Category Archives: Politics

HR 2868- Good intentions gone sour

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There is a fine line between good sense and paranoia and HR 2868 has definitely crossed over into deep paranoia. This resolution, sponsored by Rep. Thompson (Mississippi), Rep. Waxman of CA, Rep. Jackson-Lee of TX, Rep. Markey of CA, and reps Clarke and Pascrell, is an amendment to the Homeland Security Act of 2002.  Its purpose is

“to extend, modify, and recodify the authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security to enhance security and protect against acts of terrorism against chemical facilities, and for other purposes.”

Well, how could anyone be against such a noble sounding piece of code? The sponsors are struggling to protect the homeland against attack on chemical facilities. Facilities whose hazardous material inventories could be maliciously released to cause harm to the surrounding neighborhoods of innocent and helpless citizens.

Sec. 2102 (a) (1) allows the Secretary to designate any chemical substance as a “substance of concern” and establish a threshold quantity for each substance of concern.

There are many goodies and zingers in this bill. Sec. 2115 (a) (1) (A) requires that the Secretary issue regulations for substantial background checks to establish personnel surety in covered chemical facilities. The security check will be deep and will serve as a reservoir of information collected by company on citizen employees and subject to inspection on demand by the Secretary.

Sec. 2116 (a) (1) states that any person may commence a civil suit against any person “who is alleged to be in violation of any standard, regulation, condition, requirement, prohibition, or order which has become effective pursuant to this title; or … “.  This citizen lawsuit provision will open the floodgates to lawsuits on companies running chemical plants and in so doing, under the rules of discovery, break through the IP protection afforded by trade secrecy.

This proposed law also provides for close oversight by the Secretary of Homeland Security as well as civil penalties (Sec. 2107 (b) (1)) of up to $50,000 per day of violation.

OK. Nobody wants acts of terrorism to happen and especially not on the site of a chemical plant. But to legislate the transformation of chemical plants into a “Fort Apache” scenario in the absence of a history of attacks on US plants is to invite needless cost and complication to an industry that is already heavily regulated. This is plainly the result of irrational fearfulness on the part of congressional sponsors. And Congressmen are in a position to convert their fears into law.

Compliance with this law will require considerable effort and expense to be carried by industry. The downside to being out of compliance is too expensive. Over time companies may opt out of processes that use chemicals of concern simply to reduce the risk of noncompliance as determined by government audit.

The chemical industry uses hazardous chemicals of many varieties. Hazardous chemicals are often reactive chemicals. And reactive chemicals are useful chemicals.

The entire chemical industry is built around the exploitation of reactive attributes in order to cause a desired change in chemical composition. The unintended consequence of this legislation is that useful but reactive chemicals may be inherently prone to identification as chemicals of concern. The effect would then be that key substances at the core of a given technology platform would be regulated on the basis of what a terrorist could do with it rather than its value to technology and to civilization.

What constitutes adequate security? Who is to say what security measures are satisfactory? The security industry seems to attract the paranoid who see threats behind every shrub. To have such people deciding what chemical is acceptable for use in manufacturing is unacceptable.

Libertarians and Epidemics

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If the USA were more substantially libertarian in construction and demeanor, how would we respond to the arrival of an epidemic or pandemic of some nasty pathogen like swine flu? If the USA were decentralized into quanta of individual market units, each responsible for his/her own well being, how could the spread of contagion be averted?

Would a libertarian republic be philosophically opposed to collectivist activity like combining resources to marshal a defense against a virus. Or, would the Austrian-school economists brush off the event as nothing more than a Malthusian disturbance in the direction of a much needed equilibrium between resources and population? If you cannot afford to protect yourself, then you are lazy or sadly unlucky. In any case, you’re on your own.

Would a Libertarian system first act to protect property and guns? Would libertarian economists issue a statement condemning collectivism and promoting the rights of individuals to buy as much Lysol, duct tape, plastic drop cloths, and surgical masks as the market will allow? Perhaps a Libertarian President (whatever that means) would put a team of economists on a pandemic, or better yet, the lowest bidding epidemiologists available from Craigs list?

