Barry - you turned yourself into a product. Don't get touchy about it now.
White House lawyers are working on a plan to limit the use of Obama's image in the sale of products. I, for one, am listing and avoiding all products that are leaching off the delusions of millions to make a buck. But the leaches have a right to use an elected public figure's image.
Currently, the belief is that Obama is popular (This is much more tenuous than polls would indicate.) - so this seems like an attempt to protect the Presidency. Be suspicious of what the White House lawyers are up to. Obama will be unpopular soon enough. Yes We Pecan Ice Cream may morph into We Told You So Sorbet by year's end - and guess what - Obama should not be allowed to control this either.
The hypocrisy here is mind boggling. We have never had a politician so willfully brand himself as a saviour and as a "lifestyle" like Obama. HE DID THIS TO HIMSELF. He hocked his brand for a solid year. It worked. The attempt to control the outcome now is dangerous and cult like.
Side note: The dolls created in the image of the 1st daughters are out of line. They are minors and there is no first amendment right to exploit children.
I've become more open to them lately - but here is one reason why I will never, ever become a conservative. Nasty, nasty,nasty... The exact opposite of Christian.
More Obama crooks. "Change we can believe in" -LOL- what a friggin joke.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - So. let me get this straight:
In a nation of 300 million people, Obama felt compelled to appoint a tax cheat, Tim Geithner, to be his Treasury Secretary. (Among 300 million people, there was not even ONE other person who could have filled that slot?) Then, tax-cheat Tim Geithner, having declared he would NOT hire any lobbyists, proceeded to hire as his Deputy Treasury Secretary a Goldman-Sachs LOBBYIST, Mark Patterson -- and all of this occurred within the FIRST week of the Obama administration.
Second outrage:
After persuading millions of women to vote for him (despite my warnings and the warnings of thousands of others) on the promise he would be on their side, Obama betrayed women. When Obama wanted MORE Republican votes than he needed to pass his economic legislation, Obama threw women out the window onto the pavement below (where the Obama bus rolled over them) and discarded the legislative provision that would have provided for family planning.
You see, childbearing is a lot of things (it can be a happy thing, a scary thing or a bad news thing), but for most women it is also an ECONOMIC thing. Most or at least many women have to work these days to help with the rent and pay for food and medical care for their families. Having a child they do not want and cannot afford is a CATASTROPHE for these women.
But Obama sold these women out to please the Republicans and get them to support his stimulus package (which they were NOT going to do anyway).
Instead Obama will now, apparently, pay ABOVE market price to buy up those mortgages -- thereby helping the banks (and bank officers) that should never have granted the mortgages in the first place -- and harming the poor homeowners who can now go live in a tent in a park, where many of them will freeze to death.
700 billion here, 700 billion there...along the way, why not set up a healthcare system that works, President Obama? From Krugman:
a populist rage building in this country, as Americans see bankers getting huge bailouts while ordinary citizens suffer...research sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund shows that achieving universal coverage with a plan similar to Mr. Obama's campaign proposals would add "only" about $104 billion to federal spending in 2010-not a small sum, of course, but not large compared with, say, the tax cuts in the Obama stimulus plan. It's true that the cost of universal health care will be a continuing expense, reaching far into the future. But that has always been true, and Mr. Obama has always claimed that his health care plan was affordable.
Obama needs to take action on this promise now. So far, he's concerned about prisoners at Gitmo, pregnant Africans, and Big Banks...but not the millions here that are about to lose or have just lost access to non emergency room doctors because they've lost their jobs.
We can't afford any of the stimulus bill - but we may as well prioritize our debt spending. Tax cuts are less important than bringing America into the 20th century on health care. And please don't tell me how great the system is in America. The health care "system" in America does not exist for millions, is awful for millions more - all so the a majority can pay obscene premiums to a middle man insurance company for what amounts to barely decent care.
Obama: TACKLE THIS NOW. America, with the "best health care system in the world" is 37th in infant mortality. Below Cuba, Canada, Malta, the U.K., and of course, the mighty Andorra... Yup we're the best! In life expectancy we rank 30th. A full 16 places behind...Israel.
The dangers of the mob mentality are more pronounced on the Obama Left than there are on the Right. Why? I repeat over and over and over again: I do not agree with the thrust of most right wing thought. But Conservatives usually have guiding ideas. Many of these ideas are powerful and WRONG in my estimation. Nevertheless they are core beliefs. There are no guiding principles on the new Obama "Left". There is only a mindless defense of a particular person. This is the road to hell. We must never think we are better or smarter than the Germans were. We are not. We, along with every other society, are always one or two crises from ceding all power to a demagogue.
From Juan Cole: The notion that we should not say something critical of the policy of a Democratic president because it might give aid and comfort to the rightwing enemy is completely unacceptable. It is a form of regimentation, and equivalent to making dissent a sort of treason.
I can't think of anything I've read this year that: A. Gets to the truth of the Pod people. B. Damns the Huffington Left so completely. People like Taylor Marsh are not liberals. They are cult members, and should be regarded as such.
Sellout: Obama ditches poor women. Why does this guy cave to the GOP so easily? Where are his balls? When will liberals turn on him with force? Does he beleive in anything? Obama an accessory to torture? At the very least, potential Bush era war crimes must be investigated.
Music: The late, but perpetually stunning, Eva Cassidy:
This was a fascinating interview. (see below) Ted Haggard is of course the disgraced minister who for most of President Bush's time in office would conduct weekly prayer sessions via phone with the President. I say this not to take a cheap shot at the former President (or even the former pastor for that matter), rather just as a note as to his former level of influence, power and esteem in the evangelical community.
I've embedded the first two videos which I would highly recommend you watch, there is a third section though as of this posting it wasn't available yet. I apologize and don't necessarily agree with any commentary added by the Youtube poster. Now that I've got all that business out of the way...
