THE MSM's GUT BRAIN AND OTHER ATROCITIES THAT PASS FOR NEWS ANALYSES

I read Neil Postman's "Entertaining Ourselves to Death" years ago and recommend it to anyone seeking to understand the shallow and the absurd that passes for political punditry on cable and network teevee.

Brian Johnson and Bliss Green write for the blog Postmanisms and have posted a thoughtful and at the same time depressing analysis of how the MSM have shamelessly abandoned any pretense of doing their job of elucidating for the American people the complex issues surrounding the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Instead, we've been given front-row seats to a circus of idiots trying to outdo themselves in irrelevancy and inanity, from Chris Matthews of MSNBC whining about having to hear, more than once, that President Obama's Energy Secretary, Dr. Steven Chu, has a Nobel Prize in physics, to the foolish clowns at FOX News repeating GOP talking points, calling BP's $20 billion fund to compensate those who were financially injured by the spill--calling it a "shakedown."


But I'll let these two talented writers explain it in their own words:


"The phylogeny of Immediacy, Nowness, Hysteria, and Contingent Finality came together this week in a mere 24-hour news cycle (more like 12 hours of real time) that saw President Obama described first as wishy-washy, bland, and listless, and then as a bully enforcer demanding corporate accountability, which would make him the most relaxed “bully” in history. Doris Kearns Goodwin, a respected popular historian, practices the craft of history in situ, because her expertise fools you into thinking her snap judgments have depth. Newsweek‘s Howard Fineman is upset that the President–like an eighteenth-century poet–didn’t have the “fingertip feel,” because after all the President is only a performer, like a reality-show contestant, and his “appearance” is therefore more significant than talking about what he is doing, is not doing, could be doing, or cannot do (i.e. swim down to the well and sit on it, as some critics seem to want). Chris Matthews is bothered that President Obama mentions Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu’s Nobel Prize cred because, well, Chris, in his official TV role of “feeling” for the “ordinary American” believes that that fictional category of person feels condescended to when someone who might actually know more than they do renders a thoughtful opinion.


The staff here at Postmanisms don’t, like the “staff” at TMZ, “hang out” in “cubicles” “casually talking” about stuff they “just happened to see.” Would that our Instant Now media felt any obligation to think before speaking. An analyst’s gutbrain, the educated-person’s version of Beavis and Butt-head mocking videos on MTV, is the only thing TV wants. Let’s face it: serious thought is no fun to watch, and most viewers have been well-trained by the medium to have no patience for extended argument or analysis. At least Roger Ebert always had a longish essay of thoughtful critique behind his thumbs-up/-down. The daily reduction of serious issues (i.e. that a terminal addiction to oil is the only reason the Gulf is going to die) to matters of perception and style (a reflection of the shallowness of the medium itself) turns the entire TV-reported world into the equivalent of TMZ: the world exists only to be paraded in front of us and judged, minute by minute, each judgment final, until the next minute."

Watch this.

The Devil and the Oil Spill

Fox and Palin.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?

Yes, we have people out in the street screaming about tax increases that never were and while Federal income taxes are lower than they've been in 50 years. We have Fox giving air time to the airhead who has taken time out from chanting "drill baby drill" like an over-aged cheerleader for the oil cartel to chastise President Obama for not doing what he in fact is doing and for not knowing how to do what it was BP's responsibility to know how to do and to be able to do. I wonder if she took time to take a shower and change clothes before switching from 'hands off the oil industry' to 'we need government intervention and oversight.'

"Well then what the federal government should have done was accept the assistance of foreign countries, of entrepreneurial Americans that have had the solutions that they wanted presented."

Well, of course that's what the administration is doing. Looking for assistance from countries where drilling is subject to much more oversight and where Fox ranteth not. Perhaps it's time to ask that "gotcha" question once again. So what newspapers and magazines do you read Mrs. Palin? Oh, I see -- you watch Fox.

Of course there was a 4 week delay in waiving the federal Merchant Marine Act of 1920, which mandates that all goods shipped between U.S. ports be transported in U.S.-built, U.S. owned and U.S. manned ships.Of course there was a long delay during which BP didn't tell us how bad it was and that they couldn't have it stopped in short order, but face it, the Grand Old Bastards have so much fun and profit with their daily game of pin the tail on the President, they're even criticizing the pants he wears when talking about the oil spill, unlike the Commander guy with his costumes.

