Republicans pretending to support women. How cowardly is that? *UPDATED*

FINALLY. The Violence Against Women Act was allowed to be renewed and updated to further protect women in the United States. It took long enough!

Republicans and conservative interest groups worked hard to stymie renewal. After years of renewals, suddenly, the conservatives decided it was time to stop these protections. As with many topics, they decided this was a brilliant area to attack and disrupt government.

And, as they attempted to kill the act, they also tried to prevent further protections from being enacted, if the act survived. The House Republicans worked hard to prevent protections for LGBT from going forward, they fought against improved protection of women on tribal lands, and they didn't want immigrants to feel secure receiving help following assaults. They were clear on opposing these things.

But, the act finally did pass through Congress, and has now been signed by the president. ...FINALLY!

Yet, it doesn't stop there. Now many Republicans are heading home and pretending that they actually did support the VAWA. That takes so gall. And they don't deserve to be allowed to get away with it.

• Tim Griffin (AR)
• Vicky Hatzler (MO)
• Bill Johnson (OH)
• Steve King (IA)
• Tim Murphy (PA)
• Robert Pittenger (NC)
• Keith Rothfys (PA)
• Tim Walberg (MI)

Apparently the trick these Republicans are pulling is that they supported a conservative version of VAWA. The one that would not have helped many women, leaving them vulnerable. Then some are bragging about voting yes on the procedural vote to allow a vote on the final version of VAWA. But they are relying on journalist asking them any awkward questions, or noting the difference.

Don't let them off the hook.

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ADDENDUM:

Maddow Show points to another Republican that tries to pretend he's supportive, while voting against the act. John Cornyn. He supported a different bill, that ended up being incorporated into VAWA, which he opposed.

Jokes, cinema, and guys not getting stuff.

Well, it's been awhile since Oscar Night '13, and I could have just not said anything and not completed that old saying about the fool successfully confirming the standing hypothesis...but what's the point of being a fool then?

Yes. Comedy! I've been meaning to say something on it for awhile now. It is hard to talk about. So I've avoided and procrastinated writing. Still, it is worthwhile to discuss.

Comedy can be many things, and be legit. It can be tame. It can be kind. It can be kid friendly. It can be edgy. It can be dark. It can be cruel. It can be horrible. It can true. It can be lies. It can be uncomfortable.

And as I see controversy arise from comedic events, comic sets, and jokes not well received, I keep seeing comics exasperatedly shrug (Not all, but many comics.). The comics see upset people and get upset back. They don't care the least for people not being able to "take a joke". And I can sympathize some. They are in a profession where they put themselves out, rely on being allowed to try out ideas, and challenge convention. So when they see alum getting booed or jeered for what they say, they can get uncomfortable.

And I do feel unsure when people say, "You can't joke about..." Because, I don't think so. You can joke about pretty much anything. You can do it badly, fail at it, turn an audience against you, but it's done. Worse, you can go into nasty areas that will sell. And there are many profitable areas that comics rely on that are just garbage. The go into generic mocking of women, gays, people of other races and ethnicity, etc. There is a treasure trove of crap that many subpar comedians rely on. So many club are full of this crap, and it males audience laughs... It's garbage, but it sells. And that does make me sad. Because it is shit, that helps support and affirm the worst slurs and views of whole groups. It's weak humor. Anemic.

Decent comedians should be embarrassed protecting this crude. And, frankly, if you want to do comedy that causes offense, or is controversial...You don't get to complain when people take offense or it's seen as controversial.

As well, if you want to say things that are controversial, don't be shit at it. People like George Carlin and Louis C.K. have gone to those places, and shown that they've thought about it, have something to say, and then share ideas. If you are not going to be putting that effort in, you're just going to point and mock. You are just going to be an ass.

And speaking of asses, let's suddenly pivot to the Oscars. WOOOOOOO!!!

Oh, god. I couldn't watch the whole show (How many hours are required?), but, from the half I saw and the clips later, that was horrible.

So what did Seth MacFarlane go with?

• A song that broke down the careers of several respected actresses to their breast. (This included examples of rape scenes and one that comes from private photos being stolen and spread around.)
• The idea that women who come to these events may throw up and do other unhealthy things to "look good" is a joke to throw out.
• Using a 9 year old girl to make a weak joke about George Clooney's sex life. (And then he apologized...to Clooney.)
• Broke down the concept of Zero Dark Thirty to the story of a nagging woman.
• Breaking down Django Unchained to a Chris Brown/Rhianna joke.
• Saying women like Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz are around to look beautful. (Cause you can't understand them with their weird foreign accents. Don't worry, he also mocked Javier Bardem for his accent to.)
• Saying that Jennifer Aniston was once a stripper, mocking her and women who strip. And, just a random mean joke...

...But really they all were. It's the weak random crap we get in the Family Guys these days...Or maybe it's always been like this. But it was just shit.

Now, some have tried to say that this was all subversion. He just said nasty thing about women, and others, to make a point about...stuff. Yeah. He talks about women baring their bodies in movies, women vomiting to look thin, because he care. And then went on to judge all the women their based on their looks and sexual value to him and other men. Remember what I said above? Theirs smart and then theirs being an ass. He wasn't saying nasty things about groups because he has something to say about misogyny or racism, but because, with his main audience, it gets a laugh. He's a real Jeff Dunham.

But that was the point. The point of all of this was to make the Oscars a Guys Event. Why? ...I don't know. Why are they doing a Wizard of Oz movie about one of the nonheroes of the books? Cause guys are more important than women...As MacFarlane tried to explain with his hosting duties.

And as we all know, media and society is so unfair and leveled against us guys. Am I right?

How does working in the US rate?: What the graphs and maps are saying.

It is interesting to look at just how the United States rates against other countries, when it comes to how business is run and affected by government. Their are many regulatory issues.

But a useful one to consider is how workers are treated.

So consider how much paid leave you are required to receive.

Notice how we compare to the competition? We don't mandate time off. You may get it at your work, but you may also be denied any time off with pay, or have it suddenly revoked. Much of the rest of the world, who we are seriously competing with find it important to address. But we don't. And China. (Though this Wikipedia page suggests that China does have some level of mandatory paid leave.)

Add to this, how maternity leave handled.

So, again, US has no mandatory leave for childbirth. Which is why we do often see parents racing to get back into the workflow post-birth. And, again, we see our main competitors are giving weeks to half a year of paid leave. It makes the US look like it's trying to push new mothers out of the workforce.

But at least we get good pay from top to bottom, right? We make sure people, if they may not get any leave,   can actually afford to live, right?

In many of our large population centers, a person at minimum wage cannot work 6 AM - 5 PM Monday to Sunday and pay rent. But look at the bright side  you'll be working so hard to keep a home, you won't have time to vacation, or use vacation as a verb.

