Nov 24, 2014
Nov 23, 2014
Contrarian-ish
Out at the margins of the "mainstream" of issues is the problem of taking an oath of office.
By swearing on a bible and invoking the name of a god whose official involvement in government is prohibited by the very constitution you're swearing to uphold, you're kinda negating the whole thing from the start.
We need to try a little harder to avoid setting ourselves up to fail.
By swearing on a bible and invoking the name of a god whose official involvement in government is prohibited by the very constitution you're swearing to uphold, you're kinda negating the whole thing from the start.
We need to try a little harder to avoid setting ourselves up to fail.
Nov 22, 2014
What We're Not Talking About
So, it's not about "Amnesty". But it is about using the word 'Amnesty' to stir up the shit-for-brains-knee-jerk bunch.
I guess I'm wondering a tiny bit - why does Megyn admit it on the air like that? I get the feeling she's the DumFux News version of Up-Chuck Todd - not the least bit interested in getting to the facts; she's only there to keep the mill wheels turning; her job is to tend to the Horse Race. If she ever asks Ted Cruz on the air why he opposes Immigration Reform when it seems pretty clear Obama's trying to do basically what Repubs want him to do, she'll be fired immediately. So maybe she's feeling so confident of her position of power she just let's it slip(?)
Dunno, but here's the thing: As soon as there actually is some kind of amity and collaboration in DC, ad revenues at Fox and NBC and CNN hit the skids. They need the fight - shootin' wars, political campaigns, race trouble, gun violence - whatever makes us more likely to watch the coverage is what gets pushed by the image-makers and the pollsters and the lobbyists.
The reason we keep hearing about "both sides" is because billions of dollars are being spent on both sides of any given issue in order to keep us in a state of constant tension.
Tried and true - divide and conquer - if we're kept busy enough fighting each other over a few scraps that slop onto the floor, we're more likely to discount the simple fact that we've been bustin' our humps workin' together to put the food on that fuckin' table in the first fuckin' place.
Nov 21, 2014
Next Up at UVa
The story continues. And it just gets weirder as UVa appoints former Deputy US AG Mark Filip to head up the investigation into the total fucked-up-edness of a party culture (this time centering around Phi Kappa Psi) bordering on straight-up Caligula.
From our "local" rag The Daily Progress:
First, from the Daily Progress article:
Second, Mark Filip is a Phi Kappa Psi alum. Let that one sink in for a bit. I'm not saying there's no value in the guy being somebody who knows his way around a fraternity. But when there's an obvious problem with foxes in the chicken coop, I hafta be just a little skeptical about hiring a coyote to look into it for me.
To be real clear here, I don't want anybody throwing shit at the Frat House or at the little Frat Rats living there.
This kinda nonsense might feel OK at the time, but it just makes it easier for some people to rationalize sympathy for the perps:
That said, it's not gonna hurt my feelings one little bit if we find a way to put an end to the elitist entitlement legacy bullshit that persists in the continuation of anything so obviously toxic to a democracy as The Greek System is.
So, take whatever action against PKP necessary to facilitate its demise. I'd like nothing better than to sue the fuck out of 'em, and then bulldoze the house.
Use the money from the lawsuit to build a brand new Women's Health and Crisis Intervention Center - right there in the heart of Frat-boy Fuck-around Central.
Require every Fraternity and Sorority to contribute half of their dues (and whatever other income they get) to the maintenance and support and perpetuation of the thing until time itself crumbles into the dust.
EvilleMike has spoken. So let it be written. So let it be done.
From our "local" rag The Daily Progress:
Late in a day of unrest Thursday on Grounds, University of Virginia officials announced the appointment of former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip to lead a review of the school’s policy and procedures for dealing with sexual assaults.
A statement from Rector George Keith Martin released just after 8 p.m. broke a nearly daylong silence from university leaders, including President Teresa A. Sullivan, in the wake of allegations of a September 2012 gang rape at the Phi Kappa Psi house at UVa.
An account of the attack detailed in a nearly 9,000-word story in Rolling Stone ignited a storm of scrutiny Wednesday.
