And republicans wonder why they're caricatured as nuckledragging neanderthals.
It's really pretty simple, if your a John McCain Republican: "Viagra good. Insurance cover. Birth control bad. Insurance no cover."
For some reason I feel like eating raw meat.
- Mark
Friday, July 11, 2008
EXPLAINING THE McCAIN VOTE, IV
Speaking of the McCain vote, I'm wondering how Republican Conservatives are going to spin this article on John McCain's infidelity, from the LA Times. This shouldn't be an issue for republicans (or anyone else) except for the fact that (1) republicans live and breathe family values (or at least claim to) and (2) John McCain's public statements, and his book, don't mesh with his signed court documents. My bet is that the Republican Good News Fairy will help them ignore the topic. It's much too inconvenient.
- Mark
P.S. Click on the Tom Tomorrow comic if you can't read the captions.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
CHINA, U.S. MILITARISM AND AMERICA'S FUTURE
Robert Scheer nails it when it comes to understanding how out of touch our increasingly militarized culture has become. Looking at the growing relationship between China and Taiwan, he sees a new "consumer revolution" fostering civility between these two Chinese speaking nations.
The political descendants of Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek holding hands. Can you imagine?
The benefits of these developments are obvious. That is, except to American militarists, who believe pretend patriotism and more weapons make the nation ... and that expanded military budgets make the politician.
Still, we're told we need to break the bank every time the militarists soil themselves, which seems to be every time they see a shadow.
And when Iran or the bearded guys hiding out in Pakastani caves don't work it's all too easy to break out the China Card.
At that time, I'm sure, we can tell the Chinese we aren't going to pay them what we owe them (hey, if George W. Bush can threaten future Social Security recipients with non-payment, we can certainly do it to the Chinese). That way they won't be able to afford the weapons we think they're thinking of building. Under this scenario, we remain at the top of the world (kind of) ... even deeper in debt, no longer masters of our own destiny.
Higher inflation, increased taxes, and dependence on the financial kindness of others may be the price we have to pay, but at least we'll have the most expensive military money can buy - even if we can't find and kill a sick man in a Pakastani cave with it.
George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower would be proud.
- Mark
P.S. At the center of the top photo is Hu Jintao, general secretary of China's Communist Party. He's shaking hands with the Chairman of Taiwan's Kuomintang Party, Lien Chan, April 28, 2007, in Beijing, China. Lien Chan was leading Taiwanese delegation to the the third Cross-Taiwan Strait Economic, Trade and Cultural Forum since 2005.
You can't trust the Chinese. I don't care if you're talking about those communists on the mainland or the other guys on Taiwan — they just won't follow the war-games script that our weapons hawks had counted on ... No longer pretending to be enemies, where they engaged in angry rhetoric while doing much business together on the side, a public love affair has broken out across the Straits of Formosa. On Friday, scheduled direct flights began between the mainland and its breakaway island for the first time in 60 years, and the invasion of tourists clicking their cameras was on.After citing growing investments and academic exchanges between the two nations, Scheer points out that the leader of the "old nationalist Kuomintang Party, which won the recent Taiwan election, quickly went to the mainland to pledge the dawn of a new era."
The political descendants of Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek holding hands. Can you imagine?The benefits of these developments are obvious. That is, except to American militarists, who believe pretend patriotism and more weapons make the nation ... and that expanded military budgets make the politician.
That peace has broken out is a nightmare scenario for America's military hawks in desperate need of an excuse for soaking up more than half of the U.S. government's discretionary budget. There was real panic when Mikhail Gorbachev formally ended the Cold War and George H.W. Bush announced a 30 percent cut in military spending in 1992. Then came the 9-11 terrorist attacks and the wildest peacetime spending spree in history. No one in power noticed that the expensive weapons were designed to defeat an enemy that no longer existed.The result of 9/11 and the rise of American Militarism is not simply tied to America spending money like drunken sailors, or to the fact that the Bush administration wants to bury America's Constitution. Rather, as we strain to pay for weapons we can't afford, we are now faced with very real threats to America's economic well-being and our standard of living.
