The Commentariat -- Dec. 5, 2013
Josh Eidelson of Salon: "Thousands of fast food workers plan to walk off the job in 100 U.S. cities today, a major escalation in labor's strongest-ever challenge to an industry that's become ever more central to the present and future of U.S. work." ...
... Mother Jones writers put together charts & graphs to show why fast-food & other low-wage workers need raises. ...
... Jim Kuhnhenn of the AP: "President Barack Obama prodded Congress to raise wages and secure the social safety net as he issued an overarching appeal Wednesday to correct economic inequalities that he said make it harder for a child to escape poverty. 'That should offend all of us,' he declared. 'We are a better country than this.' Focusing on the pocketbook issues that Americans consistently rank as a top concern, Obama argued that the dream of upward economic mobility is breaking down and that the growing income gap is a 'defining challenge of our time.'" CW: Video of the speech is at the top of yesterday's Commentariat. Elections matter. Think what kind of speeches Mr. Forty-Seven Percent would give about inequality. ...
... New York Times Editors: "The emphasis on cutting taxes and spending that began in the Reagan years is a direct cause of economic insecurity now. It has led, for example, to education cuts that have harmed children in low-income school districts. Reversing those decisions can still have an enormous impact. Mr. Obama did not reveal a sheaf of new ideas in his speech. But he did remind listeners of the many good ideas he has proposed about inequality over the years, most of which have been blocked by Republican opposition." ...
... Greg Sargent: "... experts who see inequality as one of the most urgent moral, political and economic long term challenges facing the country will see it as one of the most important speeches of the Obama presidency -- more ambitious than his similar 2011 speech in Kansas." ...
... Ed Kilgore: "It's a symptom of all sorts of political and media dysfunction that a major presidential speech on one of the overriding topics of the day is being treated as a 'distraction' or an effort to 'change the subject' from obsession over the president's polling numbers or the likely-to-be-forgotten travails of HealthCare.gov." CW: Thanks, Ed. This lazy journalistic practice has been bugging me, too. ...
You owe it to the American people to tell us what you are for, not just what you're against. -- President Obama, to Republicans ...
... Washington Post conservative columnist Kathleen Parker is no fan of President Obama's -- she compares him to Baghdad Bob who reported all was well as bombs exploded in the background -- but she opines that Obama's positive messages about healthcare reform sure beat Republican never-ending, solution-free negativity. ...
... Luke Johnson of the Huffington Post: "A Monday op-ed by the centrist think tank Third Way railing against economic populism has sparked a liberal counterattack, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) calling on big banks to disclose their financial contributions to think tanks and progressive groups calling on Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Penn.), who is running for governor, to drop her affiliation with the group." CW: See yesterday's Commentariat for just how "centrist" the Third Way is.
Steve Holland of Reuters: "More people signed up on the government's new health insurance website on the first two days of December than in the entire first month of the launch of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform, sources familiar with the numbers said on Wednesday. The sources said about 29,000 people enrolled on Sunday and Monday, surpassing nearly 27,000 for all of October when the opening of the HealthCare.gov website was beset by glitches that led to a public apology by the president and a retooling of the portal." ...
... Jonathan Cohn of the New Republic: "... the comparison [of Healthcare.gov] to commercial websites should come with two very important caveats. One is an acknowledgment of the huge, fundamental difference between what the two types of systems must do.... [Commercial sites are] engaging consumers, producers and retailers in a series of relatively straightforward transactions ... using technology that, for the most part, has been around for a long time. Healthcare.gov, by contrast, must perform a whole series of complex transactions.... The second caveat: ... we should also compare [Healthcare.gov] to the process of buying health insurance before Obamacare came along.... If healthcare.gov's consumer interface isn't yet living up to the standards of Amazon, it's already surpassed the standards of buying insurance before the Obamacare came along. That's progress."
