Belief and Behavior

Stephen Pizzo, who writes for the Smirking Chimp and elsewhere, has raised an interesting question that is not usually supposed to be discussed. In its clearest form:

“Just how strange, even crazy, does a candidate's self-stated belief structure have be, before it's just too crazy?”

He has Mitt Romney and his Mormon beliefs in mind, because:

“That's why I'm doing this. I may regret it. But I'd regret even more waking up on the third Wednesday this November to discover we have a man in the Oval Office who believes things, at the very core of his being, that are provably untrue, phantasmagorical in the extreme, homophobic and misogynistic and authoritarian. Who firmly believes in entire civilizations that never existed and that a 150-years ago convicted conman and womanizer was shown the "real truth" by looking through a "seer stone," a rock with hole in it.”

I am not particularly interested in Romney’s specific beliefs or how “phantasmagorical in the extreme” they may be, mainly because I find the stated and written beliefs of all religions more or less phantasmagorical. I am interested here in the much broader question having to do with the relationship of belief to both what is claimed to be the beliefs and the ensuing behavior. There must be thousands, perhaps millions of people who claim to be devout Christians who, I am reasonably certain, do not, in fact, believe in a literal interpretation of the bible. I doubt that most of them believe Jonah was swallowed by a whale, or that Noah built an ark large enough to encourage a pair of all the creatures of the earth, or that someone parted the Red Sea, or perhaps even in virgin birth. Such Christians can go to church regularly, enjoy the sermons, the hymns, and the fellowship, the community spirit and social solidarity, and what have you, even though when pressed would admit they do not actually believe everything they are said to believe, and for the most part these beliefs also do not affect their behavior (although I guess there are some few who actively search for the ark).

It is not difficult to find all kinds of examples where people profess to believe things but do not behave accordingly or appropriately. I know, for example, there are Jews who eat pork, there are Muslims who drink alcohol, Catholics who do not take communion or eat fish on Friday, and quite likely Mormons who do not always tithe the expected ten percent. Most certainly there are many who do not observe the golden rule, “Do unto others…” And how many religious believers go through life avoiding all seven of the deadly sins? And what greater disconnect between belief and behavior could you possibly find that some 97% of Catholic women use contraception against the beliefs of their Church?

It is not just in the religious sphere of cultures where stated beliefs are not really believed or acted upon. A simple example from the New Guinea Highlands makes the point. The natives I worked with refuse to eat chickens because, they believe, chickens eat feces. But they eat pigs although they know pigs also eat feces. This contradiction does not bother them in the slightest, it’s just the way things are. Here is an examle of people acting on a belief in one case but not the other. There are always exceptions, it seems, when it comes to beliefs. Thou shall not kill,” for example, is constantly invoked depending upon who is involved, who is being killed, how much oil is involved, and so on. Some cultures put such a high premium on virginity they test for it after the first night intercourse occurs in a marriage, and there are consequences for any suspicion of a violation. When this takes the form of stoning the bride or some other serious punishment we can say that in such a case people really do behave as they believe they should. Similarly, in the case of suttee, when a wife climbs onto her husband’s funeral pyre and voluntarily burns to death, you have a genuine case of behavior following belief.

So, it is not necessarily the beliefs of someone that are important, it is what relationship there exists between their actual behavior and their belief system. As Pizzo says, some, perhaps even most politicians, use their professed religious beliefs only as one of the requirements you need for office in the U.S. Who knows how serious they are about such beliefs? Generally speaking this does not usually raise a problem. However, the question of how a politician’s beliefs might influence his/her behavior is potentially crucial. If a candidate claims they are strictly pro-life will they work to overturn Roe vs Wade? What do you believe yourself if someone tells you they are pro-life but will not work to overturn Roe vs. Wade? What if a Catholic claims their loyalty to country is stronger than their loyalty to church, as in the case of John Kennedy? What if a known conservative bible-thumper swears they will uphold the distinction between church and state? And what if that promise turns out to be a lie? What if a candidate like Romney refuses to discuss his religion but it contains beliefs and ceremonies that are known to be phantasmagorical as Pizzo is suggesting?

There is supposed to be a clear separation of church and state in the U.S., but this distinction has been more and more violated, especially in recent years. As it turns out this distinction is virtually impossible to achieve, especially in a nation that claims more religious believers than most other industrialized nations. I suspect we are increasingly becoming a laughingstock around the world, to say nothing of the hypocrisy involved in our foreign policy, wars, and violence without end. Like Pizzo, I cannot answer his basic question, but merely bring it to your attention. You decide. My personal opinion has never been a secret. There are too many “Churches of the Altogether Bonkers” and far too little interest or emphasis on education and intellectual activity. But, then, it is football season.

Anybody who watches three games of football in a row should be declared brain dead.