Still, we're told we need to break the bank every time the militarists soil themselves, which seems to be every time they see a shadow. And when Iran or the bearded guys hiding out in Pakastani caves don't work it's all too easy to break out the China Card.
Fomenting fear of China is essential to making the case for the whole range of high-tech war toys that no longer have a legitimate military purpose. But it's a sick joke. We are paying the Chinese the interest on the money we borrow from them to build very expensive weapons to counter weapons the Chinese have no intention of building.But we still need to prepare, no doubt, because of what the Chinese might do, in ten years ... or so. From Scheer's column:
The latest word from the Pentagon is that "the intelligence community estimates China will take until the end of this decade or later to produce a modern force capable of defeating a moderate-size adversary."Let's see, if we're already spending more than ten times what the Chinese are spending on their military, in ten years we should be 100 times more powerful than China - like we are today - right? I feel muscular already.
At that time, I'm sure, we can tell the Chinese we aren't going to pay them what we owe them (hey, if George W. Bush can threaten future Social Security recipients with non-payment, we can certainly do it to the Chinese). That way they won't be able to afford the weapons we think they're thinking of building. Under this scenario, we remain at the top of the world (kind of) ... even deeper in debt, no longer masters of our own destiny.
Higher inflation, increased taxes, and dependence on the financial kindness of others may be the price we have to pay, but at least we'll have the most expensive military money can buy - even if we can't find and kill a sick man in a Pakastani cave with it.
George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower would be proud.
- Mark
P.S. At the center of the top photo is Hu Jintao, general secretary of China's Communist Party. He's shaking hands with the Chairman of Taiwan's Kuomintang Party, Lien Chan, April 28, 2007, in Beijing, China. Lien Chan was leading Taiwanese delegation to the the third Cross-Taiwan Strait Economic, Trade and Cultural Forum since 2005.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
BUSH & CLIMATE CHANGE ... YET ANOTHER PROFILE IN FAILURE
Remember when the Bush administration tried to alter, then stalled, and finally released (under court order) it's climate report four years late? The report concluded - to absolutely no one's surprise - that climate change (a.k.a. "global warming") is occurring.
Today, after the Bush administration pushed the richest nations to ignore the poor and developing nations of the world, the LA Times is reporting that the most advanced nations called on the rapidly developing nations to ... drum roll please ... cut their emissions output because of "climate change" that is occurring.
For their part the richest nations acknowledged that they also had to pursue "a long-term target for emissions reductions" ... and promised to think about cutting their emission levels in half, some time in the future ... if the poorer nations did so first. In effect, with the Bush administration leading the way, the G-8 nations have simply agreed to kick the can down the road to the next generation.
President Bush called the G-8 summit "a success." Those in the reality based world called it what it really was: Yet another example of failed leadership on the part of the United States under President Bush.
- Mark
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
McCAIN'S "DOUBLE-TALK" EXPRESS ...
Sen. Jim Webb sponsored and then pushed through a new GI Bill that John McCain opposed, and then missed votes on. His rationale for opposing the GI Bill? If our military personnel had the opportunity to go to college they would not stay in the military. That's politico-speak for, "We can't get people to sign up for President Bush's Blundering Wars Project, so we don't want to give the soldiers we have incentives to leave ..."
Watch McCain dodge his record, and refuse to answer for other votes (on veteran's health care) in this clip ...
One other point. It seems that his hand-picked audience were more than happy to clap for McCain when he stumbled through and then dodged, rather than answer, the questions. Pathetic.
Do the principles of democracy and accountability mean anything to these people?
- Mark
Watch McCain dodge his record, and refuse to answer for other votes (on veteran's health care) in this clip ...
One other point. It seems that his hand-picked audience were more than happy to clap for McCain when he stumbled through and then dodged, rather than answer, the questions. Pathetic.
