Without irony, it really is sad to see what's become of the Grand Old Party.

It was bad enough when they were just wrong. Now they're crazy and wrong.

They wandered off the path decades ago, it's true, still you hate to see an old friend go completely off the deep end.

From Ronald Reagan, through Ollie North, Tom Delay, D ick Armory, Newt Gingrich, George Bush, D ick Cheney, John McCain and Sarah Palin, there has been an uninterrupted string of Christian radicals, right-wing extremists and just plain nonsensical fools coming to the surface of the so-called "Conservative Movement". The weird thing is, there are still a rather significant minority of Americans who are far enough out of touch with reality that they follow along.

What happened to plain old conservative Americans who supported their government and were happy to pay their taxes?

Now, it seems, that a total lack of alternative ideas (cutting taxes is not an alternative idea when taxes have already been cut) and leadership has led the Republicans to this. Tea Parties.

Really? That's it? Street corner circus?

Rupert Murdoch's FOX "News" organizes a bunch of Fascist-leaning millionaires to put together these ridiculous Tea Parties across the country, and the loonies show up.

These are people who deny they lost the election, people who don't believe in evolution, people who still think civil rights should be restricted to straight white men, survivalists, end-timers, and people who think reality is something you see on TV.

It is not only sad, it's bad for the country.

We could really use some fresh ideas, and someone to raise legitimate concerns with the current administration, but the Republican Party has collapsed in on itself, the only thing emanating from the debris is hate.

The only thing more tragic would be if they had won the election.

 

While Republicans childishly root for "Obama" (by which they claim to mean not the duly-elected President of the United States and Commander in Chief of a nation at war, but just his "socialistic" leadership of the country) to fail, I question whether they have gone beyond such wishful thinking.

If, in fact, Obama's attempts to prop up the existing financial institutions, prime them with cash, and get them functioning - lending and borrowing - fail, and if Obama's economic stimulus package(s) do not create millions of jobs and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, and do not improve "consumer" confidence so that individuals begin spending again, and if the various incentives to home buyers are not enough to regenerate some demand for housing stock, and if that lack of demand continues to prevent builders from starting to build new homes... and so on. If that fails to happen...

How do those Republicans see that coming out in their favor?

Will Americans still go to their jobs and exercise their legendary work ethic and productivity when the companies they work for can't pay them? Will the shell of the former economic system remain erect, with people buying and selling stocks in companies that have zero value?

Will the military industrial complex continue to build ever more expensive and effective death machines when the government has no money to buy them? Will the beloved troops continue to risk their lives when the "volunteer" army really is volunteer?

Will you enjoy the opportunity to buy any one of the many houses for sale on your street - as long as you can pay in cash?

Will illicit drugs replace worthless paper money as our currency?

If you are such a cheerleader for the policies of Obama (not, of course, the President) to fail, I'd really like it if you could sketch out the scenario that results in a better, freer, less "socialistic", MORE capitalistic America - with the grateful American people voting to put Republicans back in charge.

Please.

But I digress.

Even if the policies of President Obama succeed spectacularly, I hope that no one is under the illusion that things will ever return to the way the were say - last summer. Thank God.

Not going to happen. Never again are you going to be able to refinance your house every year to supplement your income.

Never again will you be able to thoughtlessly "consume" any piece of plastic or circuitry or fake wood that the Chinese can manufacture without a thought to your budget or the consequences to our environment. Never again will you be able to buy a 3-ton vehicle that consumes fuel at the rate of 15MPG and belches ridiculous amounts of carbon into the world's atmosphere when you could just as easily haul yourself around in 2,000 lb vehicle. Or take the train.

Never again will you be able to just jump on a plane to someplace warm halfway around the planet and put the entire trip on your credit card, just because you're sick of waiting for spring.

My point is that the era of constant growth in the U.S. economy is likely over. Our rate of consumption of the world's resources has been unsustainable. Our rate of borrowing from the Chinese and the Japanese and others cannot be maintained. Our lase-fair, free-market, unregulated brand of capitalism - the buying and selling of superfluous objects, and of wasteful, unnecessary consumption of natural resources has come to its logical conclusion.

