Haiku, Zen and the Politics of Politics

Lost economy
Like characters on some isle.
Is it all a dream?

Bi-racial Nazi?
Surely not even Glenn Beck
Believes this horse shit

Universal health?
What a national nightmare!
How goes that Oil War?

Democracy dies
If enough people believe
Instead of thinking

Pimps run for Congress
Family Values for sale
Urinal cake smell

Our own FCC
Stares at Janet Jackson’s boob
To protect us all

Health care somehow means
Boners for old men to use
But not birth control.

Snake Oil and the Snakes Who Sell It.

One of the arguments I consistently hear conservatives use against Health Care Reform is that “Government can’t get anything right! Why let them into healthcare?” (Right before they get on the interstate to buy a burger that was inspected by a Fed.)
Well, let’s look at some other facts and predictions by our Right-wing brethren, shall we?
It would seem that the Conservatives who argue against government involvement have quite a few favorite lines to throw out. Let’s take a detailed look at their logic using…their logic.
We are just a few years into the experiment but it would appear, according to the numbers, that the divorce rate in Massachusetts has dropped since homosexual couples have been allowed to marry in that state. I guess one group is defending marriage more than the others? They’re here, they’re queer and they’re not getting divorced like you folks who defend marriage.
Shall we touch on those awful weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Perhaps the Iraqi connection with 9/11? Maybe we should skip those and go right to the part where our troops were met with flowers in the street as liberators. "It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months." Ah, Rumsfeld: WRONG! How about G.W. Bush, over six years ago: “Good news to the men and women who fought ... their mission is complete.” WRONG! And six years ago Cheney told us “I think it'll go relatively quickly, …
Weeks rather than months.” When he was asked how long the conflict would last. WRONG!
Karl Rove predicted a majority for Repubs in 2006. That didn’t quite work. He also stated “"The Republican philosophy is alive and well and likely to reemerge in the majority in 2008." Well, isn’t that cute. And wrong. Very, very wrong.
How about Bill Kristol? "If [Hillary Clinton] gets a race against John Edwards and Barack Obama, she's going to be the nominee. Gore is the only threat to her ... Barack Obama is not going to beat Hillary Clinton in a single democratic primary. I'll predict that right now." Wow. Wrong-a-palooza!
Peter Mulhern in 2007- "In this case conventional wisdom is not just wrong but comically so. [Fred] Thompson will win the Republican nomination for two reasons. First, he's a very impressive candidate. Second, there's no realistic alternative. He will win the general election for the same two reasons." Wrong-a-long-a-ding-dong.
Ann Coulter in 2007- "I think it's probably going to be Romney for the Republicans, Hillary for the Democrats." Not even close!
Rudy Guliani in 2008- "We'll win Florida. It's an unconventional strategy, but I've never followed conventional wisdom before; it's always worked." Somebody call Rudy. Tell him he is SO wrong.
Rush Limbaugh- "I think [Obama has] been dead in the water since the primaries.” Ouchies!

"High tech is potent, precise, and in the end, unbeatable. …Look, I want to give the high-five symbol to high tech." —George Bush Sr., on the growing tech bubble. Remember that busting in our faces like a cheap bubble gum bubble?
Do you remember being told that even if you disagreed with the President you should have respect for the office? Guess what- It was a Republican who screamed out his (totally false) opinion in the middle of President Obama’s speech.
Now, this same group, this same mindset, is telling us all that Healthcare reform will be the end of us. They shout the word “Socialism” without being able to define it. They insist, through all of it, that they are compassionate.
How many times can you be sold the same snake oil? How many times can you believe? How many times am I expected to see the same people following the same group making the same bad predictions before it is no longer rude to laugh in your face?
We all know the adage "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and
expecting different results.” So how many times are you going to listen? Really.

Too Much Free Time...

I am consistently amazed at people using the phrase “Too much free time on their hands.” It is almost always spoken in response to someone producing, with no damage to anyone else, a quirky, odd or mildly entertaining bit of creative output.
Put a costume on your pet duck? “That guy has too much free time on their hands!”
Edit a video to make it funnier and post it online? “That woman has too much free time on their hands!”
Decorate your entire basement with nothing but Sharpie markers? “That idiot has too much free time on their hands!”
What if this criticism had struck Walt Disney, Leonardo Da Vinci or Mikhail Baryshnikov while they fumbled around looking for the best way to express their vision?
I would like to ask a favor of you. The next time you feel the urge to utter this phrase stop and think. Why are you pointing it at the people who manage to combine creative with harmless and entertaining?
Let us try a slight paradigm shift. How about we all save this particular phrase for the non-creative, for the harmful and for the not so entertaining?
Protestor who avoids constructive action or debate in favor of standing in the street with a sign? “THAT person has too much free time on their hands!”
Nuisance lawsuit? “THAT person has too much free time on their hands!”
Attempting to FORCE your beliefs on others? “THAT person has too much free time on their hands!”
I realize that criticism of the harmless is far from the worst of our culture’s ills but perhaps for just a day or a week we could aim this particular criticism away from the harmlessly creative and towards the maliciously disruptive.
Try it for a bit. It won’t take much effort and may leave you with a little extra time on your hands.