Do the principles of democracy and accountability mean anything to these people?
- Mark
Monday, July 7, 2008
YET ANOTHER LEVEL OF GREED & STUPIDITY IN REAL ESTATE LENDING
Thanks to DailyKos for the tip on this great site and this story ...
It looks like yet another level in America’s Real Estate lending house of cards is getting ready to take a dive. It turns out that “Alt-A” lender IndyMac is going under.
Without getting into the details “Alt-A” simply means that IndyMac lent to customers who were not the worst borrowers (i.e. the sub-prime category), but were not the best borrowers (i.e. with great credit scores). Put another way, IndyMac niether dined in the good restaurants (prime lenders), nor were forced to live like seagulls at the city dump (sub-prime lenders). They were good Dumpster Divers (I know, poor analogy, but you get the picture).
But why were they such good Dumpster Divers? While many of the poor performing loans in the sub-prime market had Wall Street and private investors backing their loans, IndyMac was able to get the federal government to help them fund or underwrite their contracts.
How much, you ask? By March 31, 2008 the federal government was technically (if not legally) on the books for 94% of IndyMac’s liabilities.
Executives at IndyMac see the looming disaster and are circling the wagons, effectively saying “Don’t blame us … what’s happening lies with forces outside of our control” (p. 4)
IndyMac is currently being sued, with one lawsuit quoting from a Feb. 2006 IndyMac document advertising that IndyMac “will accept” as “Verification of Employment for a full documentation loan” contracts with “no pay stubs or W2s” (p.8).
Hmmm ... the plot thickens.
MORAL OF THE STORY (from the CRL report): “IndyMac’s story offers a body of evidence that discredits the notion that the mortgage crisis was caused by rogue brokers or by borrowers who lied to bankroll the purchase of bigger homes or investment properties. CRL’s investigation indicates many of the problems at IndyMac were spawned by top-down pressures that valued short-term growth over protecting borrowers and shareholders’ interests over the long haul.
Put another way, greed and stupidity were endemic in the industry. See it all here, or here (PDF) in the Center for Responsible Lending’s report.
- Mark
It looks like yet another level in America’s Real Estate lending house of cards is getting ready to take a dive. It turns out that “Alt-A” lender IndyMac is going under.
Without getting into the details “Alt-A” simply means that IndyMac lent to customers who were not the worst borrowers (i.e. the sub-prime category), but were not the best borrowers (i.e. with great credit scores). Put another way, IndyMac niether dined in the good restaurants (prime lenders), nor were forced to live like seagulls at the city dump (sub-prime lenders). They were good Dumpster Divers (I know, poor analogy, but you get the picture).
But why were they such good Dumpster Divers? While many of the poor performing loans in the sub-prime market had Wall Street and private investors backing their loans, IndyMac was able to get the federal government to help them fund or underwrite their contracts.
How much, you ask? By March 31, 2008 the federal government was technically (if not legally) on the books for 94% of IndyMac’s liabilities.
Executives at IndyMac see the looming disaster and are circling the wagons, effectively saying “Don’t blame us … what’s happening lies with forces outside of our control” (p. 4)
IndyMac is currently being sued, with one lawsuit quoting from a Feb. 2006 IndyMac document advertising that IndyMac “will accept” as “Verification of Employment for a full documentation loan” contracts with “no pay stubs or W2s” (p.8).
Hmmm ... the plot thickens.
MORAL OF THE STORY (from the CRL report): “IndyMac’s story offers a body of evidence that discredits the notion that the mortgage crisis was caused by rogue brokers or by borrowers who lied to bankroll the purchase of bigger homes or investment properties. CRL’s investigation indicates many of the problems at IndyMac were spawned by top-down pressures that valued short-term growth over protecting borrowers and shareholders’ interests over the long haul.
Put another way, greed and stupidity were endemic in the industry. See it all here, or here (PDF) in the Center for Responsible Lending’s report.