I found this fascinating from a very human perspective. If you're able to set aside the homophobic swill that this man peddled for most of his adult life, if you're able to look past the early part of the interview where he makes, what to my mind, is a veiled attempt to link his "homosexual tendencies" to sexual abuse, and assuming you're able to ignore the distortion of Gospels into self-aggrandizing moralistic vitriol by far too many like Haggard, then I think you'll see a tragic and almost pathologically self-loathing human being.
Early in the interview Oprah asks him the proverbial $64,000 question, "Are you gay?" to which he responds, "No." Read the rest here.
I want to open this blog up and I 'd like to hear points of view other than my own. This includes people I disagree with - sometimes strongly. My reasons are simple:
1. It's hard to post consistently and I want this to be a consistent blog.
2. My opinions are often strongly felt - but they have their limits. I'm not going to pretend to have knowledge I don't have, or take on the mantle of false wisdom. I leave that to Andrew Sullivan.
I've learned so much in the last year and along the way heard from many people with varying opinions. I've loved it. Those who come by here run the political gamut - with a few centering themes. Most distrust Obama, and/or distrust how he came to be President. Otherwise, there are liberals, conservatives, and everything else. I like that. Open discourse is a mainstay of what I believe liberalism is. I claim the name liberal. No one else has to. (Sometime after 1980 "liberal" was turned into a dirty word. I reject this. Before Reagan liberals were often given the modifier "fighting" - as in "Bella Abzug, the fighting liberal." I still believe in those liberals. Even those who run from the label. )
It is NOT that the world has become more partisan. Partisanship is essential in a democracy. (And while we still can, let's pretend we live in one.) What has changed is the attitude toward opposing views. Conservatives made liberalism "bad, rotten, unAmerican" after Reagan. More recently liberals have dismissed and condescended to conservatives ruthlessly. I participated in this until 2008 when I came to see just how myopic and close minded "my team" had become behind Obama. Though still opposed to most conservative ideas - this year I opened my ears. I thank the mind numbing anti-intellectualism of the pods, Obama himself, the wildly partisan media, and Sarah Palin's lack of affectation for this willingness to, at least, listen.
(Regarding Palin I repeat: I can't imagine voting for her, but she is the real deal. She is what liberals who fought for women's rights for a century were fighting for. A working mother with ambition, who demands a seat at the table IS THE POINT. The feminist attack on her this year was a retrograde implosion. It was obscene and utterly unfair. Attacking her on issues however-totally fair.)
There is not a large audience here. But it is no longer small either.
So I invite others to submit posts.
What's off limits?
A. Racism - obviously. This is a judgement call. Strongly felt opinions about racial issues are welcome. Many call this "racism" now. It is not. It is an excuse to stop conversation. Feel free to push the envelope in any direction.
Predictions of a "race war" are a no go. I find this fear ridiculous and offensive. And weird. I am not even sure how it would work. My family is not all white. Would we go to war with our own families? We past the "race war" point a long time ago in this country.
And if you believe only whites can be racist - go away. Dig a ditch, get in it, and disappear.
B. 2008 sensitised me to sexism. L.R. will never participate in the hatred of women exhibited by Kos, Huffington, Olbermann, and their ilk. Misogyny hiding under the cover of allegedly striking a blow against racism - is still misogyny. Posts from women who understand just what occurred in 2008 are most welcome. Even those who don't think sexism was an issue in the last election - all I ask is that you prove it.
C. Arguments against full and equal inclusion of gays and lesbians are a no go -even if the argument is based in religion or some seemingly intelligent misreading of history. On this issue I am done. Completely. If you think there is a biblical reason to deny rights or that equality is destructive to heterosexuals I
a. feel bad for you. and b. wish you ill. (how's that for blunt?)
Pretty much everything else is on the table. I love the arguments that have burst out around here regarding the stimulus bill, Gitmo, and other issues.
If something is on your mind I hope you will consider Liberal Rapture.
John@liberalrapture.com.
Not big on asking for donations. That is not the point. However, if an advertisement genuinely interests you - even for only a minute - click it. If it does not - then don't. The pittence from the google ads is a donation of sorts.
GOP Wolf in Sheep Obama's clothing:Obama's plan so far: ditch his own party and get in bed with the GOP. Loathsome. Truly loathsome. Head over to riverdaughter and check out the "hope he resigns" poster.
Whatever I think of the Gitmo order, it was truly stupid to issue it without first dealing with the disposition of the prisoners. Goodness, I intend to have fun for the next four years.
Photos: Reader and friend of L.R. sent these photos in of the snow around he and his partner's home in Louisiana. Love 'em.
The Obama economic bill is "an epic mess". So says a panelist on the a clip over at No Quarter. (and there is finally an honest assessment of the forgettable inaugural speech. It was "basically incoherent.")
It seems from here that other than a few solid executive orders Obama's first week is not a good sign of things to come. The Democrats (my ex-party, thanks be to God.) are larding up this "immediate" stimulus package with all the crap that cause people to turn on them so abruptly. The bill will be on his desk on day 25, not day 1 as promised. It will take years to have an effect, and by then the GOP will have recovered. Oops.
Whatever Obama said during the campaign (and he said everything to everybody) the overall implication was a promise to move to what amounts to the Left. Movement. Forward Looking. Change. The Government is yours and will return to being a viable partner.
If the stimulus package becomes a free for all of orgiastic spending that amounts to nothing but debt piled on debt then nothing has changed, the government cannot and should not be trusted, and hope will disintegrate into despair - or worse.
On a basic level Obama has blown it. Or at the very least he is blowing his imageas a leader of change. In fact, I don't see much "leadership" at all. The seduction of being a "moderate" neuters presidencies in times like these. We quite literally can't afford for the chief executive to allow a month to pass before his most important bill is passed. That's a month of pork ad ons. A month of compromise. A month of making everyone happy. In the end we may well get "an epic mess" that takes years to kick in. If ever.
