Advice for Obama

Celebrates his 43rd birthday with two
armed robberies in 45 minutes. Leaves
Checks and money on the street.

Dear Barack, let an older man offer you some advice because I fear you do not fully understand what you are up against. Do not try to argue or respond to any of the illogical, unreasonable, half-truths that are being put out about you by Hillary Clinton. Her arrogant and absurd offer of the Vice-Presidency when you are actually ahead in delegates and votes, for example. Or her equally absurd claim that only she can answer the phone at 3:00 a.m. Or her pretense that the contest is basically equal, or that caucus delegates are different, or that she isn’t sure you’re not a Muslim, and so on. The specifics of what she is saying are not the problem. The very essence of her strategy lies in the unreason and illogic itself. Put in its simplest form, she is trying to drive you crazy. She is going to repeat her illogical sayings over and over, and the more you try to argue with her, or employ any form of logic or reason, the more she will continue to do the same. She will use her illogic as a cudgel to beat you into submission. You will ultimately become so frustrated by trying to argue with her or explain anything logically you will eventually give up. The strategy is not to convince anyone you are unworthy of being President (she knows better than that), or that you might become her Vice-President (she knows better than that), or that you might be a Muslim (she knows better than that), the strategy lies in the persistent use of the illogic and unreason itself, thus provoking you into useless attempts to show that you are not any of those things until, out of sheer desperation and frustration, you will eventually succumb This is what people mean when they say you cannot argue with him/her because they do not respond to any form of reason or logic. Your best bet, by far, is to simply ignore her absurd statements and go on the attack. Why is she claiming experience she doesn’t have? Where are the tax returns? What did she really have to do with peace in North Ireland? Why can’t she play by the rules? What has she said to European governments? Don’t allow her to drive you slowly insane because you cannot argue with her. It is completely pointless. There is method in her madness and she knows perfectly well what it is. I fear you do not. I sincerely hope you will consider this advice from someone who has had a lifetime of dealing with just this kind of controlling strategy. Good luck and best wishes. You’re the man!

Hillary claims to be a fighter. She’s not. She’s a sneak. She’s like the rat that gnaws and gnaws at the door until eventually it creates a hole. She goes at it a little bit at a time but is relentlessly persistent. If one thing doesn’t work she tries another. Her latest ploy is to claim that caucus delegates are different from pledged delegates. There is a grain of truth in this but it’s not going to fly. Then there is her claim that some states are more equal than others. Then there are her expressed doubts about Obama’s experience (that is actually greater than hers), her fantasy that she alone can be Commander-in-Chief. Then her apparent dream that the superdelegates are going to eventually pick her even though Obama has the most votes. And on and on. It’s true, she never gives up. Too bad for the democratic party. She should.

Having driven the Palestinians into a dungeon-like existence where they can be picked off at leisure, and having recently murdered another hundred or so, including the usual women and children, and having Rice browbeat Abbas into agreeing to continue negotiating anyway, Olmert has responded by announcing the construction of more illegal housing in the West Bank. Now there is a commitment to peace! Olmert, you better watch out, you may give Israelis a bad name. Not that anyone in the West seems to be paying attention.

I was going to consider whether Jonah Goldberg had a brain or not. But I decided that was too easy and the answer too obvious. It’s a waste of time reporting on the obvious. Then I thought about Dick the Slimy. We haven’t heard much from him lately. But then I decided it was better to let sleeping dogs lie. He might come out from under his rock snarling and bite someone. So let me comment briefly on the Governor of New York. I am not upset over the fact that men solicit prostitutes as I know it happens all the time. But what I can’t stand is idiocy joined with hypocrisy. Spitzer was supposed to be this holier-than-thou Prosecutor with morals superior to those of the Pope. So not only has he proven to be a hypocrite, he has also proven to be unutterably stupid. He made these “dates” using his cell phone and left a trail of evidence so obvious that a child would seemingly have known better. And he also violated the Mann Act, a federal crime of some seriousness. He may or may not have had anything to do with money laundering or organized crime. This strikes me as somewhat similar to masturbating in the closet while standing on a chair with a noose around your neck (someone actually did this). Alas, poor Elliot, we didn’t know you well enough. Goodbye you idiotic hypocrite that could have accomplished so much. Maybe you and Giuliani together can start a school for fools and hypocrites, you could train people going on to Washington D.C.

LKBIQ:
“Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.”
Friedrich Nietzsche

Hillary the slick

Woman’s body found in dry ice, along
with porch swings, toy night goggles,
and large sake bottles w/ lamp sockets.

Well, the war and torture party just keeps on going and going. Bush has now vetoed the bill that would have done away with waterboarding and such. He says the needs of he CIA are different from those of the army, marines, etc. I bet they are, and in ways that decent people should probably not want to know. It’s not very comforting to know that our country is being controlled by ghouls who obviously have no respect for human life or dignity whatsoever. As this veto is said to be safe from Congressional action that means that as usual the Brafia is behind Bush all the way. Bush and the Brafia cling to their mad desire to torture even though the experts say it doesn’t work. I find this depressing beyond belief.

It appears that Slick Willie has schooled his spouse very well when it comes to slickness. Hillary manages to convert everything into suspicion of Obama. Witness her “not as far as I know” comment on whether or not he is a Muslim. Then when she was commenting on being called a monster she responded with “I’d like to know what they are telling other countries…” Having said that she doesn’t think Obama is Presidential material she now suggests he might be Vice-President (on her ticket). This is not only the height of arrogance but also blatantly disingenious, implying that voters can vote for her but still have Obama. So desperate has she become she is also trying to tell us that even McCain would be better than Obama. And when her own campaign became shameful she demanded Obama should be ashamed. Being behind in the race she pretends she’s ahead. Not only that, she has now told us which states are important and which are not. And of course she and Bill are masters of lowering expectations. Is she taking roviating lessons from Karl Rove in addition to those from Bill? In any case, she doesn’t miss a trick. Queen Hillary the slick. She’s rapidly approaching the almost mythological stature of Dick the Slimy himself.

Hillary is supposed to win Pennsylvania easily. I’m not so sure. If she keeps on the way she’s going with her negative campaigning she may be digging herself into a hole too deep to escape from. Of course when she isn’t obfuscating and confusing event herself her supporters do it for her. Pat Buchanan, for example, keeps insisting she won Texas. Obama received more delegates, so how does Buchanan get off repeating incessantly that she won Texas? Reality and truth are concepts totally foreign to the Brafia, a vicious criminal conspiracy. I truly fear for Obama. Limbaugh, Coulter, Savage, Kristol, and the rest of the ultra-conservative nuts will goad one of their dim-witted listeners into doing something desperate. What they do, and get away with day after day, is far worse than merely yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre. Hatemongers, pure and simple. What is worse, they have an audience. The average I.Q. is 100. That means that half of the population have I.Q.’s of less than that. They are the supporters of this band of talk-show lunatic fanatics. Why can nothing be done about stopping the senseless slaughter in Iraq? The Brafia won’t allow it. Why are no no impeachment hearings? The Brafia won’t allow it. Why does Hillary keep running even though she cannot legally win? The Brafia has their ways. Al Capone was just tiny, tiny potatoes, compared to these guys.

LKBIQ:
“Military justice is to justice what military music is to music”
Groucho Marx

What is the problem?

French kissing a child under 13
In Virginia not a felony, merely
makes you a sex offender.

First, to anonymous: Of course anyone who wishes to run for office in Idaho should be allowed to do so. And no, no one is “entitled” to any office. But being a simple soul, I wonder why Walt Minnick didn’t run for Congress in the last election? He is independently wealthy and could have done so. Now I wonder why he picked district one in which to run, as in Idaho we don’t have many good democratic candidates, and he could just as easily run in district two where there would be no competition. I think his explanation that he’s building a house in district one is rather feeble. So it seems to me, he is either just a rich guy who recently decided he needed a new toy (a seat in Congress), or there is some other reason he decided to run against Grant at this particular time. I cannot help but wonder just what that reason is. And I do not believe it was a decision made by Minnick independently of the boys of Boise. The idea that Minnick can beat Sali and Grant cannot strikes me as equally feeble. So welcome to Idaho, and stop pretending.