Earlier in a day when hundreds of students rallied and vandals shattered windows and spray-painted messages of protest on the walls of the house on Madison Lane, Phi Kappa Psi voluntarily surrendered its fraternal agreement with UVa and suspended all chapter activities. Charlottesville police are investigating the rape allegations at Sullivan’s request.In case you missed them - here's a coupla details I find interesting.
First, from the Daily Progress article:
The Governing Board of the Inter-Fraternity Council at UVa released a statement saying members were “horrified, disgusted, and viscerally saddened” by the story.BTW - a member of that Council was interviewed at length by Rolling Stone (weeks if not months before publication), so translation: "We are shocked - shocked - to find there's rape going on here!"
“That some fraternity men commit sexual assault is irreconcilable with everything we hope our community to be, and we are mortified that any fraternity member is responsible for perpetrating such a heinous crime,” they said in the statement.
Second, Mark Filip is a Phi Kappa Psi alum. Let that one sink in for a bit. I'm not saying there's no value in the guy being somebody who knows his way around a fraternity. But when there's an obvious problem with foxes in the chicken coop, I hafta be just a little skeptical about hiring a coyote to look into it for me.
To be real clear here, I don't want anybody throwing shit at the Frat House or at the little Frat Rats living there.
This kinda nonsense might feel OK at the time, but it just makes it easier for some people to rationalize sympathy for the perps:
That said, it's not gonna hurt my feelings one little bit if we find a way to put an end to the elitist entitlement legacy bullshit that persists in the continuation of anything so obviously toxic to a democracy as The Greek System is.
So, take whatever action against PKP necessary to facilitate its demise. I'd like nothing better than to sue the fuck out of 'em, and then bulldoze the house.
Use the money from the lawsuit to build a brand new Women's Health and Crisis Intervention Center - right there in the heart of Frat-boy Fuck-around Central.
Require every Fraternity and Sorority to contribute half of their dues (and whatever other income they get) to the maintenance and support and perpetuation of the thing until time itself crumbles into the dust.
EvilleMike has spoken. So let it be written. So let it be done.
Listening
It's axiomatic that when you wanna figure out something that's complex and weird and difficult to understand, you need to get a buncha smart guys in a room, get 'em talking and then listen to what they say.
George Lakoff is one of those guys:
George Lakoff is one of those guys:
Liberals tend not to understand conservatives, and their confusion is showing. On the one hand liberals see conservatives in disarray and react with glee at the fragmentation: the Tea Party vs. Libertarians vs. Neocons vs. Wall Street. Eric Cantor, the Republican Majority Leader, brought down by a Tea Party unknown. John Boehner unable to control his majority in the House. Republican primary challenges everywhere.
On the other hand, liberals are scared stiff of the Koch brothers and other wealthy Republicans bankrolling Republican candidates at every level all over the country. They are scared of a Republican takeover. And they should be.--and--
At the heart of conservatism is strict father morality, as we have seen. But strict father morality has complexities and natural variations. What liberals don’t see is that the diversity can give conservatism as a whole considerable strength.
Different versions of conservatisms are defined by particular domains of interest. Strict father morality applies to all the domains—individual liberty and self-interest, world power, business, and society. These domains of interest characterize libertarian, neocon, financial, and Tea Party conservatives.A better understanding of the Proto-Fascist crap we're up against is the first step in staying ready to fight back.
One of the main problems "with the liberals" is the tendency to think that there can actually be an end to a political fight; that once the election is over, the question's been settled and they can go about their business and stop worrying about it.
All the great "liberal stuff" - Civil Rights, anti-trust law, labor law, Social Security, banking regulations, Medicare, EPA, OSHA, etc etc etc - all the stuff that actually makes us great because it makes us try a little harder to live up to the promises we made to ourselves in The Declaration and the Preamble - all the amazing LIBRUL/PROGRESSIVE accomplishments over the last 40 or 60 or 80+ years is being pared back because "the conservatives" never stop fighting to get their The Daddy State cemented into place.
It's never over. There is no such thing as "Once And For All". Get used to it and understand that either we get busy winning or we get busy losing.
All the great "liberal stuff" - Civil Rights, anti-trust law, labor law, Social Security, banking regulations, Medicare, EPA, OSHA, etc etc etc - all the stuff that actually makes us great because it makes us try a little harder to live up to the promises we made to ourselves in The Declaration and the Preamble - all the amazing LIBRUL/PROGRESSIVE accomplishments over the last 40 or 60 or 80+ years is being pared back because "the conservatives" never stop fighting to get their The Daddy State cemented into place.