Please note and always remember: "Reaching across the aisle" is only in vogue when a Democratic President comes into office. When the GOP wins - The President is expected to "lead", set the agenda and move on it. The establishment only finds "reaching across the aisle" appealing and then sells it to us if they feel the need to control a potential liberal. (Obama is not a liberal.)
Obama had 3 months of transition time. 3 months to knock heads together, while staying on point. A leader coming off a "change" election, with the majority the Dems racked up, has the ability and duty to say "This is how it is going to be. This is why I was elected." Reagan did. FDR did. I am not making a judgement about what those men believed. I am saying they believed something. After this week BHO is acting more like a high school football coach than a President.
Obama, who seems to have no core, has crafted a bill that attempts to contain something for everyone (everyone gets to play!) and now the legislative process is kicking in - so promises are being shaved away, people are fighting over our money, and the clock is ticking. It is profoundly disingenuous to run the most partisan campaign in living memory, win, and then lecture us about bipartisanship. What bothers me the most about Obama is not the lies and the gamesmanship abetted by the media - it is that he stands for everything and therefore stands for nothing. I simply do not trust him to know the "right thing". Can he make the difficult decisions - the ones that will anger some - the ones that make leaders? That's why the decisions on the gag rule and Gitmo were mildly inspiring. Agree or not, he pissed some people off. They sprung from a core belief.
After Palin's speech to the GOP convention I said to a friend "I don't know if she's ready to be President. I do know now I trust her to make tough choices if need be. She'll get ready in about a day and the country would survive that day." I know in my bone marrow I would probably have disagreed with her a lot. Yet, she gained my trust. I didn't like Reagan's politics either - but he was coming from conviction. Just not mine. There is no leadership without conviction.
None.
I swear we still don't know what makes Obama tick other than his ego. How can this be? He keeps saying nothing. Then repeating it.
From a political standpoint Obama's lack of core convictions (Other than happy talk about unity, can anyone state a core Obama belief?) is potentially ruinous for his party and us all. We do not need a mushy "moderate" as the financial system melts. We need a leader with a core and a vision that springs from that core. Either a liberal or a conservative who understands the need for compromise when needed. Not a compromiser who believes in nothing.
I fear there is so much smoke and mirrors around Obama being a visionary leader because there is no vision.
I have it from a very reliable source that last week during a Q and A at Sundance after her movie Motherhood Uma Thurmond explained her "inauguration moment".
Last Tuesday, at noon Eastern time - while BHO was taking the oath of office - Miss Uma lit sage, chanted, and danced around her Park City Hotel room TV set - all to bring in the new Admin.
If only Uma's creepy, hippy, ritual was abnormal for Obama Pods. But, alas, this type of asinine silliness is the Pods stock in trade. That is when they are not belching smug bromides of non wisdom, or screaming about racism.
Bye Bye:Health care reform gone for now. This means it is gone forever. And yes, I mean forever. Project politically and fiscally and do the math. 2009 was the last chance for the U.S. to get up to speed on health care. Obama and the Democratic weenies have thrown another liberal agenda item on the ash heap along with FISA and public financing. Obama is an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill. It looks more and more like what he we be "collecting" is the social safety net and the banks. The former to destroy, the latter to centralize. So far, the grocery clerks have themselves a good hire.
Very strapped for time this week - so if it feels like I am posting on the run it is because I am. ...more pointing than posting, actually. I want to post YOU this week, not me, anyway. Send stuff. Pretty much any topic is fine by me. john@liberalrapture.com
*I won't buy it since the author makes my skin crawl - but does this book have the best title ever or what? *The Not Really That Epic Poem of Obamacles. I want to claim the Obama Scriptures written here as the antecedent for all sorts of hilarious stuff now floating about. But, alas, I can prove noting. Plus the word "Obamacles" alone is funnier than anything I've ever written. Thanks to Kara for the tip on this.
they shipped him back to Gramma, And the prep school on Oahu. There he trained and studied boldly, Drinking beer and smoking weed: Maui Wowie, paca lolo, sensimilla, blunts and chiva, Thai and chronic, just enough to hone his mellow, in the back of Kyle's TransAm,
Now the other side of the "doom" versus "technology will save us" debate. This piece on No Quarter is well worth consideration. For the most part, I do not agree. I tend to favor the doomers. Societies fail. All of them, eventually. The argument that Thomas Malthus was wrong when he predicted chaos works only if one believes we have the resources now to sustain 8 billion people. When Malthus made his bleak predictions the world was awash in natural resources. 7 billion souls later this is no longer the case.
I find the severe strain of Luddite fetishism in the "doomer" community useless. However, believing that technology will right the ship magically is just as useless. And more dangerous. It is not 1800.
Trying to save a system predicated on perpetual "growth" is a death wish on a finite planet with finite resources.
The system is failing. We should allow it to - while being compassionate and conscious.
"Doomers" and others predicted the resource wars in Iraq and the Sudan, and the housing bubble and financial collapse. Many are now saying we are at the peak in world oil production. If nothing else one should consider how, exactly, Phoenix, Orlando, and a thousand other American urban sprawls even function without a deep supply of carbon based fuel.
Answer: they don't. This may not be the end of the world - but it is the end of something big.
Arrogance: Didn't liberals wish failure for W? Of course, they did. Except for the months right after 9/11, I know I did. Truthfuly, a big part of me wants to see Obama fail. If he fails we might return to the quaint notion that honesty, merit, and experience matter. If he "succeeds" - well good for all of us.