Erma Bombeck

Further Notes on the Nacirema

I have been inspired to write these further comments on Nacirema society and culture because of the approaching llabtoof season. The llabtoof season can be described in our language as an annual occurrence of supreme importance to the Nacirema. It begins in what we consider autumn when the deciduous leaves just begin to turn, known to the first Nacirema, the snaidni, as the Full Corn Moon, continues through the Hunter’s moon when the leaves are truly falling, the Full Beaver Moon, and the Long Nights Moon, finally culminating usually in the Full Wolf Moon. It begins conveniently when it does because it is usually during this time the beasts are slaughtered that provide the niksgip for the sacred llabtoof, the primary ball-like object, pointed at both ends to enhance its aerodynamic qualities, used in all the games.

Llabtoof is described as a game by some, but for others it might well be considered a religion. Although it is played everywhere in Naciremaland, it is considered much more important in certain regions than others, although I cannot explain why this should be. During the season it dominates virtually all other activities for the Nacirema. It is played by Nacirema males from a very early age and on up in age until the players are in their twenties or thirties. Although it is not completely banned for Nacirema females, that gender only very rarely engage in it directly, preferring instead to dress in brief costumes and jump up and down hollering and waving brightly colored shredded paper as the games progress.

Those young Nacirema that prove to be the most talented and adept at the game gain in importance to the point where they are rewarded by free admittance to the institutions of Nacirema higher learning, the seitisrevinu. As the seitisrevinu are the intellectual centers of the Nacirema, and there is nothing intellectual about llabtoof, this is by no means easy to explain. It is also virtually impossible to explain why the most exalted high priests of the game, the sehcaoc, some of whom attain mythical proportions for their successes , are rewarded far more handsomely than the even the highest placed leaders of the seitisrevinu that employ them. Each of the most important sehcaoc is provided with a number of specialized assistants that instruct the players in skills like throwing and receiving the llabtoof, head-slapping, leg-whipping, and what is described in general as “smash-mouth llabtoof.”

Llabtoof is played in gigantic stadiums that sometimes will accommodate 100,000 or more spectators who often dress in rather outrageous costumes, wear funny hats, shout encouragement as loudly as they are able, drink and eat, and also wave towels and other things. These stadiums are extremely costly and are most usually built at public expense, even though the revenue generated by them is claimed by those already very wealthy individuals that own the teams. The teams are most usually named after totemic creatures such as bears, falcons, tigers, and lions, but sometimes after mythical creatures such as giants or saints, and sometimes, more rarely, after local names like packers or oilers. Although these names have lost the former totemic significance they once had for the snaidni, they are of great importance to those who claim them as their own. The owners compete with each other for the best players available and often must pay exorbitant salaries for those considered the very best. The leader of each team, known for some unknown historical reason as a “quarterback,” is usually assisted by halfbacks, fullbacks, and a host of other specialized players variously known as ends, tackles, guards, and so on. The quarterback is almost always the most highly remunerated player on the team and also the most difficult to replace, so the rules have had to be changed over time to protect him from injury. The modern day players now wear elaborately padded costumes, helmets, face masks, and other protective gear that has evolved over time from the original much simpler uniforms of the past, and the rules regarding specifically what kinds of violence is permitted have been modified. To reduce the need for holy-mouth-men the players wear special rubber mouth guards. In spite of these precautions players sometimes still have to visit a latipsoh or a holy-mouth-man. Even so, as llabtoof has always been considered a vicarious substitute for warfare, emphasizes only manly virtues of strength, courage, bravery and stamina, as well as strategy and defense, and as it is most basically a violent sport, these changes have offended the most committed aficionados of the game who believe the game is being ruined by becoming more and more “sissified.” Similarly, a well-known Professor who once wrote an essay suggesting certain homoerotic elements to the game immediately began receiving death threats. Players and fans take llabtoof very seriously. Each llabtoof team has its own medicine men and many now employ their own specially trained “listeners,” that attempt to exorcise the devils that sometimes cause poor performance by the players, especially the quarterbacks and all-important specialty “kickers.”

Llabtoof is a uniquely Nacirema phenomenon that has virtually attained the status of a religion. It has replaced what was long regarded as the quintessential Nacirema pastime, llabesab. Llabesab still exists of course, and has been even more successful at becoming an international sport than llabtoof, but here in Naciremaland it is llabtoof that now prevails unchallenged, with lower level games played on Friday nights, seitisrevinu games on Saturdays, and the most high-powered, highly paid, and prestigious professional llabtoof now played religiously every Sunday. It must also be mentioned here that what once began as a young man’s amateur sport, played for fun, has now grown into a serious billion dollar capitalistic enterprise. Those who participate at the highest levels, players and sehcaoc alike, increasingly regarded as entertainers, are paid staggeringly large sums of money. The revenue generated from advertising and sales of memorabilia runs into the billions.

Some people think llabtoof is a matter of life and death. I don't like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.

Bill Shankly

The Greatest Scam Ever

I know I have written about this before, but as I think it is the single most important thing to understand about the current election cycle I feel compelled to pursue it again and again. Republicans are attempting what has to be the most important and potentially dangerous scam ever, especially in Presidential politics. They have been promoting this absolutely shameful attempt at a sort of nonviolent coup ever since President Obama was elected and it was now featured in their convention.