Libertarians make a good deal of noise about the horrors of taxation and their unflinching admiration for the genius of the marketplace, property, and the right to stockpile guns and ammo.  I agree, we’re paying too much in taxes. Government is way too big. And the dynamics of the market do provide lots of cool stuff for better living. True enough.

But the market is like a stomach (I had a better analogy, but it was rather unwholesome). It only knows that it is hungry. The stomach has no brain. The stomach only wants more. The stomach did not invent antibiotics, polyethylene, Buicks, antacid, jet engines, or bikinis. But the stomach did facilitate the invention of each of these items. We need a market mentality, but we also need an overarching sense of direction. We need a market that can sense and avoid driving off a Malthusian cliff.

Civilization is about infrastructure. And part of the infrastructure that the country as a whole can provide is biotechnology.  Biotechnology was not developed by Warren Buffett or Ronald Reagan or the legions of celebrated MBA’s. It was slowly developed by publically financed university institutions over many years of apparently irrelevant research projects. University educated scientists were hired by private and public corporations who began to find ways of marketing biomedical technology.  It evolved into molecular biology and medicine and eventually commercialized as a result of front funding by millions of skeptical and myopic taxpayers over several generations. Yes, the market has a big part in this in terms of the rational distribution of goods.

As a result of all of the initial “collectivism” through publically funded science, we have a first class infrastructure (the CDC) that is capable of monitoring the onset and progress of contagious diseases. This system funded originally by the public is able to mobilize vaccines and small molecule medicines to prevent suffering and the spread of disease.  It is able to coordinate efforts and resources to benefit even the chronically irritable Libertarians.

CNN and Fox Stimulate LIV Wing of GOP

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How can it be that people like CNN’s Glenn Beck and Fox brainwave Sean Hannity can land high paying spots on cable television? It obviously not because they are scholars. These professional 8th graders may have a grasp on something, but it’s sure not high level thinking. Aren’t they embarrassed? I’ll bet their mothers are. Obama a socialist? WTF?? Fascist?? WTF?? Have they bothered to look up the definition of these words?

Fascist: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition2: a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control <early instances of army fascism and brutality (from Merriam Webster).

Socialism:  1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods2 a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done (from Merriam Webster).

The very notion that Obama is a fascist or a socialist is barking mad. If anybody was a fascist, it was Dick Cheney and his band of goons. Nobody has the political power to convert this nation of unruly curs into a socialist country. The notion that anybody, even the most irate left wingers, could undo centuries of private property ownership in favor of socialist wetdreams is absurd on its face. The 20th century’s big socialism experiment failed. Who wants to try that again.  Obama is no socialist.

I’m sure these curs and mental halflings on cable clearly understand that they are spouting nonsense. It is all a put-on to get America’s legions of low information voters (LIV) out of the pews and into the community centers for some old fashioned swift-boating. Republicans know that if you hurl enough shit, some of it is bound to stick to something and the LIV’s will pick up on it.

What lit my fire this day? See the HuffPo article.

Liptonian Symbolism

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Never one to allow reason to interfere with sentimentality, my blackened heart is softened somewhat by the recent shipment of Lipton Tea bags delivered to Th’ Gaussling from an online admirer via the US Postal Service. 

The tea in this gift shall be symbolically applied to the local waterway, but not before being used to formulate some refreshing iced beverage via aqueous extraction.  A vessel filled with aqueous goodness (OPE-Our Pure Essence) will be charged with the anthocyanin and alkaloid laden forest litter for extended exposure to solar radiation. Brownian motion will be relied upon to disperse the colloidal value away from the biomass.

