Obey in the name of freedom!

"[It] is quite unlawful to demand, defend, or to grant unconditional freedom
 of thought, or speech, of writing or worship, as if these were so many
rights given by nature to man."



-Pope Leo XIII-

Face it, we live in a country in which the KKK can adopt "We shall overcome" as a song about their own struggle for freedom, where the unrepentant South can pretend that their secession was about protecting  freedom -- and where only a 'genetically inferior Liberal,' as Allen West, Republican candidate for Congress in my district calls me, would mention anything like irony.



So really, I shouldn't be surprised to read in the local paper that the Roman Catholic churches of the Florida's Treasure Coast are hosting a "Fortnight for Freedom," in a pathetic attempt to avoid having to comply with the demand that in return for the tax exempt status they consider their due, they treat secular employees in the way that other employers must do. Perhaps the hope is that while a major political party, fond of asserting nearly absolute personal freedom can get away with saying "Take your government hands off my Medicare," they can get away with campaigning against reproductive rights, the equality of civil rights and other guarantees of a secular Democracy.



Forgive my recurrent mention of irony and my  ridicule of organizations that promote freedom only when it suits the need to maintain authority, but if there is one single organization that has campaigned against religious and even secular freedom longer than any other in the Western world, it is the Roman Catholic Church, and please remember that heresy is just another word for religious freedom. We've had nearly 2000 years of genocide, repression, torture, war and the most grizzly executions imaginable resulting from claims to divine authority.  A decent respect to the opinions of mankind, as Jefferson wrote in 1776, seems always to have been at odds with the peremptory proclamations of  God's enforcers, and the idea that we the people have an innate and inalienable right to liberty and  pursuit of happiness that owes nothing to the demands of priests, preachers and shamans is clearly anathema to the Catholic Churches of the Treasure Coast, much to their shame.



The fact is that nearly all American Catholics ignore the ban on birth control that is based on a rather flimsy interpretation of  what their God(s) said to a man who never existed in a time long before birth control was an option.  This embarrassing little attempt has little support amongst anyone but churchmen (Church women have no vote and are sworn to obedience anyway) and it certainly has nothing to do with our freedom.  I hope that some people, even in this stupefyingly religious and resoundingly Republican part of the country, will see through it.

Upside Down

Remember when the word bitch referred to a female dog or colloquially, to a female human who wasn't very nice?  Remember when it was a one syllable word?

Today it seems odd to apply the calumny only to a female.  To many it conjures up a sexually submissive prison inmate and it seems odder to pronounce it without the usually grotesque attempt to mimic the grossest racially stereotypical dialect. 

It's as though our popular culture, while avoiding proscribed words, none the less has become a racist minstrel show with white people in baggy pants, backwards hats and thousand dollar shoes, calling  each other "ho."  Hispanics covered head to foot with gang tattoos and young, black men with oversized, beltless pants all striving to illustrate the basic shiftlessness, ignorance and propensity to steal  so dear to the heart of racists everywhere.  How far have we come from "I am a man" to "I am a bee-otch."  Do young people still dream of being able to say "I am a doctor, I am an engineer, I am a professor, I am a poet, I am a president?"  Or is it all about conformist, commercial self expression through self mutilation and degradation? 

Am I old fashioned or clueless when I cringe at the echoes of "whasssuuuuuup beee-otch" in places filled with white teenagers?  Sure, the trend across the entire ethnic spectrum of  our "culture" is to dress like a bum, talk like a jailbird and make fun of  'da soots' but I can't think of a nation that has had a desirable outcome to such a cultural inversion. China's Cultural Revolution comes to mind and I can't help wondering how the ever immaculately dressed Dr. King might feel about his sacrifice if he were here to see this confirmation of the idea that a black man's place is in jail or at some level far below dignity and respectability.

Of course it's probably only one facet of America's infatuation with the low-life and contempt for civilization and its values. Anyone not part of the beggars opera must think he's better than the rest of us, after all and God knows, the rest of us are all about beer, dope, payday loans, unemployment and parole officers -- bee otch.

Shackled

There's an old and tired joke about a patient being given a Rorschach test.  To every ink blot, he replies with some sexual reference and when the psychiatrist suggests that perhaps the man has a problem, the irate patient replies, " hey, you're the one showing me the dirty pictures!"

