Republicans used to stand for something: free enterprise, small government, lower taxes. These principles were responsible for the election of Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan (as to what principles were responsible for the election of George W. Bush, I have no earthly idea). Although not always true to the ideals (Reagan's defense spending put a serious hole in the budget) at least those men gave it to you straight. Their core beliefs were that the American people would see the wisdom of their ideas and vote accordingly.
Now we have 2009. The Republican ethos is in decline, not because people want higher taxes and more government but because the previous chief executive had sawdust for brains. Republicans have had the political rug pulled out from under them. Not only do the Democrats control both houses of Congress, they have a rock star in the White House. The GOP has no cogent plan, no remedy for Iraq, the recession or unemployment. Hell, they don't even have a leader/spokesperson/champion. When John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and Jim Demint are your frontmen you need to change your campaign color from red to gray.
Having decided that a recitation of your beliefs is putting America to sleep, the GOP has hit upon a new grand strategy; scare the bejeebers out of old people. If you can get someone on TV to repeat the stuff you make up (hello Fox News), seniors will gobble it up. Old people believe what their TV's tell them. They remember Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Morrow and Huntley & Brinkley. Older Americans still watch evening news shows. Even the more even-handed news people like Katie Couric or Brian Williams will repeat absurd stories if they appear to be news. Look at the "birther" story. From the people who brought you swift boating, this trash about President Obama not being a citizen is pure fiction. Why then do 45% of Republicans believe it? They saw it on TV.
1) Some delusional right wing dickweed said it publicly. 2) Conservatives at Fox News gave it airplay. 3) Old people heard it...every day. 4) The Republican party is made up almost entirely of old people who want to believe that Fox speaks the truth. 5) Thus is born the birther movement. Quod erat demonstrandum.
Convinced that they had something here, the Republican intelligentsia (an oxymoron if ever there was one) is staying up nights to dream up more stuff with which to terrify Americans over 60. First they got Sarah Palin, queen of style over substance, to spread the terror of "death panels". Ooooohhhh! Then Chuck Grassley of Iowa introduced "your government wants to pull the plug on grandma". GOP representatives from Wyoming to Florida have been rattling the spectre of "rationing"...as if your current insurance provider isn't already doing that. Not to be outdone, Fox News discovered a Veterans Administration pamphlet produced fifteen years ago and proclaimed it a roadmap to encourage former servicemen to end their lives. (What that has to do with the current debate, you'll have to ask Glen Beck.)
Now we have a new gem from the cave of political make-believe; an RNC questionnaire has suggested that, armed with the right information, the government (presumably Democratic) might deny medical treatment to Republicans. Setting aside the relative merits of this concept (we should at least consider pulling the plug on Senator Grassley's microphone) does this make any sense to anyone? Apparently it makes sense to Micheal Steele, chairman of the RNC. He signed the letter that accompanies the questionnaire.
Healthcare is going to be expensive. That fact alone should play directly into the wheelhouse of the Republican Party. Is their faith in their own principles so weak that they can't stick to the truth? Or is it possible that the price tag alone won't be enough to discourage support for some form of healthcare reform? Like Billy Flynn sang in "Chicago", "Razzle-dazzle 'em and they'll never get wise". Stay tuned for the Republican sequel to Final Destination entitled "If You're Over 70, Don't Buy Any Green Bananas".
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
...or is relativism only a sin of you're not a Kennedy?
OK, what am I missing?
The late Senator Edward Moore Kennedy was, by acclamation, a great man. No one in America, with the exception of the right-wing radio crowd, would deny the Senator all of the praise his career in politics has generated. Ted Kennedy was one of the truly great men in America and a force for good. His kind will not soon be seen again.
What confuses me is the obsequiousness of the Catholic Church regarding the Kennedy funeral. The band of brothers who forbade communion to supporters of John Kerry's presidential bid are lining up to pay homage to the memory of Ted Kennedy. Senator Kennedy was prayed over by more high ranking clergy than was Pope John Paul II. There were so many cardinals at the various services in Boston and Washington that I expected newsmen to report on the appearance of black or white smoke.
