Due to a fairly large number of legitimate readers' comments being picked up by Google's automatic spam filter, I have decided to (at least temporarily) go the manual moderation route. I am not always on the computer, so your comments may not see the light of day for hours, and they definitely won't be published in the middle of the night EDT.
The moderation will also prevent some of the occasional "flaming" that is rampant on comment boards everywhere.
Meantime, if the system is giving you any other trouble, feel free to email me your comment at kmgarcia2000@yahoo.com. I apologize for any inconvenience.
For those of you commenting on New York Times op-eds, let me direct you to RealityChex.com, or follow the link called Constant Comments under my blogroll to the right. Marie Burns has set up a great "Off Times Square" feature for just that purpose. All of us have experienced burial or outright rejection at the hands of Times moderators, so this is a wonderful way to get our comments published immediately. Then, if the Times does publish them, you have gotten yourself some double exposure. It's win-win. Thanks, Marie!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
The Pig Men Cometh
"The pig-man! I saw a pig-man! He was just lying there and then he woke up. He looked up at me and made this horrible sound, eeeeaaaahhh, eeeeaaaahhh." -- Kramer.
" I wish there were pigmen. You get a few of these pigmen walking around and suddenly I'm looking a whole lot better. Then if somebody wants to fix me up at least they could say, 'Hey at least he's no pig-man!'" -- George Costanza.
Well, George, you are in luck. We are flush with pig-men these days. Let's start with just two examples who will make even George Costanza and Seinfeld look like sensitive, post-feminist kinds of guys.
We'll get the newest one out of the way first. In what has got to be the oxymoron of the century, Socialist Banker Monsieur Dominique Strauss-Kahn of the International Monetary Fund was busted for allegedly attacking a chambermaid in a posh $3000 dollar a night hotel. NYC cops actually dragged him off his cushy Air France first class seat and hauled him in. Of course, there is always the possibility that he was set up, Eliot Spitzer-style, but the fact that Milord fled the scene without even taking his cell phone does not bode well. Of course, the story is plastered all over the front page of The New York Times, which usually doesn't do tawdry unless it's elite tawdry. Remember the Brooke Astor elder abuse case? When the rich and famous commit crimes, or are victims of them, that gets the front page treatment. But the dozen prostitute corpses dumped on Long Island? Not so much.
What was pretty hilarious is that the Dominique story came out at the exact same time as Maureen Dowd's column on corsets, cleavage and fishnets. She chronicled the new TV season, which is heavy on retro sexist treatment of women. Sad to say, it seems we are looking backwards. Women are again fair game.
And then there is our own homegrown pig-man, John Ensign of Nevada, who finally quit the Senate when even the Senate couldn't cover for him any more. The Department of Justice has known for over a year now what he was up to, but didn't prosecute him. I suppose that it's all part of Barack Obama's Grand Plan of Always Looking Ahead and Winning the Future.... never looking back, or in this case, even sideways. As an added bonus, there is now a third pig-man in the mix -- Senator Tom Coburn of the C Street Coven or Cabal or whatever right-wing front group lives and operates in that rent and tax-free den of religious iniquity. Coburn was the alleged go-between in the payoff to Ensign's mistress (victim?) and her husband. Since Tom Coburn is the pig-man who held up the National Women's Museum and many other bills out of pure spite last year, I would love to see his rump in a grinder. It would absolutely distract me from all the other distractions.
Here is the full report in case it's raining where you live and you have an hour to spare. It is sleazy and quite dramatic, even containing an intro with the cast of characters. It seems it was much, much worse than your ordinary affair. The woman apparently was coerced into it by Ensign. My only question is what took so long for accountability to come into play.
" I wish there were pigmen. You get a few of these pigmen walking around and suddenly I'm looking a whole lot better. Then if somebody wants to fix me up at least they could say, 'Hey at least he's no pig-man!'" -- George Costanza.
Well, George, you are in luck. We are flush with pig-men these days. Let's start with just two examples who will make even George Costanza and Seinfeld look like sensitive, post-feminist kinds of guys.
