Back to Work

Writing again after an unexpectedly long hiatus.  Blame the day job.  No.  That's not true.  Blame the wingnuts.  Yes, they are demoralizing.  But, more importantly, they keep changing the landscape faster that I -- who writes slowly -- can keep up.  Call it the inverse dichotomy paradox.  The original Aristotlean paradox says that no one can reach a destination because first, you must get half-way there, then half of the half, and so on, with each increment half of the one before which, a couple of thousand years before Newton, seemed like a genuine constraint.  The inverse case has nutters moving twice as far from reality with each new step.  Try to respond cogently to one piece of conservative nonsense and, by the time I am ready to hit the "Publish" button, my writing is now off-target from the newest craziness.  Think of whack-a-mole played against mutant vermin that grow and grow and grow. 

The NRA is a Terrorist Organization

The National Rifle Association is a terrorist organization.  It is complicit in the murder and maiming of thousands of Americans every year.  The Association, despite its overwhelming political agenda, calls itself a charity and has 501(c)3 status.  Unbelievable.  The NRA, its leadership, and, yes, its members must face the reality of their murderous legacy.

The Emperor's New Clothes

The biggest problem with living the big lie is that just one lone defector can crash the whole enterprise.  New Jersey Governor Chris Christie demolished years of Republican party propaganda in just three days.  The man who was keynote speaker at this year's Republican National Convention praised his party's biggest worstest scariest awfullest demon multiple times and received warm praise from the President in return.  The two walked together through some of the worst damaged parts of New Jersey.  Romney must be on the floor in one of his mansions kicking his feet and chewing the antique, hand-knotted Persian carpet.  Fox and Friends needed a complete hard reboot following their morning video interview with Christie and Heckuvajob Brownie, in trying to find some reason for bashing Obama, instead showed himself to be too stupid to know how stupid he is.  The Republicans are so nusto crazy extreme these days, that just one man doing his job honestly and honorably appears, in contrast, like Arthur pulling Excalibur from the stone. 

Rocky III

We are all toddlers informed only by single syllable words and unable to do simple arithmetic.  That is the most important conclusion I drew from Monday night's debate.

Mitt Romney tells us that all nations exist only to serve American purpose.  We are not allowed to understand our enemies or imagine objectives that may not be Americentric.  Good guys and bad guys.  White hats and black.  Life is so simple.  Be tough, send messages, and continue to inflate a military that has, after 11 years in Afghanistan and 9 in Iraq, fought to poorly defined stalemates.  Do you remember those bumper stickers that said, "Iraq is Arabic for Vietnam"?  Mitt doesn't.  I do.

The world's greatest businessman and financial wizard has a plan to simultaneously (1) balance the US budget, (2) cut taxes by 20%, and (3) increase military spending.  Half of America is believes him.  Then, again, half of all Americans are below average intelligence.  I don't know the size of the correlation, but I would be willing to bet -- $10,000 anyone? -- that it is large.

Liar's Logic

Romney has discovered a corollary to Goebbels' Law.  The Nazi propaganda minister said tell one big lie and then repeat it again and again and again. Mitt prefers breadth to depth.  Romney's tells a million lies.  Each Romney lie can be refuted, but there just isn't enough time to knock them down. One big lie can be answered.  A million lies are like a denial of service internet attack.  The system crashes from overload. 

There is an old joke about Lyndon Johnson that applies well to Mittens.  Johnson lied often, so people became adept at reading his body language.  If LBJ tugged at his ear, you knew he was telling the truth.  If he leaned back in his chair and put his feet up, he was telling the truth.  If he interlaced his fingers, he was telling the truth.  And, if he opened his mouth, he was lying. 
 

The Basics

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.  So many words; so few ideas.  I wish that President Obama was tougher and sharper on Wednesday night.  Sure.  And I wish that Mitt Romney had been battered with sweet science precision; a bleeding cut above one eye, a good bruise on one cheek.  Enough damage to guarantee a unanimous decision, but not enough to draw pity.  Didn't happen.  Too bad.

But, the real disappointment was the distance both candidates stayed from the fundamental principles that should define these United States:

1. Health care is a right, not a privilege.  
2. No one in America should go hungry.  
3. Everyone in the country has the right to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and eat uncontaminated food.  
4. All children have the right to high quality education including university education.
5. The laws of this country including the tax code must guarantee items 1 through 4.  

 Keep your eyes on the prize.

How Obama Should Answer Romney's Secret Speech

Charlie Pierce, as always, got it right in creating the speech that Romney should give in response to the secret tape.

 There is a corresponding speech that Obama should make -- though he won't -- to the same audience:

Listen up and shut up.  I'm all you got.  You want to keep tying yourself to that dying elephant?  Go ahead.  That party is going down.  Nothing coming but years and years of failed national elections.  Sure, they'll still win big for school boards and dog catchers.  But, that's not what you care about.  Is it?  So, here's the deal: I'm all you got.  Capiche?  I mean, where else are you going to go?  Put your money in euros or sterling or yen or renminbi?  Swiss francs?  Don't make me laugh.  Yessirree.  Uncle Sam is the only game left and, right now, I'm the croupier.  Got it?

I'm going to let you keep most of your money.  From now on, though, you only get to haul it in with dumpsters instead of 18-wheelers.  Quelle fucking dommage.  Glass-Steagall is coming back.   Yeah.  There's gonna be boring, nine-to-five bankers and there's gonna be high flying investment aces; but you can't be both.  You guys get to figure out who is who.  Draw straws.  Russian roulette.  I don't give a fuck.  Just make it happen or you get cuffed and perp-walked from Wall Street down to Battery Park where I will personally toss you the fuck into the fucking river. 

And, the SEC?  It's coming back for real.  No more old-fashioned fat wheezing cop on the beat willing to look the other way for a few bucks.  Uh-uh.  Real.  I may even put Elliot Spitzer in charge.  Ha ha ha.  

I know what you're thinking.  I know you're wondering what you are going get from this deal.  The answer is a stable, predictable, reliable economy.  No more insane booms and busts.  No more masters of the universe bullshit.  You get to make money.  You get to keep a lot of it. What's not to like?

 In return, you have to grow the fuck up and pay taxes.  This country of ours -- emphasis ours -- needs good schools, firefighters, cops, roads, hospitals, and parks.  You are gonna help pay.  No different than what your parents and grandparents did.  And, you're gonna like it.  In fact, you're gonna love it.  Because, I'm all you got.  You didn't mind when the Republican party was overloaded with crackpot religious fanatics who cared only about abortion and evolution.  It didn't matter, did it?  You got your tax cuts; the loons got the shaft.  Your streets were paved with gold.  Now, though, the inmates are in charge of the GOP.  They are ready to screw you by losing big time.   Let me repeat, "I'm all you got."

The decision is all yours. And, I'm a generous guy.   No hard feelings.  You and the missus will still get invited to the White House next term.  You're still big cheeses.  Still on the A-list.  But, if you are not with me now, if you don't show your love for me with your wallets, then you will get the tables in the back next to the kitchen where you will sit with crazy Ron Paul and his Kim-Jong-Il-style Senator son, and they will tag-team lecture you on the benefits of the gold standard and their commitment to freezing the debt ceiling.  In other words, I'm all you got.