American workers deserve better.

But, sadly, many of us don't even know.

We easily fail to realize how out of sync the country is on matters of wealth. The top echelons of the country hold most of our wealth. And the next group down holds far far little, but still a nice chunk of the wealth. And that leaves the middle class and those below fighting for the crumbs left at the end of the table. And we often don't see how amazingly unequal it is. And when some of us do see how the scales are tipped out of our reach, we are reassured. Don't worry. It's for the best. The rich will invest in us or us.

But, no.

• 1% of entrepreneurs are from the richest of us. Most of that cash sits in accounts, safe and accruing interest.
• The equivalent of half of the US's GDP is held overseas and untaxed. That's up to $12 trillion hidden overseas.
• Since the recession started, corporations have been avoiding paying around $250 billion every year in taxes.
• Around a trillion dollars is lost to revenue in tax deductions for the richest.
• $4 trillion was given to bail out the banks.
• Securities trading goes untaxed. In the US, there is 100's of trillions of dollars of it.
• Those in poverty on food stamps, including the elderly and disabled, receive around $4.30 a day in support.

The rich take money, tuck it away, seek ways to avoiding paying out, and ask for gifts. How else do you get and stay stinking rich? Money doesn't come to these people by big investments in the country. When the rich have done this, it has been a major pay out. Carnegie, Gates, Rowling. These people are forgoing chunks of their wealth to make the world around them better.

Same happens with business efforts. Business leaders have to give up some profits to benefit and motivate workers, to help the community, to protect the environment. Now, there are times that these investment can lead to financial profit, but often it doesn't. For example, Walmart may not see profits soar just as high as they do now, if it gives workers health care and a living wage. But the benefits to the community at large, and the harm being done should not be ignored. But business minds often have trouble seeing passed their piles of gold.

That's why we need to mandate things like paid leave, and minimum wage.

Chavez passes.

I have been following Hugo Chavez’s, president of Venezuela, for some time now. He’s been struggling with cancer for some time, and spending a lot of time in Cuba seeking treatment. Now it’s been confirmed he’s died in Cuba, after having been out of sight for some time.

Online, and on cable news, I've seen a lot of excited talk at his death, giddiness to see him gone. Others are quite upset to see him gone. Me? I’m ambivalent.

I first really noticed Chavez way back during an attempted coupe to remove him. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't being covered for awhile on US news, so I had to rely on Univision for news. As they actually had reporters in the country, while the US services had no one remotely close. And I remember the talk afterward about whether the US and Bush had anything to do with the attempt to remove him. I've never seen any evidence to prove that.

But since then he’s become more known for being a pain in the side of the Bush administration. During his second term he cemented the friendship with Cuba. He made deals and offered oil at times to aggravate the White House. He was friendly with nations that the US was in diplomatic fights with. And he would make speeches to meant to mock and piss off the US (Remember the, “I smell the devil speech”?).

And if you had your troubles and dislike of GW Bush and the policies of his administration, you may have enjoyed his cajoling some. I may have, or I at least didn't seem overwhelmed by his jeers.

Still, I have never been a fan of the concept of the enemy of my enemy is my friend, even if we are talking about “‘enemies’”, “frenemies”, or the current party in power with who I disagree. Remember how hostile Alex Jones was to the White House during Bush? A lot of liberals enjoyed listening to his wild conspiracies then. And Chavez has told some amazing stories himself.

But important is what he brought to the country. Going back to the coup against him. he’s been facing off with business interests. This includes oil execs. And with the history in Central and South America of multinational business pushing governments around, or having the US do it, it’s hard to not like seeing them not get their way. Though it seems, here in the US, some are salivating now at the chance to get back in.

Now, Chavez’s legacy will stand on more than this. And it’s important to get past the conservative pap. Past the ties to Cuba being damning, or the fact he played at being the great socialist, or talking back to America.

So, if you want to consider some of the issues that have arose in Chavez’s time in power, that maybe we should hope will change with the Vice President coming power. try Think Progress’s piece.

It is worth noting how he treated some groups in Venezuela, how he used the media, how the poor fared, how long since international monitors were allowed to watch elections,  and how much power he consolidated in the executive.

And a more positive view.

Michigan, Inc. - Selling it for parts.

Gov Snyder, the creepy executive of Michigan is continuing his privatization of his state. Across the state he has been placing cities under the control of Emergency Managers. This ends the democratic control and authority of citizens.

Now he has set his sights on controlling Detroit.

Why does the GOP want to make Robocop 3 a reality?!

Snyder is declaring another financial emergency, and in comes the Emergency Manager. And out goes the power of the mayor and city council. No one can act as the manager sells off property, functions, and materials. So look forward to the auctions. Also the manager can void contracts, so we can expect layoffs. So services are going away or worsening, all things that should do a bang up job of improving the state's condition  At this point the state is approaching having half of all blacks in the state denied any voice in government.

And if you actually have a doubt about how little the GOP cares for the opinion and desires of voters, just look to last year. The people of Michigan voted to end the Emergency Managers law. Then, in December, Snyder signed a new Emergency Manager law, bypassing the people of Michigan. Screw the people. More to the point, Snyder is telling Michigan it...Well, actually, he's the one screwing Michigan. And Snyder has been wringing his hands about this Detroit decision. But as he's been putting in Emergency Managers around the state, and reappointing them, he's had his eye on Detroit, waiting for the time to declare an emergency.

Michigan is having troubles. But what Snyder and the GOP want and are doing is killing the state, denying the people their voices, and helping their benefactors profit greatly from it all.

The GOP plan for America is written across Michigan today. A better America? Who needs that? The money is in selling it for parts. 

Hey ladies? You weren't going to use your rights, right? ^UPDATED 2*

Been wanting to get to this for awhile now. So, as we are in the 40th anniversary year of Roe Vs. Wade, let's see how the rights of women stand.

You may not like the state of reproductive rights.

In three states, access to abortion are all but gone. In North Dakota, South Dakota, and Mississippi, there are solitary facilities for women to, in any way, have an abortion procedure done. Per Roe vs. Wade, it isn't being banned. But conservatives are working on many ways to limit women. Through business pressure, social pressure, threats, and government. In Mississippi, the rules placed on any facility have grown more and more onerous. They've moved from demanding they own extraneous machinery to having closets of a certain size to demanding doctors have privileges at a nearby hospital. And that is the magic one. Because any hospital that doesn't want to be made to suffer is not going to give those privileges  We can only hope the court agrees that these laws are all bullshit.

Arkansas has just made it law that a pregnancy that reaches 20 weeks cannot (barring fine print exceptions) be terminated. The state senate overrode a veto to do this. And this follows on a number of states that have also passed bills into law to also ban abortions at 20 weeks. But it isn't stopping there. The now are working on a Heartbeat Bill. This will push the ban on abortion to the 12 week mark.

