Home Again -- Almost

On the way back home and staying in the mountains of Virginia. Stopped at a nice little place called the Bates Motel. A nice young man runs it. He seems very fond of his mother and collects stuffed animals. We foresee an early start tomorrow.

On the Road Again

On the long and winding trail to Florida to visit my Mom. Left all the creatures at home. Got a real reliable sitter, but still. Can hardly wait until Loki is trained well enough to be an official assist dog.

Had to take a break after about 13 hours on the road. God I want a gun in the car. There are about a dozen drivers who should really not see the light of tomorrow's sun for the good of humanity.

A passing thought: Do you think that the Rev. Rick Warren has ever pushed himself away from a chittlin and fried pork fat bar? Just askin'.

A Couple of Short Thoughts

Our Current Rulers Having a Snack On Our Body Politic Before They Go

I think that this is just peachy. I do so love irony (which I truly think this is as opposed to mere coincidence). It does provide a warm after glow to see the fall out from our "War On Drugs" actually hit one of the people who make a good living from our war on drugs. I've read elsewhere that Mexico is moving closer and closer to anarchy as a result of the Mexican government's (should that ' be removed given the disintegration of the central government?).

The second thing I'm now seeing is the beltway praying for the traditional quad/octo-end of the presidency pardons given to those who committed serious crimes at the request of whoever happened to be president. Sooner or later one of these out going elected criminals will pardon themselves and people will be shocked. Shocked and appalled, I tell you.

And then go on as though this is the way things have always been. It always kinds of surprises me that the rulers have gotten away with so much more during my life time than they did before. I suspect that we are really fucked and we are just really close to our end as something resembling a democracy. And there is nothing that we can do about it. Waves of history don't cha know.

Malicious or Just Plain Mean and Dumb You Choose

So Bush is offering $17.5 billion to GM and Chrysler on the conditions that the manufacturers and the UAW agree to certain things. I'm not sure yet about the give backs he's demanding from the workers, retirees and laid off workers are something they should be agreeing to at this point, but I really don't know. But it does look like more of the same union busting tactics that were coming from the Senate.

I was wondering if this delay was a thought out thing or it was something that occurred because they (the right) are simply incompetent.

When I was involved in the union at Antioch, I was ranting about how the administration was cleverly acting intransigent to force the union out on strike. A professor said: "Perhaps, but do not assume premeditated maliciousness, when simple incompetent bullheadedness might be the answer."

On the other hand the Wall Street types get to keep their money and income. You know if Obama had pushed hard for a better plan there is the possibility that something better could have come from all this. Of course he didn't.

Deep Thoughts?

So I'm starting to wonder. I've been looking at who the new president elect is appointing. The last election is starting to have a feel, not of Roosevelt v. Hoover, but rather Hoover v. Hoover. And I think that Hoover won.

What do you think?

Your Tax Dollars At Work

So I'm told by one who should know (she, unfortunately has "inside" information) that the woman's prison in Marysville has just this week opened a new "dormitory."

Doesn't have hot water yet. I'm just thrilled with the expenditure of our tax dollars on this facility. One thing that makes the average legislator stand up a little taller and smile a little broader is the ability to throw more poor people and junkies into prison.

Congratulations Ohio

Change You Can Believe In

I do no think that word means what you think it means.

Union

So it looks like the right is really gearing up to oppose sign off cards for union membership. I've been tangentially involved in some organizing and I can tell you that once the employer gets word about the organizing activities they generally go all out to delay a vote and to fight against the union.

Essentially they use threats (both against individuals and of being forced to close the plant) and selective firings (try to prove it was because you were in favor of a union). They delay and delay and in the end through a distortion of anything resembling democracy they are often (usually?) able to prevent a union from being formed.

It is interesting that the people who are most squealing about how the card sing offs are not democratic were those who most favored Bush v. Gore. Just sayin'. Nothin' there of course and I'm just being unreasonable you know. Don't cha',

JJJ

So JJJ has been a police informant for about ten years. Wow. This is supposed to be a good thing. I remember when being an informant was about the lowest thing you could be. Ratting on "friends" was just something you did not do if you were a decent person.

I would think that it would be one thing to stumble on a serious crime that a friend was committing and report that to the police, but to inform for ten years. Who could trust the guy now. It is not unheard of for information to get exaggerated by the informer. Or for the informer to encourage the person being informed on to go on and on. What do you think he was telling the U.S. Attorney about and who do you think?

Boy have we come a long way from the Hollywood Ten , The Informer and The Crucible.

Ron Carey and the Teamstersers

So Ron Carey died last week. For some reason I had been thinking about him. There is a Teamster office building that I frequently drive by on a regular basis.

