The Hinge of Fate

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments over the Healthcare Reform Law. The law could have been defended by comparing it with the requirements to buy auto insurance. That this is a shared risk that everyone has to contribute. If the Court stikes down the individial mandate on the grounds that the government cannot require anybody to buy insurance then it could have dangerous repurcussions in other areas. In any case such a repeal would be a devastating blow to the Obama adminstration, and it would embolden the Right-wingers to go on the offensive.

Horror and Disgust

It's not my intention to keep documenting the crimes of the Roman Catholic Church (herein referred to as RCC). But new information has surfaced the can't be ignored.
It turns out that back in the 1950's ten boys were castrated at a Catholic boarding school in the Netherlands. The castrations were apparently done to "cure" the boys of homosexuality, but they were actually done to cover up sexual abuse by a Catholic priest.

The RCC has always operated by secrecy and deception, so it comes as no surprise that it should have committed so many disgusting things. It seems that the RCC knows no limits of evil. You wonder, should a religion like RCC be banned? Maybe if it has such a history of criminal behavior.

What Are You Doing to Yourself America?

That's what people began to say around 1970. It was about the time that the sordid reality of the My Lai massacre came out in public. Also it was becoming clear, after the invasion of Cambodia that any attempt to pursue "victory" would only result in more carnage. Prolonging the war was futile and it damaged this country in ways that have never been repaired.

Recently a US army Sgt. named Robert Bales went on a killing spree in Afghanistan, murdering 16 civilians. Bales was stationed at the Lewis-McChord base outside of Tacoma Wa. Lewis-McChord has been the site of several crimes.

*In 2010 three members of the Stryker Brigade were convicted of committing "thrill killings" of Afghan civilians.

*In January 2010 a soldier named Benjamin Colton Barnes was involved in a shooting, fled to Mount Ranier National Park where he shot and killed a park ranger. Barnes himself later died of exposure.

*Nov. 30. 2011 Pvt. Dakota Wolf murdered 19 year old Scarlett Paxton outside of her Kirkland Wa apartment by stabbing her to death.

*Feb. 2009 16 year old Leah King died after ingesting Xanax and oxymorphone by soldiers at the base.

*2010 Staff Sgt. Nathan Ryan Smith was convicted of raping two women.

It's time we asked. What are you doing to yourself America?

And Who Are You Claiming To Be?

Part of the fall out from the kerfuffle over contraception coverage is that Timothy Dolan, the obese buffoon who calls himself the Archbishop of New York is now calling for a "freedom of religion battle." Which sounds funny considering how the Roman Catholic Church itself has always been one of the biggest enemies of religious freedom. In fact considering that the RCC has a pretty squalid record of intolerance, torture, murder--genocide actually-- and of course pedophilia you'd think they would just shut up and not draw attention to themselves.

But the Catholic bishops now seem to be taking the position that "religious freedom" means that they only have to obey the laws that they agree with. These clowns need to understand that religious freedom is the right to worship and nothing more. Religious freedom doesn't give anybody the right to commit human sacrifice and cannibalism any more than the Fundamentalist latter day saints have the right to conduct marriages with underaged girls. Unless the RCC is going back to the position that they don't have to obey any "earthly" authority which is what got them into trouble in the first place.

The GOPer Apocalypse?

In an article published in New York magazine (2012 or never) Jonathan Chait writes how Repubs are warning that this year is the last chance to prevent America becoming a socialist, multicutlural state. The Repubs have so thoroughly identified themselves with white racism that they don't what to do with a country that is increasingly less "white" but also less Conservative. In the process, the Repubs and the whole Conservative "movement" have degenerated into a howling mob that must not be allowed to gain power.

The Clinton Paradox

PBS is running a 4 hour documentary on Bill Cliton. The biggest problem I have is that it's giving to much attention to the Monica Lewinsky imbroglio as if that were the significant even of his presidency. I never saw the big deal about it. So he fooled around on the side big woop. Consider too that the campaign to impeach Clinton was headed by philandering fakers like Newt Gingrich and Henry Hyde, the whole thing was nothing more than a Repub power play.

The real problem with the Clintons is that they were caught in the central misconception of the 90's; that we had reached "The End of History" one of whose corollaries was that politics had entered a "Post Ideological" age where politics would revolve around personalities. Given that mood it was perhaps inevitable that the political discourse would slide into mere tabloid scandal mongering.

We can now see that all this talk about "The End of History" and the "End of Ideology" was utterly wrong. Yet at the same time the 1990's may well be remembered as the last happy time in American History. Is it ironic or merely sad?

Mr. One Percent

Mitt Romney has taken to wearing flannel shirts in an unconvincing attempt to look like a "common man." It's hard for Romney to do the "regular guy" look. Unlike the Bushes he never learned to hide his arrogance and complacency behind a mask of faux folksiness.

Romney has lately taken to attacking the Obama administration's bail out of GM and Chrysler. Most of his argument is just warmed over Friedmanite dogma. It's reavealing however, that he complains how Chrysler's secured creditors were given as he puts it "short shrift" at the expense of the UAW trust fund. That shows what Romney's priorities are; Wall Street speculators, like himself, should always come first. Romney represents the One Percent of corporate fatcats and swindlers who have enriched themselves at our expense.