So It Begins...

The US Senate as a functioning legislative body seems about to be torn apart by a Republican power play to end the filibuster rule. They want to return to "the traditional roots" of the Senate. You know, the days when members took to going after each other with canes.

Well, it doesn't surprise me, since they seem to want to turn the clock back in every other respect. It's the Gilded Age all over again. Of course, those were also the days of fiery populism and the rise of the labor union movement. Out of adversity--what?

These are dangerous times. I know that I'm the forty-thousandth person to say that, but I'm not sure that the political construct of democracy based on fairness and reason can survive. Maybe it's time to rip up the social contract and begin again. Where's Joe Hill when you need him?

Crimson Tide

In the meantime, this. It appears Alabamans want to hold on to segregationist (excuse me, traditional) language in their constitution. What a slap in the face to the African-American citizens of that state.

Alabama voters made sure of that Nov. 2, refusing to approve a constitutional amendment to erase segregation-era wording requiring separate schools for "white and colored children" and to eliminate references to the poll taxes once imposed to disenfranchise blacks.

That's it. Roy Moore was bad enough. I drive cross-country from Utah twice a year to visit my mother in Florida. I will not spend a DIME in Alabama.

Work in Progress

Military chiefs are telling Congress that troops are still underequipped, and that recruitment and retention are becoming a problem. Imagine that. So supportive is the administration of our men and women in arms that less than half the military's fleet of Humvees have armor installed. After two years. WTF? Meanwhile, Halliburton can't account for a third of its property in Iraq. It's like a comedy of errors, except it ain't funny.

Look on the bright side: military shortages may put a crimp in plans to invade Iran, France, Massachusetts etc. Oh but wait--I live in the reality-based world.

Damn.

Alien Concept

Enough doom and gloom. Just saw Galaxy Quest. Thanks, I needed that.

Rough Justice

Which circle of hot flash hell shall we consign this guy to?

"When the courts make unconstitutional decisions, we should not enforce them. Federal courts have no army or navy... The court can opine, decide, talk about, sing, whatever it wants to do. We're not saying they can't do that. At the end of the day, we're saying the court can't enforce its opinions."

So says Rep. John Hostettler of Indiana.

If this is some wild swing of the pendulum it had better self-correct soon. But there is no law of physics that applies here. There is no political "equilibrium state" of goodness and moderation that we'll get back to if we wait long enough. Things happen because someone makes them happen.

"Liberalism isn't a force of karmic nature that pushes back when the corporate world goes too far; it is a man-made contrivance as subject to setbacks and defeats as any other."

And so it begins.

What's Wrong with Reality?

Just finished listening to Time's Michael Ware on Newsnight. Yeah, it's mainstream, but that's the point. This is where the non-blogging get their news. He talked about going into Fallujah with the Marines and yeah, he's embedded and all that, but he was quite blunt: we are incubating the next generation of jihadis, he said, and these young men are dying for it. And I found myself thinking, for the millionth time, IF ONLY more people could hear this, IF ONLY this guy were on every Sunday morning talk show and nightly news broadcast, if only, if only. But who am I kidding? I live in the reality-based world.

I keep thinking that if enough reality piles up like the proverbial elephant in the living room, and if enough people get up and tell the truth, and if enough (other) people get it shoved in their faces, SURELY they will see how bad things are. They will see the failed occupation and the health care crisis and the authoritarian, dishonest, corrupt nature of this administration. And like a sleeping giant they will rise up to gloriously boot the collective ass of the House of Bush.

But who am I kidding?

You can't force someone to look at the truth. I'm not talking about some great esoteric Truth here either; I'm talking about objective reality. I have to somehow get my head around the fact that millions of my fellow citizens don't want to face reality. Because surely they can't all be that stupid.

A 2003 study has some interesting findings which may or may not be relevant. I distrust generalizations, especially when they mesh so neatly with my suspicions.

Why?

Why does anyone blog? I mean, other than the few who have genuinely unique insights and information to share? In-the-know, metro/ear-to-the-ground types. Hip political geeksters seeking their own. Well, I'm not hip, I hope I'm not a geek (I think), and my ear is more likely to be attuned to the osprey perched outside my kitchen window than to the TV. Well OK, in the daytime anyway.

But politics is my poison. Where else can you find such extremes of agony and ecstasy for free?

Why do I blog? Because it seems to me that the blogosphere is the most democratic and potentially subversive medium there is, and I want to help be a thorn in the side of mediocrity. I want to pick up this brick with my name on it and hurl it at the self-satisfied, the mean and the willfully ignorant. Hell hath no scorn like a peri-menopausal woman. You bet.

And I want to connect with others, those amorphous Others who feel the same way (or who are at least willing to carry on a civil conversation). With our country seemingly poised to become some demon-spawn Republican hellhole, I need all the reasons I can find to keep on hoping.

At some point I'll post a synopsis of who I am for those who don't know me. Cheers for now--

Shock and Awe

OK, this is my first attempt at blogging, so bear with me.