When I saw the image of German shoe manufacturer Adidas' latest effort at teen exploitation; a shoe featuring a plastic shackle attaching the shoe to the ankle, the last thing I thought of was slavery and the first thing I thought of was the 'jailbird chic' culture that has our young and would-be young folks pretending to the lofty cultural and social status of convict.  In fact I had to smile a bit since a gang of tragically hip home burglars was finally apprehended in my neighborhood after having performed over 50 burglaries in the last year -- unable to run from police because of their fashionably laceless shoes and hugely oversized shorts which made it impossible to run and to hold the pillowcases of loot and their pants at the same time.  At least they were properly attired for the next stage of their careers.

Slavery was however, the first thing some thought about. The Rev. Jesse Jackson expressed his own outrage yesterday:

"The attempt to commercialize and make popular more than 200 years of human degradation, where blacks were considered three-fifths human by our Constitution is offensive, appalling and insensitive,"

The idea that racists would wear such things on their own feet, or worse, would force reluctant black teens to wear expensive shoes in shame seems far-fetched enough to suggest that life for some people is a continuous Rorschach test where every blot looks the same; where the shackled briefcases you might see in the financial district, being accompanied by a Brinks guard or two can only remind us of the anti-bellum South.

Of course  it's all too fashionable to get neck and face tattoos and affect the garb and gaudy patter of convicts and ex-convicts and soon-to-be convicts  -- as though the human degradation of our exploding prison system, choked as it disproportionately is with minorities, wasn't also offensive but it's self inflicted, self perpetuated and popular and has been for a long time.   Addidas, it seems to me, is trying like everyone else to cash in on fashion, exploit extant popular culture and is not commercializing or popularizing a longing for slavery as much as trying to make a buck out of being outrageous in already outrageous times.

Bully Pulpit

There are things we need to remember about the current makeup of the Republican party.

There is no War on Women.

That's just stupid. Don't even say it. It's a ridiculous charge, and we should probably slap your stupid girl face for even suggesting it.

I mean, sure, they want to take away your rights to get an abortion. Big deal - that's to stop you from murdering babies! Right? I mean, yeah, they have a hard time agreeing on when life starts and all, but they're trying to prevent a murder! Because a fertilized egg is exactly like a human being! In exactly the same way that an acorn is like an oak tree! They're identical!

Oh, and pay no attention to the many attempts by the GOP to ban contraception. The two subjects aren't even related. Ignore the fact that if a woman gets pregnant, she will be forced to have the baby - she shouldn't have had sex in the first place!

(No, don't say "rape" - stop trying to change the subject!)

See, that's why the GOP supports "abstinence-only" education! Because logic tells you that if they don't have sex, they won't get pregnant. It's just logic! Even if it isn't supported by reality in any way, that doesn't make it less logical!

Also, there is no racism in America!

I mean, yeah, sure, there are some racist people, but racism is not a major problem! I mean, the Ku Klux Klan is disappearing, right? It doesn't matter that there are more hate groups out there than ever before! The Klan is disappearing! Pay attention!

Racism isn't a problem! Just because blacks get harsher sentences for committing the same crimes as white people doesn't even enter into the picture! Obviously, blacks simply commit more crimes than whites! (Let's ignore the fact that we've known that this is a lie for many years - bringing that up is just mean-spirited and rude.)

And incidentally, homophobia doesn't exist!

The Bible says that gays are bad, so that cancels out any personal feelings! (Again, we're going to ignore the fact that the Bible doesn't say that, and the fact that the New Testament says nothing whatsoever about homosexuality. We're going to pay attention to the Old Testament on these issues and no others, because we... um... because the Bible says so!)

In fact, when you actually start putting all these things together, a very distinct pattern starts to emerge.

Women can't be allowed to control their own reproduction; that decision has to be made for them. We will take that right away from them, because they aren't important enough to do that for themselves.

Black people are not allowed to feel that they're being oppressed by society. They're allowed to vote - what more do they want? They shouldn't notice when we treat them like lesser people.

