Calling the Kettle Black...

For all their constant bleating about being "strict constructionists" when it comes to interpreting the Constitution, those who call themselves "conservative" today struggle mightily when it comes to divining the concept of religion in government and society as expressed by the Founders.  This is obliviousness on so many levels...

The creator of Kwanzaa is fighting back against a Wisconsin GOP state senator who said “almost no black people care” about the holiday and that it’s spearheaded by “white left-wingers” who want to separate the country. 

In a statement released last week, Sen. Glenn Grothman said, in part, “Why are hardcore left-wingers still trying to talk about Kwanzaa? Almost no black people today care about Kwanzaa, just white left-wingers who try to shove this down black people’s throats in an effort to divide Americans.”

Apparently unless you celebrate Christmas, you are "dividing America."

First of all, who is he to speak for black people?  I'll bet he doesn't even know any black people well enough to know what they think about it

I personally have only had one interaction with Kwanzaa, where once I went to celebrate  one of the days, umoja, at a local church.  It was a relatively innocuous, but overall positive experience.

The Kwanzaa founder said he developed the holiday, which celebrates family, community and culture, to reinforce the principles of unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

Of those black folk who I have known to celebrate it, most of them celebrated Christmas as well.  And yet, for all of the negative activities people could be engaging in, why would anyone spew this level of fear and vitriol over a non-threatening holiday that, according to the senator, "almost no black people care about?  Karenga has the goods on this fool:

Dr. Maulana Karenga, a Cal State Long Beach professor who created the African-American and Pan-African holiday in 1966, told CBS2's Rachel Kim that he doesn't take Grothman's rants seriously. 

“He has some issues he’s working out. Anxiety about what he considers is the multi-coloring of America,” Karenga said. “He’s suffering from falsehood, ignorance and misinformation in order to discredit not just me and Kwanzaa, but black people and their right to choose their own special culture.”

Yet Grothman doubles down:

In an interview with CNN, he defended his comments by personally slamming Karenga. “I think the underlying problem here is not enough TV types when they talk about Kwanzaa, talk about the horrible, racist, violent past of its founder. And if they knew the past, I think Kwanzaa would die a quick death,” Grothman said.

If that were the case then Christmas and much of what we call "culture" in this country would be deserving of a "quick death" as well then.  And speaking of Christmas, the problem here is that Christmas and Christianity, in the hands of people like Grothman, is perverted from what is loving by nature into something hateful and ugly.

And the supposed "racist, violent past" of Karenga pales next to the past of whites who came to this country, committed genocide on indigenous peoples to steal their land, then kidnap millions of Africans and enslave them to build out the country they stole and generate wealth that they've enjoyed to this day, helped along by the false construct that is race to control and maintain the entire thing for centuries.

Now that is evil.  And that's not opinion, but historical fact.  And yet it is Kwanzaa that is supposedly "dividing America."  What a loon!

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a black cab driver years ago when I had traveled to another city on business.  Heading up the local news for the day was a story of a black man who had committed murder.  Asked if I had heard about it, he then went on to shake his head and say, "the black man is the most violent creature on the face of the earth."

In that instant I had a brief stream of conscious thought about the Native Americans, the development and dropping of the atomic bomb, chemical weapons, of the untold millions killed in world wars I and II, of Hitler and Stalin, the Klan, of the genocides that had occurred in the former Yugoslavia, and in that brief instance I felt sad for this man who had obviously been brainwashed to a self-hatred so ingrained that it could be expressed indirectly in such a matter of fact way.

"Dude, have you considered what the white man has accomplished on the scales of violence?"

"Naw, dog, that's different," was the response I got.

Little wonder then, that the Grothman's of the world are so oblivious and quick to double down on their hatred and feel so comfortable in their ignorance.

We've come a long way?

I'm old enough to recall what it was like growing up as a black child in the 1960s, when racism was blatant and in your face, particularly in the South.  Stories told of the experiences of parents and grandparents drove home the outrageous absurdities and horror of racism that was common in the lives of many back then.

