Happy Father's Day

Every now and again, one comes across a piece about an issue that shows just the right empathy for those that oppose, but stands steadfast in its principle nonetheless. The kind of piece that makes one think, "Damn, I wish I'd wrote that."

While I have to admit to being a tad biased (we do share a wee bit of the same blood) this piece by the King is one of those such pieces.

I'm proud of you, Son....

Peace,
emaycee

How can a poor man stand such times and live?

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times...

So the Senate failed to pass another extension for unemployment, helping to guarantee a probable double-dip recession with the usual suspects (Repuglicans, Conservadems) feeling they are practicing some tough love--you know, because taking a $7.00 an hour job for 10 hours a week is a sacrifice the working class has to make. But keeping six figure salary doctors Medicaid payouts? Hell, yes, we're there.

And to no one's surprise, who's jumped on this crusade? None other than fresh from the psycho ward unit in Kentucky, Rand Paul. Of course the little people have to sacrifice--but not Mr. Paul, the optometrist who receives between 300k and 500k of his income from Medicaid payouts. He can't take a 21% hit, but the unemployed are supposed to take a cut from $300 a week to $100 a week? Five little words: Fuck you, next idiot please!

Chris Hayes from The Nation had an excellent piece this week on corporate accountability and individual accountability and the path we've been snookered down. We're always being asked to forgive corporate failures, but expected to take a hard line on individual failings. What the fuck? I suppose part of this (at least to my thinking) stems from the sheer power of corporations and our inability to defeat them which leads to apathy, but eventually you'd think we'd say enough is enough and fight back for Christ's sake. Of course, it doesn't help, either, that the average American is always being fed some bugaboo (gay marriage, the war on terror, socialism, illegal immigration) which is supposedly destroying our country but is really only a diversion to make us forget how much we're being screwed by the corporate interests and the wealthy.

Courage? For fuck's sake, that's what they're calling selling out your core constituency and sticking a knife in the back of working people? (Frankly, anyone who thinks teachers are overpaid or have overly generous benefits is a flat out fucking idiot). The truly heinous part of this is that the Free Press actually has people writing its editorials who believe for one minute that somehow this is going to cause Repuglicans to take a look at tax reform. Repuglicans have never acted in the best interests of the people, and never will act in the interest of the people. As stated so eloquently by Mr. Lewis of the Daily Kos, "Republicans are not on your side." The word that best describes these 16 Democrats (so-called): saps.

The best of times--we did have a few good ones this week....

Bob King was elected President of the UAW, and judging from his acceptance speech (though union leaders often do become members of the elite), appears to be taking the union leftward with calls for social justice, fighting for workers around the globe, and taking on anti-union forces. A quote: "We will never ever have success where our membership is concerned if we are not part of a large, broader social movement." Preach it, brother.

Even better was President of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumka's speech on illegal immigration, calling on union members to support them and reminding us (yet again) that we are a nation of immigrants. From both of these I see unions trending farther left, and while their influence has waned in recent years, if past history is any precedent (think the thirties), when the unions turn leftward, things get a whole hell of a lot better for the working class. Bravo!

Digby on why we still need to support the Democratic Party: she is exactly right, things could get much worse, and for right now, it's the only option liberals have. We have to keep fighting.

Or, in the words of Samuel Beckett: "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." Amen.

