thoughts on Saturday

Because of the lively conversation this morning. I made a list...

List of observations:

1. The conversation, even when it gets ugly, is important. So far at least, I'd rather have a smaller audience than an echo chamber.

2. Dissent matters. Even when it confronts things I (or readers here) hold to be true.

3. Resentment is sometimes a place to start. It is not a place to stay. Processes here vary. I, for one, felt the movement called "Puma" - born of deep anger and resentment - should have evolved quickly into a third party concerned with many issues. In my thinking, an opportunity was lost because that resentment did not morph into a third way. The difficulties of a third party in the U.S. became an excuse to not try. I hold fast to the belief that we need a third way as badly as we ever have in this country. Both the corruption of the Democrats and the GOP impulse toward viciousness and stupidity prove this point. The clock is very much ticking on our "way of life" - we need another way.

(I sometimes process my resentments with outright mockery and humor. Sometimes with nostalgia, sometimes fury.)

4. Learning from the past is important -as long as one stays in the present while learning.

5. Forcing those who got lost in the Obama muck last year to see and hear how wrong they were is part of the process of owning and growing into the next place. This task needs to last as long as it needs to last. When a banner across the Huffington Post and the DailyKos announces WE WERE WRONG ABOUT OBAMA, then it might be time to move on. It would be dishonest for me to say that I did not take some joy in just how wrong the Pod people were. I do. My claims to sainthood are a few incarnations away.

Cannonfire put it succinctly yesterday: I wish to hell that these people would just be honest about what they did. I wish that they would 'fess up to the role they played in foisting this nightmarish presidency on the world. I wish to hell that they would apologize.

Given the level of lies, delusion and deceit around Obama I feel it is nearly an obligation to confront those responsible for foisting this nightmarish presidency on the world.

HOWEVER: If resentment regresses into a sniping victimhood then it is mostly useless.

There is some movement among the worst of the "Obots". A realization with some that they have been had. This is progress. Pressing this point is important for a number of reasons:

-Saving liberals from themselves is a decent, if not exactly noble, cause.

-Obama was and remains a symptom of a larger disease that grew out of the Bush era. The trickery is palpable and needs to be pointed out to the tricked. To ignore this is to assume that the democratic systems are working. One side loses, one wins - that's it. But they are not working. We shall get fooled, yet again, if we do not remember the machinations of the dysfunction.

Though we've seen it all before, there was a quantum leap in the body politic in the level of denial around Obama. It took the full force of the media, an economic collapse, a generalized revulsion toward the incumbent, and many of the biggest loudest blogs to get the man to 52%. As with 2000 - what we have here is evidence that the system itself is broken. The media's capitulation to Obama - and to the pro Iraq invasion meme in '03 - are important and similar indicators. We do not live in the country we are told we live in. Standing against the "manufacturing of consent" is one thing a blog can do and do well.

6. I stated that this was a "grievance" blog. This was:

A. claiming ownership of a word used by a blogger who called all Hillary blogs "grievance blogs".(I should have been clear about that.)

B. An admission that nearly all political blogs are grievance blogs. From Kos to Texas Darlin. Americablog took off because of grievances against Bush era policies. Posts at Cannonfire, Noquarter, and anywhere else one cares to alight are almost always in response to grievances of one sort or another. "Beefs" if you like. RCP is a compendium of writers with grievances. Blogs in the realm of political opinion and political writing are all grievance blogs. Having a grievance in and of itself is not a problem. Making the grievance one's identity is.

7. For the most part the best a political blog can do it point in a direction, give an opinion, make us chuckle, or uncover some facts that may have been missed or underreported. I think this is important: Blogs are blogs. Nothing more, nothing less. The obligation to "report" is a fallacy about blogs that is best avoided. I avoid it by writing opinion almost all the time.

That's it. Onward!

Shepard misleads the flock.

One of the down sides of being a blogger ( and, in fact, there are not too many) is dealing with resentful dime store journalists. I long ago got over the idea that I was:

A. Trying to get an A in High School journalism class.
and/or
B. That as a blogger this site (on any blog site) is in any way comparable to a newspaper. Or that it should attempt to be one. Ms. Huffington, having attempted to force her gay husband into a Senate seat and failing, and attempting, hilariously, to force herself into the California governor's mansion and failing - seems to have succeeded in forcing many to believe she runs an online newspaper.

At any rate, knowing that a blog is, in fact, not a cigar, has freed me up to opine, rant, rave, make fun of, and generally hold forth on subjects that interest me without too much care.

An oddity in the big blogger world (of which this site does NOT qualify) is the pissing contest between "legit" news sites and, say, adolescent whiners playing dress up trying to get a ticket to the Big Show - (I am thinking the word "cheetos" here.) Huff and Kos acted as kiddy club houses for Clinton haters all last year. Now, God Bless 'em, they are stuck with both Obama and their humorless egos.