Even though I grew up in Washington DC, I eventually had that painful experience that was ultimately  inevitable for most black kids at that time, wherein one day the veil that is the innocence of childhood is lifted and the realization hits that, there is something different about you in society's eyes that makes you less than.  As much as you enjoyed and identified with the adventures and travails of the kids you saw on the various TV shows, all of whom were white, you came to realize that you were not like them, and different in society's view in a negative way.  And that's being charitable.

I used to run errands for my mom to stores in the business district around the corner from where we lived, and it made me uncomfortable and sometimes angry that whenever I went, I would be followed around in the store.  Eventually I realized this happened because they thought I was going to steal something, which didn't make sense to me.  My siblings and I were "raised in the church" so to speak, and the spiritual as well as earthly consequences of stealing was enough to drill home the point that, besides being wrong, it wasn't worth it.

One day, on an errand for my mom, I was cornered and questioned in a threatening manner by the store clerk, assuming I had stole something.  She did this in front of all the customers in the store.  I was more embarrassed than afraid, and in that instance, it hit me: they think I'm "stealing" because I'm black.  It took a lot of discussion and assurances from family to help me dig out from under that psychic ton of bricks.

One outcome of the civil rights movement was that blatant, open displays of overt racism came to be more universally shameful.   People still held racist beliefs and ideas, but this stuff became something that "decent" people didn't openly express in polite society, and it was relegated to private conversations of like minded folk.  Racism was still there, but became more subtle, and the unspoken but widely held implication as expressed by the majority was, out of sight of mind.

Relatively speaking, this didn't last long, as the social acceptance of overt racism came roaring back with the advent of the "conservative" movement during the second campaign of Ronald Reagan.  "Political correctness" was one of the earlier "freedoms" of conservatism that was celebrated, that had the effect of releasing the genie of open bigotry and making  it acceptable in the public sphere again.  A signpost along the way of this process was Reagan infamously opening his campaign in, of all places, Philadelphia, MS, the site of the murders of civil rights workers Schwerner, Goodman and Cheney.  The underlying racism of the conservative movement was plain, even back then. (And please note that here I am NOT calling all conservatives racists; they're not.)

Fast forward to today.  The public racism that was indulged in under the cover of political correctness in the 1980s seems almost quaint compared to the blatant and ugly racist incidents that have become commonplace today, like this, and this.  The frequency of the occurrence of these incidents, and the relatively laissaez faire nature with which they are treated in the media and society at large have put them on a path to becoming socially acceptable again.

And I have to admit, as jaded as I and many black folk have become regarding the natural inclination to expect that people's better natures will always shine through, the incidents that have occurred since the election of Obama as the first black president seem to drive home the point that racist ugliness will always be with us, that it is a feature of our national DNA, and that we as a nation will never achieve the level of egalitarian enlightenment, a feature of which would be the eradication of a tolerance of racism in the public sphere.  We instead appear to be moving in the opposite direction.

The advent of Obama and "hope and change" carried with it by implication that we had "come a long way."  I voted for Obama but I still did not believe America was ready for a black president.  On election day, even though it became clear as the day wore on, that Obama was on the verge of making history, many blacks felt that something, somehow, would happen at the last minute to prevent that.  After his victory had been certified and made official, I felt sad for many of my white friends who actually believed, that Obama's election somehow signaled that racism was dead.  How could a nation elect the most hated and feared talisman of embedded racism, a black man, to lead it, and still be racist?

Instead, it appears that rather than being a sign of enlightenment, the election of Obama appears more to have been the removal of a scab off a rancid, festering and infected wound, aggravated over time by lack of any serious remediation.  Rather than having "come a long way," more and more it appears that we are coming full circle.

These recent racist eruptions and incidents like them used to make me angry.  Resigned to the fact that "we've come a long way" is just something that is said to avoid dealing with the festering wound that is racism, we either laugh ruefully or just shake our heads.   These incidents say more about the hearts and "minds" of their instigators who seem to relish wallowing in this ugly behavior, and the obvious fear they have of the changes underway in our nation.

You almost feel sad for them.

