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“There Was A Flash News Report On The Television That Said That A Congressman Has Been Shot And Possibly Killed”

February 1, 2011 in Politics, Urban Studies | Permalink

Congressman Leo Ryan was an inveterate reformer, critical of conditions in slums and prisons and an early opponent of Scientology.

David Isay’s excellent StoryCorps site, which allows people to share oral histories, has new audio from Erin Ryan, whose father, Congressman Leo Ryan, was assassinated during a 1978 fact-finding mission in Guyana as prelude to the Jonestown massacre. She was recorded in Washington D.C. in the days after the attempt on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ life. An excerpt:

“The night before he went on the trip to Jonestown, he had had dinner at my apartment. I was going to college at Georgetown University, trying to teach myself how to cook, and it was just a chance to hang out with my dad. Dad had done a lot of adventurous things in hid life, and everything had always turned out well, so we didn’t talk a lot about the trip. You know, I think looking back if I had known more I might have been more concerned. I heard the news around eight or nine o’clock in the evening, and there was a flash news report on the television that said that a congressman has been shot and possibly killed…pretty much that was it. It was gut-wrenching to not know what was happening. I mean, I can still feel it to this day when I think about it. It was brutal, and we struggled then for a very long time. You know, my message to the families of the victims of this tragedy with Congresswoman Giffords and those who were killed…for me it’s been 32 years and it can still bring me to tears, but you can’t make that a defining moment of your life. I’ve always said to myself that I was lucky that he was my dad, and that I was lucky to have had him for the years that I had him…and that’s what you have to hold on to.”

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“His Sole Contribution To Society Is Tossing A Ball Through A Hole”

January 24, 2011 in Excerpts, Politics, Sports | Permalink

The Buffalo Beast has put the 2010 version of its annual “50 Most Loathsome Americans” online. As always, it’s an entertaining read. Three excerpts follow.

••••••••••

"Cleveland, with no reason left to exist, has slid into Lake Erie." (Image by Dave Hogg.)

LeBron James
Aside from indirectly employing hundreds of Chinese kids in sweatshops, his sole contribution to society is tossing a ball through a hole. A genetic-lottery-winning monstrosity, he demonstrates the sort of unbridled ego deserving of the NBA’s first all-star midget. (Now that little dude can talk all the smack he wants.) Last year, ‘King’ James actually had Nike goons confiscate video of Jordan Crawford dunking on him during his clinic. This year, he imbued his free agency announcement with the import normally reserved for declarations of war. For a full half hour of his torturous hour-long ESPN special The Decision, he waxed smugly on topics unrelated, as the sad city of Cleveland nervously awaited the ultimately crushing news that he was going to South Beach. Cleveland, left with no reason to exist, has since slid into Lake Erie. Totally true.

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"Owes his emotional instability to legendary Merlot consumption and his radioactive Naugahyde complexion to innumerable special interest golf junkets." (Image by Keith Allison.)

John Boehner
Cries so often he embarrasses Glenn Beck’s family. An incorrigibly lazy corporate puppet who owes his emotional instability to legendary Merlot consumption and his radioactive Naugahyde complexion to innumerable special interest golf junkets. His first notable act in Congress was to hand out tobacco lobby checks on the House floor before a vote on anti-smoking legislation; his PAC received $30K from Abramoff-affiliated tribes; he lived in an apartment owned by lobbyist John Milne; he knew about Mark Foley’s page perversion and sat on it. More recently, he compared the financial crisis to an ant and the weak Dodd-Frank bill to a nuke—while concurrently trying to block unemployment benefits. And the most egregious aspect of his drunken weeping on 60 Minutes, about kids having the same education opportunities he did, is that he’s scored hundreds of thousands from for-profit schools and the student loan industry—even sponsoring legislation that would slash public loan funding and redirect it to his golf buddy’s company Sallie Mae. He’s the kind of amoral opportunist who would campaign for Nazi reenactor Rich Iott in secret, not because there is any chance in hell of winning, but because Iott’s stinking rich and bound to repay the favor.

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"Lambasted as the Himmler of the Southwest." (Image by Pete Souza.)

Jan Brewer
 Gila Monster eugenics gone horrible awry. Killed two people, and another ninety-six languish, unable to afford the life-saving transplants for which she slashed state funding. Cut health care for kids too. Hates health care. Horny for the NRA; signed law nixing concealed carry permits, which had no ill effects in 2010. None. Don’t worry about it. Not a problem. Seriously. It’s totally cool. Attempted to justify the draconian racial profiling law SB 1070 by repeatedly citing fictional desert decapitations. Lambasted as the Himmler of the Southwest, she protested, saying her father died fighting the Nazis. He was never in the military. He died in ‘51. From lung cancer.

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“He Tries To Run His Group Of Spies As A C.I.A. In Miniature”

January 23, 2011 in Excerpts, Politics | Permalink

Some of Clarridge's "agents" attempted to get Hamid Karzai's beard clippings, so the hair could be tested for heroin traces. (Image by Cpl Matthew Roberson.)