As above, I realize that I am a rather simple person, from a simple background, living in a simple small town, in a pretty simple state, in a simply remote part of the mainland U.S. I admit to not being as sophisticated as my urban cousins. So kindly explain to me what the problem is. We have two people running for the democratic nomination for the highest office in the land (probably the highest office on earth). One of them is ahead in the number of delegates, is also ahead in the popular vote (I believe), has won the most states, and, if things play out pretty much as predicted, is going to stay in the lead with the most delegates no matter what else happens. He has just won in Wyoming and is predicted to win in Mississippi as well. So, even if he loses most or all of the remaining states, including Pennsylvania, and gets no further delegates (highly unlikely if not impossible), and even if Florida and Michigan somehow get to change the rules and get back into the picture, he is still going to be ahead in delegates, if not also in the popular vote. So what is the problem? He wins, his opponent loses. But, ah, I guess what is happening is the same thing that I encountered on my kindergarten playground, and has plagued us forever. There are, unfortunately, those individuals who simply refuse to play by the rules. There appears to be no way Clinton can possibly end up with more delegates. At best she can keep Obama from having a sufficient number to win outright. The solution to this problem would presumably be found in the special delegates who could decide who wins. Many believe they should simply go along with who has the most regular delegates in which case Obama would clearly win. If they decided against the one with the most delegates, who won fair and square, there would be a majority of very outraged voters. This strikes me as most interesting. If the win is given to Obama, on the basis of having won the most delegates (and perhaps the popular vote as well), the Clinton supporters would have a right to be disappointed, but at least they would have lost fair and square. If, on the other hand, the win is awarded to Clinton, she will have won only through foul play and trickery, in which case the Obama supporters will not only be disappointed, but outraged (and rightly so). So I ask again, what is the problem? To the winner goes the spoils. Since when would they go to the loser? Color me simple minded if you will. I still believe in truth and beauty and justice. In the meanwhile Clinton seems determined to destroy the democratic party if she doesn’t get her way. I want to know (1) where did she raise the 35 million dollars so quickly, (2) why won’t she release her tax returns, (3) why won’t Bill tell us who financed his Presidential library, and (4) why won’t he release the paperwork related to his final Presidential pardons?

LKBIQ:
“When I was a boy I was told anybody could become President; I’m beginning to believe it.”
Clarence Darrow

Pizza and Politics

Just returned from the annual Pizza and Politics meeting in Sandpoint. If you subtract the people from Boundary County (Bonners Ferry, that is) it wasn’t much of a turnout. I don’t know what’s with the Bonner County Democrats, I guess they just don’t like meetings. Wendy Jaquet and George Sayler from the Idaho Congress were there and filled us in on some of the issues and problems that result from having too few Democrats in Congress. Republicans have been in the vast majority for years, which explains why Idaho has no power, bad schools, medieval laws and beliefs, and etc.

I was very pleased, however, to learn at the last minute that Larry Grant would be there. He was, and he presented himself very well as always. He’s really an outstanding candidate for the House of Representatives which now features, for Idaho, the one and only Bill Sali, who has proven himself unable to fathom even the simplest of ideas about how government works and what his role in it should be. His motto seems to be whenever in doubt vote no. As he seems to be constantly in doubt his voting record has been almost totally negative. He seems to operate by a rule that tells him, if it’s good for Idaho vote no. If it’s bad, vote yes. At least he’s consistent. I am still waiting for some explanation as to why the Boys of Boise decided to run Walt Minnick when Larry Grant is virtually a dream candidate. It would be most interesting to know all the background of this but Boise is so far away from Bonners Ferry it might as well be on another planet (sometimes I believe it is). There was a High School student in attendance tonight (very unusual) who was exceptionally bright and wanted to know why our schools were so bad, didn’t have enough money, and so on. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that if our Republican Congress had there way there wouldn’t be any money at all for schools. The mothers would be required to stay home and teach their children how to make bread and cheese, along with harnesses and cannon balls. Their motto has long been, “if it was good enough for Pappy, it’s good enough for you.” Vote for Grant! Vote for LaRocco!

It is truly inspirational to know that our candidates who are running for the most powerful position on earth have decided to engage in trash talk rather than discuss the issues. Issues, what issues? Hillary, it turns out, is a monster. Obama is worse than Kenneth Starr (I bet you thought no one could be worse than Ken Starr). Obama is not as well qualified to answer the phone at 3:oo a.m. as is either Hillary or John McBush. He may also be a Muslim, Hillary is not certain on this point. Before she died, that dreadful Olson woman was always crabbing about Hillary being ambitious. I used to support Hillary by arguing that ambition was a national value and there was nothing wrong with being ambitious if you were an American. However, I didn’t realize that Hillary was so ambitious she would say and do anything in order to get her way. She has demonstrated, as Gary Hart pointed out, that she has clearly put her ambition ahead of her love for country and is violating the unspoken rules of politics. Alas, he is quite right on this point. Hillary’s mad ambition is going to bring her down as she sinks lower now day by day. It is obvious she can’t catch up in delegates no matter what but she’s apparently willing to destroy the party to get her way (through some kind of miracle, like, maybe bribing enough of the independent delegates or some such thing). Get out Hillary before you are truly past all dishonor.


LKBIQ:
“Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.”
Ambrose Bierce The Devil’s Dictionary

Shame on you, Hillary

Pub owner bans “Danny Boy” for entire
month of March, Irish tear-jerker written
by Englishman who never visited there.

Apparently it turns out that the big flap about Obama assuring Candada that his threat to renegotiate NAFA was (wink, wink) just rhetoric, was actually another dirty trick of the Clinton campaign. It was someone from the Clinton campaign that called Canada but somehow Obama got the blame and, of course, by the time the truth came out, it was too late, the Ohio race was over. In any case, it is clear that Clinton blatantly lied about her support for NAFTA. She claimed to have always questioned it and thought maybe it wasn’t a good thing, and blah, blah, blah, when, in fact, she was strongly supportive of it at the time and up until now when she needed to deny it. Add this to her suggestion that McCain would be a better President than Obama because of his experience, her refusal to categorically deny that Obama might be a Muslim, and her fearmongering 3:00 a.m. ad, and I think it is eminently fair to say, SHAME ON YOU HILLARY.

In spite of almost universal condemnation from the international community Israel continues to systematically kill in Gaza, including, of course, the usual women and children. It should be clear enough by now that Israel has nothing but contempt for the United Nations and the international community in general. They have violated U.N. rules and suggestions from the very beginning and continue to do with impunity, knowing that their criminal partner, the U.S. will back them every time, no matter how egregious their behavior. Abbas, who said he would not negotiate further until Israel stopped their killing, has now been forced by Bush/Rice to rescind his statement of refusal. There can never be peace in the Middle East until Israel is forced to give up its colonial aspirations and stop stealing more and more Palestinian land. Israel will never negotiate in good faith as long as they have overwhelming military superiority and sanctioning by the U.S. Jimmy Carter is quite right on this issue, Israel promotes apartheid and is not going to change unless someone forces them to do so. One would like to assume that eventually Israel will have to go the way of South Africa and drastically change its policy.

The U.S. started a pre-emptive “war,” a blatant war crime. As might be expected other war crimes were executed as well: torture, killing of civilians, use of illegal cluster and phosphorus bombs, renditions, war profiteering, hiding of prisoners, and so on. Probably three to four million Iraqis have been uprooted from their homes and employment. Four thousand American troops killed, many thousands more maimed and crippled for life, trillions of dollars wasted, unspeakable misery so profound it is impossible to even comprehend, and what are we now upset about? A marine threw a puppy over a cliff to its death! I don’t condone the killing of helpless puppies. But I don’t condone the killing of helpless children either and there are one hell of a lot more of them than puppies. And we have ghouls like Madeleine Albright telling us “it’s all worth it.” Well, it hasn’t been and isn’t all worth it. This is in the same category as reading about some soldier or marine adopting a dog and sending it home. Or, equally as absurd, rhapsodizing over a sick child being sent to the U.S. for medical treatment after thousands and thousands of her countrymen were murdered. I’m not against this either but somehow I can’t help but see the hypocrisy and the absurdity of it all.

Now Boeing and everyone else in the U.S. is all upset because a 55 billion dollar contract for tanker aircraft went to another company, a foreign company (if there really is any such thing anymore as at least part of the planes will be manufactured in the U.S.). What I find fascinating about this is the argument that we should buy American. Doesn’t this seem to imply that we should buy American no matter how inadequate or shoddy the product? I don’t believe people started buying Japanese cars because they were not manufactured in America. They started buying them because they were better. I don’t know what kind of political factors may or may not have been involved in this decision but if the European planes are better why shouldn’t we buy them? Maybe Boeing and other American companies will eventually get the message, just like our car companies finally have, built a better mousetrap and they will come.

LKBIQ:
"The best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way."
Samuel Butler

Hillary, please...