While the Kennedy name is inextricably linked to American Catholicism, stretching back to the Presidential race in 1960, Ted Kennedy would be an unlikely candidate for sainthood. His history of public "indiscretions" alone would testify against canonization. His record on the Senate floor reads like the Papal remake of the seven deadly sins. Kennedy's life stood in opposition to virtually every Church doctrine currently at issue. He was divorced; not that you'd ever know it judging by the praise heaped on his current wife by the mourners. He supported gay rights, and, horror of horrors, he favored a woman's right to choose. Any one of these public positions would earn most Catholics in public life a verbal if not literal excommunication. Fortunately, Senator Kennedy will be interred at Arlington Cemetery so the Church will be spared the thorny issue of burying a divorced man in consecrated ground.
Ted Kennedy deserved the grand sendoff he received. For the sake of the Kennedy family it was gratifying that no sour notes were sounded to mar the occasion. Perhaps the next time Barack Obama accepts an invitation to speak at a Catholic College, the bishops who prayed over Ted Kennedy might remember that hypocrisy, while not a sin, is an unflattering trait in any religion.
The late Senator Edward Moore Kennedy was, by acclamation, a great man. No one in America, with the exception of the right-wing radio crowd, would deny the Senator all of the praise his career in politics has generated. Ted Kennedy was one of the truly great men in America and a force for good. His kind will not soon be seen again.
What confuses me is the obsequiousness of the Catholic Church regarding the Kennedy funeral. The band of brothers who forbade communion to supporters of John Kerry's presidential bid are lining up to pay homage to the memory of Ted Kennedy. Senator Kennedy was prayed over by more high ranking clergy than was Pope John Paul II. There were so many cardinals at the various services in Boston and Washington that I expected newsmen to report on the appearance of black or white smoke.
While the Kennedy name is inextricably linked to American Catholicism, stretching back to the Presidential race in 1960, Ted Kennedy would be an unlikely candidate for sainthood. His history of public "indiscretions" alone would testify against canonization. His record on the Senate floor reads like the Papal remake of the seven deadly sins. Kennedy's life stood in opposition to virtually every Church doctrine currently at issue. He was divorced; not that you'd ever know it judging by the praise heaped on his current wife by the mourners. He supported gay rights, and, horror of horrors, he favored a woman's right to choose. Any one of these public positions would earn most Catholics in public life a verbal if not literal excommunication. Fortunately, Senator Kennedy will be interred at Arlington Cemetery so the Church will be spared the thorny issue of burying a divorced man in consecrated ground.
Ted Kennedy deserved the grand sendoff he received. For the sake of the Kennedy family it was gratifying that no sour notes were sounded to mar the occasion. Perhaps the next time Barack Obama accepts an invitation to speak at a Catholic College, the bishops who prayed over Ted Kennedy might remember that hypocrisy, while not a sin, is an unflattering trait in any religion.
Monday, August 24, 2009
... or is death paneling something I can get at Home Depot?
Item
A women in Tysons Corners, VA is teaching classes on how baby boomers can better communicate with the generations behind them. Apparently the insecurity level in American business has risen to a point where the employment of no-nothing consultants who pontificate about what you're doing wrong, is no longer enough. Employers are concerned that, if they aren't fluent in hip-hop or if they don't Twitter, they will lose all of their best and brightest employees. Now we have Anne Loehr, business coach, teaching fifty-somethings how to talk to thirty-somethings. As if we of the Vietnam generation aren't already feeling old and irrelevant enough, now we need instruction on Reality TV and how "Jon and Kate" are shaping American culture. (Please forgive the use of culture and Reality TV in the same sentence.)
Well excuse me for still breathing but there was a time when it was the younger, less experienced employees who had to make an effort to learn the language of those older than they. Having been around longer, senior employees were presumed to be smarter, having made all the mistakes already. None of my early bosses or co-workers gave a damn about my relevant life experiences. I knew nothing and therefore had little to share. You were supposed to earn your chops. Even if you work for someone younger than you (inevitable in many cases) the language of business is usually constant and universal.
I wish Ms. Loehr continued success in her educational endeavour however, in defense of the aging, remember: as long as I'm writing the salary checks, maybe you should learn to communicate with me.
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John Edwards, who is valiantly holding up the Democratic end in the scandal-plagued Summer of 2009, has been outed as the father of Rielle Hunter's love child thanks to a confirming DNA test. Edwards, a multimillionaire and former Democratic candidate for President, has been noticeably quiet on the subject. His silence speaks volumes. When it becomes inevitable that he speak, perhaps he will explain how he planned to run for President with a Tyrannosaurs Rex-sized skeleton in his closet. Did he plan to arrange for Ms. Hunter to be renditioned to Egypt? Was the plan to buy the National Enquirer, who had the scandal a year before anyone else, and turn it into a farm journal?