Does it really matter whether the president has apparently made sure that we won't have to pay for this disaster by having BP set aside 20 billion in escrow? No, even that is proof of perfidy, since it will somehow hurt the Louisiana economy and it basically is a socialist plan to redistribute wealth says the irrepressible Bachmann. Win or lose, we lose, if you ask the New Right.

But it appears that God wants no part of this sound and fury and we're going to have to fix it ourselves. If only we only had to battle the Devil and the oil spill here and not the legions of lying idiots.

Republic of Arizona

"Madness is something rare in individuals- but in groups, parties, peoples, ages it is the rule."

-Nietzsche-

The people who wrote the US constitution never intended to give citizenship to "aliens" says John Kavanagh, a state representative from Arizona. Yes, of course he's a Republican. He apparently has some cryptic powers allowing him to know just what Jefferson and Madison were thinking about allowing folks to become citizens that isn't reflected in the Constitution, or perhaps it's just another line of Republican bullshit, seeing as we didn't have the kind of immigration laws in the mid 18th century we instituted in the early 20th century. The fact is that the constitution, for from being anti-alien, doesn't really mention immigration requirements or quotas at all.

I don't think Alexander Hamilton, for instance, had to get a green card to become our first Secretary of the Treasury, a bona fide Founding Father, signer of the Constitution, economist, and political philosopher; Aide-de-camp to General George Washington during the Revolutionary War and a leader of nationalist forces calling for a new Constitution. He was a Caribbean immigrant, you know and illegitimate to boot. He just came here for an education, liked the place and stayed and prospered, as so many modern illegals do.

Kavanaugh says the proposed Arizona law denying citizenship to children born here to parents with expired or non existent visas isn't unconstitutional. He's wrong, of course, but whether it is or isn't, the establishment of requirements for citizenship, or for legal presence in the US is a power not granted to Arizona, to establish or to enforce. Article 1, Section 8 reserves the power To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, to the Congress of the United States alone and that one would think, should be that.

Like many politicians, Kavanaugh is good at answering a question that wasn't asked and pretending to have won the contest. Like many self-styled Libertarians, he talks about the constitution and the rule of law a lot, but what he and his ilk seem to want is the power to do as they please to anyone they please without paying any attention to that much abused and often inconvenient document or the nation for which it stands.

Is Libertarianism one of those things, like Christianity and altruism and "pure" capitalism, that are wonderful to contemplate, but don't exist or can't exist in practice? Perhaps some day I'll find one that isn't just using the pose to advance some private motives. Perhaps not.

Fear and loathing in Oklahoma

The Muslims are coming! The Muslims are coming! Some day, anyway -- it could happen, and Oklahoma isn't OK with it. I mean, we really need to trash our secular constitution and make judicial decisions rely on a few selected Jewish commandments palatable to Christian godbothers, but we are simply not going to sleep at night unless we make it illegal for Judges to be swayed by other, illegal religions like Islam; not in Oklahoma.

No, Okies need to "Save our State" and have proposed an amendment to the State constitution making it illegal for judges to reference Sharia or any other international law and as 0.8% of Oklahomans are Muslim, we can't waste any more time in saving the state from the bearded menace. What is needed is a "pre-emptive strike" says State Representative Rex Duncan (Republican of course.) "Court decisions ought to be based on federal law, or state law" says he.

Of course I agree that they should. yet Federal law just might have a problem with the legislature interfering with judicial decisions and process. Beyond that, I think Federal and State laws should be free of any dependence on Christian doctrines as well, but we're talking about Oklahoma here and we're talking about Republicans everywhere and how can we expect even a modest amount of moral or logical consistency?

On Big And Big; The President Speaks From The Oval Office

This afternoon, as we usually do when we're in San Diego, we picked up our little grandson, age 3, at pre-school.  We always have a snack ready to give him as soon as he's buckled into his carseat; today it was grapes--his favorite.  I sit in the backseat with him while my husband drives, and our backseat sessions usually involve learning for him and for me; he learns about what big people think is important and I learn about what's really important.

Today, he was enchanted by a tiny grape among the bigger, juicy ones.  He's learning the language so fast, we can see improvement daily, so I used the opportunity to emphasize new words for small: tiny, little bitty, smaller than.  We also worked on the brand-new concept of middle-sized and categorized each grape accordingly.  I knew this lesson would be a hit, because for about a week or so he's been announcing, after every meal and snack, "I'm getting big and big!  As we worked on comparative sizes, I realized he'd been trying to say that, by eating well, he was getting something that adds big and big--he was saying that he's getting bigger.  When I echoed that term back to him, he nodded firmly...yep, that was what he'd meant all along.  