Republicans met apparently on the same night Obama was sworn in as President and devised a strategy to make him a one term President. They may have hidden the fact of the meeting but they announced publicly their intentions. They have remained remarkably faithful to this scenario and have acted accordingly, opposing everything Obama has tried to do to help our country recover from the worst recession since the 1930’s. The results of this are obvious, few jobs created, the national debt increased, wages lower than even previously, unions busted, education shorted, infrastructure ignored, and nowhere near what might have been accomplished for the almost four years of Obama’s Presidency. That Obama has managed to accomplish anything at all is nearly miraculous.

What makes this of unusual significance is that it is completely unprecedented. Never before has one of our two political parties simply refused to govern, to take part in the ordinary management of our nation. The minority party is not supposed to just quit, to do nothing when it comes to the business of the country. It is true they are the opposition party, but they are supposed to be the loyal opposition, not the disloyal opposition. No provision was made for this situation and there seems to be nothing that can be done about it. No provision was made for it because no one, including the Founding Fathers, ever imagined it could or would ever happen, that any political party would put its own ambition above the welfare of the country. Politicians are not supposed to throw their patriotism and concern for the country out the window when they lose an election. But this is precisely what the modern Republican Party has done. In my opinion this could easily be considered treason as it is a deliberately organized attempt to overthrow the legitimately elected President of the country. If treason is not the right word for this I suggest there is no word for it, as it has never happened before in the history of our country.

Republicans deliberately hatched this plot to refuse to cooperate with the legally and constitutionally elected President of our Republic, to ensure that he would fail, and then to blame him for the failure. It is basically a simple and completely transparent attempt to wrest power from a sitting administration and replace it with another. It is hypocritical in the extreme, dishonest in its operation, shameful in its conspiracy, completely un-American, and ought to be both unconstitional and illegal. In some other nations plotters like this would be thrown into psychiatric institutions, jails, or even shot or “disappeared.” It is much to our credit that this does not happen here, but this does not make the problem any the less important and problematical.

What is worse, this scam may potentially work. The MSM, owned by the very corporate powers that want to see Obama defeated, are not exposing it for what it is and never even mention it, and the Democrats seem to me to be oblivious to what is going on. I cannot understand why they are not screaming and yelling and exposing this treasonous behavior at every opportunity. This treasonous scam is so obviously at the heart of the Republican question repeated ad nauseam, where are the jobs, it cries out for exposure. President Obama, Vice-President Biden or someone who can command an audience should make a major speech about this, pulling no punches, and placing the blame for our lack of jobs and progress exactly where it belongs, on the Republican Party conspiracy to make it so.

“Hi, how are you? Don’t run away. I want to shake your hand. I know, you haven’t got your makeup on yet, right? You do, you do.” — The charming Mitt Romney on the campaign trail while running for the U.S. Senate, to a random woman outside a store in 1994.

Republican Convention

Yes, I watched the convention. I had to force myself to do so, thinking I should not try to comment on it having not watched it. Aside from Boehner’s speech which I thought was really stupid, there were, for the intended audience, some really quite good speeches, much better than I would have predicted. The problem with the speeches, all of them, was that the truth was not in them. The entire underpinning of the convention was the same web of lies and distortions Republicans have been using for days and weeks.

Santorum’s contribution, for example, which I thought was well done, was based almost entirely on the demonstrably false claim that President Obama took the work requirement out of welfare, which, as everyone should know by now, is completely false. I am sure that Santorum and the rest of the cast of dozens know full well the claim is false, but as they believe it is working they use it anyway. They seem to believe that no lie is too extreme in the defense of dishonesty.

Ann Romney’s speech designed to humanize her husband I thought was okay but not outstanding, most of the reviewers seemed to think it was much better than I did. I think if you analyze it carefully you will find that she really said very little other than that he was a good husband and father and, if elected, would work hard. It is difficult to disagree with her remarks that she loves women, and women are mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, and etc. And who will find fault with her focus on love and that she still loves her husband? I thought it was a bit disappointing.

Unfortunately she was followed by New Jersey Fats who dismissed love in favor of respect, and talked tough as is his wont. It was a pretty good speech if you are far more interested in Chris Christie than Romney, and some even went so far as to describe it as his acceptance speech for the 2016 election. Many of the boasts he made about his record in New Jersey, if not false, were at least exaggerations. It seems there was no coordination between Ann’s speech and his.

The main theme of the evening was “We Did Build It” (or something like that). And they did build it, a complete distortion of something Obama had previously said. When Obama said “you didn’t build that,” he was referring to the roads and bridges and public facilities that are provided by the government. Actually, I believe he was even referring to the sociopolitical and cultural climate that makes it possible for entrepreneurs in the U. S. to succeed. Most of the speakers came back to the phrase “we did build it,” over and over, when giving examples of businesses that had been created, survived, and were successful. Awkwardly enough, at least two of these claimants are known to have received rather generous help from the government in the form of loans. The various speakers pushed this theme so far I began to think there were only three possibilities: (1) they actually believe they personally created the roads, bridges, and business climate, (2) they are too stupid to understand what Obama was talking about, or (3) they simply lied (the most probable possibility).