- Mark
Friday, July 4, 2008
MIKE JENNER WILL BE WITH US TOMORROW
The Executive Editor of the Bakersfield Californian, Mike Jenner, has agreed to come on the program tomorrow. He will be on during our first hour.
While I have spoken with several friends and colleagues about issues and questions they would like Mr. Jenner to address, Mr. Jenner has made it clear that he will field questions on air. The call in number is 631-1230.
- Mark
While I have spoken with several friends and colleagues about issues and questions they would like Mr. Jenner to address, Mr. Jenner has made it clear that he will field questions on air. The call in number is 631-1230.
- Mark
Thursday, July 3, 2008
MILITARISM IN AMERICA
Speaking of militarism in America, it’s time we begin looking into what the mind-set has brought us ...
As Chalmers Johnson noted in The Sorrows of Empire, one of the first signs of militarism is when its proponents come to put military service and all things military above the integrity of the government structures and processes the military are supposed to protect.
In a twisted kind of “We have to burn the village in order to save it” mentality, civilians and the political classes elevate all things military above democratic processes and deliberate state functions. The ends justify the means. Worse, they come to believe they must display a “warrior’s culture” if they are to ingratiate themselves with real men of war.
This helps explain why many who have never served in the military adopt a callous and cavalier attitude toward war. Their lack of experience means they have to “out military” the military guys. This is the genesis of our modern day Chicken Hawks.
Military men, on the other hand, “pay court” to the pet schemes of the new political “warrior class” in an attempt to both promote within the system and, eventually, earn their stripes with the civilian-tied contractors.
But the real goal of many high-level military personnel is to gain access to key government positions, or to secure a new career in the defense industry. With civilians trying to find a place in the new “warrior culture”, and with military men cozying up to the new civilian political class (of Chicken Hawks), the goal is to out-do one another in preparing for constant war.
The end result – as we know all too well – is that much of America’s national security policy has centered around simply trying to scare us into believing we are under siege and need military messiahs for our salvation. Fear rather than analysis drive policy.
The proper functions and duty of government become secondary to addressing the needs of the new warrior culture, which helps to institutionalize war into our political system. Democracy is sacrificed to militarism and all things military.
The end result is a misguided and conflict-pandering need to promote wars that are not well understood by Americans (Iraq, and perhaps Iran), while former warriors are idolized for their service, prompting America’s cowering electorate into giving someone like John McCain a pass on his policy prescriptions for society (being a POW does not a president make).
America’s electorate is forced to suffer at the feet of this process, which we call militarism.
This is yet another disasterous legacy of George W. Bush, the politics of fear, and his Blundering Wars Project …
- Mark
As Chalmers Johnson noted in The Sorrows of Empire, one of the first signs of militarism is when its proponents come to put military service and all things military above the integrity of the government structures and processes the military are supposed to protect.
In a twisted kind of “We have to burn the village in order to save it” mentality, civilians and the political classes elevate all things military above democratic processes and deliberate state functions. The ends justify the means. Worse, they come to believe they must display a “warrior’s culture” if they are to ingratiate themselves with real men of war.
This helps explain why many who have never served in the military adopt a callous and cavalier attitude toward war. Their lack of experience means they have to “out military” the military guys. This is the genesis of our modern day Chicken Hawks.
Military men, on the other hand, “pay court” to the pet schemes of the new political “warrior class” in an attempt to both promote within the system and, eventually, earn their stripes with the civilian-tied contractors.
But the real goal of many high-level military personnel is to gain access to key government positions, or to secure a new career in the defense industry. With civilians trying to find a place in the new “warrior culture”, and with military men cozying up to the new civilian political class (of Chicken Hawks), the goal is to out-do one another in preparing for constant war.
The end result – as we know all too well – is that much of America’s national security policy has centered around simply trying to scare us into believing we are under siege and need military messiahs for our salvation. Fear rather than analysis drive policy.
The proper functions and duty of government become secondary to addressing the needs of the new warrior culture, which helps to institutionalize war into our political system. Democracy is sacrificed to militarism and all things military.