One thing I can’t stand is arrogance. Can you believe Hillary Clinton? She lost 12 state contests in a row, she is behind in the popular vote and behind in delegates, in spite of finally winning three states last night. So what does she say: She’d consider Obama as her running mate! She also said she’s ready to debate McCain. Hillary, dear Hillary, please slow down. You haven’t won the nomination. You basically haven’t changed anything. You’re still behind in everything. I don’t think Obama is going to select you as his running mate, at least I hope not. I should think the last thing our new President would want would be you and Bill cluttering up the White House. By the way, when are you going to release your tax statements? I understand Bill has been pulling in some really big bucks from some odd places. Making hay while the sun shines?

Some bipartisan company named Knowlegis does an annual report on the relative power of states and Congresspersons. You will be interested to learn that Idaho, in terms of power, ranks 53rd out of 55 possibilities, behind even Washington D.C., the Virgin Islands, and Guam. Wowie, what clout!

Larry Craig who was something like 69th once has now slipped to 98th out of 99 (who in the world is the 99th?). In Congress our own Bill Sali is ranked 423rd out of 435. Out of 200 Republicans he’s ranked 189th. Way to go, Bill! Might I suggest once again that you vote for LaRocco and Larry Grant. As it is, “we don’t get no respect.” Thanks to the Mountain Goat Report for this information.

I think after seven plus years of Bush/Cheney we may have finally reached the point where there is no longer any difference between reality and nonsense. For example, we are now told that people voted for Clinton because she will be a better Commander-in-Chief. Can anyone really believe that bit of nonsense. What conceivable evidence is there that Clinton would make a better Commander-in-Chief? What experience has she had that would lead anyone to think this? Is this just another part of her almost grotesquely padded resume of experience? Similarly, what on earth would make anyone believe she would be better at answering the phone at 3:00 a.m. than Obama, or even Woody Allen, for that matter? If a President had to answer a phone at that time of morning I would think they had better find a much better staff. We are being fed utter nonsense all the time. The MSM has no interest in what would have to be considered “real news.” The real news is so uniformly bad for Bush/Cheney they wouldn’t dare report it.

There is a great article in Vanity Fair entitled “The Gaza Bombshell.” In brief, it tells how Bush and Condi Rice attempted to fund a Fatah- led coup to do away with Hamas, the legitimately democratically elected government of the Palestinians. You see, Bush and Rice are so committed to democracy in the Middle East that when a genuine democratically elected government emerged in Palestine they furnished arms to another faction in order to bring it down. Of course like everything they try in the Middle East it was an embarrassing failure. Bush is still saying there will be peace between the Palestinians and Israel by the end of the year, further evidence if any is needed, that he is at best borderline retarded and at worst absolutely insane (perhaps both).

So now that nothing is settled with respect to the democratic nomination it’s on to Pennsylvania, according to Clinton. You see, she doesn’t regard any of the other remaining state contests as important. She decides what is important, no one else. I think we are going to have to start addressing her as Queen Hillary, or perhaps “Your Eminence,” or, better yet, “Your Royal Highness.” What a shame. I used to like Hillary. I even used to send her money. But no more. I still think she is smart as hell, and in many ways probably the best candidate, but she’s a DLC Republican and now that she has said McCain would be a better candidate than Obama she has certainly lost any admiration from me, as well as given herself away. She and the Republicans will give Obama no mercy from now on. Soon they’ll be rumoring that he’s not actually an earthling but some creature from outer space sent here to steal their lawn chairs.

I think Rachel Maddow had the best line of the discussion last night. When told that Obama had called Hillary she said, “he should have waited until 3:00 a.m. to see if she’d answer the phone." I wish he had.

LKBIQ:
“For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn.”
Jane Austen

Nowhere

Nowhere. That’s where we seem to be at the moment. Obama wins Vermont, Clinton wins Rhode Island and Ohio. Ohio is big! Texas, at this moment, is too close to call. Clinton could end up winning Texas although I believe that is not the expectation of those who presumably know these things. Whether she wins Texas or merely comes in close she will almost surely decide to continue, even though there is no way she can accumulate enough delegates to win, even if she wins every other election from now on, which is highly unlikely. So what is she to do? She could, of course, gracefully withdraw, endorse Obama, bring the Democratic party together, and help insure a Democrat will occupy the White House next year. But we’re talking about Clintons here. Bill and Hillary I believe are much more likely to look after themselves than the Democratic party. First, they are DLC, merely a Republican presence in the Democratic party. Second, Clinton has already done what she can to insure that if she isn’t President, McCain will be. This can be seen pretty clearly in her statements to the effect that while she and John III are esperienced, Obama has nothing to offer but a speech. It can also be seen in her 3 a.m. ad, preying on our fears. Third, she has never even attempted to deny her ties to her corporate donors who have backed her almost exclusively until recently, and quite likely will now continue to do so. But if she knows she ultimately cannot win, and will have to concede later on, why should she wait, waste a lot of money, and continue to split the party? Whoever would have thought our corporate masters were clever enough to make sure we had a Democratic choice between the first woman or the first African-American, a diabolical scheme to split the party. If you prefer to think this was just serendipity, maybe you’re right. Maybe.

On the Brafia side we’re being offered John Sidney McCain III, written off as all but dead not very long ago. Now he seems very much alive (I guess). He seems to be a man with the courage of no convictions other than war is good. He wants to carry on the noble banner of George W. Bush, the worst U.S. President ever, with the lowest approval rating in history, a rousing 19%. He has been supported by a Vice-President who is arguably one of the most evil persons ever to hold office. These two, and their minions in the Brafia, are known war criminals who have also violated our constitution many times over, setting themselves up as above the law and somehow cowing a cowardly Congress into letting them have their criminal way at every opportunity. This is apparently the legacy that McCain wishes to continue. With Clinton’s help he may well succeed.

Obama just did what I think was a most interesting and clever thing. He gave a speech that will make everyone forget that Clinton even won Ohio and may win Texas. A speech that was so inspirational and moving that it cannot and will not be ignored. There is no doubt that Obama is a masterful speaker with the ability to make people want to believe, to have hope, to know that someone is interested in them and their welfare. Whether Obama can produce the results he strives for or not, he motivates people to want to do the right thing. If he becomes the candidate the contrast between him and McCain could not be more stark. If you want more of the past seven years, more war, more tax breaks for the wealthy, more crimes against humanity, more wasted taxpayer dollars, more military, more international hatred of our country, vote Brafia and McCain.. If you want the opposite, vote Obama. I am a very cynical person but I’m willing to take a chance on Senator Obama and I know the way of the others will lead us nowhere.

LKBIQ:
“Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one’s mind.”
W. Somerset Maugham

The Dumb-headed Reverend Magee

What’s with this John Sidney McCain III? He’s proud to be endorsed by Magee? Magee, who believes Katrina happened because New Orleans was about to hold a sinful Gay Pride Parade? Who thinks the Catholic Church is a whore and some kind of cult? Who can’t wait for Armageddon when all the Jews that refuse to convert, and all the rest of us nonbelievers will go burn in hell while he and his true believers will ascend to heaven and live in blissful luxury forever? McCain is proud of this endorsement? And we aren’t laughing him off the stage? Doesn’t it make you wonder just a little bit if we aren’t all a few cards short of a full deck? But what would you expect from people who sit by the hour in front of little screens watching talking insects, talking animals, talking vitamins, carrots, and even hamburgers, talking cars, and even talking chocolate chip cookies, that also sing and drive cars? It’s almost enough to make you wish for Armageddon. Of course the Minister of Obama’s church supports the anti-semitic Louis Farrakon. If the candidates want my advice: stay away from churches and avoid “men of the cloth.” At least Farrakon is probably sane whereas I fear the same cannot be said for the pea-for-brain Magee. Magee endorsement or not, McCain is the perfect choice to lead the war and torture party. The way things are going with Clinton and Obama, McCain may well end up keeping us all in the war and torture business. The Democratic nomination needs to be settled soon, like hopefully tomorrow. Please, Big JuJu, be merciful.

Here is a joke for the elderly;

Two very old women were playing cards, they have been playing the same card games for over fifty years. One of them says to the other, “you know, my dear, we’ve been playing together like this for over fifty years, but suddenly I can’t remember your name.”

The other lady looked at her somewhat puzzled for a long time. Finally she said, “how soon do you need to know.”

I love jokes about the elderly because I have become one of them. It’s not all bad.

