ACORN: Obama's Watergate?

Rightwing world is in a tizzy over ACORN, saying it could be Obama's Watergate. Seems to me, since most of them believe Watergate was simply a baseless liberal/Democratic Party hit job against Nixon, it'd probably be natural for them to think of ACORN as a Watergate type situation. They know in their heart of hearts there's nothing behind ACORN. They're just salivating over the idea that something, anything might chip away at Obama's popularity.

So when you hear them talking about how ACORN is Obama's Watergate, they are - whether they know it or not - admitting that the ACORN "scandal" is merely a trumped up, baseless hit job.

That Crazy Liberal Media

It's not that I don't have time to blog, it's just that so much of what goes into blogging is eluding me. I'm keeping up with the news but it's draining. There's just so much stupid out there. I have the same complaints about the media everyone does.

So much striving for balance - which obscures truth.

There is either true or false - there is no "well that's your opinion and this is my opinion." There is only truth. The ongoing, never-ending, mainly manufactured ideological struggle between "right" and "left" is infuriating.

I try and stick to Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann - Chris Matthews on Hardball if I have the time. But I get so very tired of the fake outrage debates.

Now that the older ones are dying off, MSNBC seems to be trying to grow their own new rightwing pundits, They have rightwing pundits in training on their various "news"/talk shows. They have to keep the shit stirring. It's what pays the bills.

It's not really news. It's just something to keep our attention in between commercial breaks. I'm sure there's no nobility behind MSNBC allowing Rachel Maddow to host a show there. They recognized a financial hole and they filled it, that's all. It's like in the 90s when Michael Moore had a show on the Fox network. It made them some money for a while. Rachel and Keith are making MSNBC some cash, for now. More power to 'em. May it continue. But I remember 8 years ago when people were afraid to speak out against Bush Cheney war plans for fear of being called unpatriotic or worse, MSNBC's Dan Abrams would have someone like Margaret Cho on to interview her about the peace movement. And he'd look into the camera and roll his eyes, as if to say, "...What a loon! Can you believe I found someone who doesn't agree with President Bush? She must be fucking high." We were all just a joke to you then, MSNBC. I'm sure we still are today.

No, I don't have much faith that MSNBC has any more scruples than Fox News Network or CNN. Happy to see they're pandering to my liberal bias in order to sell Tide detergent, though.

Al Franken Reasons with the Anti-Obamacare Crowd - and they Listen!

I'm so proud of Al Franken. He's someone I've followed and seriously loved since about 1975 when I first became aware of him through Saturday Night Live. The Franken and Davis Show, remember? Excellent.

This past month it seems every time I turn on the TV I see Larry the Cable Guy wannabes hollering at Congressmen and shouting down and mocking brave, disabled people fighting for their right to health care. I don't know what's worse - the redneck assholes parroting their - in my humble opinion - lunatic, paranoid messiahs in the rightwing punditry game or the Senators and House members sweating bullets, thinking they might actually represent "real" America.

Al Franken shows us all how it can be done. "Come let us reason together." Politely. Find common ground. Discuss. Without malice.

Tom Clay - What The World Needs Now

Tom Clay - What The World Needs Now

If you haven't heard this - or if you haven't heard it in a while - this would be the day to hear it.

The song arrangements of "What the World Needs Now" and "Abraham, Martin and John" are dated and kind of corny now but this recording, put together by midwestern Deejay Tom Clay, is very moving. There are clips of JFK, RFK, MLK and Ted Kennedy giving that horribly sad and breathtakingly beautiful eulogy at Bobby's funeral. Gets to me every time. The songs may be dated but the editing on here is still pretty amazing - long before digital. Tom Clay had a way with a blade and a reel-to-reel.

RIP Ted Kennedy. The most effective Senator America has ever seen. America will not be the same without you.

But we can try.

Thanks A Lot, Tom Ridge

Tell me something I don't know.

Tom Ridge, head of Homeland Security under GWB, says he suspected - at the time Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld were playing political games with the terror alerts. It's not something he's spent years wrestling with in his mind. No. In his book he says - at the time he suspected the color alert threat levels were being manipulated for Bush's political gain. He says that his office of Homeland Security had no reason to feel that the colors needed changing. Apparently, his hands were tied. And everyone played along.

I'm pretty sure most people who were paying attention at the time were not shocked by Ridge's come to Jesus moment. All I'm left wondering is, why now? Oh yeah, there's no mystery. He's selling a book. So much for Mr. Integrity.

This angered me so much when I heard the news. Watching Chris Matthews on Hardball last night I was amazed - not at Ridge's confession but at Chris' amazement. Did someone as politically astute as the MSNBC Hardball host not have the same suspicions? Maybe he, like many a good American, was only trying to be patriotic, consciously or unconsciously suppressing such conspiratorial thoughts about the Bush administration.

A lot of good you do us now, Mr. Ridge. You could have been a stand up guy at the time and expressed your concerns openly and honestly with the American people. You could have resigned when it mattered.

Color me disgusted.

Also, color me "right all along".

The Rush L., G. Beck, S. Palin, Teabag, Birther Conspiracy to Kill the GOP

It must be a liberal conspiracy, right? The more some of these people carry on with their crazy fake outrage about that mythical "other America" that's supposedly destroying the equally mythical "real America" - the less powerful and less relevant the Republican Party becomes. This attack-anything-that-moves political grandstanding by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, etc, etc, etc... is only serving to devalue the party of which they claim to be staunch defenders.

So, my new theory, which I will believe until proven wrong beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that all these and other such characters are merely plants. They aren't really conservatives or Republicans. They are undercover liberals and Democrats, sent to destroy the Republican Party from within. Fear not, my fellow Dems and Libs - these people are on our side! They're on a secret mission and it .... IS ..... Working!

Last I checked there were only 5 states solidly in the corner of the Republican party. 37 States are leaning toward or solidly backing the Democrats. Only a few are undecideds. Even Texas is going to be a swing state in 2010.

So, good work, Comrade Rush. Good work, Sarah Palin. Good work Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck. And to all of you. You are bringing down the GOP. The more you spout your insane drivel the more you drive people away from the party of Nixon and Reagan and I give you a standing ovation for that. Thanks. Godspeed.

On Arresting Scholars in their Own Homes

Once upon a time I was outside my first floor apartment trying to clear some gunk out of the window sill - this one window had been shut for so long and I wanted to get some natural air into the room. I was out there with a small knife for a while, trying to remove all this sealant crap, when I noticed that weird feeling; that tingly feeling like you're being watched, you know? I turned toward the parking area and, sure enough, some well intentioned neighbor had called the cops on me. Uh, oh. Well, I just went about what I was doing. They saw me see them.

After a while of watching me and my pathetic non handyman ways, they ... just ... left. Not a word. No questioning me about my suspicious activities. No tasering. Nothing.

I guess that's what happens in America when you're not a respected University scholar. You can look suspicious, look as though you're breaking into your own home, and the cops just ...leave you alone! Good thing I never really aspired to scholar-hood. They'd have arrested me, for sure.

Side note: When the President says that police acted stupidly for arresting a black man in his own home, because a neighbor suspected he was a thief - that doesn't mean the President thinks all cops are stupid. It doesn't even mean that the President thinks the particular cops who arrested Professor Gates in his own home were stupid. It means, in this isolated incident, they acted stupidly. Is that so hard to understand?

I guess it is - for some of my fellow non-scholars.