North Dakota is working on a bill that will give fertilized eggs legal rights. And as such, you can go after women seeking to abort them. More than this, it means, along with abortion, many forms of birth control and infertility treatment will also become illegal. These conservatives keep trying to pass bills that are loaded down with so many side effects. It is sickening.

Iowa Republicans are thinking a lot like North Dakota and pushing the idea now of redefining murder in the state. It would now include knowingly killing a fertilized egg. What is impressive here is that it is about charging murder. That means women will go to prison.

Indiana is looking at the transvaginal probe idea again. But they don't want to be banal about it. So, they want to force women to be transvaginally probed TWICE. Why? They don't like women. Also, it is worth reminding ourselves that 12 states currently go force women to have mandatory ultrasounds. This problem has not gone away.


South Dakota is placing mandatory new waiting periods on women seeking an abortion. Now they already require 3 days of waiting, along with being ministered to by anti-abortion advocates. But a new law will be declare weekends and any holidays WILL NOT count. So If you begin on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday do not count, and you have to wait over Monday and Tuesday as well. With only one facility in the state, and with it being on the edge of the state. This means a lot of travelling and hotel expenses for women (Not to mention missing work.). But more than that, why doesn't a Saturday or Sunday count as waiting? What's different? It's like having women face a second transvaginal probing. It's meant to trouble and stress women. It's about making women pay for daring to not follow the dictates of conservatives.

And, quite sadly, their is so much more being done to deny women their rights.

Not good news at all. Conservatives across the country are trying to find ways to bypass Roe Vs. Wade. In places like South Dakota, bans on abortion continually fail when put to a vote. So states just try and harass and torment to get what...a conservative zealous minority want. And that is not considering the segment of the US Supreme Court who are eager to tear down 40 year old decision.

This fight keeps going on. They keep pushing us back.

So, just as a reminder, 2014 is coming. Be sure to vote. It matters. And this year, be sure your state legislators and governors are reminded you have a vote and voice, and they don't get to stay in office forever. Get pissed off and get active.

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ADDENDUM:

Hey! Remember how I said Arkansas was looking to bar women from seeking an abortion after 12 weeks? They passed the idea into law. If women don't act fast enough, and leap across every other hurdle the conservatives place to keep women from using their rights, you will be denied.

Welcome to the GOP vision of the future. Discovery of the pregnancy, decision to made, waiting periods, repeated counseling sessions, repeated doctor visits, and limited numbers of doctors available, all to be dealt with in 12 weeks from conception. If only they could force women to train for and run a marathon before they can visit a doctor.

Look forward to this being pushed into law in more states before long.


We can hope Gov. Beebe will veto this law, as he did the 20 week ban. But, as with that, the state senate looks ready to overturn the veto. Still, I hope he stands bu the fact this law is bad for the state, and will drag the state into a losing lawsuit.

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ADDENDUM 2:

What has looked this year like a dash, among conservatives, to bar access to abortion services has turned into an outright speed race. It is only growing more disconcerting. Conservatives have encroached more and more on the rights on women. And following electoral losses, they are charging harder.

So, now, in North Dakota, following their previously mentioned efforts, they are now banning abortions after 6 WEEKS. No typo there. So, if their fetal rights law doesn't work, they are hoping to just make it impossible for women to have the time to get help.

So now women will have to learn they are pregnant, then travel to the ONE clinic in the whole state, which will depend on if they can get the time off work, etc. THEN they will be required to wait one day. So, if it takes you a month to realize a pregnancy, that's 4 of 6 weeks gone. With the time left you have to make your decision and then travel and wait.

It's just unbelievable. No, it isn't, is it?

We know, so many red states are howling at this bill now, conservatives bitterly jealous that they hadn't thought to push this far. So, soon, they will join. Or, they will be trying to ban abortion after 3 weeks, or 1 weeks, or 1 day.

It is what they want. They want a woman going to a hospital the morning after conception to be too late to get assistance. These are constraints that conservatives long have dreamed of placing on women, once again.

They salivate at the idea it could be true again. In so many ways conservatism wishes it was the 1950's.

16-bit Doctor

16-bit Doctor Who, as if a game from the old Nintendo Entertainment System.

This hilarious and too true video never gets old, it gets more nostalgic.



If only someone would do a SNES version for the new season of Doctor Who.

Republicans have turned the old Political Dance into a game of Keep Away

David Brooks, did another of his dull columns, lamenting the dance that president and the Republicans in Congress are in the midst of. Oh, he's not completely wrong. There is regularly some dance going on between the parties in Washington, when they have to share power. A rumba. A twist. A bit of the forbidden (on the the GOP convention floor) dance.

But, as always, Brooks ignores what is happening for what he likes the sound of. Where Brooks sees a dance floor and dance, there's actually playground. And the GOP is disrupting a cracking good game of kickball, so they can play Keep Away. And they've decided that the president is "it".

So now, as we gently slide into sequestration like one slides into a warm bath, let's look back at the folks some complain the president just isn't properly negotiating and compromising with.

But first, a little music. Something to hum as we think of the GOP. "Whatever it is, I'm against it."



"Whatever it is, they're against it!" - Yes. My play on the song.

But, as conservatives and timid news folk will claim, "They aren't opposed to things just cause Obama is for them!"

Newt Gingrich:

“An Obama plan led and driven by Obama in this atmosphere with the level of hostility towards the president and the way he goads the hostility I think is very hard to imagine that bill, that his bill is going to pass the House.”

What is it that the president does to "goad" the GOP? You know, he talks. He offers an idea. He acts like he's president. You know, the usual insufferable things. Sadly, Gingrich voiced what the GOP was trying not to out and out does. They won't work with the president. They've spent four years trying to block as much as they can, stonewall negotiations, and then they seek to brag to supporters about it. Repeatedly bills have passed through Congress, and the president mentions he approves of it...and it's dead in the water. They've polled the GOP to see this effect. What they've found is when they support certain ideas and bills, when they are told the president also supports them, most of them will oppose the idea. Just that simple.

The Hagel nomination. Their is a certain way the cabinet gets picked. The president offers up a candidate and the Senate confirms. It usually goes like this. Not always though. Sometimes their is a serious issue with the choice. A flaw. An issue of suitability  And in those cases the nomination faces challenges. Many times this leads to reevaluating the candidate. And that's how the system should work. But with Hagel, like with Susan Rice earlier, the walls went up instantly in the Senate Republican ranks. They were determined to bar confirmation. They went so far as to eagerly believe in a made up group called Friends of Hamas, as it gave reason to call Hagel a threat. But this and the claims of being anti-Semitic or having a deep secret waiting to emerge just were not cutting it. But, by god, the Republicans tried to make it work.