We have used up all of the earth's goodwill.

Welcome to the Disruption.

It won't be so bad. I'll post about our brave new world soon.

 

With the Justice Department now back in the hands of the law, the evidence of the Bush administration's assault on the Constitution is finding its way into daylight.

These documents reveal the administration's utter disregard for the American people.

Newly disclosed memos from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel sanctioned the use of military force against U.S. terrorists, curbs on free speech and the transfer of terrorism suspects to countries known to commit human rights abuses. They also condoned illegal wiretapping, domestic spying, and suspension of the legal process for "suspected terrorists."

Bush defenders will say that he and his thugs were only acting in our best interests. That all of these blatantly illegal acts were necessary to "protect" us.

They will say that Bush & company believed they were acting legally.

If that were the case, why did they attempt to withdraw these illegal programs only days before leaving office?

Why did they repeatedly include language in these documents that would leave them escape hatches if they were prosecuted? For example, the memo that says detainees could be transferred to countries that commit human rights abuses if U.S. officials didn’t intentionally seek their torture?

Don't tell me that they thought they were acting legally. The very real and present danger to the United States during the Bush years was the Bush White House.

Two things need to be kept in mind when reviewing these documents.

The first is that Bush and Cheney repeatedly said that the so-called "war" on terror would last indefinitely. Indefinitely. Our rights were to be "suspended" indefinitely.

Second, recall Bush's famous remark, "You're either with us, or you're with the terrorists." That threat was meant for U.S. citizens.

We are responsible for investigating and trying Bush, Cheney and key members of that administration for all of their attempts to evade the law.

We do NOT need "truth commissions" to explain and forgive.

We need to re-assert the rule of law, with no conditions.

This morning's economic news brings some slender rays of sunshine;

Bloomberg: U.S. Retail Sales Unexpectedly Halt Six-Month Slide
AP: Ford, GM execs see auto industry sales stabilizing
CNNMoney: Jobless claims dip - remain at high level

And:

Reuters: Obama nears win on stimulus plan to boost economy

Could it be that anticipation of the stimulus bill is already bending the psychological funk induced by eight years of Republican rule?

Could Americans, beaten down by two terms of right-wing administration, already be feeling the love?

Is it possible that America will get it's act together after the nervous breakdown that was Bush?

Obviously, things could still go terribly wrong, and some things certainly will.

But the competence and credibility of the President - his ability to pass an historic bill within weeks of taking office, and his smack-down of Republican obstructionists - virtually all of them - has been an amazing thing to watch.

When Republicans, led by Rush Limbaugh, began making their distracting noises via the right-wing echo machine, Obama did what leaders do.

He led.

He pushed back.

He took his case to the people. And not some hand-picked bunch of litmus-tested political loyalists like Bush used to pull together. People who asked him tough and sometimes critical questions. Which he answered thoughtfully and to the best of his ability.

He was honest in saying that he is not sure if this stimulus package will work. But he said that too many Americans are suffering to stand around and watch while this recession slides into a depression.

The Republicans, only three of whom had the audacity to vote for the bill, have missed the bus. Obama reached out to them in in a way that we have not seen in Washington for years. He offered them a ride back into credibility and the respect of the American people.

They said "No, thanks."

 "We'll just sit here and stew in our own partisan juices, if it's all the same to you, you grubby Socialist."

Barrack Hussein Obama is driving the Republicans absolutely crazy.

Oh man. I am enjoying the heck out of this.

 

 

The right is playing with fire by delaying the Stimulus Bill.

While wealthy members of the Republican Party - the party of failure - play word games and draw stupid charts, 20,000 people lose their jobs every day!

20,000 jobs lost every day!

Please go to TrueMajority's "While Rome Burns" web site and tell Congress that we need the Stimulus Bill now!