Peace,
emaycee

That's the week that was

And I suppose you have to be of a certain age (i.e., old) to understand today's post title. Why doesn't this surprise me? Or this? Where's that ballsy tea party attitude? Oh, it's in hiding? That's the way to stand up for the American people--run and hide (or be hidden) when it turns out you really are a racist or a lunatic. Frankly, get out there and say what you believe--if the people buy it (not likely) they'll vote you into office. If you can't do that, go the fuck home and save the rest of us the trouble (yes, we're talking about Rand Paul of Where's Waldo fame, and Sharron Angle, disciple of Carry Nation). Another brilliant "column" from Wonk. Apparently he missed this (or else gets his news from Chris Matthews, who has a "documentary" next week on the Tea Party). Not having lived in Michigan during Mr. Tisch's important achievement (so-called), I can't recall the rhetoric from the debate, but I really fail to see how having the burden of financing education move from property taxes to the sales tax improved Michigan--especially considering that year after year we have more cuts to education, can't find ways to fund education, and continue to fall down to the depths of Mississippi and Alabama in the education our kids are getting. The only effect the Tea Party will have on Michigan is to drag it farther down (though leave it to Michigan to be a day late and a dollar short, as usual). Brian Dickerson continues the Free Press "Kumbaya" Movement (Golly, gee, Beav, if we'd all just get along we'd all be so much better off). In a word: no. You know, the last two big bipartisan efforts I remember were the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War. Those two worked out so fucking well. I don't have the benefit of Mr. Dickerson's Ivy League education (Princeton must be so fucking proud), but I can't see how California's awarding the general election to the two highest vote getters in the primary is going to make things much better. One can suppose in highly partisan districts (both liberal and conservative) that it is entirely possible that the top two vote getters could be from the same party, thus disenfranchising both the opposing parties and independents (and seriously reducing voter turnout). Certainly, the occasional independent candidate might break through, but...there's a reason Centrism begins with a "C": it's for the average and the mediocre. Said it before, will say it again: these times call for bold leaders with the courage to push through bold ideas whether partisan or not, and the bravery to challenge and defeat the corporate special interests that are keeping true change for the working people from happening. We need a class war, not a fucking peace pipe. Period. Not worth a link, but words certainly are telling (from the Free Press business pages): "...Rick Wagoner, the former General Motors chief who was pushed out in March 2009 after 32 years at the company...." Poor, little Ricky--pushed out...with his golden parachute and jumping to other boards of directors with their lots of pay for little work. Didn't have a damn thing to do with the fact that he ran the company into the ground with his lack of foresight, poor oversight, and general incompetence that left thousands out of work with little more than a few months unemployment compensation. I smell...BULLSHIT on the business pages of the Free Press.... Devil's Advocate: While I would not want to downplay the tragedy and significance of the BP oil spill, if we on the left had spent the last two months focusing as much energy on jobs (admittedly a taller order) as we have on this spill, our chances of averting future disasters such as this would markedly improve. Enough Americans will vote for change if their pocketbooks are suffering, and we won't be the change they are seeking. To be blunt: no jobs equals no clean energy agenda and more offshore drilling. Just sayin'.... Peace, emaycee

All the CEO's Men

There's a great line in All the President's Men where Deep Throat tells Bob Woodward (concerning the Nixon administration), that "These guys really aren't that bright." It was a hard lesson that the American people learned during the seventies--our government's leaders weren't necessarily the best and the brightest, and since we've held a good deal of skepticism towards our nation's leaders. Can we finally do the same for our corporate leaders? After the auto industry disaster, the Wall Street disaster, the BP disaster, Enron, ad nauseum, can we finally admit that corporate leaders really aren't that bright, really aren't that good at what they do, and are not the best and the brightest we have? Thank you! Peace, emaycee

You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You

Oh, Molly, Molly, will I be the one...

I had a few other things I wanted to post about, but sometimes something so pitiful comes along that you really can't ignore it. This is absolutely pitiful--a White House aide celebrating that labor spent $10 million on a candidate (Bill Halter) who lost to a candidate (Blanche Lincoln) who has no chance of winning the election in November. Um, whose side are these guys on? If we didn't know before, we certainly know now. (Those shots of Lincoln saying her vote isn't for sale--really, Blanche? I wonder what the Chamber of Commerce thinks about that?--were enough to make one vomit).

I really can't add much more to what Mr. Lewison wrote (or Digby) but I can honestly say that whatever hope I had for the Obama administration is gone. They have failed us on jobs, failed us on healthcare, failed us on Wall Street reform--and now they're dissing the very folks who played a major role in getting them to the heights they've reached? The private sector is not going to get us out of this economic mess, and now, apparently, neither is the Obama administration.

And all this bullshit talk about ordinary people having to tighten their belts--until we start talking about higher taxes on the wealthy, cuts in executive pay, an end to golden parachutes, and massive cuts in defense spending--in short, fuck you, next idiot please!

Peace,
emaycee

I see myself walking with The King

A nice response from the King on my post on the state of the Democratic party (scroll down, I'm too tired to make another link).

