Day: September 15, 2008

Making Sense Of The Palin Nomination

Let us be real, she was picked for a reason and it was not totally her politics.  She is filling a gap in American politics.  Did anyone see “The Blob”?  That is what Palin is reminding me of…she, like the monster, is consuming everything in her path, especially logic and good judgment.  The voters are energized, but by what?  Because she is a woman?  Because she is a mom?  Because she lives in a town of 4 people and a moose?  What does any of that have to do with governing the country?  I have a quote I love, “Stupidity is the deliberate cultivation of Ignorance”.  This phenom is living proof of the accuracy of that quote.

An article written by Rick Wollf for the Monthly Review.

If something is better than nothing, then Palin’s nomination gives Americans just that choice and so another chance for the Republicans.

For the last 30 years, Republicans systematically aided capital in keeping real wages flat while raising productivity.  That combination yielded exploding profits and exploding incomes for those who got their hands on those profits.  The Republicans actively altered government taxing and spending patterns to further boost corporate profits while squeezing the workers (via reduced state services and jobs, etc.).  The Democratic Party could or would not stop this process, often supported it, and only sometimes slowed it.

Hence the Palin choice.  One more Republican shot at repeating what worked so well, but now needs to be done more aggressively than before because Bush and Cheney wore the image thin.  Palin, as packaged, is the concretized fantasy of “home town family values” carefully combined with “personal flaws” to be identified with, enthusiastic patriotism, aggressive celebration of capital’s agenda, and status as maligned victim of elite and media hostility.  By naming her, the Republicans aim yet again and more dramatically to be seen as the best hope American working people have that something, rather than nothing, may possibly be done for them in this time of looming economic catastrophe.  Even something that is a long shot and a rerun of a fantasy not realized before is better than nothing.  Hope, however far-fetched, is often chosen over resignation.

Sadly, there is a possibility that the working class will fall for the lie.  As usual the American voter will once again vote against their own best interest.

And The Survey Says

The two most overworked words in this election are….change and polls.

First, Obama was the agent of change for Washington, now McCain is that agent. But no one in the mainstream media is asking how a Senator with 26 years of experience in Washington will precisely bring about any change. Personally, I believe that no matter who wins the 08 election there will be change…..but it will be attitudinal, not physical change.

Let us move on to the polls. There are daily tracking polls, why? These are nothing more than a daily snapshot of what is actually happening in the campaigns. They serve only one purpose….they are used to drive the media’s daily shows. My favorite comment in the MSM is that they do not want to over analyze the polls, and then they go about over analyzing the polls. I guess that is what you do when “real” issues are not that important.

The media is jerking off with the introduction of Palin into the mix. But no where do they call her to task on immigration or trade or social security, they allow her and McCain to keep up the obfuscation of the issues. The media has allowed this election to become more about tactics than issues.

More smoke being blown up the butts of voters.

FEMA Steps Back Into The Past

It is good to see that some things never change.  That the government is still as worthless as tits on a boar.

Weary residents of the Texas coast foraged Sunday for water, ice, generators and gasoline as rescuers continued to save people trapped by widespread floodwaters a day after Hurricane Ike flooded roads, destroyed homes and businesses, and knocked out power to nearly 4 million people.

Under drenching morning rain that submerged more roads and underscored a mood of misery and frustration, emergency officials tried to unsnarl a last-minute snag that delayed deliveries of U.S. government food, water and ice to several million people struggling to cope. Federal officials blamed state leaders for abruptly changing distribution plans Sunday morning.
All of it — the sweaty waits in line, the flooded interstates, the rampant mosquitoes, the desperate search for life’s basic necessities — fueled a growing sense of frustration among ordinary residents and elected officials alike.

Residents peppered radio and TV news programs with angry calls about price gouging at gasoline stations and food stores, low water pressure and a delay by emergency authorities in distributing food, water and ice.

Emmett and White warned the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Sunday morning that it would be “held accountable” if it did not deliver emergency supplies as promised.

The agency was roundly criticized for bungling the emergency response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Some things never change.

Does Republican Platform Go Too Far?