And it doesn't end there. So many positions across the executive branch sit vacant still. Many judicial posts are not getting filled, Congress refusing to act on the offered candidates. You'd think that the GOP was hostile to government.

The past three years of budget talks! I previously linked to a piece on how the GOP leaders have talked down efforts to cut spending. As the president has made cuts, or agreed to cuts, the Republicans continually turns around looks into a camera and cry out, "The president won't cut spending!" It is just amazing. More than the way they never have something new say, or bring to the bargaining table, this fact makes them an actual broken record. The same speeches keeps coming out of their mouths.

Whether the president makes cuts or not, Cantor, Boehner, and McConnell will go on TV and say the president just wants to balloon the budget. It doesn't matter. They seem incapable of being serious.

It's like their some comedic troops...Like they're the...

NO!

I am NOT going there. The Marx Brothers are awesome. Cantor, Boehner, and McConnell suck.

Instead let's just leave with some final words from the great Will Rogers.




But why leave it at that? A bit more insight from nearly one hundred years back.

Boehner: Declare victory, Fist pump, Go out for celebratory drinks. *UPDATED*

A lot of conservatives have tried to come out and declare that this sequestration business is all President Obama's fault.

"It was his idea!"

And that sounds like a great point! Except, regardless of who came up with the idea first or proposed it as a compromise, it went to Congress, and was passed by Congress. And, here's the big twist, John Boehner is in Congress and actually in charge of one of the chambers. And if that isn't enough, watch this:



Boehner bragged, when sequestration was made law, that he'd gotten virtually EVERYTHING he wanted. He seemed to be on board with sequestration. And to be fair, so was the president. But Boehner was eager to crow about getting his 98%.

Now the GOP seems to want to pretend that they somehow have NOTHING to do with it. It was all just slipped by them, like the birth certificate.

Sequestration was a stupid way to get around a stupid problem. Conservatives wanted to fight on the debt, on the budget, on anything and everything, and just derail the government, in the hopes it would get them the White House, and both chambers of Congress. We finally got to the point that things were getting serious for the financial stability of the nation, and everyone needed to actually govern. Conservatives had backed themselves into a corner they couldn't get out off without looking like the idiots they are. So, we ended up with sequestration, so everyone could like next time we would all be adults about the financing and running of the country.

Unsurprisingly, the GOP still refuses to grow up, or come in from playing to clean up before lunch. No talk on revenue or taxes is possible. Only cuts. But not the sequestration cuts!!! Those are BAD cuts. We have to cut the right things. What? ...Obamacare?

If you want to take something useful as a tool from this business, consider all the talk and stories on the work that can't or won't be done by workers and businesses across the country. Look at the talk of all the teachers, DoD workers or affiliated businesses, food inspectors, etc. So does government spending have an impact on employment and the economic vitality of the country? Or doesn't it?

We know cutting spending now is dangerous. Particularly with the troubles are economy is having know. Sequestration is something that should not be allowed to continue. It's haphazard. It's too steep. It's more or less what the GOP always says it wants to do to our budget and government.

The GOP wants to continue on, it is what they run on, it's what they always say they would do, what they say has to happen. Slash! Cut and burn.

After all, is it liberals or conservatives that are obsessed with cutting the budget? Or does the GOP, maybe, see value in the government spending money in

But, guys and gals? We will need some money in the coffers to invest in the country. And we all know who's currently hoarding most of it.

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ADDENDUM:

Also thought I should mention that in the argument over cuts and taxes, let's remember some things.

First, their was a "tax increase" earlier this year. It was a pain in the ass fight to do, but we did end a tax holiday for a small group of the rich. At the same time we made the tax holiday for the rest a actual tax cut. So we did raise to normal some peoples taxes, and gave others a tax cut.

If you listen to Boehner, that is all that's happen. No. The president has been making cuts to spending the last 4 years, again, despite claims he's led the most expansive growth of government (EVER IN THE HISTORY OF HISTORY!!!). No. There is growth in areas. But it's also been pruned. Just in the last two years we've cut well over a billion dollars in the deals made (Think Progress has a nice short video showing what's been happening.). No the GOP wants to keep pretending cuts have been avoided.

Not to mention, again, that the necessary and fair levels of revenue/taxes are being brought in.

Red Dwarf. Reminding us where even a benign path can lead.

You may have seen the pictures of Dennis Rodman sitting court side at a basketball games beside the current dictator for life of North Korea.

And the image of Rodman sitting by North Korea's latest Dear Leader sparked an entertainment memory of mine. All these years later, having seen him once young and strange and talented, he's sitting in odd company. So a spark of remembrance was lit.

Namely, an episode of Red Dwarf, "Out of Time". In it, beyond the rest of the plot, the crew of Red Dwarf cross paths with themselves, from far in their futures. And they are shocked at what they see.

Future Rimmer: Haven't you anything better than this hogwash? We're used to the best! 

Future Kryten: Kryten, we're epicures now. We travel through history enjoying the very best time has to offer. 

Future Rimmer: Dolphin sweetmeats, roast suckling elephants, baby seal hearts stuffed with dove pate. Food fit for emperors! 

Future Lister: We socialize with all of the greatest figures in history, the Hapsburgs, the Borgias. 

Future Kryten: Why, only last week, Louis the 16^th threw a banquet especially in our honor. 

Future Rimmer: The man is a complete delight, urbane, witty, charming. 

Kryten: He was an idiotic despot who lived in the most obscene luxury while the working classes starved in abject poverty. 

Future Rimmer: Well, we certainly didn't see any of that while we were there! 

Future Kryten: And his wife's an absolute cutie. 

Future Cat: I think they're our favorite hosts. If you don't count the Hitlers. 

Kryten: The who?! 

Future Rimmer: Providing you avoid talking politics, they're an absolute hoot. 

Kryten: You're good friends with the Hitlers?! 

Future Kryten: It's just a social thing. We don't talk about his work. We just have a few laughs, play canasta, and enjoy the odd game of mixed doubles with the Goerings. 

Kryten: I don't believe what I'm hearing! 

Future Rimmer: Look, you have to understand we travel back and forth throughout the whole of history, and naturally we want to sample the best of everything. It's just a bit unfortunate that the finest things tend to be in the possession of people who are judged to be a bit dodgy. 

Kryten: Herman Goering is a bit dodgy! What has become of you all? You've all abandoned your morals, been seduced by power and wealth. All you're interested in now is indulging your carnal desires. 

Future Rimmer: And could we tell you some stories about that! 

Kryten: I don't recognize any of you! You're just amoral self-serving scum, freeloading your way through history!