I do not believe we should allow people to hunt wolves for sport. How is shooting a wolf any different than shooting a dog? The only difference I can see is that you have to find a wolf to shoot instead of just shooting in your back yard. But if the sport lies in finding a wolf, why not just take a picture? I don’t understand killing for no reason, as we continue to do in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don’t believe in killing as punishment either. Life in jail is probably a much better punishment anyway, and it leaves the way open for the correction of mistakes, of which there have been many. I don’t understand the American public. I don’t think anyone else does either. Remember, life is just a terminal condition, transmitted by sex. Without us the world will probably continue for a long time – and be a better place. We are fouling our nest and time is running out. But cheers anyway. Pip, pip, keep a stiff upper lip, don’t give up the ship, and whatever.

LKBIQ:
"On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done just as easily lying down."
Woody Allen

What's in a name?

Lovely candidates for Miss
Outdoors skin muskrats
to demonstrate talents.

Until recently I hadn’t realized that names could be so important in politics. It seems there are people who somehow believe that someone named Hussein must be (a) a Muslim, (b) a Muslim spy, (c) an evil person, and (d) all of the above. Wow! With a name like Hussein you’ve just got to be all bad. I confess I wouldn’t be bothered about voting for someone named Hussein (I guess this makes me a communist or at least a fellow traveler). I would, however, have to pause before I would vote for someone named, say, Algernon. Percival, too, would cause me to think twice (would you want a President called Percy). And of course nowadays no one would vote for an Adolf, Bumsted, Rasputin, or Dick (who would want a Dick for President). In my blog of September 11, 2004, I expressed my feelings about names and why I thought we should adopt more American Indian-like names. Thus, for me, Hussein would become “Skinny half-black guy with ears and audacity.” Rodham would be “Nice lady who takes bad advice.” John Sidney McCain III would convert to “Snobbish military person who believes in eternal war.” But enough of names.

I gather the Frank Church Banquet was a resounding success. For the first time ever they actually sold all the tickets. I guess Markos of the Daily Kos gave a good speech, as did others. My wife who is “political” attended this annual event and came home happy to have met so many nice people and learned so much about Idaho politics. Personally, I regard banquets or meetings of any kind as the functional equivalent of having a root canal. But, as we say, busy girls are happy girls. Oops, sorry, busy women are happy women. Many of the Idaho bloggers met each other for the first time. I guess they took turns wearing a funny coat, taking pictures, and vowing to do battle with, ugh, Republicans. There is, undeniably, a Democratic renaissance in the making here in the reddest of red states. Democrats are fired up. Hooray! Of course the majority of voters here in the Gem state will probably vote for the war and torture party as usual. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if they didn’t for a change.

It is pretty clear that our Republicans (some of them now in democratic clothing) are continuing to pursue their “southern strategy.” Unlike the national Republican southern strategy this local version doesn’t depend entirely upon subliminal racism and code words. It is a far simpler version that can best be described as Ada-centric. That is, as most of the voting public resides in Ada country or thereabouts, all you have to worry about is getting the votes in that part of the state. What happens in the hinterlands of Central and North Idaho just doesn’t matter. It has long been so. The Boys of Boise know best what is good for all of us in the state. That is why we have poorly paid teachers, falling apart and underfunded schools, high drop-out rates, low wages, taxes on food, polluted lakes and rivers, low IQ’s, and medieval laws about marriage, abortion, and drugs, to say nothing of right-to-work. Candidates for office rarely deign to visit the north and when they do it is mostly token appearances. Larry Grant has been an exception. If you want a Congressman who will represent all of Idaho, vote for Grant. Why should Boise be allowed to continue running our fine state into the bottomlands of irrelevance. Vote Grant, vote LaRocco, vote Obama, and vote for change (actually you have to vote for change as that’s all any of us have left after seven long years of stupidity, greed, and incompetence).

I am sad to know there are people in Idaho who just can’t wait to shoot wolves and grizzly bears. Clement LeRoy (Butch) Otter, our Governor, boasts that he would like to be the first to shoot a wolf. Why, I wonder. I can’t believe he’s going to eat it. I guess he is afraid it might attack him (there is no record of wolves attacking people in the United States as far as I know). I don’t believe people want to shoot grizzly bears in order to eat them either, although, unlike wolves, you might actually eat one. I guess these folks think shooting wolves and bears is a “sport.” Shooting ducks, geese, and pheasants might well be a sport as they are moving and you have to have a certain amount of skill. What sport is there in shooting a wolf or a bear or a cougar with a high-powered rifle with a telescopic sight from a distance? The only problem in these cases is simply finding one to shoot. What sport! You get your dogs to chase a bear or cougar up a tree and then when it is helpless you shoot it. Or you plant some bait and wait for an animal to come for it and then kill them. You might as well be shooting a cow. And trophy hunting in a fenced enclosure is so pathetic and despicable as to be beneath contempt. I don’t have any trouble with people shooting game for food. We have lots of people here in Idaho that do just that. But I do have a lot of trouble with trophy hunting or hunting merely for sport. If there are too many wolves or cougars (competing for the same animals people want to kill), let Fish and Game take care of it in the most humane way possible. Let’s not pretend it’s still the wild west and we’re all mighty hunters protecting our loved ones. You want to kill a trophy animal? Get a life.

LKBIQ:
“Think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of them are stupider than that.”
George Carlin

Seriously

Seriously, does anyone know what we are doing in Afghanistan? Somehow, over the years, I have completely lost track of why we are still there and what it is we are supposed to be doing. As I recall, we went into Afghanistan to get revenge on the guys who blew up the trade center in New York (even though they were from Saudi Arabia). But we wanted to get Osama bin Laden, the ringleader. We failed miserably as we didn’t have enough troops or enough smarts to get him when we had the chance. He is rumored to be living in Pakistan, up in the mountains, and surrounded by people so protective of him no one will turn him in even for the reward of 100 million dollars (now that’s loyalty). Anyway, we don’t seem to really be looking for him very seriously anymore and Pakistan doesn’t want us poking around in their territory and we wouldn’t have enough troops or firepower to get him anyway. For all I know he might well be living in Prague or Paris or maybe even St. Petersburg. In any case the existence of bin Laden does not seem to explain why we are still in Afghanistan (although I am not a conspiracy buff, I am still not completely disabused of my notion that bin Laden is still a CIA asset).

There was talk, as I remember back, of wanting to build a pipeline for oil or gas or something through Afghanistan. Does that explain why we might still be there? If it does we are certainly not very serious about it or we would have lots more troops there – lots more. If this is not why we are still there, and if we aren’t seriously trying to get bin Laden, then why are we still there? It is said that at the moment Karzai controls 30% of the country, the Taliban contarol 10%, and the other 60% is controlled by tribal chieftains (often referred to as warlords). I don’t know where these percentages come from but they don’t seem to reflect the presumed reality on the ground that I see in other accounts. Most of Afghanistan has always been tribal and no one has ever conquered that wild country. The British failed, the Russians failed, and we are failing. This was entirely predictable, especially when we never made any provision for enough troops and then withdrew some of them to attack Iraq. There is no chance whatever that we are going to control Afghanistan. And knowing this, why in the hell don’t we just acknowledge the reality of the situation and get out? Oh, I forgot, we have to protect Karzai, now said to be merely the mayor of Kabul (why don’t we just retire him in Paris). We can’t get the Europeans interested enough to provide any more troops, they want out, and we clearly won’t get anywhere on our own, so what is the point?

Now the Bush/Cheney administration won’t provide us with any information about the 760 million dollar disaster sometimes referred to as our embassy. It is, of course, way behind schedule and also riddled with expensive overruns. It is also, I gather from at least some accounts, little more than a piece of junk. This monstrosity covers something like 27 acres, is the largest embassy ever, and is really meant to be just a Little America sitting there in a hostile country. It has its own stores and restaurants, tennis courts, swimming pools, bowling alley, and on and on, obviously designed to win hearts and minds. I haven’t seen anything lately about all the other permanent bases we have built that are not permanent (permanent is a term with considerable flexibility as the permanence could be for a few years, many years, even forever). They quite likely won’t be permanent for long as I suspect Iraqi hospitality will not allow them to be. Oh, well, what’s another few billion wasted.

The Israelis, having trapped a million and half Palestinians in Gaza, are now proceeding to starve, humiliate, and murder them at their leisure. It’s all the Palestinian fault, of course, for sending their somewhat puny rockets into Israel (once in a while they actually hit something). They are not supposed to fight back, its just like in The Maltese Falcon when Humphrey (you don’t see many Humphreys nowadays) says to Peter Lorre, “when you’re slapped you’ll just take it and like it.” Israeli is now threatening a holocaust if they don’t stop firing the rockets. Of course the Israelis have every right to defend themselves from the mosquito that is Gaza, they would never think of negotiating in good faith and giving back some of the land they have already appropriated or replacing the orchards they have destroyed, or making any good faith effort to achieve a just peace. “It’s our way or the highway,” and this is a disastrous one way highway leading nowhere for the Palestinians (except perhaps to a genuine holocaust).