It’s stunning to realize that there are American citizens running their own shadow versions of the C.I.A., but that’s a reality in the murky era of military outsourcing. Duane R. Clarridge, a former C.I.A. agent and a staunch right-wing interventionist, operates a network of spies from his home base in San Diego who often work in opposition to American foreign policy–and it’s apparently legal. An excerpt from Mark Mazzetti’s eye-popping article on Clarridge in the New York Times:

“Mr. Clarridge — known to virtually everyone by his childhood nickname, Dewey — was born into a staunchly Republican family in New Hampshire, attended Brown Universityand joined the spy agency during its freewheeling early years. He eventually became head of the agency’s Latin America division in 1981 and helped found the C.I.A.’s Counterterrorism Center five years later.

In postings in India, Turkey, Italy and elsewhere, Mr. Clarridge, using pseudonyms that included Dewey Marone and Dax Preston LeBaron, made a career of testing boundaries in the dark space of American foreign policy. In his 1997 memoir, he wrote about trying to engineer pro-American governments in Italy in the late 1970s (the former American ambassador to Rome, Richard N. Gardner, called him ‘shallow and devious”), and helping run the Reagan administration’s covert wars against Marxist guerrillas in Central America during the 1980s.

He was indicted in 1991 on charges of lying to Congress about his role in the Iran-contra scandal; he had testified that he was unaware of arms shipments to Iran. But he was pardoned the next year by the first President George Bush.

Now, more than two decades after Mr. Clarridge was forced to resign from the intelligence agency, he tries to run his group of spies as a C.I.A. in miniature. Working from his house in a San Diego suburb, he uses e-mail to stay in contact with his ‘agents’ — their code names include Willi and Waco — in Afghanistan and Pakistan, writing up intelligence summaries based on their reports, according to associates.”

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“Dictator Kim Jong-il Supposedly Sank 11 Holes-In-One During A Single Round”

January 17, 2011 in Politics, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

Kim Jong-il lives in an insane, delusional bubble.

Mentally ill despot Kim Jong-il has pretty much ruined North Korea and its people with totalitarianism, human-rights violations and asinine economic policies. But he figures one good way to raise capital is to hold an international golf tournament. It would probably be wise for players to remain on the course at all times. A report from an Australian news service:

“The proposed tournament will be held in April at a golf course west of the capital Pyongyang, where the dictator Kim Jong-il supposedly sank 11 holes-in-one during a single round.

The cash-strapped communist state is inviting foreign amateur players to take part, charging them $1,000 for the five-day tour.

The golf course has not seen a round played since South Korea suspended cross-border tours nearly two years ago, after a North Korean soldier shot dead a Seoul housewife who had strayed into a restricted zone.”

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At The Very Least, Grandma Ain’t Helping Matters

January 9, 2011 in Politics | Permalink

March 22, 2010: Sarah Palin–“Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: ‘Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD!’ Pls see my Facebook page.”


March 25, 2010: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords–“We’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list, but the thing is that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district, and when people do that, they’ve gotta realize there are consequences to that action.”

January 8, 2011: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords shot in Tucson rampage; federal judge killed.

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“I Keep This Gun Within Reach And A Guard Beside Me During Interviews”

January 3, 2011 in Excerpts, Politics, Urban Studies | Permalink

“There are bullets all over the side of this building.”

Before he became famous worldwide for the Roots phenomenon, Alex Haley was a journalist known for some of Playboy magazine’s finest interviews. Haley, who had conducted Q&As with Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Miles Davis and numerous other larger-than-life characters, really outdid himself with his 1966 session with American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell. Since Rockwell was unaware that Haley was African-American when he agreed to the interview, he decided to keep a firearm at the ready during the talk, just in case the journalist decided to assassinate him.

Rockwell’s parents were vaudeville comedians who knew Groucho Marx, and the reviled bigot was considered a class clown when he first entered Brown in 1938. But it was during those college years that he began to speak out against racial equality, a path that would lead him to being a full-blown hatemonger. Rockwell’s fears of being killed were realized the year after Haley’s piece ran, when his calls for racial violence were silenced by bullets. An excerpt from the interview’s blood-chilling opening:

“Playboy: Before we begin, Commander, I wonder if you’d mind telling me why you’re keeping that pistol there at your elbow, and this armed bodyguard between us.

Rockwell: Just a precaution. You may not be aware of the fact that I have received literally thousands of threats against my life. Most of them are from cranks, but some of them haven’t been; there are bullet holes all over the out side of this building. Just last week, two gallon jugs of flaming gasoline were flung against the house right under my window. I keep this gun within reach and a guard beside me during interviews because I’ve been attacked too many times to take any chances. I haven’t yet been jumped by an impostor, but it wasn’t long ago that 17 guys claiming to be from a university came here to ‘interview’ me; nothing untoward happened, but we later found out they were armed and planned to tear down the flag, burn the joint and beat me up. Only the fact that we were ready for that kind of rough stuff kept it from happening.

We’ve never yet had to hurt anybody, but only because I think they all know we’re ready to fight anytime. If you’re who you claim to be, you have nothing to fear.”

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“I Got Everything A Man Could Want–If It Just Wasn’t For This Prejudice Crap”

December 21, 2010 in Excerpts, Politics, Urban Studies | Permalink

Miles Davis in a 1955 photo by Tom Palumbo.