It was during Condi Rice’s speech that I began to realize the audience was actually not paying any attention to what was being said and applauded everything she said. I am pretty sure that some of what she said was not much in line with their platform. I was a bit puzzled by her appearance there as her fellow war criminals were not invited. I guess the Republicans were so desperate for diversity and women they overlooked her role in the Bush/Cheney disaster. She did give a fine speech, the usual bullshit about America’s greatness and altruism around the world.

Huckabee and others gave what I thought were fine speeches but, again, just promoted the same lies over again. It was fitting that Paul Ryan’s speech was the high spot of the evening as it contained so many lies and distortions it was like he was reviewing them. I began to fear that lightning would strike him dead right there on the podium. Even the conservative media were offended by the unremitting falsehoods. I thought Romney would not be able to do as well when it was his turn in the barrel.

And he didn’t, I had to turn him off tonight after the first few minutes when it became clear he was going to say nothing. There was no mention of any of the problems that beset us at the moment, no details about what he might do to actually correct them, nothing but platitudes about how great America is/was, how much he admired his father, how America could be great again (no explanation for this remarkable claim), and so on, nothing but gross generalities and nonsensical claims. It was, in my opinion, a complete waste of time and opportunity. But you can’t expect much from an empty suit. I was rather amazed to learn that Clint Eastwood is either senile or stupid and that Marco Rubio apparently lives in a dream world.

My general impression of the convention is that it was built entirely on a fabric of lies and distortions, had little or no connection with reality, but did apparently appeal to the audience of nitwits who were prepared to accept and like everything no matter how untrue, farfetched, or even divorced from their own platform. It was almost entirely devoted to demonizing Obama and offered nothing specific of a positive nature.

A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

George Bernard Shaw,

He Am what He Am, but what Am He?

Am is the present first singular of Be. Does that help in understanding who Mitt Romney is? It is all well and good for Romney to say “I am who I am,” but all that really tells us is that he exists. His existence cannot be denied, but people want to know HIM, who he actually IS? Does he even know himself who he is? It would seem to me that to claim your existence does not define you as a person and what kind of person. To be a person should mean there is something that defines you apart from your mere existance, some core of beliefs and principles that make up a personality that identifies you apart from others. Looking at Romney’s history he seems to be lacking in a core that defines him, the very characteristics people want to know about.

But Romney as a person is elusive at best. He was once considered a moderate Republican but now claims to be an ultra-conservative Republican. He once was in favor of a woman’s choice but now he is anti-choice. He claimed once that his first name was Mitt when in fact it is Willard. He claimed to be a lifelong hunter, but it turns out he only did something resembling hunting twice in his entire lifetime. He claimed to be a lifelong member of the NRA but he wasn’t. He professes to be a committed Mormon and is active in his church, but he lies incessantly even when it is obvious he is lying. He also appears to be a warmonger that I think should be incompatible with his religion. I could be wrong about this as I do not know the position of the Mormon Church on war, I can only assume they do not approve of violence and killing and lying. He does appear to be a good husband and father.

Romney claims to have been a successful businessman. If you equate success with making lots of money he certainly was. On the other hand, if you think vulture capitalism involves a number of questionable, possibly unethical or immoral activities, perhaps he was not such a great businessman. He boasts about saving the Olympics but doesn’t mention the more than a billion dollars he was given by the Federal Government for that purpose. He claims to have created jobs but it seems many of those jobs were overseas and as Governor of Massachusetts he was something like 47th in job creation. In addition to being a chronic liar he is also a hypocrite, accusing Obama of running a negative campaign while his own campaign is much worse in terms of the negativity. Similarly, he claims to have cried when the Mormon Church finally agreed to accept Blacks, but now he is clearly playing the race card in his campaign.

Romney is somehow basically unlikeable. In his attempt to become likeable he and his wife have recently appeared on television with Mitt turning over pancakes while his wife boasts about how much they love (and by implication shop at) Cosco. He brags about the shirts he bought there, what fine shirts they are, and so on, even though everyone knows that is not ordinarily when he buys his clothes. His wife gushes about how much they love Cosco, but she doesn’t claim to buy her $900 blouses there. Like his claim to be a hunter this is so phony it is actually insulting. It is as if they think they are talking to a bunch of completely illiterate peasants too stupid to realize what they are doing (sorry, you and your corporate friends have not yet accomplished that condition you are striving for). As Romney made 20 million dollars last year but refuses to reveal his taxes, and as his wife drives “a couple of cadillacs,” their attempt to pretend they understand ordinary folk, and are just ordinary folk themselves, is ridiculous in the extreme. When she said they were so poor they had to sell some of their stock it made me want to cry. Their attitude towards us ordinary folk was made quite clear when Mrs. Romney said about their taxes, “you people have all the information you need.” Romney’s frequent gaffes also give away his abysmal ignorance when it comes to dealing with the public. He has been running for President for several years but remains the worse candidate probably ever, even most members of his own party do not like him, he’s sort of like the pest that just won’t take “no” for an answer and persists no matter what. Even most of the speakers at the Republican convention last night barely mentioned him, preferring instead to boast of their own achievements, and he is in danger of being dramatically upstaged by his Vice Presidential choice. So who is this mysterious, secretive, elusive creature that exists, and wants to be President of the United States, but has no apparent personhood, no convictions, no personality, a man who just doesn’t seem to be there and seems to have no real explanation for why he wants the office in the first place?

