Archive for January, 2010

A rather interesting story hit the wires yesterday that I thought could use a bit more light. But the story itself needs a bit of history to fully enjoy its flavor.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now – ACORN – has had a bit of a bad rap since the 2008 election cycle. Indeed most conservatives react to the very mention of its name in much the same way most of the reality-based community reacts to Blackwater. And a bit of that reputation has been sadly earned by ACORN employees who were filmed last year giving tax advice to a prostitute and her pimp, which in reality was a couple of extremely cocky college Republicans who were bent on exposing all of Acorn as a fraud. Or at the very least proprietors of burlesque tax advice. The “pimp” was actually James O’Keefe, a smug conservative of the selective-memory persuasion who went on to every pundit show Fox asked him to appear. This was a hearty black eye for the political left and the right absolutely wallowed in political capital it gave to them. After all, ACORN was founded by Obama in Kenya and would prove to be the lynch pin that would bring down his socialistic fascist machinations that are meant to burn the Constitution and enslave the young minds of America. (Editor’s note: That last sentence was sarcasm, in case you missed it.)

Well it would appear that Mr. O’Keefe’s 15 minutes weren’t nearly long enough for his liking so he and his crack band of nincompoops devised a new scheme. A bolder scheme with higher goals. Unfortunately their new scheme proved a bit more risky. And by that I mean they were arrested for attempting to bug Sen. Mary Landrieu’s phone in her Senate office. This, in case you weren’t aware, is a federal offense bordering on espionage.

So far it isn’t exactly clear what O’Keefe and his crew were hoping to get out of these wiretaps. It doesn’t seem they put much thought into the operation at all apart from the possibility of listening to Landrieu’s phone calls, which may have amounted to exactly nothing. But if they were successful in not only breaching the Senate’s security which is designed to thwart exactly this kind of activity, which are in place to stop foreign intelligence agencies let alone a group of fuckwits from the College Republicans, did they honestly think that whatever they found would make bigger headlines than their own Federal Offenses? Sorry but I don’t think Freedom of the Press stretches quite that far when it comes to issues of national security.

So I’m enjoying this. O’Keefe needs to feel the heat on this. As does the man who signs his checks, Andrew Breitbart. Someone get be a bucket of popcorn.

There is a lot of anger and sadness in Minnesota today. And I’m not referring to our 2010 Winter Carnival Snow Sculpture competition being highly affected by rain. (Though that did suck.) No, today we here in Minnesota are yet again faced with the crushing disappointment of our Vikings not making it to the Super Bowl during a season that was like something out of a fairy tale. But we’re getting fairly used to it. I like to think of it as some kind of karmic payback by the gods of the sport for granting us four previous trips that we never won, but I digress.

Before I make my salient point, let me first state that Adrian Peterson, the running back that 90% of this league would fall over themselves to have in their own backfield, needs to learn how to hang on to that fucking ball. Dear Christ Almighty on Toast, when the fuck is he going to learn? And Brett Favre…well that was an incredibly stupid pass from someone who has a pedigree that states they should know better by now. And as I understand it, Packer fans are very familiar with this happening as well when he was with them. Our defense did just about everything they could and held that supercharged offense of the Saints very well. But a team that coughs up the ball five times has no place in the Big Show.

But now I need to state something that was clear to anyone who watched that last series in overtime. I don’t care who you’re a fan of, these facts are indisputable; in the order in which they happened:

1. That was NOT a first down.
2. That was NOT pass interference.
3. That was NOT a catch.

In three calls, the referees handed that game to the Saints. Granted, they let all kind of leading-with-the-helmet calls go that were undoubtedly meant to injure our players, but that final series was nothing short of breathtaking in referee ineptitude.

But…I’m a Viking fan. I’m used to it. And, again, any team that coughs up the ball that many times should be looking at other things to reflect upon in the off-season. But I have to say it’s hard to be a fan with this much perceived favoritism in the NFL. Because sometimes it isn’t just perception. Just ask the NBA.

America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say: You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can’t just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the “land of the free”.

That quote comes from the movie The American President, starring Michael Douglas and Annette Bening. I like the movie because it’s a great date movie and because President Andrew Shepard is the kind of person that most Democrats were yearning to have in the Oval Office from 2000 to 2008. It’s a sort of coming of age in the White House flick where the President picks the safe moves, advocates for the legislation that his Party backs and worries a great deal about his appearance so much that it ends up slowly eroding his efficacy as Commander In Chief in the public eye. Not to spoil it for you, but like all Hollywood movies this one ends with the President realizing that he has to stand up for what he really believes in and challenges all opposition to fight him on the merits of his arguments rather than mud-slinging rhetoric. In particular, his nemesis in the film is Senator Bob Rumson who routinely ends his speeches by saying “I’m Bob Rumson and I’m running for President!” More pointedly there is a fictitious crime bill in the movie that is so diluted with deals made in congress to make its passage possible that the actual spirit of the original bill is all but gone. Sound familiar?

Here is how President Shepard ends this impromptu press conference:

Tomorrow morning, the White House is sending a bill to Congress for its consideration. It’s White House Resolution 455, an energy bill requiring a 20 percent reduction of the emission of fossil fuels over the next ten years. It is by far the most aggressive stride ever taken in the fight to reverse the effects of global warming. The other piece of legislation is the crime bill. As of today, it no longer exists. I’m throwing it out. I’m throwing it out writing a law that makes sense. You cannot address crime prevention without getting rid of assault weapons and handguns. I consider them a threat to national security, and I will go door to door if I have to, but I’m gonna convince Americans that I’m right, and I’m gonna get the guns. We’ve got serious problems, and we need serious people, and if you want to talk about character, Bob, you’d better come at me with more than a burning flag and a membership card. If you want to talk about character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when, and I’ll show up. This is a time for serious people, Bob, and your fifteen minutes are up. My name is Andrew Shepherd, and I *am* the President.