I remember when his second election as president of the Teamsters was essentially stolen from him by the federal court system. Practice, I guess for Bush v. Gore. Without Carey the Teamsters reverted to a fiefdom for the Hoffas and their reactionary politics. Nepotism in all things I guess. He was I prevented from running after they took the election from him. So the the courts essentially crowned Hoffa. It is interesting to see that there haven't been the kind of incisive investigations of Hoffa that there were of Carey. It is particularly galling when you realize that Carey was not guilty of any real crime. So they took one of the most powerful unions away from its progressive leaders and gave it back to the reactionaries.

Professional Wrestling or Roller Derby, You Be The Judge

Well now I think I've got today's politics figured out: It's like professional wresting. The refs (news media) are always being worked by the bad guys (Republicans). The good guys (Democrats [OK, I know that's stretching it]) are constantly having their eyes gouged and being illegally hit upon by the bad guys and the refs are always looking the other way when it happens. Except when they are taking bribes, I guess.

The fans scream ineffectively and watch the bad guys beat the shit out of the good guys. Further it is all pretend. In the end the wrestlers and refs all go back into the locker rooms and are real good buddies and all is forgiven.

And they take the fans money and split it up amongst themselves.

Or maybe Roller Derby?

The Republican "Filibuster"

When do you think the Senate leadership is going to force the Republicans to really filibuster as opposed to taking a painless vote. Then saying well we don't have the votes let's go home. Do you think that this group of leaders will ever force the issue and make the Republicans go through actual day in and day out coming to the floor for votes at all hours of the day or night?

Neither did I. And by the way where was Obama during all this? Just askin?

Illinois Gov.

You know I really don't know, but I am a little hesitant about jumping on the dump Blagojevich bandwagon (not that anybody asked me).

So far we have nothing but the USA's word for it that these things happened. Hey, they certainly could have, but wouldn't it be better to .... you know get a little more than one side out there. Or am I just being an old stick in the mud for kind of insisting on certain minimal procedural protections?

Oh wait them are just loop holes aren't they?

Wow, Just Wow

Well it looks like it is OK for the banks to give their employees "retention" bonuses for no particular reason other than they looted the U. S. Treasury and they can.

At the same time it is time attack real working people because they do not want to give away some of the money they actually need to live. The failure of the auto bailout is the fault of the U.A.W. Of course that would be the point of view of our rulers, now wouldn't it?

Oh yes, the $73.00 an hour rate is a lie.

Autos and the UAW

Boy things sure look grim for, oh a couple of million workers who will in all probability lose their jobs, plus many more who will probably have their hours and wages cut back.

I was at lunch today watching the 21st Century version of fiddling while Rome burns. On the T.V.s around us the "news" stations were continuously telling us about some bones of a small child found somewhere. With several experts explaining just what stuff meant. Then it was interspersed with reports on Gov. Rod Blagojevich (sp?) -- will he resign? Will he be forced to resign?

At the same time there is nothing at all on the bailout (or lack thereof). The reports that some of the Repubs are going to vote against it to try to destroy the UAW. Not only that but they are being pretty explicit about it. Yet these thugs could not be in power if the average job working class dude didn't vote for them. The T.V.s wouldn't be showing that kind of crap if the average person wasn't willing to watch it.

UPDATE:

Well yeah. This kind of thing doesn't leave the ugly images that explicit strike breaking did in the past. But here and now the shills for the real fascists destroy the ability of a union to get concessions for its workers and put them under the control of some czar and you destroy the union and put a pretty major crimp in any organizing for the future.

Illinois Again

One last thing about the whole Illinois gov. thingy. I think that the USA was aiming higher than the gov. I think he was aiming for Obama and Obama wasn't playing; either Blogs game or Fitzgerald's game.

So all the lefty blogs slobbering over the wonderful Mr. Fitzgerald, should be considering just who he was listening to and why.

It also interesting in reading the AP stuff. Can anybody say Whitewater? There I knew you could.

Or Is It Just Tacky

I would guess that offering to sell a senate seat for money is a crime. But is trading a senate seat for a seat on a non-government board a crime? Maybe if it is clear that what you really want is more money, but what if you just want the position because you think that you would be the best person for that position. "I will appoint your person to the senate, but I want to be made the auto czar, because I'm the best person for the job." How about: "I will appoint your person to the senate, but I want to be made auto czar, because I want the power." Or: "because I think that I can help my friends who hate unions break the unions." When is it a crime? Is it always a crime?

Do people really think that elected officials don't make deals and are all those deals illegal? Is the governor of Illinois corrupt or just tacky?

Illinois

A couple of Illinois criminals with their mouthpiece.

Well did you see what the governor of Illinois has been up to (just one link among many)? Apparently. I've had a lot of cases where the prosecution has an iron clad case right up to the point that the evidence starts to be presented. Although, to be fair it does look like they may have the guy on tape. It do appear that he was asking for money for appointed Obama's replacement.