In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Past all Dishonesty

I guess I should say, past all previous dishonesty. Bush/Cheney, as far as I can remember, never told the truth about anything. You might think that is a record that could never be broken. Romney is trying as hard as he can to break it, but as it’s technically impossible to break such a record he’s doing it in a somewhat unusual way. You will recall some of the more egregious lies of Bush/Cheney: “We know Iraq has weapons of mass destruction,” “We know where they are,” “Sadam is trying to get uranium from South Africa,” “The Iraq war will pay for itself with their oil,” and on and on in their lying attempt to start an illegal and unconstitutional war with Iraq. Although there may have been reasons to suspect these of being lies, as many of us did, they were at least hypothetically possible. They could have of at least been possibly true.

Romney’s lies are quite different in that he lies about things that are already known not to be true. Even if he knows something is untrue he lies about it anyway. For example, he repeats the lie over and over again that President Obama has taken the work requirement out of welfare.” This is demonstrably untrue, most everyone who is paying attention knows it is untrue, but Romney and his not so merry band of vulture capitalists and their supporters use it anyway. The same thing is true of the endlessly repeated claim that Obama is ruining Medicare by taking away 715 billion dollars from it. This is, of course, not true, and we already know it is not true, but this does not deter Republicans from saying it at every opportunity. As these claims are already known to be false they cannot even hypothetically be true. This would appear to be an unprecedented use of lying for political purposes, as has been already pointed out by at least a few observers. Thus it is that Romney lies constantly, just as Bush/Cheney did, but his lies are virtually unique by being widely known to be false even before he uses them and continues to use them. It would seem that for lies to be effective they must at least be possibly true, a fact that seems to have escaped Romney and his supporters (but, of course, the voters have to be paying attention as well, a condition apparently not always the case for some).

In fact, the entire Republican campaign against Obama is nothing but an elaborate web of lies, deceptions, and distortions. The worst lie of all is their endless lying refrain that President Obama has failed to produce jobs. In this case it is at least possible that might be the case, but it is not, for the simple reason that Republicans have consistently blocked any attempt by Obama to create jobs. It is not Obama that has failed in this respect, it is Republicans who have failed, even to the point of wrecking our economy in their frantic attempt to defeat Obama. There is no doubt whatsoever their strategy has been to keep Obama from succeeding at anything, especially at creating jobs, and then hypocritically blaming him for the failure. Unfortunately this seems to have worked, at least to a point.

The same thing is true of their campaign to block the votes. It is (or perhaps was) possible that there could be voter fraud, their ostensible argument for the series of onerous blocks they have attempted to put into place to keep minorities from voting, but we know now that voter fraud is virtually unheard of, has not been a problem in our elections in the past, and cannot be a legitimate justification for their attempts to keep certain voting blocks from exercising their right to vote. This was a lie so outrageous they have now had to admit they are deliberately trying to hinder the voting of Black and Latino voters, as well as some others.

Still another lie repeated over and over again by Republicans is that the stimulus didn’t work. In fact it did work, but it was not generous enough to do the job as it should have. It was not generous enough because of Republican opposition to it, and also because of their insistence that fully one third of it had to be tax cuts. It did not work only in the sense that it did not do enough to solve the massive unemployment problem bequeathed Obama by the Bush/Cheney administration. But there is no doubt that it did preserve perhaps as many as two million jobs that would otherwise have been lost, making the problem much worse.

Republicans have woven a web of falsely significant (to them) lies portraying President Obama as something he is not: an un-American, Muslim, socialist, communist, anti-Christ, Kenyan anti-colonial, illegitimate President, who faked his birth certificate and is going to take their guns away.

Sociology: The study of how the masses (proletariat) are being exploited by an elite bourgeoisie.

Max Schulman (I think)

Falwell and Robertson?

So, where are Falwell and Robertson when they are needed? You may recall neither of them was in the least bit bashful about speaking out after hurricanes or other natural disasters. Remember how they assured us that the terrible hurricane that devastated New Orleans was obviously God’s punishment for abortionists, feminists, gays and lesbians, the ACLU, pagans, and secularization in general. Steve Lefimine of Columbia Christians for Life, another true believer, assured us it was punishment for shedding innocent blood through abortions, and so on. I think most of the leaders of the various Churches of the Altogether Bonkers agreed that natural disasters were our punishment for such horrible things as homosexuality, abortion, and etc.