And with that, the Red Dwarf team are moved to kick their future selves off the ship. Seeing how they change, they hope to escape the fate of becoming who they're destined to become. And then they blew up...You have to go and watch the episode.

I don't want to completely judge Rodman based on next to no information. He's there with the Harlem Globetrotters, and they are doing some goodwill work. I am all for that. It's just I wonder how much entertaining the little dictator and his select audience will do.

Anyway, being reminded of this episode, I wanted to tie it to our political environment, and something that does happen too often. How people cross paths with government and often become corrupted by access and the goodies that come.

(Of course, this scifi tale is a little too perfect. No example for the current world can match it. They go on to literally befriend and pal around with Hitler! No hyperbole, it is what they do. The story makes a nice extreme case.)

Plenty seem to get lost in the glamour, the money, the soirees, the proximity to power, the cocktail parties, being treated as important. Often we see journalists enter the Beltway scene and get invited to events and parties. They are good ways to connect with interviewees, makes contacts, and learn details for stories. So I can't fault the engagement.

But it's the balancing act that follows that troubles. A piece too hard on the Senate Majority Whip might get you uninvited to an event. Or a report on some trouble with an oil lobbyist will a source to clam up. Or critical stories on the White House leads to people from it refusing to do your show. And you're asked to lighten blows, or pass up stories, so as to not rock the boat of your access.

 Beyond that you may just become friends that you frequently interact with. We've seen this with reporters embedded with troops, travelling with generals, or just following a presidential campaign. You spend days and months together and you...well, let's be honest, it's a variation on Stockholm Syndrome. Suddenly a scandal doesn't need to be broken. The violent way troops handle an incursion into a city following losses is something you have no right to question. When the general violates the uniform code it's just not for you to challenge.

It's all so easy. Just go along to get along. And, if you are "good enough", you may get that front page column at the New York Times. You may be the go to talking head for the afternoon cable hosts. You may become the host of Meet the Press. And then you can look back at who you once were, back at the start, and scoff just like the Future Crew of Red Dwarf do.

And like Future Kryten, you can say to yourself, "Good grief! I can't believe I used to be such a stuck up pompous prig." And you can get back to memorizing your soft ball questions for John McCain.

Red Dwarf

Starbug

And, just in case someone is going to be pedantic. I know that in the episode of Red Dwarf I reference here, they weren't aboard Red Dwarf (the massive mining ship the show is named over), but aboard Starbug (the amazingly well stocked shuttle from Red Dwarf. I just wanted to keep the narrative as simple as possible (particularly since I have a habit of over complicating things).






And, I know, "Jack? Why Red Dwarf?" Hey! It works. Just be happy I didn't feel the need to explain or connect thematically what happened to Winnie the Pooh on Red Dwarf.


Now let's all walk away.

The changing face of racial prejudice and bigotry in America? *UPDATED*

From the Caroline County Court of Virginia:

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."

These were the words of the trial judge that Richard Perry Loving and Mildred Jeter Loving faced. They were found guilty of miscegenation, the mixing of the races. In particular, marrying in Washington D.C., then returning to live in Virginia. They were sentenced to 1 year in jail. To avoid jail they were allowed to leave the state. The case led to a Supreme Court ruling 10 years later ending anti-miscegenation laws in the country.

That was 1959.

In 2013, Texas Assistant Attorney General Sam L. Ponder said:

“ You've got African Americans, you've got Hispanics, you've got a bag full of money. Does that tell you — a light bulb doesn't go off in your head and say, ‘This is a drug deal?’ ”

This is how he wants to present his case. Blacks. Hispanics. Money. That only happens with drugs. Because that's how those people get money.

It's been more than half a century, and we still seem to have shifted only so far. You can look at the statistics for arrests, convictions, and sentencing by race, and the difference are quite stark. Stop and frisk. Papers please. And on and on. We still have many issues yet to seriously address in society and law.

Justice Scalia

And you can look at voting. Some communities get access to machines and facilities, and some just have to do with fewer broken voting machines and lines that stretch on for hours on end. Or faulty information released on the when's and where's of voting. Or new rules meant to discourage or bar minority voting.

And still, Justice of the Supreme Court Antonin Scalia was out and about today denouncing the Voting Rights Act as just a "perpetuation of racial entitlement." I wonder what Right Wing pundit he picked that up from? Racial entitlement? Voting? That's charming, isn't it? But he's one of the conservative movement that is eager to pave over protection of rights for minorities. Rights which certain states have for decades shown a certain eagerness to go after (Forgive me. Conservatives in those states have been eager to do this.)

The Voting Rights Act is up before the Supreme Court this year. Will see what's left of it, if Scalia can get his way.

_____________
ADDENDUM:

Meant to also add a link to a piece considering the impact of the end of the Voting Rights Act.

FOX News. Always eager for something new to bully.

FOX News manages to not surprise us with it's ways of being offensive and dismissive of those they think can be safely picked on. It's mostly a matter of being asses to generate a feel good atmosphere for the close-minded viewers at home.

On this occasion it was a chance to attack and mock Wiccans and Pagans. And the problem isn't with something these people were doing. No, it is a matter of them have holidays in the religion being acknowledge at one university.

It seems banal enough. But FOX's best and brightest saw an easy and quick way to throw out some red meat to it's paranoid Christian, ignorant Witches Are Real, and the Schools Are Indoctrinating Our Kids audiences. Trouble is, this isn't the 1980's. So literal witch hunts are just not in vogue today. (Don't get me wrong, various Wiccans and Pagans are facing discrimination and intolerance in some small towns and small-minded communities.)

Oh, and yes, Tucker "Look, Ma, no bow tie!" Carlson is along to amplify the jackassery.



The University of Missouri, in it's guide to religions, acknowledges Wicca and Paganism, among many other religions. FOX gets a bit petulant and snarky at the idea of them getting seen as in anyway equivalent to Christianity. If you acknowledge pagans, you must hate Christ! You are out to destroy America!

How dare anyone recognize their holidays! Witches! With their...witch things... Lucky that we have Tucker to explain what Wiccans are (About witchcraft and D&D playing and divorced old women and Halloween.), such a smart man. How dare these pagans get any respect! Right? In particular, they get pissy at the number of religious days and celebrations they have. They seem upset that they get any consideration, like having their holiday dates written down and shared. So let's look at that what is shared.