We'll get the newest one out of the way first. In what has got to be the oxymoron of the century, Socialist Banker Monsieur Dominique Strauss-Kahn of the International Monetary Fund was busted for allegedly attacking a chambermaid in a posh $3000 dollar a night hotel. NYC cops actually dragged him off his cushy Air France first class seat and hauled him in. Of course, there is always the possibility that he was set up, Eliot Spitzer-style, but the fact that Milord fled the scene without even taking his cell phone does not bode well. Of course, the story is plastered all over the front page of The New York Times, which usually doesn't do tawdry unless it's elite tawdry. Remember the Brooke Astor elder abuse case? When the rich and famous commit crimes, or are victims of them, that gets the front page treatment. But the dozen prostitute corpses dumped on Long Island? Not so much.
What was pretty hilarious is that the Dominique story came out at the exact same time as Maureen Dowd's column on corsets, cleavage and fishnets. She chronicled the new TV season, which is heavy on retro sexist treatment of women. Sad to say, it seems we are looking backwards. Women are again fair game.
And then there is our own homegrown pig-man, John Ensign of Nevada, who finally quit the Senate when even the Senate couldn't cover for him any more. The Department of Justice has known for over a year now what he was up to, but didn't prosecute him. I suppose that it's all part of Barack Obama's Grand Plan of Always Looking Ahead and Winning the Future.... never looking back, or in this case, even sideways. As an added bonus, there is now a third pig-man in the mix -- Senator Tom Coburn of the C Street Coven or Cabal or whatever right-wing front group lives and operates in that rent and tax-free den of religious iniquity. Coburn was the alleged go-between in the payoff to Ensign's mistress (victim?) and her husband. Since Tom Coburn is the pig-man who held up the National Women's Museum and many other bills out of pure spite last year, I would love to see his rump in a grinder. It would absolutely distract me from all the other distractions.
Here is the full report in case it's raining where you live and you have an hour to spare. It is sleazy and quite dramatic, even containing an intro with the cast of characters. It seems it was much, much worse than your ordinary affair. The woman apparently was coerced into it by Ensign. My only question is what took so long for accountability to come into play.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Rancid Fake Mayonnaise on the Table
In the Spirit of Bipartisanship, which Washington politicians cluelessly seem to think is the nirvana of every unemployed, underemployed, uninsured, underinsured, struggling shlub in these United States, the two Senate Whips are going to sit down. At a table. With everything on it. Like adults. Let the nation rejoice while they feast, because just watching them stuff themselves on their own egos is reward enough for us, the little people.
Here is how it went down in what Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace called a moment of Television Diplomacy. Senator Dick Majority Durbin told Jon Minority Kyl (pronounced Kyle, not Kill, but don't ask me why) that he would discuss not only "improving" Medicare and Social Security and keeping all the Mexicans behind the border fence where they belong, if only his "friend across the aisle" would agree to talk about the DREAM Act. And Jon said OK, the two of them can have a visit, a prelude to a dreamy conversation.
Never mind that Kyl helped stop the DREAM Act (which would give amnesty to young undocumented immigrants who have lived, worked and studied here for at least five years) in the Senate last year. Never mind that he railed against Obama's "moat joke" during his El Paso visit last week. He called it "mocking demagoguery."
Let's face it-- Kyl knows how it feels to be mocked. Everybody made fun of his own little bit of mendacious demagoguery last month, about that 97 percent of Planned Parenthood abortion business. And still being the junior senator from Arizona at the advanced age of 69? That has got to hurt. So he is taking a premature retirement. In the Senate, few people have the grace to retire until they die, or are indicted.
But, mind you, the retirement is only from the Senate. Kyl has taken the unprecedented (and some would say presumptuous) step of announcing he will be a candidate for Vice President in 2012. He is obviously thinking ahead and realizes that whoever gets the nomination is going to be a supreme lightweight. And if by some miracle a Republican nutjob actually wins the election, Mr. Miracle Whip will become de facto president. Dick Cheney proved that this could be done. Junior Senator is demeaning, Vice P not so much.
Moreover, despite being an semi-lame duck senator, Kyl not only retains his power -- he is increasing it. He was tapped for a new job in current VP Joe Biden's Debt Ceiling Panic Room, which involves walking across the street every day in front of cameras, saying everything is on the table, and that they are having an adult conversation. Nobody is really telling the truth and calling out the "negotiations" for what they truly are: a blatant threat by Republicans to default on the national debt unless the New Deal is dismantled. The mainstream press still deems it politically incorrect to call the GOP an extortionist criminal mob, just as it used to be politically incorrect to call enhanced interrogation techniques torture. This might take a few years, and then there's always revisionist history to contend with.