Orlov witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union up close and has been pungent about the current situation in the U.S. Referring to Obama he says " we have us a Gorbachev." A New Yorker article on Orlov is linked here. ...recentlyfinancial professionals have been bolstering his “gut feeling that the United States is bankrupt.”
If nothing else I strongly recommend waking up to the possibility of a "collapse" a word I am not fond of in our case. Disintegration seems better. The Soviet Union collapsed. Russia did not. It rebooted, causing massive social dislocation and agony. But this may be a distinction without a difference. Whatever word works - I am not looking forward to the next few years.
Evidence of disintegration is littering our TV sets everyday. A bank holiday or two in the near future would not surprise me in the least. We are nationalizing the banking system right now. Unemployment is now well past what is being officially reported and set to get worse. Much worse. For what it is worth, we are still better off than Spain and the U.K.
I don't think Obama's magic money bailout will do much other than momentarily stop the bleeding. But I'm willing to be surprised. He has to convince others to keep investing in us to pull this spending bill off, and avoid the creation of a worthless dollar. (If I am missing something on this point PLEASE tell me. Fill me in on how money that apparently does not exist will re-create the economy.)
In my humble (very humble) opinion planning for some very rough sledding is in order. In the next four years if everything works out dandy the worst outcome is a few sleepless nights and a pantry full of canned foods.
Though, Obama was nominated, won the general and is now President - has anyone else noticed how many of his supporters still cannot brook the slightest criticism? Why is this?
also
Good on ya, Barack. I support the Gag Rule and Gitmo executive orders completely. I don't trust the Gitmo one yet - we'll see if he follows through. But the forced revision of interrogation techniques is ballsy. Obama has proven himself worthy of suspicion, so I suspect something is up with these orders. But for now I say Good on ya Barry!
One final note for the week which was prompted by 2 recent emails : As a general rule white heterosexual male Obama supporters should refrain from lecturing gay/bisexual/female bloggers about bigotry, being the "other" in society, and discrimination.
Skylar: Hi My name is Skylar and I am an Obamaaholic.
Group Says "Hi Skylar" Group leader hands Skylar a 1 year "O"briety chip.
Skylar: This is my 365th day after I took the Andy Warhol type portrait of Obama down from the ceiling above my bed. , and, like, I did not wait for myself to arrive all year. Not once!
Group applauds and laughs.
Because, you guys all know what happens when the disease takes over. I was just a normal dude before I became an Obamaholic. Obamaholism took everything from me. My girlfriend, my sanity, my ability to think critically, my ability to respect different points of view. I became obsessed with race even though I was telling everyone race did not matter.
Many Obamaholics in the room nod their heads.
I began to find I had contempt for women. I couldn't help it really. I just felt women should subjugate their ideas and thoughts to Barack. It wasn't like he told us that. It was just the songs he chose and the signals he sent. And I told my gay friends to get over their anger! Can you believe it? I was always for respect and dignity no matter what - but I was telling people to shut up and let Barack "reach across the aisle" even though it meant betraying them. It was like all my core principles were gone. Just gone.
Then he began bombing Pakistan with those drones. And something snapped. It was like whoa I thought this dude was all about peace and hope. I rolled over one morning after a year long bender of Obamaholism and my girlfriend was gone. All my money was gone. My house was empty except for Obama posters everywhere, a small TV, a moldy half eaten cake in the fridge that said "Yes we..." , and a small man named "Stu" who told me he'd moved in the previous May.
So I came to my first O.A. meeting that night. I felt right at home. It is so great to be with other recovering Obamaholics. Slowly I am beginning to see how this is a disease of idol worship. False idols. And how dangerous it is to worship idols. The most dangerous time for all of us with this disease is the moment we realize we've been worshipping a false god. We lash out at others or ourselves. Some times denial becomes so dense we lose all contact with reality. Or we just become depressed and isolate waiting for the next false idol to come along... Some of us here are old enough to remember Deanaholics Anonymous.
The group laughs.
But we can break the cycle with the steps and a good sponsor. Reality is better than Obamaholic delusions. Even though sometimes it is less fun. I have to live with the knowledge that I helped create the mess we are in by refusing to ask questions for so long. By being in such thick denial about my Obamaholism. Everyday I live with that.
But one day at a time I am recovering from this disease of the mind and soul. Thanks for being here for me.
Group applauds. Skylar leaves the podium. The group leader for the day says "Now I'll read the steps before we share.
1. We admitted we were powerless over Obamaholism and that our lives had become unmanageable...
Oh how I'd like to shove this headline into the face of a Pod with "war is not the answer" and Obama/Hope bumper stickers flanking their prius..pulling out of the Whole Foods....texting the college professor they used to sleep with about how "cool" Obama is...
14 dead. Good lord, even Bush waited nine months to order a military engagement. Day 3 Obama orders an attack on Pakistan's territory. Sure we've been doing it for a while. But...President Sunshine was supposed to be about PEACE and LOVE and HOPE... and blah blah blah....
Obama is not ending the wars, he is moving them, and expanding at least one. So Sorry, Move on/Code Pink idiots, after you sober up, and stop slashing at your wrists, please feel free to come back to reality....
"My mother is a great hunter-she usually shoots our Thanksgiving turkey."
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
On first blush, Ms. Clinton's replacement look good. Like Palin she is actually quite conservative. Like Palin is and Hillary was, she is a working mom who does no hide her ambition or appear to suffer from the belief that it is not "feminine" to be ambitious.
She is well connected like Hillary, and unlike Palin. Gets a 100% thumbs up from the NRA (Palin) is also good, but not perfect on Gay rights (Clinton). She is a blue dog Democrat.
All in all - may not agree with her on some things - but the correct feminist model should be closer to Palin and Clinton and walk away from the Code Pink ninnies. All in all I like Gillibrand so far.
Obama's Other Balls: My fav is"The Huffington Post Ball: Revellers provide all decorations, refreshments, and entertainment in exchange for the chance to be seen at the ball."