Pagan/Wiccan holidays noted by the U of Missouri:

• Mabon / Autumnal Equinox
• Samhain 
• Yule / Midwinter / Winter Solstice
• Imbolc / Candlemas
• Ostara / Spring Equinox
• Beltane 
• Litha / Midsomer / Summer Solstice
• Lammas / Lughnasadh 

That's 8 holidays. I would like to note that in the listings they mention the general practices for the holiday, and also any recommended accommodations for students that are of a given faith at the time of the holiday. These holidays ask for no special accommodations  they are just special days. So they don't get you out of class or tests or anything else. They only matter if you give them significance. But that is too much for FOX

FOX acts like it's weird or a big deal. You could note, Judaism has 11 holidays, and some accommodations asked for. Christianity has 7 holidays (with the Easter Orthodox having 4 holidays in variance) and accommodations requested. And there are other religions acknowledged  from the Baha'i to Shinto Buddhism. But as dense and bigoted as FOX can be, it isn't going to point a mock the Jewish faith, it messes with their agenda of using Israel to push war.

For FOX and Tucker Carlson, Wiccans seem like an easy target of mockery, humiliation, and bullying. A group you can just call witches, then say anything you want with no one harm to you. And, of course, with the core demographic for FOX News, calling pagans and Wiccans witches is a plus. (They also like it when you demonize all Muslims to. shhhh!)

AND if all this wasn't enough. Tucker Carlson takes a swing at Halloween. Tucker? You can say a lot of crap. But. Never. Touch. Halloween. I have no religion interests, but I love Halloween. And a weenie like you has no place mocking it. You gibbering hyena of psuedo journalism. Candy, kids, costumes, spooky movies and sights. It a day for fun, character playing, and laughing at the macabre.

And, Tucker, being the good Christian you play at being, you have heard of All's Hallow Eve, right? Sorry the actual celebration isn't banal enough for you. I'm guessing you also have a bug up your butt about Fat Tuesday to then?

Tucker actually says in the video, "Call me a bigot." And I am happy to. Tucker is a stuffed suit with a tiny dull prep school bully squirming around in it. You just up and call these people and their religion fake and sad, not based on any facts or insight, just based on your ignorant contempt. It's the same insight he brings to politics. And it's why he's an easy fit with the rest of FOX News. At least in the video, the woman in the middle by the end looks a little uncomfortable when they get to the point where Carlson is just out and out venting and mocking women. But that's what Tucker is about. Eager and excited contempt of people not like him. He's always giddy to get a shot at that, he thinks it makes him look big. (Really, it's a lot like Joe Scarborough.)


He's since apologized. But in it he shares that he thinks their holidays are weird. Nice guy. So classy.

Too bad Wicca doesn't have a holiday where they celebrate a figure resurrecting from the dead by eating ham and looking for hidden eggs placed by a magic rabbit. You know, non-weird religious festivities.


I am not religious at all. I have qualms with all the different faiths. But I don't see a need to criticize or fight unless their is a problem or danger worth talking about (or I think of something damn funny). But I definitely have no taste for bullies at anytime. We all know what bullies really are, and if you don't, just look at Fox & Friends and Tucker Carlson. See how pathetic they really are. These are the type of people we have to stand up to.

Sadly, we live in a world with FOX News. A station always up for a witch hunt, literally. (Yes. I had to go there.)

Loving the South

I am getting a but late to this, as so many things. But I wanted to suggest a good blog on politics, culture, news, and more.

Big Blue Dot Y'all

It  is being written by kchapmangibbons (at @kcgibbons on twitter). It's a nice blog for thoughts and information, given from a liberal Nashvillians point of view.

Among her shared insight is on the why's of being a blue dot. This term reflects how many of us, while living in largely red (conservative...I don't know why I'm over explaining.) states do represent blue (...You know what that means.) dots, oases, in sometimes extreme conservative deserts (Hey, I'm completing the metaphor.).

While some liberals do like to be oblivious to it, every state is more than red or blue. There are the Austins and Nashvilles. Also some people and places are changing and growing. Beyond them, their are just the individuals and families that represent. And they represent, because they are home, and they want to embrace what's good and change what isn't good.

So, take time to enjoy here insight and views of the good from a place you may never visit. Or maybe it is close to the life you live, and you'll enjoy the sharing.

What liberals have done.

It comes from a fictional character running for office, but it is nice to remind ourselves and others just what it means to be liberal, and remember just what liberals have done in the history of the United States.


(Sometime I'll have to write out what I thought worked and failed in the last season of West Wing, but it was interesting to watch that very fantasy based election.)

Still, it is an interesting point made. Lincoln, the Republican president, was a liberal.

There is importance in that. Liberal. Conservative. They aren't supposed to be defined by a party allegiance. They are conceptual. Philosophies.

The Republican brand once was to change things. They were a sprightly new party full of ideals and vigor. They opposed slavery, plantations dominating land ownership. It is interesting how time and power can change and shape any group. And the once Northern and Western party becomes the party of the South.

Still, at the same time it is possible for a Republican to have liberal values. People like Theodore Roosevelt proved it could be found in the party, and then accidentally end up in the presidency. Even Nixon had a willingness to take steps to act positively on the environment.

The trouble now is that people like Roosevelt and Nixon (people that would agree with his positive acts) never get into office. One needs to charm the NRA, then to Rush Limbaugh, then financial interests, then Religious Right. Once you've pleased all of them, their isn't much left for the rest of the country, or for the committee conferences. Every senator and representative is placed in a bind. Step too far out of line and their will be a challenger with money and ads.

I would love to see a return of the liberal Republican, open to change, open to working to help Americans put under duress by society or business. But I just don't see the current system welcoming or accepting them back. So, I wish those left would see that and migrate to something new, where they would be allowed to actually make a difference and have a voice.

Republicans like to talk of being the party of Lincoln. It's funny. They are a party that has no place in it for his liberal thinking. And the power base it relies on now would be quite happy if he was blotted from the history books.

But don't worry. We liberals love our history, and we love being sure everyone gets a good education.

2014 is 10 months away (I do have more interesting maths to share.).

In case you are not readying or hearing about the recent analysis of Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight, he doesn't see an easy or obvious victorious run come 2014. 2014? You know, the next election...? You know, how we the United States has elections every 2 YEARS...? ...
...
...Okay, breathe. Yes, we do in fact vote every 2 years. I know, we just started a new Congressional session AND inaugurated the president. But, next year, 620 days from now, we are doing this again...Well, some of us are. We don't all really get involved, leaving older and more conservative people.

Which takes us back to Nate Silver. Looking at the data available and history, he is seeing real dangers coming in 2014. It is possible that the Senate could go to the Republicans. Not a sure thing. But they are in a real positions, if they pull themselves together this year, to put up an effort that could shift 6 or more seats in their favor. (Read Silver for the number crunching.)

Among the issues that most intensely threaten Democratic control in the Senate is that it's a midterm election. And on these occasions, we don't all get out, we don't all pay attention, and we don't all...bother caring.