One thing is clear: no one in America wanted to see the headline "President's Love Child to Attend The Landon School" on any newspaper. Mr. Edwards, please go away...and take Mark Sanford and John Ensign with you.
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Am I the only one who noticed that the National Rifle Association was mighty quiet when the City of New York slapped Plaxico Burress with a two year sentence for carrying a loaded pistol into a New York City nightclub? Actually, no. Andrew Sullivan, in the Daily Dish, wondered "Where's the statement of outrage that a humble American gun owner like Plaxico Burress, who was only trying to protect himself and his family by carrying a gun, is being mercilessly persecuted by The Man and his draconian gun laws? Could it be that a rich, narcissistic, black football player isn't exactly the ideal poster boy for the abolition of gun laws? Do we imagine that, had Mr. Burress been a white quarterback from Nebraska, the NRA might have mustered a touch more outrage?
Face it, race matters! It matters to the mostly white NRA. It matters to the organizers of the town hall protests over healthcare and it matters to the Republican party. It is clearly not in the best interest of the slippery-slopers of the NRA to have a black, attitudinal, slouching, prison pants wearing, tattooed, arrogant Plaxico Burress (he has been sued nine times since joining the NFL in 2000) be their spokesperson. Paging Bret Farve!
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Isitjustme, forever at the vanguard of American thought, has developed the perfect response to the hideous decision made by Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill in releasing convicted Lockerbie bomber Ablelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. As a withering response to this horrendous decision, the United States will henceforth refer to the clear plastic tape produced by 3m Corp as Freedom Tape (or possibly anti-freedom tape). Furthermore, the import, sale and consumption of the brown brew formerly known as scotch whiskey will be restricted with an eye toward an outright ban. Face it, the stuff tastes like furniture polish anyway. Eliminating scotch will have the added benefit of enhancing the sales of American bourbon and even improve the popularity of Canadian spirits, thereby helping a truly trusted ally. Maybe the next time a country like Scotland is faced with the decision to release a convicted mass murderer, they will remember the harsh punishment that a riled-up America can inflict. Are you listening England? Your muffins are at risk.
A women in Tysons Corners, VA is teaching classes on how baby boomers can better communicate with the generations behind them. Apparently the insecurity level in American business has risen to a point where the employment of no-nothing consultants who pontificate about what you're doing wrong, is no longer enough. Employers are concerned that, if they aren't fluent in hip-hop or if they don't Twitter, they will lose all of their best and brightest employees. Now we have Anne Loehr, business coach, teaching fifty-somethings how to talk to thirty-somethings. As if we of the Vietnam generation aren't already feeling old and irrelevant enough, now we need instruction on Reality TV and how "Jon and Kate" are shaping American culture. (Please forgive the use of culture and Reality TV in the same sentence.)
Well excuse me for still breathing but there was a time when it was the younger, less experienced employees who had to make an effort to learn the language of those older than they. Having been around longer, senior employees were presumed to be smarter, having made all the mistakes already. None of my early bosses or co-workers gave a damn about my relevant life experiences. I knew nothing and therefore had little to share. You were supposed to earn your chops. Even if you work for someone younger than you (inevitable in many cases) the language of business is usually constant and universal.
I wish Ms. Loehr continued success in her educational endeavour however, in defense of the aging, remember: as long as I'm writing the salary checks, maybe you should learn to communicate with me.
____________________________________________________________________
Item
John Edwards, who is valiantly holding up the Democratic end in the scandal-plagued Summer of 2009, has been outed as the father of Rielle Hunter's love child thanks to a confirming DNA test. Edwards, a multimillionaire and former Democratic candidate for President, has been noticeably quiet on the subject. His silence speaks volumes. When it becomes inevitable that he speak, perhaps he will explain how he planned to run for President with a Tyrannosaurs Rex-sized skeleton in his closet. Did he plan to arrange for Ms. Hunter to be renditioned to Egypt? Was the plan to buy the National Enquirer, who had the scandal a year before anyone else, and turn it into a farm journal?
One thing is clear: no one in America wanted to see the headline "President's Love Child to Attend The Landon School" on any newspaper. Mr. Edwards, please go away...and take Mark Sanford and John Ensign with you.