... Jeffrey Jones of Gallup: "Most Americans who currently lack insurance say they are likely to get it for next year, as required by the 2010 Affordable Care Act.... But a substantial minority, currently 28%, say they are more likely to pay the government fine imposed for not having insurance. The percentage planning to pay the fine has changed little in the last month.... The biggest differences appear by party identification -- 45% of uninsured Republicans plan to pay the fine, compared with 31% of independents and 15% of Democrats."CW: There's your evidence that the GOP sabotage program is working, & a certain number of vulnerable yahoos will get sick & die because of it. ...
White House photo.... CW: Kevin Drum has my back (see December 3 Comments in which I appear as "a dickhead, female version"): "Anyone who's worked in or around government for more than a few years knows that big IT projects are black holes. They're always late. They never work. And surprisingly often, they're epic catastrophes, projects so screwed up they literally have to be completely abandoned after years of work.... Like it or not, this means that everyone should have known that the website was a ... highly likely point of failure. You don't need to have a background in IT to know that, just a background in watching projects like these over the years. And since the website was obviously so central to the overall success of Obamacare, that means it should have gotten lots of presidential mindshare.... So yeah, this is a huge black mark on Obama." ...
... AND this somber note from Ed Kilgore: "... if the GOP wins back the Senate in 2014 and the White House in 2016, the ACA will almost certainly be repealed (as it would have been, in large part, had Republicans won the Senate and the White House last year)." ...
... Your Illness, Your Fault. Jim Galloway & Daniel Malloy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: In a speech before a Republican women's group, Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens (RTP) said that people with pre-existing health conditions were "the exact same thing" as drivers who caused auto accidents.... Hudgens already earned national attention for his pledge to do 'everything in our power to be an obstructionist' against the law known as Obamacare." CW: Evidently Hudgens' pre-existing condition is OCDS -- ObamaCare Derangement Syndrome. ...
... Sy Mukherjee of Think Progress: "Consumer Watchdog singled [Hudgens] out in a 2011 report on insurance commissioners' relationships with the industry they regulate. It found that private insurers were Hudgens' top supporters for his 2010 race, donating just under $150,000 to his campaign."
** "Contempt for Congress." Jeff Shesol in the New Yorker: “'It is not our job,' [Chief Justice John] Roberts wrote in his haughtiest passage, 'to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.' But in the name of restraining Congress, his court is doing exactly that: second-guessing regulation of the health-insurance market (the A.C.A. opinion, which crippled Medicaid expansion), overriding ninety-eight senators' judgment that federal protection of the right to vote is still required (Shelby County), and perceiving, despite every expression of congressional intent, only naked self-interest behind campaign-finance reform (Citizens United and its progeny, McCutcheon v. F.E.C., argued in October)."
We Know Where You Are & Who's with You. Barton Gellman & Ashkan Soltani of the Washington Post: "The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals -- and map their relationships -- in ways that would have been previously unimaginable. The records feed a vast database that stores information about the locations of at least hundreds of millions of devices, according to the officials and the documents, which were provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. New projects created to analyze that data have provided the intelligence community with what amounts to a mass surveillance tool. The NSA does not target Americans' location data by design, but the agency acquires a substantial amount of information on the whereabouts of domestic cellphones 'incidentally,' a legal term that connotes a foreseeable but not deliberate result." A graph of "how the NSA is tracking people right now" is here. An overview video is here. Soltani discusses how the NSA collects cellphone locational info in this video. ...
... Nicole Perlroth & Vindu Goel of the New York Times: "In the era of Edward J. Snowden..., [Internet] companies are competing to show users how well their data is protected from prying eyes, with billions of dollars in revenue hanging in the balance. On Thursday, Microsoft will be the latest technology company to announce plans to shield its services from outside surveillance. It is in the process of adding state-of-the-art encryption features to various consumer services and internally at its data centers."
Peter Eavis of the New York Times: "Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew will assert on Thursday that the Obama administration's vast overhaul of the financial system is close to accomplishing its goal of shielding society from the dangers posed by giant banks. In a broad policy speech intended to signal the administration's views on financial regulations, Mr. Lew will also make it clear that more measures may be needed to strengthen the global system. In comments that will most likely upset foreign governments, he will call on overseas regulators to make their rules tougher."
Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "Despite ... violations and poor performance, Navy contracting officials kept giving the contractor [Glenn Defense Marine Asia] more lucrative business to resupply ships and submarines in the [Southeast Asia] region.... Today, Glenn Defense Marine and its president, Leonard Glenn Francis, are principal characters in one of the biggest contracting fraud investigations in the Navy's 238-year history.... In addition to salacious evidence of sailors selling secrets for sex, cash and other favors, the investigation has pinpointed systematic weaknesses in the Navy's worldwide contracting bureaucracy."
Dana Milbank gets booted from ALEC "policy summit" meetings in Washington D.C., where corporations tell state legislators what to do. The business-funded, right-wing "research" organization has fallen on hard financial times, partly thanks to public exposure it received for writing stand-your-ground laws. Here's the Guardian article, by Ed Pilkington, which Milbank mentions. ...
... Suzanne Goldenberg & Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: ALEC "is mobilising to penalise homeowners who install their own solar panels -- casting them as 'freeriders' -- in a sweeping new offensive against renewable energy.... Over the coming year, the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) will promote legislation with goals ranging from penalising individual homeowners and weakening state clean energy regulations, to blocking the Environmental Protection Agency, which is Barack Obama's main channel for climate action." CW: This effort really exposes what ruthless, despicable people the Kochs, et al., are. There is absolutely no public policy upside to this & obvious, giant downsides; the purpose is to keep the country in the grips of the fossil fuel barons.
Nuke 'Em! Ben Armbruster of Think Progress: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) "said on Wednesday that if the United States ends up using military force against Iran's nuclear program, it should do so with nuclear weapons." ...
The preventative, first-use of nuclear weapons against Iran would have a devastating impact on US national security and dismember US power and standing in the world. That a senior Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee is even suggesting such a possible course of action is the height of reckless irresponsibility and so far out of bounds it is astonishing. -- Kingston Reif of the Center for Arms Control ...
... Mark Thompson of Time casts Hunter as Barry Goldwater 2.0.
Style over Substance. John Bresnahan & Anna Palmer of Politico: "The National Republican Congressional Committee wants to make sure there are no Todd Akin-style gaffes next year, so it's meeting with top aides of sitting Republicans to teach them what to say -- or not to say -- on the trail, especially when their boss is running against a woman. Speaker John Boehner's ...top aides met recently with Republican staff to discuss how lawmakers should talk to female constituents. 'Let me put it this way, some of these guys have a lot to learn,' said a Republican staffer who attended the session in Boehner's office."
** Jon Stewart on the War on Christmas -- an excellent piece:
... Gail Collins: Christmas warriors are demanding that retailers make "more mentions of the birth of the Savior while promoting sweaters for the whole family." ...
... CW: If you want to check out that Fox "News" War on Christmas map which Collins highlights, it's here. AND it's high-tech interactive! Click on the icon pointing to Wyoming & you'll learn that Breitbart reports that Jackson has limited its town square holiday displays to a mere 14-day period. Pretty horrifying. I suspect next year's big holiday function will be a bible-burning bonfire on the Jackson town square followed by a marathon reading of Mao's Little Red Book.
Presidential Race 2016
Noah Bierman of the Boston Globe: "Senator Elizabeth Warren, whose political future has been the subject of intense speculation, pledged Wednesday that she would not run for president in 2016, her most ironclad statement yet. 'I pledge to serve out my term,' which ends in January 2019, Warren said, when pressed during a news conference in Boston with Mayor-elect Martin J. Walsh."
News Ledes
New York Times: New York City "Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio on Thursday morning named William J. Bratton to lead the New York Police Department."
New York Times: "Sister Mary Nerney, a Roman Catholic nun who was a nationally known advocate for female convicts, in particular those who were survivors of domestic violence, died on Nov. 27 in Manhattan. She was 75."
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Reader Comments (15)
A little more detail on the shooting in Chickamauga, GA.
Http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/us/one-man-lost-and-impaired-the-other-fearful-and-armed.html
I still can't figure out why Hendrix went outside when he could have waited inside for the police. Maybe it was because once you have a gun, you feel duty-bound to use it. The story said he was emotionally upset. He should be. Unless he's a psychopath/sociopath, it haunt him the rest of his life. When will these people learn that once you send a bullet on its way, there's no calling it back?