 

 

One reason that I and many others reject the phrase "war on terror" is that it fosters a simplistic definition of terrorism and a misunderstanding of its purpose.

The phrase, like terrorism itself, is designed for maximum emotional impact. It is a political slogan that was crafted to create fear with the purpose of directing political opinion and action. It's propaganda.

Propaganda and terrorism are political tools. They are tactics used by "politicians" (secular or sectarian) to shape popular opinion for the purpose of creating popular demand for a particular political course of action. Propaganda seeks to influence popular opinion for change within the existing political institutions. Terrorism seeks to break them down.

The vision of terrorism that Bush/Cheney tried to establish in Americans' consciousness, with great success thanks to 9-11, was the image of mass violence against civilians.

It is true that "random" violence is a classic action of the terrorist.

However, violence is the blunt end of terrorism. The tip of the tactic is far more dangerous.

While a deranged (by definition) suicide bomber almost certainly believes that their mission is to take as many lives as possible, these people are rarely the agents behind the act.

The terrorist "mastermind" does not believe that their actions can result in the extinction of the enemy.

It is the survivors and the witnesses of these violent acts who are the targets of the violent act of a terrorist.

The actual purpose of an act of terror is, in fact, political change. Regime change, if you will.

The objective is to create an emotional loss of confidence among a given population in their own political institutions, so that those institutions, without popular support, will crumble, giving the terrorists an opportunity to take control, or at least influence the formation of new ones.

With that goal in mind, terrorism does not have to involve violence at all. If I am plotting to take down the Internet for the longest possible time in order to create huge economic losses, doubts about the physical and banking infrastructure, create genuine fear about personal financial security, and destroy confidence in the government's ability to protect its citizens from financial liquidation, is that not terrorism?

In my opinion, certain members of the Republican party are, right now, acting to extend and deepen the financial crisis (yes, when 650,000 Americans lose their jobs in one month, and unemployment figures are in double-digits in many areas, that is a crisis), in order to destroy Americans' confidence in the new regime.

By delaying implementation of government action to provide them relief, they are intentionally wreaking havoc in the lives of millions of American families. They are fostering doubt among Americans in their political institutions, specifically, the ability of the chief executive and their representatives in Congress to prevent the collapse of the U.S. economy.

They are knowingly risking social unrest, with the real potential of violence, as we saw during the last American depression and as we now see occurring in Greece, France, Latvia and several other European nations, as well as China and Iceland.

They, by their own words, are seeking to destabilize the government of the United States.

Yes, that is terrorism.

 

It's more than embarrassing. It's disgusting.

Republicans would stand there in the well of the Senate staring at their big, colorful posters and keep at it for weeks, maybe months.

"Ooooh, look at all that pork!" they moan.

"Daddy doesn't like spending! No! That is so, so dirty!"

"What does daddy like? That's right, tax cuts! Daddy wants some more tax cuts!"

Shut this theater down.

 

Congratulations, Michael Steele, on being elected chairman of the Republican National Committee.