LKBIQ:
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
Abraham Lincoln

Stupid laws

More jails. We need more jails. The number of Americans incarcerated for one thing or another has been increasing by “leaps and bounds” for the past few years so that we are now jailing one in every one hundred Americans. Is that an accomplishment of which we should be proud? We have more people in jail in absolute numbers than any other country. And we have a higher percentage of people in jail than any other country. Not content with such a fine record many states are having trouble building enough jails, anticipating further increases in the criminal element that seems to be growing in our country. Apparently it is regarded as easier or more responsible to keep building more and more jails than it is to consider the laws and circumstances that are resulting in this problem. One interesting and depressing fact is that we seem to be spending more money on jails than on education. Apparently our “leaders” don’t think there is any relationship between education and good citizenship and lives free of crime. Here in Idaho our Republican led Congress would be happy not to have to fund education at all, but they don’t seem to balk too much when it comes to more jails. Our present governor, Clement Leroy Otter (otherwise known as “Butch”) recently suggested privatizing our jails. This was rejected quickly, not because it was an inherently stupid idea, but because there was fear that convicts from other areas might end up here (I don’t know how they passed up the opportunity to make a profit). Whether we privatize or not it seems to be clear that we desperately need more jails. There is, of course, a perfectly sensible and even easy solution to much of this problem, just get rid of our incredibly misguided drug laws.

I don’t know the precise statistics but it is a good bet that fully one third of prisoners (probably more) are in jail for violations of drug laws, especially laws relating to the use of marijuana. It is well known by now (and has been for years) that this substance is nowhere near as bad as alcohol, is not addictive, does not inevitably lead to other drugs, and has been stupidly maligned for years. There is no reason a person who has or uses marijuana should ever be put in jail. Furthermore, it should be obvious by now that the laws having to do with marijuana don’t work (if they did there wouldn’t be so many users, would there). Our other drug laws aren’t much better. This is simply because drug usage and addiction is fundamentally a medical problem that has been made into a political problem. If drugs were made legal (but still by prescription) much of the prison problem would disappear almost immediately, just as was the case with prohibition. In fact, our current hysterical approach to drugs results, in some cases, in situations in which people who actually need the drugs can’t get them (doctors are nowadays sometimes afraid to prescribe drugs they know their patents need because they fear losing their licenses – big brother is constantly monitoring them). This is a situation that is out of control because of so many years of completely ill-informed legislation. Unfortunately, don’t look for it to change soon, even though other countries have demonstrated that drug legalization works and beyond any doubt reduces crime. There are sensible and responsible people in the world, they just don’t happen to be resident in our Congress. There is no doubt this is a serious problem in the U.S. that is causing untold misery for many individuals and families, to say nothing of costing taxpayers a great deal of money. One might think it would be something we ought to deal with, our “war on drugs” is every bit as much a failure as our “war” in Iraq, but we don’t seem to be capable of doing anything about either problem. It’s the American way! Oh, yeah, I forgot, steroids in baseball is a really big and important problem that requires immediate attention by our otherwise lethargic Congresspersons. What with constantly raising money to keep getting re-elected I guess this is the only problem they have time to consider. Do you think Clemens and Bond will go to jail? Probably not unless they smoked some weed. Just another chapter in our culture of the absurd.

LKBIQ:
“Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago.”
Bernard Berenson

Huh?

Kicked in the head by a cow,
Montana man decides to
make organic goat cheese.

This is one of those puzzles that comes under the heading of: what the hell is going on, I don’t get it and it makes no sense. The problem is this: Bush now has an approval rating of a mere 19%, the lowest of any President ever. A majority of the American public is fed up with this “war” and want out of it as soon as possible. The public is equally fed up with Congress for the failure to stop this unbelievably expensive and unnecessary war.

McCain’s whole strategy is based upon his support for this unpopular war. He has adopted Bush’s position that it was justified and if we continue we will somehow “win,” although what we will win has never been specified. In short, McCain is closely identified with Bush and this “war” that is seen as a complete disaster and the greatest foreign policy blunder ever. It is known that Democrats are turning out in record numbers whereas Republicans are not. Some are predicting a landslide victory for Democrats. It is also known that there are Republicans who are supporting Democrats this time.

At the same time, the national polls claim that McCain is essentially even with either of his potential opponents. In some polls he actually leads by a few points, in others he is not far behind. Some are even predicting a McCain win in November. How can this be? How do you explain this peculiar situation? Do the polls lie? (a distinct possibility). Do the voters lie? How can someone promote such a useless and disastrous policy, in the face of overwhelming opposition, and still be considered a possibility for President? I confess, I don’t get it. Are there a large number of secret warmongers out there who do not want to reveal their true warlike nature? Are the MSM faking these numbers or loading the polls with leading questions? What the hell is going on?

I think we need some new terms to describe what goes on in fighting and warfare. It seems to me the nature of warfare has changed dramatically but our language to describe it has not. For example, we have traditionally described battles and such in terms like “savagery,” or “barbarism.” These terms strike me as no longer entirely appropriate. Now that we have “advanced” beyond bows and arrows and spears and bayonets and sabers, and rifles and such, and entered a new era of technological warfare with planes and bombs and nowadays even robots and drones, terms like savage and barbaric don’t seem very useful. Where, for example, is the savagery in pushing a button from five miles above the earth, even though that act may result in thousands of deaths? Or how about sitting in your office hundreds of miles from the battlefield and pushing buttons to send a drone over Afghanistan to kill someone. I guess you can stretch such acts under the terms barbaric or savage but somehow it just doesn’t seem quite right. But we have no terms, as far as I know, for “beyond savagery” (and we are certainly far beyond it now). I suppose we could define mass bombings of cities and innocent people as acts of humanicide and describe them as “humanicidic” but that doesn’t seem to me to be entirely satisfactory (somehow it’s just not quite powerful enough to describe such cowardly and inhuman behavior). Remember that until the Germans carpet bombed Guernica just prior to WWII such attacks on civilian targets were basically unknown even in war. Nowadays, of course, we just blissfully kill 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 or more at a time and think nothing much of it. Just with sanctions we kill 500,000 Iraqi children and our Secretary of State says “it’s worth it.” We’ve come a long way baby, from mere savagery. But think of the future. It may soon be the case that whatever nation has the superior technology they may be able to annihilate everyone else on the planet just by pushing a few buttons. We better start catching up with our education for science and technology. Never mind the arts and humanities, we won’t need them, having moved beyond even civilization. Exciting times, these, one never knows for certain whether we’ll blow ourselves up first, or just slowly drown in our own filth and waste. No one seems to care enough to do much of anything about it. I know, let’s privatize it! That works swell for the public interest. Does anyone even remember what the public interest is anymore? Don’t mind me, I just get cranky when I don’t get enough sleep, and I don’t get enough sleep when I’m cranky. I’m lost in the funk of modern life.

LKBIQ:
“I think we agree, the past is over.”
George W. Bush

There's no justice

Drunken man on lawnmower
goes on rampage, breaks
window, and goes to jail

There’s no justice. Some have been saying this for years. It’s true. Consider what is going on right now in Congress. They are spending their time (and our money) going after baseball players. BASEBALL PLAYERS! I mean, it’s like there isn’t anything else for them to be doing? We have a President and Vice-President who are known war criminals, along with their henchpersons, Condi Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, and more. These people have committed despicable acts of illegality and virtually the whole world knows it. But does Congress spend their time trying to bring them to justice. Of course not. They lied us into a pre-emptive war against a nation that was no threat to us (the number one war crime). They have tortured, killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people, hid prisoners from the Red Cross, engaged in secret renditions, war profiteering, illegal spying, doing away with habeas corpus, holding kangaroo trials in Guantanamo, and creating scandals one upon another almost endlessly. Congress goes after baseball players who may have used steroids and may have lied about it. A few in Congress are working to get Cheney impeached and seemingly are getting nowhere. Just can’t let anything that trivial interfere with baseball. This is so sick, so unbelievable, so tragic, so fantastically absurd there is no way to rationally even describe it. It makes one just want to scream and run around banging their head into the wall.

