Death and the Maiden

  It's a sad, sad thing that happened in Tucson. Shocking and terrible and tragic. At this point, one can only hope that Congresswoman Gifford survives with her mind intact. And one can only feel sympathy for those who lost loved ones.
  A period of quiet and reflection should follow something like this.
  But the blame game is already in full swing. We seem to not be able to wait til after the funerals.
  Everyone angrily says we should tone down the nasty rhetoric from all sides.
It's all the angry talk.
It's all the personal hateful talk.
It's the fault of Sarah Palin.
It's the fault of the tea party.
It's the fault of the Democrats.
I'm sure someone somewhere is blaming Obama.
  Walt Kelly's Pogo once said "We have met the enemy and it is us."
Oh how true.
  I don't think blame can be laid at any one person's door—even tho I so would like to.
  There are a lot of things to consider here. I believe that definitely the kind of personal attacks going on in the last couple years created a climate where bad things are more likely to happen. If you want to point fingers at someone, Sharron Angle's comment about "second amendment solutions" seems more inflammatory to me than the ill-advised and tasteless cross-hairs on Palin's website. But both are part of a viciously negative milieu which has been part of our lives since Obama was elected.
  The people showing up at political rallies and congressional meetings with 'Obama as Hitler' posters are part of this. I condemn it, but I know that some of us on the left of center side were as insulting and dismissive of George Bush. I remember with some embarrassment the posters and things we said about Lyndon Johnson during the Vietnam War. None of us, today and back then, offered anything to rational political discourse.
   It is so easy to fall into the trap of demonizing those we disagree with—especially if they have more power than we do. (I think that someone could do a good social studies paper on that power difference as a factor in violent action and speech.) (Probably someone already has. If either of my readers know of such a thing, please direct me.)
  Your curmudgeon is part of all this, in his own small way. I recall that I have more than once referred to Senator Mitch McConnell as a liar. It is true that I believe that he is. But it would have been better had I written about the things he said and then the facts he had misrepresented and let others draw a conclusion. It's so easy to let anger and frustration get the better of one, especially when one doesn't feel like one can make a difference in the face of political and monetary power.
  The social milieu—it didn't pull the trigger, but it made the trigger easier to pull. Being in the vitriolic political atmosphere we have been in is like walking into a room full of people smoking pot. You may not smoke yourself, but you will get high. And if everyone around you is complaining and angry, it will affect you too. And affect the mentally disturbed even more.
  Anger has it's place, and should be acknowledged and utilised. And it should be utilised as a spur to one's own action and resolve to change things, not as a reason to berate people and poison the atmosphere. Or to kill.
  This computer I am on is a contributor to all this. The ability to anonymously post any kind of statement in a blog or comment box at a news article has added to the noxious atmosphere. It's one thing to spout off at the bar or at your bowling league practice. If you get too vitriolic someone will call you on it or people will just start avoiding you. You will have a response up close and personal to your speech or actions. It's another thing to spout off on line. No one knows who you are, and anyone who responds either is met with derision if they try to be reasonable or met with hostility if they respond in kind. It's easy to ignore the criticism of unknown strangers, harder to ignore the criticism of your bowling partner.
  And then there is the availability of guns. I don't object to people owning guns if they want to. Some hunt, some skeet shoot, some are afraid of being robbed or killed. And some want to kill. I don't believe that it is possible to forbid every mental defective or malefactor from getting a weapon. The man who shot Congresswoman Gifford is a case in point.
  I do believe there are things that we can do to make sure that the damage done by the evil or insane is lessened. Maybe not allowing large clips of ammunition would be a start. What if the shooter last Saturday only had six bullets in his gun? Wouldn't have stopped the attack,but might have made a difference to someone. Maybe to a nine-year old girl.
  I'm not advocating one particular action, or taking a position here. I do think that those who are rabidly opposed to any kind of restriction on weapon ownership should start looking at possible sensible ways to alleviate a situation where weapons can be so easily attained. And not attack those who oppose them as people who want to make it easier for the government to crush us. Those who oppose weaponry might want to step back and listen to those on the other side, acknowledge their reasons and/or fears, and not attack them as paranoids afraid of their own country and government, or malcontents ready to overthrow the government.
  We have a lot to do folks. we're all upset now because of the shooting in Tucson, as we should be, but there are killings going on in all our cities, gang related, insanity related, poverty related, domestic violence related.
And we should be as upset at all of them. Every life is important, and the lost life of a teen-ager in the inner city to violence is as important as the lost life of a congresswoman or President in God's eyes.
  As humans, we tend to hold the life of a congressperson or President more important than others—at least we think it more noteworthy. But it is only the ability to wield power which makes the difference in those lives, and what is power? It is more fleeting than life itself. And it leads so often to the loss of life, especially among the innocent.