I thought that they way things were done was that the people in charge wheeled and dealed -- although probably not in actual cash. Or at least you didn't' mention that you expected a cash advantage from the deal.

If it is true perhaps they should just imprison who ever is nominated for governor of Illinois and skip the middle step of office holding.

I had another thought. In this kind of case the defendant be he senator from Alaska or congressman from Louisiana is usually not arrested and taken off to the slammer. Since this guy was set to appoint a key senator and probably a Democrat is it possible that the U.S. Attorney decided to get back into the good graces of the Republican party after the Scotter Libby affair? To make it impossible for a Democrat to be appointed right now? Just askin'?

Auto Stuff

This is incredibly scary and bad news if it is true. First, a lasting gift of Bush, the destruction of the largest and most progressive union currently existing. Second, giving a czar complete authority to recreate the auto industry as a Bush insider thinks is best.

Ever since Nixon whenever there has been a problem we have seen fit to appoint a czar to deal with the problem. This is just such a good idea it worked so well in Russia for the Romanovs and has worked so well with the original American czar: the drug czar. That little problem has certainly gone away now hasn't it. What is it about the desire to create an administrator with total power in a country that is supposedly based upon the ideal of democracy? (Okay, even I am getting tired of pointing out the latter Roman Republic.)

You know if Obama said that this isn't what he wants and he just wants a two month hiatus for the industry until he and his people can make the major changes necessary after January 20, I suspect that is what would happen. Does it strike no one else that it is damn strange that the current lame duck and a lame duck congress are being allowed to make permanent structural changes to our economy only about two months before a so called new broom comes in and sweeps clean?

Or is it just the parting gift from Bush that he destroy this union.

Our Wonderful Press Again

Oh brother, I would expect that everyone would have the same response that I do to this article. Good ole Tommie. Honing in on the important issues of the day. Do the president elect smoke?

Then of course there is the headline, and the fact that that information is the led in the story. Do you think that they think that this is their job? The country swirls around the edge of the toilet as it prepares to go down. The congress and current president are fighting over where the money will come from to keep several million Americans employed. We are in the process of losing two wars at once. And ole Tommie wants to know about Obama's smoking. Not only that, but it is important enough to ask follow up questions.

Of course the other question that I begged at the begging is are we, as a people, stupid enough to think that this is what a national "news" [scare quotes] reporter's job is? Is this country that far gone? If that is really considered news by the majority of Americans then we are beyond hope.

Good Election News

On the other hand there is some good news for an old friend, Mary Jo Kilroy all of us really. I think that she may be the only politician I ever gave any money to. Well she has been working in the fields for at least 25 years. A good progressive.

Really Uh Oh

Brother was I right yesterday? Well according to Krugman we are on the way out of the auto business in this country. Good god. The kind of hole that will make in our economy, if true, will probably bring down this country economically. I was wondering a couple of years ago how long we could go on throwing money away the way we were on Iraq. Also, just thinking about how we throw money on military systems that we then have to pour twice as much into to get them to work. I figured we could do that for quite a while longer. Well, I guess the answer was we can't.

Really given the way we put our military on a pedestal and give them everything they want, I guess we can continue to do it if we just don't put our money into anything else like health care, or infrastructure.

REALLY BIG UPDATE: OK so I fell for it. I guess that I'm really so ready to figure that we're fucked that I'll believe anything. I guess it's the opposite of being a cock-eyed optimist.

Uh Oh

So after running their companies into the ground, the automakers stand a few months at the most from collapse. If they collapse then their suppliers collapse and if their suppliers collapse then essentially the entire country collapses.

After rushing to save his buddies in the banking[?] and investment [?] industries[?] president low normal decides to do nothing for the millions who work with their hands. Of course, what the president wanted the Democrats gave without any oversight at all. Now the Democrats are whining about the auto makers and how they haven't been working intelligently within our capitalist system. Yet they rushed to throw money at the bankers, etc.

This would be very interesting if I wasn't looking at a nice bridge under which I and my family might live under if that all happens. That is to say, if is very interesting to read about the Great Depression because I wasn't around at that time. Collapses of various societies are probably more interesting to read about than to be involved in.

I would guess that most of the [not very] right wing are fairly sure of their jobs with the wing nut welfare and nepotism system. So they can afford to take the long view secure in their palaces. In the meantime those of us who work for a living are looking at real hard times.

Ok I Got A Big Zero

That's right once again I have abolutely nothing, a complete Zero, as the outside world has intruded on me.