A brief response:

I'm at the tail end of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States and it has become somewhat disconcerting to see how the Democratic party, while throwing at least a few more bones to the poor and middle class than Republicans, are really not much better at combatting the military-industrial complex in this country (and, in fact, more often than not supporting it). I've spent a few days thinking about it, though, and really see no other alternative other than to keep supporting the party (third parties are pointless in America, despite the limited success of the Tea Party), and keep working from within to change it for the better and make it live up to its ideals.

What the fuck, Son, we're Giants fans: we're dedicated believers in the impossible.

Peace,
emaycee

That's the sound of the men, working on the chain gang

This, my friends, is really rich. Newt Gingrich, a man who has lived off the public trough, as well as that of corporate benefactors for most of his career, thinks we need a better work ethic. Two words, Newt: fuck you. Why is it that it's always the working man who is supposed to sacrifice? Why don't these numb nuts ever suggest that perhaps the private sector needs leaders whose sole talents are much more than just cutting jobs and begging for corporate welfare? Further, what the fuck is up with this: "'Poor people respond to money,' and will turn to illegal activities if it's not available through other means, he said, as an example of how the free enterprise can lift people." Really? I'd be willing to bet there is a shitload of poor people who do not turn to illegal activities and keep trying to raise themselves and their families through legitimate means--otherwise, approximately 20% of our population would be in prison (or else we have a hellaciously talented bunch of criminals out there) instead of the 1-2% currently residing in prisons.

Thank, God, though, for one Heaster Wheeler of the NAACP who summed Gingrich (and the Republican party as a whole) up perfectly" "Newt Gingrich is less than a joke. If he understood the needs of the urban centers of America where was he when he had the authority to do something about it as speaker of the House?" Preach it, brother! The only accomplishment that would come from Gingrich's ideas for urban centers would be for us to do all the work while the private sector buys low and sells high, i.e. the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor. Next fucking idiot, please!

Tom Walsh is one of the few Free Press pundits that I can occasionally stomach (he's hardly a liberal, but he once predicted that by the year 2100 we'd have National Health Insurance a la Canada and wonder what the fuck we were thinking before we did), but this is sick. Channeling Bob Dylan as the background music for some radical right winger's pipe dream of making Michigan a right to work state? Uh...I'm pretty sure that as a musician Dylan is a member of the Musician's Union, and considering that they've helped him make a pretty penny, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be too thrilled with making union membership even harder to attain. And why the fuck is it always the union's fault (because the right to work states are in such good shape--always in the bottom five for highest poverty levels like Mississippi)? Why does the working man always have to take the hit for the idiocy of industry leaders who have guaranteed contracts and golden parachutes to counter their failing? I've got a great idea for turning around the economy--end welfare for corporate leaders and give them what the working man gets if they fail: a few months of unemployment (about $350 a week here in Michigan). I bet that'd light a fire up their asses. As it stands now, there's no incentive for not failing--they get paid whether they're successful or not.

A quick answer to a stupid question: Fuck no. It's a slippery slope when you start singling out people to question for any reason. Who's next? Catholics? Bald-headed men? The only outcome of any such law is to move America one step closer to totalitarianism.

Leave it to the political reporters (so-called) of the Free Press to key on some meaningless sniping between two lame ass candidates (Republicans Mike Cox and Rick Snyder) and just give a passing mention to Virg Bernero who "stood up loudly for unions and decried corporate abandonment of the middle class." I mean because their petty sniping over some piddly bullshit is so much more important than the working men and women of Michigan making a decent living. The editorial board of the Free Press wasn't much better: their sole response toward Bernero was to call him out for "ranting on behalf of union positions." For those not familiar, here's how the "liberal" Free Press deals with unions.

Another bullshit poll on healthcare reform: the results show 51% oppose and 43% in favor, but the poll fails to note how many of those opposed are opposed because the bill isn't liberal enough. Or how many will base their vote on it. American media fail indeed....

