Racist?

I finally  figured out linking to Hulu which turns out not to be hard at all.  I will say that after watching Moore, his statement seems more dumb than racist to me, but then I'm white.

I'm home this morning and I think I'll see how blogger works today.  The last post had a number of problems that I just couldn't figure out, including a back color on the writing that I finally had to completely do over from scratch, different size and font writing that I also couldn't figure out how it happened.  But at any rate there is:  a poor thing, but mine own.  (It appears that if I copy from google docs. and paste here that has an effect on the formatting, so that is one thing.)


OK this has been going on with both computers for some time I will hit the Enter key and just delete the previous paragraph, very irritating   Try again.  Then some sort of interference and I had to emergency shut down the computer.  Yesterday, it just shut down itself.

It appears that Michael Moore has said a terribly racist thing, quoting Bill Maher who is also a bad person and not worthy of out respect.  That is Moore said :  "I went into the polls voting for the black guy and what I got was the white guy."

Is that racist?  It is an interesting question and I must ask my black friend what he thinks.(Is this comment racist enough for you?)

Balloon Juice with Angry Black Lady led the way followed up by Ta-Nehisi Coates at TNR.

After thinking about Moore's statement, I can certainly see it as racist. It assumes that all black people because of generations of being screwed over by the white ruling classes would not in fact identify with that class, but rather identify with the abused and under classes of whatever race.  But what the statement presumes is that all African Americans should react in the same way to oppression. It denies the individual the opportunity to be an individual and a prick and screw over those who haven’t made it to the top once they do.

The commentators are interesting, particularly at TNR since there are a number of those there who are more than happy to bash Moore and call into question everything he has done.  He isn't, what?  One of us?  I don't know.  None of them managed to hop into the Way Back Machine and go all the way to 2008 to remember how hard Moore worked for Obama and how much energy he put into that campaign.  

I made an abbreviated version of my comment above at a comment thread at Lawyers Guns and Money and was accused of being a racist (or at least harboring racist thoughts myself) because I cannot imagine a black person being part of the ruling class.  I guess the problem is that there are a lot of racists out there who hate Obama because he is black.  (And let's face it he is black under the strange rules that apply in this country as to the pigeon holing of people into racial categories.  The fact that his mother was white and he was raised by white grandparents for a large part of his youth doesn't count.)  That those of us who hate Obama because he is incompetent and and owned by Wall Street, can be tarred with that same racist brush.

Well, it may be racist. And since I voted for him assuming that he was someone who would be different, I guess that makes me racist. I kind of thought he would be more like Martin Luther King rather than Barry Goldwater.  Perhaps I didn’t look far enough beyond his skin color to see a paid up member of the plutocracy.

Please Take This Farm

It looks like more and more (although Taibbi certainly doesn't deserve the quotation marks) on the "left"  and even some on the "right" are commenting on what appears to be Obama's absolute desire to move the country further and further to the right in these budget talks.  On the other hand I'm not sure that will translate into votes and certainly, if a bat shit crazy republican is elected in the next election it will be the people who refused to vote for him or work for him who get the blame.  Not the guy himself, who has lost the confidence of his natural constituency (although it appears as though his natural constituency is actually Wall Street), though giving away everything that the working and middle classes want and need.

I was thinking today as it was being explained to me on another blog how Obama's brilliant negotiating style has brought us to the this point, which is apparently just where we should be at this time.  He is threatening to cut Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare (now, now, not slash it just cut it you know, you understand the difference right).  At any rate at this point while we are next, apparently, to defaulting on various government obligations Obama is letting the other side know that he is willing to cut the basic social safety nets in this country for the right kind of deal.

Now if he is some sort of liberal/progressive or even moderate then the kind of negotiation he is doing is a negotiation style with which I am not familiar.  I've been a lawyer for over twenty-five years.  Before that I was part of two different unions and participated in several contract negotiations.  I've also participated in several different seminars and trainings which dealt with how one engages in successful negotiations.  No where did I ever hear that one starts out by giving away the farm at the beginning, unless of course one's ultimate goal is to actually give away the farm.

I am not particularly glad that I can in fact recognize this, because I am going to be burned just as badly as the idiots who continue to insist that he really is trying to protect their interests (assuming that those individuals are not the top 1% then they are not idiots, but realists).  Actually, I'm in worse shape because I can see it coming and so I suffer from both the fore knowledge and the actually impact rather than say Balloon Juice, etc (no linky today) who do not see it coming and when it does hit will still have know idea that their hero did it to them and their children.   So I guess in one way ignorance is indeed blis.

I'm Just Living In A Bad Novel

This world would simply not make it as a movie or novel .Well, it might, but it would be called unbelievable and not worth watching or reading.