So where are they now with hurricane Isaac bearing down on the Republican convention in Tampa? They are remarkably silent. Could it possibly be, perhaps, maybe, fundamentally, justifiably, God’s wrath for the unbelievable Republican greed? For their uncharitable, even mean spirited treatment of the poor? Maybe even punishment for discrimination against Gays and Lesbians, or for the Republican war on women? I suppose it could be for Republican immorality and unethical behavior in general, or perhaps merely for their pathological lying. Maybe it has something to do with the Republican desire for permanent war and increasing the already bloated national defense budget, or even their plan to mistreat the elderly and students. No, I guess it couldn’t be for anything like that, after all, Republicans are God’s chosen children, especially those billionaires at the top using their obscene fortunes to undermine democracy and buy the election. Of course it is possible that God may be angry with them for their obvious willingness to destroy the environment, and even the planet, for more short-term profit. Even more basically, God could be really pissed off because he gave people dominion over all else and we have completely botched the opportunity, a bipartisan failure, but more readily attributable to Republican stupidity and refusal to cooperate. Who knows? Certainly not me, I don’t believe in any of this religious mumbo-jumbo and magical thinking. Even so, I guess I’ll have to go down with the sinking ship like everyone else at the mercy of the billionaires in charge.

The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.

H. L. Mencken

Journey to the West - Tipping Points

I have in the past discussed some of the factors involved on the journey to the west. As I have aged, for example, I have passed through many different stages of my life: infant, child, teen, young adult, Mr., Sir, Grandpa, Pops, and now “Old Mr. So-and-So.” There are, of course, physical changes that accompany these various stages of life. There was a time, quite a long time, relatively speaking, when I had hair, nothing fancy but real more or less normal hair, brown and not unattractive. When I was a little boy my mother combed my hair in a fashion that she apparently thought reasonable, parted toward the right, and brushed over towards the left. I came to believe it was overly “Hitlerish,” but by then it was too late, it remained that way throughout most of my life. Eventually it began to turn slowly grey, and then, what was worse, it began to disappear, horrors, I was balding, and I could not deny it. Even so, I could more or less live with it, but then it became more serious, to the point where I had what is known as a “combover.” Unfortunately, this combover has become increasingly obvious to the point where it has now become somewhat ridiculous. At the moment I desperately need a haircut. But what to do, cling to a really silly combover or give in to reality and go for the truly bald with the fringe on top. This is not funny, it is a serious tipping point. I realize these problems confront different individuals at different ages, but this is me, now. I keep putting off the haircut while wrestling with this traumatic decision.

But this problem is insignificant when compared with the problem of increasing invisibility. I have found that once you reach a certain age (no doubt different for different people at different ages) you begin to become invisible. I mean, you don’t really physically vanish, people just no longer see you. When tasks arise that you once were routinely expected to perform others do them. They no longer even ask or expect you to do them. They assume you are unable to do them. This has nothing to do with the reality of whether you can do them or not, the assumption becomes on the part of others that you cannot. I have discovered that once this judgment is pronounced there is little or no point in trying to fight it. If you let it, it can be genuinely frustrating. But you must resist the normal frustration-aggression routine as if you become aggressive this puts you into another category entirely, what you might call the “cranky-old-man syndrome.” It seems inevitable that as you age, even though you remain alive, your life slowly slips away from you. In the world we now live in you become invisible in the sense of being useless, just a creature somehow still attached to the world and family, but basically inconsequential. In the world as it was throughout most of human history the elderly (I cannot bear the term “oldsters”) were considered the repositories of the accumulated knowledge of the culture. As they knew how things were supposed to happen, and how, they were both respected and consulted (at least until they became so old as to be truly senile). Now, however, as technology changes so rapidly, it tends to be the young who possess the knowledge and have to be consulted. Even small children often know far more about computers and all the new gadgets than even middle-aged adults. I guess you might consider this something like “Early onset obsolescence.” This, too, can drive you mad if you let it. Thus as you age and become increasingly invisible and obsolete, you have to be constantly on the defensive, it just doesn’t do to rebel too actively or complain too loudly, or even to withdraw too obviously, as these actions can threaten the status quo no matter how unrealistic it may be.

I believe it was Bette Davis who said, “growing old is not for sissies.” As my journey to the west continues I have found that is true, but it is also not for the thin-skinned, the inept, or the hopeless. Growing older requires survival skills, cleverness, innovations, determination, and strategies you did not anticipate or acquire while growing up, lest even those who claim to have your best interest in mind actually turn you into what it is they often erroneously think you are. Even in old age only the clever and the fittest survive.

The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool.

Jane Wagner

Did He or Didn't He?