I also congratulate the Republican Party for having the vision to see that an African-American man can serve in a role of national leadership.

~~~

There are, shall we say, some oddities in Mr. Steele's biography, but the fact is, it doesn't matter. The Republicans have chosen to take themselves out of the political process rather than participate in the heavy lifting that needs to be done. If it weren't for their constant whining to be taken seriously, they could be completely ignored.

What is interesting in this story is what it tells us about Republicans' attitude towards diversity and race.

Clearly, they see that they have a problem attracting people other than old, white men into their wrinkled, white, welcoming arms. Give them credit for that. They can count.

Is there a pattern? Hillary Clinton/Sarah Palin. Barrack Obama/Michael Steele.

OK, they're trying.

The Republicans have a theory as to why African Americans won't vote for their candidates. It's not the "macaca" remarks, not the "Willie Horton" ads, or the "Magic Negro" stuff. It's not the coded racism of Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh.

It's not the busting of labor unions. It's not the mocking of community organizers who give their time and talent to help their neighbors.

It's because, well, frankly, black people are just plain lazy. That's right. It's not that God made them that way or anything.

It's the Democrats that did it. Yes, what a wonderful world it would be if the Democrats had just followed God's plan and left the black people there in their ghettos, to live in simple, decent poverty and sing their spiritual music.

But, no. The Democrats had to go and give them money. How foolish. Did they spend it on a college education? No, they bought food and liquor and had wild parties.

Yes, the Democrats went into these neighborhoods and started handing out cash and cigarettes and before you know it all the black people got lazy.

So, when you've been made lazy like that, you don't want to work. You want the government to do more. You expect us to give you health care and schools like ours. You want your children to breathe clean air so they don't get asthma, but you don't want to pay for it. You want to keep your office thermostat set at 89 degrees!

Of course, not ALL black people have allowed themselves to be tempted by the Devil Democrats. There are a few who have pulled themselves up from slavery, the way that we did.

And these exceptional African-Americans, the real 100%-black, 100% American African-Americans like Mr. Steele can be an inspiration to the good, conservative, God-fearing blacks to throw off the chains of Democratic government slavery and fend for themselves and make our cities a nice place to stay when we want to go see a basketball game or a show or something, and so that they won't want to build mass transit and come out here and fish in our lakes, and somebody's got to be chairman and as long as our party is totally in the tank it might as well be the black guy!

In the midst (we hope it's the midst, rather than the cusp) of a financial crisis that is rivaled only by the "Great Depression" of the 1930's, which by all reports is continuing to drag the world into the first global recession, our new President has a plan.

The plan involves the traditional, time-tested means for pulling the U.S. economy out of a slump - spending by the federal government and cutting taxes.

[Disclaimer]
I am not sure this is necessary, but let me say right now that I am no macro-economist. Thanks to the saving and spending habits taught by parents who lived through the Great Depression and who internalized the conservation and rationing of resources expected of the American public during the Second World War, which were passed onto me, I am in reasonable shape. But this fortunate circumstance should not infer any formal education or practical experience in managing budgets with more than six zeros.
[End of Disclaimer]

So, President Obama has a plan, which he put together with some of what are considered to be pretty fair economic minds, which leans in a somewhat - but by no means entirely - different direction from the previous, Republican-dominated administration. That would be the one that drove the economy to where we find ourselves now.

President Obama's plan, unlike the unconditional gifts to the banking bosses by Bush  - which we learned were spent significantly to enrich those same bosses, rather than used to "free up" the "stuck" credit market by making loans to people to buy houses, cars and such - Obama plans for accountability of the funds by funneling most of them through the federal government. (Skepticism duly noted.)

Hsitory tells us that this method was quite helpful in bringing us out of the Great Depression and yielded some wonderful benefits such as new school buildings, national parks, electrification of rural areas - and art that is considered a high point in American culture. I highly recommend spending a few minutes reading about the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corp (Corp- not Corporation). These programs, with millions employed directly by the federal government, including WWI veterans, living in work camps all around the country is a story of true American ingenuity and spirit, and was a great source of pride for generations. The useful and truly beautiful work of these men and women is a under-appreciated legacy of these hard-working Americans, and frequently denigrated by Republicans as socialism.

