Category Archives: Political Rants

Political Rants

Rorschach president.

Perhaps you know this about me, but I’ve never been one to associate support for official Israeli government policy with support for Israelis. There is plenty of dissent in Israel around the conflict with the Palestinians, so I don’t know why anyone on this side of the ocean should feel reluctant to criticize actions that merit criticism. There is such demagoguery on this issue in the U.S., though, that very few people speak their minds, particularly those in the political class. However, to the extent that words and actions matter, I would have to say that Barack Obama has been at least as big a booster of the right-wing Israeli government as his predecessor, and in concrete terms – military aid, security coordination, etc. – arguable and even bigger one.

That’s why the hue and cry over Obama’s Israel policy, initially aimed at procuring a Republican victory in Anthony Weiner’s old Brooklyn district, seems so unmoored from reality. Where did they get this idea that Obama is somehow “soft” on support for Israel? I think I can guess – from somebody’s racist best friend. This appears to be an effort to crack Obama’s support amongst Jewish voters via yet another attempt to dog-whistle his “otherness” – in essence, his black identity – in a part of the country with a history of tension between black and Jewish residents. Republican candidates see an opportunity here – that’s why they’re more expulsionist than Avigdor Lieberman. That’s why we were treated to the spectacle of Rick Perry dancing with Rabbis.

Just to be clear, I do not support Obama’s policy toward Israel/Palestine. But to suggest that he is somehow anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian is just … well, that’s your crack talking. With respect to his actions and rhetoric as president, nothing could be further from the truth. And yet the Republican field senses a vulnerability on this issue, so they’re more than happy to exploit it. I can never quite work out whether these people are amazingly clever or astoundingly ignorant. Either the Republicans don’t know that he’s essentially operating from their right on this issue, or they’re race-baiting him in a not-too subtle way. Either way, it is doing neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis any good. It’s just helping to generate more bad policy.

More bad policy is just what we don’t need. But all you Likud-hawks out there, never fear: Obama is squarely in your corner.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Requiem.

The killing of Troy Anthony Davis has demonstrated one thing beyond a shadow of a doubt: that we as a people cannot be trusted with the death penalty. To that I will add my modest opinion that no people can be trusted with this brutal and most final punishment.

I am not suggesting that that is the most compelling reason to abolish the death penalty. I think the reasons are legion. The first should be no surprise to anyone who calls themselves religious in any major monotheistic tradition – killing is morally repugnant, particularly in a situation in which the intended victim is powerless, such as someone who is incarcerated and therefore a danger to no one. Beyond simple humanity, it is legally and ethically indefensible – the ultimate denial of due process under the law. So long as you may be proven either innocent or not as guilty as first thought, there is no justification for execution.

Also, in a nation so fraught by its racist history; a nation whose justice system is shot through with the remnants of that history – particularly, it seems, at the state and local levels – there is no chance that the death penalty will be applied fairly. In fact, there is overwhelming evidence that it has been applied in an unjust and biased fashion over the last three decades. In light of our very recent past – still very much with us, as evidenced by Wednesday night’s execution – we are simply incapable of conducting such a policy in any way that could be considered remotely equitable.

Not that being equitable would result in anything other than an atrocity. Uniformly applied, capital punishment might add up to thousands upon thousands of executions each year, depending upon where we draw the line on heinousness. Speaking of heinous, Governor Perry (a distant cousin, I hear) feels comfortable with a standard he claims Texas has set regarding execution of only those perpetrators who have committed the most horrible crimes. With 240+ judicial killings under his belt, one might think that the standard could apply to the governor himself. (His predecessor, of course, had opportunity to make that record seem positively progressive.)

It’s too late to save Troy Davis, I’m sorry to say – deepest regrets to his family. I only hope that Troy will, even in his absence, open the national conversation we simply must have if we are ever going to put a stop to this visceral, vindictive madness.

We have prisons that could hold the incredible Hulk. We don’t need to kill another prisoner, ever. We need to stop… now.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Shortcakes.

I’ll just do short takes today. No, not shortcakes! Short TAKES, damnit!

Ten and Counting. I find it hard to mark the anniversary of 9/11. I’ve always kind of bridled at the idea, pretty much since the first six-month anniversary of that awful day. It’s a thing that’s always with us, seared into our consciousness, a pall cast over our democracy. Do we need a ceremonial reminder? I don’t know. If it brings people solace in some small way, it’s worth it. For myself, though, it feels superfluous. Every day is a reminder.

There are enduring monuments to that day. Probably the most imposing are our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, still going after the death of Osama Bin Laden. What a legacy, eh? All the more bitter, really, since we still have malevolent actors like Dick Cheney running around, peddling their twisted rationales for atrocities they played a central role in committing. Even with all this, I spent a good amount of time watching that film by those French guys who were with the firehouse that first responded to the Trade Tower disaster. Gripping stuff. Those firefighters are giants.

Lend Me Your Keynes.  Obama has proposed something about a third the size of what’s needed, but that, in the current political circumstances, is about twice the size of what I’d expected from him. I’m not crazy about the trade deal component – that seems like bailing out the boat on one end and poking a hole in the hull on the other – but otherwise it’s not bad, nor are some of the “pay-fors” proposed in the form of tax increases on rich people. Of course, Boehner and his chorus of tea party clowns are rending their garments, swearing to oppose any new spending or increased taxes, clinging to the same tired arguments that got us here in the first place – cut taxes, slash spending, eliminate regulation.

Here’s the thing: if we keep cutting, we undercut anything that resembles a recovery. I know the republicans don’t like the idea that federal spending creates jobs, but they also don’t like the idea of anthropogenic global warming or evolution. Their not liking something doesn’t make it any less true. Spending on infrastructure projects, aid to states and localities, and the like saves and creates jobs, period. It did in 2009-10, just not enough to pull us out of the titanic hole George W. Bush and the “slash taxes and regulations” crowd pitched us into last time we let them drive.

Congress: shut up and pass the freaking bill. People need work and you’ve got nothing. Just pass it.

luv u,

jp