After liberry books ("you bemember, Gigi: strawberry, blueberry, liberry?"), after making a big tent from quilts and cushions in the living room (illuminated by a slashlight), after his Mommy came to pick him up, my husband and I watched on my laptop as the President spoke from the Oval Office on the Gulf oil spill crisis.  

The speech was, as usual, perfectly delivered and, as usual, we almost entirely approved of it.  We approved of the order in which he brought out his points of emphasis.  We approved of his insistence on third party handling of the funds BP must advance.  We very much approved of the way he clearly stated what we've all been thinking, what's been making us all a little sick with anxiety since we realized that the spill wasn't being contained: this spill has got to be the signal event that breaks our last ounce of denial on climate change and the addiction to fossil fuel that has caused it.  


This is it, America.  There's not another moment to be wasted on denial, fear, and ignorance.  There's not a thought to be spared for the foolishness of leaving this up to someone else, someone more powerful, someone more connected, someone other than me.  I can't pretend for one more minute that things will be okay for my grandson's future..."somehow."  Time's up.


The President reached in and touched us all, conservative and liberal, on our proudest flesh: he invoked our pride in the way we pulled together to win World War II and to put men on the moon.  He said we've got that history to draw on as we try to believe we can  break our oil addiction, rescue our country and our planet,  and recover our beautiful Gulf.  He was stirring and he was right.

Afterward, my husband said that this is bigger than the moon landing, because that only involved a small segment of our population and only one major administrative entity, NASA...although we all certainly enjoyed the glory.  This effort, he pointed out, will take every single one of us.

I would argue that this is bigger than the necessity of winning World War II; there was always hope that mankind could ultimately overcome the worst evil we'd yet encountered as long as mankind, itself, could survive.  This time, that survival is in question.  The President's speech came as close to naming the unnameable as a President should at this juncture.  I knew what he meant, didn't you?

This is bigger than the moon, bigger than the war.  This is big AND big.

VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA

Most of you know that I can’t dwell too long on depressing, negative subjects without trying to find a balance and so I bring you this bit of brightness that recently caught my attention HERE.

“1.6 million more Americans volunteered in 2009 and spent 100 million more hours helping their communities last year.”

That brings the total number of volunteers in 2009 to 63.4 million. This is the biggest increase in a single year since 2003. These numbers only include those volunteers involved in formal organizations and not those who give in other ways.

"People are turning toward problems, rather than away from them,… people want to be part of the solution. They want to make a difference."

This is the kind of example we SHOULD be setting for others and the lesson we should be teaching America’s children; that Americans work together in times of need to give each other a hand up. That we SEE each other and recognize the human being looking back.

If you want to look for volunteer opportunities, here is the link to Volunteer.Org to get you started. A little time, a lot of time, organizations will be happy to get whatever you can give and you'll be part of a group that is over 63 million strong.

That's power!

Spy in the Sky

You expect the smaller government gospel in Texas and Texans will tell you that the damned government should stay out of private matters like dragging gay men to death behind pickup trucks, instituting safety standards for drilling rigs and demanding proper accounting practices from Bush beloved companies like Enron, but there's an alternate logic in Texas; one that has no problem with the government spying on us with unmanned drones. Following us down the road recording our movements and our speed and our destinations, peeking into our back yards. The largest of these things are as big as airliners and the smallest, I'm told, can fly right into your window. Some are remotely operated, some are almost autonomous. They can see in the dark, they know when you're sleeping; they know when you're awake -- well, maybe not, but they know if you've been good or bad.

Of course there's support for patrolling the borders with these machines, which are much cheaper to operate and aren't dangerous to the operators, but they pose a collision hazard to civil aviation and the FAA, pushed by manufacturers, fear-mongering politicians and the government, has been trying to balance the need for aviation safety with the lust for more government surveillance. Texas officials, including Gov. Rick Perry, Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, and Rep. Henry Cuellar, are so hot to employ drones on the border and who knows where else that they're trying to twist the President's arm. Cornyn, for instance is blocking a Senate confirmation vote on Michael Huerta, Obama's nominee for the No. 2 FAA job, until he gets his way.

Of course there are legitimate uses for drones, but there are legitimate dangers, not all of which concern collisions and the urge to deploy more eyes in the sky; the insistence that we can and must trust the government with another spy tool seems to make liars out of the people making careers out of telling us we can't trust anyone but them.

