EXPLORER, MOUNTAIN MAN, INDIAN CHIEF

James Pierson Beckwourth (1798-1866) would be a well known figure in the history of the wild west but for the color of his skin. In this month celebrating Black History, I’d like to draw attention to this adventurer, if only to make him better known among our blog readership.

Jim Beckwourth was a character such as the kind from which legends are made like Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickok.
And like those men, Jim could tell a tall tale with the best of them. It was a favorite pastime, sitting around the campfire after a tough day, having a drink and telling stories. Unfortunately, such idle pleasures would be used to discredit his true accomplishments.

Jim Beckwourth wrote about his life with the help of a writer named Thomas D Bonner, who admittedly “polished it up”. Many people in those days would dimiss his story as lies.
But contrary to those beliefs, later evidence tends to support many of his claims.

His mother was a slave and his father was an Englishman who, although prevented from raising his son as he wanted, did ensure that he would be free by providing him emancipation papers.

Jim went west to work as a trapper and guide and was captured by Crow Indians. He was eventually embraced by the Crow and stayed with them up to eight years, facilitating trade with the whites and rising in rank to War Chief. But wanderlust called and even though he married an Indian woman, he simply could not stay in one place.

Jim Beckwourth would travel the country from the Florida Everglades to the California gold mines, looking for adventure and employment and is credited with discovering the Beckwourth Pass through the Sierra Nevadas, used by countless settlers headed for California.

Beckwourth returned to the Crow village where he died on October 29, 1866 at the age of 68. Even his death is subject to various mysterous stories; one claims the Crow poisoned him, another that he committed ritual suicide. Perhaps he just died in his sleep after years of hard living.

In recent years, there has been renewed interest in this historic figure and you can read more about this man's fascinating and colorful life HERE.

James Beckwourth embodies the American spirit of adventure and deserves a prominent place in American history.

You have the right to remain silent

Why is it that when Republicans only become creative when they run out of factual support? Lies, distortions, evasions, calumnies, falsehoods, fabrications, disinformation, distortions, propaganda, tall tales and slander; defamation, deceit, prevarications and mendacity: all kinds of colors in the "conservative" crayon box.

One lie I've heard far too much of from the Fox-poisoned Right, is how that lily livered, limp wristed, far-left Liberal and soft-on-crime Obama all but let Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab off the hook with his damned un-American insistence on justice and due process because he, having been read his Miranda Rights, immediately "clammed up." As is almost invariably true, the facts say otherwise.

The administration's timeline just released shows that the would-be murderer was removed to a hospital shortly after being arrested. There, he apparently began spilling the beans like a bratty one year old in a high chair until his medical condition deteriorated sharply - undoubtedly from having his genitals nearly burned off. The Miranda litany was recited only 9 hours after capture and after his condition was stabilized by four hours of surgery and questioning resumed but without response. How can you tell when the Republicans are lying? You don't need to, they always are.

Why is it that when Republicans only become creative when they run out of factual support? Sometimes they're so hard up for things to use to undermine our government, they just make them up from scratch or expand some minute and irrelevant mote into a universe of slime. If you haven't seen the latest chapter of Teleprompter Wars in your in-box yet, I'm sure you soon will. It's the one showing the President using two teleprompters to address a group of small children under the rubric of:

"Apparently there is no venue too small to require multiple teleprompters. I saw these pictures and first thought they were photo shopped, but it ends up they are actual pictures from Obama talking to an elementary school classroom. And they made fun of Bush's communication skills."

Well, no you didn't, the picture of the kids in the classroom and the President at a subsequent news conference in a different room do not show him using a teleprompter to address them and of course you know that. He was giving a speech to reporters who would be willing to use any misplaced word to attack him.

You know that he writes well, speaks well and is very much more able to communicate than his babbling, blathering predecessor and that looks bad for you -- and so you butter it over with lies and serve it up to your dogs for breakfast.