I have to change the subject, I can’t stand any more of the above. Let me ask another question. What happens when we run out of money? The dollar is now only worth one half of a Euro. We are in debt probably beyond our means to repay it (at least without a very painful effort for a very long time). At some point China, Japan, and Saudi Arabia are going to refuse to lend us any more money. Also, at some point, we will have to stop just printing more and more useless dollars as they will fail to be acceptable to anyone. So what do we do then? I guess we could sell everything to eager buyers around the world. I bet we’d get a lot for, say, Yellowstone Park. San Francisco would probably net a good bit. Then, of course, there are our national forests, and lots and lots of agricultural land. Actually, I believe a good bit of these properties are already being sold to people from other countries. I hope they will continue to let us reside here as serfs and peasants serving our new masters. We’re well on the road to that already. Soon the international bankers will have a lot more of our houses to go along with our businesses. Perhaps after global warming gets going a bit more strongly they could allow us to try and settle in Antarctica or the North Pole. You know, like they sent the convicts to Australia and indentured servants to New England. If you think I am joking I suggest you think more seriously about it.

George Bush’s poll ratings have now reached a new all-time low, 19%. No one seems to care. He’s still President. He still gives speeches and travels overseas representing us. Congress absolutely refuses to impeach him or even threaten to do so. I haven’t seen any ratings for Cheney recently, probably because there is no provision for negative numbers. They won’t impeach him either. Pelosi and Reid want to wait until the election because they think we’ll have a new President then. And we will, and won’t it be ironic if it turns out to be John McCain the Bush clone. Don’t laugh. The DLC has cleverly managed to lose the last two Presidential elections even though they should have been able to win by running anyone they could find hiding in an alley. I don’t see much hope for our country unless there is a massive turnover of personnel in Washington D.C., as well as some monumental changes in the way we allow them to conduct business. Vote for Obama and hope that he really will do something to change things. Neither Clinton or McCain will change anything that our corporate masters haven’t already agreed to, like medical insurance.

LKBIQ:
“Nowadays men lead lives of noisy desperation.”
James Thurber

Please, no more

Please, please, let us have no more debates. Clinton and Obama just finished their 20th debate, the last 3 one on one. MSNBC spent the entire day talking about the debate that we had tonight. Then we had the debate, 90 minutes. As I write this the newspeople are still going on and on about it, going over every answer, every nuance, every gesture, everything they can dredge up to pontificate about. Virtually nothing happened during the debate that we didn’t already know about. Clinton would have happily kept going on health care for the whole 90 minutes but mercifully, they stopped it after an only excruciating 16 minutes. Nothing new was added to this question that they have debated over and over again. Then clips were shown of the two of them saying things about each other, things they obviously said to try to make election points that really amounted to very little. Then Tim Russert, who seems unable to resist hypothetical questions, provided some of those. These are questions for which the answers are perfectly obvious or cannot be answered at all. In other words they are a complete waste of time. Russert seems to have a reputation for being a really tough interviewer. He might be tough in the sense that he doggedly pursues ridiculous questions but he’s basically pretty inept. Brian Williams didn’t seem to have much to offer or say. Clinton must have had a super make-up artist as she looked much younger and less fatigued tonight. Obama was, well, just Obama. He doesn’t get rattled, doesn’t get shrill or angry, just looks calm and Presidential. All in all another waste of a lot of air time. No one won, the moderators were, like, moderators, with a lot of really kind of stupid questions. Russert did manage to maneuver Clinton into admitting that she would like to be able to take back her vote for the “war.” Verbally this is the closest she has ever come to acknowledging it was a mistake. You would have thought Russert had just ended WW III, from the look on his face as he was receiving congratulations from his peers. Mind you, she still didn’t admit it was a mistake, but I guess progress comes slowly in the news business. Personally, I think we need a much more precise definition of “news.” As it is anything can be news, and unfortunately these days, is. When asked about Putin and Russia the candidates gave the answer that anyone who reads already knew. I guess if you were illiterate or totally uninterested you might have found it interesting. Did anyone say anything we didn’t already know or could have predicted? I don’t think so. If they hadn’t spent the whole day talking about the debate that was to come they could have given us some real news. Like, there must have been a car chase in L.A. Or Paris Hilton must have been up to something. Or Britney. There must have been all kinds of news we missed. Darn. I have cut down my news watching to 45 minutes per day (just the first 45 minutes of Olberman), and I am seriously considering giving that up. No news is good news.

On the home front: Linda took the front-wheel drive Honda to work for the first time and actually managed to get it up the ice sheet that is our driveway. Work on my book proceeds, but not as fast as it should. We are about to order seeds for this year’s garden. I just re-read The Heart of Darkness and have started on The League of the Iroquois. We patiently await our fifth season of the year, spring break-up. Lots of mud, potholes, and ruts. Eventually they will get around to converting the potholes from holes to bumps. Life goes on at Sandpile, er. Sandhill. Cheers and best wishes to all.

LKBIQ:
“Men’s natures are alike, it is their habits that carry them far apart.”
Confucius

Hope is not mocked

Hope does not lend itself very well to sarcasm and mockery. Indeed, to mock hope seems not only stupid but cruel. Making fun of someone because they hope things will be better? I don’t understand why Clinton has taken this tack. I believe it is a terrible mistake. I like to think the real Hillary was the one at the end of the last debate, reaching out and claiming unity. I think she is not being well-advised by her “handlers.” In fact, I think she has been very ill-advised from the very beginning and it is too late now to turn things around. It appears to me that her advisors have now adopted a “scorched earth” attitude. If Hillary and the DLC can’t win they will spoil it for Obama and the DNC. All this negative stuff about Obama will play into the hands of the Brafia, of course it will be mild compared to what they will come up with. The Clinton campaign is now accusing Obama of dirty tricks while it is they, themselves, who are playing such tricks. The Clinton campaign, under the direction of Penn, has descended into the very depths of dirty politics. Unfortunately, they are dragging Hillary down with them. This is not entirely surprising as they have managed to lose the last two elections when a dead duck should have been able to beat Bush. Let’s see the end of the DLC. Hillary will be a lot better off without them.

McCain has said if he can’t convince Americans that the “war” in Iraq was/is worthwhile, he will lose. So come on McCain, convince me. Four thousand American troops lost, thousands more wounded and maimed, maybe a million Iraqis dead, including huge numbers of women and children, three or four million displaced from their homes, Iraqi infrastructure largely destroyed, their people tortured and humiliated, the U.S. in depth beyond ordinary imagination, and all this for a “war” that was completely unnecessary to begin with. What do we have to show for it? Basically nothing. Even if we were miraculously to “win,” what is it we will have won? McCain is insane, if he thinks he is going to convince anyone this was all worth it (there’s a bumper sticker there, McCain’s Insane). I think one of the reasons American citizens are fed up with it is because it is so incredibly insane. How could this be allowed to happen? What the hell are we going to do about it now? Only one answer makes any sense – get out now, apologize to the Iraqis and the rest of the world, hold those responsible for it accountable, and hope that our image can eventually be restored. If McCain wants to stay there for a hundred years, let him, and let him take Bush/Cheney and the neocons with him. Good riddance. The Iraqis would probably have some good ideas as to what to do with these war criminals. No one here even dares mention the question of what to do with them.

The roviating is starting to pick up already. They are showing a photo of Obama dressed up in a Somali costume while he was visiting there. How awful! And of course they are starting in on the idea that he may be too cozy with the Palestinians. How awful! How awful would it be to have a President who actually understands that Palestinians are people, too, and they are suffering terribly under Israeli colonialism. Maybe such a President would actually do something to bring about some kind of peace in the Middle East instead of just meekly bowing to every Israeli whim and desire. It’s perfectly clear that Hillary will never do anything to offend the Israelis, nor will McCain. In short, there is no hope at all for the Israeli/Palestinian problem unless there is at least a chance that Obama will attempt something meaningful. It’s a long shot, he may do nothing, but there is always that hope that Hillary is making fun of. Remember, depression is child’s play compared with hopelessness.


LKBIQ:
“And this stillness of life did not in the least resemble a peace. It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention.”
Joseph Conrad

Nader, again

Ralph Nader, egomaniacal once-was, has decided to run again. Why? He has absolutely nothing to add. No organization, nothing new to say, no hope of winning. He says the current candidates aren’t paying enough attention to the corporate control of Washington D.C. So what is he going to do about it? He’s going to join the Brafia, that criminal organization that once was known as the Republican Party. Presumably, by joining with the Brafia he can take votes away from the Democrats. But as the Brafia candidate is the one who represents the corporate controllers, somehow this seems a strange strategy. Helping the Brafia is certainly not going to have any effect on the Corporations other than helping them. It would be great if the MSM would just ignore him. But as he is now on their side they certainly won’t do that. Remember, this is the same MSM that refused to cover Kucinich at all, and didn’t do much better with Edwards. Now they are going to lavish attention on this megalomaniac who wants once again to be a “spoiler.” I guess he has decided to be on the side of the torturers and warmongers. Great job Ralph! Welcome to Hypocrisy Incorporated. You’ll fit right in.