Gay people? Well, they are less important than we are. Rights? Hell, they don't even get the right to not get beaten up on a regular basis. Why do you think the GOP opposes every law that might prevent it?

The definition of bullying is the use of force or coercion to affect others, particularly when you have more power (physical, social or economic) than the other person. The GOP wants to ensure that the "balance of power" is always tilted in favor of white heterosexual males. They want to ensure that they have someone to oppress. The platform of the modern Republican party to to ensure that they can remain bullies.

This is why Mitt Romney is the favorite. A rich white guy with a known propensity for bullying others? Whether by holding them down and cutting their hair, or firing them and shipping their jobs overseas.

I don't see how the GOP could resist him.

In Emergency Session, U.N. Declares Florida a Rogue State

From The Borowitz Report:

NEW YORK – Calling the status of democracy in the Sunshine State “fragile at best,” the United Nations met in emergency session today to declare Florida a rogue state. 

The actions by Florida Gov. Rick Scott to purge the voter rolls in his state might have inspired the vote by the U.N., but as the spokesperson for the U.N. Secretary-General said, “We’ve had problems with elections in Florida before.” 

The vote means the U.N. could soon dispatch a team of observers to Florida, led by diplomats from such democracies as Egypt and Libya. 

Gov. Scott’s voter purge was only the latest in a series of events “that reveal a near-total breakdown of the rule of law in Florida,” the U.N. spokesperson said. 

“This is a state where people have been killed for carrying Skittles and iced tea, or had their faces eaten off by zombies high on bath salts,” he said. “And now this thing with Rick Scott.” 

In other Florida news, former Gov. Jeb Bush yesterday risked alienating his fellow Republicans by making what Fox News called “a series of dangerously sane remarks.” 

In stating that the current Republican Party would not be hospitable to the likes of Ronald Reagan, Fox reported, “Jeb Bush displayed a level of sanity that makes most of his fellow Republicans extremely uncomfortable.” 

Mr. Bush was said to be huddling with his advisers to come up with a statement unhinged enough to win his way back into the hearts of the Republican mainstream, perhaps by advocating legal marriage between a man and an assault rifle. 

Elsewhere on the political scene, President Obama today said he “misspoke” when he said last week that the private sector of the economy was fine: “What I meant to say was that Mitt Romney is a dick.” 

And after a woman was arrested for cooking meth in a Missouri Walmart, the company released the following statement: “Walmart has a strict policy against American-made products.”

And no mention of sunscreen

At Wellesley High School in Massachusetts, they may have just gotten the greatest commencement speech ever.

It was delivered by their English teacher, David McCullough, Jr. And it includes the following flowery description of these self-involved little snowflakes.

You are not special. You are not exceptional.

Contrary to what your soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you… you’re nothing special.

Yes, you’ve been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped. Yes, capable adults with other things to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wiped your mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you, tutored you, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you, consoled you and encouraged you again. You’ve been nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored. You’ve been feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie. Yes, you have. And, certainly, we’ve been to your games, your plays, your recitals, your science fairs. Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet. Why, maybe you’ve even had your picture in the Townsman! And now you’ve conquered high school… and, indisputably, here we all have gathered for you, the pride and joy of this fine community, the first to emerge from that magnificent new building...

But do not get the idea you’re anything special. Because you’re not.

I mean, his overall message is great.

Resist the easy comforts of complacency, the specious glitter of materialism, the narcotic paralysis of self-satisfaction. Be worthy of your advantages. And read… read all the time… read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life. Develop and protect a moral sensibility and demonstrate the character to apply it. Dream big. Work hard. Think for yourself. Love everything you love, everyone you love, with all your might. And do so, please, with a sense of urgency, for every tick of the clock subtracts from fewer and fewer; and as surely as there are commencements there are cessations, and you’ll be in no condition to enjoy the ceremony attendant to that eventuality no matter how delightful the afternoon.

But going through those first several paragraphs, you kind of get the feeling that is a guy who didn't make tenure.

(Complete text, which is well worth reading, is here.)