Cowards, Cultists and the Close-minded.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away I was told that the beauty of America was that ANYONE could grow up to be President. We were encouraged, even in that more sheltered time, to explore ideas and situations, to find out all we could.
And now? Now I look around me, ear to the wind, and see a significant portion of America howling that their child should not be “exposed” to a speech by the President of the United States of America.
I understand not agreeing with the President. I understand not liking President Obama’s ideas, ideals, goals and methods. I understand not wanting one’s children to think like the sitting President. I understand, and would defend to the death, the ability and right of people to feel this way.
I do NOT understand anyone who is so insecure, as incomplete as a person, so singularly unevolved as a thinker that they would stand against their child hearing what the President has to say. I can think of very few people who could speak in such a way that a child should not hear them.
Assuming these children are in schools with history lessons they will be exposed to the words of Hitler, a mass murderer and racist and genocidal maniac. They will be exposed to the words of slave-owners, pagans, heathens, witch-burners, conquerors, the deluded and insane. Shall the schools have to ask parental permission to expose their children to history? How about to the genocides, rapists and murderers of the bible?
As we move through the twenty first century we wish to show the world who we are. As Americans we are constantly watched and judged. Are we attempting to show the world’s despots, terrorist and war-mongers that we are this cowardly? This country was built on the backs and in the minds of men and women who were raised exposed to the harshness of the wilderness, the ravages of war, the vagaries of disease and the realities of disparate ideas. Are we raising citizens or marshmallows? Are we going to continue to play the words of Osama Bin Laden on every TV screen and hide from the words of our own elected President?
If you wish for a barometer of any society’s trajectory I would point you towards the level of fear they have towards ideas. Ideas and words. Are we rearing the generation that will leave the nest only to recoil at the hideous discovery that there are people in the world, well meaning people, who disagree with mommy and daddy? Are we prepared for our children, on their own and moving as adults to collapse under the weight of disagreement the moment they leave the protective measure of their childhood homes?
For shame. For shame America for letting this situation ever arise. When did the failure come that allowed a fear of a simple idea or speech to be so dangerous as to crush their values?

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Usually. Well, sometimes.

"When a man finds a conclusion agreeable, he accepts it without argument,but when he finds it disagreeable, he will bring against it all the forces of logic and reason." -Thucydides

When will we make allowances in our system for a political version of Aiding and Abetting? Politicians take an oath of office. If you or I take an oath in a courthouse and lie there is a penalty...when will the elected be held to the same standard? Mistakes should not necessarily be punished. An obvious pattern of mistruth should be. Does a Congressman or Senator not have a responsibility as high as or higher than a court witness or someone filling out a tax form?

I frequently hear people boldly present the idea of “speaking truth to power” and while I support the concept I would much rather HEAR some truth FROM power. Whether the issue is Saddam Hussein having WMDs or being involved in 9/11 http://www.antiwar.com/rep/utley9.html or what the definition of ‘’sexual relations’ is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiIP_KDQmXs I am deeply saddened by the correlation between leadership and mistruth.

Let me retract that last statement. I am deeply PISSED. ‘Kick somebody in the teeth’ pissed.

I was taught, as you probably were, that science was about finding the truth. Actual truth. Science was not about proving your idea or my idea but rather about finding out what idea held water. When my 7^th grade science teacher explained that finding out my hypothesis was wrong was just as much a success as finding my hypothesis was correct I felt something akin to love. And not for Ms. Vance. The reward did not coming for being correct form the start but form being correct in the end. Encyclopedia Brown had already taught me this lesson but he did not present himself with the same authority as my science teacher. This spirit needs to be infused into the public debate.

The more information available to us the more I see people on both sides of any issue who are absolutely incapable of changing their mind. Should information not be bringing more and more of us to the same conclusions? I, personally, love being PROVED wrong. This does not happen because someone is louder than me, more insistent than me nor has more friends that share their idea than I do. It happens by using facts.

An anecdote is not a fact. A threat is not a fact. Disinformation does not become fact through repetition.

Truth. Bring me some truth.

I respect the person who can change their mind. I respect the person who wants to actually BE right, not the person who can convince the most people that they are right despite the facts.