It's never over. There is no such thing as "Once And For All". Get used to it and understand that either we get busy winning or we get busy losing.
Nov 20, 2014
Ain't Nothin' New
I guess some of the shit we complain about now is the same shit we've been complaining about for what's getting to be a very long time.
Here's some Herblock stuff from 40 or 50 (or more) years ago.
Here's some Herblock stuff from 40 or 50 (or more) years ago.
Lance The Boil
When it seems like the world's all fucked up, one thing we have to stop and consider seriously is that maybe the world's just all fucked up.
Eventually, ya gotta get all that putrefaction out. If you don't drain the abscess, it just gets worse.
...At that same moment, she says, she detected movement in the room – and felt someone bump into her. Jackie began to scream.
"Shut up," she heard a man's voice say as a body barreled into her, tripping her backward and sending them both crashing through a low glass table. There was a heavy person on top of her, spreading open her thighs, and another person kneeling on her hair, hands pinning down her arms, sharp shards digging into her back, and excited male voices rising all around her. When yet another hand clamped over her mouth, Jackie bit it, and the hand became a fist that punched her in the face. The men surrounding her began to laugh. For a hopeful moment Jackie wondered if this wasn't some collegiate prank. Perhaps at any second someone would flick on the lights and they'd return to the party.
"Grab its motherfucking leg," she heard a voice say. And that's when Jackie knew she was going to be raped.
The Bill Cosby rape thing:
If Shonda Rhimes had a show called How to Get Away With Rape, it would only need one episode, and it would be a short one.
The hot-shot lawyer main character would give her client this advice: be a respected figure in your own community and target victims with lower status than your own. If you follow those rules, people will be uncomfortable with the consequences of believing your victims. They will not want to do that work. In fact, they will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid it.
Show over; roll credits.
On Tuesday, Janice Dickinson became the 15th woman to accuse Bill Cosby of raping, drugging, or sexually assaulting her, and the fifth to do so publicly. These women tell a similar story: that they met Cosby when they were young women. That he spent time with them under the guise of professional mentorship. And that he, at some point, drugged their drinks and assaulted them while they were incapacitated.
First:
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." --Edmund Burke
And then:
"It is very tempting to take the side of the perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing. He appeals to the universal desire to see, hear, and speak no evil. The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share the burden of the pain. The victim demands action, engagement, and remembering. . . . In order to escape accountability for his crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote forgetting. Secrecy and silence are the perpetrator’s first line of defense. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim. If he cannot silence her absolutely, he tries to make sure that no one listens. To this end, he marshals an impressive array of arguments, from the most blatant denial to the most sophisticated and elegant rationalization. After every atrocity one can expect to hear the same predictable apologies: it never happened; the victim lies; the victim exaggerates; the victim brought it on herself; and in any case it is time to forget the past and move on. The more powerful the perpetrator, the greater is his prerogative to name and define reality, and the more completely his arguments prevail" --Judith Herman, 1997, Trauma and Recovery (pg 7-8)
"It is very tempting to take the side of the perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing. He appeals to the universal desire to see, hear, and speak no evil. The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share the burden of the pain. The victim demands action, engagement, and remembering. . . . In order to escape accountability for his crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote forgetting. Secrecy and silence are the perpetrator’s first line of defense. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim. If he cannot silence her absolutely, he tries to make sure that no one listens. To this end, he marshals an impressive array of arguments, from the most blatant denial to the most sophisticated and elegant rationalization. After every atrocity one can expect to hear the same predictable apologies: it never happened; the victim lies; the victim exaggerates; the victim brought it on herself; and in any case it is time to forget the past and move on. The more powerful the perpetrator, the greater is his prerogative to name and define reality, and the more completely his arguments prevail" --Judith Herman, 1997, Trauma and Recovery (pg 7-8)
Today's Yeah But
Jim Webb seems like such a straight-shooter-no-nonsense kinda guy, it's a little difficult for me to buy in. And since being honest is such a complete political liability, I just don't give him much of a chance - 'course, nobody tho't he could beat George (Macaca) Allen either.