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Item
Am I the only one who noticed that the National Rifle Association was mighty quiet when the City of New York slapped Plaxico Burress with a two year sentence for carrying a loaded pistol into a New York City nightclub? Actually, no. Andrew Sullivan, in the Daily Dish, wondered "Where's the statement of outrage that a humble American gun owner like Plaxico Burress, who was only trying to protect himself and his family by carrying a gun, is being mercilessly persecuted by The Man and his draconian gun laws? Could it be that a rich, narcissistic, black football player isn't exactly the ideal poster boy for the abolition of gun laws? Do we imagine that, had Mr. Burress been a white quarterback from Nebraska, the NRA might have mustered a touch more outrage?
Face it, race matters! It matters to the mostly white NRA. It matters to the organizers of the town hall protests over healthcare and it matters to the Republican party. It is clearly not in the best interest of the slippery-slopers of the NRA to have a black, attitudinal, slouching, prison pants wearing, tattooed, arrogant Plaxico Burress (he has been sued nine times since joining the NFL in 2000) be their spokesperson. Paging Bret Farve!
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Item
Isitjustme, forever at the vanguard of American thought, has developed the perfect response to the hideous decision made by Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill in releasing convicted Lockerbie bomber Ablelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. As a withering response to this horrendous decision, the United States will henceforth refer to the clear plastic tape produced by 3m Corp as Freedom Tape (or possibly anti-freedom tape). Furthermore, the import, sale and consumption of the brown brew formerly known as scotch whiskey will be restricted with an eye toward an outright ban. Face it, the stuff tastes like furniture polish anyway. Eliminating scotch will have the added benefit of enhancing the sales of American bourbon and even improve the popularity of Canadian spirits, thereby helping a truly trusted ally. Maybe the next time a country like Scotland is faced with the decision to release a convicted mass murderer, they will remember the harsh punishment that a riled-up America can inflict. Are you listening England? Your muffins are at risk.
Friday, August 21, 2009
...or are the dog days of summer producing more hot air than usual?
Well, even Al Gore can't blame climate change for this August. Congress is out of session. The President is on vacation on "the Vineyard". Football hasn't really started yet and the only signs of life in America should be the rush to Target to buy back-to-school-supplies.
Nevertheless, we are being bombarded with an unrelenting, screeching torrent of opinions on how to address the horrific cost of health care in America. Everyone from your mechanic to your mother-in-law to the parent next to you at the Little League field has an opinion. Many of those opinions are deeply held. Many are based on facts not in evidence (OK, so I watch too much court room TV!). One thing is clear: however the Congress finally decides, a substantial group of Americans are not going to be happy.
As always, it is the stated purpose of isitjustme to bring clarity to an otherwise cloudy debate. To wit: let's review the history:
1) Barack Obama ran for President as a change agent. One of those changes was the way we dispense and pay for health care in America.
2) Mr. Obama won the election, bringing with him a truckload of Democratic Senators and Congressmen.
3) Almost none of those Senators and Congresspersons were elected on a platform involving single-payer insurance plans or public options. (Prior to the current conflagration, most Americans imagined that public options had something to do with restroom choices.)
4) The President is determined to use his substantial majorities in both houses of Congress as well as his honeymoon popularity to changes health care in America.
It turns out that the White House has severely miscalculated. For one thing, honeymoons are now defined as the time between your inauguration and the moment you make your first decision. Also, a Democratic majority isn't actually a majority. With Democrats, loyalty to the Party and the President appears not to be a requirement...or even a suggestion. Bill Clinton discovered this lesson when he attempted to introduce acceptance of gays in the military. His party turned on him like a cheering Giants fan at an Eagles home game.
What President Obama has discovered is Americans may vote for change but they really don't want anything to actually change. Social Security, Civil Rights, Medicare, mandatory seatbelts all came into being without popular support. Makes you wonder how Prohibition ever got ratified. The reason that our little democratic republic has survived all these years is, somehow the combined efforts of the 535 self serving, power crazy, egomaniacs in Congress manage to be right more often than they are wrong. Amazing!
Anyway, we have learned a few things as a result of this little dust-up on healthcare:
1) Many Americans now know the name of the Senator from Iowa without benefit of a sordid sex scandal. The only one of his body parts that isn't where it should be is his brain.