Finally! DADT dies!

It's about time. and an achievement given that the Republicans in Congress have done all they can to make life ever more unfair for the common (i.e., not a politician, banker or lobbyist) American.

It's too bad that in the last two years when Obama could have done more, we've lost a lot of talented soldiers in the field, translators, and other military personnel because of the stupid law. Maybe someone ought to suggest that we reinstate with honor all those who were forced out. I know I just did, but no one listens to me except the two or three layabouts who have nothing better to do than read my posts.

Still, it's nice to have some good news around Christmas time, and I'm happy for my gay and lesbian friends that another little piece of discrimination has fallen down the sewer of history.

Speaking about happy—I'm sure the billionaires who got their precious tax break extension  (OMG they would have been SO financially crippled had they not got it)—and which will make the deficit worse for the rest of us— are happy. I hope they reward well their lobbyists and the craven congressmen who helped them.

Eh, I don't want to end on a sour note. Lord knows I will be busy with baking, presents, children visiting and making sure the Messiah Sing at our church comes off smoothly. So if I don't have a chance to post before January, Happy Holidays and a Happy and Prosperous New Year to both my readers and to all my friends.

And for those I haven't already inflicted with it—here's a cheerful little digital telling of the Christmas Story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkHNNPM7pJA

Why oh why do I think things will get better?

Obama, what happened to you?
I thought I voted for you and it looks like I got Senator McCain. Or George Bush redux.
How could you give the Republicans everything they want and then say it was a good deal?
How could you make it possible that the rich get more than the middle class out of your deal with the Republicans?
And why weren't Democrats involved in those dealings?
And what about DADT?

Are you a secret Republican?

I don't get it. I don't want the upper class to get extended tax breaks, relief on the estate tax, etc. I don't want to see the billionaires and corporations grind their heels on the middle class bodies anymore.
Quite frankly I don't think you achieved SHIT with your deal with the Republicans. You just gave them everything they wanted. Good for you.
When are you really going to start fighting!??!!

Maybe in 2012 I should vote for a Republican. Maybe then I will get the Democrat I wanted in 2008.

In other news, this is a postcard I sent to Justice Samuel Alito:

On the back I put the statement from the president about how the influx of money into the political process is  detrimental to democracy that Justice Alito objected to. Clearly, from the results of the last election, Obama spoke the truth.

Feel free to use this image if you want to send Justice Alito a postcard yourself.

Internet Communities and the Kindness of Strangers

I'm going to take a break from my usual political carping (tho, God knows, there is plenty to carp about) and talk about community. I think that human beings must have some innate compulsion to form community, somehow, in anyway they can—whether they are trying to or not.

I belong to a Macintosh forum. On-line, of course. Originally it was formed around a desire to find good deals on the web, particularly computer stuff, and to help each other with any computer related problems we had. Over time it morphed into something more extensive. Some have estimated that on our forum lately, only about 10 to 15% of our postings have to do with computers or software. What is the rest? In recent weeks someone has posted about a death in the family. Someone else broke a bone for the first time and wanted advice from others who had. Another posted a long and affecting story about the auctioning off of his  late grandfather's belongings. There are the requisite, to any forum, animal stories and pictures. People make jokes, people make fights. For a while there was a mini-community within the forum around the "Lost" series. Someone had a car accident. Another person got laid off (we've had a few of these) and posted about it for advice and sympathy, which he got. One member expressed thanks to another forum member for advice which helped him get a new job. Another wanted to know if someone had advice about getting around in Italy. We exchange recipes. We know who had kids, who had lost a pet or family member, who is looking for a car, a house, a computer.