I Am Tired of Making Nice

Was at a meeting of an non-political writers group yesterday. After the meeting we normally go out for coffee and stuff. After the meeting one of the members started spouting off politically. Blathering on and on about the election and the stupidity of the Obama supporters and about how now with Obama in she was going to have to pay more taxes (no she doesn't make more than $250,000.00 a year, believe me).

She ranted on about how her IRA had lost 40% and yet she was unable to make a connection between that and the guy she voted for. Not a dumb person generally speaking, but simply in a near total ignorance concerning the facts on the ground and what is really going on in her world.

God, I am not sure what to do at that point. I certainly didn't want to get into a political argument with someone, but on the other hand I really don't want to let them think that people simply agree with some stupid right wing talking point that they happen to be spouting.

We're In a Recession Oh Boy

This headline pretty much says it all concerning just where we are today and how we got here. I mean come on "Dow Plunges on News Recession Began in Dec. 2007?" I thought that these people who do the trading are supposed to know those sorts of things. I mean isn't that why they make the big bucks?

I mean I kind of thought something like that some time ago, but I figured that I couldn't be right, I mean what did I know? Well I wasn't smart enough to make any money out of it.

Done Gone Over the River

Brother, and I do mean that in all ways possible. Took both the dogs to visit my brother and his wife and meet their new St. puppy. Four hours up and four hours back. Thank god we got the canine pheromones, they slept like babies in the car.

We got there and there was the normal growling and checking out. Then the St. puppy and our St. started to play. The Chow was stand offish like most chows, but friendly with the new people, unlike most chows.

Within a few hours they were playing like crazy. The Chow and puppy finally played for awhile when we put them out on the porch by themselves. But, it was exhausting. We were constantly watching to make sure that nobody trashed anything and that wasn't the easiest thing to do as his puppy jumped completely over him at one point (while he was sitting on the floor). Nearly through a glass grandfather's clock, while my big guy almost went through the window.

They had a good time and because I had to go out with them I did get to see Venus and Jupiter. Quite a show.

Got home and slept for eleven hours and then I was hardly able to get up to go to work.




No much political stuff. I have been following the arguments of the right trying (again) to prove the New Deal a failure because too much was spent on economic stimulus rather than not enough. Amity Shlaes being their standard bearer. Paul Krugman doing the heavy lifting of the response. Just for interest I looked at my library to see who had the most books at my local library -- guess who? That's right two books by the right winger versus one for the Noble Laureate. Who wodda thunk?

Actually, the wingers arguments are easy to understand. Do you count people who are working for the government building things like roads etc. as being employed or not (make work)? There is a second argument that is the New Deal was a failure because the unemployment went up in '38 (of course they use figures from a period when the New Deal cut back on spending -- thereby actually proving the opposite of both their points).

Over The River

It's off to my brother's place to visit with the fam and the new addition, a St. Bernard puppy. I am a llittle anxious to see how everybody gets along. It's a four hour drive with stops maybe four and a half. So we'll see how things go.

We've got various sprays and doggie valium to keep everybody calm. I'm told they all work on people too, so everyone should be really calm. Back tomorrow, I hope.

Happy Thanksgiving

So my brother came home from Iraq and we went out to dinner and he gave us a little "slide" show on his really nice Apple computer. Okay, okay, I won't bet bitter I expect to get mine back I really do and I promise not to mess with it myself ever again.

At any rate there were a couple of things he told us that have got me thinking and not in a good way.

First, he was showing pictures of Saddam's big palaces and the one with this huge room that was used as some sort of gathering room. It is a room where one sees troops re-upping in mass. But he also said that they have mass numbers of American troops taking the oath of allegiance. That is these folks were not citizens when they joined, but became citizens at least partially by serving in our military. Boy does that sound a lot like Rome at the end or what?

The second is that there are a lot people from all over the world serving there, but they are not doing it for any kind of altruistic reason. Not that they should of course. But they are hired on as guards and such by one or the other of these contractors (I feel that I should put contractor in quotes, but I guess that isn't necessary).

Here is the thing though, these guards or whatever are from third world countries and they are paid a king's ransom according to the income in their countries, but a pittance compared to what Americans are paid. So you have a very two or maybe three tiered system:

First Tier: American and European contractors;

Second Tier: American and European soldiers;

Third Tier: Third World contractors.

I guess this is what a colonial power does.

Just What Do You Expect

Glenn Greenwald has a very good essay wondering why progressives are shocked and appalled about Obama's picks for his cabinet and his ongoing policies.

Essentially, it's what did you expect? Greenwald's argument is that progressives projected their policies onto Obama. I remember thinking the same thing about Clinton (and Carter for that matter). I guess it's nice to be right. One hell of a lot of good that does you when push comes to shove though.

My understanding Clinton's political position didn't prevent him from being savaged by the right. It merely confused me, because I didn't understand why they hated him so much. I really still don't. On the other hand they got their half a loaf when Clinton was in power and then once they were able to steal the election for Bush they got the rest of their loaf (and most of mine, too). So I guess their game was to get it all.