Support your local non chain book store! Saving mom and pop bookstores is non partisan! Here's a piece in P.W. on the Jan,20,2009 doings at Eso Won Books in South Los Angeles. Honeymoon over?: Already ? Not really but look for signs of frustration earlier than previously expected. Obama is bratty, like W. The press may have a short fuse with "bratty" after 8 years of W. Some proof: One of my postulates around here is that Hillary and Bill Clinton will soon be the most powerful couple in D.C. and the world - yet again. Mrs. Clinton was greeted by a crowd of more than a thousand State Department employees, cheering and whooping like a campaign gathering.
A. I want to commend Obama for the order to close Gitmo. However, the order and showy announcement that went with it mean one thing politically: Terrorism is now Obama's problem. There is no honeymoon. If an attack comes soon it will not be Bush's fault. Why? You ask - what the hell do you mean , John? It's day two for God sake!
Obama has months - a year - on the economy before the political clock moves from "Bush's Fault" to "Obama's watch". Not so with terrorism. Not after today. An attack soon will be blamed on Obama because "He showed weakness". That is not true on the face of it. But that is how it would spin. If an attack comes later - then it is, of course, "on his watch. "
I am asking anyone who reads this blog to do one thing: PAY ATTENTION. Dismiss conspiracies all you like. Please do not dismiss the obvious truth that people conspire.
B. I suggest reading Cannonfire here for a potential "animating idea" to Obama's presidency. An out-for-blood Republican Congress matched with (not against: with) a turncoat Dem president...
In the parlor game of speculating about the real reasons for Obama's ascendancy and installation, over seeing the end of social security is a strong pick. It makes sense.
I suggest that Obama does not have a wellspring of trust with the American people. He has a goodwill coupon that is revocable at any time. The majority will turn on him at light speed given the right external circumstance. He set it up this way.
If "change" feels endangering in the least - there will be a revulsion against change. And specificialy its messenger.
You never know where or how the right stuff will bubble up.
From the largely right wing "Savage Politics." comes this:
On December 18, 2008, Sixty-six nations supported a United Nations resolution condemning homophobic human rights violations, but the United States was not one of them.
and
If you really believe that the Obama Administration will solve this problem, I have this very cool bridge in Brooklyn that I'm trying to sell
This, my favorite comment on the piece from Ragin:
BO is homophobic. his male role models are confused perverts (Frank Davis, Jeremiah Wright,etc). any openly gay men on his campaign staff? he wouldn't go near the SF mayor.
I'll tell you what - one big thing I learned in 2008 is to be much more open to Conservatives. Integrity in the primary and general elections came from McCain/Palin and Hillary. Obama and the most strident, bigoted closed minded people in 2008 were almost ALL on the faux Left - the Kos/Huffington/Whole Foods/ faux Left, the Geffen/Obama fraudulent Limo Left.
Not nearly as interesting as it sounds:Ghost Malls Appearing. The apocalypse in the mirror is closer than it appears. Brace yourself. Even the most hard-nosed, Guantanamo Bay-indifferent potential foreign investor in the US must recognise that its financial system has collapsed.
Easy Stuff: Oscars noms are out. What should win best picture?
Caroline leaves the race. Now let us leave her alone. The whole thing was a mistake. I'd like the last few shreds of admiration I have for the Kennedy family to remain.
The emphasis is furiously mine. I don't know anything about Lowery, though there is a steak house in L.A. by that name and - sans context - he does appear to be talking about rice.
If only.
I hope it doesn't take much explanation to see just how offensive that last line is. Who is this "white" Lowery is talking about that needs - en mass - to "embrace the right".
I say to you, Lowery "F**k off."
Let me be clearer: Fuck Off.
Is there a more pervasive form of racism in this country than the assumption that white people are bigots by default? It may not be the most painful but it is the most pervasive. I am fed up with it. Past fed up.
And I am not even sure how to deconstruct the other lines of this inauguration doggerel. Yellow would be mellow??? WTF is that? What "stuck in 1968" rump planet does this guy live on? And, why, pray tell, should East Asians remain "mellow"? Why not say "the chink is free to think"? At least that implies freewill, not opium smoking, while retaining its essential offensiveness.
The other two categories Rev. Diversity Training throws in are bizarrely neutered. Where the "browns" thinking of going somewhere?
The "rap" is retarded. I don't mean "retarded" in the adolescent pejorative manner. Lowery appears to have been retarded by the tape worm of identity politics.
Post racial, my ass. The Obama era started on a hyper-racial note.
Legal definition: Mayhem - The common law felony of maliciously maiming or dismembering or in any way depriving another of the use of any part of his body so as to render him less able to fight in the King's army.
In this little corner of the Internets the watchword is WATCH. Closely. As I've said already, I have no faith or hope in the man who is now President and this is a good thing. My expectations can be easily met, and, I suspect, will be. Some already have been met. That inauguration thingy was too pricey but did seem nice. The speech was okay.
If Obama turns out to be a truly transformative leader I benefit, you benefit, we all do. Win/Win.
Along the way, those of us who refused to "get on the Obama bus" now have the obligation to see as clearly as possible, to own what we already know. The man did not emerge from the ether yesterday. He got where he is with brutal tactics and calculating deceits. Not exactly new, but he did raise the bar. Aspects of these characteristics may benefit him as he deals with Pelosi and that lot.
For anyone who feels the need to "give him a chance" I support that. I don't feel this need. I want proof.
He's failed the trust test 1000 times over the past year. At every single moment when integrity was called for Obama chose duplicity. The Wright speech was as close as he came to showing some integrity. But then he ditched the old grump a week later anyway.
I won't be shaking the etch-a-sketch simply because he was sworn in. Real liberals don't do blind allegiance.