Trumpet player Miles Davis was already a legend in 1962, when he was interviewed by Alex Haley for Playboy. He was raised in a relatively well-to-do household in Illinois, the son of a dentist. His prodigious musical talent saw that through his ups and down with a vicious heroin addiction, he managed to always maintain financial security. But creature comforts could only go so far in calming the nerves of a person of color who grew up in the Jim Crow era and still lived in a racially divided America. An excerpt from the Q&A:

“Playboy: You’re said to be one of the financially best-off popular musicians. Is this correct?

Miles Davis: Well, I don’t have any access to other musicians’ bankbooks. But I never have been what you would call poor. I grew up with an allowance, and I had a big newspaper route. I saved most of what I made except for buying records. But when I first left home as a musician, I used to spend all I made, and when I went on dope, I got in debt. But after I got enough sense to kick the habit, I started to make more than I needed to spend unless I was crazy or something.

Now I got a pretty good portfolio of stock investments, and I got this house–it’s worth into six figures, including everything in it. My four kids are coming up fine. When the boys get in from school, I want you to see them working out on the bags in our gym downstairs. I keep myself in shape and teach the kids how to box. They can handle themselves. Ain’t nothing better that a father can pass along.

Then I got my music, I got Frances, and my Ferrari–and our friends. I got everything a man could want–if it just wasn’t for this prejudice crap. It ain’t that I’m mad at white people, I just see what I see and I know what’s happening. I am going to speak my mind about anything that drags me about this Jim Crow scene. This whole prejudice mess is something you would feel so good if it could just be got rid of, like a big sore eating inside of your belly.”


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Miscellaneous Media: Postcard To Billy Brandwein In Chevy Chase, Maryland (1959)

December 20, 2010 in Misc., Politics, Urban Studies | Permalink

Seymour Brandwein was apparently a Maryland economist who traveled around the country in the '50s and '60's and sent postcards with state maps home to his son, Billy. This card is from Indiana.

Feb. 26, 1959

Hi–

I’m speaking at Notre Dame tomorrow here in South Bend. They have snow along the streets here which fell back in mid-January, so much that it still hasn’t melted! By the way I saw the Cuban bearded revolutionaries who are on a good-will tour to N.Y. and Washington, at National Airport,

Daddy

I buy these postcards at a Brooklyn flea market.

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“He Does Look Pretty Sharp At Me, Doesn’t He?”

December 15, 2010 in Books, Excerpts, Politics | Permalink

“He owned ‘that which is the grand constituent of all truly great acting, intensity.'”

Accounts from Gene Smith’s 1992 history, American Gothic, about a pair of times when President Lincoln watched performances by the noted actor and his future assassin, John Wilkes Booth, on stage in Washington D.C. The first “meeting” took place in 1863.

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John was about to turn twenty-five, and of a theatrical stature to set himself up as a more or less permanent resident star in a leading city. He chose Washington. The wartime capital was bursting with people, and entertainments of any type drew capacity crowds. He opened as Richard III at Grover’s Theatre, on April 11, 1863, billed as “The Pride Of The American People–The Youngest Tragedian In The World–A Star Of The First Magnitude–Son Of The Great Junius Brutus Booth–Brother And Artistic Rival Of Edwin Booth.” President Lincoln attended. The National Republican said he scored a “complete triumph” and “took the hearts of the people by storm.” A day later the paper added that his playing created a sensation. “His youth, originality, and superior genius have not only made him popular but have established him in the hearts of the Washington people as a great favorite.” The National Intelligencer said he owned “that which is the grand constituent of all truly great acting, intensity. We have only to say that this young actor plays not from stage rule, but from his soul, and his soul is inspired with genius. Genius is its own schoolmaster: It can be cultivated but not created.•

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Accompanying President Lincoln and his wife to the theater one night were the two daughters of Cassius M. Clay, U.S. Minister to Russia. Their mother was an old friend of Mary Todd Lincoln and when they sent in their cards to her she responded with the invitation. As the party drove, a piece of iron suddenly sprung up and pierced the carriage seat between the President and his wife. For a moment an alarmed Mary Lincoln thought it was an attack. Mary Clay asked the President what measures he took to be guarded–no czar of Russian would go through a St. Petersburg street without cavalry escort and with police, detectives, and plainclothesmen along the route, and for good reason–and the President said, “I believe when my time comes there is nothing that can prevent my going.”

The star performer played a villain and twice “in uttering disagreeable threats came very near” and appeared to point to the President. “When he came a third time I was impressed by it, and said, ‘Mr. Lincoln, he looks as if he meant that for you.'”

“‘Well,'” he said of John Booth, “‘he does look pretty sharp at me, doesn’t he?'”•

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“We’ll Fight Till We’re Dead Or We’re Free”

December 3, 2010 in Books, Excerpts, Politics, Urban Studies | Permalink

Denis Johnson was paranoid about both the government and the anti-government militia movement in 1990s America when he wrote the chilling article “The Militia in Me,” which appears in his non-fiction collection, Seek. The violence of Ruby Ridge and Waco and the horrific Oklahoma City bombing had shocked the nation into realizing the terror within, so Johnson traveled the U.S. and Canada to find out how and why militias had come to be. Sadly, the unsettling subject is as timely as ever. Three brief excerpts from the piece.