Integrity at Cliff's Edge

Eight senators voted no on the fiscal cliff deal:

Tom Carper (D-DE)
Michael Bennet (D-CO)
Charles Grassley (R-IA)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Mike Lee (R-UT)
Rand Paul (R-KY)
Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)

While I can imagine it took some measure of courage for Carper, Bennet and Harkin to buck leadership and vote "no" on the deal, their reasons for doing so was based on standing firm on democratic principles.  

Harkin, in his speech on the senate floor explaining his vote, gives a brief but excellent history of why going over the cliff and back to the Clinton tax rates would not be such a bad thing for the nation.  Sure, the short term pain of taxes going up, and the removal of spending on consumption would have an impact.  Harkin reminds us all of how that could have easily been averted to head off the impact of going over.  Harkin reminds us what happened the last time we did this.

But more importantly, Harkin also questions the giveaways in the deal, and the approach taken for towards benefits for the wealthy, versus every one else.  Namely, that tax cuts and other benefits for the wealthy are made permanent, wherein benefits for middle class and working families, such as unemployment insurance, child tax credit, EITC and others are temporary.

The reality is this; our political system has been corrupted by money to the extent that those who are the most vulnerable are always first to suffer and sacrifice when it comes to resources.  Its easier for those in Washington, democrat or republican, to cut the benefits of senior citizens, than it is, for example, to adjust tax legislation to prevent corporations from getting tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas, but in some cases ending up with a negative tax rate.

When Harry Met Joe

As time passes, the dirty details and behind the scenes skulduggery of steps to a deal to avert going over the fiscal cliff are beginning to be laid bare.  And some of it is not pretty.

Reid and McConnell were negotiating, when Biden stepped in and replaced Reid in the negotiations:

Reid, the majority leader, had been negotiating and trading ideas with McConnell, his minority counterpart, since Friday evening. But the soft-spoken Nevada Democrat drew a bold line in the sand midday Sunday: He had no more counteroffers to give.

Reid’s office had suggested that another counteroffer would come in the morning, but the clock ticked to afternoon without one. Instead, Reid’s office told McConnell’s at about 1 p.m. that the majority leader was done with the back and forth. “At this stage, we are not able to make a counteroffer,” Reid announced soon after on the Senate floor. Reid was playing hardball. With polls showing that the public was far more likely to blame congressional Republicans than the president if the nation jumped off the fiscal cliff – and billions in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts went into effect – Reid rightfully knew that McConnell wanted a deal – and badly. Suddenly and irreversibly, the talks veered into a new direction. Within minutes, the Kentucky Republican was dialing up Vice President Joe Biden, elevating his old colleague to the Democrats' new negotiator-in-chief. It was the fateful decision that put the Senate and White House on the pathway to the deal eventually approved by the Senate and the House, ending weeks of drama over the fiscal cliff. It also left Reid standing on the sideline stewing. 

The game changed in midstream, and Reid's hardball playing apparently was not appreciated by leadership, even though the path forward Reid was taking was part of the previous marching orders.  The real slap here is that McConnell was allowed to go over Reid's head and get concessions that Reid apparently had rejected, in accordance with the game plan.  Nevertheless, Biden began his victory lap:

For Biden, it was a triumphant moment.  It was major compromise crafted with McConnell, following the two year extension of the Bush Tax cuts in 2010 and the debt limit deal in the summer of 2011.  Biden has earned the nickname "the McConnell whisperer" across Washington. 

I could get a dog to obey me just as well as the "dog whisperer" if I'm standing there with a t-bone steak in my hand:

The final package, which cleared the Senate in the early hours of 2013, also included concessions that Reid had refused, including a delay of the automatic cuts, known as the sequester, for only two months instead of at least a year.

Giving out goodies like this, of course the deal got done.  McConnell was at the end of his rope and desperate for a deal, since he knew polls showed all the blame was going to the republicans.    This concession is key though, because it puts the sequester right around the time the debt ceiling will need to be raised.

Biden has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2016, so this deal would be a good notch on his belt to have going in.  Getting deals done for the sake of the deal may fit the purpose of those making them, but they miss the larger point -- there are real people outside of Washington affected by all of this.