Obama's plans for this "massive" (a relative term if there ever was one) federal spend include some of the same actions as the post World War programs - rebuilding schools and public buildings, and dealing with our critical failng infrastructure, but also the first significant federal effort - ever - to end our dependency on fossil fuel - a dirty, non-renewable fuel - and produce thirty times as much clean, renewable energy as we do now within four years. And, yes, a few dollars for public art.

In addition to the government spending, Obama is proposing allowing President Bush's massive tax cuts - the ones that benefit primarily our wealthiest citizens - to expire as planned, rather than to cut them off now, as he promised during the campaign. Other tax cuts, and possibly rebates - these favoring the middle class - are also planned.

He is talking about spending a "lot" of money on these ambitious plans to pull our economy out of the nose dive we are in. The numbers are not final, and experience says that numbers on this scale are never measured within any real precision, but we could be talking about a trillion dollars. Most of this would need to be borrowed. (And so ends the trail of my knowledge of macroeconomics.)

Obviously, borrowing a trillion dollars is not on anyone's list of things to do. But sometimes you have to spend to earn. Deficit spending by the government has been an effective technique in reversing national economies, and has actually resulted in eventual surpluses at least once - Bill Clinton was president, as I recall.

I have read several economists who claim that the Obama plan is actually several orders of magnitude too small (!) to have an immediate and significant effect on the worldwide (yes, this is our first truely global recession) economy.

SO - this leads me to the Republicans. Ahh, the Republicans. The ones who got us here.

As was completely to be expected, the Republicans don't like the new President's plan to try to save us all from watching our 401k funds circling the drain, and the remainder of American jobs being eliminated or shipped over to where ever labor is cheapest at the moment.

"Oh. My. God." was the reaction of John Bohner, R- Ohio House Minority Leader.

The Republicans don't think that paying American men and women to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and help convert us to clean, renewable energy should be a function of the government. If that happens, their friends, the CEOs in the oil, construction and banking industries might be cut out of the loop! They may be told to back away from the public trough!

Rather than funding these wasteful government programs, the Republicans prefer the much more efficient and proven method of transferring wealth to them and their friends: Let them stop paying taxes. Forever.

By exempting the rich from taxes, we solve all of their problems. With the possible exceptions of actually being on a bridge when it collapses or getting a case of lung cancer from polluted air. But, for the good of the country, those are risks they are willing to take.

God love 'em.

I understand that you are at a loss.

Believe me, I have felt that way after most of the elections in my adult life.

Regarding your latest post; (trying very hard to overlook the insults and comparison of Barack Obama to Hitler) We agree that the United States is in a perilous position today.

How can you even conceive that Barack Obama is responsible for that?

"Conservatives" have dominated American politics for the last 40 years.

They have written virtually every federal law and policy. How can you not see that their ideas have failed under their own weight?

They have mushroomed the national debt. They have started wars that are inflaming religious zealots and dragging our country into disrepute around the world. They have legitimized torture and disregarded our Constitution. They have abandoned our great cities and denounced those who live in them. They have preached small government but spied on our own citizens. They have tried to divide our people into haves and have-nots, patriots and traitors, "real" Americans and - what? - fake Americans.

But, Ed, you really should take heart. If, in fact, Barack Obama is elected President, there will be no retribution. No one is going to confiscate your money, invite terrorists, "convert" your kids to homosexuality, denounce your God, take your guns, censor your speech, or try to prevent you from voting.

And let me say that no one is going to challenge your patriotism. There will be no more "pro-American" places and "anti-American" ones.

The Democrats will not try to create a permanent one-party state as the Republicans have. There will still be a place for your ideas in government.

Obama has a far different vision than Bush/Cheney/McCain/Palin, and it certainly looks as though the majority of Americans want to see if, working together - all Americans - that vision can be achieved.

There is no doubt that the road ahead of us is difficult and will require sacrifice from each of us.

Have no doubt that you and I and Joe the Plumber will each have to pay our fair share to bail us all out of this mess, Ed.