Well, we gathered to watch the annual collection of commercials, but some weird program called the Academy Awards kept interrupting. Apparently this is some annual event in which a bunch of adults get together to dress up and celebrate which of them are the best at make-believe. Having not seen any of the pictures, and knowing nothing about it, I watched because I had no choice. I thought some guy named Michael Clayton was going to win. Then I found out that’s the name of a movie. How embarrassing. I thought Jon Stewart did a fine monologue to start things off. I also thought the five nominated songs were excruciatingly bad. As all this happened an hour ago I’ve already forgotten who won. I fear I have completely lost my taste for movies. I noticed that some of the biggest female stars are so white they are almost transparent. I think they may not have enough blood. I also noticed that designer gowns are still in but “hair-do’s” are out. I don’t recall ever seeing so many hanging wisps of hair. The 98 year-old man in the wheelchair was pretty good. Johnny Depp is kind of funny looking, but so is John Travolta. Everyone seemed to have a good time, except maybe the losers. Oh, yeah, the ex-stripper won for best screenplay. I thought that was good. It was a script about a pregnant teen-ager (yawn). Don’t mind me, I’m just jealous.

It’s that dreadful time of year. Tax time! This is the time of year when whatever suicidal tendencies I have come to the surface. I don’t mind the basic concept of taxes. I think we ought to have schools and police and firemen, and stuff. However, I don’t think we should have nuclear bombs and a military budget so ridiculously out of control. I resent my tax dollars being spent to kill innocent people, especially women and children, all around the globe, and simply being transferred from my pockets into the pockets of the filthy rich and powerful who don’t even need them. But this is only part of the problem. I can’t do my taxes. I have no idea how to do them. It’s is far too complicated for my tiny brain to grasp. I just have to gather up whatever stuff I have, put it in an envelope, and give it to someone who presumably knows what they are doing (and charges me accordingly). I hate this! Hate it! We have a tax code that is roughly the size of the Encyclopedia Brittanica which no one truly understands completely. So every year we go through the same painful business. I have thought of just not paying my taxes. By the time they caught up with me I’d be dead. But then they’d just make my wife’s life miserable which of course wouldn’t be fair (I’m really not a bad guy, I truly think about my wife’s welfare). When I was first in Los Angeles at UCLA I had to ask some of my friends to recommend a tax man. They did. He even made office calls. I admit I was somewhat surprised when he first appeared. He was black. He had a strangely cocked eye. He also had a shirt open to the navel with several gold chains hanging around his neck and a big diamond ring. He was both a lawyer and a tax man. I knew at first sight he was the right guy for me. His opening question was: “How do you feel about paying taxes.” He was great! I truly miss him. Ah, yes, better days.


LKBIQ:
"Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge."
Mark Twain

King Leopold's Ghost

Fishermen catch 16 foot
shark, hang it by its tail,
wallet falls out.

I have just finished King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hockschild, 1998, Houghton Mifflin. This is probably the most illustrative example of the greed, hypocrisy, and horror of European colonialism. The area once known as the Belgian Congo is the setting. King Leopold II of Belgium the chief villain.

Leopold II found himself King of Belgium, a small, relatively powerless nation surrounded by much stronger ones. Being unusually greedy, he dreamed of having a colony just like the other nations of Europe were developing. So desperate was he to realize his dream he actually tried to buy colonies in South America, Africa, and the Pacific (he once tried to buy Fiji). Frustrated by his failure, and fascinated by the adventures in the Congo of Henry Morton Stanley, he sought out Stanley and entered into a secret agreement with him to develop a colony in what was then the huge, unknown, and neglected heart of Africa. Knowing he would meet opposition for attempting to develop a commercial venture, he cleverly and dishonestly passed off his endeavors as being purely altruistic. He would put a stop to Arab slavery and bring the word of god, as well as civilization, to the black heathens in the Congo. He managed to con the U.S. and Britain into recognizing his claim to the Congo for these noble purposes, and other nations then followed suit.

Of course once he had control of this huge and distant land, where there was no one to witness or monitor what he was doing, he set about systematically looting it of its valuables, particularly ivory at first. He built a small railroad and a system of roads to make it easier to transport ivory from the interior to his shipping points on the coast. This took several years and in the meantime the ivory had to be transported by native carriers, thousand and thousands of them. They were provided by native chieftains who owned and provided them, but also by simply capturing them, chaining them together, and forcing them to carry heavy loads over long distances. Thousands of them died. If they refused to work or misbehaved they were severely beaten with special whips made or raw, sharp edged, twisted, dried Hippopotamus hide. Twenty five lashes could cause unconsciousness, 100 lashes, which were common, could result in death.

Leopold created an army that eventually grew to 19,000 troops, mostly Africans under the command of European officers. This was the largest army in Africa and operated not only as an antiguerilla unit, but also was in charge of labor. As you might surmise, officers and troops with little supervision and absolute power did not hesitate to use it. Natives were shot indiscriminately, raped, beaten, tortured, and treated abominably in every way, all in the name of civilizing them, while at the same time collecting all the ivory as fast as they could. This was mild compared to what happened next.

Rubber became a highly desired commodity at just this time. The Congo was blessed with wild rubber vines that could be tapped for their precious juices. But this required even more labor and the natives did not want to spend days and weeks scouring the forest for rubber. No problem, they were conscripted and forced to do it. If some resisted entire villages were destroyed to warn others. Natives who refused were beaten and shot. Their women were captured and held hostage to force the men to work. Women, like men, were chained together and sometimes just disappeared. Some became concubines and; some were tortured if they resisted.

The worst feature of this unbelievably greedy enterprise came when officers in the army decided they needed proof that someone had been killed for each of the cartridges they issued their black troops. They were made to produce the right hands of their victims. Hands were produced and handed over by the thousands. Often they were smoked to preserve them long enough to deliver them before they spoiled. Heads, too, were taken. Officers were apparently proud of this as they had their pictures taken with them, one officer standing in a ring of heads, another sending a head packed in salt to his taxidermist in Europe, still others being displayed on posts. Another officer was known for paying his troops for each head they produced after battles he fought, “to stimulate their prowess in the face of the enemy.”

All of this, like the rest of European colonialism, because of European beliefs about race, evolution, and the necessity to bring civilization to the heathens. Read this book, and re-read Joseph Conrad’s, The Heart of Darkness, that was based on Conrad’s own experience in this unfortunate land. The meaning of “the horror, the horror,” becomes much more understandable.

LKBIQ:
"Why shouldn't things be largely absurd, futile, and transitory? They are so, and we are so, and they and we go very well together."
George Santayana

Clinton surrenders

German with machete takes lover's
head in rucksack, deliberately drives
into path of oncoming truck.

Clinton gives up, surrenders to Obama. At least that’s the way I interpreted the debate we just witnessed in Austin. It is obvious there are no differences that make a difference between the two of them. Clinton had to win to have any chance to become the nominee. I believe she sensed she did not manage to establish a genuine difference between herself and Obama, and given that fact, understood that she was finished. If Obama wins or splits Texas and Ohio it will be over for certain and it looks like that is precisely what is going to happen.

Clinton has too much baggage, and I don’t mean Bill. Trying to prove she was “tough” she voted for the “war,” for Lieberman/Kyl, for cluster bombs, for continuing funding for the Iraq misadventure, and those votes hung around her neck like an albatross. If she had faced a less accomplished candidate she might have succeeded, but Obama proved to be just too much better, especially as the campaign continued. He just got better and better and Hillary did worse and worse. When Obama suggested tonight that her attempts to brand him as a plagiarist was part of the political “silly season,” everyone recognized the truth of that allegation. Hillary kept looking at him with what I thought was virtually adoration, and at the very end she admitted her defeat. It has to be a personal tragedy for her. She was supposed to be the inevitable candidate, and it certainly started out that way. Obama, who many thought couldn’t last more than a couple of months, fooled everyone and truly upset expectations. Whether Obama can live up to what he has promised remains to be seen, but a great many Americans seem prepared to drink the Obama kool-aid. God speed, Barack, we’re rolling the dice on you.