Poor Dick Durbin, on the other hand, is the sole token "progressive" on the boring old "Gang of Six." Those senators have been meeting forever, in secret, at Gazillionaire Mark Warner's posh Virginia townhouse over dinners at a very expensive table. From all indications, those discussions are just plain tabled, although they were very, very serious and adult.
Durbin's sole function these days appears to be placing entitlement programs on rickety back room tables in imminent danger of collapse. They're pretending to improve the recipe after the goose has already been cooked. He sure doesn't sound like such a big major whip to me. Of course, all this talk of bipartisan slashing and lashing makes me wince anyway, especially since the regular people are the ones in chains.
Time to throw out the rotten phony mayonnaise and whip up a new batch from some new, fresh and nontoxic ingredients. These senatorial food byproducts are way past their sell-by dates.
 |
| They Put Excitement Back in the Baloney Sandwich! |
Here is how it went down in what Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace called a moment of Television Diplomacy. Senator Dick Majority Durbin told Jon Minority Kyl (pronounced Kyle, not Kill, but don't ask me why) that he would discuss not only "improving" Medicare and Social Security and keeping all the Mexicans behind the border fence where they belong, if only his "friend across the aisle" would agree to talk about the DREAM Act. And Jon said OK, the two of them can have a visit, a prelude to a dreamy conversation.
Never mind that Kyl helped stop the DREAM Act (which would give amnesty to young undocumented immigrants who have lived, worked and studied here for at least five years) in the Senate last year. Never mind that he railed against Obama's "moat joke" during his El Paso visit last week. He called it "mocking demagoguery."
Let's face it-- Kyl knows how it feels to be mocked. Everybody made fun of his own little bit of mendacious demagoguery last month, about that 97 percent of Planned Parenthood abortion business. And still being the junior senator from Arizona at the advanced age of 69? That has got to hurt. So he is taking a premature retirement. In the Senate, few people have the grace to retire until they die, or are indicted.
But, mind you, the retirement is only from the Senate. Kyl has taken the unprecedented (and some would say presumptuous) step of announcing he will be a candidate for Vice President in 2012. He is obviously thinking ahead and realizes that whoever gets the nomination is going to be a supreme lightweight. And if by some miracle a Republican nutjob actually wins the election, Mr. Miracle Whip will become de facto president. Dick Cheney proved that this could be done. Junior Senator is demeaning, Vice P not so much.
Moreover, despite being an semi-lame duck senator, Kyl not only retains his power -- he is increasing it. He was tapped for a new job in current VP Joe Biden's Debt Ceiling Panic Room, which involves walking across the street every day in front of cameras, saying everything is on the table, and that they are having an adult conversation. Nobody is really telling the truth and calling out the "negotiations" for what they truly are: a blatant threat by Republicans to default on the national debt unless the New Deal is dismantled. The mainstream press still deems it politically incorrect to call the GOP an extortionist criminal mob, just as it used to be politically incorrect to call enhanced interrogation techniques torture. This might take a few years, and then there's always revisionist history to contend with.
Poor Dick Durbin, on the other hand, is the sole token "progressive" on the boring old "Gang of Six." Those senators have been meeting forever, in secret, at Gazillionaire Mark Warner's posh Virginia townhouse over dinners at a very expensive table. From all indications, those discussions are just plain tabled, although they were very, very serious and adult.
Durbin's sole function these days appears to be placing entitlement programs on rickety back room tables in imminent danger of collapse. They're pretending to improve the recipe after the goose has already been cooked. He sure doesn't sound like such a big major whip to me. Of course, all this talk of bipartisan slashing and lashing makes me wince anyway, especially since the regular people are the ones in chains.
Time to throw out the rotten phony mayonnaise and whip up a new batch from some new, fresh and nontoxic ingredients. These senatorial food byproducts are way past their sell-by dates.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Obama To Go Pure Grassroots, Will Accept NO Corporate $$$!!!