One of the reasons pro Clinton blogs were a treat and relief all year was because they supported and defended her while never letting her off the hook. I knew I disagreed with Clinton's war votes. The Obama pods knew he fudged his Iraq stance every 3 months and decided not to take in the information and deal with it - but instead to lie and pretend reality was, in fact, not reality.
The Obama Blogs and Media Machine attacked Clinton and ignored Obama's reality. They often slipped into moral depravity. Kos allowed - it seems encouraged - death threats against the Clintons, incitements to rape, and all manner of other vulgarity. Huffington was a caldron of blind hatred and shiny delusion. Avorisis sold his soul. Andrew Sullivan tried to - but came to find he does not have one. Poor Andy. Olbermann made a joke about killing Clinton.
Ha. ha.
The trolls who got off on alighting at those places, punking the Clintons, and working into dithers of Obama rapture are in for rough sledding. He's not what was sold. What he actually is is still open to question. And it may not be so bad. What he will be to many is disappointing. Most Pods began frantically making excuses the day after the election. In those pockets of the Left where integrity, principles, and consistency still matter the Obama party has long since dispersed.
Though this blog and many bigger ones directed fury at the Obama charade - lines where drawn in the sand. Anger was in full bloom. The murderous fantasies of spoiled children were not.
BHO does not fit any of the usual labels. Though this may sound appealing and revolutionary about now- it is not. Core principles matter. I have no idea what his are, or if he has any. Liberal and conservative are nouns. Moderate is a verb. To say Obama is moderate is to imply an action or way of being. It is not a statement of core beliefs.
Splitting the difference is not a core principle. It is a tactic. The Carter, Bush 1, and Clinton presidencies all suffered when a lack of core principles was exposed or principles were betrayed. Bush 2 believed in a thing or two along the way - but his anti-curious shallow personality resulted in an ossifying stupidity as the first years of the Iraq war and Katrina proved.
If President Obama demonstrates leadership skills and integrity, takes intelligent action, and proves he belongs where he now is - I will applaud. The campaign and transition proved that he was shrewd and supported by many. Nothing else. As far has I can tell, even after the speech yesterday, is that he believes in "unity". Before November he believed in "hope".
Yeah, well. Who doesn't?
The bar is so high for me, and my expectations so low, precisely because I watched closely all year. So far, all he brings to the party are slogans, speeches about unity, and, since winning, a congenital compulsion to split the difference in all fights. Oh, and a lot of very powerful folks behind the scenes who do have expectations.
I am out tonight- but there is a spring in my step after today. There is so much to look forward to. How much fun is in store for the next 1,460 odd days??? Pull up a chair. Grab the popcorn - awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay we goooooooo!
*More and more I am convinced that the Christian life is not about life after death. It's about life before death...
*So, this lawyer then pushes the point and says: "So what must I do?' And Jesus' answer in this story seems to be, "Love that costs, love that actually costs us something, costs us time, costs us money, costs us focus, costs us convenience. Love that actually costs us something."
*And if we had waited until women were valued as equal and full members of society and the human race for goodness sakes, all of that discrimination would still exist. Does anyone think that if those eleven women hadn't been irregularly ordained in Philadelphia that we would be ordaining women yet?
While money doesn't buy love, it puts you in a great bargaining position.
Christopher Marlowe
No, I did not watch: I like the speech on paper. It does strike me as excessively derivative of other big presidential speeches. That might come with the turf. But he did not break any new ground, poetically speaking. Unless I am missing something...
Favorite bit: As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.
Rewrite: This sentence missed its own payoff: "what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage." Shouldhave been "when imagination is joined to necessity, and courage to common purpose.
Clip: So Barry, is the first brigade coming home from Iraq right now? Like you promised? A pod is emailing me that BHO has been consitent on Iraq. I mentioned this to my very pro Obama lefty neighbor and even he laughed explosively. Here is a McCain video - yes MCCAIN - but it is all Obama talking. It's painful and funny to see what a liar the man is.
Music: This clip makes me reflective and sentimental. I have no idea why and I'm pretty sure I don't want to know.
Correction: Boston Boomer posted the first link in the last post, not riverdaughter. It was on her blog and I did not pay close enough attention. Please forgive the oversight.
Type Oh note: I am the king of typos. I write this blog quickly and have terrible typing skills. Not to mention that I was high during half my secondary school English classes. I'm a guy with opinions, who is grateful for my audience around here. Some of you have the eye for typos - I know it. Feel free to correct me in comments if you feel the desire or they bug you. Or continue to graciously ignore my mistakes. I have an unhealthy, defensive, ego in parts of my life - but not on this point. Maybe someday L.R. will have a staff to catch things before I push "publish". Maybe.
Onward!
So President Obama here is my wish list. In no particular order. I have no hope for you, therefore I am free from foolish expectations. I consider this a plus as we move into your first year.
1. Issue a real executive order to close Gitmo. I know, we all know, it is difficult to solve the problem of those held there who are dangerous. This is not an excuse. It is your job to solve it.
2. Put "Don't ask, Don't tell" to death. It is past time to allow gays an lesbians to serve openly in the military. You do not need to make the same mistake Clinton made and promise the end of this discrimination immediately - however, an executive order phasing out DADT over the course of 2009 is in order. We will be a stronger nation.
3. A reasonable investigation into W era abuses of power is in order. Looking forward without seeing the past clearly is unwise. We need to know what happened even if no one is prosecuted.
4. Reverse Ws executive orders on stem cell research immediately.
5. Ban signing statements.
6. Come clean with the American people about Iraq. We are there and will follow Bush's timetable for withdrawal. You know it, yet many of your most ardent supporters are still delusional about how, when and if, we will leave Iraq. Tell the truth.
7. Release your school records from Occidental and Columbia . The holes in your history need to be filled in. Now. Deal with it.