I know that one member had an accident, almost died. Another had her stomach stapled for a weight problem, another collects guns and is likely to eat out-of-date food he finds in his house (he is our "can I still eat this?" guru). Yet another raises gerbils. A woman on the forum has snakes for pets. I know who had an an auto accident in Hawaii. I've learned about the beers from small English breweries from someone who lives in England. I know who is having good weather or bad weather, and where they live. We have a "Free First Monday" every month where folks can list computer parts, software, peripherals, etc that they are willing to send to anyone who wants them for the cost of postage. We learn about each others dreams, problems, tragedies and joys. Sometimes we get carried away and start arguing. Some of us are good at stopping or settling those arguments.

Which brings me, finally, to the reason I'm writing about this. We have had some deaths in our community. Several years ago, a much-liked tho somewhat unstable member committed suicide. We were shocked and sent our condolences to the family, who were blown away by the love and concern of a community they didn't know about. There was another suicide last year, a woman who met her husband through the forum, and tho they finally separated, there remained a strong bond between them. He notified us of her death and we were there for him with sympathy and support.

Last week one of our older, wiser members died, of an incurable pulmonary disease. She went by the handle of "AlphaDog," I guess to make sure her dog Louie knew his place. She was one of those who usually had good advice for us, who often was able to clear the air in an argument, who helped people. I discovered a couple year ago that we both shared a Slovak heritage, and we exchanged private messages about that and Slovak food. When news of her death spread, over 150 people expressed their sorrow on the forum. Everyone had been touched in some way by Beth (her real name), yet almost no one—only two or three— of our members had actually met her. Many had shared private messages with her. Some had gotten advice from her which helped them in some personal problem. One member wrote about how she had helped him buy presents for his children at a difficult time in his life, and all she wanted back was to know how the kids liked the presents. You could almost see the tears of grief rolling down his cheeks as he wrote. Again, they never met in person and knew each other only by their relationship as forum members.

Beth knew of her condition a year ago, but didn't broadcast it. Many of us knew she had a problem, but only a couple knew how serious it was. She seldom alluded to it. The most direct mention of it I saw was four months ago when she wrote in response to a post by one of our members who was concerned because he had just been told he had a heart murmur. She advised him to enjoy and live every day to the fullest, saying " My days are numbered - literally, although we don't quite know what that number is, except that it's not too many. I've been told to arrange for Hospice services and to get all of my affairs in order. I have. But I absolutely refuse to sit around and worry about what day I'm going to die."
 Good advice for everybody.

Beth was one of the most remarkable people on the forum, but there are a lot of remarkable people there. People who will argue with you one day and the next give you sympathy for a loss, or advice for a problem. Often someone would say "I can help. Send me a private message." Is there something special about us? Are Mac users nicer people (I'd like to think so, but I know it's not true.)

No, I think that a community forms around a group of people who meet or communicate frequently and for a significant period of time. Many of us have been in this group for years, and our individual postings number in the thousands. Your community can be "real," as in church or a special activity, or it can be "virtual," like ours. I have to wonder if there is any difference between those two, other than the method of meeting. They both have the possibility of help, advice, humor, or succor in time of need.

I hope you all have something like this in your lives.

That's all I have for you tonight.

The inmates are taking over the asylum

Well it's happened. Another flip-flop in the political scene. Again, voters have handed a stinging defeat to the party in power. The Republicans were in power in Bush's first term, lost out to the Democrats in 2006 and 2008, and now they are back.
As a teacher of mine once said, "Democracy does not always fill our hearts with joy."

