Shkreli's Lump of Coal

There's more in the saga of Martin Shkreli, the Turing CEO who jacked up the price of the crucial medicine Daraprim by more than 5000%. It turns out that Shkreli wasn't satisfied with bilking the public legally, he also had to rob us illegally. He has been arrested on charges of securities fraud. Shkreli, who also headed two hedge funds, lied to investors about their profitability, then illegally diverted money from another company he headed to pay off the investors. It seems that Shkreli is just another example of the narcissistic predatory speculators who have been allowed to run rampant.

Falling Down the Staircase Again

A CNN poll says that 53% of respondents favor sending American troops into Iraq or Syrian. Presumably these are people with long term memory problems because the last time American troops invaded Iraq it didn't go well. Remember? Let's leave aside the question of whether the corporate conservative media, of which CNN is an egregious example, is engaging in "push polling" in order to further its warmongering agenda. We need to remember that war has consequences, death and destruction being the most prominent of them. War is not a sporting event, where the worst thing that can happen is a few broken bones.

Much of the war fever might be the product of "Messianic Militarism," a deranged turn in many fundamentalists that mash-up militarism with religion. Another influence are those trashy Hollywood movies. I think that many people think that war is just "going in there" and shooting "the bad guys." War is much more complicated than that and unless you are willing to pay the price and live with the consequences, you better not start.

Why Don't We Bomb Kuwait and Qatar?

The title is sarcastic but given the mood after last week's shootings in San Bernardino the GOP is spouting war fever again. Since everyone is talking about bombing here or there, it would make most sense to bomb Kuwait and Qatar, who are actually funding ISIS. It would be rather embarrassing since Kuwait and Qatar are supposed to be our allies. With "friends" like these and all that stuff.

This is going to be the GOPer line 2016 "Obama is weak." The GOPers don't actually have a plan or even an idea. We might have more aggressive monitoring of the internet in order to crack down on those using the web to instigate violence and terror, and crack down on those who are using the web to instigate acts of terror. The dishonesty of the Bush II administration has created a climate of mistrust and confusion.

ISIS can be defeated but it's going to require intellect and the ability to understand complex realities. Macho posturing isn't the solution.

Massacre in Colorado Springs

Last Friday a lunatic opened fire in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, leaving three dead and nine wounded. I won't mention the scumbag by name, except that he has a criminal record for having attacked his ex-wife and harassed other women. A moron like that should not even be out in public, much less have access to guns and ammunition.

It is sickening that anti-abortion, anti-birth control fanatics call themselves "Pro-life." Totalitarian political movements often twist and distort language to hide their true agenda. While the "respectable" anti-abortion movement is distancing itself from the Colorado Springs massacre, the fact is that these people have been conduction a campaign of lies and falsehoods, as well as some covert incitements to violence. Anti-abortion fanatics are terrorists and they should be treated as such.

Trump's "True Colors" Showing Through

This past weekend an African American man was attacked at a Donald Trump rally in Birmingham Alabama. His assailants were all white and used racial slurs leaving no doubt this was a racially motivated attack. Trump himself has praised the attack leaving no doubt where he stands on the issue. There can be no doubt that Trump represents violent racism. Trump and his followers represent the real threat to democracy and freedom.

Why We Need Borders

This weekend's terrorist attacks in Paris point out the lack of security in Europe. The European Union has eliminated most border controls in Europe which makes it easy for terrorists to move around the country. This shows that the economic orthodoxy that wants to eliminate "barriers to trade" actually spreads insecurity and terror. Who benefits is only a small affluent elite. Everybody else has to suffer the consequences.

A Restraction Is In Order

Some time ago I made a post in which I was considering supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton for President. After much research and thought, I have decided that I cannot. The deciding issue of Foreign Policy. During her time in the Senate, HRC voted for the War in Iraq and the so-called Patriot Act, and while everybody makes mistakes, she does not seem to have learned from hers. Clinton continues support an interventionist foreign policy, except that she call this "humanitarian intervention." Clinton does not seem to recognize that interventionism has not only failed, but that it has also done immense harm to this country. We need a new direction in foreign policy, not persistence in the errors of the past. It's not that I don't "want" to support HRC for President, but that I cannot support someone whose positions on such a crucial matter are so utterly wrong.

The Death of the Conservative Brain

The current behavior of the current Congressional GOP majority is causing a split within the Conservative movement. Watching the histrionics of Congressional GOPers reminds one of petulant adolescents throwing tantrums whenever they don't get what they want when they want it. As a result many "respectable conservatives are now trying to distance themselves from the lunatic fringe. David Brooks, for instance, now marks the distinction between Conservatives(presumably himself) and "right wing radicals." The right-wing fringe seems to be getting the upper hand.