THE EPITOME OF CRAZY

I thought inciting the violent overthrow of the U.S. government was tantamount to treason. Why isn't this man under arrest for sedition?

Below the surface

Sometimes I meet the nicest people, kind, outgoing, articulate and with many shared interests. A Saturday afternoon barbecue, a manicured garden, a convivial crowd of fellow boaters; many with experiences I can only envy, of cruising the beautiful and exotic parts of the globe.

I mention a planned sail to the Leeward Islands and a stop in beautiful Dominica with it's mountains and waterfalls and hot springs and black sand beaches like the Hawaii of long ago. "Maybe I'll never come back," I say.

"Maybe we'll all have to go elsewhere" says she, "before those Liberals ruin the country with all that debt and, you know before that Obama destroys capitalism."

There's that sick, sinking feeling again; the realization that beneath the tranquil surface, there's a dangerous reef to rip your bottom out. I should have known; but facing the isolation one feels when surrounded by people passionately inimical to your every thought and steadfastly obstinate in resisting any facts or any argument that might diminish the comfort of their cherished anger, makes one too desperate to believe someone might not have been infected with that alien zombie virus. Damn it, I let my guard down again.

"I can't watch the news any more, it's all Liberal" she says. Perhaps she doesn't, but she's listening to someone. Someone is not telling her that the debt began so soar in terrifying fashion when George entered the white house; has soared under every Republican president since Ford or reminding her that the tax cuts that were supposed to increase government revenues didn't and that were supposed to create new jobs created no private sector jobs whatever while government jobs and government coasts soared. Someone isn't telling her that our senseless military endeavor that appears now to have been embarked upon for profit has already cost more that World War II and continues to burn through billions. That kind of debt doesn't count, only debt that might help Americans who aren't already in the club. No -- best not to listen to the Liberals on the TV news.

"It's true that 24 hour coverage leads to a format that's mostly speculation and opinion and it's true that at least one network simply lies and invents and misquotes and twists facts, " I said. Her brow began to furrow. "That's why I try to read as many sources as I can. "I read three or four to a dozen newspapers most every morning," I say. " I listen to everything from Al Jazeera to Haaretz on line." I can see the suspicion growing, the bestial voice in her head growling liberal.

I'd ask her to define liberal, but I know she's define it as its opposite. I know she has no awareness of current events, history or anything outside the Yacht Club Republican cocktail-hour school of economics and social criticism. I know there's no point in flexing a consciousness that's been ossified in one position for 75 years, so I do what I always have to do and smile and say:

"Oh, don't worry, it's a strong country and I'm sure we'll survive," even though I'm far from certain.

Dear CinC USA

Dear Commander in Chief,

You've got a tough week ahead of you.  Ignore the polls; ignore the press.  Listen to your own instincts, your own heart.  Be yourself.  Talk to your trusted advisors.  Convene the people with information and ask for their input, as you have in the past.  Talk it over with Michelle.  Pray, if that's what you usually do.  Then, do it your way.

Respectfully,
Nance

Something's Funny Here

'Nuff Sorry, Already:  I watched this clip on MSNBC today while riding the recumbent bike at the YMCA.  Think there's something funny about South Carolina politics?   It struck me as ha-ha funny; after the way SC has sacrificed any claim it ever had on the nation's respect (and Lindsey Graham DOES try), how could anybody still act surprised by the state's politics?  We've become quite possibly the ONLY comic relief in the national news these days.



Folks, just in case you hadn't put this together yet, the Palmetto State could rival Hamid Karzai's government for corruption.  I've apologized quite adequately to those of you who live in real states, so that's it; that's all the sorry I'm sayin'.  Hereafter, anyone who points out that SC has some funky things going on politically will have to apologize to me for being as dull witted as ol' Alvin, here.  I just hope they paid him a fair graft; unemployment has been over 16% in Manning, SC.

ARIZONA DRACONIA - PART 2

Not long ago I answered the question from a relative about how bad things must be in Arizona to compel them to enact their new draconian immigration laws. The post can be found HERE.

What I found in researching that post, using statistics from the State of Arizona is that while hate crimes against blacks, hispanics, gays and Jews was on the rise, crime in the state was declining as shown on these graphs:

A recent article HERE gave me the idea of revisiting Arizona's claims of ornerous immigration problems. Amazingly, not only has Arizona's immigrant population, both legal and illegal been steadily declining but with the impending enactment of the new law, Hispanics are leaving Arizona in large numbers:

"Arizona’s immigrant population, which is more than 90 percent Mexican, has already been leveling off for two years now, due to the recession."