••••••••••

The people I talked with seemed to imply that the greatest threat to liberty came from a conspiracy, or several overlapping conspiracies, well known to everybody but me. As a framework for thought, this has its advantages. It’s quicker to call a thing a crime and ask Who did it? than to call it a failure and set about answering the question What happened?

••••••••••

I’m one among many, part of a disparate–sometimes better spelled “desperate”–people, self-centered, shortsighted, stubborn, sentimental, richer than anybody’s ever been, trying to get along in the most cataclysmic century in human history. Many of us are troubled that somewhere, somehow, the system meant to keep us free has experienced a failure. A few believe that someone has committed the crime of sabotaging everything.

Failures need correction. Crimes cry out for punishment. Some ask: How do we fix it? Others: Who do we kill?

••••••••••

They told me they made furniture out of antlers and drove around anywhere and everywhere, selling it. For the past month I’d been reading about the old days, missing them as if I had lived in them, and I said, “You sound like free Americans.”

“No,” the smaller man said and thereafter did all the talking, while the other, the blond driver changed my tire. “No American is free today.”

“Okay, I guess you’re right, but what do we do about that?”

“We fight till we are,” he said. “Till we’re free or we’re dead, one or the other.”

“Who’s going to do the fighting?”

“A whole lot of men. More than you’d imagine. We’ll fight till we’re dead or we’re free.”

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How President Obama Wakes Up In The Morning

November 15, 2010 in Excerpts, Politics, Urban Studies | Permalink

I dreamt that I was riding a very, very pretty pony. (Image by Steve Jurvetson.)

Politico transcribed some tidbits from Ryan Secrest’s interview with President Obama. It was like Frost-Nixon if Frost was a complete douchebag, which he sort of was. Obama revealed his morning wake-up routine. An excerpt:

“[President Obama] confessed he hasn’t been getting much sleep lately and added that he doesn’t have an alarm clock — a White House operator calls to wake him up, ‘and if I don’t wake up the first time, they just keep on calling.'”

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Gleaned: The Essential Lenny Bruce

November 15, 2010 in Books, Excerpts, Politics, Urban Studies | Permalink

Booked in San Francisco for obscenity. Lenny Bruce was born Leonard Schneider in 1925 on Long Island.

I watched the first episode of Hugh Hefner’s swinging variety show Playboy After Dark from 1959 not too long ago, and it featured a great appearance by Lenny Bruce. Most of the scant film footage of the disgracefully honest comedian doesn’t do him justice, showing him when he was a shell of himself, as heroin and legal troubles took their toll. It’s amazing how much other comics took from Bruce: everything from George Carlin’s obsession with the hypocrisy of words to Richard Lewis’s finger snapping as he delivers his punchlines. At one point, Bruce tells Hefner that “tragedy plus time equals comedy,” a line that is often attributed to either Woody Allen or Carol Burnett. My guess is it’s not Bruce’s line, either, but I bet he’s the one who introduced it to other comedians.

A few years back, I gleaned a copy of The Essential Lenny Bruce, a 1987 paperback compilation of his greatest bits and other fun stuff for Bruceophiles. Some of the material is very dated, but a lot of it reminds why a nightclub comedian was able to scare the hell out of authority figures in the ’50s and ’60s. One brief chapter, entitled “Chronicle,” provides an outline of the final seven turbulent years of Lenny’s life. An excerpt:

May, 1959, The New York Times:

“The newest and in some ways the most scarifyingly funny proponent of significance…to be found in a nightclub these days is Lenny Bruce, a sort of abstract-expressionist stand-up comedian paid $1750 a week to vent his outrage on the clientele.”

June 1960, The Reporter:

“The question is how far Bruce will go in further exposing his most enthusiastic audiences…to themselves. He has only begun to operate.”

September 29, 1961:

Busted for possession of narcotics, Philadelphia.

October 4, 1961:

Busted for obscenity, Jazz Workshop, San Francisco.

September, 1962:

Banned in Australia.

October 6, 1962:

Busted for possession of narcotics, Los Angeles.

October 24, 1962:

Busted for obscenity, Troubadour Theatre, Hollywood.

December, 1962:

Busted for obscenity, Gate of Horn, Chicago.

January, 1963:

Busted for possession of narcotics, Los Angeles.

April, 1963:

Barred from entering London, England.

March, 1964, The New York Post:

“Bruce stands up against all limitations of the flesh and spirit, and someday they are going to crush him for it.”

April, 1964:

Busted for obscenity, Cafe Au Go-Go, New York City.

October, 1965:

Declared a legally bankrupt pauper, San Francisco.

November 1965, Esquire:

“I saw his act…in Chicago…He looked nervous and shaky…wretched and broken…You thought of Dorothy Parker, who, when she saw Scott Fitzgerald’s sudden and too-youthful corpse, murmured, ‘The poor son of a bitch.'”

August 3, 1966:

Dead, Los Angeles.

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Banksy In A Burqa Lowers The Veil (A Little)

November 11, 2010 in Excerpts, Politics, Urban Studies | Permalink

An example of Princess Hijab's work.