Then there 's the shooting over a football game:
Http:@//www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2013/12/02/deadly-shooting-over-alabama-loss-to-auburn/3819905/
I'm sorry to be so upset over this, but incidents like these were bound to happen when you get too many guns in circulation and politicians who insure there are few restrictions on their use.
@Bararossa: Thanks. Scottie, Mayfield, the Congressional candidate Hendrix worked for is a conservative Republican who ran a primary challenge to Tennessee Republican Rep. Chuck Fleischmann because Fleischman was was too liberal.
Marie
All this Christmas cheer in the air has got me with an itching question I just can't seem to answer. The question perhaps on all of our minds... WWJB?
What Would Jesus Buy? Descending from the Heavens just in time for Black Friday openings, he would most likely be attracted by the saintly sounds of the ringing bells and jolly spirit of Wal-Mart I'm sure. Yes, Jesus seems like a Wallyworld shopper. Only modesty walks through those doors. But once arriving, would he get in line with all the others full of Christian cheer hoping to find that perfect something for their beloved friends or family, or would he employ a little trickery and float above the thrashing mob, duck underneath the fists and kicks, slip through the sliding doors and scrounge up all the Playstation 4's for his little elves waiting back home? Surely he'd nearly clear the place out due to his innate generosity and endless friends and family. Yes, he'd be the perfect incarnation of Christian capitalism, showing love with hard plastic rather than good laughs and good food.
But I still can't figure it out. He surely wouldn't accept presents from others, but everybody buys a little something something for themselves because well, we deserve it. And there's no man other than Lloyd Blankfein that does God's work who is more deserving.
So, what is it? What would Jesus buy?
If he wasn't careful, and said it all too plain, he might buy himself a night in the pokey, and a nasty parade through the townsquare with a heavy wooden object, to which he would soon be wed with a few railroad spikes to help tie the knot. Same as ever, and a message to anyone else with the temerity to get out of line. So goes the story.
Then again, he might not have a cent to spend, having chosen the path of austerity, in order to spread the word, in service of the poor, who suffer with him, because old Lloyd says so. He would, more likely, be enjoying the kindness of strangers who still have a heart, if he should happen to bump into any.
Should his disciples be on hand, they would be paying close attention to these interactions, for whatever wisdom they might reveal, because they would need to draw on such experiences at some future date, when they are left on their own to figure out what it all meant, and means.
The story of Jesus was one of a "man" (slice it how you will) in his time, who some claim will have a "second coming," and therein lies the war. Does he ride out of heaven on a TV like a VR inspired spectacle to which you can buy tickets from your local representative of the gospel of prosperity? Or will he swoop in and change your life from the inside with a special ticket to the rapture, so you can fly up with him in his special helicopter of the 244k club? Or was that 144k souls to be saved in the event of Armageddon? I lose count, sometimes.
Or is it all a skull-f**king trick question to get you off the track of what is always, always, right at hand? So you will buy like mad and dream forever of your next shiny new thing, to be tossed aside in favor of the next shiny new thing?
"Create more than you consume, and share the abundance with those who haven't enough (yet, or ever)" is a decidedly Unblankfein thing to say, and it might just be the deal of the century. Do it with inspiration and respect for the ways of the living, and honor the contributions of those gone before, and it might just get you through. Love your neighbor (and your dear, dear brother) when he gets lost at your front door and help him home with a flashlight, a cookie, and something to wash it down--don't shoot him to make a political statement--and you are on your way.
Jesus said Jesus said Jesus said. He might, I would venture, have also said, this is for each of you to decide one by one or all at once, because there are some things that are beyond price, try as we might to find joy in a toy.
ALEC faces a funding crisis (Yipppeee!) and possible lobbying violations ( such a surprise). To think these suckers are tax exempt while my poor husband had to fight like crazy to get our Historical Society that same status. Makes me furious.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/04/1260032/-ALEC-Faces-Funding-Crisis-possible-Lobbying-Violations?detail=email#
I think the first thing Jesus would be interested in buying would be to
buy into the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. He could now get that health insurance without regard to his pre-existing
condition (death).