If it is democracy. When one considers how much money was thrown into the races by the billionaires one has to wonder. All I can say is "Thank you, Supreme Court, for handing this country over to the oligarchs." People like the Koch brothers, who make their money from coal (good luck in the next couple years to you green-energy folks) poured millions in to these races. And they used their money to distract people from the faact that it was G. Bush's and the Republicans' profligate spending and two wars which created this deficit. They had eight years to mess thing up, and Obama and the Democrats so far have only had two to fix things.

But that very small percentage of the US which controls most of the money would have you forget that. They don't want the banks and Wall Street to be regulated. they want to keep on getting their incredible bonuses and profits. And in spite of their squawking about "socialism" during the health care debate, they will happily accept the small portion of tax-payer money they don't already have to be bailed out when things go south again.

So welcome to the United States of Oligarchy. It is becoming "government of the few, by the few, for the profit of the few." They will keep the rabble under control by creating false enemies and diversions so they will be too angry to think.

Say good bye to green energy, carbon control, net neutrality, and what's left of the middle class.

The Republicans talk about reducing taxes (and keeping that tax reduction the oligarchs got a couple years ago) but they don't say how. When Chris Matthews asked Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tenessee just where they would make the tax cuts she smilingly stone-walled him. She said "across the board spending cuts" but wouldn't commit to including defense, for instance in those cuts. And she wouldn't rule out social security cuts. It's typical of these people to avoid the specifics. not having governed before, they have no real idea of what they are doing.

There were a few bright spots. Harry Reid kept his seat in Nevada (thank you Nevada, I retract all those snarky things I said about you) and the Democrats still have the Senate. That last is a pretty dim bright spot tho. The Democrats pretty much screwed up their big chance to govern wisely by making too many compromises and failing to explain their policies adequately to the public. Are they now going to develop back bone? One wonders, considering how so many Dems up for re-election ran scared and tried to pretend they didn't even know Obama. I'd like to know how many of those survived.

It'll be interesting to see how the Republican establishment controls the Tea party favorites like Rand Paul who managed to survive the elections.

In the meantime, I guess I better go down to McDonald's and see if i can get a full-time job, since they want to cut back my pitiful social security benefit.

Let's everyone give a warm welcome to the new puppets of the Oligarchy who will be taking over in January.

Questions

I'm trying to figure out what those people behind all the attack ads, the support of the Tea party activists, the stupid and evil rumors about Obama (choose one— he's a Moslem, he wasn't born in America, he hates white people, and etcetera, miserable etcetera) want out of this election. I mean, what more do they need? "In the United States at the end of 2001, 10% of the population owned 71% of the wealth and the top 1% owned 38%. On the other hand, the bottom 40% owned less than 1% of the nation's wealth."
 https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Distribution_of_wealth
It hasn't got any better since then.
(By the way—there seems to be more than one "tea party"—Does anyone remember the Spanish Civil war, where infighting on the Republican side, (when "Republican" actually stood for something!) mostly fomented by the Communists insisting on doctrinal purity, actually led to the victory of Fascist forces and Generalissimo Franco's repressive regime? Those who work for the oligarchy's bidding will find themselves enslaved.)

What do these oligarchs want? Don't they have enough already? Do they really get so much pleasure from driving out of their gated and guarded enclaves and viewing the suckers who work for them that they have to drive those people into even more desperate straits? How much is enough? How much do you need to insure that your children and grandchildren will be able to live off your largess?
Will it be good for the children and grandchildren to have these riches handed to them instead of having to work for their rewards?
Where does ego stop? How great do you have to be for yourself and look to your descendants?
And how is all that worth a single life which you have destroyed in getting your riches?
If any of these asshats even bothered to read Shakespeare they would get an idea of the value, or lack there of, of inherited wealth and/or power. The Bible would give other clues, as would the actual history of the human race in the last five thousand years.
You don't know what your own children, much less your grandchildren, will do with the money which you squeezed and cheated out of the rest of humanity. You can bet that what ever it is, you won't approve.
I'd put money on that. If I'm right, pay me now. If I'm wrong, I'll get back to you later.
I'm confident that I won't need to get back to you later.