Conservatism is now dominated by obnoxious blowhards of the Coulter-Limbaugh variety. The extreme right now speaks in its own jargon: "libtard." Now the extremists, mostly Trump supporters, are using the term "cuckservatives" to Conservatives whom they deem to be insufficiently hardcore. This gutter term, "cuck" is derived from "cuckold," a porn genre about white men who like to see their wives having sex with black men. I don't have enough time go into the twisted, internalized racial and sexual pathologies of people who throw around that word. I'll only point out that Conservatives are finally seeing the results of their policy to pander to the lowest common denominator.

Hard Choices in Syria

Anyone who dares to challenge the "conventional wisdom" risks being labeled a "truther." In times of war, however, things get murky and establishing the facts can be difficult if not impossible. Witness the chemical attack in 2013 in Syria. The attack was widely blamed on the Assad regime. The Obama administration refused to intervene and got hammered for being "indecisive." The administration however remains committed to an "Assad must go" policy. It's not clear, however, who was responsible for the attack. Investigating a matter like that would be difficult under normal circumstances but in a war it is virtually futile.

It's not a question of "liking" or approving of Assad. Rather the question is; who is worse Assad or an ISIS takeover of Syria? Those are the alternatives we are facing.

Guns Don't Equal Freedom

The Gun Nuts keep claiming that they need to own guns in order to protect themselves against the "oppressive government" and they typically claim that Hitler would not have been able to take over Germany if private citizens had been armed. Ben Carson is the latest GOPer Presidential candidate to expound this hateful myth.

In reality Germany between 1918-33 was afflicted by widespread political violence. The Nazis established the SA, from which they later spun off the SS, which became the instrument of genocide and terror. Many other political groups also established militias. The final result was the breakdown of the Weimar Republic, and the triumph of the Nazis. Political violence is the enemy of freedom, not its defender.

I Hate to Mention This But

I hate to keep going on and on about Donald Trump. Except that there's the question of his lawsuit against Univision. Univision refused to broadcast the Miss Universe Pageant which is co-owned by Trump. The matter is still pending. But does anyone see the absurdity? Donald Trump clearly hates Mexicans, yet he still wants to make money off of them. Racism is never a good faith position.

Darkness Induced Audience Apathy

The TV Tropes website uses the term Darkness Induced Audience Apathy to refer to movies and tv shows wherein "the setting is extremely but meaninglessly Darker and Edgier, and/or all sides are abhorrently, equally evil—or at least, far enough gone that any difference between the two is splitting hairs." TV Tropes then elaborates "Because the conflict between the equal evils is essentially meaningless, there is no dramatic tension." A good example would be "Game of Thrones." Now the GOP Presidential race hasn't yet resorted to rape, torture and mutilation but it has become an ughsome spectacle. Frankly, I wouldn't put any of the GOP candidates in charge of a picnic, much less the nation as a whole. Marco Rubio declares "America is not a planet." It seemed impossible just a few weeks ago, but it seems that Jeb Bush might actually lose. The really scary thing would happen if Donald Trump were to win the nomination.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, John Boehner has resigned as Speaker of the House. Apparently, the "hard" congressional GOPers felt he wasn't putting enough effort into their new pet cause; attacking Planned Parenthood. The media is now drooling about how Boehner was some kind of great "statesman." In reality he was just an opportunistic slob, without ideas or ideals, who only entered politics for the pay and the perks. If Boehner looks any kind of good, it's because his successor Kevin McCarthy, will be no better and may turn out to be worse.

The Pander Games

The GOPers ramble on, in a contest that is no longer a race to the bottom but a long fall into the bottomless abyss. Carly Fiorina, has become the media darling after Donald Trump made some ugly remarks about her appearance. But now Fiorina is working herself about a video that shows Planned Parenthood selling fetal tissue. No such video actually exists. Does Fiorina really believe this garbage or is she just pandering to the GOPer "cause?"

The other Repubs are busy spewing Islamophobia. The bigot demographic has become part of their political base. If you pander to ignorance and stupidity you start to become ignorant and stupid yourself.

We should have learned by now that in politics their is no such thing as a "noble" lie. A politician who lies is always pernicious as is a political movement based on lies.

Imminent Lawless Action

The war of words over "political correctness" have raged on for three decades without any real benefit. The argument has become so muddled that it's no longer clear what "political correctness" even means. There is a problem with the growing prevalence of racist and bigoted speech. Unfortunately, the speech codes adopted at some Universities for instance have suffered from vagueness. Adopting a stance against "anything that might offend anybody" suffers from many problems, primarily from the problem of trying to define the term "offensive."