Sen. Tom Harkin, who voted "no," put it all in perspective with a speech in the Senate that laid bare the gist of all this horsetrading: cutting benefits and raising taxes of the working and middle classes, to pay for more breaks and giveaways for the wealthy.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, one of the eight no votes, has been one of the few to speak out publicly against the concessions that Democrats made to strike a compromise.  He complained that the administration traded permanent GOP-friendly tax policy -- the extension of tax rates for those below $450,000 for temporary Democratic priorities.  "In essence, this agreement locks in a tax structure that is grossly unfair to middle-class Americans," Harkin said in statement after the vote.

The Art of the Cave In

He done caved in, again.

The White House insists that, even though this deal leaves the GOP another bite at the apple to hold hostages again in a few short weeks over the debt ceiling vote, it doesn't matter because they will refuse to negotiate.  Next time.

I'm sure republicans must have split their sides laughing at that one.  

Obama follows an easily discernible pattern.  It goes something like this:  

1.  Rally democrats, progressives and others on an issue.

2.  Go around talking tough about "fighting for you" and not yielding.

3.  Send up trial balloons of various cave-ins, disguised as attempts at "reaching across the aisle" or  "bipartisanship."

4.  Marginalize allies as "the far left" when they catch on and question the deviation, in some cases engaging over the top attacks.

5.  Begin publicly negotiating with himself.

6.  Give away the damned store.

7.  Declare victory.

There really isn't much the right has to do but sit back and wait for victory to be handed to them.  To stave off boredom or dying from laughter, they spend their time playing with the President as a cat plays with a mouse, accusing him of being underhanded, "not serious," a socialist and hating America.  The cat doesn't have to worry about going in for the kill, because in this case, the mouse is sets himself down before him, on a silver platter.

And even though we've been through this several times, its still difficult to watch Obama prostrate himself before an ever rabid far right that never stops hating him.

Its been like this with negotiations over the stimulus, health care reform, the debt ceiling and now the fiscal cliff.  Everybody including the blind, deaf and dumb recognizes this pattern.  Obama insisting that he won't yield on the debt ceiling in order to get people to accept his cave in now on that point is a prelude to step 1 in the process.

Suspended Economic Animation

A deal has been brokered by Biden and McConnell to avert the cliff.  It passed the Senate just before Midnight.

Now its up to the House to pass and send the bill to Obama to sign, or reject.  Even though passing the bill will put the nation on the right side of the cliff's edge, given that republicans canned Boehner's extremist "Plan B," there is no assurance what the House will do with this deal.  There are signs that the natives are restless:

"Some GOP lawmakers, including Reps. Phil Gingrey of Georgia and and Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, told CNN Tuesday they won't support the bill."

"'It's taxing, and still taxing, small businessmen and women, and I don't like that at all,' Gingrey said, referring to some small business owners who would be among those whose tax rates rise."

Looking at the details, the President gave up a lot to get this deal with republican leadership.  Most importantly, the GOP retains the ability to take the hostage show on the road again in just a few weeks over the debt ceiling limit.

Democratic leadership is saying this is not a problem, as they insist that (this time) they won't allow the nation to be held hostage again by the GOP.  However given the precedent that's been set by the President, in reliably caving on issues he previously says are sacrosanct, there is no reason for anyone not to believe that caving is a feature versus a bug with this President.  

There is a lot of teeth gnashing anger on the left over the President caving yet again.  I don't like it either.  Some are demanding that progressive lawmakers put the kibosh on the deal.  Cooler heads are counseling that, in essence, given the rigid extremism of the right, gerrymandered districts and the 2.1 million unemployed held hostage, this was the best that could have been expected, and they may be right.

Technically, we're over the cliff right now, as the deal has yet to become law.   Given the fact that the fiscal cliff is an entirely unnecessary construct, and the fact that the debt ceiling makes even less sense, the cartoonish nature of this entire useless episode is obvious.  We're Wile E. Coyote in suspended animation phase, in mid air over the cliff but are yet to realize its implications.  Sometimes, in his pursuit of the elusive Roadrunner, ol' Wile E is able to make it back to the edge of the cliff, only to have the ledge break off underneath him.  

Exactly where we are vis a vis the edge and disaster, its too early to tell.  But for now, the nation is in suspended animation. 