What do they hope to accomplish with such clumsy calumnies? Why are Republicans so desperate to believe anything that will make their visceral hatred of Democracy and uppity people of African descent seem to be less than the demented evil that it is? Why are they willing to sacrifice our country on some pagan altar of some bellicose god of war and conquest? Why do we sit by and let them do it?

OKTAPODI VALENTINE (back by popular demand)

Tying Abortion to Corporate Personhood

Conservative Cal Thomas says of the Supreme Court decision Citizens United v Federal Election Commission: "What makes the ruling and the march ironic is that the 1973 court...downgraded a human fetus to the level of nonperson, while the modern court has invested "personhood" in corporations. Does anyone else see a contradiction or at least a moral inconsistency in these two rulings?"

Thomas is a rare conservative to admit a problem; most say it's the greatest blow for freedom since Plessy v Ferguson. Thomas is also correct to suggest the decision is judicial overreach every bit as awful as he holds Roe v Wade to be.

The very name Citizens United is Orwellian doublespeak. The ruling culminates a decades-long campaign by conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation, corporate trade associations, and assorted right-wing think tanks. It is "grounded" in the 14th Amendment, which was specifically intended to establish the rights of former slaves.

And what of these corporate "persons?" For instance, when a person sells $40 billion of toxic waste that blows up the global economy, bets on who dies first, declares an emergency to accept government help, and amasses the world's largest fortune in the process, we generally hound them to the ends of the Earth and relieve them of their accounts. Yet this comic book supervillain has a name: Goldman-Sachs. The Supreme Court has announced this psychopathic "person" has the same rights accorded to me by the Constitution. Actually, it has more rights than we do: corporations quite literally get away with murder. Blackwater, too is now a "person."

This happy state of affairs comes courtesy of a movement Thomas has abetted his entire adult life. They said, 'be afraid of Big Brother!' while endowing little brothers with unelected and unaccountable power. To this end Thomas has said much of a "right to life;" but his movement has designed a world in which that right ends at birth, leaving us all on our own against the little brothers.

I find Cal Thomas to be a contradiction, or at least a moral inconsistency.


Adding: apologies for my lack of attention here lately. I've been busy.

Decision approaches in Uganda

The Ugandan Parliament now looks likely to pass the draconian anti-homosexuality law which has recently been widely discussed around the internet. According to Avaaz.org:

The bill proposes life imprisonment for anyone convicted of having same-sex relations and imposes the death penalty for “serial offenders”. NGOs working to prevent the spread of HIV could be imprisoned for up to 7 years for “promoting homosexuality”. Even members of the public face up to three years in jail if they fail to report homosexual activity to the police within 24 hours!

It is still possible that international condemnation could deter the Ugandan government from passing this. Avaaz's petition is here.

Thanks to DemWit for the information.

Tea-Partying, the Myth of Intellectual Progress, Bipartisanship, and Sister Sarah

What’s depressing about the Tea-Folk is how ahistorical they seem – in spite of all the Revolutionary War paraphernalia and symbolism, a lot of what I hear coming from them could only be the result of nearly total ignorance of American history, economics, and just about everything else. They evidently believe that their multidirectional ranting substitutes for genuine reflection. I call it what it is: fashionable cynicism spiked with jump-up-and-down-at-the-tinfoil-rally enthusiasm.

A contradiction at the heart of modern conservatism (allowing for some exceptions) is that the right almost invariably opposes any assertion of authority on the government’s part if it’s meant to help anybody, but they almost invariably support all assertions of authority on the government’s part so long as that authority is directed against the people. Provided that the feds are wiretapping or torturing or clandestinely imprisoning, they should be able to do it without having to deal with annoying chatter about rights or freedoms, but let someone propose to improve access to health care for ordinary citizens, and that’s a socialist projectile aimed at the heart our liberties. This contradiction renders much of what comes from the American right as incoherent in its articulation as it is pernicious and cruel in its tendencies. Libertarians may be naïve about the virtues of untrammeled capitalism, but at least they’re ideologically consistent; one can’t say the same about the Tea-Baggers.