Peace,
emaycee

My oh my, why oh why

This piece is another of those lame-ass pieces that appear all too frequently in the Free Press. You would think by now I would take them with a grain of salt.... Think again. This whole idea that somehow, by some miracle, if we'd all just sing fucking "Kumbaya" together the country would be a lot better off is misguided at best, and delusional at worst. The legislation that has helped the American people most (think Social Security, Medicare, Civil Rights Act of 1964) were not largely bipartisan efforts, but bold ideas strong-armed through by courageous leaders. Bipartisanhip is a code word for wishy-washy people who are more than happy to accept mediocrity (see also, Healthcare reform 2010) and the status quo (see also, Financial reform 2010). Far too much goddamned time is spent trying to appease centrists and acquiesing to Republican proposals (even though they don't vote for the mother fuckers). The majority of the American people voted for Democrats with Democratic principles and to enact those principles. If they turn out to be piss-poor, Republicans get another shot. Besides, as noted by Digby, what bipartisanship means to most people is that the other side should give in to their demands. Two words: fuck that. Don't believe me? How do you think the majority of Americans would answer this question: Would you rather have a good bill that was entirely partisan, or a bad bill that was bipartisan? Case closed. Newt Gingrich? I mean the Newt fucking Gingrich? If he's the best the Republicans have to offer, they're an even more pathetic group than I had thought. Forget the resignation amidst scandal, forget his role in the impeachment of Clinton while he's schtupping a woman not his wife, but this: the guy asks his wife for a divorce while she's in the hospital being treated for cancer. Think about that...if he's willing to treat his wife, the mother of his children, that callously, do you think for a minute that he's going to give two shits about you? Puhlease! Gingrich is another Republican loser bankrolled by Corporate America and the wealthy whose only interest is his (their) own. No surprise that a pinhead like Finley would be enamored of Gingrich's failed ideas, but the Detroit Regional Chamber? While I realize that the Chamber (despite its trying to appear as such) isn't exactly a bipartisan organization (its motto would probably be "goverment of the corporation, by the corporation, for the corporation") but you'd think they could do a little better than a second-rate ideologue. I'm not a statitician, but these numbers don't make much sense. Forty percent of Michigan voters back the Tea Party, but 36% say the Democratic Party best reflects their values, 24% Republican, and 17% the Tea Party. Methinks--as with much of the Tea Party coverage--the headline is overhyped and the poll questions piss poor. It's the Free Press--I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.... Peace, emaycee

It's my (Democratic) party and I'll cry if I want to

Frankly, this is just sad--I sometimes wonder if we expected too much after the 2008 landslide, but the more I see, the more I think we were just hoodwinked. We are talking 300,000 teaching jobs gone, an end to extended unemployment compensation, less police and firefighters--versus hedge fund managers (all of whom played a huge role in the mess we're in) getting taxed at a bullshit rate, that's considerably lower than most of us pay (Robert Reich--can we elect this guy President?--has an excellent analysis). And the Democrats are just slinking away, when they should be screaming about it from the roofs of every building and home in America. Is this the Democratic Party that I signed up for?

Obama has become the second coming of Bill Clinton--complete and utter mediocrity, without the pure shit luck of a dot.com boom to help us forget how mediocre his leadership has been. Healthcare reform has its bright spots (an end to lack of coverage for pre-existing conditions, kids kept on their parents' insurance until age 26, an end to recision), but I have a hunch that the individual mandate unless markedly changed is going to come back and bite Democrats in the ass, and without, at the very least, the public option the whole exercise was pretty much futile. Financial reform is a joke, as nothing with any teeth has passed and without serious safeguards we're setting ourselves up for another disaster at some point down the road. I mean, what exactly have we gotten for our troubles in getting these people elected? Stem cell research and the Lilly Ledbetter fair pay act. Woo-fucking-hoo.

Yes, I know that things would be considerably worse under McCain, but if we can't take bold action after winning a huge majority in Congress and the White House in a landslide after the worst financial crisis in 80 years, when the fuck can we? Where are the courageous leaders of our party who are going to stand up and essentially say, for example, "Deficits my ass! We need to spend to keep the economy going, we need to spend to keep the unemployed going, we need to spend to make the necessary repairs to our infrastructure..."? Or "Wall Street? Fuck them--they're going to pay to make Main Street whole again...." Or "BP stands for Better Pay Up...." Apparently they only exist in an alternate universe (or our fantasies) because there certainly aren't any of them (at least with any serious clout) in the Democratic Party now.

I've tried all day to come up with the proper adjective for all of this, but the best I can do is: pathetic.

One thing's for sure--my money this election cycle is going for books and CDs. At least then I'll get something of value for my hard-earned cash.

Peace,
emaycee