Perhaps it would be better to adopt the standard of Imminent Lawless Action, as adopted by the Supreme Court in Brandenburg v. Ohio which held that "government cannot punish inflammatory speech unless that speech is directed to inciting, and is likely to incite, imminent lawless action." Statements that advocate violence against people on the grounds of race, gender, or sexual preferences surely fit under this standard. This is not a "liberal innovation" but a refinement of the Bad Tendency principle which holds that permits restriction of freedom of speech by government if it is believed that a form of speech has a sole tendency to incite or cause illegal activity."

It is also important to distinguish between statements made in a malicious and provocative manner against people saying things that "come out wrong." Everybody has biases about ethnicity gender or something else. We need to find a way so that people can deal with their biases notions without feeling attacked or shamed.

Kim Davis: The Cafeteria Christian

Kim Davis, the Kentucky County Clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples, has been released from jail. It's not clear whether she's going to continue with her nonsense. She's become the poster girl for "religious freedom;" she claims that because she's fundamentalist she can't have anything to do with same sex marriage. If she really had a problem she ought to just resign: in reality, she just enjoys the attention.

The thing is that Davis herself has been four times married and thrice divorced. If the bible bans homosexuality it also bans divorce and remarriage. Davis is a good example of a "Cafeteria Christian." Someone who picks and chooses whatever parts of the scriptures she happens to approve of. The term "cafeteria Christians" has been used by religious conservatives against Christians whom they regard as "too liberal." Davis shows that many religious conservatives themselves pick and choose whatever aspects of the scriptures suit their arguments.

Jared Fogle: The Emblem of the Age?

Jared Fogle, the former Subway Sandwiches pitchman, has recently pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography and having sex with a minor. Fogle, who became a millionaire shilling for Subway, also started a foundation to fight childhood obesity. But in reality the foundation was bogus and the money was skimmed off by Fogle and Russell Taylor, an associate of Fogle who was also his accomplice in pedophilia.

There are only two things that this culture still condemns: murder and pedophilia. That Fogle was a pedophile is bad enough but establishing a phony charity to enrich himself indicates he must be a monster without a moral center. It is beneath hypocrisy, it is cynicism. The emblem of an age that worships greed and smarm.

A Lie Scarecely Worth Repeating

Anti-immigration bigots have now taken to attacking the Fourteenth Amendment which grants citizenship to anybody born on American soil. Donald Trump, the "champion" of the racists, has raised the issue, and the most of the GOP pack have adopted it too. The irony is that many of these GOPers-Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, and Ted Cruz- wouldn't be citizens were it not for the 14th amendment. It's fair to say that the GOP represents not only bigotry, but dishonesty. They have refined the "art" of lying to such a degree that in trying to respond to their lies, you end up repeating them.

Donald Trump Is Not An American

It is really grotesque that Donald Trump has declared himself the champion of the "real americans." He himself is the embodiment of what has gone wrong with America over the past half century: the triumph of speculators, the born millionaires who became billionaires by cheating the public. Totalitarian movements often characterized by men without principle appealing to people without judgment. Trump followers are the degraded ignorant bigots who constitute the scum of humanity. When Trump goes around insulting people just "because he can," his followers admire him because he can get away with it.

Trump is a racist, a misogynist, and a liar but worse of all is when he speaks of what he would do if elected President, he would not recognize any legal or constitutional restraints upon himself. That he has the makings of a dictator is clear to see. But he's also part of a wider sickness. The GOP and the Conservative movement have abandoned all morality and principles and have become the sycophants of wealth and power.

GOPers Racing to the Bottom

Watching the GOP primaries resembles a poorly organized dance party degenerate into a drunken brawl. Nevertheless, some trends appear to emerge. Rand Paul, whom the media dubbed "The Most Interesting Man in the Senate," is imploding. Apparently, he didn't raise enough cash, and today's politics are all about money. Rick Perry, is also fading, in spite of his efforts to appear "smart" by wearing glasses. Chris Christie is also tanking. It looks good for Jeb.

Think of Racism as a Long Term Problem

Donald Trump continues to lead the GOP race, even though his behavior becomes more obnoxious by the day. We are supposed to think that Trump's presence will divide the GOP base and make it easier for a Democrat to win on 2016. I would like to think so too. Except that, when you look at the long term trend, the real problem is the growing prevalence of racism in politics. Pat Buchanan's presidential campaigns in the 90's may have failed, but his racist anti-immigrant bilge became part of the political discourse. Whatever happens to Trump in the next year and a half, may not matter as much as to whether there is an upsurge of anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican hysteria.

During the past 3 decades that GOP has moved further and further to the right. Jeb Bush is now considered a "moderate," even though he advocates abolishing Medicare, the Minimum wage and thinks that Americans should "work harder." Jeb makes Ronald Reagan appear just 2 degrees to the right of John F. Kennedy. The question for the long-term is whether the GOP will become more like Trump. Given that the GOP can no longer claim to represent prosperity, decency, or law and order the GOP may resort to "white supremacism" as its default position.

