Sunday, April 27, 2008

Hillary, the Chameleon

We’ve fallen behind the news cycle here on the Balcony. Hillary won the Pennsylvania primary by, what, ten percentage points, but from the media hype the day after you’d have thought she won by ninety. ABC News reported breathlessly about Hillary’s “double-digit” victory, and how she had successfully appealed to gun owners, bowlers, and beer drinkers.

Sweet Jesus, the day-after stupidity was nearly too much for a sane, thinking person to accept. Bowlers? Beer drinkers? The absurdity of Hillary Rodham Clinton trying to pass herself off as a “Regular Jane!”

The mainstream media is full of nitwits who rarely ask questions that matter, and even when they remember what it is a real journalist is supposed to do and ask a direct question, they too easily let the candidates get off the hook with bland answers. Hillary Clinton has been running for President for a long time now and I still don’t know what bedrock values she wouldn’t -- under any but the direst circumstances -- compromise away. (In fairness, I can’t answer that question about Barack Obama, either.)

Hillary Clinton is a successful politician, but she’s not a leader. Hillary commissions polls and then adjusts her positions accordingly. Leaders present their followers with positions and policies based on values. This doesn’t mean that leaders are infallible; after all, George W. Bush has steadfastly and slavishly pursued policies based on Conservative values that have inflicted tremendous damage on our republic.

I’m ready for a woman – white, African-American, Asian or other – to be President of the United States, as long as she has a vision for the nation, respect for the rule of law, and a willingness to honestly confront our most pressing issues, such as, and not necessarily in order of priority, economic inequality, the environment, foreign relations and health care.

Hillary’s campaign people are in Indiana now, polling likely voters. I expect it won’t be long before Hillary rolls out a homily about her long lost Uncle George or Samuel or Randolph or Clay, a salt-of-the-Earth farmer who settled in Indiana and tilled the land, worshipped God, and was the proud and responsible owner of a .30-.30 rifle, a 12-gauge over & under shotgun, and a Civil War vintage revolver.

I can hear Hillary’s stump speech now: “I remember my Uncle George, who loved this great state and its people. Uncle George believed in the old-time values of hard-work, faith and self-reliance. When I think of my uncle, I know that I too am a Hoosier in my heart, one of you. When I’m elected, I promise you I’ll find a place in my administration for Bobby Knight or Larry Bird.”

Or some such shameless pandering.

I may be ready for a female president, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready for Hillary. Her hubby duped me once, but I never trusted him again, and I don’t remember the Clinton years with fondness; Hillary’s cut from the same duplicitous, smarmy Ivy League cloth. Power’s her trip, and she’ll say or do anything to obtain it and keep it.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Jack Kemp - Football Hero, Political Hack

Jack Kemp played ten years in the old AFL. During his career Kemp tossed 114 touchdown passes and 183 interceptions. His average pass covered 6.9 yards, not great by the standards set years later by Dan Marino, John Elway, and Brett Favre.

Kemp made out better in politics. He served in the House of Representatives for many years and ran for the White House with Bob Dole in 1996. Dole & Kemp went down in defeat to Clinton & Gore, though when Clinton got caught up in the Lewinsky mess Kemp got the last laugh. At least he didn’t have to answer embarrassing questions about cigars and semen-stained dresses under oath and surrounded by high-priced DC lawyers.

Like most arch-Conservatives, Jack Kemp is horrified that John McCain will be the GOP’s standard bearer in November. In the end, Kemp will hold his nose and support McCain – as will other staunch Conservatives, like that fat toad, Rush Limbaugh -- but that doesn’t mean he’s happy about it. In fact, Kemp is as depressed as a Buffalo winter.

I came across the following Kemp quote in a recent edition of the Nation: “…those who would weaken our nation’s defense, wave a white flag to al-Qaida, socialize our healthcare system, and promote income redistribution and class warfare instead of economic growth and equality of opportunity.”

I happened to be on an airplane flying to San Jose when I came across this twaddle, and when I burst out laughing the flight attendant immediately came over to see if I needed anything. Apparently, it’s no longer acceptable to laugh out loud aboard an airplane.