In looking at how things are playing out right now, it looks like they'll get to devastate the economy and then get to keep what they stole. After getting us to pay for their mistakes.

Speaking about paying for your mistakes, as an aside, the automakers are being made to jump through massive hoops to keep their companies and the jobs that a million or so middle class folks have that are dependant on t he automakers staying in business. The bankers don't have to do anything and they get to keep all the money we throw at them to make sure that their six figure traders keep their jobs.

So I guess the wealthy aren't all equal either. If you create nothing and provide no real benefit for society at large, you are more important to the ruling class, than if you actually do create something, no matter how crappy it might currently be. Of course, I would guess that you get minus points if you actually provide a living for your average worker

So it looks like things are working out perfectly for the ruling class again.

So It's Starting Already

I see that the Big Boys are already gunning for Obama. Of course they aren't going to go directly at him right away. No first they will try to nail those who are close to him and then get closer and closer. So it's safest to start with a Clinton appointee.

So how do the lefties respond? Well I hope that this just is an aberration, but we'll see. So the news media are finding their voices again, just coincidentally after a Democrat is elected. And some of the left seem to think that we have got to go along because we are the more just and morally right. Gag me with a chain saw.

These people are going to be attacking and attacking and attacking and we have to realize that this wouldn't be"independent journalism" in any ration realistic world. This is just an attack by the entrenched powers that be who have blindly supported Bush (and before that attacked Clinton) every chance they had. They will attack anyone who isn't part of their group. As The Daily Howler says: It's the Heathers and junior high all over again.

I don't think that we can say: "Oh, this time they may be right. Next time we will confront them." I don't think that will work. We have to push back now. Unfortunately it involves holding our noses, but hey if that's what we've got to do then that's what we've got to do.

Game Day Talk

Been reading a lot about Obama's appointments and I've got to say I'm really not surprised. Disappointed yes, but not surprised. I allowed myself to pretend that he is really progressive for the last few days of the campaign, because I was so scared of the other two. But really, except for his opposition to the Iraq war he neither said or did anything that should have caused me to believe that he was progressive or anything other than a Clinton Centralist (which is only in the center in the U.S.; any place else he would be a conservative).

Then there is Senator Clinton for Secretary of State. Wow, why do you think he is offering this? More to the point why did she accept it? She is powerful and independent and important in the Senate right now. By accepting the SOS position she loses all that Independence and power. Also, she has yet to acknowledge that she was wrong about Iraq.

My original reason for supporting him was that I knew what Clinton was about and I didn't like her. I hoped that Obama would not be set in stone and be able to figure creative ways out of the various situations we've gotten ourselves into. I kind of feel like I might have voted for this generations version of Al Smith, a conservative Democrat completely out of his depth in the economic situation in which we now find ourselves.

Well so this is where this country has come. We have one conservative party with a completely incompetent totally insane wing (the Republicans) and the other wing nearly as conservative, but not totally incompetent and not completely insane. It's lucky that we have so much money so that we can paper over our screw ups and now that's almost gone. I could be one of the 2% who vote for a third or fourth party, but I'm not sure what that would do for me except make me feel more pure.

I guess he really believes in his positions. (To be honest, I kinda hope he doesn't.) I also guess that Clinton believed in his positions, because when the right came after him (Clinton) he didn't move to the left one iota to get support. I am just afraid that those positions (Obama's and Clinton's [both Clintons]) aren't going to get us anywhere but deeper into that hole we've been digging for the last several decades. I also see Obama being attacked as or even more viciously than Clinton was, we will see how that works for the right. If Obama isn't able to move beyond his current limitations we are all screwed. Fasten your seat belts its going to be a bumpy ride.

I really do think that historians in the future will look back and scratch their heads just as I am right now.

A Report

My brother returned from Iraq and we got together. I'm glad he made it back without injury. It was good to see him and it was interesting hearing from him about what was going on over there as he saw it. He was there with a contractor. He provided no specific information about what he did, but is definitely with the program. It reminds me of me when I was in Thailand in 1968 and before that stationed in Texas. Which reminded me of this:


If I can't irritate my brother who can I irritate.

ARGGGGGGGGGGGG

So the new toy (see below) is currently toast and on its way back to the manufacturer to be repaird or replaced. Crap.

I promise never, never, never to try to put the increase in RAMM in a lap top again. I promise, I promise, I promise.

Back From the Hospital

Just got Ming the Merciless back from being fixed. The good news is that she seems to be feeling fine and doesn't hurt at all. The bad news is that she's feeling fine and doesn't hurt at all. All she wants to do is run and jump and play. Of course the instructions are none of that for ten days. Good luck.