2) We have learned that bipartisanship means, "you won the election but you still have to do things our way".
3) We have, at least, discovered a way to get old, fat, white Americans off the couch and away from reruns on the History Channel. Now if we could only get them to stop listening to Rush on the way to the town halls.
4) We've learned what P.T. Barnum, Joseph Goebbels, Joe Stalin and Karl Rove always knew: if the lies are outrageous enough and you shout them loud enough, and they play to your worst fears, you can get a lot of gullible people to believe and repeat them.
5) Sarah Palin is even more of a dillweed than was originally believed.
Sadly, we have also learned that the America of the Greatest Generation has become a timid country. Everything frightens us. Immigrants frighten us. Prisoners from Guantanamo frighten us. Muslims frighten us. Hell, our own government frightens us.(OK, maybe there's merit there.) And, change frightens us to death.
But take heart America. After all, we are still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Patriot Act is still in full vigor. Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are still not in jail, and the Attorney General is still invoking executive privilege. Gays are still not permitted to marry in most states and they are still being booted from vital jobs in the military. Rush is still drawing killer ratings and no one has blackened one of Bill O'Reilly's eyes. So, aside from the departure of Paula Abdul from Idol, where's all the change?
Nevertheless, we are being bombarded with an unrelenting, screeching torrent of opinions on how to address the horrific cost of health care in America. Everyone from your mechanic to your mother-in-law to the parent next to you at the Little League field has an opinion. Many of those opinions are deeply held. Many are based on facts not in evidence (OK, so I watch too much court room TV!). One thing is clear: however the Congress finally decides, a substantial group of Americans are not going to be happy.
As always, it is the stated purpose of isitjustme to bring clarity to an otherwise cloudy debate. To wit: let's review the history:
1) Barack Obama ran for President as a change agent. One of those changes was the way we dispense and pay for health care in America.
2) Mr. Obama won the election, bringing with him a truckload of Democratic Senators and Congressmen.
3) Almost none of those Senators and Congresspersons were elected on a platform involving single-payer insurance plans or public options. (Prior to the current conflagration, most Americans imagined that public options had something to do with restroom choices.)
4) The President is determined to use his substantial majorities in both houses of Congress as well as his honeymoon popularity to changes health care in America.
It turns out that the White House has severely miscalculated. For one thing, honeymoons are now defined as the time between your inauguration and the moment you make your first decision. Also, a Democratic majority isn't actually a majority. With Democrats, loyalty to the Party and the President appears not to be a requirement...or even a suggestion. Bill Clinton discovered this lesson when he attempted to introduce acceptance of gays in the military. His party turned on him like a cheering Giants fan at an Eagles home game.
What President Obama has discovered is Americans may vote for change but they really don't want anything to actually change. Social Security, Civil Rights, Medicare, mandatory seatbelts all came into being without popular support. Makes you wonder how Prohibition ever got ratified. The reason that our little democratic republic has survived all these years is, somehow the combined efforts of the 535 self serving, power crazy, egomaniacs in Congress manage to be right more often than they are wrong. Amazing!
Anyway, we have learned a few things as a result of this little dust-up on healthcare:
1) Many Americans now know the name of the Senator from Iowa without benefit of a sordid sex scandal. The only one of his body parts that isn't where it should be is his brain.
2) We have learned that bipartisanship means, "you won the election but you still have to do things our way".
3) We have, at least, discovered a way to get old, fat, white Americans off the couch and away from reruns on the History Channel. Now if we could only get them to stop listening to Rush on the way to the town halls.
4) We've learned what P.T. Barnum, Joseph Goebbels, Joe Stalin and Karl Rove always knew: if the lies are outrageous enough and you shout them loud enough, and they play to your worst fears, you can get a lot of gullible people to believe and repeat them.
5) Sarah Palin is even more of a dillweed than was originally believed.
Sadly, we have also learned that the America of the Greatest Generation has become a timid country. Everything frightens us. Immigrants frighten us. Prisoners from Guantanamo frighten us. Muslims frighten us. Hell, our own government frightens us.(OK, maybe there's merit there.) And, change frightens us to death.
But take heart America. After all, we are still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Patriot Act is still in full vigor. Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are still not in jail, and the Attorney General is still invoking executive privilege. Gays are still not permitted to marry in most states and they are still being booted from vital jobs in the military. Rush is still drawing killer ratings and no one has blackened one of Bill O'Reilly's eyes. So, aside from the departure of Paula Abdul from Idol, where's all the change?