"Arizona’s hard-hitting immigration law is driving Hispanics out of the state weeks before the controversial law goes into effect."

School enrollment is down and businesses who had Hispanic patrons are reporting losses of revenues. Looks like the new law will not only free up a few low paying jobs but may have some unintended negative consequences.

So, once again, I ask the question; what DID prompt the Draconian measures enacted by the Arizona governor and legislature?

(Paw Tip to my favorite cephalopod for the great graphs!)

Today’s IOKIYAR

Wow seems like just this week the right wing was in a tizzy over Helen Thomas saying she thought the Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine.” Thomas paid for her insensitivity swiftly and severely: she lost her job, was dumped by her speakers’ bureau, and basically had her long, groundbreaking, 60+ year legacy in the media destroyed in a matter of days.

Anyhoo, with that little controversy fresh in everyone’s minds you’d naturally think the right wing would be offended by this blatant racism from Cato Institute scholar Michael Cannon:

Responding to a tragic story about a New Orleans area sheriff asking federal authorities to investigate reports that undocumented workers are involved in the oil spill clean up, Cannon tweeted that undocumented workers “are very absorbent.” View a screen shot below:

Yes, it was clearly meant as a joke which failed horribly. But beyond the blatant racism, it is especially insensitive when one considers the highly charged atmosphere Hispanics face right now, thanks to Arizona’s immigration law. But not to Dave Weigel of the Washington Post, who rallies to Cannon’s defense:

You have to put on blinders to miss the fact that Cannon is joking about what he sees as craziness in Louisiana.

Umm, really? So it’s a slam on those crazy Louisiana people? How do you figure? And if you DO figure, how do you figure that’s any better?

Look, I realize conservatives are missing whatever thread of DNA it is that includes a funny bone, which explains lame “comedians” like Dennis Miller and Victoria Jackson (in all fairness, I find Victoria Jackson hilarious, however that is because I am laughing at her, not with her). So a Cato Institute scholar Tweeting a joke which lands with a massive thud is as predictable as the sun rising in the east.

That fellow conservatives like Dave Weigel would rally to his defense is also, sadly, predictable. This is the same columnist who rushed to defend Rand Paul, not once but twice. Just as conservatives lack a sense of humor, they also seem to lack any sensitivity where issues of race and tolerance are concerned. And this, too, is no surprise, since so much of the conservative movement is an obvious backlash against "political correctness." It is, at its core, a movement born out of a desire to be intolerant and not be called an asshole.

Well, nice try Dave but no prize for you. This was obviously not a joke made at the expense of those “crazy Cajuns” or whatever you are trying to pretend here. It was a joke made at the expense of Hispanics who, I’m sorry to say, have received a good bit of this offensive stereotyping disguised as humor of late.

Check out the Ohio radio station which thought it would be soooo funny to have a contest where you can “spend a day hunting illegals” in Phoenix. Ha ha absofucking hilarious. Yeah those illegals, they put their lives at risk and break the law and all that just cuz, they’re funny that way, must be all the tequila and hot sun, ha ha. I mean, forget about the grinding poverty that forces people to leave their homes and families to come here in search of a better life in the first place. Forget the American economic policy so addicted to the crack pipe that is cheap labor that businesses happily ignore the law and provide jobs for these folks, sometimes even hire contractors to cross the border recruit this cheap labor. But hey, these immigrants are illegal and what part of illegal don’t we DFH’s understand? Yeah I get it.

You know, it just seems there’s no racist comment that could come from a conservative that won’t push the Dave Weigels of the country way out on a limb to defend them. It’s always, always, always OK if you are a Republican.

We Are the Government; So if Government Sucks...

I've read several posts in the past few weeks about the BP disaster and inevitably, they address the issue of blame. The catchall statement is that we are all guilty for BP's swath of environmental destruction because of our dependency on oil.

I understand the rejection of the mantle of guilt by those who have favored environmental policies and who have never supported deregulation of the oil drilling industry, but I have been disturbed by the trend to disavow any responsibility and blame it all on the failings of government. The litany goes something like this: the government has failed to promote the development of economically priced electric cars, or other environmentally sound vehicles; I would buy such a car if it were available at a reasonable price.