Princess Hijab is the mysterious Paris graffiti artist who defaces pictures of scantily clad models in street advertisements, covering their faces with veils and headscarves. The artist calls the process “hijabizing.” In a country that has banned traditional Muslim face coverings, the work has gotten plenty of attention, and people have wondered about the true nature of the protest. Angelique Chrisafis of the Guardian recently met with the artist, who apparently is not female, and tried to get to the bottom of it all. An excerpt from the article:

“Princess Hijab is deliberately cool and detached, but the one issue that really shakes her – and perhaps reveals a little of her true identity – is the place of minorities in France. Beyond the arguments about whether Muslim women should cover their heads, Sarkozy’s new ministry of ‘immigration and national identity’ and his national debate on what it means to be French has stigmatised the already discriminated and ghettoised young people of third- and fourth-generation immigrant descent. France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, but the prevailing anti-immigrant discourse, and what many view as a pointless burqa ban, has increased the feelings of marginalisation felt by young Muslims and minorities.

Princess Hijab sees herself as part of a new ‘graffiti of minorities’ reclaiming the streets. ‘If it was only about the burqa ban, my work wouldn’t have a resonance for very long. But I think the burqa ban has given a global visibility to the issue of integration in France,’ she says. ‘We definitely can’t keep closing off and putting groups in boxes, always reducing them to the same old questions about religion or urban violence. Education levels are better and we can’t have the old Manichean discourse any more.'”

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Elephant Versus Donkey In Race From Luna Park In Coney Island To Washington D.C. (1911)

November 11, 2010 in Photography, Politics, Sports, Urban Studies | Permalink

Sheets draped on the animals read: "To The White House Or Bust!"

In July 1911, Luna Park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, was the starting line of a race between an elephant and a donkey, which was to conclude in Washington D.C. The stunt was supposed to be a predictor of the following year’s Presidential election. Luna Park owner Frederic Thompson backed the Dems’ beast of burden, while “Uncle” Joe Cannon, the Republican stalwart and former Speaker of the House, seconded the GOP pachyderm. The two men wagered a cigar on the outcome, and the race received national attention.

The contest was threatened when Jennie the Donkey died from heatstroke on the eve of the battle and had to be replaced by Jennie II. Judy the Elephant showed up ready and willing as expected. The animals strode over the Manhattan Bridge, down Broadway and rode aboard the Staten Island Ferry. Jennie II took an early lead, but the rivals were soon even once more. Frustratingly, both archived articles on the New York Times site (here and here) focus only on the early part of the race, and don’t provide the result.

If the subsequent election was any indication, Jennie II won easily: Democrat Woodrow Wilson trounced Republican William Taft and Theodore Roosevelt.

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“If These Were Diseases Among Middle-Class Whites…We Would Not Tolerate Them”

November 8, 2010 in Excerpts, Politics, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

Navajo reservations are one of the areas hard hit by unchecked infectious disease. (Image by jclarson.)

Miller-McCune has an incredibly distressing report about diseases, usually associated with third-world nations, that are flourishing in the poverty-stricken areas of the United States. They keep poor people within a cycle of poverty, and worse yet, epidemiologists at the Center for Disease Control haven’t been tracking the illnesses. (Thanks Instapaper.) An excerpt:

“Millions of poor Americans living in distressed regions of the country are chronically sick, afflicted by a host of hidden diseases that are not being monitored, diagnosed or treated, researchers say.

From Appalachia to the Mississippi Delta to the segregated inner cities of the Great Lakes and Northeast, they say, and from Navajo reservations to Latino communities along the U.S.-Mexico border, more than 20 chronic diseases are promoting the cycle of poverty in conditions of inadequate sanitation, unsafe water supplies and rundown housing.

‘These are forgotten diseases among forgotten people,’ said Peter Hotez, a microbiologist at George Washington University, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Sabin Vaccine Institute and co-founder of the institute’s Global Network for Neglected Tropical Disease Control. ‘If these were diseases among middle-class whites in the suburbs, we would not tolerate them. They are among America’s greatest health disparities, and they are largely unknown to the U.S. medical and health communities.’”

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“Sarah Palin As Nominee Is Up A Few Points…Although I Do Not See Why”

November 4, 2010 in Excerpts, Politics | Permalink

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour: Desperate to be President. (Image by George Armstrong.)

Economist Tyler Cowen analyzes Tuesday’s election results pretty well on his blog. An excerpt:

“Just 32% of the Tea Party candidates won; admittedly that figure should be adjusted by the rate of incumbency (a lot of Tea Party candidates were challengers).  In any case, there was not a Tea Party tidal wave.  Sarah Palin as nominee is up a few points on InTrade.com, although I do not see why.  Haley Barbour is also up and Chris Christie is down considerably (why?).  Given that the Democrats did better than expected in the Senate, Obama’s reelection chances look better now than they did a week ago.  The Republican strategy is not dominating in broad constituency, MSM-reported, ‘lots of scrutiny’ races, even with an abysmal economy and a not so popular health care bill.  My mental model of Obama is that he will cut deals with the Republicans, even on (mostly) their terms, if indeed any deal is on the table.  I would be pleased if critics of the Obama presidency would indicate their managerial background and expertise, yet few do.  How many of them could manage a team of ten people with any success?”

