More About Old White Guys

In a fine example of Grasping-At-Straws, some of the more knee-jerky (or just the more jerky) leftovers of the late unlamented far right are citing the new Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's (Obama Hails Judge as ‘Inspiring’) comments from an 8 year old lecture. She said something like: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” Well, I gotta say Look At The Record: it looks to me like the Latina would only have to be half-wise to be able to outshine the recent results of the Old-White-Guy network. I speak of the political legal social and economic outcomes of the last 30 years. Ms. Sotomayor and others like her could scarcely do worse. I'm a little surprised that the no-longer-so-neo-cons didn't also point out that she gave this speech at Berkeley, which probably means she's a Socialist at least, if not a downright Communist!
Of course the ever-facile Newt Gingrich has labelled her as a "racist" for her comment. When it comes to simplistic statemsnts, Newt's always a great go-to guy! Unfortunately (or not), I'm not a member of Newt's Twitter Club.

Missing The Point

As usual. Yes; the kids are 'texting' up a storm. Yes ("Texting May Be Taking a Toll"); it's not a healthy thing to do, either physically or socially/emotionally (My Opinion). What people who like to take alarm at this sort of thing tend to ignore is the well-documented fact that Teenagers Engage In Risky Behavior. Almost might be the defining characteristic, in fact.
However, lets look at the sum of what these kids are doing. When they take up some New Thing, it's usually a replacement for some Old Thing (Old - meaning last week or even older!). So: James Dean exemplified the behavior of the '50's, where Badass Hotrodders were supposed to play Chicken even unto death. Texting is safer. In the '60's the Flower Children were supposed to get as stoned as possible on any kind of totally unrecognizable street drug if offered. Texting is safer. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to supply other examples.
What isn't being talked about is the social context. Why are people so desperate to continually exchange communications with friends/family/tribe/posse? The Texts and Tweets need not contain any news or information or even sense. They're simply a sort of a Proof Of Existence. People are so isolated from their tribal area, so surrounded by strangers and thus potential enemies that they need (in an emotional sense) continuous contact with Someone They Know.
I've noticed on occasion, when I've removed a mobile device from the possesion of a stricken student, that the student may become well-nigh Catatonic. They just sit there, in a self-created Sensory Deprivation Chamber, waiting for their sensory I/O device to be returned to them.
Yeah, that's not a healthy response.
The question I ask is: Why Are They So Desperate to begin with?

Ok - The Last Word...

About the Great California Budget Crisis.

"If you think this country's bad off now, just wait 'til I get through with it.".

Isn't it just amazing how the cry of "We're overtaxed" can gum up the works. In fact, I think it's the Tax Cutters who overtax the syntax.
Sorry.

Make Up Your Mind!

Why Don't You? California voters - nothing if not feckless - have just rejected a set of tax/bond/finance/"special purpose" ballot propositions. See my earlier post regarding the California Budget Process. Some claim it's Voter Outrage: "Why did all the propositions except 1F fail? Robinson Earl ("Voters aren't happy," Letters, May 20) identified the reason. Voter outrage is the key. But why?" (Letters, SF Chronicle May 22). Some are putting the blame where it belongs: "Yes, the politicians have all done a horrible job managing the state's finances. But California voters as a whole deserve just as much if not more of the blame for the mess we're in." (Letters, SF Chronicle May 21). Now here's whats annoying about all this (aside from the economic devastation, that is): The wise voters of the State of California, wanting to make sure the government doesn't get out of hand, have used the Initiative and Recall process to create a Legislature that can't legislate and a Governor who can't govern. The leges get term-limited on account of "we don't want career lawmakers". They're supposed to be those "Citizen Congress"people the Founding Fathers supposedly intended. Amateurs,that is, who temporarily shelve the Important Business of their careers to selflessly serve in the government. Amateurs, you got'em. They're routinely stampeded by well-rehearsed Lobbyists. Once they become sufficiently confused, they turn to the Voters, who are supposedly the best-qualified to Decide Matters. The voters get balky at the system they themselves created!
I don't want an amateur Doctor, an amateur Pilot, an amateur General. Nor do I want an amateur Government. But it looks like that's what I've got.

It's Not Easy

Not Easy to sell "your" mercenaries to someone else: Iraqi militiamen frustrated that promised jobs haven't materialized. Of course, the US Army is trying to market its mercenary army (The Sons Of Iraq) to the Government of Iraq. Which is no way going to hire thousands of disaffected Sunni soldiers - many of them from the former Iraqi army that the Sunni (sort of) Brutal Thug Dictator Saddam Hussein used to oppress the then-oppressed-now-ruling Shi'ite. Not a chance Gen. Petraeus. This part of your Surge is a looming failure. This is the Middle East and it's Payback Time. The kind of socio-cultural tradition the previous president shoulda been informed about. But then, George W. Bush really just wanted to be a War President; he didn't really much care about the end result.
Sort of like Czar Peter III, left to play with his Toy Soldiers, while his wife Catherine managed the Empire.
Too bad George 43 didn't marry a Catherine.