I have been intrigued for decades by this tendency to speak of government as if it were some autonomous beast, making decisions to control our existence. We are the government. We may not always get the people that we choose into office but nonetheless we are responsible for government. We decide how much we want to be involved and overall, we do a pretty sorry job of it. Voting is a precious right that more of us choose not to exercise in any given election than those of us who do. Campaigning is hard work and takes a massive number of volunteers, but most of us have never worked on a local or national campaign for any candidate. Every citizen has a right to lobby elected officials but most of us have never lobbied state or federal elected officials on any issue. However, we are far too willing to insist that big bad government is the source of all societal ills. The right insists that it is too much government that is the problem, and the left expresses that the government fails to take the lead in promoting the common good.

Are all of us guilty for the oil spill? I don't think so but do we share the responsibility? Oh yes. We share a collective responsibility for the common good; it is our refusal to step up to the plate and accept this responsibility that leaves us constantly bemoaning the failures of government. We can't fix anything because it's not our fault; it's the government's fault, " I drive a small car that gets good mileage so I'm not responsible for our over dependence on oil." Poppycock!
 
Our biggest failure is our inability to accept individual responsibility to do all that we possibly can to promote the common good. Who is responsible for fixing all of these problems if we sit on our collective asses denying responsibility for the arc of ills that bedevil us because we personally didn't vote for GWB or some other incompetent leader? It's not about what you didn't do, the question to ask yourself is what have I done, and what am I willing to do to improve this world that I share with the rest of creation?
 
Merely sitting back and shaking your head in disgust and dismay is not a solution. Announcing which candidates you didn't support is not a solution. Declaring that you personally recycle and drive a small car is not a solution. If you aren't actively and consistently taking steps to effect change, then you're useless and all of your disgust with the status quo is self-indulgent.
 
Get involved! Join organizations that advocate for change and become an activist. Know who your federal and state legislators are. Call, write, email and let them know what you support and what you are against. Collect signatures and send petitions from voters who agree with you. Make certain to be informed on all issues in elections and vote! Volunteer to pass out information, drive people to the polls, get the word out about the issues. Effecting change is hard work but nothing has ever been changed by declaring your lack of personal responsibility and bemoaning the inadequacies of government.
 
Government is only as good as we make it. So what have you done lately to contribute to the common good?

HELP BRITISH PETROLEUM IMPROVE ITS PUBLIC IMAGE

Understatement of the year: British Petroleum seems to have a public relations problem, and the website of logo design, LogoMyWay.com, is sponsoring a contest to help BP improve its corporate image. Here is a sampling of logos submitted thus far:

Is Greene a GOP plant?

S.C. politics are just flat weird. GOP politics stink like a convention of skunks.

How could an unemployed ex-marine (alleged) raise the $10,400 filing fee to run for the S.C. democratic Senate seat? Alvin Greene didn't campaign  but claims he "criss-crossed the state during his campaign—though he declined to specify any of the towns or places he visited or say how much money he spent while on the road."

"It wasn’t much, I mean, just, it was—it wasn’t much. Not much, I mean, it wasn’t much," he said, when asked how much of his own money he spent in the primary. Greene frequently spoke in rapid-fire, fragmentary sentences, repeating certain phrases or interrupting himself multiple times during the same sentence while he searched for the right words

He didn’t show up at the "South Carolina Democratic Party convention in April and didn't file any of the required paperwork for candidates with the state or Federal Election Commission."

James Clyborn (D-SC) House Majority Whip, called for an investigation into the circumstances that led to Alvin Greene winning the Democratic Senate primary.

"There were some real shenanigans going on in the South Carolina primary," Clyburn said during an appearance on the liberal Bill Press radio show. "I don't know if he was a Republican plant; he was someone's plant."

Greene certainly talks like a Republican and he may even act like one. He's facing a felony charge for allegedly showing obscene photos to a University of South Carolina student.

Welcome to Carolinagate.

As goes Arizona

I'd like to give notice. There must be someone, some registry I can add my name to as one who wishes to officially disassociate myself with the idiocy of America. Those who doubted that our experiment in including the rabble in government would fare any better than the French Revolution did would, if they could, be smiling to read Florida gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott's campaign rhetoric and would spit up in their coffins to read the comments on his website from people responding to his appeal to "stand with Rick Scott" in pushing for an unconstitutional immigration policy. The end should justify the means in Florida and not just in Arizona.