The Sham and Shame of Anti-Abortion Fanatics

Anti-abortion fanatics have launched an attack campaign against Planned Parenthood. They are alleging that Planned Parenthood is selling fetal tissue for cash. As reported by Laura Bassett in the Huffington Post:

David Daleiden, the founder of Center for Medical Progress, used a fake ID displaying the name "Robert Daoud Sarkis" to circumvent their security precautions and gain access to the groups' annual meetings and facilities.

Democrats in Congress asked California Attorney General Kamala Harris (D) to look into whether the Center for Medical Progress violated any laws in its deceptive investigation."

This shows the dirty and dishonest mindset of the anti-abortion fanatics. The smarmy hypocrites who call themselves "pro-life" and yet kill doctors and bomb clinics. They are terrorists just like Al Qaeda and ISIS. The anti-abortion anti-birth control creeps by their actions that they have no values or principles.

The Reality of Institutional Racism

The recent death of Sandra Bland, in the jail in Waller County Texas, shows the reality of institutional racism in America. While Bland's death has been "officially" ruled a suicide, there is a clear pattern of law enforcement targeting and brutalizing African-Americans. Some people insist these are the actions of a few "rotten apples" which raises the question of how many rotten apples make up a rotten crop. The law enforcement mechanisms are the most prominent features of any government, and any institution which targets people on the basis of race has a serious problem.

American Repub or the GOPer Factor

John Kasic, Ohio governor, is now the 16th contender for the GOP presidential nomination. The GOP race is starting to resemble one of the annoying tv talent shows. Ironically enough those kinds of shows seem to be losing favor with the public, as shown by the demise of both the X-factor and American idol. Just as a side not I tried to watch "SYTCD" and all I could think was, how can a show be that loud and gaudy but still be boring? And Cat Deeley has lost the ability to speak coherently.

The "talent" of the GOP race seems to be warmongering. Scott Walker now says that if he is elected President that he will bomb Iran on inauguration day. The GOPers have become the "War Party." It seems whoever wins the GOPer race will have to be kept out of the white house. Otherwise, something really awful is going to happen.

No Compromise with Racism

What is so appalling for us who grew up in the sixties and seventies, when this country seemed to be moving beyond its racist past, is how quickly racism became respectable once again. It started in 1980 when Ronald Reagan became President while denouncing "welfare queens." Then there was the growing acceptance of racist humor, from "The Black Joke Book" to the prevalence of radio shock jocks. By 1988, when Bush I became President by pandering to fears of "black crime," the racist revival was well under way. The emergence of new racist pundits, like Charles Murray, gave the New Racism a degree of "intellectual" respectability.

Donald Trump has entered the GOP fray, campaigning against Mexicans. The curious fact about racism is that the same rhetoric that it used to target one group of people can just as easily be used against another group. Make no mistake about it; anti-immigrant rhetoric has always been racist. It has always been about targeting and vilifying people. We remember how Trump set himself up as the champion of the "birthers." We at first thought it was cynical self promotion, But it turns out that he really believes his own bullshit. The big lie about American racism is that it was mainly a problem for the poor and uneducated but in reality the rich and powerful have been crucial to maintaining the culture of racism. Trump, nothing but a real estate hustler who happens to be hustling the most expensive real estate in the world, shows that the rich are possibly the worst bigots of all.

In this situation, we must remember that an attack on the rights of one group are an attack on the rights of everyone.

No Compromise with racism!

Greece Says No

Greek voters rejected, by a vote of 62% to 38%, the EU's austerity program. It's not clear what the next move is going to be or what it "means." But it's interesting to see what didn't happen.

1. The world didn't end

2. The world economy didn't collapse.

It's possible that the kingpins of the EU, especially Germany, have already accepted, and might even want, Greece to leave the EU. Otherwise, they wouldn't have taken such a hard line. Maybe the EU should've have stayed simply as a Common Market, and not try to become a "United States of Europe."

Good News For a Change

It's been a long time since we've had any good news to report. Luckily, the Supreme Court last week handed down a grand total of three positive decisions.

1. In Burwell v. King, the Court upheld, yet again, the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. This means that the law is here to stay. GOPers can still run against the law, though, without worrying about having to replace it.

2. In Obergefell v. Hodges the Court ruled that marriage is a right that belongs to all people, not just those who want to lead an "Ozzie and Harriet" lifestyle.

3. In Texas Department of Housing v. Inclusive Communities, the Court stopped an attempt by the state of Texas to do an end run around the Fair Housing Act.

Lately, there has been much as to whether President Obama is "really" Proressive. The fact that he appointed Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court is significant in itself.