It seems the Republicans and their puppet masters are trying to destroy the middle class of America. They are trying to reduce the American social equation to lower class, and upper class. They want to  make Americans work for the same wages as people in Bangla Desh, China, the Maldives, Zanzibar etc. This is so bizarre and short-sighted.
Henry Ford was really an American fascist (he sold cars to Hitler's Germany long after it was clear Hitler would become America's enemy), he not only fought against unions but hired thugs to beat and even murder union organizers, BUT he did recognize that the American worker needed enough money to buy his cars. And he paid accordingly —he didn't want to pay for industrial accidents or provide health care or have a two day weekend—or have someone else tell him he should have these things—but he knew his employees should be able to afford his vehicles.
If only he'd known how cheaply Indian and Malaysian workers would have worked to build his cars.
History would have been different.

Oligarchies do not have a history of longevity. Of course, while they exist they make life miserable for those not in the "in crowd."

People do have the gumption to finally rise up against them or work around them until they collapse. The "local hero" idea in new England and elsewhere is one example of the force that will bring the oligarchs to ruin. When we choose our own methods of support and community we create the basis of our own economic and social freedom.
Buy as local as you can. Buy away from the big names, the big box stores. It won't be easy, "they" will try to make it expensive; "they" will try to keep you addicted to sugar and ease of preparation and ease of thought about what you are eating and where it came from.
This, by the way, is what "socialism," that much-maligned word, is about. You help me, I help you, we both work with him or her and we all make a living co-operating with yet another for mutual benefit. And no power of one over another.

That's a stickler for the oligarchs. Gotta have that power. How else to know how much we are worth?

Poor Jesus. He came to us 2000 years ago to speak of this, and his message is still ignored. We still judge people on their wealth, their status (whatever that is), their beauty—on everything but their ability to live as a vital part of a human community.

Even your Curmudgeon, who doesn't expect much from human beings, is a little depressed about this.
I hope you sleep well. Humanity needs you to be at your best in the morning.

WTF? Kookbiscuits, cowardly oligarchs, and yours truly

I've been out for awhile. That mosque controversy wore me out, and when I was ready to write again, I was totally dumbfounded by all the insanity on the airwaves (being an old-fashioned kind of guy, by "airwaves" I mean the computer too). The mid-term elections are coming at us like tornadoes come on Missouri and Arkansas. Why do I suddenly feel as vulnerable as if I lived in a trailer park?
Back in my youth I thought that elections actually meant the choice between two principled though politically opposed individuals. Boy, was I naive. Principles, if they were ever there, seem to have gone the way of the dodo, or at least have the same endangered designation as the spotted owl.
What do we see in this election season?
The Repubican Party is either imploding under it's own corporately-funded, evangelically-dominated weight, or heading for a takeover of the House, possibly the Senate—depending on which cable-channel you were listening to. At least that's the way it looked when I started this a month ago. Now it's not so clear, if there can be any clarity.

What is clear is that Republicans are trying to buy this election. They are purchasing attack ads by the hundreds to show in states where they think there is a chance to beat a Democrat. Recently Rachel Maddow talked about 4.2 million dollars that Karl Rove's "American Crossroads"  is going to spend on attack ads. 75% of that money is coming from people who will remain anonymous ( October 6, 2010). Much of the Republican money is coming from anonymous donors. I don't know about you, but I think that anyone who wants to hide his/her political affiliations behind a cloak of secrecy is a coward.

The money from these anonymous people goes to Republicans, but I don't believe the donors are Republicans—I think they are oligarchs who want to continue to amass wealth and power and don't even give a pile of cow poop for their own supporters.

The Chamber of Commerce takes money from anonymous foreign sources, among others, but they assure us, though they won't say how, that they keep that foreign money separate from the political financial support they give anti-Democrat ads. Can't let outside forces get involved in our elections, right?
So how does that work exactly?