Fiscal Cliff Is Like Y2K

Back in 1999, scaremongering over the so-called “Y2K” disaster reached a fever pitch.  The media hyped it to the hilt, building up a doomsday apocalypse scenario that made the post 911 color coded “terror alerts” seem like the advent of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.  The plan was gin up a false story and scare folk to death to get them to pay attention. 

There was a very simple fix for Y2K.  Armies of programmers, including yours truly, had been thrown at the problem a few years in advance to implement the solution.  The media knew this at the time, but ignored the solution to focus on what eventually became an impending millennial doomsday world-ending disaster.

Fast forward to today, and the “fiscal cliff” and note the similarities.

It too is a phony problem.  And it has been "reported" with more hype than fact, but with similar drama as was Y2K.  There’s been talk of “going over,” to conjure up disaster imagery in the minds of the unwashed in the ways of DC bullshittery; like going off the Grand Canyon in a convertible, Thelma and Louise style.  (They may have been smiling as they went over, but they were crazy, otherwise they would have known what the media wants us to "know" of this, of the ugly that awaits when they hit bottom) The political class is on board this time, as they realize fear is what they need, as its easier to put one over on a scared stupid public, and enact an agenda quite different than what the voters agreed to in November.

Another similarity is that the fiscal cliff also has a very simple fix, and just like with Y2K, the media refuses to give adequate attention to that part of the story.  Instead, we only hear of the dire implications of some sort of economic Armageddon if we “go over.”

Obama campaigned and won the election on getting rid of the Bush tax cuts and cutting taxes for those making under $250K, and investing in infrastructure and education to further stimulate the economy.  We're talking a tax cut for approximately 98% of the taxpayers.  And get this: if “deficit reduction” (read: austerity) is the priority, even though it shouldn't be, given the state of the economy, then going over will provide all manner of reduction, including from defense programs.  And the Bush Tax cuts automatically evaporate into the ether.  

The solution?  Go over the damned cliff!  Prepare a bill that cuts taxes for all under $250K, include extension of unemployment insurance, and stimulus money for education and infrastructure.  Use the leverage gained in the election you all just won, decisively, mind you, and dare the republicans to refuse to vote for what they say they only exist to do: cut taxes.

The republicans are in between a rock and a hard spot.  The rock is the crazies in the Tea Party, who's political goals begin and end with a refusal to compromise, and a rote-like insistence on not raising taxes.

And we find the democrats doing what they do best: working to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  As we speak they are working hard on smaller "deals" abandoning what they ran and won on, instead giving away the store, just to get an agreement, giving up the leverage they had.  During the campaign, they said, in Washington-speak, that "the election is about choices."  And yet here we are, with dems throwing everything they promised to hold dear, and the kitchen sink, at the GOP who thus far (and thankfully) refuse to take yes for an answer, just so they can get the coveted DC insider blessing of being considered "the adults in the room."  Damn.

The big difference between Y2K and the fiscal cliff is that, unlike in 1999 when the economic boom was still going, the economy today has been mired in recession for several years now.  Back in 1999, people could indulge themselves in media silliness.  Today, with unemployment high, foreclosures still at a record pace, everybody is just plain tired of juggling like circus clowns just to keep all the remaining balls of their lives in the air.  There simply is little energy left to indulge the media.  In some ways, that’s a good thing, but in other ways, it’s a symptom of the toll years of political bullshit has taken.  

Speaking of balls, Obama and the democrats, please find yours, some common sense, grab those spines off the shelf, and get this done!

Now this is insane...

"Open season on law enforcement?  Indiana Republicans Expand 'Stand Your Ground' to Public Servants"

I can't imagine the cops are happy with this.  If only they'd speak out...

But this is not about 2nd Amendment rights.  Its about selling guns.  By creating more venues in which a gun can be used, create more opportunities to sell them.  Its marketing.  You don't need that quarter pound double heart attack burger advertised on the TV; but seeing it makes you want one.

Pass more laws establishing more situations where its legal to use a gun, and more people are compelled to buy them.  Never mind if the carry or use in the situation, as in this case, makes any sense or puts others at risk; its about the sales.