First Person Shooters and Roaring Rampages of Destruction

On June 17 2015 a murderer killed 9 people at the Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston SC. The victims at the African-American church included the Pastor Clementa Pinckney, who was also a State Senator. The murderer was a self proclaimed white supremacist named Dylan Roof. When you look at the history of White American racism you notice the propensity to attack African American churches and religious ministers. American Racism has never recognized any principles of morality or religion, but has always possessed a blind almost animalistic quality to it. It seems to be a hereditary mental illness. Some people build their identities on hatred. The so-called Libertarians proclaim "the right to discriminate." This is the sickness of a society that doesn't want to face its problems, but only look for scapegoats.

1975: The End of Affluence

This year is mostly being remembered as the fortieth anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war. We should remember that 1975 was important for another reason as well. The US economy went into recession in November of 1973 and it continued until March 1975. By May 1975 unemployment reached 9%. That may not seem a high by today's standards (unemployment reached 10.8% in 1982). Nevertheless, the recession 0f 1973-75 marked the end of the post WW2 economic boom. The end of WW2 had brought about the "Age of Affluence," or "the Good Old Days." When people thought that the world economy had gone on an "upward curve" of rising standards of living.

Since the seventies we've had worsening economic conditions worldwide. The seventies marked the decline of Keynesian economics and the ascendancy of Friedmanite Monetarism, which in a vulgarized and dumbed down form has become the dogma of recessionism. In the US there have been 2 boomlets (1983-87, 1996-2000), but the only result has been that the rich have been getting richer at everyone else's expense. Since 1975 it has been downhill all the way.

Texas Bullshit

It's funny how Texans hate "big government" ie. Washington DC. Except that now, the Repub controlled state legislature has passed, and the asshole governor has signed, a so called "Border Security" bill that asks the Federal Government to pay them $800 million dollars. This is on top of the 5 billion dollars in FEMA aid that Texas has received over the past few years. I guess we're not going to hear any more bullshit about "Texas Independence" for a while at least.

Is Europe Going Over the Edge?

Economist Joseph Stiglitz posted an article "Will a Grexit Be the Lehman-Like Trigger of the Next Global Financial Crisis?" It's strange because a few months ago we heard that the Greek problem has been "solved." It now turns out that it wasn't. Stiglitz summarizes the situation thus:

they believed that, by cutting wages and accepting other austerity measures, Greek exports would increase and the economy would quickly return to growth. They also believed that the first debt restructuring would lead to debt sustainability.

The troika's forecasts have been wrong, and repeatedly so. And not by a little, but by an enormous amount. Greece's voters were right to demand a change in course, and their government is right to refuse to sign on to a deeply flawed program.

In other words, the solution imposed upon Greece by the leadership of the European Union--the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund--is actually making the economic situation in Greece worse. Stiglitz outlines the dangers for Europe thus:

We know that the structure of the eurozone encourages divergence, not convergence: as capital and talented people leave crisis-hit economies, these countries become less able to repay their debts. As markets grasp that a vicious downward spiral is structurally embedded in the euro, the consequences for the next crisis become profound. And another crisis is inevitable: it is in the very nature of capitalism.

This is an ominous situation. The only lesson we can learn is that we need to ditch the Recessionist Economic dogma.

Hastert the Pervert

Dennis Hastert, ex staunch GOPer, ex-Speaker of the House (1999-2007), and prime example of genetic drift back into primate status. Since leaving politics, Hastert became a "high powered" Washington lobbyist and made a ton of money in the process. But now Hastert has been indicted for making illegal bank withdrawals which he used to pay over three million dollars to an "individual" with whom Hastert had a "relationship." The individual has not been identified, but is allegedly a male student with whom Hastert became involved when Hastert was a High School wrestling coach in Yorkville High School in Yorkville Illinois.

Hastert was always a despicable piece of humanoid garbage--even before we found out about this. This shows the GOP has sunk to the depths of moral bankruptcy. You almost run out of language to condemn these scumbags.

Why Sports No Longer Matter

The "Deflategate" scandal involving the New England Patriots sounds small and even ridiculous, until you see the larger pattern involving athletes and anti-social behavior. New England Quarterback Tom Brady has been exposed as another asshole jock together with Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds, and Jose Canseco, among others. Remember how we grew up being told that "sports build character?" It seems that the "characters" that sports build fall somewhere between narcissism and sociopathy. So much for "teamwork" and "self discipline." Maybe it mattered when Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics or when Jackie Robinson made it into the Major Leagues in 1947. Today, sports have just become another form of trashy entertainment, a reflection of everything that's wrong with the world today.