When we got her they said that she hadn't been friendly. We ask if she bit anyone and they told us no that everyone was afraid to get close enough for her to bite. She growled at me until she realized who I was.

We've got her cage set up with a very nice doggie mattress. Unfortunately one of the cats has decided that is just the best place and she isn't letting Ming in right now.

Oh well, she'll be getting lots of treats for awhile.

Give a Friend the Business

Hey, give a girl a break and give her some business if you are in the Zanesville area. Particularly since my pups are the featured players as it were.

A excellent pet sitter.

I'd Like You to Meet My Li'l Frien'

OK, a brand new sold state Linux operating system. No money for Bill Gates. Viva the Revolution. Some fun.

Meet the New Boss, Same As the Old Boss

Now who would have thought that the Democrats would have paid off a slimy second rate Quisling? When was the last time the Democratic Party as a party actually stood for something, do you think?

What do you think they are thinking about. I originally thought that we would have the time to build a progressive coalition, but now giving what is happing with the automakers, I seriously doubt it.

Democrats, what are they good for?

I am watching the dance around Lieberman and the automakers play out here. I suspect that Lieberman will keep his power and the automakers will go belly up. So apparently the Congress will pay no attention their their constituents when they oppose bailing out the banks. However, when they want to bail out companies (no matter how badly run) that actually build something and that employ hundreds of thousands of average lower middle class Americans --- hey that is going too far.

The Lieberman thing is just more of the same. You know I really wonder if this is how the Romans felt there at the end?

I think that it will be difficult to get enough to eat let alone feed the animals in a few months. I had thought that we would have some time to build a progressive party, but now I think that what happens will have to happen in the next few months and that is just not going to be.

I have a fear that we have elected a guy with the foresight and charisma of a Hoover. Unfortunately, he was running against a guy who had the foresight and charisma of a Coolidge.

Wow just Wow

It is nearly impossible to describe just how corrupt and vile this kind of conduct is. It is something that would be laughed off the pages of a mystery/trial novel. Such a thing could not happen in an even partially open society, I would have thought.

For a juror to contact the prosecution during a trial is simply something beyond anything I have ever heard of happening. It brings to mind racially tinged trials from before the 60s in places like Alabama, and only in towns so small that we've never heard of them. Hell it didn't happen to Clarence Darrow when he defended those union guys.

That the jury could permit one of their members to do this is appalling enough, but that the prosecution would not report it raises it to another level of horror. Then that the marshalls would participate in this just moves it beyond anything that I could ever imagine happening this side of some dystopian fantasy novel. And then I wouldn't (before today) have considered that novel particularly interesting, because it was just so fantastic -- maybe 1984 or Brave New World or something like that.

As a trial attorney for more than twenty years if that happened in a trial I was involved in, in small rural Ohio counties, then I would have expected everybody involved to end up in jail and the professionals would have been suspended from the practice of law for the rest of their lives.

But -------------- under Bush. My how far we have fallen. My guess is that nothing or very little is done to punish those involved. We must move on you know.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, I forgot about The Trial by Kafka. Of course that is the entire point of that book, isn't it? I guess short of a totalitarian state, where could this happen? It is kind of like Lewis Caroll and Kafka combined. Who'd-a-thought that we'd be living in the pages of a sort of retarded combination of both?

One does get kind of tired of comparing one's country to Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass but there you are.

Drug War Hopes

There is a fair amount of discussion going around the web about the drug war. Essentially, about how bad it is and how now, with a new "progressive [scare quotes]" president we have a chance to at least modify it.

Naa Gonna Happen!!!!!

The drug war combined with the (oh I'm sorry that should be: The Drug War -- there all better now) War on Terror provides the authoritarians (you know who you are) both inside and out side the government with the cover necessary to pursue their goals. What are their goals (you might reasonably ask)?

Control, power, the simple joy of keeping an eye on you and busting a few, preferably minority and/or young asses every once in a while.

William S. Burroughs playing a junkie priest in the movie Drug Store Cowboy has a wonderful rant about just this.

The point is I guess, that drugs are just Bad there is really no other reason. People like drugs, people are willing to pay for drugs and people are willing to be arrested for drugs. Well they are not willing to be arrested after they've been arrested, but they are willing to take the chance. So a country (ours) with a higher per-centage of its population in some for of jail, prison, or on some sort of probation/parole than any other in the world is willing to continue to put people in jail for no apparent good reason other than to teach them a lesson -- that drugs be bad and you should go to jail for using them.

A second thought is that given the apparent melt down of the economy we are willing to spend the money to continue to do just that. I costs more to keep a person in prison than to send them to a four year college. Plus there is my cost. I suppose I shouldn't complain since there are more clients out there because of a drug war than there would be without. A lot of them are felonies which means even more money than people busted for misdemeanors.