We've got a president who was elected to end a couple of pointless colonial wars control the wealthiest 1% put people back to work and give the average person a safe and secure old age not endangered by overwhelming medical bills. A small d democrat who immediately turns around and doubles down on two colonial wars and decides to protect the people who started those wars and everything that went with them. Domestically he cuts deals with large corporations so that money can be funneled directly from his supporters to these corporations against all that he claimed to be in favor of and what the people who voted for him really wanted. He does all this more or less openly or ineptly (secret meetings that turn out to be so unsecret that they become known within weeks of their occurring).

He fills his administration with people who are "very important people," but people who have been wrong in everything they have attempted or proposed in their public lives.

While all this is going on and during all the debates on his programs he personally strongly discourages his supporters from demonstrating in favor of what were thought to be his positions and therefore allows the opposition to grab and control the message and to whip up anti-administration fervor.

He makes no real attempt to pass legislation that will help the majority of people who voted for him. But then all the stops are pulled out to pass legislation that in its final form is widely hated by large numbers of his supporters.

Top this off with a fan base that essentially remains loyal no matter what the leader does and we have a very bad political novel or movie I think.

If I were to read this I would simply throw it down half way through and say unbelievable.

Who Sue?

Damn who do I have to insult to get sued and on the pages of trendy New York Publications , get linked to by famous leftist bloggers and generally become famous and well known?

Another Of Mr. Toad's Wild Rides All Downhill

Wow. So once again the market fell like a stone. This on a day that the unemployment figures although bad aren't as bad was thought they would be. Wow, Wow, Wow. On the other hand it looks like GM might be headed for the scrap heap. I can't remember, but I wonder if any company of comparable size bit the big one during the Great Depression?

You know I really don't understand all that much about economics and the markets, but I think I understand as much as those who make their living from them.

So tell me again why we listen to these assholes and the senators and congresspeople who also do their bidding?

This Doesn't Look Good

Here you go every reason in the world to keep doing what we've been doing and take care of the rich.

OK One More Thing and Then to Work

What I see the Blue Dogs and conservative Democrats doing generally is committing a kind of ritual suicide that would make the Japanese aristocrats proud.

Here's what could well happen: They will manage to prevent any real change. Conditions will get worse under democrats. People in general will start to look around and ask themselves why should we vote for these assholes again. Republicans will be voted in with the social conservatives with real power this time. America will make (if I may mix my historical metaphors) Italy of the 20s look progressive.

Now if only being right would pay the bills.

It Never Stops

It never stops, does it? Tbogg quotes from Malkin's commentators (who I don't think I'll bother to link directly to). There a lot of people who are commenting and/or complaining about "their" taxes being raised, under Obama's proposed budget.

I belong to a writer's group and there is a new member who's husband has been brought into town to run the local sweat shop/place where all the workers are on probation. She has been ranting continuously (and I do mean continuously) that her taxes are about to be raised by Obama. What that would mean, if she knew what she was talking about, was that her husband is making over $250,000.00. Not much of a chance of that if you know what I mean. But if he is, and they can't afford new taxes in their tax bracket then screw them.

The Tbogg/Malkin quotes are just either lies or delusional (perhaps both delusional and lies). The constant whining about raised taxes and how it will hurt the economy is just so much bull shit. During the Eisenhower administration (that well known communist) the marginal tax rate was 90% for the very wealthiest. That period was also one of the most economically expansive in American history. So those arguing against increasing the taxes on the wealthiest simply do not know their history. Of course, it doesn't necessary follow that the high marginal tax was the cause of the economic boom of thee 50s, but that is the type of logic being used by the anti-tax retards and anti-tax t-baggers.

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.

Very Little Today

After watching the news, oh boy. So McCain has no idea how many homes he or his wife own. And finally Obama decides that maybe he needs to go on the attack.

As usual Greenwald has a very nice coverage about the rank hypocrisy of the Republican attack machine, comparing what they are saying now to defend McCain against what they said four years ago attacking Kerry for a similar situation.

The complete instance of many of the letter writers who seem to insist on missing the whole point of his post is kind of sad. The point is, the Democrats must hit back at the Republicans the same way the Republicans are hitting at the Democrats if they want to win and if they win if they want to effectively govern.

Bill Clinton anyone?

The point is that the house thing only got air play because Obama pushed it. No it isn't the most important thing around, but it is important to shove Republican hypocrisy right into people's faces. Here is a guy (like Bush) who is part of the ruling/imperial class and whose family has been part of the ruling/imperial class for at least three generations claiming to be just folks. He isn't just folks and he never was just folks. He is pretending to be someone he is not.

Nail him. Play the game the way the rules exist now or step aside and give the spot to someone who will (although to be honest I'm not sure which national Democrat will do it).