The growth of ’Baggery as a movement shouldn’t surprise us. There is little or no progress in the history of ideas. It’s a mistake to suppose that any idea has ever been permanently consigned to the ash-heap of history: there’s always a new crop of people whose heads are as empty as a dry teapot and easily filled to the brim with the same old nonsense – in this case, the Randian myth of the absolute individual, the blockheaded assertion that all government is inherently evil and unnecessary, or the myth of the pure free market. The same stale rhetoric based upon outmoded ideas unmediated by historical experience is easily recycled for a new generation, and it works on millions since it hits them with the force of a newly articulated idea. How many of these guvmint-bashers and pro-marketeers do you suppose have ever heard of Adam Smith, much less knew that he was a moral philosopher or read his 1776 masterpiece, The Wealth of Nations?

Nothing could be more revealing about the Tea-Types than speaker Sarah’s use at the Convention of a line I think all of us have come to associate with Trollerei: to paraphrase, “So how’s that hope and change thing workin’ out for ya?” Since originally posting a version of this piece as a comment, I’ve read that the actual line was much better – “hopey changey.” That this woman is considered competent to run for national office by even a sizeable minority testifies to the poverty of our civic life and educational system. I have seen nothing in her performances that indicates comprehension or maturity beyond the level of a particularly unpleasant middle-school student. I don’t like writing in such terms about a public figure, but her repeated insults directed at the president – a man a hundred times her better in any number of ways -- compels me to call her conduct what it is: juvenile.

Finally, the same disdain goes out to the Republican Rogues’ Gallery in Congress. I wish President Obama would stop claiming to know that certain right-wing Republicans “love America.” Getting misty-eyed when the National Anthem is sung at a ball game isn’t enough: love of country demands genuine regard for your country’s institutions and for its actual inhabitants. The faction I’m referencing have made it clear by their conduct that they care nothing for the old woman who needs health care urgently, or the child whose future may depend on a decent education, or the consumer who’s been fleeced, or the worker who can’t find anything to do. The worst crime, as far as they are concerned, is not the excessive taxation they so often decry or the over-regulation they deplore, it’s to spend any of the vast wealth collected from millions of ordinary citizens on those same citizens or to try to keep corrupt monopolists from defrauding them.

The nation’s wounds, under such people’s tenure, would be declared the result of a pre-existing condition and denied Mr. Lincoln’s “binding up,” and the soldier’s “widow and his orphan” might as well pack their bags for the nether regions at once, for all the consideration they’re likely to get from such unconscionable, filibustering louts. I ask the president kindly to stop pretending that this gaggle of obstructionist buzzards are on our side or that they are even amenable to democratic process. Much more appropriate would be an FDR-style welcoming of their hatred and a determination to proceed on the mandate bestowed in 2008.

PS – this is an augmented version of a comment I made on Capt. Fogg’s recent post.

Hopey Changey

Can you believe there's a website called teleprompterpresident.com? The local trailer parks echo with teleprompter jokes, there are more teleprompter jokes clogging up blog comments than there are clumps of fat in Rush Limbaugh's arteries and that chattering little chipmunk Palin just can't let go of that chewy chestnut. I wonder was Abe Lincoln only a charismatic guy with some scrap paper? Yes, he was to be sure, but not only and the Small Government Conservatives slandered and murdered him anyway.

But of course the mini-skirt Moose Mom doesn't know, and doesn't care that you might know that the first time the electric note cards were used was at the 1952 Republican Convention by former President Herbert Hoover. It was the first one ever televised of course and he did it again in 1956. Whether he was charismatic or not I will leave to you and to Sarah Snickers, but Eisenhower used one from 1952 and virtually every other president, candidate and TV talking head pundit has used one too at various levels of charisma.

That's right, George W. Bush used a Teleprompter, there he is in the picture, although I'm told "that's different" by the snarksters and flim-flam bloggers and if you remember the TV Debates, Bush even wore some kind of device worn on his back. So it's hard to know what Governor Barbie had in mind, but it's clear she doesn't feel threatened by anyone who knows more than she does -- which is most of us -- because like most irresponsible pseudo-conservative snarko-terrorists, she's always surrounded by the like-mindless who think she's a genius.