The "real" media is no better. Grabbing crap from big blogs, promoting it, and then screaming that blogs can't be trusted is psycho. But alas, can we expect more from places like MSNBC that are run by amoral bridge trolls?

Nevertheless - I do like it when a big time media outlet reflects an opinion I recently stated on this blog. I am as susceptible to "smug" as any Pod. I just don't think "smug" is a lifestyle choice as Huffington, Kos, Sullivan and the rest clearly do.

I railed on Shepard Fairey after he was arrested in Boston for tagging. Most of my rant that night had to do with the odd - and smug - liberties "artists" like Fairey take with copyrighted material. But I ended by declaiming that he was not an "artist" in any real sense. I still believe this.

Oh, and I loath that "Hope" poster for all the right reasons. It is cheap, creepy, Orwellian and unconsciously ironic. It is not art. It is commentary. These are not mutually exclusive. I know. I've been to the Sistine chapel. Still, grabbing an AP photo, then watering down the stupidity, pain, and delusions of millions into a one word marketing coup is shrewd - but that's about it. AMC has a show called Mad Men in which doing the above activity is dramatized weekly.

Imagine my happiness when the New Yorker ripped Shepard a new one.

Ah, validation.

Friday Lunch Break.

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.

That apocalypse you see in the mirror is closer than it appears: one cabinet minister did not altogether joke when he said: "The banks are fucked, we're fucked, the country's fucked."

Music: Pure Pop Post 2000.

Banality, Horror, and Redemption

Quick Note: Cheney Indicted. My God is there a man who deserves to be in prison more than Cheney?
To the post:
Oh the horror the horror. The banality. The banality. As liberal as I am I'd still like to see Chuck Norris, Arianna Huffington and Keith Olbermann go into into a room and only see Norris come out - to paraphrase the bug eyed boob of MSNBC.

Brando tells us who Obama really is: an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill.

Tonight's music from the film The Mission.
Is this the best movie score ever?

Che Pride Parade

Che Pride

So what- exactly are the Obama workers in the photo thinking by reverently placing portraits of Che Guevara everywhere in the Houston Office?

I'd really like to avoid name calling - but why bother - calling a moron a moron is not an insult anymore than is calling a genius a genius. These people are morons.

Definition: Moron was originally an English scientific term, coined in 1910 by psychologist Henry H. Goddard from the Greek word moros, which meant "dull' (as opposed to "sharp"), and used to describe a person with a mental age located between 8 and 12.

Seriously, I can't get my mind around a major party (ha!) "mainstream" candidate having so many brain dead followers - many apparently having no problem adorning a field office with a Communist icon.

Do they know who Che was?
Do they know that he was a violent revolutionary?
Or do they think it is just a cool thing to put on a wall - the 2008 version of
LO
VE
in a square?
Are they themselves Communists?

Given the 2 portraits of Che in this office, it is entirely within reason to ask.
Sure, Obama Pods, go off on me if you like but - Che was a committed Communist. If a portrait of Castro was up in the Obama office no one would question that they were Communist sympathizers. Then again a "Warhol" of Castro has not been marketed as far as I know. And yes, I read The Motorcycle Diaries.


Are they telegraphing that THEY are violent revolutionaries?

If so - when they start the revolution who, I ask you, WHO will teach Poli Sci 101 and How to Be a Perpetual Victim 102, and the Dead White Guys Suck Ass extension courses at community colleges around the country??!!Woe is us!

Do they understand that Communism does not allow for Whole Foods Markets?

Santa Monica hippies and Venice Beach stoners are fine with going to the organic farmers' market to purchase arugula- but Arianna "I'm rich because I married well and married gay" Huffington, David "name another building after me NOW!" Geffen, and John "proud to be the second most self hating gay man in America after Andrew Sullivan" Avarosis and the other latte libs need to send the help, (that they buy 'holiday' gifts for EVERY YEAR, Damnit, and therefore are clearly pro labor) to Whole Foods or Gelson's or Trader Joes for the soy milk, not some pot head street fair that screws up traffic every Thursday afternoon.

Sorry kids, Whole Food, Williams Sonoma and Double Shot Non Fat Lattes are purely capitalist creations.

Do they know that any Cuban American who sees this image will joyfully vote for John McCain?

And plenty of other people who remember the Cold War as well. How can we be expected to trust these folks?

Some of us know who Che was, and may even find him interesting. But we harbor no delusions about Marxism. So either the portraits of Che in an Obama field office are clueless or Marxist.

Which is it?

Obama scripture lesson for June 9, 2008. The birth of the Hussein Creed.