But here he is anyway:
It starts out with pretty much the usual zero-content platitudes about "good leadership" and "solving problems", but the thing gets a lot more specific than most intro speeches I've heard.
And so, here we go again - Hillary's the default Democrat again, and so I gotta look at alternatives again. Yeah, but - the Repubs are still fingers-in-the-mouth-jumpin'-up-and-down-crazy, and they're likely gonna nominate somebody who lets 'em think they could pass for normal by making Ronnie Raygun look like Eugene Debs.
Full text and some discussion at Blue Virginia.
But here he is anyway:
It starts out with pretty much the usual zero-content platitudes about "good leadership" and "solving problems", but the thing gets a lot more specific than most intro speeches I've heard.
And so, here we go again - Hillary's the default Democrat again, and so I gotta look at alternatives again. Yeah, but - the Repubs are still fingers-in-the-mouth-jumpin'-up-and-down-crazy, and they're likely gonna nominate somebody who lets 'em think they could pass for normal by making Ronnie Raygun look like Eugene Debs.
Full text and some discussion at Blue Virginia.
No more Clintons
No more Bushes
No more Rockefellers
No more Kennedys
No more legacies
No more dynasties
Nov 19, 2014
There Are No Nations
It's worth seeing just about anything Paddy Chayevsky wrote because of the speeches and/or soliloquies.
The clip is from Network (1976), and it's been a favorite for me for a very long time.
"We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies. The world is a college of corporations inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business - the world is a business, Mr Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime..."
I like to say I'm a Capitalist because god is a Capitalist, and that I believe strongly in Regulation because god believes strongly in Regulation.
I think Capitalism is the closest analogy to the way the biosphere has evolved to operate.
As an organism, I have to take in enough calories to build up something of a surplus, so I'll have the energy necessary to make the effort it'll take to go out and get my next meal - income vs outflow; profit and loss etc.
But I also have onboard mechanisms that're there to regulate the functioning of my system. Blood sugar (eg) is a good thing, but my pancreas is there to regulate it so I get the benefits without it reaching levels that're harmful to me. Bunches of other mechanisms of regulation are built into my system as well. I have a hypothalamus to help regulate my body temperature; my brain stem does all kinds of nifty things like regulate my heart rate and my breathing and my eye-blinks etc etc etc. Regulation is what works to keep me in healthy balance with myself and the world around me.
So, to be a little clearer, I don't have a problem with Capitalism. I only have a problem with Capitalism when it's allowed to go crashing thru people's lives as it speeds toward the Logical Extreme (aka Unfettered Free-Market Capitalism) - which is where we get Feudalism and Slavery and Conquest and Authoritarian Rule and all of the really shitty ways of running things that America's supposed to be the exception to.
Always always always remember - a business is not a democracy.
The clip is from Network (1976), and it's been a favorite for me for a very long time.
"We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies. The world is a college of corporations inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business - the world is a business, Mr Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime..."
I like to say I'm a Capitalist because god is a Capitalist, and that I believe strongly in Regulation because god believes strongly in Regulation.
I think Capitalism is the closest analogy to the way the biosphere has evolved to operate.
As an organism, I have to take in enough calories to build up something of a surplus, so I'll have the energy necessary to make the effort it'll take to go out and get my next meal - income vs outflow; profit and loss etc.
But I also have onboard mechanisms that're there to regulate the functioning of my system. Blood sugar (eg) is a good thing, but my pancreas is there to regulate it so I get the benefits without it reaching levels that're harmful to me. Bunches of other mechanisms of regulation are built into my system as well. I have a hypothalamus to help regulate my body temperature; my brain stem does all kinds of nifty things like regulate my heart rate and my breathing and my eye-blinks etc etc etc. Regulation is what works to keep me in healthy balance with myself and the world around me.
So, to be a little clearer, I don't have a problem with Capitalism. I only have a problem with Capitalism when it's allowed to go crashing thru people's lives as it speeds toward the Logical Extreme (aka Unfettered Free-Market Capitalism) - which is where we get Feudalism and Slavery and Conquest and Authoritarian Rule and all of the really shitty ways of running things that America's supposed to be the exception to.
Always always always remember - a business is not a democracy.
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