2010 is a good example of what can happen, with shifts in power and momentum in Washington D.C. leading to Tea Party headaches and an imperiled health care reform. There are many factors that played into the election. Insane conservative anger and paranoia. Frustration with positions that the president and Democrats in Congress were taking. But, the results were that liberals were underrepresented at the polls. And we've seen the results with the likes of Senator Scott Brown, Governor Scott Walker, Governor Rick Snyder and Representative Allen West.

Now some of these people were ousted last year. But some are still around, and enacting harmful policies on the public. And the repercussions of 2010 still are hitting and hurting us. 2014 can't be allowed to go the same way.


So, yeah. 620 days to the next election. It's a long time, and too soon.

But you are needed. Your vote. Your interest. Your engagement in the process. We can't let conservatives drag government to a halt by taking both branches of Congress. We can't pretend the results of midterms don't hold weight. We can't let the Right Wing set the narrative for 2014 and 2016. We can't sit things out until the next presidential election.

It's not the most fun you'll ever have, but welcome to representative democracy.

Consider this your early alarm call. I know you'll be hitting the snooze and getting back to political slumber. But don't ignore it for too long, you don't want to be late. We are counting on you.

...You didn't find the Nate Silver math interesting enough to justify the title? ...Fine!

Hey kids! It's One Direction!




And here's Tom Lehrer for old fogies like me.

Huck and Jim are still on the river. 128 years on.

Image credit: E. W. Kimble, 1884,
Public Domain via
Wikimedia Commons.

I saw that yesterday was the 128th anniversary for the release of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. And seeing as Mississippi has just ratified the abolition of slavery, it seems to be somewhat current tale. (Guess the state was too busy not properly educating and not acknowledging various people's rights to get to that...Apologizes to everyone in Mississippi that's been actually wronged and/or been troubled by your states failings.)

Huckleberry Finn is the story of a young boy, chafing at society, along the Mississippi River in Missouri. As the story progresses he flees his home and father, along with Jim, a fleeing slave, trying to escape getting sold away from his family. The story takes them on a trip down the Mississippi  via raft, learning about the world around them, people, and themselves.

For me, one of the best moments in that book, and just a very evocative moment, comes late in the book.

Sigh. Okay, I am going to be giving some SPOILERS here. Spoilers for a 128 year old book, that's been turned into a number of movies... Still!

SPOILERS




Late in the story Huck and Jim are betrayed by folk they've met and befriended along the river. Jim is locked away as a runaway slave. Huck goes to the place he's held and is taken as a visiting relative, who will later be revealed to be Tom Sawyer (Tooooooom!!!).

Seen as an escaped slave, Jim will quickly get sold on down the river, deeper into the South, and further from his family. Huck could reveal Jim as being owned, by sending a letter to the slave owner. But for fleeing, there's little chance he won't get sold on anyway. And Huck would become a pariah for helping him. These choices trouble Huck. How is this right? Jim doesn't deserve this treatment. And he's afraid of further abuse at home for himself. But, he's also afraid of hell, for not turning in a slave. So he writes the letter down to the slave owner, and tries to get his head straight on what he should do as a good hell fearing civilized person. He decides he can't stand by, not for a friend, someone he's already gone through so much with. So, we get this section:

... 

I felt good and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my life, and I knowed I could pray now. But I didn't do it straight off, but laid the paper down and set there thinking- thinking how good it was all this happened so, and how near I come to being lost and going to hell. And went on thinking. And got to thinking over our trip down the river; and I see Jim before me, all the time; in the day, and in the night-time, sometimes moonlight, sometimes storms, and we a floating along, talking, and singing, and laughing. But somehow I couldn't seem to strike no places to harden me against him, but only the other kind. I'd see him standing my watch on top of his'n, stead of calling me, so I could go on sleeping; and see him how glad he was when I come back out of the fog; and when I come to him agin in the swamp, up there where the feud was; and such-like times; and would always call me honey, and pet me, and do everything he could think of for me, and how good he always was; and at last I struck the time I saved him by telling the men we had smallpox aboard, and he was so grateful, and said I was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world, and the only one he's got now; and then I happened to look around, and see that paper. 

It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: 

"All right, then, I'll go to hell"- and tore it up. 

It was awful thoughts, and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming. I shoved the whole thing out of my head; and said I would take up wickedness again, which was in my line, being brung up to it, and the other warn't. And for a starter, I would go to work and steal Jim out of slavery again; and if I could think up anything worse, I would do that, too; because as long as I was in, and in for good, I might as well go the whole hog. 

...

Huck has been brought up in a society that has said slavery is good, slavery is right, slavery is the will of God. To help a slave to be free is a crime, and the path to hell and damnation. That scares Huck, as it does anyone brought up on the idea of hell. The act he's taken in this story, to befriend someone that's enslaved and help them escape, marks him as uncivilized. But Huck struggles to see things that way. He knows Jim. He sees a human being, a friend. But with hell looming, Huck tries to think of the right and proper way out of their situation. The trouble is just what the right and proper ways look to be. Huck can't accept living by society's rules, the right way of doing things, not if it means not caring when a person is treated like property and made to suffer. It's a moving moment. Seeing him, in his struggle between what's expected of him and what he thinks is right, see that society is wrong. It means he'll suffer for it, but he has to do what he feels is right. Even if it means burning for eternity in a lake of fire, the thing all of society say await him.


...Then Tom Sawyer steps in. As always, dicks around leaving Jim to suffer for his fantasies and amusement. And Huck doesn't help things, falling under Sawyer's sway. (And the book for many falters here. With Jim and Huck stuck playing fools for Tom Sawyer's ring master.) And, then, we get some surprise revelations at the end to save Huck and Jim from fates they feared.

But back to the quoted piece. At that moment he was choosing Hell over Heaven. Choosing the incivility of freeing someone from slavery over the proper response of not caring. It's a line that speaks so loudly of what society was during the days of open slavery. Over even certain attitudes that remained following the abolition of slavery. It's a type of pressure ever present. It pushes people to be uncivil for the sake of being civilized.




END SPOILERS




It is a book I do enjoy a great deal. And, for me, it is the story of the better character, in comparing Huck to Tom Sawyer. But Tom seems to get the most love (Damn bad boys.). So, if you've never read it, consider taking some time this year to get to know Huckleberry Finn.

The book has been popular, and controversial. While more recently the language used has gotten it banned, as has it's look at slavery. Many in it's own day disliked and banned it to, some seeing it as a trashy book and others not caring for a main character who would scratch themselves. But you'll have to decide for yourself, just as Huck does, between redeemability and irredeemability, when you read.

Marco Rubio and the Same Old Party

Oh, Marco. You give and you give. And it was funny. As I said on FaceBook, Rubio wants to just call it, God trying to make him humble. But, presumably, a god could also be trying to get across the message that you should just not be talking.

And that seems apt with what Rubio had to say that night. It was ridiculous, though most of it was missed thanks to Water-gate.