I used to think that being wrong was punishment enough. Not anymore. If you have managed to thrust yourself into a decision making position in our government you should be held to a higher standard. Period. If you cannot hold yourself to that standard I will.

This necessity for the truth does not stop with politicians either. It needs to extend to the media. We regulate what claims can be made about products, foods and medicines, but we also have a court system that defends the right of a ‘news’ organization to lie: http://www.relfe.com/media_can_legally_lie.html Why is it that the makers of chocolate cake cannot deceive someone on how much fiber is in their product but media outlets can tell overt lies with impunity?

Do you want to improve your life? Do you want to improve the world left to your children? Then start making truth a priority. In fact, make it THE priority.

Mavericky Anniversary

A year ago today everyone outside Alaska was introduced to Sarah Palin. Right before her big speech Fred Thompson(actor) denounced Hollywood, Rudy Guliani (NY mayor) denonced being cosmopolitan, Mitt Romney (Gov. MA) denounced East coasters and they ...all pointed at the mixed race son fo a single parent, middle class home as an elitist. While running an Admiral's son who married a beer baron against him.

Thank you 2008 Republicans, for turning up the cognitive dissonance to 11 and showing just how backwards and evil politics could be.

I remember fondly how Repubs constantly said sexuality had nothing to do with it behind headlines of "McCain taps Palin" and shouts of "Drill, baby, drill!"

Of course, I believe she was the only candidate protected from witches: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwkb9_zB2Pg&feature=related

And noone could doubt her experience: http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/images/deadspin/2008/08/sarahpalin01.jpg Lots of experience: http://www.giftsandfreeadvice.com/free_advice/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/sarah-palin-swimsuit-photo.jpg

And of course, now that we know she quits when criticized we can all feel a little better for having spurned this error, as a nation.

But lest I speak too much we shold pause and let Mrs. Palin speak for herself:

"As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border." --Sarah Palin, explaining why Alaska's proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy experience, interview with CBS's Katie Couric, Sept. 24, 2008

"I think on a national level your Department of Law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out." --Sarah Palin, referring to a department that does not exist while attempting to explain why as president she wouldn't be subjected to the same ethics investigations that compelled her to resign as governor of Alaska, ABC News interview, July 7, 2009

She WAS very good with foriegn dignitaries: http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/sarahpalinvideos/youtube/palin-prank.htm

And she knew the law: "Well, let's see. There's ― of course in the great history of America there have been rulings that there's never going to be absolute consensus by every American, and there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So, you know, going through the history of ... Read MoreAmerica, there would be others but ―" --Sarah Palin, unable to name a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with other than Roe vs. Wade What with Roe vs. Wade being THE law.

And she read EVERYTHING! "All of 'em, any of 'em that have been in front of me over all these years." --Sarah Palin, unable to name a single newspaper or magazine she reads, interview with Katie Couric

Her grasp of geography is brilliant: "They are also building schools for the Afghan children so that there is hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan."

Did I mention er grasp of the law? "[T]hey're in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom." --Sarah Palin, getting the vice president's constitutional role wrong after being asked by a third grader what the vice president does

And she had an incredible grasp of legal statutes: "I'm the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can't.'" --Sarah Palin, as quoted by former City Council Member Nick Carney, after he raised objections about the $50,000 she spent renovating the mayor's office without approval of the city council

McCain's aides remember her fondly: "A whack job." ―a top McCain adviser describing Palin, one-upping the McCain adviser who called her a "diva"

Women and Republicans praised her: "She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?" ―Alaska State Senate President Lyda Green, who is a Republican

Of course, the country embraced her. McCain had chosen her and he was obviously an expert: "Our economy, I think, is still ― the fundamentals of our economy are strong." ―John McCain, Jacksonville, Fla., Sept. 15, 2008

But despite her gaffes you had to respect her honesty: "I'm very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing ... any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that." ―Palin, after an Alaska legislative report found she had broken the state's ethics law and abused her power in the Troopergate scandal

As well as McCain's honesty: "She's a partner and a soul-mate." ―McCain on Palin, whom he had met only once before selecting her to be his running mate

And we all know McCain knows how to deal wiht women: "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt." ―McCain, to his wife, Cindy

She was QUITE prepared for the office: "As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?" ―Palin

Sarah said: "Politics isn't just a game of competing interests and clashing parties. The people of America expect us to seek public office and to serve for the right reasons. And the right reason is to challenge the status quo and to serve the common good." and then she quit! You betcha!

"No one expects us to agree on everything. But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and ... a servant's heart." Uuunitl you quit.

We had to admire her clarity and energy knowledge: "A gasoline will help shape our economic future - the same way that oil has shaped our economic present."

And lastly, let us remember how she bravely stood against socialism....as governor of a state that gave every citizen $3,269 in 2008 just for being Alaskan.