And someone should explain to that Georgia Insurance Commisioner about pre-existing conditions. Some occur at birth
over which there is little control. Some pre-existing conditions
don't actually exist; just ask anyone who has been mis-diagnosed
with some malady how long it takes to get the medical records
corrected. Once in the system, forever in the system.
Re; Buy god; Friends were talking about the "curse of buying Christmas Spirit" and one guy said, "Go J W.". Took awhile to break the code but the decoded message makes a lot of sense. J W's or Jehovah Witnesses don't celebrate Christmas. (or any holiday) So if you claim to be a J W you're pretty much saved from the blizzard of Christmas consumerism.
To honor this brilliance I have gone ahead and made up Tee-shirts, polos, hoodies and for the stay-at-homes, snuggies; with the inscription "Go Jehovah for Christ's sake" on the backs and over the front pockets of all items. They come in all colors and sizes from ladies extra small to mens xxxl's. Discounts for orders over ten. If you order now we won't promise delivery by Christmas. Why should we? You don't need more crap anyway.
Veering away for just a second–––yes, I hear you C.W.––to literary pleasures, the "A Tale of Two 'Lolitas.' on the side bar was so much fun to read. Quite a fascinating tale.
I find all this hoopla about the Christ in Christmas so silly––sorry Christians, I know, I know––and also fodder for comedians. And thanks, JJG, for the JW information. I did not know that, as Johnny Carson used to say so well. P.S. I'll take one of the snuggies, small, in pale pink if you have it.
Re: ALEC's bulldogishness on solar panels: Jimmy Carter put them on the W.H.––Reagan took the down (bastard), Obama has installed them once again. Ruthless and despicable as C.W. describes these brothers of the same mother along with this beastly organization that I'm hoping will self destruct in the not too distant future.
The Walmartization of America is complete.
Yesterday, the obscene and obscenely rich Walton family opened two of its big box blackholes into the District of Columbia where, they brag, they will bring jobs to 1,200 people (more about that in a bit).
Of course they don't mention that when the District, well aware of Wal-Mart's predatory practices and love for slave wages, tried to raise the minimum wage to $12.50/hr., not great, but better than what Wal-Mart pays ($8.25/hr), the Waltons raised a stink and threatened to pull their stores unless they got their way and were able to purchase slaves. But people lined up for those slave wage jobs. They're unemployed and desperate.
And that's Wal-Mart's meat right there, baby. Desperation. They live off it like vampires off blood. During the depths of the banker created depression (oh yeah, the Waltons are bankers too...they own Arvest Bank in Arkansas, $15 billion in assets) when even a few of the Forbes 400 families were feeling the pinch ("Sorry sweetums, only ONE Ferrari under the Christmas tree this year and we're cutting our winter trip to the Bermuda house back to a month.") the Waltons were making out like, well, like bandits. Bandits who own slaves, that is. Their net worth jumped 22% during the height of the depression (it really should not be called a recession).
As of a couple of years ago, the six Waltons were worth more than 42% of all American families combined. They made over $3 billion last year in stock dividends alone. In 2007 Tom Schoewe, Wal-Mart CFO, crowed that “Tough times are actually a good time for Wal-Mart,” because “our customers care a lot about price and value.” Translation: when the ecomony hits the skids because of vultures like the Waltons, people are too poor to go anywhere else. People who lose their jobs or lose their businesses when Wal-Mart comes to town have few options than to work for the Waltons at less than a living wage. Bad times are always good times for Wal-Mart. It's a zero sum game and they make the rules. They win, everyone else loses.
Predictably, the usual suspects, the Washington Times, WSJ, Fox, all cheered Wal-Mart's arrival in the nation's capitol. Despite the fact that the arrival of any Wal-Mart signals a net loss in jobs in the surrounding area, they are lauded as the famous "job creators" of Republican mythology.
