Category Archives: Political Rants

Political Rants

Race to the bottom.

This whole business about Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department staffer from Georgia –  this is an extremely ugly picture, and we’ve seen it before. What’s more, we’re likely to see it again before long.

There’s been enough commentary on this to fill a supertanker, so I’ll just make a few brief observations. What this event tells me most superficially is something I already knew – that the Obama administration is unbelievably pusillanimous. Christ almighty, sometimes these guys make Bill Clinton seem like Hercules (… and he wasn’t). They may be the only people outside of hard-core tea party types that appear to believe everything they hear on Fox news. More likely, though, they are so focused on projecting this image of post-racial America that they respond in knee-jerk fashion to any claim of reverse racism, no matter how unfounded. Combine that with their tendency to throw left-leaning staffers, like Van Jones, overboard at the first sign of trouble (unlike the Geithners and Salazars of the world), and you’ve got a White House that allows Roger Ailes to make their personnel decisions for them. Now there’s a real formula for success.

My main question here is, who is behind this? We’ve heard the names of the idiotic right-wing blogger and the various Fox news spokesmorons. But where did that clip come from originally? Who, exactly, is trying to promote racial resentment among whites? No question but that right-wing elements of the Republican party are exploiting this sort of thing all the time. They have their sources. So… who looked at this video, made the precise edit that would create the erroneous inflammatory impression, then sent it along to the clown-like Breitbart?

One thing we would do well to remember – racism remains a strong undercurrent in American life, and so long as it does, there will be those who will use it to their political advantage. With a black man in the White House – one with an overtly African name – there will always be suspicions on the part of crypto-racists that black people are taking over, pressing their momentary advantage, marginalizing good, upstanding white Christian Americans. That’s why we’re hearing all these ludicrous stories about the “New Black Panthers” – i.e. two dudes standing outside a polling station in a majority black district. That’s why we get Breitbart, Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Beck, and Hannity screaming about reverse racism. Even when it’s ultimately demonstrated as bogus, the impression remains with those whose prejudices need only the mildest validation.

Shall we overcome? We shall see.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Boss-capades.

This continuing deadlock on unemployment benefits is really getting up my nose. Looks like some of our representatives – certainly a lot of Republicans – seem to think that people prefer being unemployed and that somehow giving them the minimal aid that unemployment offers is an incentive for remaining that way.

Not surprising. They, after all, most unapologetically represent purist free enterprise extremism, at least as it relates to ordinary people, workers, the poor, etc. (It’s a different story with respect to corporate America, but more on that later.) Capitalism works best for the ownership class when there’s a massive surplus of workers – that’s just basic economics. It depresses wages, it keeps the rabble in line, and it makes certain that the best talent is always available. Anyone who has ever worked through a recession knows what I’m talking about. Raises become rare or non-existent; bonuses dry up. Always the same excuse, too – the bad economy. And yet the boss seems to be doing really well. Buys him/herself a new car, lives the good life, seems well-fed enough. Built into this dynamic is the knowledge that jobs are scarce, and that you can be replaced any day. It’s a businessman’s paradise, I tell you. Bosses’ nirvana.

So, hey – unemployment insurance payments make people less desperate. That will never do. And subsidizing the ludicrously expensive (and aptly named) COBRA health insurance program – which costs an unemployed couple upwards of $800 a month to maintain – would spoil the market for insurers. Hell, that would be like the “public option” – unfair competition for United Health Care or BlueCross. Not to worry, boys. Old John Boehner, John Kyl, and the crew will save your bacon. Again.

I don’t want to let the Democrats off the hook here. If they were so committed to working class and poor families in this country, they’d push a lot harder than they are now. There’s no “fire in the belly” with the vast majority of them, and that’s because in large measure they answer to the same paymasters. Oh, yes. They’ve passed the thing called “Wall Street Reform” – a watered-down package of mild adjustments that won’t deeply upset any investment banker. It’s better than nothing, but only if we insist that it does not stop there.

I know … it’s amazing that, after working to win a contentious election like 2008, we still have to fight for every inch. Best get used to the idea. Elections matter… but only if you’re willing to fight every moment between them.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Stuff and nonsense.

Just a few short takes this week. I’ve got a splitter of a headache – one of those neck and shoulder jobs. So my concentration is a bit compromised, but here goes.

Again-and-againistan. That Rolling Stone reporter who wrote the recent article on Gen. McChrystal has drawn a lot of criticism from various mainstream corporate press mavens. No surprise there. They are so obsessed with covering the ball-game stories – the ins and outs of policy making, careers, and personalities – that they neglect to examine these stupid wars that have been dragging on year after year. How closely have any of them scrutinized the rationale behind this policy?

Why the hell are we in Afghanistan? Our leaders say it’s to disrupt and destroy Al Qaeda so that they cannot plan new attacks on us. But to the extent that people like Osama Bin Laden are involved in operational planning for global terror attacks, all he and his pals need is a room (or a cave, but I suspect a room) big enough for a white board. Can anyone claim that we have denied him that in nearly nine years of war? Did our drones stop the Times Square bomber? (Fact is, they helped push him over the edge.) Where’s the story on that, kids?

No settlement. Despite Netanyahu’s fence-mending visit to the White House, there is no light at the end of the Israel/Palestine tunnel. His government is still strangling Gaza, still encroaching on more and more of the West Bank (in spite of the so-called settlement “freeze”, which is so conditional as to be meaningless). Old Bibi, like so many Israeli leaders, is beholden to the Frankenstein-like settlement movement that is a political lynchpin of his ruling coalition. Even if he wanted to close the settlements, he couldn’t (and trust me, he doesn’t want to). So the suffering goes on, and we keep underwriting it.

Gusher that keeps on giving. It’s been more than 70 days since BP blew a hole in the Earth, and the hemorrhaging continues. Do you sense a pattern here? Crises that never seem to end. This is a bad one. And yet, we shouldn’t pretend as though all of this oil, gas, and dispersant is spewing into a pristine Gulf ecosystem. According to the Coast Guard, millions of gallons of oil routinely spill into the Gulf every year – something like an Exxon Valdez size spill every three or four years for the past decade. Big as this blowout is, our problem is bigger than that. Let’s make the solution bigger, too. 

That’s all I’ve got. Bed time.

luv u,

jp