Maybe if George had used one more often or had been able to read along with the moving words, he wouldn't have given us such delights as "the childrens is learning" but we'd be so much poorer without such things as part of our culture, or whatever remains of one.

So, yes The president is a charismatic man, which of course is required for political success in the age of Television, but that's a bit like saying he's a man who wears shoes. Compared to the most educated of recent Republican candidates he's a bit more than Charismatic and of course note cards or not , when he speaks he says something -- and in respectable English as well.

But when one really can't be described as anything more than political junk food, and that's the kindest thing I can say about Sarah Palin the human Twinkie; when you're a tasteless confection of sugar, oil and starch with no ability to do anyone any good, the best you can do is just what she does. Well never mind about the hope and change -- you're hopeless and intransigent. You abandoned Alaska leaving them with record debt and some incoherent story, but it was all about a better offer, wasn't it? So isn't that all you are -- a mendacious mediocrity and charismatic candidate for What Not To Wear -- with notes scribbled on your palm?

So hows that wiggly giggly thing working out for ya, Sarah?

CHAMPIONING THE CAUSE OF NETIQUETTE IN THE FACE OF RIGHTWING HACK ATTACKS

Sorry folks. This has been a trying time.  It is very difficult trying to argue the cause of Internet civility while running into a wall of relentless rightwing attacks. Here is a link to an open conversation currently in progress at Pamela’s weblog … and here is my response to those who despoil the effort (this post is self-explanatory):

(Comment addressed to certain of Pam's readers)

My oldest daughter serves in the U.S. Army. She is a Major (and soon to be Lt. Colonel) assigned to the Pentagon. She served in the first Gulf War (@ KKMC), in Korea, 22 months in Kuwait, and THREE deployments in Iraq. She was awarded two Bronze Stars and 7 distinguished service citations for her effort.

During her second deployment in Iraq, her convoy was hit by a roadside IED device and attacked by insurgents. Yes, she drew her weapon and returned fire. Yes, she saw colleagues blown to bits, body parts flying everywhere, and she had PTSD for several months after her return.

DON’T TELL ME YOU HAVE A MONOPOLY ON SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY OR A PERSONAL CLAIM OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.

The families of solders serving overseas make many sacrifices. Duty has kept my daughter away from every major holiday and every family milestone, including births and funerals, for the past eight (8) years. Always the missing person at the holiday dinner table, families make plenty of damn sacrifices too.

SO DON’T TELL ME YOU HAVE A MONOPOLY ON SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY OR A PERSONAL CLAIM OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.

If my daughter chooses a political career after military service, will rightwing political assassins such as yourselves debunk her accomplishments and demean her character?

One would think a distinguished military career should be beyond reach of mudslinging. Did you speak out against the shameless swift boat ads that demeaned John Kerry’s character and military record?

Did you speak out when the last administration smeared former Senator Max Cleland, a war hero who lost both legs in Vietnam?

Did you speak out when Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs in Iraq, was smeared during her run for Congress as a Democrat?

Did you speak out? Where the hell were you? In your view, are there two kinds veterans? Are Conservatives and Republicans honored for their military service, while Liberals and Democrats, including the wounded and the dead, get bashed and trashed?

What hypocrites you are!

In this post, Truth101 was trying to make the same point. Did you bother to read it? Did you bother to read this:

The man has three Purple Hearts. Yet these right wing hatemongers told us he didn't deserve them. One lady even wrote a letter to my local paper attacking him for chasing a Viet Cong through the jungle and shooting him. She said it was cowardly (…) My Dad was awarded the Purple Heart. My Mom served in the U.S. Navy in WWII. People that disrespect the valor of Purple Heart recipients don't deserve respectful discourse and a patient ear.