Well more thoughts later, maybe maybe not, we'll see.

Jess Local Disasters

Ok, I'm really not up to writing about the same thing I've written about in my last two posts. All I can say is even Greenwald agrees with me (although, since he hasn't read me he doesn't realize it of course). And of course his writing is more nuanced. But other than that he got it from me.

On the home front, the garage door broke; the computer broke and the warranty people say its not their problem; some water pipes in the bathroom broke; the electric is doing some weird stuff in the kitchen; and my car's front end needs several hundred dollars. Not work, it just wants several hundred dollars. All my mechanical pieces of equipment need several hundred dollars periodically. Preferably at a point in time that I don't have it.

I'm just tired.

Damn I Hate It When I'm Right

This is really not good.

So here comes the new boss same as the old boss. How is he gonna twist arms if he completely forgives the most obvious quisling of them all. Lyndon Johnson and FDR knew that there had to be both a carrot and a stick to get anything done of any importance.

Or does he want to be the black Clinton? That reaching out over the asile certainly worked well for Clinton. Look how much he accomplished. How much he helped the poor and middle class. (Yes I am being sarcastic.)

Of course, this is a guy that voted for FISA and the bail out bill. Given where we are historically -- which is swirrling around the top of the toilet ready to go down, I would hope for a more assertive politician. One who would push some seriously progressive programs.

Lieberman

I've gotten stuff from various lefty/progressive/liberal blogs asking me to contact my democratic senator telling him that he and the rest of the dems in the Senate should force Lieberman out of his post as chair of his Senate Committee.

Now here is a guy that went to the Republican convention, spoke there, traveled with the Republican presidential candidate, said that the Democratic candidate was not fit for the job and Reid still likes the guy. The Democrats seem to be considering whether to punish him and strip him of his seniority and chairmanship, or not.

It's the "or not" that is bazaar and raises the question of whether the Democrats stand for anything at all..........even covering each others' backs. I mean come on, if they are willing to allow a guy who has done everything he could to destroy their party and their candidate to remain in their caucus -- no matter how much they think they need his vote then they are not capable of being the majority party. When you are in the majority then you are supposed to run things. If you can't then you shouldn't be in the majority. Of course these people haven't been able to take a principled stand in two years why should they now.

I think that it's even money that they will give Lieberman everything he demands and call it a victory. There will be "serious" talking heads explaining why this is the smart thing to do and then Lieberman will screw them to the wall the first chance he gets.

The line "Sometimes you gotta stand for something" is one that apparently no one in the Democratic leadership has ever heard. Or if they've heard it they certainly don't understand it. Nor do they seem to care that they look weak (of course that would only be because they are weak) and that the Republicans and your average voter will have even more contempt for them.

At any rate if these people don't have the back bone it takes to oust Lieberman for both practical and moral reasons without my little missive they won't do it with it.

The point is that Lieberman has generally been on the wrong side of all most all issues he has had to confront. If all the Democrats do is give him what he wants to get his vote (maybe sometimes for some things) then hell. They are as sorry a lot as I think they are.

Writing

Archie and Mehetabel, what more perfect example of the ink stained wretch than the poet as cockroach.

Went to a writer's conference yesterday. Well actually my wife was the person who (along with two others) organized it and put it on. It was put on by the writers group that I am a member of. I was day labor, so I just went around carrying things, selling things (writers love to come to a place where they get lunch for free and have a table to sell their books).

So while the writers were eating or schmoozing with others or giving their presentations, I sat at their tables and took money and sold their stuff. We discovered a couple of things that next year (this was the first year we did this) we will apply. First: only one person gets the food for breakfast (we had enough bagels to feed an army left over, there were no starving writers there). Second, brown paper lunch bags work just fine for keeping money that we've collected for each separate writer in.

It is amazing to me that there are so many real, not just wanna be writers, out there. There were twelve published -- and I mean really published -- writers there. Novelists, religious and non-fiction writers. Of course, the most popular speaker was the one who told how to make $100,000,00 a year writing. Everyone there is willing to write for nothing, but would not object if someone wanted to pay them huge amounts for doing it.

The other thing that amazes me is the number of people who can write and write well in a city as small as this one. The other thing that amazes me is that there is at least one novelist out there whose forte is writing Amish love stories. That is just weird. She didn't show, but sent some books to raffle off.

So in the end I got to see no presentation, but I did meet several writers and all were very pleased to meet me because I had money to give them.

Politics later.

Already

So it's started already. Two days after the election and already unnamed sources are telling Obama that he will have to renege on his basic promise to get us out of Iraq.