Once so processed, the fortifying beverage will be passed through a pair of kidneys as a symbol of my dark contempt for the IRS. This nephro-raffinate will be discharged into the municipal fluid collection system for a kind of Nicene rectification that will provide further philosophical processing of the symbolic gesture. Finally, after the Liptonian fluids have been subjected to Libertarian aeration and Calvinist filtration, the clarified symbol will be discharged into the river for its turbulent hero’s journey to the drinking water inlets of New Orleans and beyond.

GOP Apparachiki Rattling Sticks in Bucket of Swill

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It certainly seems as though the GOP is orchestrating a pageant of contrived television events meant to draw in followers who may have gone astray. Tea parties and theatrical outrage over alerts issued from homeland security. Broadcasters find this kind of thing irresistable and, like stray cats, are drawn to lap up footage from a saucer of engineered controversy.

Tejas Governor Perry will probably have to eat his words about independence. If he is smart, he’ll realize that crow is best eaten while still warm.

What is striking about post-election GOP behavior is the magnitude of the mean spiritedness and the heat of the invective spewing from the right. These people are pissed off about their role as the minority party.

The fact of power is the act of power.  What is so telling about the character of the GOP core is that despite the mandate of the last election, GOP soldiers continue to vociferously spout expired doctrine despite the will of the majority of voters. Contrary to the interest of voting citizens, these people are gaming every rule, squirting glue in all the locks, and dropping flaming bags of political shit on every doorstep they can find.

This is a valuable insight into the party of “character and values”. Instead, they have betrayed themselves as the party of “win at all costs and take no prisoners”.

Was Abe Lincoln Wrong?

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When I hear the  snide comments of Gingrich and Limbaugh or witness the rebirth of Tom DeLay, I begin to wonder if President Abraham Lincoln wasn’t mistaken in trying to keep the Union together. Southern Conservatism with its fanatical Baptist dominionist wingnut demographic has even perverted basic conservative values of thrift and small government. It’s expensive military fetish and its efficient marshaling of extreme nationalism have cast precious little light on the complex problems of our time, just a devisive heat.

The epoch of the “Bush II Wild-Assed Excursion in American Civilization” has lead to the present disintegration of the GOP from the Grand Old Party to the Confederate Splintered Old Party of serial filibustering demagogues.

Perhaps we should set aside a few states for the Southern Conservatives to set up a Confederacy where lassaiz faire and the Southern Baptist Convention can run unfettered in the shady green pastures of God’s marketplace. Hell, throw in Texas for good measure- except for Houston. Houston would be a independent city-state a la Hong Kong. Newt can be the new Jeff Davis of the Confederacy of Theocratic States.

Let the southern conservatives luv each other up in their own country. They can preach their sticky doctrine to a ready made choir all day long. It would be worth having a Republican Homeland seccession if it will shut the bastards up.

Land of the Peckerwoods

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One of the strangest phenomena that I am aware of is the matter of Po-folk republicans. You know, the folks who are the working dirt poor, but somehow are abidingly aligned with deep conservatism?  These folk are part of the masses who follow the GOP propaganda organs- Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. It is beyond my comprehension as to how people who are at the bottom of Ronald Reagan’s trickle down economics cascade can support policies that clearly give preference to the wealthy and to corporations. WTF???

So, what about the Land of the Peckerwoods? Margaret and Helen put it well-

Margaret dear, I need your help sorting all this out.   Rush Limbaugh has a daily audience of 14 million morons- give or take a few rednecks – Howard excluded of course.   So are we to believe that they all want Obama to fail?   Do I have that right?  I am a little confused by this recent turn of events because weren’t these the same peckerwoods who got so upset a  few years back when a famous country western singer told about 2,000 people at a concert in London that she was ashamed that George Bush was from her home state?  

Actually I believe her exact quote was, “Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”   If I am not mistaken, conservatives everywhere were enraged – albums were burned, death threats ensued.  It was treason.

 Well put, Helen dear. I have a lot to say about this topic as well, but much of it is dripping in bile.