Obviously, you did not read what Truth101 had to say or else you might have refrained from calling him a CLASSLESS SCUMBAG!

Every time you enter Pamela’s comment thread, you turn it into your own personal soapbox. You don’t read. You don’t listen. You don’t respect others.

Your constant belligerent and bellicose rants offend me. You are juvenile, loud-mouthed hooligans with a constant anger-management problem. This post by Pamela was supposed to be about civility. You defiled it.

(Had to get this off my chest ink the aquarium)

The Untold Story of Rising Populism on the Left

While we are bombarded with stories about Tea Partiers and the rise of Palinism (not surprising, in a way, as the most outrageously squeaky wheel gets the most media grease), here is something that we are not being informed about.

By Alan Grayson, via HuffPo

The story that everyone wants to tell is that the Democratic Party is disheartened and disintegrating. Teabagger Republicans are juiced up and on top. Or so the media says, over and over again.

But the House candidate who raised the most money in the entire country during the last FEC reporting period -- $860,000 in three months -- is not a teabagger. He is not boosted relentlessly by Fox News. He's not even a Republican. He doesn't think that the Earth was created 6000 years ago, that President Obama was born in Kenya, or that global warming is a hoax.

This House candidate also, remarkably, had the largest number of contributors. Over 15,000 individuals contributed, many of whom have given time after time, whatever they could. The House candidate who raised the most money did so without French-kissing lobbyists, without flattering the idle rich, and without reaching into his own pocket.

The House candidate who raised the most money, from the most people, is an outspoken populist who tells it like it is on the war, on jobs, and on health care. His website is called CongressmanWithGuts.com. In the 100,000 e-mails that he has received this year, the most common refrain is, "You are saying what I've been thinking."

I know who he is. Because he's me.

But no one has reported that the House candidate who raised the most money, from the most people, is a proud Democratic populist. No one.

Continue.

Cross-posted at The Middle of Nowhere.

Sarah Palin is a lying sack of shit

Why pull any punches? Ms. Hopey - Changey may have the IQ of a Barbie doll, but is just bright enough to know, if she bothered to think at all, that she's lying like the devil about her portrayal of the year old Obama presidency and the letter and spirit of constitutional law.

Why fool around, why worry about any one's "sensitivities?" She's a damned malicious liar and it's made no more palatable by her giggling, faux-adolescent presentation. Addressing the Tea Party Rebellion Saturday, she insisted that the administration has unconstitutionally given the right to a fair trial to a "terrorist" because apparently the presumption of innocence doesn't apply to any one of a group Sarah selects. The supreme court disagrees with Palin however, and with the Bush administration and I'll bet some of them have actually read the damned thing.

In 2008, the court ruled that you can't arbitrarily deprive anyone of a trial, dispense with the presumption of innocence and remove Habeas Corpus by crying War over and over and of course Sarah, in denial of the truth accused the president of "politicizing" the Christmas attempt by not crying war nearly enough -- which by the logic of stupidity means not politicizing an act is politicizing it. Don't worry, if that doesn't make sense you're probably not stupid.

Prattling on in full lying sack of shit mode, that "Paliney" thing on the podium continued to prevaricate by criticizing the treatment of Christmas bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who according to her wasn't properly questioned because he "lawyered up" and wasn't cooperating. The facts are quite dramatically otherwise of course. Umar has been gushing facts and giving up names like an open faucet and without any unlawful means of interrogation, but worse than being a damned liar, Sarah Palin is actively engaged in undermining the foundations of American justice by promoting the idea that justice can be waived by using the magic word "war" and that a fair trial gets in the way of justice.

How, in the name of God is there anyone left anywhere who doesn't see the horns and cloven hooves and smell the sulphur? What's to prevent someone from characterizing her assault on truth, justice and due process, her campaign against the government and against the Constitution as a war? What's to prevent her or us from torture, rendition, secret and indefinite imprisonment if some ambitious president declares he an enemy combatant?

Even Fox is showing signs that they're becoming frightened by the monster they've produced and should we be any less fearful of the beast?