The Real Problem With Washington

The Congressional Debate over Trade Promotion Authority, which gives him the power to cut trade deals and expedite their passage through Congress without amendments or procedural hurdles shows us how Washington really works. The same Congressional GOPers who say that President Obama can't be trusted to pass Immigration Reform or negotiate with Iraq, are willing to give him unprecedented authority to negotiate trade agreements. Does this sound strange? Unless you see the influence of big corporate interests, who use the misleading label of "free trade" to advance their own interests.

Carly Fiorina: A Whole Lot of Nothing

Carly Fiorina, the ex-CEO of Hewlett-Packard, is now seeking the GOP nomination for President. Just to recap, while Fiorina presided over Hewlett-Packard, she engineered a merger with Compaq which caused a sharp drop in HP's stock value. She also fired 30,000 employees. Fiorina was so inept that many observers call her one of the worst CEOs of all time. Fiorina was ousted from HP in 2005, but she received a golden parachute of 20 million dollars.

Now Fiorina is touting her business "expertise" in her run for the White House. She claims that she "knows how the economy works," a line that didn't work for Mitt Romney in 2012. The rest of her speech was the usual bilge against "big government" and "bureaucracy." The same garbage that her generation imbibed back in the 80's. Fiorina represents a class that that has long passed from mere arrogance to delusional narcissism.

Shut the Fuck Up Already!

The Supreme Asshole of the Universe, better known as GWB, is at it again. In a speech the Mater Shit-for-Brains criticized President Obama for negotiating with Iran. He also persists in thinking that US troops could have stayed in Iraq and Afghanistan forever. GWB still believes that by "talking tough" he could control foreign events, which only goes to show how twisted his megalomania really is. Guess we know what to expect if Jeb becomes Pres.

America Really Does Have a Problem

The town of Parma Missouri has just elected Tyrus Byrd, an African-American woman, as mayor. As a result 5 out of the 6 police officers resigned as did city attorney, clerk and water treatment supervisor. The reasons are not yet clear, but does racial bias have something to do with it? Those of us who thought that the election of Barack Obama as President would mean, if not the end of racism, but the end of race as a political issue, have been appalled by how much racism their is in this country. Not only that, but how many people cling to the myth of "American whiteness," as the center of their identity and worldview. The Tea Partiers who claim that they want "their" country back (from whom?) are the latest manifestation of a mental disease that has been plaguing this country's culture since before the civil war.

Here's the thing; the more we keep arguing about race the less time we have to talk about anything else. We don't talk about economic inequality, the environment, or trade policy. For those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s, when it seemed that America was putting behind racism, it is shocking how this country "back slided" into racism. It is a cancer that keeps recurring.

Who Is Cheating Whom?

A big deal is being made out of the case in which several Atlanta teachers and administrators were convicted of cheating on standardized tests. Every one agrees that what these people did is wrong, but the question that is being missed is whether educational policy is being honestly addressed or is just being used as a political football. When GWB's grandiosely named No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was passed it among other things demanded more standards and testing in return for higher funding. The higher funding level have never been provided but the insistence of more standardized testing has been maintained. The only beneficiaries have been the standardized testing corporations. Has this really improved the quality of education? Or just another case of corporations profiting at public expense?

The Idiot Box

Medical experts claim that watching television makes people physically passive and thus more prone to health problems. Perhaps worse is that television makes people mentally passive. I myself probably spent my growing years, the seventies and eighties, watching too much tv. Back then television was "worthwhile," but even so I should have used that time for something more productive. Today, broadcast tv is just visual sludge; phony "reality shows," cryptofascist cop shows, sitcoms that aren't actually funny, and trashy singing and dancing contests. I only watch tv when there's something good on PBS.

Some people have been so dulled by television that they no longer know the difference between fact and fiction. Michael Moor pointed out in "Bowling for Columbine," that Fox News, and all of Murdoch owned media, is aimed to keep its viewers in a constant state of panic if not hysteria. The problem is that much of the other media has followed Murdoch's lead. As a result, the corporate media finds it easy to mislead the public with a steady stream of falsehoods and deceptions. Television really turned out to be the Idiot Box after all.

Obama's Scandal Free Administration

President Obama still has until January 2017 so this might be premature but it would be fair to say that this administration has been the most scandal free Presidency since that of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Obama administration has not produced any financial, political, or personal scandals. Some people might think this is premature but if there were any skeletons in Obama's closet they would have come out by now. It's odd how nobody points out how scandal free this administration has been. It could be that nobody notices when things go right.

The reality is that the right wing corporate media doesn't want to give the President any credit. It just doesn't want the public to know how well the Obama administration is doing because it would go against the interests of its corporate masters.

The media operates according to scurrilous hysteria, of the kind devised by Rupert Murdoch. As Michael Moore pointed out in "Bowling for Columbine" the Murdoch approach to the news is to keep the viewers in a constant state of hysteria. And most of the other media outlets have followed Murdoch not only in political orientation to the right but also in the same hysterical tactics. Conservatives still whine about the "liberal media" but in reality Liberal voices have become a minority in todays' media culture.