But the Waltons' assistance in the diminution of economic security for the 1.4 million Americans who work for them, through abusive employment practices and economic piracy, a right-wing joy, mirrors the educational and intellectual demise being pushed by the right, the Walmartization of intellectual life. A family of four trying to live off a Wal-Mart salary ends up far below the poverty line.
But not the Waltons.
The Waltons and their allies are helping to create an America of desperate, stupid people working ungodly hours at slave wages. The only people who benefit are the six Waltons at the top, who spend their time fighting over their treasure, praising Mammon, working tax loopholes, bribing officials in other countries so they can export their viciousness, enticing people already under stress from low wages to come in on days like Black Friday and beat on each other for sale items (I'm convinced the Waltons sit around and chortle, sipping champagne, while watching video of customers hitting each other over the head in their stores for flat panel TVs made with slave labor in some third world factory), and, of course, forcing taxpayers to pick up the slack for their employees.
The Republican version of the American dream.
Barbarossa,
We should all be similarly upset by this. And so should the NRA fucksticks and their Republican ball lickers who have been spreading paranoia and fear for years, demanding SYG laws as if there had been a tsunami of murderous home invasions and life threatening attacks.
One (what, only one?) aspect of the case is curious. Of course the NRA assumes that everyone who packs heat is not only "responsible" (the only irresponsible ones are those who don't own a primary weapon and a backup piece in their ankle holster, you know, just in case you empty the primary and still haven't killed everyone who needs it) but well trained. Now I'm not in any way skilled with weapons, but I'm going to guess that most gun owners who have had serious training know how to shoot, which means, at some point, hitting a target. From what I've read, Mr. Westbrook, clearly confused, was walking--walking--toward Hendrix (with a dog on a leash; what burglar brings his dogs with him?), who had left his house armed with the intention of shooting someone, and it took him four shots to finally kill a 71 year old man. You have to pass a test to drive a car. Shouldn't the same thing apply to ownership of a deadly weapon? Sorry...rhetorical question, I know. But just think if it had been during the day and one of those stray shots hit a kid or a neighbor?
Anyway, having had my apartment broken into once, I can say that a knock on the door at 4:00 am can be potentially alarming, especially if the knocker will not respond, but the best course of action, unless the guy is actively trying to break in, is to stay indoors, with your gun, if you own one, and wait for the cops.
How far does this Stand Your Ground bullshit go? Can you chase someone down the street who has pulled into your driveway to turn around, and shoot them, claiming that they scared the living shit out of you? Can you shoot at a kid on a bike who veers too close to your house? What about someone walking on the sidewalk who dallies too long? Can you kill them too if you feel threatened?
These laws are the direct result of NRA lies and Republican fear mongering. The logical extension of SYG, which allowed murderer Zimmerman to escape a well deserved lifetime in a small cell, is that we should be all be allowed to kill anyone who looks at us funny. "Oh, shit, officer, that guy gave my wife a dirty look. I thought he meant us harm so I put a cap in his ass. Well, we're off to Wal-Mart. You have a good night. Sorry for all the blood."
What's the difference? If fear is the trigger, all sorts of things are possible. Hell, why can't we shoot a state trooper who stops us for speeding? I'd just claim I was afraid it was someone impersonating a cop who wanted to hurt me. Oh, okay. No charges then. And the fact that there's all this hemming and hawing about whether or not to charge Hendrix is a fucking disgrace.
Just think of the outrage on the right if it was a black man who killed a former military officer, claiming he had the right to do so under the white man's laws. The calls for the guy to be charged with first degree murder and to spend three days in the electric chair would nearly drown out the screaming over the phony War on Christmas.
"If fear is the trigger, all sorts of things are possible."
Yes, and more importantly for some, bound to happen. If you pile enough dry kindling, all that is missing is a spark. Why, we ask, would someone wish for this? A benign form of reason will not yield the answer, because the root of the condition is pernicious. Break it down:
ALEC funds SYG templates (among other patterns), ships 'em out to their reps, and they stick on the level of sponsored local legislatures.
ALEC funds RTP groups, who disproportionately include gun fetishists, and those fearful of the "others."
ALEC wants to privatize the USA
ALEC doesn't like democracy
ALEC might enjoy a police state, because it is democracy-free. Or maybe democracy-lite.