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
...or is democracy a good idea only when the mob is on your team?
The Tyranny of the Majority is not just a cliche. Putting things up for a vote is always a dicey proposition. Imagine if we had a referendum on the Civil Rights Act in 1964. It's even money that African Americans would still be using "blacks only" water fountains. Suppose the population was asked to cast a ballot approving the Military Draft in 1863; or the first permanent income tax in 1913. We would have had no army and no money. (True, the income tax was voted on by the states in ratifying the Sixteenth Amendment but those people also ratified the Eighteenth Amendment [Prohibition] six years later, so clearly they were delirious.) If you're old enough to remember Prop 13 in California in 1978, you recall that Golden State citizens were asked to vote to halt the increase in property taxes. Naturally, it passed. You don't need a history book to guess how that turned out. Much of California's current troubles have their origins with Prop 13. Everybody thinks that they pay too much in taxes and if left to the voters, few assessments would become law.
Nevertheless the conservatives of today, with God on their side and determined to halt progress and resist any change to anything, are delighted to allow the acceptance of gay marriage to be left to a series of ballot initiatives in the fifty states. No such referendum is afforded marijuana laws. They argue that the people are the best judges of common morality and convention. Interestingly enough, no such public referendum is afforded current laws on marijuana. Judges who invalidates one of these populist laws on Constitutional grounds are immediately condemned an activist, thwarting the will of the people.
The problem with government by the people is, the will of the people is almost always wrong and has the nasty habit of exhibiting all the directional stability of a wind sock. Twenty years ago as much as 80% of America was in favor of the death penalty. Today that number is creeping toward 60%. It seems that when high schoolers can overturn capital convictions as part of a class project, even the bloodthirstiest Americans suspect a problem.
Interestingly enough, the state that has been most victimized by ballot initiatives is looking at the possibility of rewriting its Constitution and using the ballot initiative process to do it. A group called the Bay Area Council is heading an effort to pass two new propositions. One would allow the voters to call a Constitutional Convention by initiative. (Currently, only the legislature can call a convention and then only by a two-thirds margin.) The second proposition would actually convene the convention. The scope of the convention would include a possible re-engineering of the entire Sacramento government. While federal law guarantees a representative state government for all (no dictators or kings need apply) the composition of the government is left entirely up to the states.
The California initiative imagines a constitutional convention comprised of citizens chosen at random from the adult population. The reasoning goes that if no one appoints the delegates, they won't be beholden to any special interest. The plan also proposes to stay clear of social issues: no gay marriage, no affirmative action, no abortion.
However this turns out, (the plan has impressive bipartisan support) the process will be fascinating. If all goes as planned (hey, it could happen) the new constitution would be ready for a vote by the 2012 election.
Imagine if the convention decided on a parliamentary system like the Brits or a tricameral legislature instead of the current two-house system. At least the delegates will have the benefit of two hundred years of trial and error upon which to draw and we'll get to watch the whole thing on C-SPAN's first reality show. Who knows, they might even draft a clause that prohibits populist Austrian body builders from seeking high office...unless they're married to liberal royalty.
Nevertheless the conservatives of today, with God on their side and determined to halt progress and resist any change to anything, are delighted to allow the acceptance of gay marriage to be left to a series of ballot initiatives in the fifty states. No such referendum is afforded marijuana laws. They argue that the people are the best judges of common morality and convention. Interestingly enough, no such public referendum is afforded current laws on marijuana. Judges who invalidates one of these populist laws on Constitutional grounds are immediately condemned an activist, thwarting the will of the people.
The problem with government by the people is, the will of the people is almost always wrong and has the nasty habit of exhibiting all the directional stability of a wind sock. Twenty years ago as much as 80% of America was in favor of the death penalty. Today that number is creeping toward 60%. It seems that when high schoolers can overturn capital convictions as part of a class project, even the bloodthirstiest Americans suspect a problem.
Interestingly enough, the state that has been most victimized by ballot initiatives is looking at the possibility of rewriting its Constitution and using the ballot initiative process to do it. A group called the Bay Area Council is heading an effort to pass two new propositions. One would allow the voters to call a Constitutional Convention by initiative. (Currently, only the legislature can call a convention and then only by a two-thirds margin.) The second proposition would actually convene the convention. The scope of the convention would include a possible re-engineering of the entire Sacramento government. While federal law guarantees a representative state government for all (no dictators or kings need apply) the composition of the government is left entirely up to the states.