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Feaured Video: “I Met The Walrus” (1969/2007)

October 10, 2010 in Politics, Videos | Permalink

Jerry Levitan was a 14-year-old Toronto kid in 1969 who sneaked past hotel security and managed to interview John Lennon with a reel-to reel tape recorder. At the time, John and Yoko were using beds and bags to agitate for peace and understanding, while parrying with U.S. immigration officials who wanted the Beatle to stay out of the country. In 2007, Levitan produced “I Met the Walrus,” an animated five-minute movie that uses the audio from the interview. Lennon would have turned 70 this past Saturday.

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1 Recent Film I Liked Now On Home Video: Videocracy

September 20, 2010 in Film, Politics, Science/Tech, Videos | Permalink

The puppets and puppeteers located at Italy’s insane nexus of tawdry television and political power get the wry treatment they deserve in Erik Gardini’s suitably strange 2009 documentary, Videocracy. While most filmmakers would have kept the focus on Italian President and TV magnate Silvio Berlusconi–who’s part Rupert Murdoch, part Joe Francis, but worse than both–Gardini spends plenty of time leering at the overlords and underdogs who strive for money and fame in the wet dream that is the nation’s idiot box.

Considering that Italian TV is mostly filled with regular people who will do anything for a shot at fame, it’s not surprising that Gardini’s “stars” are a motley crew. One is a mechanic who aspires to be a cross between Jean Claude Van Damme and Ricky Martin. Another is powerful talent scout Lele Mora, an idolmaker and Mussolini fan who can create a star overnight owing to his close friendship with the President. Mora’s erstwhile protege, Fabrizio Corona, is a sour-faced paparazzo who takes embarrassing photos of celebs. After a stint in prison for dubious business practices, Corona emerges as a star himself, replete with a T-shirt line and a full datebook of personal appearances. Amusingly enough, none of the women who jiggle in underwear and less for ratings are profiled. That’s fitting since the first rule for female models on Italian television is that they’re not allowed to talk.

Berlusconi, who owns ninety percent of the country’s TV holdings, has used the medium to gain political power, building his appeal by broadcasting self-aggrandizing propaganda and by giving the masses all the titillation they desire. But he’s obviously not the film’s only raging ego. Gardini uses simple devices–color schemes, odd camera angles, slo-mo–to lend the film an eerie impressionistic feel, one that applies a sickening gloss to these desperate faces. As the sleazeball Corona says: “Having a super powerful personality pays off in this country ruled by television.”•

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Decoder: Newt Gingrich’s Recent Comments To The National Review

September 15, 2010 in Politics | Permalink

Newt Gingrich: Stole his head from an owl. (Image by Pete Souza.)

Newt Gingrich: What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]? That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior.

Decoder: I’m mentioning the word “Kenyan” to feed the paranoia displayed by the Birthers. I’ve also just oddly criticized someone for being anti-colonial. In this day and age, who exactly believes that colonialism is a good thing?

Newt Gingrich: This is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now President.

Decoder: My con–the one where I pretended to be an expert on family values despite my many marriages and extramarital affairs–didn’t go quite as well.

Newt Gingrich: I think he worked very hard at being a person who is normal, reasonable, moderate, bipartisan, transparent, accommodating–none of which was true. In the Alinksy tradition, he was being the person he needed to be in order to achieve the position he needed to achieve…He was authentically dishonest.

Decoder: No matter how hard I try to paint Obama as some sort of scary black radical, it will never stick because he is so obviously a very middle-of-the-road guy.

Newt Gingrich: [Obama] is in the great tradition of Edison, Ford, the Wright Brothers, Bill Gates–he saw his opportunity and he took it.

It looked better on me. (Image by Resident Professor.)

Decoder: I’ve just compared Obama to some of the biggest capitalists in American history, which really muddles my argument. Also: What’s wrong with someone seizing an opportunity? That’s sort of the American way.

Newt Gingrich: I think Obama gets up every morning with a worldview that is fundamentally wrong about reality. If you look at the continuous denial of reality, there has got to be a point where someone stands up and says that this is just factually insane.

Decoder: You know what really was factually insane? Prior to Obama, we had eight years of a President who thought that Jesus rode around on a dinosaur. That never seemed to bother me then, so maybe I should shut the fuck up now.

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“The Settlers–Who Have Moved Into The Second Floors Of Palestinian Buildings–Make A Habit Of Throwing Their Trash Down At Arab Neighbors”

September 3, 2010 in Excerpts, Politics | Permalink

An Israeli Defense Forces soldier is treated for injuries during the Gaza Flotilla Raid.

Even though I occasionally make fun of the Huffington Post, they do some exceptional work. One example I just came across is a piece of eyewitness reportage from the Middle East that was written by a super-smart former colleague of mine named Kate Lowenstein. The piece, “The West Bank: A Firsthand Look,” is a really well-written account of the writer’s June trip to Ramallah in wake of the Gaza Flotilla Raid. You don’t have to agree with Lowenstein’s conclusions, but it’s hard not to be impressed by her unflinching account of what life in this border struggle looks like when we stop thinking of it in the abstract. An excerpt:

“Day one: Day trip to Old Hebron
According to the adolescent Palestinian boy who spent several minutes pedaling his wobbly bike alongside us as we walked, this cobblestoned, arched casbah contains 30,000 Palestinians, 500 Jewish settlers and 2,000 Israeli soldiers (I was able to confirm these approximations online, although the estimated number of settlers ranges from 400 to 800). That’s about a four-to-one ratio of soldiers to settlers, and, as my adult host explained, those soldiers are there exclusively to protect their Jewish charges from what they perceive as an Arab threat. This is especially important given that the Jewish settlers are methodically moving in on this Palestinian city, potentially making those Arabs pretty angry. The tension is palpable.