Okay, granted, if your a 2nd Amendment nut, than I’m sure that this really rubbed you the wrong way. But think for a moment that he was talking about a piece of legislation that you did support. Because the point I’m trying to make is that the American people, for better or worse, respect leadership.

And all I’ve seen coming from the White House and the Democrats in Congress is a great deal of back scratching, deal making, and compromises that add up to nothing. Specifically when it comes to the piece of legislation they’ve now officially wasted the past year working out not only with downright recalcitrant and borderline combative Republicans, but also with their ass-covering fellow Democrats: Health Care Reform.

I’ve been relatively silent on the matter in writing because, if for no other reason, the actual meat and potatoes of the bill itself kept changing. Sometimes on a daily basis. I wasn’t particularly pleased with the House version of the bill, but it had its merits. But by the time the Senate finished their own version, the result was downright embarrassing in form and mortifying in its construction. Senator Baucus of Montana eviscerated any chance of including a public option in his committee and Senator Nelson of Nebraska held out until he had the political equivalent of bread crumbs thrown to the people of Nebraska to finally get on board. Don’t even get me started about Joe LIEberman, the two-timing backstabbing son-of-a-bitch.

But I was assured by fellow progressives and Dems that having the Senate bill merged with the House bill would give us a great foundation to work on and get immediate relief to a good portion of the American people. I wasn’t happy with the prospect, but I’m willing to go along.

Then came the Massachusetts Special Election. One in which both parties fielded an idiot for a candidate and the lesser of the two evils was chosen. (Sweet fucking CHRIST, she called Curt Schilling a Yankee fan?!) This was mostly due to the fact that campaigning in the General Election was obviously several levels below janitor work for one Martha Coakley. But what also became impossible to ignore was that populist anger over perceived inaction for the people who were suffering because of a lopsided economy and a +10% unemployment…and a health care bill that was getting more unpopular by the minute from folks of all political persuasions.

The hurried debate over what to do with the House/Senate reconciliation of the health care reform bill started just days before the Massachusetts Special Election when it became clear that Coakley couldn’t just phone in this election. What most generally agreed to was that the House should be prepared to vote for the Senate version of the bill verbatim, thereby avoiding the filibuster promised by the soon-to-be-anointed 41st Republican Senator. But to the shock of many, after he was declared the winner of the election, more than a few Democratic members of congress came forward to declare Health Care Reform dead. Most notably liberal Anthony Weiner of New York and Barney Frank of Massachusetts.

Just this morning, the biggest ray of hope for any of this legislation to see Obama’s desk went dark when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stated, “I just dont’ see the votes for it at this time.”

So now I’m pissed. And the funny thing is that I’m pissed about something I shouldn’t be that pissed about. I didn’t even like the Senate bill. Yet with the blessing of every single Democrat on the Hill, they gave up on even that hunk of crap. It’s apparently implausible for Democrats to muster the votes to pass legislation that has been compromised into oblivion. They threw multiple bones at both Republicans and conservative Democrats and they didn’t even vote for it after they got what they wanted.

Republicans win elections by making all kinds of promises that appeal to conservative voters and then run things into walls with a stunning lack of long term vision. Democrats win elections only to then try to legislate by trying to get a consensus they can never get and think so far into the future that they neglect the present.

I’ve fucking had it with both of them.

President Barack Obama had better start leading this country. Or he’ll go down in history as the most popular and yet ineffectual Presidents ever. He needs to take a firm stand for his beliefs, come through on even the simplest of campaign promises or be the man who tried to govern by consensus and wound up being a one-term lame duck.

Sorry Dems, that’s the truth. I know it’s hard to hear, but it doesn’t make it any less true. It’s time to demand more from our elected officials, be they Democrats or Republicans. Get loud and get obnoxious. Apparently it’s the only way to get through to these people.

I realize that these are trying financial times, but if you’ve got $10 you want to drop on something other than that cup of coffee the next couple of days, the people of Haiti need some help. They actually need a great deal of help. Here’s the Presidential palace after the quake.

Donate to the Red Cross by texting “Haiti” to 90999 or by calling 1-800-REDCROSS.

I realize that this is bit of old news, but in case you missed it, former half-term Alaska governor Sarah Palin has been hired by Fox News as a paid consultant. This should come as a shock to absolutely no one as there are few places a bat-shit crazy right-wing ego the size of Alaska could find a job. Indeed, most of what this woman is quoted as saying stem from comments that are so stupid that most educated people stand in awe at how perfectly idiotic she is. But considering Fox News’ track record of taking in such wayward pariahs and allowing them to make incredibly stupid remarks in the name of ratings gold, it’s a match made in heaven.

But then I stop and think that Fox News has the lion’s share of network news ratings. And I see people clutching copies of that moron’s book like it’s a lost chapter of the Bible. “The Book of Rogue”. And I’m frightened that more than a few people actually think this woman is in any way sincere in her beliefs.

I guess I’m saying that Fox isn’t a surprise, but the collective intellgence on the right is going to dive sharply. Gretchen Carlson is one thing, but this is something akin to mixing that clueless imbecile with the twisted populist nutbagginess of Glenn Beck. And I’m left to wonder if she’ll be tempted more by the power promised by a potential Presidency in 2012, or by the millions and millions of dollars she’ll get from the Murdoch Empire.

Either option makes me want to vomit. People like Palin cheapen the political discourse into partisan sniping, of which I am perfectly aware that I’m a participant. But the difference I see is that I’m not paid to do this. And the fact that she is and is not held accountable to that is infuriating.