“Jack Kemp is an idiot,” I said, pointing to the quote. The flight attendant raised her eyebrows, concerned now that I might be dangerous. “Does he really think things could get worse if the country doesn’t elect another right-wing pinhead? My God, how’d this fool ever get elected to Congress? ‘Socialize our healthcare system.’ Does this pecker-head have any idea of the disgrace that our for-profit health insurance system has become? We don’t provide care, we specialize in denying care. That’s what for-profit health care does best. The more care the big insurance companies deny, the more dough they make.”

I was warming to my subject now, building a head of outrage and the flight attendant was clearly worried. A routine morning flight from Santa Barbara to San Jose was turning into something ugly.

“And how about this ‘class warfare’ horseshit?” I asked the flight attendant. “What does Kemp think has been going on in this country for the past twenty-five years? It’s class warfare alright, an all out pitched battle against the middle-class and the working-class by free market ideologues. Redistribution of wealth my ass. We’ve redistributed – to the wealthiest citizens. Tax cuts for the rich, subsidies to corporations, no-bid contracts for cronies! Is this what Kemp means by ‘equality of opportunity?’”

“Sir,” the flight attendant said, glancing nervously toward the cockpit door. “Please take your seat and fasten your seat belt.”

Whoa, I didn’t realize I’d risen from my seat, or that I was shouting or that my fellow passengers were staring at me. This wasn’t good, not in fascist, reactive, Gulag-loving America. I had a quick vision of Dick Cheney coming at me with a cattle prod.

I smiled at the flight attendant, spread my arms wide, just your average, un-armed American. “It’s OK,” I said. “I’m fine. My medications will kick in any second now. I suffer from Terminal Outrage, a result of seven years of Bush-Cheney and all the pig-headed, reactionary, and un-American policies they have shoved down the throats of good people. They’ve shrunk the great America heart to the size of a raisin! I love my country and I want it to live up to its ideals. I revere Thomas Jefferson, Lincoln and FDR. I’m fine, really, go back to your laptops and Blackberries. I’ll keep it together for the remainder of the flight. Don’t forget to vote this November. Vote as if your life depends on it. Vote your pocketbook. Vote for your children and their children. Thank you for listening.”

I sat down, buckled my seat belt and pulled the Sky Mall magazine out of the seat pocket. The Nation would have to wait until I was locked safely in my hotel room. I began flipping the glossy pages, through electronic mole zappers and $1500 BBQ grills. Yes, a little consumerism to calm the nerves. I’ll see you in Hell, Jack Kemp, you and the rest of the architects of American inequality.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

WE AIN'T LEAVING

“Trapped, trapped like rats.” Cowardly Lion, the Wizard of Oz

And that sums up the U.S. position in Iraq. If we continue our Occupation, violence will continue; if we pack up our camp, give up our desire for permanent military installations and access to Iraqi oil, violence will continue, at least until a group or individual seizes power and squashes all opposition.

As I listened to part of the Petreus-Crocker dog & pony show earlier this week, the language they used struck me. Unabashedly imperialist, they might as well have been speaking of Hoboken, New Jersey, or Delano, California, as of Iraq. It was all about American interests and next to nothing about what the Iraqi people may desire for their nation; it was as if Petreus and Crocker were dealing with children who cannot be trusted to make their own decisions.

Clearly, American policy makers don’t care what the Iraqis want. Why should they? We invaded and occupied Iraq to serve American interests, not to liberate the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein or establish Democracy in the Middle East. The only rational that makes any sense for this grand example in imperial overreach is securing access to the sea of oil buried beneath the sand. The U.S. constitutes around 4% of the world market for goods and services, but consumes in the neighborhood of 25% of the world’s resources. And guess what? Most of the resources that turn our economic engine are located in other countries.