Among the more frightening aspects of the platform is its unconstitutional assertion that the president has sole prerogative to make decisions on matters of war, rejecting any role for Congressional “interference” in foreign policy matters. This appears to be a pre-emptive assertion by the Republican Party that, in the event of a John McCain win in November, they would reject any attempt by the likely Democratic-controlled Congress to impose any checks and balances to prevent a possible war on Iran or other dangerous executive initiatives. The Republican platform calls for the development and deployment of both national and theater missile-defense systems. These incredibly expensive weapons systems, which are unlikely to work in any case, violate arms-control agreements signed and ratified under the Nixon administration. Also disturbing is the platform’s classification of immigration as a national security issue, which has serious ramifications in terms of the nature of legislation and enforcement. It also claims that warrantless wiretapping of American citizens is “vital” to America’s national security. And, despite the Clinton administration’s increases in the already bloated military budget after the end of the Cold War, the Republican platform insists that “national defense was neglected and under-funded by the Clinton Administration.” The platform then calls for a significant increase in the size of the American armed forces, even though the United States – at barely 4% of the world’s population – already accounts for over one-half of the world’s military spending.

Today In Labor History

15 September

Some 5,000 female cotton workers in and around Pittsburgh, Pa. strike for a 10-hour day. The next day, male trade unionists become the first male auxiliary when they gather to protect the women from police attacks. The strike ultimately failed – 1845

President Kennedy signs off on a $900 million public-works bill for projects in economically depressed areas – 1962

International Association of Siderographers merges with International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers – 1992

Fannie And Freddie Parasites Of The People

The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sets the stage for an intensification of the crisis in the coming months. At heart, the demise of the mortgage firms, which account for 80 percent of new home mortgages in the US and have a combined liability of $5.3 trillion in mortgage-backed securities which they own or guarantee, is a result of the collapse of the colossal credit bubble which sustained the super-profits of US banks and investment firms and the seven- and eight-figure salaries of their top executives.

It is the product of an economic system that has increasingly based itself on speculation and various forms of economic parasitism, while gutting the productive base of the country—at the cost of millions of jobs and the living standards of the American working class.

The decay of American capitalism has produced an economy that is drowning in debt and is dependent on massive inflows of capital from abroad for its survival. Now, the assumption by the government of the debt of the mortgage companies, carried out to protect the financial interests of banks and big investors, has placed a question mark over the solvency of the US government itself.

Would McCain Lie?

We know how George W. Bush lied to the American people about the case for launching an invasion and now nearly 6-year long occupation of Iraq. Millions of Americans cringed when he insisted that Iraq sought to build nuclear and chemical weapons. Many us were taken back to that deadly, tragic day in 2001 when George W. Bush and Dick Cheney repeated the falsehood that Saddam Hussein supported Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden.

In 2003, John McCain promoted Bush’s war agenda. Indeed, as early as November 2001, McCain wanted war on Iraq, but it wasn’t until the Bush administration had gotten the right handles on the public imagination with its campaign of fear, invoking “mushroom clouds” and talking about imaginary meetings between Al-Qaeda and the Iraqi government, that John McCain’s efforts would serve the administration’s direct interest.

In an op-ed for USA Today in February of 2003, just three weeks after the Bush administration knowingly lied about supposed Iraqi attempts to buy “yellow cake” from Niger, a claim US intelligence officials repeatedly tried to remove from the infamous State of the Union speech, McCain repeated Dick Cheney’s lie that Saddam Hussein was operationally tied to Al-Qaeda.
If John McCain really thought war was horrible, he would have resisted the idea of launching a war against a country that had not attacked us. If he really believed war was horrible, he would have demanded to see the evidence that Dick Cheney and George W. Bush used to justify the war. If he were a maverick who believed war was horrible, he would have worked not to justify a war based on lies or to cover up the truth with Bush administration talking points.

If John McCain had really put our country and the men and women who would be asked to go to Iraq first, he would have believed and acted upon the basic notion that US troops should only be sent into harm’s way in defense of our country, not into an offensive, ill-conceived war, that was ill-planned, and with no strategy for bringing the war to an end.

Now as McCain travels the country again attempting to use the deaths of the victims of the September 11th attacks for political gain, voters are realizing that if McCain becomes the US president, we can expect more of the same: lies and endless war.