They'll do this with everything. Unsourced stories telling us all that we must not do whatever it is that the beltway mob and the closet fascists who were in control until just now do not want us to do. It is their long war, it will be a constant battle for every advance.

This is just the same thing that happened with Clinton. They did everything they could to destroy his presidency. And let's face it Clinton was really moderately conservative. The best Republican president since Eisenhower.

You know, this eternal vigilance stuff is really hard.

Fun With Maps and Graphs

This no not that this from the NYT is interesting. You know for some strange reason blogger will not let me post small or medium sized images, but only large ones. It's kind of like getting a pizza: "Sorry, we don't have small."

Post Election Glow?

Ok, it is nice to see the other side eating their own. And it is good to revel in a rare victory.

On the other hand, the fact that Obama has chosen Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff is not a good sign, nor is this.

We need to remember that the only institution of government that had a worse approval rating than the president was the congress, controlled by the Democrats. Why, cause they ran on change and did nothing except enable the Bush presidency. Let's face it the congress has acted like the abused wife of a violent drunken husband.

Now there is serious [maybe] discussion of whether or not to remove Lieberman from the chairmanship of his Senate committee. I mean come on. Discussion, who can possibly even consider keeping him on? This guy has been running around campaigning for McCain. How can you keep him as a part of your party when he does that? Only if you are really a loser party that is how. Oh, I'm sorry loser and Democratic Party are kind of synonymous, not so much in winning elections, but in trying to accomplish something afterward.

Maybe I studied the Roman Empire too much in college, but their elections seemed to become more and more violent the more their parties had in common and it was only about dividing the spoils for the winners.

At any rate, what it seems that we little people need to keep the Democrat's feet to the fire and continue to force them to enact progressive/liberal legislation. No rest for the wicked communists I guess.

The other half of all this is that any marginal move by the Democrats to lurch even slightly to the left will be met by the right wing noise machine screaming about the socialists and communists (and race and sex mixers) forcing us down that road to serfdom [see Clinton, William, Presidency] and homosexual abortions. Well ok the forced homosexual abortion thing will be the first item on the agenda of the Democratic party, I have been told this by an unimpeachable source:

So any rate we all need to remain vigilant and continue to fight, cause this thing isn't over by a long shot. The quote: "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Is noble, but kind of tiring when you think about it.

But hell, what else you gonna do? So the job has just started.

Wiliam Ayres, Radical?

Oh yeah, I forgot. I went to William Ayres blog yesterday. Damn he sounds really moderate and a lot less radical than I do. He must have gotten it all out of his system back in the 60s while I was a good little republican.

Can't Joke Any More

I was out doing GOTV stuff yesterday. White boy that I am they first put me in my car to drive out in the country and put stuff at peoples houses. I could not find a single place in an hour. This doesn't count the number of times I was nearly run down trying to drive slowly enough to read the damn numbers on the road.

So I went back to the campaign office and told them I couldn't do it unless I got someone to ride with me and I had no one at that late date. So they gave me some stuff in town. Much easier. A lot of walking up and down hills and in very Obama friendly neighborhoods of mostly a certain money class. I ended up having to quit at about 6:30 p.m. The city seems to feel that these neighborhoods really don't need the kind of lighting that upper middle class ones do.

The last time I was in those neighborhoods on foot was when I was trying to purchase a certain product (as they say in the paraphernalia store). On the other hand lots of friendly people.

I don't know how much good I did, but last time I manned phone banks for Kerry for several weeks and look how I screwed up that one.

It is getting so it is impossible to do satire any more. When some one seriously does this, where is the joke? I like to think that I am kind of funny, but damn ....... I mean come on it is would be a kind of mildly humorous comment on McCain supporters, that no one could possibly believe and then some more or less real person actually denies candy to kids whose parents are Obama people. Good grief.

I keep thinking: How could any country elect someone as stupid as Palin who would be just a heartbeat away from being president. Then I think of Bush. I total personal failure at every single thing he ever did. The only things he did that weren't failures were his college and military service and lets not forget that the only reason he didn't screw up those were daddy. After that daddy couldn't protect him. He was president twice. Palin more obviously bad at the get go, but still...............................

Keep your fingers crossed.

Just Today

Just got back from a local performance of Macbeth, some fun.

I gave to Obama and Mary Jo Kilroy who is running for congress in Columbus. She has been heavily involved in Columbus politics as a Democrat for about twenty years. You've got to figure that certainly is a dues paying time. She is a good progressive/liberal and I hope she wins. I first met her when I was in law school there.

Going out tomorrow to canvas for Obama. Keep your fingers crossed and remember our motto here at camp: Clean Mind, Clean Body. Take your pick.

No wait our motto here is: The best is the enemy of good enough. Go Obama. Socialism now, socialism tomorrow, socialism forever. (Don't tell anybody, it's a democratic secret.)