Throughout human history, powerful nations have invaded, subdued and occupied weaker nations. Different guises were employed to justify these exercises of raw might: God, civilizing the natives, vanquishing Communism or toppling dictators who became rambunctious or began to speak of nationalizing industries. Once invested in an Occupation, imperial powers have been reluctant to let go; they are usually driven out by unceasing guerilla warfare or because the cost of the Occupation – in coin or blood -- becomes too great for the imperial power to sustain.

My son is eleven. I have no doubt that the U.S. will be militarily involved in Iraq when my son turns eighteen. Now that we’ve made an investment in coin and blood, we must justify it. The same cowardly arguments making the rounds today will make the rounds in the future. We’re in deep, heavily invested, and only an extraordinary political leader with true courage can extricate us from this debacle.

Given the current crop of presidential contenders, I’m not holding my breath.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

The New Grapes of Wrath

“And it came about that owners no longer worked on their land. They farmed on paper; and they forgot the land, the smell, the feel of it, and remembered only that they owned it, remembered only what they gained and lost by it.” John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Doesn’t it feel that America is about to reap the grapes of wrath? Do you get the feeling that we’re trapped in train car decoupled from the locomotive, hurtling backwards toward a sheer cliff and a two-thousand foot free fall?

Not to hear our morally, intellectually, and curiosity-challenged President; according to George W. Bush, everything is moving along the tracks just fine, according to plan. For purposes of sheer survival, you’d think GOP bosses would do everything in their power to keep Bush away from microphones, press conferences and speaking engagements, because every time Bush opens his mouth the Republicans drive another nail into their coffin. The same goes for Dick Cheney. While young Americans die in a pointless war of which Cheney was chief architect and head cheerleader, Cheney goes fishing with Middle Eastern potentates every bit as corrupt as he is.

I haven’t felt such acute loathing since Richard Nixon occupied the White House. I can’t even watch George W. Bush throw out the first pitch at a baseball game – and I consider myself a baseball nut. This pinhead is our President! This embarrassment to every good impulse our country ever stood for? Does the Supreme Court still think installing this joker in the White House was a sound idea?

It’s simply astonishing to listen to George W. Bush speak on the state of the economy or the Occupation of Iraq. The disconnect from reality! The giddy denial of facts! The total disregard for experience! Why angry Americans haven’t stormed the White House gates demanding Bush’s removal from office is beyond me. A populace with a normal level of outrage and a functioning sense of indignation would have exhausted all patience and tolerance long ago, taken to the streets of the nation’s capitol to overturn cars and set them on fire, battle the Blackwater riot squad with sticks and stones, bricks and bottles; nothing less than outright mayhem seems to get the attention of the American ruling class.

Bush and his GOP cronies have sodomized America on a mind-blowing scale. Even now, near the end of his disastrous reign, Bush’s phallus is buried deep, his hands are locked on our hips and his trousers are down around his ankles and he’s banging away with a smirk on his face, this twisted, perverse product of the ruling elite, a man for whom utter failure is a way of life.

Regardless of political orientation, Americans should be outraged. The Bush junta has no plan for the Iraq follies except more deaths, more waste, more shame; they have no plan to deal with gasoline prices that will soon soar north of $4 a gallon; they have no plan for the economy except a stupid tax rebate scheme that will send Americans down to Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target and Circuit City, there to gorge themselves on products – made in China. And in the long run this helps us – and by us I mean people who work for wages -- how? Public investment in school construction, teacher training, highway and bridge repair, energy conservation, job training, mass transit projects that put money into America and make that money multiply – that would be a true stimulus program. But the Bush Junta’s “free market, private is always better than public” ideology prevents them from taking that sensible course; the best idea they can come up with is to give people money so they can buy imported goods made by exploited workers.

The Grapes of Wrath, then, and now. Maybe it’s true that everything that dies one day comes back, maybe we are once again heading into an era when government is seen as an entity that counterbalances corporate power and provides for the common good, rather than an evil that stifles, strangles and steals.

Remember your Steinbeck: “We all got to figure. There’s some way to stop this. It’s not like lightning or earthquakes. We’ve got a bad thing made by men, and by God that’s something we can change.”