I had to rub my eyes this morning staring at Obama Campaign Manager Jim Messina's overnight email. In a surprise stealth move, he announced the campaign is going purely grass roots this time. Here it is, in bold print (his)--
This campaign isn't funded by lobbyists or corporate interests. We rely on donations from people like you. Please donate $15 today!
Uncork the champagne and blow up the balloons! (bold print mine). Obama has seen the light. He will not be accepting any dirty money from Goldman Sachs, no filthy lucre from G.E., no slimy checks from Big Pharma as payback for that back room deal that took the Public Option off the table. He has listened to We the People at long last! We held his feet to the fire about his big sell-out to the Oligarchy and he hopped up and down with the pain of our wrath. He will not let 2012 become the agony of defeat. He became humbled, and he had an epiphany. Or FDR paid him a midnight visit in the Lincoln Bedroom. I don't know and it doesn't really matter. He has changed, transformed and become a card-carrying member of We are the Ones We Can Believe In!
Huh? What was that you said? Bait and switch? There are TWO Obama re-election campaigns? One for the little people, called MyBarackObama.com? And the other one that really means something, where the President travels around and charges $50,000 a plate to do his charm offensive schtick and glad-hand the wealthy? Like the trip to Austin, TX last week where regular voters got barely a wave and a nod as he breezed into his fund-raiser? And that new DNC group called Priorities First that allows anonymous corporate donations just like the Republicans do and so totally embraces the wisdom of the Supreme Court Citizens United decision?
Oh. Never mind.
(PS: Kate Madison left a comment on the Messina Missive under the Breitbart Hoax post, below. She was actually awake when she got the 2:35 a.m. email, titled "Something Happened". Nothing like getting an email in the middle of the night with the subject "Something Happened" -- I was like, "who died?". Anyway, read Kate's comment. It says it all.)
(Correction: Kate lives in Oregon, PDST, so she got her Messina email at 11:35 p.m., not the middle of the night as I previously "misspoke". I did not mean to imply that Kate was staring at her computer in the middle of the night. I, on the other hand, occasionally do get up in the middle of the night just to check my email. I probably need help.)
This campaign isn't funded by lobbyists or corporate interests. We rely on donations from people like you. Please donate $15 today!
Uncork the champagne and blow up the balloons! (bold print mine). Obama has seen the light. He will not be accepting any dirty money from Goldman Sachs, no filthy lucre from G.E., no slimy checks from Big Pharma as payback for that back room deal that took the Public Option off the table. He has listened to We the People at long last! We held his feet to the fire about his big sell-out to the Oligarchy and he hopped up and down with the pain of our wrath. He will not let 2012 become the agony of defeat. He became humbled, and he had an epiphany. Or FDR paid him a midnight visit in the Lincoln Bedroom. I don't know and it doesn't really matter. He has changed, transformed and become a card-carrying member of We are the Ones We Can Believe In!
Huh? What was that you said? Bait and switch? There are TWO Obama re-election campaigns? One for the little people, called MyBarackObama.com? And the other one that really means something, where the President travels around and charges $50,000 a plate to do his charm offensive schtick and glad-hand the wealthy? Like the trip to Austin, TX last week where regular voters got barely a wave and a nod as he breezed into his fund-raiser? And that new DNC group called Priorities First that allows anonymous corporate donations just like the Republicans do and so totally embraces the wisdom of the Supreme Court Citizens United decision?
Oh. Never mind.
 |
| My Barack Obama.Con: "Cmon Baby, Just Try and Light My Fire" |
(PS: Kate Madison left a comment on the Messina Missive under the Breitbart Hoax post, below. She was actually awake when she got the 2:35 a.m. email, titled "Something Happened". Nothing like getting an email in the middle of the night with the subject "Something Happened" -- I was like, "who died?". Anyway, read Kate's comment. It says it all.)
(Correction: Kate lives in Oregon, PDST, so she got her Messina email at 11:35 p.m., not the middle of the night as I previously "misspoke". I did not mean to imply that Kate was staring at her computer in the middle of the night. I, on the other hand, occasionally do get up in the middle of the night just to check my email. I probably need help.)
Friday, May 13, 2011
Snake Oil and Water
It's enough to make grown men (and women) cry -- with gleeful satisfaction.