Suppose I have a kindly uncle who is willing to give me a certain amount of money every year to help me out.
But he says this is for necessary living expenses ONLY, don't spend in on booze and dancing. And I say okay Unc, I'm with the program. So I put the money in a special account that I use for household expenses. But, oh, now I have that much money from my earnings as a graphic artist which used to go for those household expenses and now is free for other things. Hmm, what to do with that extra money? Why, hey girls, let's have a drink and hit the dance floor!
Any so-called system the C of C has for keeping foreign money "separate" from their political activities is a fake. They are lying. I'll say it again, They are lying. What else can you expect from people who oppose anything that can help out the workers who make their businesses possible? Freaking hypocrites.

So people who wish to remain anonymous but have lots of dough to spend want to convince you how to vote. And they don't care who they have up for the designated office. Any kookbiscuit will do. Just look at the Repubican candidates:
Christine O'Donnell, in Delaware (Arkan saw what Dela wore. Did Tenne-see?)—She's against all out-of-wedlock sex, including masturbation. Good luck with that. And the picnic on the Satanic altar? Just a youthful indiscretion.
I remember when politicians were criticized for smoking pot (I didn't inhale, said Bill Clinton) but the tea bagging right puts Christine O'Donnell up as their candidate, in spite of her dabbling in witchcraft.  Witchcraft— all you "family, Christian values" people.
Well, as we say in the United Church of Christ, they must be open and affirming folks there on the right, to accept someone who dabbled in witchcraft. Perhaps the LGBT community will be as welcome as the witches in their political party. Uh-huh.
Incidentally, tho it is not a belief I can relate to, I can say that several people in my community practice Wicca and they are hard-working, decent, friendly people, not kookbiscuits. I do, however, suspect they may have had, or be having, sex outside of marriage.
The horror.

Sharron Angle—a new angle on politics for sure, at least in this country—at least since the anarchist heyday of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. If you are really disaffected with government, it's time to exercise your second amendment rights. Get those automatic weapons out folks, we can all be Lee Harvey Oswald. Remember when the idea was we could all aspire to be president? Now she implies we could all aspire to KILL the president, if we don't get our way—I mean, why stop at Congressmen?
I suppose that she means that ANYONE who disagrees with the powers that be can resort to "2nd amendment solutions" when disaffected. She doesn't seem to know that many leftists also own guns. Our anarchist branch has a reputation for bombing skills also. What I get from this was that I shoulda took out Bush and Cheney when they were in power. Is that what you meant, Sharron? And what's with the two "r"s anyway?
People have been killed for acting, or even appearing to act, on these beliefs (look up the "Haymarket").

And there is Rand Paul with his dithering about the Civil Rights Act (actually I kind of like him because he had the cojones to appear on Rachel Maddow's show while so many others are afraid), and  that Miller guy from Alaska (must be something in the air up there) who joins the others in wanting to ban abortion for rape and incest victims. Showing real Christian compassion there, folks. I suppose you also have a system set up to care for those unwanted children? Oh, of course you do—not.

I can only hope that enough people who see how crazy it is to have these wingnuts in positions of power will hit the polls this November.
The candidates mentioned above are just a sampling. You will see this all over the country.

And you will see much advertisement against any "liberal" candidate, Democrat or Republican. Many, if not all, of these ads will be funded by those unnamed corporate interests to get "their" candidates into office. "Their candidates" being people willing to sell their souls for milk from the corporate teat, the milk they need to keep them in office and enjoying the perks of pretending to do good for the country. Perks that come from the very corporate interests which are destroying democracy in this country.

I wonder though, if Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell  actually get their seats, how much control will anyone have over them. A kookbiscuit is a kookbiscuit is a kookbiscuit. They may not only screw things up for us, but even for their oligarchic masters.

What we do see from all this is that anyone can aspire to public office in this country—poor, rich (especially rich), Democrats, Republicans, Tea-Partyers pretending to be Republicans, (legal) immigrants, Kookbiscuits and asshats, Christians, Jews, Moslems—oops, maybe not Moslems, not these days, but ten out of eleven ain't so bad.

Sleep well, my two loyal readers, now that you have had your curmudgeonly fix.