Well - There's The Problem -

Right There! "...16 U.S. intelligence agencies"! Sixteen; count'em. Sixteen bunches of paranoid (at least) psychotics (possibly), all dead set on keeping their comings and goings and doings a Deep Dark Secret. Cheney's speech contained omissions, misstatements.
As an aside, for those who wonder just how Nancy Pelosi ended up with her knickers in such a twist; "Briefings" from CIA ops, and others of similar ilk, are well designed to attract attention HERE! (We Need More Money), while shifting it away from HERE! (Pay No Attention To The Man With The Tongs And The Flaming Splinters).
Those who have sat through, or delivered, testimony in a government setting will know what I mean.
Which doesn't mean that the Speaker of the House should be excused for nop paying attention when the CIA tried to slip the Iron Duke past the committee.

Didn't He Promise

to "Balance The Budget"? It's really a fine irony (if you haven't lost your job your house your car your stake in the economy) that Gov. Schwarzenegger claimed his management skills would be up to the task of rationalizing the economy of the State of California. "Defeat is sharp rebuke to governor, Legislature". While the current Gov. is certainly more intelligent and far better informed than the last Actor-Governor, Ronald W. Reagan, he's as big a fool if he truly believed (I'm certain he has now been disabused of the notion) that he could err, Terminate the state's disfunctional legislative budget process. Unaware, apparently, that he, the "Governator", as he likes to style himself, is as much a victim of the toxic budget process as he is a shaper of it. In California today, and for many years now, All Roads Lead To Proposition 13. The iconic Prop 13 is a carefully crafted document that acts pretty much in the manner of a dull self-castrating knife. It decrees that people who own stuff can avail themselves of what was once a robust social, economic, and educational infrastructure without having to pay their share in its upkeep. And indeed today it's apparent that it hasn't been upkept. Of course, the deficit is just a part of the general economic malaise. But the budget "process", if one may call it that, is a hopeless morass. As intended by the ornery California Vogter, easily led my the nose or other appendage to vote in favor of self-destructive measures.
As I said: A Fine Irony.

I Wish

I Wish Someone would describe for me just exactly what a Victory in Afghanistan would look like. Perhaps this kind stranger (for surely nobody in charge of this morass has been willing to do so) could also explain to me how Defeat would look somehow different.
Thank you Kind Sir.

Born Again

Swear Ta God! - There's so many bornagain liberals springing forth with revelations about the evils that men do. Where were they during the recent years. Or decades? Now we have this Major Discovery of a Military Industrial Complex! David Barstow, an investigative reporter for The Times... had found that the Bush Pentagon fielded a clandestine network of retired military officers and defense officials to spread administration talking points... while posing as objective “military analysts.” Many of these propagandists worked for military contractors.
Well I'm shocked! Shocked! We were informed just last year of something President Eisenhower warned us about in 1961.
So. What else is new? Coverups. Horsetrading. And yes, it seems Frank Rich hasn't twigged to the obvious: the President has (sorta) asked the court to keep those shocking photos secret. Payback for the Pentagon letting one of their own be fired (see The Horns Of A Dilemma).

I'm thinking of opening a Full Immersion Born Again Liberal Believer Camp. We can rehash the Old news and try to make it all seem New again.

4 Pictures = At Least 4K Words

<

Frazz

The Horns Of A Dilemma

Which Is Worse:

A. Release The Photos, and risk "Inflaming anti-American opinion" - or -

B. Don't Release The Photos, and leave it all up to people's imagination. And, of course, to the Demagogues Blogues.

Obama seeks to block release of abuse photos

What To Do... what to do... "Whether t'were worse..."
My own take is that there is absolutely no aspect of this entire shabby situation that is not entirely and totally informed by Political Calculation. From the getgo it's been a wonderful example of the old adage "Better not to commit the sin than to make amends after." Still, in the spirit of Horsetrading, the President had to offer something to the Flags at DOD, in return for their acquiescence in the firing of Gen. David McKiernan as Commander in Afghanistan. If this is what it takes to fire the guy in Afghanistan, what will the President have to offer the DOD's when he realizes it's time and past time to get rid of the incompetent poseur Gen. Raymond Odierno, the commander in Iraq?
Of course, the original perpetrators of the outrage are now safely in retirement. At locations we wish were unknown - and also inaccessible!

Almost Bush-esque

Is The Pope's Ear For Irony. In Jordan on a Goodwill Visit that appears to be coming up short in the Good Will department

Pope Benedict

Denounced what he called "Ideological Manipulation" as a cause of "tension and division, and at times even violence in society"!"
Remarkable! I must admit I am unable to concieve of any person place or thing on Planet Earth more manipulative of ideological symbols than The Pope. In fact it's pretty much the job description, isn't it?
Of course, The Pope was in the Middle East not just to point out the toxicity of ideological manipulation - he was also there to pray for the Conversion Of The Jews. That prayer is always an e-ticket ride in Jerusalem.
All in all, I think The Pope should be checked for hearing loss. Or, perhaps, he's just lost a few centuries; stuck in the Middle Ages, as it were.

Pardon My French

But This is just F#$%ing Stupid!. How sad when the (supposedly) Highest Court In The Land spends its time on such nonsense. George Carlin (The Seven Forbidden Words) ... Where are you when we need you?