First, we have a group of gazillionaire oil barons weeping to the Senate Finance Committee today that taking away their tax subsidies will just cut that whole "Drill Baby Drill" mantra off at the knees. USA won't coddle them any more? Then they'll just leave and find a new country to drill into. All those windfall profits go toward investing in new sources of oil for the greater good, by golly!
And then there are the 42 Republican House freshmen who are sorely regretting their adventures in Mediscare and are begging -- begging! -- President Obama to make the Democrats stop rubbing it in already. They wrote him a letter whining that "as the freshman class, we have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and fulfill the mandate set by the people to strengthen our country for future generations — not continue the petty politics we have seen in the past, which only creates an environment of stalemate."
They want us to forget they voted for Young Serious Gun Paul Ryan's plan to kill Medicare by transforming it into a junk insurance voucher system for seniors. They want us to forget the wrath of their constituents at Town Halls. They can dish it out, but they sure can't take it.
NY Rep Nan Hayworth of affluent Westchester County, NY was among the freshman Tea Partiers decrying the nasty tone of the Democrats at a news conference Wednesday. She complained that the President was "playing politics" with entitlement reform. As an ophthalmologist who gave up zapping cataracts and had no trouble accepting a fortune in Medicare payments for same, she does the crocodile tears act supremely well. And that familiar Republican facial expression that falls somewhere between a pout and a snarl...what elitists call a moue -- where have we seen that before?
First, we have a group of gazillionaire oil barons weeping to the Senate Finance Committee today that taking away their tax subsidies will just cut that whole "Drill Baby Drill" mantra off at the knees. USA won't coddle them any more? Then they'll just leave and find a new country to drill into. All those windfall profits go toward investing in new sources of oil for the greater good, by golly!
And then there are the 42 Republican House freshmen who are sorely regretting their adventures in Mediscare and are begging -- begging! -- President Obama to make the Democrats stop rubbing it in already. They wrote him a letter whining that "as the freshman class, we have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and fulfill the mandate set by the people to strengthen our country for future generations — not continue the petty politics we have seen in the past, which only creates an environment of stalemate."
They want us to forget they voted for Young Serious Gun Paul Ryan's plan to kill Medicare by transforming it into a junk insurance voucher system for seniors. They want us to forget the wrath of their constituents at Town Halls. They can dish it out, but they sure can't take it.
NY Rep Nan Hayworth of affluent Westchester County, NY was among the freshman Tea Partiers decrying the nasty tone of the Democrats at a news conference Wednesday. She complained that the President was "playing politics" with entitlement reform. As an ophthalmologist who gave up zapping cataracts and had no trouble accepting a fortune in Medicare payments for same, she does the crocodile tears act supremely well. And that familiar Republican facial expression that falls somewhere between a pout and a snarl...what elitists call a moue -- where have we seen that before?
Update: Victim of Breitbart Hoax Gets His Teaching Job Back
Ralph Giljum, the University of Missouri labor professor who was summarily dismissed by his school after professional provocateur Andrew Breitbart smeared him in a doctored video, has been invited back. Public pressure got the University to change its mind. But the professor's union, while acknowledging that Giljum was victimized, is still not fighting back against Breitbart, or even mounting a vigorous defense. To the contrary, they forced Giljum to resign from the AFL-CIO to placate the Republicans of the Show-Me State.
While the Missouri AFL-CIO claims to be "incensed that we have scoundrels who go out and character-assassinate good people in our community" any further statement beyond denying that trade unions endorse violence would only "fan the flames" of anti-union sentiment, according to union official Herb Johnson. And despite his characterization of Giljum as“a great trade unionist” he was pressured to resign -- just days before he was due to retire anyway.
The union made haste, however, to issue a statement that it did not advocate violence, as Breitbart's hatchet job made it appear the teacher was doing.
The video, which is no longer available because it was posted without permission of the university, was so clumsily and choppily edited that it showed Giljum magically wearing different shirts during the same purported lecture. Despite the obvious hoax, University officials announced they would not be inviting him to teach next semester.
But then came the public blowback. The United Association of Labor Education led the charge with a petition and letter. University faculty and students launched an email campaign in Giljum's behalf, and the university quickly backed down.
UALE member Steven Ashby of the University of Illinois said, “It’s no coincidence this attack comes in the wake of the biggest workers’ upsurge in 30 years, in Wisconsin.”