"soy capitán"!*: Americans and the Working-Stiff Concept of Labor

Well, Wisconsinites have reaffirmed their initial unfortunate choice of governors, and rather handily. Can't say I'm surprised, though I hadn't been following the recall election too closely. Walker got millions in outside billionaire money, I've heard, and outspent his not overwhelmingly impressive opponent by about 8 to 1, so whatever amount of good money does a person in an election, it certainly did for Governor Walker.

I'm not convinced that money can buy an election since sometimes very wealthy candidates lose by wide margins – you still have to sell the product well, so to speak, and voters don't automatically come around just because your vanity campaign sticks your mugly ug on every billboard in the state. But Walker is already an incumbent, so it probably helped him a great deal.

Perhaps, too, another factor is a certain squeamishness over kicking a man out of his job only a short time after you've hired him – Walker wasn't being challenged over Watergate-like offenses (though I believe there have been some investigations), he was challenged over his extremely anti-labor stances and actions. A fair number of voters who say they're Obama supporters obviously voted for Walker, and I doubt that they're really in favor of the governor's extreme anti-labor views. They probably just didn't feel right giving him the boot over policy and might vote for an opponent next time around. In other words, it may well be that some people simply don't like the idea of recall elections, even ones they're voting in. Sure, Californians kicked out Gray Davis years ago, but that only succeeded because Republicans whipped up fervor over Davis' not-so-great handling of a power-grid crisis – the people felt that they were getting ripped off and that he hadn't done anything about it. The GOP also fielded a celebrity candidate, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who turned out to be a pretty good campaigner. Had Republicans picked some middling pol, I don't think they would have had such an easy time of it.

But the mentions of labor above bring me to my main simple-dino observation: I suspect that underlying Walker's reaffirmation Tuesday is a need on the part of ordinary people to distance themselves from the very concept of labor. Why? Because that concept is associated with being a working-class stiff. And if there's one thing we know for certain about Americans, it's that we are ALL card-carrying members of the "middle class." People who are patently working-class will tell you they belong to the great middle class. Here's a hint: if you work from paycheck to paycheck or nearly so, you're working-class; if you're fairly comfortable, own some property and have economic options to fall back on in case of hard times, you're middle-class; if you could retire right now without feeling pinched, you're rich; if you're currently scheming to corner the silver market, looking into a second yacht, buying a suit that costs more than most people's college education, or donating ten million dollars at a pop to your favorite politician, you're REALLY rich.

I don't believe the phenomenon I'm describing is due to highfalutin' cultural aspirations since a great number of self-describing middle-class Americans will snicker on cue at the merest whiff of Euro-baiting – you know, jokes about the French and all that. (Freedom fries all round, with extra ketchup, please. Take that, you over-edjikated socialist sissies!) Their contempt for or uneasiness with labor unions can't be derived from any expectation that they're all too busy listening to nuanced Haydn cello concerti or enjoying opera. No, most likely the uneasy feeling stems not from cultural or literary aspirations but rather from strictly economic ones: fear of being condemned to what Mr. Carlyle called the bourgeois "hell of not making money." Almost everyone here buys into the Horatio Alger up-from-nowhere, rags to riches dream, even if they've been stuck waiting tables for the last fifteen years and haven't a viable notion in their heads how they might ever do otherwise. There's something admirable about such optimism, but at the same time, I think, it gives a devastating blow to any hopes this country might harbor for social justice and genuine opportunity. Isn't the rise and fall of labor closely correlated with the rise and fall of the so-called middle class? I mean with the prospects of working people to move a bit beyond the very category so many of them deny belonging to and take up a position somewhat more secure and comfortable, more option-laden than working from one paycheck to the next?

No? Well, okay, then, America, let's all just keep thinking we're middle-class -- that ensures most of us never really will be, let alone Thurston Howell-rich. I say, Lovey, oh Lovey, where did I leave that third martini? Gilligan my boy, be a good lad and fetch me another, won't you?

*"Yo no soy marinero, soy capitán" (I'm not a sailor, I'm a captain) is a refrain from Ritchie Valens' hit song, "La Bamba" (Los Lobos, 1960), itself an adaptation, I’m told by the experts at Wikipedia, from a Mexican folk song sometimes performed at weddings in Veracruz.

Well, since he never wrote his autobiography, this will have to do...