While in most parts of the West Bank, settlers take up residence in areas near Palestinian neighborhoods, in Old Hebron they are actually taking property, sealing off roads and choking traffic from what were once bustling Palestinian shops–and getting away with it because they have a military to support them. If you walk on many of the increasingly deserted Palestinian streets (there are separate ones designated for Jews only–an offense that apartheid South Africa didn’t even dare commit), you’ll see a strange net overhead, stretched from one side of the street to the other. Dotting that net are pieces of garbage–cups, plastic bags, food scraps, filthy pieces of odds and ends. I wouldn’t have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes: the settlers–who have moved into the second floors of Palestinian buildings–make a habit of throwing their trash down at their Arab neighbors.”

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Decoder: Glenn Beck’s Comments At The “Restoring Honor” Rally And In Its Aftermath

September 2, 2010 in Politics | Permalink

Glenn Beck: Fills emotional voids at reasonable rates. (Image by Gage Skidmore.)

Glenn Beck: Of course I regret calling Obama a racist. I have a big, fat mouth.

Decoder: Also my ass, stomach and neck are really big and fat. Sores on my back and chest fester with pus. My brain is damaged from drug and alcohol abuse. I have sinister eyes on my gigantic, stupid head. My breath stinks with decay. My soul is soaked in tarantula piss. I have viscous fluid emanating from my ears. It’s likely a mixture of dog vomit and vampire snot. My bowels produce green feces. I eat them with a spoon and crap them out again. But mostly, I have a big, fat mouth.

Glenn Beck: The story of America is the story of humankind.

Decoder: Except for all that boring shit that occurred on Earth prior to 234 years ago. Maybe some of that stuff departs from America’s story, but who gives a fuck.

Glenn Beck: [The early American settlers] didn’t have the right to worship God as they saw fit. So they got down on their knees and they didn’t want to come to this land, they did just because that was what God wanted them to do. With malice towards none, they got into their boats and they came.

Decoder: Luckily, it was a really long trip and they were able to build up a lot of malice along the way. It was a really nice big fucking bowl of malice, which was good because there were many, many people that needed slaughtering.

Glenn Beck: I have been going to Mt. Vernon. I went to the National Archives, and I held the first inaugural address written in his own hand by George Washington.

Enjoy some complimentary gunfire, new friend. No malice intended.

Decoder: Unfortunately, Mother Jones looked into this boast and called bullshit on me. I “didn’t lay a finger on any precious documents, much less George Washington’s inaugural address. That would be a major violation of policy. Those kinds of treasures are only handled by specially trained archival staff.”

Glenn Beck: Today America turns back to God. For too long this country has wandered in darkness.

Decoder: I like to pretend that at some point in the distant past America was greater. The country was actually nowhere near as great during its founding. Women were second-class citizens, people of color were treated as property and voting rights were limited at the time. But if I can feed some Americans’ nostalgic need for a utopia that never existed, I can create an emotional bond with them that will help me sell them crappy hardcover books and substandard gold bullion.

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Even Rep. Ron Paul, Who Is Insane, Can See Through All The Ground Zero Mosque Nonsense

August 27, 2010 in Excerpts, Politics, Urban Studies | Permalink

Ron Paul: Even I'm not that crazy.

From ronpaul.com:

“The outcry over the building of the mosque, near ground zero, implies that Islam alone was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. According to those who are condemning the building of the mosque, the nineteen suicide terrorists on 9/11 spoke for all Muslims. This is like blaming all Christians for the wars of aggression and occupation because some Christians supported the neo-conservatives’ aggressive wars.

The House Speaker is now treading on a slippery slope by demanding a Congressional investigation to find out just who is funding the mosque—a bold rejection of property rights, 1st Amendment rights, and the Rule of Law—in order to look tough against Islam.

This is all about hate and Islamaphobia.

We now have an epidemic of “sunshine patriots” on both the right and the left who are all for freedom, as long as there’s no controversy and nobody is offended.

Political demagoguery rules when truth and liberty are ignored.”

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Decoder: Glenn Beck’s Comments About The “Restoring Honor” Rally In Washington D.C.

August 27, 2010 in Politics | Permalink

Glenn Beck: Dead soul stored in neck fat. (Image by Gage Skidmore.)

Glenn Beck: This is going to be a moment that you’ll never be able to paint people as haters, racists, none of it.

Decoder: For one moment, I will stop being a hateful racist.

Glenn Beck: This is a moment, quite honestly, that I think we reclaim the Civil Rights movement.

Decoder: We’ll take it away from the people who are doing good work with it and fuck it up.

Glenn Beck: Help us restore the values that founded this great nation.