Even Jon Stewart noted, that the real story was the ridiculous series of claims that Rubio threw out.




It almost isn't really worth talking about. It really is just Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney, with a better polling name. It's the same rhetoric and complaints and ideas. They aren't getting fresher. And the hypocrisy of Ryan and him, how their lives have been shaped by government aid will do nothing to advance them or their party to more victories. Rubio's presentation was bad that night. But he also reminded us that his parties ideas are just not ready for prime time. Sadly, his party seems oblivious of this.

Or rather, they think they just need the right snake oil salesman.

SOTU: What's the agenda? *UPDATED*

We are closing out the week of the State of the Union, so before I get into any critical issues with current government policy (Oh, let's hope I get writing.), let's look at the good work being, at least considered. As such, what is the president considering for the next year and on?

There were many good ideas, good moments, hit in the speech. Obviously continuing talk of doing something on gun violence is great, and his rhetorical flourishes in reaching out to the national audience were touching. I hope for the best. Then I remember the hundreds of hostile eyes on him in that room, eager to not piss off the NRA. ...Let's see what happens. This is unlike immigration, where I am guessing their is enough push right now, and fear in the GOP of Hispanics, to make something real happen.


But I was more interested in the "new" ideas.

Universal Pre-K. Or, preschool for all. This would be great. A heads up for all kids, to socialize, learn some early skills, and help parents entering or trying to hold jobs in the workforce. The struggle to find ways to get their kids into preschool is a struggle for many working moms. But the problem is making it real.

This involves some troubling areas for the GOP. Kids, they don't like kids. Education, they really don't like education. And the government making an investment in communities across the nation, ...I think you see where I'm going here. This will be a fight. We already know Newt Gingrich already leads the concept of getting kids into overalls and giving them comically small brooms. You can feel free to imagine what the wingery parts of the party are thinking. As I heard someone say, this will likely not happen in Obama's time in office. Maybe the foundations for it can be set in the next 4 years. Or, maybe, we will be surprised by movement on it.

Minimum Wage Hike. This is needed. The minimum wage continues to lag behind indicator, and leaves anyone working for this wage rate below the poverty line. That is just not acceptable. And the idea of tying it to a measure so we don't need to wait for Congress to move, that seems sound. Also seems pie in the sky. I just don't see the GOP not blocking this, as always. The president needs to move things with voters so the GOP has no where to go. As it is, the GOP has it's tested pablum about how horrible it is to pay people living wages, and the media eats it up (despite it all being crap). But we may yet see a Minimum Wage bump at least. I just can't predict what madness the House will pull.

Getting to Actually Vote. I was glad to see continuing as an issue. And the president humanizing the experience with the older woman, stuck in an interminable line is smart. I hope we will see real action on it. The president has formed a committee, that is good. He's put a Republicans who's worked for Romney and McCain, and helped in the swiftboating of John Kerry, that's...confusing and troubling. But as long as we see some real plans to improve voting, I'd be happy. Though it seems the simplest way to go is to enforce uniform rules on FEDERAL elections, which would push states and counties to try and streamline their own elections, and put pressure to be sure regions of the country don't leave poorer communities with inadequate facilities to vote. If a finding of the committee is that we need to deal with voter fraud I will be peeved. But, it is early days...Voting occurs next year. Get to work!

The Progressive Narrative. This, to me, is the real power of the speech. Policy can have a chance of passing the next Congress or not. But what is the narrative of who we are as Americans? Reagan helped usher in a contempt for government action, a sense we were all on our own. It was the era of the yuppies, in bad suits, getting rich on the backs of the middle class, leading to growing disparity and struggle.

Obama talks of something else, connecting with Americans. He offers up a return to building a middle class that is the heart of this country. To us all standing together. The Progressive Narrative:

... 

"And now they are at the heart of the story President Obama has been telling the American people in his SOTU, in his second inaugural address, on the campaign trail last year. From last night: "It is our generation's task, then, to reignite the true engine of America's economic growth -- a rising, thriving middle class." And "A growing economy that creates good, middle-class jobs -- that must be the North Star that guides our efforts." And "no one who works full time should have to live in poverty..." And "Stronger families. Stronger communities. A stronger America. 

It is this kind of prosperity -- broad, shared, and built on a thriving middle class -- that has always been the source of our progress at home." You are speaking our language, Mr. President.It wasn't because the president's speech writers saw the website and thought it sounded good. It was because they are reading the same polling we are, because they are seeing the same focus groups. It is because this is where the American people have come around to after flirting with the Tea Party "no government is ever good" rhetoric. America's middle class knows it is getting crushed, and it knows that wealthy and powerful special interests have been making out like bandits on the backs of the rest of us. People are rallying around the story we are telling because it is common sense. The progressive center of gravity we built with this narrative pulled the president and the public in our direction because the story is true, and because it has powerful resonance in people's lives." 

... 

President Obama made a potent use of this annual event. But it is only the beginning. The new term of Congress has started, as has the presidents term. The work lies ahead. Everyone has to be sure that the Progressive Narrative isn't lost under conventional wisdom, beltway realities, and our own sad short term memories. We have to push back on what conservatives will try to do and try to not let happen. And we will need to likely need to push the president on some actions.


Oh, but now, what did the GOP have to say in response, cutting the president's ideas to shreds?!

*GULP*

_____________
ADDENDUM:

Forgot to mention another important area that the president mentioned.

Infrastructure investment. This is something we've needed for years now. Bridges, levies, dams, national piping, electrical grids, roads, all have needed a serious investment. And more should have come in the stimulus we got four years ago. We need to do this. It means, work, jobs, and needed boost to the economy. And it means we won't go more years and have a severe crisis arise when grids die, pipeline rupture, areas getting isolated by dilapidated travel conditions, or another tragic flood.

I hope this investment can happen. We do need this work done.

No Ash Wednesday *UPDATED*

Sigh.

Do I have to talk about Ash Wednesday as well?

...

...

...

...

...

Good. It's silly.

____________
ADDENDUM:

Well, I was going to get serious now on Ash Wednesday, consider the ashen cross on the foreheads. Because they are interesting to consider as overt presentations of faith.

And Bob Novak (Late King of the Douche Bags  was a man who loved nothing more than hang his moral and religious superiority over anyone and everyone. He loved to go on TV to display the ash as a debate weapon. He could make it feel a distasteful display.

But as I was looking for a picture of him, I was looking at various people, including Vice President Biden, who are photographed with ash on the forehead. And when you think of this as a temporary one day affectation, that most people don't bother keeping on their faces way. Why should I be bothering with it? It is harmless. Why bother with him? He was never not harmful.

Screw him.

Instead, like many others are doing today, let's hail to the king.

Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.