Category Archives: Politics

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.

GOP setting up for a repeat of 1994

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It is interesting to watch the GOP setting up a 2010 slam dunk like a bunch of beach vollyball players. After the House Dems served the bail-out bill across the political net, the House GOP tapped the ball vertically to give the Senate a chance to scramble under it and slam it in the face of president Obama who’s standing next to the net, doe-eyed with optimism.

While Obama is making nice with the GOP by trying to be cooperative, the House Dems load the bill with goodies like ravenous college students load their scuffed melamine plates at an all-you-can-eat salad bar. To the delight of the GOP, they now have a plausibly deniable excuse for being uncooperative with the Obama administration. And the Housed Dems have served it up on a garnished platter.

The GOP leadership exclaims with alligator tears dripping onto their tailored suits, “How can we possibly accept the imposition of such tremendous debt on future generations of Americans? We believe, like Ronald Reagan, that tax cuts are the best stimulus for America.” Harumph, grunt, snort.

The Dem world view is to embrace new ideas and use government as a lever for doing good. The GOP world view is that government is bad, except for defense of property, and the economic Darwinism of the market should determine how civilization is shaped. Liberals tend to be eclectic and less focused on tangible goals. Conservatives tend to be doctrinaire and acquisitive. Obviously, there are exceptions.

President Obama is foolishly assuming that GOPers are just like Dems at heart. If only they could sup together they could find common ground. What the Obama Dems have failed to grasp is that the GOP wants to annex that common ground for their own new subdivision.

The GOP is plainly setting up for a turnaround in the upcoming 2010 midterm election. They are priming their huddled supporters for a campaign of  Limbaugh bile and Hannity disaffection with the Obama administration, in the same manner that Gingrich did in 1994 to the Clinton Administration by riling up the bible-belt like a nest of hornets.

The truth is that the GOP does not share the aspirations annunciated by the Obama Dems. The GOP leadership are more like Mongolian horsemen and the Dems are like a bunch of sod farmers. The only hope the sod farmers have is that the Mongolians will fall off their horses again.

It’s too painful to watch.

Dark Spot

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Darkness as Metaphor

Darkness as Metaphor

The photo credit goes to Marc Imhoff, Project Scientist for NASA’s Terra satellite, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.  Shown at night are Japan and the Korean Penninsula.

Golly, I wonder what yawning chasm of darkness cries out for light? Hint: It is run by a shrimpy Latter Day Stalinist.

The House GOP. Hear Them Squeal!

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Poor GOP. The party of values, Tom DeLay, and Karl Rove. Now that they are the loyal opposition, they seem to have forgotten their time in the sun. Remember the good old days when Majority Leader Tom “The Exterminator” Delay ran roughshod over house Dems? The tide has turned and today they are whining vociferously about the lack of input into legislation.  Should they be surprised at like treatment? Actually, they are not getting like treatment. Boehner and party have been asked to participate in problem solving and, naturally, they have reverted to their rabid, atavistic reflex for eating the liver of any democrat within reach.