The New York Times story on McCain may or may not have much foundation. But it has already reminded people of the Keating five scandal and has also revealed McCain’s relationships with lobbyists in the past. Naturally, being part of the Brafia, he can’t possibly be entirely “clean.” I don’t think this means he’s “a dirty old man,” just another Washington politician (but clever enough to pull the wool over people’s eyes for years). Once he’s asked how he’s going to pay for his continuing “war,” and finance the other ones he insists will happen, I think he’ll be finished. I doubt the Democrats will show too much respect for his age.

Why do the moderators in these debates continue to ask completely ridiculous questions? Tonight, for example, they asked Clinton point blank if she thought Obama was not qualified to be President. Did they really expect her to say yes? This attempt to introject purely personal attacks into the debates must be done on purpose just to cause trouble where there obviously is none. It’s the same thing with Michelle Obama’s remark about being proud of America for the first time. It’s perfectly obvious to anyone with a brain larger than a bb what she meant. But that doesn’t keep the MSM and hatemongers like Limbaugh from trying to make something out of it that just isn’t there. Maybe I’m giving them too much credit, maybe they just truly have such small minds they really think these things are important. Remember Hillary’s cleavage, her laugh, her clapping, someone’s lapel pin, haircut, etc., etc. They might as well just recite nonsense syllables. It’s what passes for news nowadays. We used to get more news from the old black and white “News of the Day” shorts they used to play in the movies.

LKBIQ:
“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?”
Mahatma Gandhi

There's no fool like an old fool?

Three right feet in sneakers
have been found on islands
in the Strait of Georgia

I find it hilarious that the New York Times broke a story today about possible hanky panky between John McCain and some female lobbiest (sp?). Apparently this story has been around for quite some time but until now they decided not to print it. This raises the obvious question of why? And why now? First, the story is eight years old. Second, they haven’t given any details other than the fact that McCain’s staff intervened “to protect him from himself” (there’s no fool like an old fool?). With no real details known or revealed there is all sorts of speculation – was it romantic (they seemed to think it was). Was it sexual (lots of doubt). More importantly, did he do favors for her clients in some kind of quid pro quo (this is the only thing that strikes me as potentially important). Everyone seems to believe the NYT must have more information than they have revealed. Until they produce it I have to regard this as more comical than serious. Like, who cares what he did with a female lobbiest eight years ago (unless he did her favors for her clients)? I guess that eight years ago he must have been 63, an old enough age to be treated as a child? Somehow this smacks of an LBJ scenario (accuse him of having sex with a goat, even though you know its not true, just to watch him squirm while having to deny it). I sort of miss old LBJ. Obviously McCain is going to deny everything. Probably nothing will come of this. But think of how many hours the MSM can waste of our time. It’s certainly better than having to talk about Iraq, Afghanistan, or the economy.

Now someone has slipped in the notion that Obama is a communist (I don’t remember where I saw this). Whoever it was I am certain he or she is an absolute nitwit, just like those who say he is a Muslim, a Muslim plant who wants to overthrow the government, a cult leader, a socialist, communist, naïve, a wimp, or first baseman for the Kansas City Bloomergirls. I’m sure more ridiculous accusations are yet to come, along with other accusations probably too dirty to mention (I haven’t seen the heavy hand of Karl Rove yet). This raises a question I’ve been meaning to ask for some time: If Karl Rove is Bush’s brain, and if he is no longer available in the White House, does this mean Bush has no brain? I mean, I know he has no brain, this is merely hypothetical. As a donkey with a memory that never forgets, what ever happened with that homosexual prostitute, Gannon/Guckert or whatever his name was, who used to mysteriously pay calls to the White House. We never did get an explanation. And why does this association occur in my mind with the mention of Karl Rove? Where is Freud when one needs him? And whatever happened to truth and beauty? Bush/Cheney has done away with them. Can Obama bring them back? Can he possibly live up to all the hype? Of course not. It’ll probably take him the first four years of his Presidency just to clean up the filth in the White House itself, let alone the world. I am assuming he will be the Democratic nominee. In a strange way I feel sorry for him, having to clean up after the Brafia scoundrels that have virtually destroyed our country, a virtually impossible task. I fear that is now the Brafia strategy. They know they can’t win, so let a Democratic President fail at an absolutely impossible task, and then they can take up where they left off – bankrupting our country, destroying any standing it once had in the world, killing indiscriminately, starting new wars, destroying our once proud military, and lying, lying, always lying. What will they do when there is nothing left. Why, they’ll take their money and buy Paraguay (they probably won’t be allowed anywhere else). Bite the bullet. Try to be of good cheer. Sleep well. Have pleasant dreams. Maybe someone will come on a white horse and save us from the barbarian hordes in Washington D.C.

Bill has warned the voters in Texas that it is all up to them. If they don’t vote for Hillary she probably won’t be the candidate. This strikes me as a foolish threat. We’ll soon know if it works.



LKBIQ:
“If you want to know what god thinks of money, just look at who he gave it to.”
Dorothy Parker

Clinton's last stand

Fiancee refuses to stop smoking in his
apartment. German man sprays her and
her cigarette with fire extinguisher.


Barack Obama has won the primary in Wisconsin, a state ostensibly favorable to Clinton. This means that Ohio and Texas will be Clinton’s last stand. It already appears from the polls that Texas is split about even. Clinton is ahead in Ohio but that will certainly be subject to change after tonight. I fear that just like “The Son of the Morning Star,” Clinton will soon be massacred. Unfortunately, her own political ambition is going to come back to haunt her. She voted for the “war.” She voted for the Lieberman/Kyl bill (potentially more war). She voted repeatedly to continue funding for the Iraq misadventure. And perhaps worst of all, she voted to continue the use of cluster bombs. The American public is forgiving, but I doubt they are that forgiving. If this unexpected upset holds I hope she will leave graciously. I like Hillary. I think she is well-intentioned and exceedingly well-versed in the problems that beset our ailing country. But she is DLC and on the wrong side of history. Our country clearly wants no more of business as usual.

I hope Obama is fully prepared for what the Brafia will begin to throw at him non-stop. Now that he looks pretty sure to be the Democratic candidate the roviating will begin in earnest. It has already been suggested, as you doubtless know, that he is really a Muslim (totally false but some of he ultra-right nitwits will stick with it). Not only is he said by them to be a Muslim, he is a Muslim plant whose aim is to destroy America (this deserves no comment at all). A few days ago someone suggested that Obamarama was really a cult of some kind (a cult, I guess, with the largest membership in the history of such things). Now someone has slyly suggested he is a black Jim Jones. I guess this is related to the fact that on at least six occasions someone has fainted during his speeches. As far as I know all these were women. I think a more accurate comparison might be that he is a black Frank Sinatra (without the famous bow ties that Sinatra used to untie at just the right moment while the girls swooned). I assure you these slanders will be much worse before the Brafia gets through with him. Watch them try to make something out of Michelle Obama’s comment that for the first time in her adult life she is proud of America. I know what she means. For me, until something actually changes, I say it’s the first time in my life I have been completely ashamed to be an American. You can thank Bush/Cheney and their not so merry band of cutthroats, thieves, and war criminals for that.

Castro has resigned after 49 years of rule. His brother is now in charge of Cuba. The U.S. is going out of its way to make clear there will be no changes in policy (no lifting of sanctions), even though Raul Castro is believed to be more flexible than Fidel. As the sanctions have been in place for many years and seem to have had little effect, and as Cuba can hardly be seen as a threat to the U.S., you might think that reason and common sense would prevail. But, hey, this is the U.S., there doesn’t seem to be any place for either reason or common sense.

The Brafia is saying some pretty strange and provocative things of late. Karl Rove, in a speech somewhere in Canada, is reported to have said that “someday the world will look back and say it was really a good thing that Bush invaded Iraq” (or words to that effect). I guess he thinks that Canadians don’t have any brains. Just today Eagleburgear (remember that cranky old man) suggested if the Democrats win the Presidency it will be “horrifying.” Wow! Horrifying. What the hell does he think its going to be if McCain should win? Horrifying won’t come close to describing it. McCain, tonight in his victory speech, referred to our “enemies” in the Middle East as “moral monsters.” I guess people who resent having their country invaded and their people killed by the thousands are somehow morally deficient. I hope he meant only al Qaida but I’m not sure. I don’t think he’s very sympathetic to “towel-heads” and those with the temerity to not do what we tell them to do. I saw the Brafia battle cry on a raised big pickup truck even before we actually attacked Iraq but I didn’t recognize it at the time: “Nuke their ass and steal their gas.” We haven’t managed to literally do both of those things as yet, but Cheney hasn’t given up trying.

LKBIQ:
“Her own mother lived the latter years of her life in the horrible suspicion that electricity was dripping invisibly all over the house.”
James Thurber