The California initiative imagines a constitutional convention comprised of citizens chosen at random from the adult population. The reasoning goes that if no one appoints the delegates, they won't be beholden to any special interest. The plan also proposes to stay clear of social issues: no gay marriage, no affirmative action, no abortion.
However this turns out, (the plan has impressive bipartisan support) the process will be fascinating. If all goes as planned (hey, it could happen) the new constitution would be ready for a vote by the 2012 election.
Imagine if the convention decided on a parliamentary system like the Brits or a tricameral legislature instead of the current two-house system. At least the delegates will have the benefit of two hundred years of trial and error upon which to draw and we'll get to watch the whole thing on C-SPAN's first reality show. Who knows, they might even draft a clause that prohibits populist Austrian body builders from seeking high office...unless they're married to liberal royalty.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
...or can we at least agree that God must have an infinite sense of humor?
While you were sleeping...
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A teenager in New York is suing the city for injuries suffered when she fell down an open manhole. The Staten Island native, one Alexa Longueira, was engaged in sending a text message at the time of the accident. Presumably the message was something along the lines of "OMG I like walked into a dk hole. I'm cut and like bleeding. No LOL please" Alexa was unhurt and we can only hope that, next time, the municipality of Staten Island re-covers the manhole...with Alexa still inside.
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State liquor officials in Alabama have halted the sale of Cycles Gladiator wine because the label, a reproduction of an 1895 French advertising poster, depicts a naked flying nymph.
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The British government has issued a set of guidelines for civil servants using Twitter. As you may know, Twitter messages can run to no more than 140 characters. The manual issued by the British government is 20 pages.
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It is impossible to add anything constructive to the Gates/Crowley dustup of last week except that the President, along with every other black man in America, cannot be faulted for believing that the arrest, in his own home, of a limping 57 year old black man by a white Cambridge cop, was racially motivated.
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The origins of The Family are as interesting as they are bizarre. Founded by Abraham Vereide, a Norwegian immigrant working in the poorer precincts of Seattle, Reverend Vereide (he was,among other things, a traveling preacher) determined that: 1) unions were socialist, 2) socialism was evil, and, 3) ministering to the poor was less profitable than the brochure had led him to believe. Abe claimed to have been visited by God who took the form of the president of U.S. Steel ( apparently, the ghost of Andrew Carnegie was otherwise engaged). This CEO/God assured Rev. Abe that there were already plenty of folks ministering to the poor. Abe was instructed to care for the troubled and spiritually neglected captains of industry and the leaders of America. What a break!
Delighted to cast off the smell of poverty for the sweet aroma of wealth, Reverend Vereide set about organizing his new ministry. In 1941 he arrived in Washington and immediately began acquiring converts to his "poor people are swine, greed is divine" brand of Christianity. By 1953 he had gained access to Dwight Eisenhower who was the first President to attend his National Prayer Breakfast. Presidents , including Barack Obama, have been appearing ever since.
By 1969, Reverend Vereide went to join that great country club in the sky, leaving the reins of leadership to Doug Coe. Now 81, Mr. Coe is still a powerful voice for the group. Among his religious tenants are: 1) It's OK to profess virtue and still bed your campaign workers. Morals are for the little people. 2)Hitler, Pol Pot and Osama bin Laden are to be admired as leaders who were able to organize their followers. 3) Powerful people are ordained by God and are more important in his eyes. So what was all that New Testament drivel about the difficulty of a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven?
The leaders of The Family have compared the group to the Mafia. They like a low profile. They also don't care how a man makes a living or who gets hurt in the process. In the eyes of The Family, if God did not want them shorn, he would not have made them sheep.
Like all successful Christian demigods, Coe has found a scriptural passage to justify his beliefs. Given half a chance, Christians could find a biblical imperative for dunking donuts in coffee. Coe decrees that King David, famously adulterous, was still one of God's chosen. Did David resign in the face of scandal? He did not. In other words, "It's good to be the King". This is the reason for the lack of resignations coming from those caught with their zippers at half staff. Sanford, Ensign & Co. have been advised that, because they are among the power elite, the rules of decency and morality don't apply to them. That must have come as welcome news.