Did you know that John McCain's file on Mitt Romney is on line? Hey, why do your own opposition research when millionaire Republicans have already done it for you, right?

I mean, it's from 2008, but the man's only changed position four or five times since then, right? And you can tell the slant they're going for, but it still makes for some fascinating reading. Like under "Top Hits: Social Issues," you get

Abortion
• Romney says he changed his mind on abortion meeting with Harvard stem cell researcher – Romney claims the doctor said scientists “kill” embryos after 14 days, but doctor later said Romney “mischaracterized myposition.”
• Months after his “conversion,” Romney stated his commitment to upholding Massachusetts’ abortion laws and appointed pro-choice judge to state district court.
• In October 2005, Romney signed bill expanding family planning services, including abortion counseling and morning-after pill.
• In December 2005, Romney “abruptly ordered his administration to reverse course … and require Catholic hospitals to provide emergency contraception medication to rape victims.”
• Romney health insurance plan expanded access to abortion, required Planned Parenthood representative on state panel.
• Romney endorsed legalization of abortion pill RU-486 access during his 1994 Senate race and backed federal funding of abortion, saying “I think it’s important that people see me not as a pro-life candidate.”
• In 1994 and 2002, Romney confirmed his support for Roe v. Wade decision and forcefully positioned himself as pro-choice in 1994 Senate race, saying “you will not see me wavering on that.”
• Romney has refused to comment on bill pending in South Carolina legislature requiring that abortion doctors offer pregnant women option of viewing ultrasound

That's followed by "Executive Summaries," and then pages and pages (200 in all) of carefully sourced quotes and facts about the man - the last 6 pages just listing video that the campaign had available to it. But it's fascinating reading for a political buff like me.

Hell, Romney himself ought to check it out; if nothing else, it can remind him about his position on the various topics this week.

I believe it was the great poet and philosopher Rabbie Burns himself who wrote:

O wad some Power the gift tae gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!

Don't Be Hopin'

Well, the latest jobs report has unemployment up to 8.2 per cent, which isn't good news for the country or a president seeking re-election.  True, it's hardly the disaster that's being painted in the news.  "The news" is sort of like a person who has absolutely no perspective, and a very short attention span to top off the lack of perspective. 

But enough damn-liberal complaining.  There's no doubt that "O'Bummer" has failed.  It's all his fault, whatever it is, because as we all know, presidents are always directly to blame for whatever happens – gas prices, economic swings, that lamentably visible door ding you discovered recently on your car, you name it.  We tried the hopey-changey thing, we really did, but now it's time to go back to what works: violence-inducing fear, ignorance that would put a medieval peasant to shame, implacable contempt leveled against anyone who isn't sufficiently rich and white, and callous, self-congratulatory indifference to the plight of the poor and the struggling working class.  Republicans 2012!

FIRST GIANT STEP TOWARD KRISTIAN TOTALITARIANISM?

Krazy Kansas Gov Brownback has signed into law a bill directing the courts how they can conduct their business. He alone has deemed it illegal for the courts to consider a person’s culture, traditions or religious practices when a legal conflict arises.

Of course, they learned from Oklahoma’s mistake NOT to name specifically sharia law but that is what this law is aimed at – the Muslims.  As soon as they get them out of the way, look out Jews, they’ll be coming for you!  I can see the rather rigid practices of the Hasidic Jews next up on the chopping block.

If this trend of allowing the rabid right-wingers to get their little toeholds into our legal system without challenge continues it is feasible that the Krazy Kristian Koalition will eventually strong arm their way to forcing this nation into a religious totalitarianism.

In North Carolina, the state senate is dominated by GOP members which is how not only the so called marriage amendment got on the ballot but it got on the PRIMARY ballot not the GENERAL ELECTION ballot in Nov. They knew they had a good chance of pushing it through on the primary since only about 1% of eligible voters vote in primaries.  They also knew if it was on the ballot in Nov it most likely would have been defeated.  

Other states are pushing through laws both unconstitutional and punitive toward women. Women haven’t fought hard enough against unequal treatment and injustice, no they want us to step back 100 years and do it all over again.

  I can only hope the people are sick enough of this putrid crap to make some intelligent decisions when November rolls around – but I’m not holding my breath!