You can start blaming Obama before he takes office if you want to, but I don't how that helps anyone, Ed.

We all know who drove this country into the ditch.

The question is; Will you help us push it out, Ed?

The American raid into Syria yesterday seems calculated to frighten Americans into voting for John McCain.

Obviously, this illegal attack, justified or not, could have been accomplished using unmanned drones firing remotely-controlled missiles, as is done constantly in Pakistan and Iraq. This would have given everyone deniability - the Americans and the Syrians.

So, why would the U.S. Army fly four helicopters into Syrian territory and have forty U.S. Special Forces step onto Syrian soil to kill Syrian citizens?

Clearly, the United States wanted to wrap our flag around this event in order to humiliate the Syrian government and people.

Why would they do this? The only explanation that I can think of is that they are hoping to provoke Syrian retaliation against American forces.

And why would they want to risk the lives of American soldiers and escalate already high levels of tension between the U.S. and Syria?

It is clear to me that this attack on Syria is a clumsy attempt to salvage John McCain's political campaign by frightening American voters. The Republicans still believe that they can scare people into voting Republican.

The Republicans, who loudly claim to put "Country First", are willing to sacrifice human lives - American troops and Syrian civilians - and risk sparking yet another war in order to scare out their base of low-information, low-education voters.

If they succeed in getting some American soldiers killed someplace other than Iraq or Afghanistan, it will be a huge boost for John McCain.

Like the monster (relax - it's a simile), Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has apparently risen up against her creator, and has "gone rogue", tearing up the countryside scaring the hell out of undecided voters.

Recent reports from within the McCain camp, and the Palin camp (apparently they are no longer camping together) indicate that Palin feels that her horrendous positive ratings are the fault the ex-Bush advisers that McCain has assigned as her handlers. Seriously.

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said one McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else."

Wow. I guess it's pretty bad.

Across the spectrum of Republicanism, the recriminations for a disastrous campaign have begun in earnest. Though I make light, this is serious stuff.

I have heard it suggested that after McCain's defeat (sorry to be presumptuous), that Palin will condemn the Senator for not being committed enough to the True Road of Conservatism and attempt to hijack the right-wing, "low information", "populist" wing of the party from the moderate, educated, "elite" wing of the Republican Party.

Running in four years on a Bible-based, xenophobic message, Palin will call the villagers to her side and equip them with pitchforks and torches, and storm the castle of Republicanism.

All very colorful, but admittedly a scary scenario.

It could go something like this: "repression of the poor (peasants), deportations of ethnic minorities, and the persecution of unaffiliated persons, characterized by widespread police surveillance, widespread suspicion of "saboteurs", imprisonment, and killings."

That's a description of the Great Stalinist Purge from Wikipedia.

The Republicans are definitely forming up into a circular firing squad. The question is, who will survive?

I predict that the Republican Party "base" will completely fracture, and one faction will take a lunge to the right, with a message of xenophobia, cultural fascism and lightly-coded racism. Sarah Palin would be the perfect person to front those raving, maniacal supporters we see yelling out for her to "Kill him!".

Once again avoiding the real issue of our economic security, the current line of attack against Barack Obama is that he's a socialist. I don't capitalise the term socialist because it really isn't the proper name of an economic philosophy any longer, any more than capitalism is, or socialism's evil cousin, communinism.

(Of course, that is the real message of the Republicans; Obama is not like us - he's a godless Communist. He's Huey Newton, Al Sharpton and Willie Horton, all rolled into a big, bad, black man who wants to steal your money.)

Various competing theories of organizing and conducting a nation's economy along some philosophical set of rules seems utterly quaint here in the 21st century.

The fact is that "natural" economic forces are so powerful - based on human needs and wants, abundance or shortages of resources, control of "capital" - that multinational corporations play national governments the way a large manufacturer plays off different states or regions; extorting tax breaks, avoiding protective laws for labor, the environment, and even basic human rights in exchange for bringing jobs and capital.

Is China "Communist?" China is a seething, hyper-competitive marketplace of firms and ideas, where the Communist concepts of collectivism and state-provided minimum living conditions were abandoned decades ago. What could be more capitalist than intellectual piracy?