Schock the Maximum Douchebag

It's getting boring almost keeping up with GOPer malfeasance. Consider, Aaron Schock, a GOPer representative who drew fire when he had his office decorated in a "Downton Abbey" theme. The decorator worked for free, which raised some ethical questions. Schock, who is barely 33 years old, is apparently vain about his looks, and posed for a shirtless pic of himself on the cover of "Men's Fitness" back in June 2011. Which shows what a douchebag he is. But it also turns out he's a crook. According to USA Today and ABC News Schock "... spent over $100,000 in government funds on office decorating and renovations between January 2009 and late 2014, mostly during his first term.[113] Other media reported Schock had charged thousands of dollars for private flights, legal expenses, new cars, tickets to the Super Bowl and Country Music Awards,[114] as well as cufflinks, massage, "gold equipment" and cigars[115] to his government-funded office account. The Associated Press accessed the location metadata on Schock's Instagram photos and correlated it with private flight records to identify flights that did not correspond to his campaign finance disclosures."

Schock, who couldn't stand the heat, has now resigned.

Schock is really only a symptom of the problem. Since the GOP believes that government cannot play a useful role in public life, it appears that GOPers only seek public office in order to line their pockets. The GOPer mentality inevitably leads to corruption. Public corruption has reached levels, just as bad, if not worse than the "Gilded Age"(late 19th century.)

The Great Iraqi Generator Fiasco

Business Insider has recently published an article by Jeremy Bender titled "This broken 700-ton generator demonstrates everything that went wrong with the reconstruction of Iraq." Bender tells the history of an American attempt to install a new electric generator in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk: " the US Agency for International Development (USAID) bought a $50 million Siemens V94 generator which was designated for a new power plant in Kirkuk. It was supposed to single-handed increase Iraq's power generation by six 6%."

Then everything went wrong. According to Bender:

Since the 700-ton generator was too heavy to airlift to its final destination, MOAG was first transported by sea to the Syrian port of Tartous. From Tartous it was driven to the Tishrim Dam east of Aleppo at a painstakingly slow speed of five miles per hour. But the Syrians refused to allow the generator to cross the dam in retaliation for US sanctions on the country.

Moving an apparatus like that would have been a challenge even in a country with a developed road system. Trying it in war-torn countries without good infrastructure and the results can be devastating.

Bender continues " USAID was forced to reroute MOAG overland through Syria to Jordan. To reach Kirkuk from the Jordan, the generator would be forced pass through the Iraqi province of Anbar, the center of the ongoing Sunni insurgency. Instability in the province necessitated that the generator's movement be delayed as a "single Kalashnikov round could destroy it."

The saga continued: "This rerouting caused the generator to sit on the Jordanian border for all of 2004 and the first three months of 2005. James Stephenson, a veteran member of USAID, notes in his book Losing The Golden Hour how the generator's delivery was further delayed until after the battle of Fallujah and the subsequent clearing of insurgents. Moving the generator before the city was pacified — with its maximum convoy speed of five miles per hour — would have given the insurgents an easy and very tempting target. But the costs of protecting the generator in Jordan ran around $20,000 a day in private security fees, Johnson notes . "

We finally reach the conclusion: By April 2, 2005, MOAG finally reached its destination in Kirkuk after a 640-mile journey through Iraq, with 250 to 300 military personnel accompanying MOAG alongside Humees and a number of helicopters. "

But it was all for nothing: "[N]obody had bothered to train the Iraqi plant workers in the operations and maintenance of this state-of-the-art generator," Johnson told The Daily Beast. "So, months after it was handed over in a triumphant ribbon-cutting ceremony, the generator was broken."

The problem wasn't simply bad planning or execution: the US has made so many enemies in that region that it can't even do the simplest things anymore. Just thinking about it gives you a headache.

Where's The Outrage?

It seems that Netanyahu is going to speak to the US congress, and the campaign to provoke a war between the US and Iran is gaining momentum. This is the worst insult paid by a foreign nation to the US. The fact that the GOP "superpatriots" of the GOP are a allowing this to happen shows their cynicism. The only puzzle is why the Obama administration even allowed Netanyahu into the US. Furthermore, Ron Dermer, the Israeli ambassador who set this whole stunt up should be declared persona non grata and should be sent packing. In fact, the entire relationship to Israel should be reconsidered.

The Outrage of Medicaid Estate Recovery

One nasty surprise that elderly people and their relatives encounter is Medicaid Estate Recovery. This is defined at Medicaid.gov thusly:

State Medicaid programs must recover certain Medicaid benefits paid on behalf of a Medicaid enrollee. For individuals age 55 or older, states are required to seek recovery of payments from the individual's estate for nursing facility services, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug services. States have the option to recover payments for all other Medicaid services provided to these individuals, except Medicare cost-sharing paid on behalf of Medicare Savings Program beneficiaries.