8. Forget all "czars". Dump them. We don't need and can't tolerate a redundant Federal Government. We don't need and cannot tolerate a shadow government. Either your picks can withstand Congressional hearings and head agencies that already exist or they should not be in the government. A "car czar"??? Come on.
9. Send Timothy Geithner home. For good. If you don't pay taxes, you can't collect them.
10. Reel in TARP now. It is illegal. Specifically, the legislative branch cannot cede the power of the purse strings to the executive branch. As a constitutional lawyer, you know this already. It is W's last and most dangerous extra-constitutional legacy.
11. Brace the country for the coming expansion of the war in Afghanistan. This is for your own good. And ours. Politically, you only risk alienating the far Left - and frankly - you already have. I do not know if this policy is sound or wise. I do know you are going to do it. Tell us how and why.
12. Do what you can to abolish the BCS college football system.
13. Get Hill crackin on the Israel/Hamas problem. Yesterday. No one will be happy with the outcome. Deal with it. Hamas must grow up or go. Our blind allegiance to Israel must end.
14. Put the celebratory Obama orgy to bed immediatly. You're another President, not the second coming. Obamamania has jumped the shark and is gross.
15. Ditch President's day. We should be, and can afford to, honor both our first President and the one who saved the union. Separately. "Business concerns" can get over it. There would be no "business" without Washington and Lincoln.
16. Add a national holiday honoring an American woman (Susan B. Anthony?) or the women's rights movement in general. The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920. August is the perfect month for this. Dr. King's birthday holiday is a perfect time to remember the contributions of women and codify them in our national pantheon.
17. Take Pelosi to the woodshed for her restrictions on motions to recommit. This is the minority's only real recourse in the House. And has been in place for a century. I don't like the minority in this case. No one enjoys seeing right wing GOPs cut off at the pass as much as me. So what. Fair is fair. Democracy is messy. Deal with it.
18. Move to make all Federal elections publicly funded. Remember when you were for this? Back before you were against it. In a democracy more cash should not equal more freedom, more say, more power. Money is great. I am all for it. But it perverts politics.
A pre Presidency We Told You So: Riverdaughter nails the Daily Kos Krap. I, for one, have no intention of being polite about jackasses like King Cheeto, Avarosis and Andrew Sullivan as President Sunshine collapses into a people pleasing, pro Wall Street amorphous blob. They were and are idiots. Destructive idiots who spent last year whoring for the George Soros crowd. Obama is even turning into a coward on Stem cells research. Bush 3. Bush 3. Bush 3. And, by God, WE TOLD YOU SO. The Huff/Cheetos/Sullivan ninnies are the strongest argument we have for bringing back the stockades and the fine art of tomato throwing. Either knowingly or not, (don't care which) last year Avarosis, Sullivan, Huffington, Cheetos, were on the vanguard of destroying American liberalism for yet another generation. They ruthlessly attacked 3 true reformers - one on the left and 2 on the right - while intellectually masturbating themselves into a frenzy over an unvetted living, breathing question mark of a man - who happened to be a good speaker and, of course, overriding all other concerns, he was not white. President Question Mark is now turning out to be a weenie beholden to the Wall Street interests (and God knows who else) who bought him and then brought him to the White House.
Holidays: Happy M.L. King Day. I am glad we set this day aside. MLK getting his own day, while Washington and Lincoln have had their birthdays merged into a joke holiday set aside for electronic gadget sales is - historically speaking - obscene. And after 240 years we still don't honor a single woman in our yearly round up of three day weekends. That sh*t ain't right.
Music: Inauguration songs I love include:
A Poll:
This poll is entirely fictitious, as all post JFK Americans know that there are no conspiracies in the U.S.A. Anyone who thinks America is subject to the exact same behind the scenes power plays as Ancient Rome, Elizabethan England, or, frankly, anywhere else in the history of civilization, is, we all know, a dolt. We also all know-by virtue of being let in on the joke by the always free and fair American Media/Entertainment Complex- that everything is ironic all the time - except natural disasters, sometimes missing white people but only if they are pretty and/or rich, and the installation of new leaders. Conspiracies are simply not ironic. Therefore they do not exist. But let's just say:
Gee, ya think? I've said for months - soon to be years - that the media treatment of the run up to the war in Iraq and its cheer leading for the Obama campaign are remarkably similar. Even Fox News was on the bandwagon until their core audience got collective acid reflux last Spring. The current Obama orgy is not so much anti-American as it is just un-American. There are no kings in the United States. We should not treat anyone royally. It is a bad idea on many levels. We are still, in name at least, a republic.
The overplay is grotesque and will produce a backlash. 140 million for this Obama installation, while millions are losing jobs? Lordy. As I wrote Saturday, a reasonable celebration is certainly in order. W is headed back to Texas, for good. THAT is OVER. I am not overly happy, but I am relieved. There were moments in the last 4 years I did not think we'd make it to 1/20/09.
Let me add quickly, an OVER THE TOP celebration among Black Americans is absolutely in order. A half black President (sorry, I know of no other way to state that fact. I will not indulge the "one ounce of black blood makes you black" sickness anymore. It is dismissive of Obama's Mother and Grandmother.) is a big deal. I work hard to avoid seeing the world in racial terms, and don't really care much that Obama's father was black. Harsh but true. This does not mean I am a historical ignoramus. A non-white President is a real (but ultimately limited) change. This is - and should be - a joyous moment in the Black community. (The word "community" in reference to 12% of the population is, of course, nonsense and condescending. Irish-Catholics celebrated JFK for similar reasons - so you get my drift.)
However, it does mean that many tenured victomlogy professors will have to work double time to stay relevant. But that's another post.