After decades of fighting, and some 58,000 Americans killed - along with as many as six million Vietnamese and Laotians - to keep Vietnam from turning Communist, I only learned upon delivery that my new bed, which I bought at Crate and Barrel, was made there.

Is Europe "Capitalist"? Or "Socialist?" What difference does it make? Every country is constantly in a process of evolving their economy in ways that either push money up or down, those with large amounts of money trying to write laws that will help them continue to amass more, struggling with those who are concerned with providing a minimum, humane standard of life for the poorest citizens.

"Socialism"? What do you call it when the U.S. government uses taxpayer dollars to purchase stock and controlling interest in banks and insurance companies?

The Republican's current economic philosophy is "Privatization". Privatization means that legitimate government functions - in which every citizen has an interest - everything from armies to roads, bridges and schools, to Social Security should be sold off, or given away to corporations to run for profit. Corporations, of course, are nothing more than a groups of individuals who have been granted special rights - including, apparently, the right to "spread the debt" of their losses to the taxpayers.

Barack Obama mentioned, in a casual conversation with the enigmatic Joe the Plumber that if he, Joe, were fortunate enough to be making $280,000 a year, as Joe suggested, that Joe shouldn't expect to avoid paying taxes. That taxation is, as it always has been, a mechanism to spread the wealth around.

"Socialist?" Or just American?

When I came down the driveway, I had a feeling that last night might have been the last night on earth for my Obama yard sign, being Friday.

I glanced toward the spot, to the left of my driveway, where the sign had stood. Sure enough, it was gone. I walked over, pulled out the wire frame, and turned to get my newspaper of my mailbox.

Squinting into the brilliant morning sun, it appeared for a minute that my mailbox had been stolen too.

Actually, according to Waukesha County Sheriff's Deputy Elfton, someone had driven up to it and pushed it over with their vehicle. He saw the tire track on the grass that I had missed.

Then they picked it up and threw it down, apparently trying to smash it. (I built it to last.)

They bent up the flag and then, to make sure I understood why they had come, they stomped on the Obama logo.

"This is just terrible", he said "What is wrong with people?

I pointed out the footprint on the Obama logo. "I guess they were trying to send me a message," I said.

"They did", replied Deputy Elfton. "They're stupid."

I asked the Deputy if he thought I should feel threatened. He said "They were probably drunk. I wouldn't worry about it. But, I'll tell you what. If you notice anything else... I mean anything... I don't care if it's an egg on your car or toilet paper in your trees, you call us right away, all right?"

As we walked up the driveway, Deputy Elfton lamented the loss of respect for individuals and sense of community over the last 30 years.

"Everyone's in it for themselves. All they care about are money and things."

"What ever happened to civil political discussion?" he asked. "Where you argue, and then shake hands?"

I had an answer, but just thanked him and apologized for taking up his time.

"I hope this is the worst thing you have to deal with today," I said.

"You too," Deputy Elfton replied. "This is just shameful."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ADDED]

A shout out to my next-door neighbor who just stopped over to offer to help me set up the mailbox. Very nice guy. Thanks, Pat!

 

The Alaska State Legislature tonight found potential Vice President of the United States Sarah Palin guilty of abusing the power of her office as Governor of the State of Alaska in settling a family dispute.

This alone disqualifies her for office, state or federal, and confirms that she should never have been elected for public service, let alone selected for nomination for the Vice Presidency of the United States of America.

This verdict also confirms that John McCain is incapable of separating his own personal obsession for office and personal gratification from the welfare of the nation he once served.

This is the end of the McCain campaign for the Presidency, and confines Sarah Palin to a sad footnote in history.

Now that the Bush economic bailout plan has been defeated in the House of Representatives, and we remain on the brink of a total collapse of the American economy, the question is, will John McCain continue to "put his country first" and re-suspend his campaign until such time as an agreement is reached (or at least until Thursday when Sarah Palin is to make her debate debut)?

By all accounts the bar here was pretty low for McCain to demonstrate his leadership. All he had to do was deliver the Republicans. As Chris Matthews put it: "McCain called "Charge!" and the Republicans retreated."

Nice work, John.

Next time, maybe it would be better if you just phoned it in. At least it would save some gas.

With the economic crisis highlighting his vulnerability on the most important issue to American voters, his poll numbers tanking and a media revolt on his hands, John McCain apparently felt the best thing to do was call time out.