The United States Constitution, like the Bible and the Qur'an are mirrors in which we see our thoughts justified, venal and noble. I hear from people who insist that Arizona is doing what's necessary and if immigrants are second class citizens, required to wear yellow stars and carry papers at all times, it simply doesn't bother them. Of course if the Coast Guard hails and boards their yachts and fishing boats asking for papers; asking about weapons aboard and checking registration and proof of ownership? Why that's unconstitutional!

In fact the constitution demands that the US protect our states from "invasion" by gardeners, fruit pickers, dish washers and day laborers, says one Scott supporter. And of course, it's not racism, says another. It's simply our distaste for infractions of the law, you see. If we were being "invaded" by Canadians, we'd need to do the same thing although since nobody seems to bother tallying up the number of Canadians in the US illegally and fair skinned blue-eyed, people named McKenzie or Scott aren't being stopped in Home Depot parking lots for interrogation. I frankly don't think anyone gives a damn about immigration law or quotas or visas or green cards. I think it's about an ethnically pure America, just as it always has been.

No, I don't deny the need to control immigration. I don't deny that there is a problem with porous borders. I do deny that the problems need to be dealt with by taking away yet another bit of American freedom.

I don't notice much damn being given at all about US agents shooting a Mexican 14 year old on Mexican soil for throwing rocks either. Fox News of course assured us that it was all OK, since the kid was "known to authorities," although in Fox Fashion, no actually authorities were identified or quoted and more than likely weren't actually consulted. Why bother, why care? Something needs to be done and so anything can be done and let's just be done with it.

Will Florida join the Arizona Confederacy and force people with Spanish accents and other unspecified characteristics to stop and furnish papers or be arrested? Will we fire teachers with accents and punish schools that mention Cesar Chavez or that the Seminoles were hunted down like animals and killed and tortured or that an entire Florida town was murdered and no one was prosecuted for it or that (yes, it's true) our fair state tolerated de facto slavery until the 1940's?

If I'm looking at the future when I look at Arizona and listen to Rick Scott, if the near unanimous opinion of my peers is that we have a disaster in the Gulf because of "too much government regulation" I want no part of the insanity, the stupidity, the animal rage, the drooling masses yearning to bring back what my parents' generation and my generation fought to free us from.

Smoke coming out of my ears . . .

Life hasn't been great in this dumpy apartment complex I've been living in for three years but it's been tolerable and even peaceful considering the drug deals going down, a crazy neighbor who used to walk out of his apartment and fall flat in a drunken stupor, another guy who liked to stand outside my window and watch me work, and a new neighbor who runs around squawking like a mother hen and who hates Blacks, Hispanics and Southerners.

My apartment manager has always been decent, friendly and fair and square. Then she hired Brunhilde who lives here and who began her weekend job as assistant with gusto. A real matron of the prison farm school. Even when she's not on duty she's on duty. "That's against the rules." "You're not allowed to do that." She's about as popular as a bucket of road apples.

The manager has always been tolerant of my 14-year-old 110 pound lab mix getting lose or simply lying out in front of my apartment and rolling in the grass. Unfortunately I live right across from the office. Nobody has ever complained about Lucky or me or any other dog who isn't on a leash. That is, until Brunhilde stormed in.

The Brun hates animals and is petrified of them. So why didn't she move into a pet-free apartment complex you ask? Who in hell knows.

For three weeks I've watched her eyes bulge every time Lucky went within 50 yards of her. "It's against the rules." "It's for safety." "Hasn't anyone complained?" No. But I knew the day would come when Brun would turn the screws in my back. Today the apartment manager told me to put him on a leash. There's a couple of Pit Bulls here and a Chiguagua that are bigger threats than my 110 pound wuss. I'd be delighted if they did me the favor of putting teeth marks in her ass.

Yes, yes I know there are major tragedies that are far more severe and devastating than the one I'm facing. The Gulf Oil Spill exceeds any man made disaster this country has ever experienced. The destruction of the marine life, the birds, the wetlands, the beaches, the fishing industry and other industries that are dependant on the Gulf for survival and the entire way of life of the region is being destroyed day by day, minute by minute for thousands of miles.

And polls are showing that people are blaming the government for not acting fast enough. Translated, that means our black president. You see, it's much easier to cast blame than to look a little deeper and to consider the realities of the problem. This is a tragedy that should bring the nation together, not rip it apart with dumb, petty, spiteful, ignorant as-hell politics.