Decoder: They really need restoring because opportunistic shitheads like me have degraded them repeatedly in the name of profit.

Glenn Beck: I know that people are going to hammer because they’re going to say, “It’s no Martin Luther King speech.” Of course it’s not Martin Luther King. You think I’m Martin Luther King?

My first name was not Martin.

Decoder: I’m not even Martin Luther Vandross.

Glenn Beck: I’m sorry, oh so important media, that I forgot the date [of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech.]

Decoder: Oh, wait. I also forgot that I work in the media. I conveniently forget lots of stuff.

Glenn Beck: Do not bring [to the rally] any sort of weapon, including a pocket knife, firearms (real or simulated), ammunition. explosives or incendiary devices of any kind, knives, blades, or sharp objects of any length.

Decoder: If I have to tell people to not bring firearms and explosives to a so-called civil rights rally, exactly what kind of assholes support me?

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Decoder: Recent Comments From Critics Of The So-Called Ground Zero Mosque

August 19, 2010 in Humor, Politics | Permalink

Sarah Palin: Dr. Laura's wingwoman. (Image by David Shankbone.)

Sarah Palin tweet: Mr. President, why are they so set on marking an area w/ mosque steps from what you described, in agreement with many, as “hallowed ground”?

Decoder: It’s amusing that I suddenly think New York has hallowed ground. Since gaining national recognition, I’ve made it clear time and again that I have only disdain for New York City, that I think it’s less American than other places in the country. But the second it became politically expedient to think New York City contains hallowed ground, I was happy to play my cards from that end of the deck.

Sarah Palin: Nobody argues that the freedom of religion that the Muslims have [permits them] to build that mosque somewhere.

Decoder: Yes, the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion “somewhere.” Maybe in Trenton or someplace like that. Secaucus–that’s a good place for religious freedom.

Newt Gingrich: You know, Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There’s no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.

Decoder: I’ve just compared Muslim-Americans who haven’t broken any laws to Nazis. Abridging the rights of Muslim-Americans today because we are at war with Al-Qaeda is no different in principle than Japanese-Americans being denied rights during WWII.

Terrorists want you to eat this delicious, delicious sandwich.

Newt Gingrich: America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization.

Decoder: Some guy just opened a falafel stand not four miles from where I live. It’s like Pearl Harbor with chickpeas.

Rep. Peter King: There are too many mosques in America.

Decoder: I have already tried to say this comment was taken out of context, but the unedited video makes it clear that it wasn’t. I am a sad and prejudiced man.

President Obama: I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country is about.

Decoder: I was being more honest and accurate when I said, “Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.” But then some Democrats who are running for reelection this fall gave Rahm Emmanuel an earful, so I had to backtrack somewhat. I should stick to defending the Constitution.

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Decoder: Republicans Campaign To Extend The Bush Tax Cuts For The Wealthy

August 12, 2010 in Humor, Politics | Permalink

Sarah Palin: Recently outwitted by a salmon. (Image byTherealbs2002.)

Sarah Palin: You don’t take money from the private sector and grow government with it and that’s exactly what Obama has in mind with this expiration of Bush tax cuts proposal of his. His commitment to let previous tax cuts expire will lead to even fewer job opportunities for Americans.

Decoder: If these tax cuts for the wealthy, which have been around for nearly ten years, are so good at creating jobs, why has job creation declined during that time? Before they existed, during the Clinton years, job creation was much better.

Sarah Palin: [Letting the Bush tax cuts expire] is going to result in the largest tax increase in U.S. history and again it’s idiotic and my palm isn’t large enough to write all my notes down on what this tax increase will result in. [I’ve written on my hand that it will raise taxes] 3.8 trillion over the next ten years so I didn’t say 3.7 trillion and get dinged by the liberals saying I didn’t know what I was talking about.

Decoder: Of course, the liberals could say that I’m a lying, resentment-filled jackass who has a cheat sheet written on her hand like a small child.

Sarah Palin: [The more] job creators are taxed, the fewer dollars they have to reinvest in their own businesses and hire more people the worse it is for more Americans.

Decoder: Most of the people who will lose these tax cuts for the wealthy aren’t job creators, they’re bankers and brokers. If you give bankers and brokers extra spending money, most of the jobs they will create are in the cocaine and prostitution sectors.

Bush tax cuts: Creating jobs. (Image by Tomas Castelazo.)

John McCain: I think the worst thing we can do to the American people during these tough economic times is raise taxes which is what the effect of the expiration of the Bush tax cuts would be.

Decoder: But this is what I said about these same Bush tax cuts in 2001: “I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans who need tax relief.”

Senator Mitch MocConnell: The only way you narrow the deficit is to get the private sector moving again.

Decoder: Or you could let the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire. That would reduce the deficit by roughly 30%. That would work, too.

Rep. John Boehner: The only way we’re going to get our economy going again and solve our budget problems is to get the economy moving.

Decoder: I was supposed to say the same thing as Mitch McConnell, but I’m such a moron I can’t even deliver rehearsed lines.

Rep. John Boehner: What we have to do is we have to get our arms around the spending spree that’s going on in Washington, D.C.

Decoder: Like, for instance, tax cuts for wealthy people.

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