Maybe because I am white, or maybe because I just don't trust the man, the current Obama celebratory eruption leaves me as cold as ever. What do these people think is going to happen on January 21st? Obama is a President, not a saviour.
For what it is worth here's my advice for all those who wish to remain engaged -
Old school Leftys like me: Return to your roots and question everything. Right wingers: Do what you do best - get out in front of the Obama gestalt and rip into it. For the first time, many of us - whether we agree or not - are looking forward to opposition with teeth. Fangs, actually. Everyone else: Pay attention. Support and dissent as you see fit. In other words, do your jobs as citizens of a republic.
Sabbath. Here is the Monty Python spam skit to keep the blog warm until Monday. If you like this blog please consider a donation of any size. It is easy. Click the donate button above... Cheers.
Is it odd to say it is nice to see so many happy people waiting for the Obama train (I saw pics at Noquarter. I will not be watching the "news"coverage of this "event".) while simultaneously feeling saddened by the whole thing? A friend told me last night "I'm sure now that he was selected and installed".
I agree, of course. But one can believe the entire election from before Iowa to this train ride was entirely above board, transparent and fair - and still be turned off. So little is likely to change on the ground. The implied promise is far beyond the coming reality. Those connected to reality who are also supportive of and joyous about Obama's "coming" are operating out of a contempt for Bush. There is a relief that a particular long, national nightmare is ending. I say good on 'em. I, too, have been so disgusted with Bush for so long just about anyone off the street could be sworn in Tuesday and I'd be at least happier.A neighbor told me the other day, "I know Obama is mostly an illusion, but I just want to be in the relief for a while." I can't find much fault with that sentiment.Still, I suspect Bush will be forgotten almost immediately.
Part of me is emotionally participating from afar. Yet, I'm tempered by just how much has transpired, by how daunting the next few years will be, and by how thickheaded and mean the Obots have been. It's a combustible mix.
As for that 25% or so that have deified the man beyond all sanity there is nothing much to add. Either they are having their last orgy of cultism right now and will go back home quietly. Or they will dig in and continue to disallow reality whenever it raises its relentless head - egged on by those with the big megaphones who have another agenda entirely.
The job of the rest of us is to stand firm and counter the nonsense from wherever we stand - the right, left, middle or anywhere else. Always remembering that skepticism of elected leaders is the norm in the United States. Deification is abnormal. And dangerous.
Finally, let me allow a little latent snobbishness to bubble forth. More than anything, I think the train ride and over the top inauguration is tacky. This is not a surprise. The Greek theater set was tacky, as was the pretend Presidential seal, and the request to speak at the Brandenburg gate. A reasonable celebration is in order. What we are witnessing is more Roman than American.
Call for RANTS - and other writing. Something to say? I am interested in your take on many topics. Politics, life, celebrity "culture", your favorite B movies, politics, things you learned in your 20s, politics, and so on and so forth. Submit here: john@liberalrapture.com
Presidential moment: T.R. Takes the oath of office.
My last nerve: Google ads here lately are working my last nerve. My readership does not want Obama plates, T-shirts and and Sippy cups.
Whenever he intends to invoke a sense of gravitas, Cartman on South Park says "I am seriously!" Let me start by saying "I am seriously!" about this question: Where does this bailout money come from? I have just read four articles from Krugman on the Left (spend even MORE!) to Ron Paul on the libertarian Right. (Busy work is not the answer!) with a couple in between.
In no case does a writer explain where this money comes from. Krugman does say it is, in essence, printed. But that does not answer my question. The money I am thinking of is not just that green paper I give to the cashier at Safeway, who in turn, gives me peanut butter and coffee creamer. It is what that money represents. (In my case, a value placed on a service I provide in the movie business.) If we can just print the stuff then, I say By God, pack up the SUV we are headed to Kinkos!
Even though the dollar is not pegged to gold - isn't it, by default, pegged to something? Labor? Products? Services? This service is worth this many dollars which, in turn, you may use a part of to purchase this amount of chunky peanut butter...
If we just print the stuff won't it become increasingly less valuable? Uh. Yes. I think.
The printed dollars must be used to create real wealth. Which is a do-able magic trick. But who decides what is valuable? Here I run from Krugman (who I usually agree with) toward the open arms of Ron Paul. Trusting Pelosi's Congress with a trillion dollars is akin to having a newcomers' A.A. meeting at Oktoberfest. If we are going to print that much cash we'd be better off dividing it into neat stacks and handing it out to each person in the country. Some would invest it wisely, some would blow it all at Best Buy on a Saturday afternoon, some would split the difference. In other words, it would be like the 90s. Which post nomination, even Obama agrees were pretty good times.
It is odd being here in my thinking. Given the system as it is constructed now, it seems to me that Obama has to dump the a trillion paper dollars into the economy. I don't like it. But this is where we are. It also has to be controlled from the top. Call it Marxist. It is - a little. But note that unregulated greed combined with an economy based on consumption - and not production - caused this crisis. (The manufacturing base left the U.S. a while ago. This is not a crisis in production of goods. It is an evaporation of conjured wealth.) I simply do not trust the people at the top to spend the money wisely. They almost never do. Whereas in any group at least some people will invest wisely.
Saving this "system", even for a year or two or ten, is a fools errand. In the U.S. we are better off than many places. We got to "middle class" early. So we've done well with an economic model that is usually growing, with allegedly "natural" down business cycles every so often. Except the whole system has become unnatural. Everyone can't become middle class like us. Not because they aren't hard working or smart. They just can't. It is not possible. If every Chinese family had 2 cars and every Indian city had 18 malls each with a food court...well figure it out. Economic models detached from resource reality equal catastrophe and war. Infinite economic growth on a finite planet will not work.
So, after all that, my question might not be - Where does this money come from? It is printed and we've all agreed to its value, at least for now. The real question is - shouldn't we be planning to live another, saner, way?