The idiots at FoxNews aren't the only media outlets criticizing the government. But their irresponsibility is driven by ignorance and downright mean spiritedness. The Main Stream Media doesn't even have a decent excuse for their know-nothing, superficial coverage . Reporters have become lazy, cowardly, and slaves to the corporations and they can't be bothered with research or looking below the surface.

Then there's the Texas State Board of Education which passed textbook guidelines that practically annihilates American history.

To the West is Arizona which has passed a law making it a state crime for an illegal immigrant to apply for a job or to solicit work publicly. But it's a-okay if an employer hires illegals. This is followed up with Ethnic Studies being banned in public schools. And Arizona Governor Jan Brewer hysterically claiming the state is under "terrorist attack."  Arizona state treasurer Dean Martin  has called for tent cities to house illegal immigrants, no doubt copying the idea from Maricopa County's notorious sheriff Joe Arpaio - and maybe because he might earn a few more votes in his run for governor.

Let's don't forget Republican Representative from South Carolina, Joe "you lie" Wilson or S.C. state senator Jake "raghead" Knotts, or his twin over in Mississippi Gov. Haley "Oil? What oil?" Barbour.

And then there's that adorable Sarah Palin, whose lies are only superseded by her ignorance of American history, the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, who doesn't read, who's an international whiz-kid because she can see Russia out her back window. I'm sure she'd fit right in as a Texas School Board member.

I can't finish without mentioning SCOTUS and it's rape of Miranda, its personalization of corporations and its ruling blocking Arizona from subsidizing state candidates facing privately funded foes.

So, between Brunhilde, the Neanderthals who are elected to uphold the laws of the land but don't, and the MSM which doesn't investigate but should, I have smoke coming out of my ears, I'm steaming and I'm swearing up a storm. In more succinct terms, I'm p****d as hell.

GUILT IS NOT WRITTEN ALL OVER MY FACE

Every news show I've watched the last few weeks has some well meaning person saying we're all guilty of the destruction of the Gulf of Mexico. I'm sorry. I'm not.


Strike that "I'm sorry" thing. I'm not sorry I'm not guilty. I didn't vote for Bush. I felt the proper liberal bewilderment when Sarah Palin kept on saying "drill baby, drill." I've asked that my taxes be raised so we can have a government that can afford to govern.



These people say anyone that uses oil is guilty. It sucks that electric cars like the Chevy Volt which hasn't even been for sale yet cost 40 grand. I don't have 40 grand and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay the finance charges on a 40 thousand dollar loan so my electric bill can skyrocket from having to plug the damn car in every night.
I have a Ford Fusion 4 cylinder non hybrid that gets 30 mpg on the highway and 23 in the city. That's the best I can do to fight BP.



I didn't tell BP to keep operating after problems with the leaking pipes started. I didn't kill the Kennedys or Martin Luther King or Abraham Lincoln. Hell. I have people that still won't speak to me in my hometown because I thought renaming a street in honor of Dr. King was a good idea. Okay. I plead guilty for feeling guilty that racism is still alive in our Country and I wanted to do what I could to stick it to some racists by renaming a street after a great American they hate.



It's too easy and for some reason people think it's profound or fair or some other nonsense to blame us all for bad things. Well I don't accept blame for things that aren't my fault. I can think of damn few problems that arose from liberal policies. Most of the problems we face now are from republican ideas like deregulation. Supply side, deficit building economics. Incoherent immigration policies. And I'm not sure if immigration is even a problem or just another bogeyman created by tea bagging types to get people to not pay attention to their really stupid ideas. Occupations of countries that are no threat, one of them never was a threat, that drain our treasury and worse, continue to rack up casualties among our brave Troops.



The signs and bumper stickers say "Don't blame me. I voted for Bush." And the republicans call themselves the party of personal responsibility.

SC's Slur-Slinging Crapfest

[With a respectful nod to HuffPost's Jason Linkins for the title inspiration.  Now, everybody knows what SC stands for.]

Apologizing for South Carolina has become a full-time job.

Jake Knotts

Given the infamy our leaders have slapped us upside the head with and the effect it will have on the state's economy, I feel lucky to be employed at all; since I began blogging in August, 2009, I've earned $7.20 and I have my stellar state of residence to thank for at least two bucks of that.  I call it my state of residence, rather than my home, because obviously I wasn't born in South Carolina.  I was born in North Carolina, where we look down on our sister state to the south for being a bunch of inbred, redneck, backwoods ignunts.  I, of course, just live there...the only little petunia in the onion patch.