And Breitbart has made it no secret that he is launching a fullscale attack against teachers and unions. It's all part of the corrupt Republican plan to demonize public sector workers, destroy collective bargaining and turn American education into a dumbed-down, for-profit enterprise for sale to the highest bidder.
While the Missouri AFL-CIO claims to be "incensed that we have scoundrels who go out and character-assassinate good people in our community" any further statement beyond denying that trade unions endorse violence would only "fan the flames" of anti-union sentiment, according to union official Herb Johnson. And despite his characterization of Giljum as“a great trade unionist” he was pressured to resign -- just days before he was due to retire anyway.
The union made haste, however, to issue a statement that it did not advocate violence, as Breitbart's hatchet job made it appear the teacher was doing.
The video, which is no longer available because it was posted without permission of the university, was so clumsily and choppily edited that it showed Giljum magically wearing different shirts during the same purported lecture. Despite the obvious hoax, University officials announced they would not be inviting him to teach next semester.
But then came the public blowback. The United Association of Labor Education led the charge with a petition and letter. University faculty and students launched an email campaign in Giljum's behalf, and the university quickly backed down.
UALE member Steven Ashby of the University of Illinois said, “It’s no coincidence this attack comes in the wake of the biggest workers’ upsurge in 30 years, in Wisconsin.”
And Breitbart has made it no secret that he is launching a fullscale attack against teachers and unions. It's all part of the corrupt Republican plan to demonize public sector workers, destroy collective bargaining and turn American education into a dumbed-down, for-profit enterprise for sale to the highest bidder.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear-Mongering
I was struck last night by the difference between the lead stories on MSNBC and CNN in their 8 p.m. news slots. The first 15 minutes of the liberal-leaning Lawrence O'Donnell show were devoted to the continued Assassination Celebration and the Obama bump. Over on (centrist? conservative?) CNN, Eliot Spitzer was giving full coverage to John Boehner's insane talk to the Economic Club of Wall Streeters in which he threatened no debt ceiling agreement unless tax increases are off the table. To his credit, O'Donnell did mention the Boehner rant later in his newscast, once he got the Obama as War Hero vs. The Bush Torture Failures out of the way. MSNBC, you will recall, is owned by G.E., whose CEO is the Obama Jobs Czar, who has continued to ship more of those jobs overseas and all the while avoids paying taxes.
In light of nine percent official unemployment and as much as 25 percent defacto unemployment, the Democrats have deflected attention away from our domestic ills and embraced the Politics of Fear as their own. Hope and change didn't work out all that well, so they have co-opted the tried and true panic button of the right to make fear of terror trump fear of job loss, fear of going hungry because of crazily rising food prices, fear of going homeless because of the continued foreclosure crisis and scandal, fear of getting sick because that much vaunted health care reform has somehow lost its luster now that more of us are uninsured and underinsured and jobless and broke than ever before.
They are milking the Bin Laden assassination for all it's worth. It took a week of suspense for the president to give his exclusive interview to Sixty Minutes. Dribs and drabs and thrilling details emerge daily. Today The New York Times is breathlessly reporting that we almost got into a war with Pakistan over it! We were ready to fight our way out, guns blazing.
Meanwhile, the terror level has risen to a new high and our politicians have sunk to a new low in the scuzzy art of fear-mongering. Take my own senior senator from the State of New York, Mr. "I never met a camera I didn't like" Chuck Schumer, for example. Now he wants to establish a "no ride" passenger list for trains, since some of the senile ramblings of Osama contained explosive trainspotting fantasies. So, Schumer apparently believes that terrorists who blow up trains via cell phone remote control or do it the old fashioned way and boobytrap the tracks, will then get on those very same trains to take a leisurely ride.
Actually, he doesn't really believe that. He is not a stupid man. But he and his wealthy Wall Street buddies want to make us so afraid of "the Other" that we forget all about how Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley and Bank of America are still robbing us blind, and that none of the real terrorists -- the ones who gamble away the wealth of a nation with impunity -- get any unwanted attention. The Democrats are using the very same tactics perfected by the Republicans. Why not just call a spade a spade and rename Homeland Security The Ministry of Fear? Because that's what it is. Our bloated security state does nothing to keep us safe, as has been well documented in the cases of the Underpants and Times Square bombers. It's usually regular citizens who thwart the bad guys. The so-called terrorists our spy agencies actually "catch" are usually the victims of FBI provocateurship.