McCain has reportedly "suspended" his presidential campaign and called for the cancellation of the first presidential debate, scheduled for this Friday.

After the Obama campaign contacted the McCain campaign this morning and suggested the two candidates agree on principles and a joint approach to the current economic situation, McCain pulled a double cross and made the unilateral announcement this afternoon.

McCain attempted to cast his actions as an act of public service, but the fact is, his campaign has been in such disarray that every day that he can avoid campaigning - hurricane days, economic crisis days - can only help. Each day that he appears in public solidifies his image as disconnected and confused.

Prior to yesterday, McCain had not given a press conference in weeks. His own handlers don't trust him not to shoot himself in the foot. And of course, his Vice-Presidential pick, Sarah Palin is muzzled for the same reason.

In fact, the media is so fed up with the campaign's inaccessibility that they threatened not to provide cameras for Palin's photo op meetings with world leaders in New York yesterday - her first ever. After McCain's handlers barred reporters - but allowed photographers to attend the first few seconds of these meetings, news organizations said that they would provide no coverage at all.

The McCain people realized that it was all about the photos, so reporters were allowed to hear Palin exchange banal pleasantries, but of course, not allowed to ask questions of Palin. (Never!)

McCain's call for a suspension of the electoral process is ludicrous. The debate should go on.

I for one want to hear what he has to say about his role in the deregulation of the financial industry. Don't you?

[FURTHER DEVELOPMENT]

Apparently, the McCain campaign is now proposing that the Presidential debate be re-scheduled to REPLACE the Vice-Presidential debate next Thursday, in which Senator Joseph Biden is expected to expose first-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as completely unqualified to serve as a chief executive of the United States of America.

How convenient!

 

I have written a couple of times about the Republican strategy - or is it a philosophy? - of restricting voting to the white and well-heeled.

Republicans assume that anyone of color, anyone who actually works for a living, anyone who's young, will not vote for them.

Therefore, they have a comprehensive plan to throw a monkey wrench into the election machinery - actually a whole toolbox full of wrenches.

I thought about making a list of all of the "voter suppression" plans - these used to be called "dirty tricks' until Karl Rove legitimized them with a respectable-sounding name - that have come to light so far, but I don't have time to look them all up. This one, which came up today, is particularly reprehensible.

In Michigan, where unemployment is 8.5% and soaring, where the foreclosure rate is the third highest in the nation and jumps by double digits every month, some might see a challenge. The Republicans see an opportunity.

One of the standard Republican "suppression" tools is called voter "caging". This process calls for neighborhoods of working class people to be targeted by zip code, and sent a piece of Registered Mail - which requires a signature to deliver. These pieces are marked "Do Not Forward".

If the piece is returned - because, for example, the voter refuses to sign for it, the voter isn't present for delivery, the voter has moved, the voter's name or address were incorrect - or the voter is homeless - the Republicans demand that the voter be removed from the rolls. That their right to vote be canceled.

In Michigan, where the housing/job/credit/mortgage/banking crisis came piled on top of the auto industry collapse, a lot of people don't or can't live where they did a while ago.

Thousands of these folks may show up at the polls on election day only to find out that they are no longer registered voters.

The Republicans do not want these people to vote.

In the Republicans' ideal world, there would only be one party. Karl Rove calls it a "permanent Republican majority".

Hang onto your votes, my friends.

 

 

52 days before the general election, Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen, a Republican and co-chair of GOP presidential hopeful John McCain's Wisconsin campaign, is attempting to throw the voting process into chaos.

This cynical act is likely to shave thousands of votes off of Wisconsin's results.

By filing his lawsuit at this time, even though he is well aware that the software necessary to fully comply with the ironically-named "Help America Vote Act " is still not working, Van Hollen clearly hopes to discourage or prevent duly registered Wisconsin voters from casting their ballots in the Presidential election.

This should really be no surprise, as Republicans voter-suppression efforts will be at an all time high this November. Their goal is to, once again, tie so many state ballot counts into knots that the Supreme Court can once again ignore the election altogether and appoint their candidate as President.

This kind of brute force politics belies the blathering of John McCain about reform and working across the party lines.

If the Republicans are successful in throwing this election to the Supreme Court, it will be a tragic day for this country.