What unemployment problem? What deficit problem? What Iran problem? What energy problem? What Afghanistan war? What problem with Pakistan? Julian Assange? Drones? War on women? What? The biggest problem of the day seems to be, did Romney make a ”birther” joke on purpose, or was it just another gaffe? This vital question, coming on the heels of the Akin controversy that has occupied the news for the last few days, seems to have outraged the left and further endeared Romney to the right (if that is really possible). Oh, and yes, there was another shooting in New York, right near the Empire State building, two dead, several wounded. And, by the way, there were 19 shooting deaths and stuff in Chicago overnight. We really ought to do something about this gun problem, someday, maybe, if we ever get around to it, but, really, did Romney make his birther remark on purpose or not? I am torn over the answer to this monumentally important issue.

On the one hand, you might well think this was just another Romney gaffe, as it is basically similar to other such thoughtless, rude, and inconsiderate remarks he has made in the past. “I like to fire people,” for example, or “these cookies must have come from 7-11,” or “where did you get those cheap raincoats,” and “I’m unemployed myself,” “just borrow some money from your parents,” and others I’ve probably forgotten. Because his birther remark is so much part of this pattern I am tempted to believe it may well have been just another gaffe.

On the other hand, there are those, perhaps even a majority, who are absolutely convinced the whole thing was deliberately planned in advance in order to make points with the Republican base (the Tea Partiers, and they did like it). Frankly, I don’t really give a damn, and I don’t know why I am wasting my time (or yours) with this latest bit of time-wasting, conversation-changing, relatively unimportant, blathering, mind-numbing, nonsensical piece of pretend “news.” If Romney did it on purpose, he’s a scheming cheap-shot creep who has now sunk to the absolute bottom of the political world. If it was just another gaffe, it’s probably even worse because it reveals what he most probably actually believes, making him into another mindless, racist twit. In either case it is hard to see it as merely an innocent slip of the tongue.

I am still bothered by the polls. I know people often say you can’t really trust the polls, or the early polls, or any polls, and so on. I have never really trusted the polls although I didn’t really bother thinking about them much. I am aware, of course, they can be skewed this way or that, depending on the questions, the timing, the population being polled, and so on. I have to confess that this time I am absolutely flabbergasted by what seems to be the result of the polls, namely this is going to be a close election, a nail biter that Obama could easily lose, and so forth. How can this be? One recent poll shows 94% of Blacks will vote for Obama, 0% for Romney. Another indicates Obama leads the Hispanic vote by some 30 points or so. We also know he leads the women’s vote by a very large margin. These results alone would seem to make it impossible for Romney to win. When you couple them with the likely elderly vote (they are not likely to appreciate making Medicare into a voucher program or touching Social Security), the youth vote (Romney/Ryan want to take away Pell grants and cut education in general), the Muslim vote, the Jewish vote (predictably favoring Democrats), and so on, it is impossible to believe Obama and Romney could be neck and neck. Besides, there is the fact that Obama’s favorability rating is also vastly superior to that of Romney. You have to wonder just who in the world it is they are polling, and what in the hell they are asking? Granted there seem to be a lot of Obama haters out there, and granted the racism that permeates American society, and granted that less educated Whites favor Romney, how can they possibly be enough to override the women, Blacks, Hispanics, and all the others? There has to be, as we say, “something really fishy about this.”

We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in 'reality.' And reality has a well known liberal bias.

Stephen Colbert

Say Something Really Stupid...

Say something really stupid and get virtually non-stop television coverage for four, five, maybe even more days. We have heard virtually nothing else for days now except about Todd Akin’s incredibly stupid remark about rape and abortion. If it is true, as some say, that all or any publicity is good publicity, I reckon Akin must have received about a free billion dollars worth by now, and I fear it might continue forever. While Republicans are trying to flee from any association with Akins asinine remark, you may notice that they have accepted his basic position about abortion as one of the planks of their platform. Go figure.

Happily the media doesn’t go to such extreme lengths covering all the stupid things Republicans say. Judge Tom Head, a county judge in Lubbock, Texas, for example, has requested further funds for deputies and help to prepare for the war he believes will break out if President Obama is re-elected. Somewhere he acquired the belief that if Obama is re-elected, he will somehow bring in U. N. troops to take over our country and he wants to be prepared to stop them. He also added that he doesn’t want just ordinary officers but those with real experience.

Then there is the dependable Iowa Republican, Steve King, who now has uncovered a scheme of what he calls communist victimization. This scheme involves making students, minority students in particular, feel sorry for themselves. When they feel sorry for themselves they are likely to join in this communist plan and, I guess, work to undermine our country. He has it all worked out, it begins with Antonio Gramsci, who he claims to be the father of multiculturalism, and involves both Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky. He sees multiculturalism as the basic problem and claims to have encountered 59 different student groups at the University of Iowa that are involved in this. Wow, no wonder he wants to make English the official language of the country where it already is. I don’t know if this ties in with Head’s U.N. takeover conspiracy, but it might, you know the U.N., that hotbed of multiculturalism.

Frank Szabo, a candidate for Sheriff in some New Hampshire county, has announced that he would be ready to use deadly force to prevent abortions. It is not entirely clear if he means all abortions or just elective and late term abortions, but he is quite clear he would not hesitate to kill to prevent a perfectly legal procedure.