From page 666 of A Short History of Obama

By Andrew Sullivan
Professor of Self Hatred Studies at the College of SouthEastern NorthWest Arlington Tech.


In the 1st month of the J.O. period (Just Obama) the emperor Axelrod gathered the Latte Tribe, the Arugula Tribe, The Champagne Socialists Tribe, the diaspora of Self Hating Gay Men for Obama, and various competing fag hag healers and leaders including Maria of the Shriver and Arianna of the Brentwood. They met in an upscale lounge in Chicago called "Sinclair's". Over a strenuous period of 4 minutes they pounded out a Universal Declaration of Beliefs for Obamites calling it The Hussein Creed - using Obama's given middle name because...well...the Apple Martinis had kicked in and it sort of rhymed with Nicene - so what the hell. Here is what it says:

The Hussein Creed

We believe in one Lord, Barry Obama,
the chosen Son of Daley,
eternally forgotten by his angry Father,
And hippie Mother.
Through Barry
all things were made.
For us and for our condescension.
He came down from Harvard,
was incarnate of the Spirit of Hyannis port and the Viper Michelle
and became truly human.
As was proven in the Pennsylvania Debate.

He will come in glory to demand the living and the dead,
get to the polls.
And trash who ever he feels is in his way,
while smiling and handing out cash and jobs.

And his kingdom will have no end.
Once we take over the military.

We believe in the Holy Media, the giver of lies,
who proceeds from the Lord,
We believe in one holy Democratic and Socialist Church.
Which we will only attend if the Pastor is
not videotaped.

We look for the Resurrection of the Dead
on voting rolls across swing states.

And demand tenure at mediocre universities
with full benefits and down time to
write for Mother Jones
and some tiny poetry journals
and get faded in our Jacuzzis
and complain about how unfair everything is.

Now and Forever
Amen.

Chickens

"Senator Obama?"

"Yes"

"I've got a delivery of chickens for you."

Wow. Reverend Wright. How many groups of people can you insult? All of New England, Texans, Italians, Jews.

The same people who were defending Wright two weeks ago - WRIGHT IS RIGHT! - are now calling him a nut-job. Senator Obama says Wright is not the man he met twenty years ago. Reverend Wright is apparently a Power Ranger and has morphed before Obama's eyes! These are the same people who said Reverend Wright was taken out of context. Since he's repeated everything he said in those You Tube moments the argument has been proven incorrect.

Senator Obama said a month ago: "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community." We are supposed to accept that he's had a change of heart. Is he now disowning the black community or is he a typical politician reacting to polls?

Senator Obama has said repeatedly that it's not just being ready on day one. It's having the judgement to do the right thing on day one. Senator Clinton voted for the war so she has bad judgement. we are not supposed to remember the climate of the country at the time or that her decision was based on bad intelligence or that she is a Senator from NEW YORK. We are supposed to take the giant leap that Senator Obama sat in church for twenty years, never heard Reverend Wright make any of these "controversial" statements and now, only now, realizes what a mad man Wright is. The same man he disinvited to his coming party because of his "controversial" statement he prayed with in the basement before announcing his candidacy.

What I LOVE is that Huffington Post, Cheetos and all the proud defenders of the Great One are now saying that we need to talk about ISSUES!! Which one? Hope, Change or Bosnia? They also know that Senator Obama is a good and honest man who has been hoodwinked by a man who is milking his fifteen minutes of fame. You see, they know Senator Obama better than Reverend Wright who has known him for twenty years. So when Wright says that Obama is just saying what he needs to say as a politician to get elected we're to believe that Wright is lying because his followers know him better!

The problem is that now his followers are too entrenched in their fantasy to see who he really is. Like Julia Roberts, they want the fairy tale. They cannot accept that maybe their hero is more than a little flawed.

So they excuse everything. He does poorly in debates. No More Debates! Looking down his nose at working class people - well, we're smarter and he's just telling the truth! Screwing Florida and Michigan - they broke the rules! What if it were their states? Running ads in Florida which broke the rules? Hillary was there on election day! (For a victory speech - not to campaign) Keith Olbermann saying that someone should take Hillary into a room and only he emerge? Keith is a God! Ayers. He's just a neighbor. Ayers is more than a neighbor? I'm waiting to see how they spin that. Rezko? He never did anything for him! Plagiarizing speeches? They're friends and share the same views. Randi Rhodes? Free Speech!

They're so invested they can't see that his stock has fallen like Bear Sterns. Keith Olbmerann, Huffington, Rich, Dowd and Matthews are not the Fed and there won't be enough credit available in the general election to bail him out.

Senator Obama needs to get a big coop (how fortunate that Rezko sold him back land for an extra big back yard), because the chickens have come home to roost.