The end result is a misguided and conflict-pandering need to promote wars that are not well understood by Americans (Iraq, and perhaps Iran), while former warriors are idolized for their service, prompting America’s cowering electorate into giving someone like John McCain a pass on his policy prescriptions for society (being a POW does not a president make).
America’s electorate is forced to suffer at the feet of this process, which we call militarism.
This is yet another disasterous legacy of George W. Bush, the politics of fear, and his Blundering Wars Project …
- Mark
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
ON MILITARISM ...
After my previous post, I think it's necessary we take a look at how politics, fear, and militarism can play out in any country. It's not pretty.
- Mark
- Mark
TEAM McCAIN THINKS WE NEED MILITARY MEN RUNNING THIS COUNTRY
Well, it looks like John McCain understands he won't be able to win the election unless he can make it look like his military service means that he's the only one who understands national security and military issues. The implication is that we all need to be afraid unless, of course, John McCain is president.
Team McCain has even taken to going after Barack Obama for what Gen. Wesley Clark said here ...
Specifically, after being asked by Bob Schieffer about Barack Obama's lack of experience because he hasn't "ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down ..." the McCain people got upset that Gen. Clark responded "Well I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president ..." (1:54 into the clip). I agree.
VoteVets.org has it's response to Team McCain's drama-filled indignation here ...
**********************************************************
General Clark,
We the undersigned thank you for speaking up forcefully and honestly about what it takes to lead this nation, and the kind of judgment we must look for. You were right to say that Senator McCain has not shown good judgment, despite his extraordinary service to America. Just in the past few years:
Do not back down, and keep treating the American people like adults who can handle a real, honest, and blunt debate in these important times.
********************************************
To sign a petition put out by some of America's Iraq/Afghanistan war veterans at VoteVets.org, which let's Gen. Clark know Team McCain is out of touch and grasping at straws, click here.
- Mark
Team McCain has even taken to going after Barack Obama for what Gen. Wesley Clark said here ...
Specifically, after being asked by Bob Schieffer about Barack Obama's lack of experience because he hasn't "ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down ..." the McCain people got upset that Gen. Clark responded "Well I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president ..." (1:54 into the clip). I agree.
VoteVets.org has it's response to Team McCain's drama-filled indignation here ...
**********************************************************
General Clark,
We the undersigned thank you for speaking up forcefully and honestly about what it takes to lead this nation, and the kind of judgment we must look for. You were right to say that Senator McCain has not shown good judgment, despite his extraordinary service to America. Just in the past few years:
- Senator McCain's service and experience, both as a POW and as a Senator apparently hasn't infused him with a dose of good judgment.We all honor Senator McCain's service, as you said you do. But that does not mean that on matters of security, the military, and veterans that he is beyond reproach. Nor does it mean that his service trumps the poor judgment he has shown in some of the most important issues of our time.
- Senator McCain's experience hasn't led him to realize that the war in Iraq and it's continuance has empowered and emboldened Iran, and destabilized the region.
- Senator McCain's experience hasn't caused him to recognize that we're losing ground in Afghanistan, and Osama bin Laden is still out there, plotting.
- Senator McCain's experience didn't lead him to support the 21st Century GI Bill -- he opposed it. It didn't even make him feel the need to get back to Washington to vote on this -- one of the most important veterans' bills this Congress. He twice skipped votes on the GI Bill, to fundraise.
- Senator McCain's experience didn't help him empathize with troops are overstretched and overdeployed, when he voted against the bipartisan Webb-Hagel "Dwell Time Amendment," which would have given troops as much time at home as in the field.
Do not back down, and keep treating the American people like adults who can handle a real, honest, and blunt debate in these important times.
********************************************
To sign a petition put out by some of America's Iraq/Afghanistan war veterans at VoteVets.org, which let's Gen. Clark know Team McCain is out of touch and grasping at straws, click here.
- Mark
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)