Where do you suppose the Republican party finds these people, do they scour the asylums? In any case, saying really stupid things can pay off big time, just consider Sarah Palin who has now made a very lucrative career of saying really stupid things. Some of the other Republican women haven’t been so successful, but it’s not from want of trying. Certainly Sharon Angle and the “I’m not a witch woman” have done their best, along with the “take a chicken to your doctor” woman who lost out to Angle. Of course there are also Ann Coulter and that terrible Malkin woman who make their living saying stupid things designed to offend. Before you accuse me of sexism and a war on women, I cannot let this go without those truly remarkable famous men who have all become fabulously wealthy by saying stupid things with a regularity mind boggling to anyone but those stupid enough to listen: Rush Limbaugh has to be the absolute king of stupid, well maybe Glenn Beck, but Bill O’Reilly and Hannity are not far behind and I know there are others that I do not know about because I don’t listen to enough right wing nonsense (actually I don’t listen to any of it but occasionally a bit shows up on a more “normal” station).

It seems these days you do not need any special talent to succeed in talk radio or television shows, just a loud mouth and the shameful ability to say truly stupid things, the more outrageous the better will make you rich and famous (and despised by anyone with the brain of a doughnut). Free speech is a wonderful thing, unfortunately sometimes too wonderful for words.

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.

John Stuart Mill

Confused?

It seems to me there is “a whole lot of confusion going on,” what with all the propaganda and lies being so casually tossed around these days. For example, in this current flap over Todd Akins idiotic remark about “legitimate rape” and abortions, the status of abortion rights seems to have gotten lost somewhere. I notice that many of the remarks about the argument are that women “should have” a right to choice, or it “should be” up to a woman as to the treatment of her body, or there “should be a law,” or abortion “should be” legal, or there “should not be” restrictions, and so on. It’s as if Roe vs Wade never occurred, and the fact that abortion in the United States IS legal, the actual law of the land, settled some years ago by a 7-2 (I think) judgment by our Supreme Court. The anti-abortion crowd has raised such a hue and cry for so many years, and so many abortion clinics have been bombed, abortion providers shot and killed, and so on, it has come to appear that it is abortion that is the crime rather than the law of the land. Have so many people just forgotten that abortion is legal and those who are using any and all means to criminalize it are themselves the criminals? These anti-abortion zealots are subversives by trying to subvert the laws of the United States and they should be treated like the criminals they are. It is perfectly legal, of course, for those who are opposed to Roe vs Wade, to try to get the law changed, but only provided they follow the law and approach the problem truthfully and try honestly to understand the complexity of the issue. It is all well and good to shout about how abortion is wrong, and wrong under any and all circumstances, but that would seem to just beg the question. As far as I know, no one is in favor of abortion, or somehow prefers abortions, we all think it would be much better if there were no abortions, but as in so many other things, reality rears its head from time to time and demands attention. It might not be quite so bad if the anti-abortionists did not so loudly proclaim the rights of the fetus while at the same time seemingly having no concern for what happens to the infant, the mother, and the child. The idea that the immediate union of a sperm and an egg actually and immediately creates a “person” would seem to be a carryover from the days of alchemy when people believed lead could be turned into gold. It completely ignores the effects of growth, maturation, temporal, environmental, and experiential factors, in favor of a completely and purely magical transformation. Granted there seems something magical about the creation of life for we poor mortals, but the process is no different for human life than other live creatures. We don’t race our horses at the moment of conception or market our cattle at conception, or even eat our eggs at that critical moment, and we certainly don’t drink liquor and vote, fight stupid wars, marry and divorce, or even play football. Come on, “get a grip on yourselves.”

Another area where I worry that confusion will lead people to forget reality has to do with the question of jobs. “Where are the jobs?” This question has been repeated over and over and over so many times by Republicans you might think there is no explanation for it. But of course there is, and the explanation is beyond a doubt, the jobs are in the pockets of the Republican saboteurs that have resisted and opposed any and all attempts by President Obama and Democrats to create them. This Republican strategy has been so transparent for so long it is a wonder they have the audacity to keep repeating the question. But as the MSM is clearly on their side and never seems to question any of their blatant lies and subversions, this disgustingly dishonest strategy might even work for them. If voters either don’t know this, or forget it between now and election day, they will deserve the resulting apocalypse. Here again you can see the results of propaganda and confusion. Obama has taken the work requirement out of welfare, not true, Obama is destroying Medicare by taking 716 billion out of the Medicare budget, not true, Obama is going to take our guns away, not true, Obama was not born in the U.S., not true, Obama is a socialist, not true, Obama hates Israel, not true, Obama is an Arab, not true, Obama hates farmers, not true, Obama hates White people, not true, Obama wants to turn the U.S. over to the United Nations, not true, and on and on and on, truth no longer even matters in this cacophony of lies, rumors, and deliberate false attacks. Republicans know they cannot win honestly with their scorched earth agenda and platform for destruction, so they simply lie, sow confusion, and attack Obama for the problems they themselves mostly created.

“Speak, Memory.”

Vladimir Nabokov