Anyway, next time you find yourself in Washington, stop by the house on C Street. There's always a cup of relativism brewing along with some delicious situational morality cookies. Who knows, you might even get lucky...if your clout is big enough.
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A teenager in New York is suing the city for injuries suffered when she fell down an open manhole. The Staten Island native, one Alexa Longueira, was engaged in sending a text message at the time of the accident. Presumably the message was something along the lines of "OMG I like walked into a dk hole. I'm cut and like bleeding. No LOL please" Alexa was unhurt and we can only hope that, next time, the municipality of Staten Island re-covers the manhole...with Alexa still inside.
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State liquor officials in Alabama have halted the sale of Cycles Gladiator wine because the label, a reproduction of an 1895 French advertising poster, depicts a naked flying nymph.
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The British government has issued a set of guidelines for civil servants using Twitter. As you may know, Twitter messages can run to no more than 140 characters. The manual issued by the British government is 20 pages.
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It is impossible to add anything constructive to the Gates/Crowley dustup of last week except that the President, along with every other black man in America, cannot be faulted for believing that the arrest, in his own home, of a limping 57 year old black man by a white Cambridge cop, was racially motivated.
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The recent gaggle of scandals vexing the Republican Party has brought unwelcome attention to a fundamentalist Christian organization referred to as "The Family". The group operates out of a boarding house on C Street in Washington and includes among its followers John Ensign, who got his parents to pay off his former mistress and her husband to the tune of $96,000; Mark "hiking the Appalachian Trail" Sanford and Charles "Chip" Pickering of Mississippi who has recently been accused of using the group's C St. house as his own chateau l'amour. In case these names sound familiar, these are the same fellows who in 1998, were hunting Bill Clinton's head (while Bill Clinton was hunting head). Apparently being a swordsman is only a crime if you're a Democrat.
The origins of The Family are as interesting as they are bizarre. Founded by Abraham Vereide, a Norwegian immigrant working in the poorer precincts of Seattle, Reverend Vereide (he was,among other things, a traveling preacher) determined that: 1) unions were socialist, 2) socialism was evil, and, 3) ministering to the poor was less profitable than the brochure had led him to believe. Abe claimed to have been visited by God who took the form of the president of U.S. Steel ( apparently, the ghost of Andrew Carnegie was otherwise engaged). This CEO/God assured Rev. Abe that there were already plenty of folks ministering to the poor. Abe was instructed to care for the troubled and spiritually neglected captains of industry and the leaders of America. What a break!
Delighted to cast off the smell of poverty for the sweet aroma of wealth, Reverend Vereide set about organizing his new ministry. In 1941 he arrived in Washington and immediately began acquiring converts to his "poor people are swine, greed is divine" brand of Christianity. By 1953 he had gained access to Dwight Eisenhower who was the first President to attend his National Prayer Breakfast. Presidents , including Barack Obama, have been appearing ever since.
By 1969, Reverend Vereide went to join that great country club in the sky, leaving the reins of leadership to Doug Coe. Now 81, Mr. Coe is still a powerful voice for the group. Among his religious tenants are: 1) It's OK to profess virtue and still bed your campaign workers. Morals are for the little people. 2)Hitler, Pol Pot and Osama bin Laden are to be admired as leaders who were able to organize their followers. 3) Powerful people are ordained by God and are more important in his eyes. So what was all that New Testament drivel about the difficulty of a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven?
The leaders of The Family have compared the group to the Mafia. They like a low profile. They also don't care how a man makes a living or who gets hurt in the process. In the eyes of The Family, if God did not want them shorn, he would not have made them sheep.
Like all successful Christian demigods, Coe has found a scriptural passage to justify his beliefs. Given half a chance, Christians could find a biblical imperative for dunking donuts in coffee. Coe decrees that King David, famously adulterous, was still one of God's chosen. Did David resign in the face of scandal? He did not. In other words, "It's good to be the King". This is the reason for the lack of resignations coming from those caught with their zippers at half staff. Sanford, Ensign & Co. have been advised that, because they are among the power elite, the rules of decency and morality don't apply to them. That must have come as welcome news.
Anyway, next time you find yourself in Washington, stop by the house on C Street. There's always a cup of relativism brewing along with some delicious situational morality cookies. Who knows, you might even get lucky...if your clout is big enough.
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