The Fear Crusade in the wake of the assassination appears to be working. In New York City yesterday, the bomb squad blew out the windows of a van left idling outside a hospital because it contained some suspicious looking foam tubes. It turned out the driver was a windshield installer who had rushed into the emergency room for treatment of a severe asthma attack, and the tubes were just tools of his trade.
On a New York to California flight Sunday, a Yemeni man pounding on the doors of the plane's cockpit was tackled to the ground by passengers. It turned out he thought he was banging on the restroom door because he had to go, really bad. In another instance, a pilot refused to take off because an Iman headed for a conference on Islamophobia was on board. The cleric was kicked off the flight.
Of course, these events make for great pictures and must-see TV. The Patriot Act is coming up for review, and it needs some PR to keep moving. Paranoia is a great way to help us all feel connected. Forget about the class war here at home and feel as one with Lloyd Blankfein as we battle the evil menace from over there.
In light of nine percent official unemployment and as much as 25 percent defacto unemployment, the Democrats have deflected attention away from our domestic ills and embraced the Politics of Fear as their own. Hope and change didn't work out all that well, so they have co-opted the tried and true panic button of the right to make fear of terror trump fear of job loss, fear of going hungry because of crazily rising food prices, fear of going homeless because of the continued foreclosure crisis and scandal, fear of getting sick because that much vaunted health care reform has somehow lost its luster now that more of us are uninsured and underinsured and jobless and broke than ever before.
They are milking the Bin Laden assassination for all it's worth. It took a week of suspense for the president to give his exclusive interview to Sixty Minutes. Dribs and drabs and thrilling details emerge daily. Today The New York Times is breathlessly reporting that we almost got into a war with Pakistan over it! We were ready to fight our way out, guns blazing.
Meanwhile, the terror level has risen to a new high and our politicians have sunk to a new low in the scuzzy art of fear-mongering. Take my own senior senator from the State of New York, Mr. "I never met a camera I didn't like" Chuck Schumer, for example. Now he wants to establish a "no ride" passenger list for trains, since some of the senile ramblings of Osama contained explosive trainspotting fantasies. So, Schumer apparently believes that terrorists who blow up trains via cell phone remote control or do it the old fashioned way and boobytrap the tracks, will then get on those very same trains to take a leisurely ride.
 |
| Conductor Chuck: "Papers Please!" |
Actually, he doesn't really believe that. He is not a stupid man. But he and his wealthy Wall Street buddies want to make us so afraid of "the Other" that we forget all about how Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley and Bank of America are still robbing us blind, and that none of the real terrorists -- the ones who gamble away the wealth of a nation with impunity -- get any unwanted attention. The Democrats are using the very same tactics perfected by the Republicans. Why not just call a spade a spade and rename Homeland Security The Ministry of Fear? Because that's what it is. Our bloated security state does nothing to keep us safe, as has been well documented in the cases of the Underpants and Times Square bombers. It's usually regular citizens who thwart the bad guys. The so-called terrorists our spy agencies actually "catch" are usually the victims of FBI provocateurship.
The Fear Crusade in the wake of the assassination appears to be working. In New York City yesterday, the bomb squad blew out the windows of a van left idling outside a hospital because it contained some suspicious looking foam tubes. It turned out the driver was a windshield installer who had rushed into the emergency room for treatment of a severe asthma attack, and the tubes were just tools of his trade.
On a New York to California flight Sunday, a Yemeni man pounding on the doors of the plane's cockpit was tackled to the ground by passengers. It turned out he thought he was banging on the restroom door because he had to go, really bad. In another instance, a pilot refused to take off because an Iman headed for a conference on Islamophobia was on board. The cleric was kicked off the flight.
Of course, these events make for great pictures and must-see TV. The Patriot Act is coming up for review, and it needs some PR to keep moving. Paranoia is a great way to help us all feel connected. Forget about the class war here at home and feel as one with Lloyd Blankfein as we battle the evil menace from over there.
 |
| And Now He's a Sank Engine |
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