While there are exemptions families still have to go through the time and expensive of dealing with a lot of gratuitous paperwork.

The fact that going old and dying in America is outrageously expensive is bad enough. But having to impose this burden upon people shows how twisted the political system has become. It seems that social policy in this country has adopted a reverse Robin Hood principle: stealing from the poor to give to the rich.

What's odd is that conservatives are always complaining about the Estate Tax and how it imposes a "burden" on millionaires and billionaires. Medicaid Estate Recovery falls most heavily upon the poor and middle class. Pamper the rich screw everybody else.

More Info. on Joni the Nutter

Joni Ernst, the new senator from Iowa, was elected talking about how she enjoys castrating pigs. That was supposed to be a metaphor for her fervor about cutting "government pork." It now turns out that her grandfather and father received over $460,000 in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2009. Ernst’s specifically said that she is “philosophically opposed” to the program, but supports government-backed insurance and said she will throw her weight behind agricultural subsidies. Which is the definition of hypocrisy. With a "nutter" like Ernst, that may be the least of her problems.

Don't Fall for the Koch Bros. Jive

The Koch brothers, representing plutocracy at its most arrogant, have now come out in favor of "reforming" the legal system. On their agenda "The right not to be prosecuted for accidentally breaking the law; fair treatment under the law; competent and fair representation; mandatory minimum reforms; and restoration of rights." They have managed to take in the ACLU and several liberal, or allegedly liberal politicians, into their agenda. In reality, the Koch's are mostly interested in maintaining the power and wealth of themselves. The main problem in this country is the overbearing power of rich plutocrats like the Koch's. The real goal of progressives should be to cut down or better yet destroy the plutocrats power. Any other issues can wait.

We Don't Need Religious Wars

The recent killings of Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, Barakat's wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, in Chapel Hill North Carolina were motivated because they were Muslims. The killer Craig Stephen Hicks is a self-described atheist. Islamophobia has become increasingly prevalent both in the US and Europe in recent years. People seem to forget that prejudice and violence are never justified. Islamophobia is a form of bigotry in itself.

Ignorance and Stupidity A Danger to All

The anti-vaccination campaign has finally produced a dangerous result: a measles epidemic now has 84 cases in 14 states. The "anti-vaxxers" have spread lies and distortions that now endanger all of us. Rand Paul, a practicing ophthalmologist no less, appeared on CNBC and repeated the old lie that vaccines cause mental disorders in children. Paul justifies his stance on the grounds of "freedom" and "parents own their children."

Let's leave aside, for the moment, the question of whether children should be considered "property." There is no such thing as a "right" to endanger the health of other people. The anti-vaxxers are endangering their children, which is bad enough, but they are also endangering the health of everyone else. If these idiots have their way, we'll go back to millions of people being killed by smallpox or paralyzed by polio.

The Age of Incompetence

I suspect that people all over the world must thinking, how is it that the US, which rebuilt Western Europe and Japan after WWII, did such a lousy job in Afghanistan and Iraq? That's a very interesting question. It's not enough to say "We're not as good as our ancestors." Funny how conservatives who fill their mouths talking about "traditional values" largely ignore the lose of one very important tradition; the American work ethic. Over the past three decades we have become a culture where work is no longer rewarded or even recognized. The rise of the speculator economy, the destruction of organized labor, and the overbearing rise of corporate interests have made it impossible for working people to actually get ahead. We may deplore that young people want to be professional athletes and fashion models, but the fact is that in today's world "honest work" gets you nowhere. This is clear at all levels. Finding someone to fix your air conditioner can turn into an ordeal. But even worse, in America nothing works right anymore.

Here Comes Emperor Netanyahu

The GOP controlled congress, in order to embarrass the Obama administration, has invited Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to address the US Congress. The objective is to stir up a war between the US and Iran. No other leader from any other country in the world would be allowed to interfere in American politics in this way. Not to mention that a war like that would be a disaster not only for the US and Iran, but for the entire world. The same mob of chickenhawk warmongers and professional Islamophobes are exploiting the recent terrorist in France to push their twisted agendas. This is reminiscent of the thinking of the Bush II administration. The warmongers used the attacks of 9/11/2001 to urge the invasion of Iraq, even though Iraq had nothing to do with those attacks. The odd thing about the warmongers is that they never learn anything, but keep pushing this country into wars without thinking of the consequences.

As for Netanyahu, the administration should tell him that given security concerns, it would be best for him not to visit the US at this time. That would be a "diplomatic" solution to the problem.