Indignation of the Self-Righteous Self-Made

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There is an undercurrent of disatisfaction that is surfacing regarding the rescue of homeowners who got themselves into bad mortgage arrangements. Talking heads like the guy on CNBC are going off about how wrong it is that citizens who were more clever about their spending habits should have to pay for the mistakes of those who made bad choices.

As a first order approximation, it is hard to argue that we should line up to provide this payout.  If you make bad judgments based on greed, ignorance, or simple miscalculation, the theory is that in an ideal free market you should be free to suffer the consequences as well as the benefits.

That’s fine. Except that we do not have an ideal free market.  In this particular bust, the risks of mortgage trading were not accurately communicated to investors or even particularly well understood by anyone. The macro effect of a large number of mortgagees who are suddenly unable to deal with a large interest rate uptick in their adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) was under appreciated by most.

Adjustable rate mortgages and the subsequent investment instruments that followed were dreamed up by somebody- but probably not by hourly workers or anyone outside real estate and finance. There was a kind of wink-of-the-eye understanding between banks, mortgage brokers, builders, and the real estate business. Not only was there the invention of the ARM and the degradation of qualification standards, there was a nationwide marketing campaign aimed at marginal buyers. This real estate boom was financed in part by mortgage instruments designed to capture marginal borrowers.

The previous owner of the home that I presently occupy was a mortagage broker who had hit the big time at the start of this bubble.  After the signatures were on paper, he told his wife that she could have the BMW that she had wanted from the equity.  Mortgage brokering was practically a cottage industry and many people were making money.

Real estate agents knew this of course. They knew that easy qualification was available and they continued to do what they always do:  push buyers into the most home they could afford.  It was a sellers market and real estate speculation was rampant. Builders were routinely putting up spec homes and selling them like hotcakes.

This is not just a problem limited to greedy buyers. A whole business phenomenon grew into being around the housing boom. Lending institutions, mortgage brokers, real estate brokers, title companies, builders, and buyers all bought into a dream built upon sand. Buyers may have been guilty of bad judgement, but it was facilitated by entire industry ready and willing to make it happen.  

So, are the angry men we see on television justified in their assertion that they should not be forced to help bail out those facing foreclosure? I suppose the position you take depends on your vision of what civilization should look like. I think  if you investigate the self-righteous self-made, you’ll find that many of them benefitted in part by the distribution of wealth at some scale. Inheritance money, Pell grants, scholarships, good mentoring, good fortune, talented parenting, and many other forms of benefit that are not necessarily distributed by bank deposit. Simple hard work is rarely enough.

The parties involved in this fiasco should bear the brunt of it themselves to a large extent. That means that lending institutions should not be entitled to the profits they were anticipating and the borrowers should not be entitled to large equity on overvalued homes. There should be suffering on the part of all participants.

Fiat Lux! Sen. Gregg’s Moment of Clarity

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Senator Judd Gregg has seen the light. He has had a moment of pure, crystalline insight and has witnessed truth and clarity unfold before his eyes.

Yeah, right.

You have to wonder what kind of pressures were put to bear on him to reject the nomination for commerce secretary. A personal call from Rush Limbaugh? A whisper campaign from conservative cells? Perhaps criticism from the official organ of GOP doctrine, Fox News, was just too much for him. Then again, he might be fickle.

This resignation reduces to one more soldier lining up in the GOP phalanx, preparing for extended battle with the Democrats. It is striking how uniformly GOP soldiers have rejected what many thought was axiomatic– that bipartisanship was, if not necessary, at least highly desirable for the good of the whole.

During the 2008 campaign, the concept of cooperation between parties was pulled frequently from its carrying case by candidate McCain and displayed like sacred icon of civics.

But McCain’s claim of bipartisanship was evidence of the true nature of his bohemian political composition. Bipartisanship and whatever civic merit it might represent is certainly not a plank in the GOP platform. Sen. McCain has shut his maverick hole and is now playing ball with his team.

Sen. Gregg will be rubbed with GOP annointing oil and when the delerium has cleared, he’ll sheepinshly fall into line with the rest.