How many ways are there to achieve Democracy-Free?
1) Bankrupt the USA. One way is as good as another, and I can count several at work.
2) Deface the reputation, the good faith and credit, and the global standing of the USA.
3) Cause the voting public to lose faith in the USA and abdicate their right to vote.
a) through apathy because their vote doesn't count.
b) through cynicism, because their vote represents nothing.
c) by not providing any candidates who are not bought and paid for, maybe not a single one to represent the people.
d) through learned helplessness and the systematic denial of access.
e) through dependency on mindless trifles.
f) and on and on--a long list.
4) Pile up some tinder, in the form of NRA zealots, doomsday preppers, disaffected citizens ready to grab a little payback when the lights go out.
5) Tighten up on the citizenry's access to the essentials of life. Keep the embargo going for a while.
6) Blame it on the liberals, always. Blame it on the liberals. But any scapegoat will do, particularly if you've cultivated a glut of homegrown scapegoaters on all sides of the aisle. A sense of righteousness and superiority is great backup to the fear switch, BTW.
7) Start some really big shit, then light a match and watch it burn, while you fiddle from a safe distance, and come in to rebuild, in your own image, the ideal society, brought to you by Koch, with whom things go better.
Ask any LEO or member of the armed services what it is like to anticipate an imminent threat to your life, every day, around every corner. Yes, it takes training and a lot more, and still it goes bad, even for professionals. It can make family life for the uniformed services a living hell. Now ask yourself what a good chunk of the NRA set is on the lookout for this holiday season, besides a new way to up their cyclic rate. It's not a bugout bag, already done. It's not weapons training for the wife and the little ones, they're already broken in.
They're waiting for a sign of the end. And they are primed, locked, and loaded.
There have been a number of canaries in the coal mine acting out on the lives of innocents, and a bunch of public shoot downs on endless loop for some time now. The big question is, will we hold together when "they"--here's the switch--come with the guns, if not for the guns. A reasonable population would be able to make sense of this in no time, but we are being fed a toxic injection of heads they win and tails we lose.
And it's all because the Kenyan wants to take 'em away. The antichrist. Or maybe those other reps of EVIL. Take your choice, there's a bunch of models.
Reason is going to need to cut a deep shaft to reach some of these dead enders, because they have been planning payback for the sins of everything not holy for a long, long, time. All for a brighter tomorrow, and over lots of dead bodies.
Yes, I am upset. And yes, I'm saying it anyway. These guys are crafty, but don't let 'em spin your head. It's their favorite trick. Whoever you might think they are.
Just mentioned, in passing, to a citizen of my Blood Red State, that Nelson Mandela died today. She asked what team he played for. I thought she was kidding but no one else could place him either. One guy thought he was a reggae musician. The name sounds kinda blackish, after all.
Fuck me.
Is this just life in a conservative bubble or are people really this stupid?
On a positive note, they all had intimate knowledge of the death of Paul Walker.
I'm so relieved.
@AK: Mandala/Walker. I don't think it's stupid. But I don't know what it is, either.
Ak, with deepest respect,
Nelson Mandela was not Hugh Masekela, though they both hail from a one time very blood red state. Paul Walker might be closer to Nascar than Hugh Masakela is to reggae, but I won't argue it. Not knowing your state, I'll wager the bubble part is true, while the stupid part could be a "cultural thing." Paul and Nelson will both be remembered, albeit quite differently, by people who are appreciative of their lives and their work.
As I am of yours.
We are bound for history, a selective forgetting. I am happy for the ones, many (here) on your team, whom I have had the great good fortune to see do their damndest.
Todd
Mandela, probably the biggest person I have ever known of, at least in our time. To all the cynics: here is a man, one man, who made his single little life count. And despite attempts from the System and his own party to make him "come on down"; to be crushed of spirit and hope and that child-like quality most of us lose in the pebbles of the stream of life, or to be petty, vengeful, greedy, and hate-filled, he remained true - not superhuman, but true. A rare time I am proud of my race - the human race, that such a man could walk the earth.
Carlos