Today's news

I rarely watch network television news--occasionally PBS News Hour, but even that only seldom--and have become out of touch with what passes for significant reportage in America. This morning, just now, I happened to click on MSNBC's news hour. The lead story: Oprah's last show.

Wonderful.

As a former Arizonan,

here's yet another reason why I'll not move back, ever.

Hapless, hopeless

This Saturday, today, our weekly peace march along State Street was ugly indeed. We were joined by four women of the Women For Peace group who, rather than engaging in symbolic speech, used the occasion to window shop and chat, while holding their hand-scrawled peace signs at their hips so as not to block their view of the shop displays or hinder their personal conversations. No wonder conservatives are taking over this nation. They have ardor and display it. Not so these "couch liberals," who because of the appearance they gave to the rest of us on the march who were singing "Imagine" all the while, became effectively ruinous agents provocateur.

What did we expect?

The Supreme Court, 5-4 (and you know who's in the majority) rules that class-action status can be defeated by the company's requirement that consumers sign an individual-arbitration clause as part of their purchase agreement. A death-knell to mass-consumer class actions.

And the corporatist beat goes on...

Another ditty--about politics in general.

When I learned PoliSci in my youth

The Right in Congress behaved with couth.

They’d debate with vigor, speak their truth,

Spar with Demos, nail and tooth.

(But then, as friends, share gin/vermouth.)

Rancor, if it flared, was fleeting,

Seldom lasting past a meeting.

No hint, no possibility of cheating,

Not by Dirksen, Ford or Kenneth Keating.

(Even while Tricky took that beating.)

But now the system’s gone awry.

Each issue’s posed as do or die.

No longer is there speech, reply.

Repubs rant and speakers cry.

(Some, indeed, shout out, “You lie!”)

Their pundits, steeped in vanity,

Report with relish this insanity,

Filling time-slots with inanity,

Neglecting genuine calamity.

(For rhyme and meter, I name Hannity.)

Reason, thought, are viewed as vices.

Blind reaction now suffices.

Each law becomes one born of crisis,

Stalled and blocked through artifices.

(Labeled parliamentary devices.)

I posit to you this no-brainer:

Which of these pairs is insaner:

Limbaugh/Beck or Bachman/Boehner?

If you must pause, could it be plainer?

(Another question: Which pair’s vainer?)

Chris Hedges is the man.

Okay, to be politically correct, he's the person. Check out his most recent speech. (Text and video are available at the link.)

This story says it all

The US postage stamp with the image of the Statue of Liberty taken from a photo of a Las Vegas casino replica.

A ditty about nukes and tsunamis and such

Central Coast Dilemma

(This doggerel was published in the SB Independent on Thursday, April 14, 2011)

Fukushima makes one wonder

Was Diablo Canyon a mere blunder,

Built on fissures three miles under,

Likely soon to tear asunder?

South along the tidal reach,

Avila, Grover, Pismo Beach,

Folks sip wine and nosh on quiche,

Warier now of seismic breach.

Ditto they in San Clemente,

Just upwind of San Onofre,

Another plant by PGE

Fueled by lethal energy.

Fatal as the plague bubonic,

This plant too spans plates tectonic.

Was its builder just moronic,

Or is the company demonic?

Come the quake, the wind, the tide,

We between can nowhere hide.

We’ll be left but to decide:

Diaboiled or Onofried.

A worthy quote

from on old murder mystery I heard on BBC radio: "Facts are like cows: If you look at them them straight away long enough, they'll go away."

In case you ever doubted it

Geithner has got to go.

The arrogance of power

Here's a letter to the editor of the SB News-Press that I sent today. I'll update this post when/if it's published.

Update: The letter was published on April 6, 2011.

American missiles flying, fighters firing rockets, causing explosions and destruction on the ground and in the air. In every sense—under international law, domestic law, the UN Charter—the use of such destructive force within the boundaries of a sovereign nation is an act of war, and under the US Constitution the power to declare war rests not with the president but explicitly with the Congress. How dare Barack Obama arrogate to himself the power to launch such devastation on Libya.

I supported Obama, worked tirelessly for his election in 2008, but this is the last straw. I’ve watched the man’s actions—blotting out his fine words—for three years, witnessing his repeated sellout of his office to the rich, the powerful and the corporate, and now—as he did in Afghanistan and Pakistan—the militarists. If George Bush had done what Obama is doing the calls from the Left for his impeachment would be deafening.

Where are you, “liberals” and “progressives”—you who demanded that the executive power be restrained when Nixon, Reagan and Bushes held that power? It’s time to judge Obama on his deeds, not his rhetoric. It’s time to remove him from the office he has so flagrantly and arrogantly abused.

A trick question

Which of these stories troubles me more?: This or this.

Answer: Both

Good news!

At least this one American business isn't outsourceable--yet--and it's thriving!

Faux news redux

They simply should not be allowed on our public airwaves. Not when they pull stunts like this.

Letter to the editor

On February 21, 2011, I wrote another of my letters to the editor of the SB NewsPress. It was published today (Sunday, 2/27). It reads

When was the last time we heard that anything positive was happening in America (except, of course, the ever-increasing salaries and bonuses of Wall Streeters).

Jobs? In the tank. Bankruptcies and foreclosures? On the rise. Working-class wages and the dollar? Falling. Food and fuel prices? Escalating. State and federal deficits? Soaring. Military expenditures? Inflating. Occupation of Iraq? In chaos. War in Afghanistan? Hopeless. The Arab states? Aflame. Israel/Palestine? Don’t ask. And on and on.

As much as I’m inclined to blame Bush/Obama and Congress (of whatever composition) for this wretched state of affairs, the fact is we Americans elected these folks to govern. If we are to be consistent about our claim that America is "special" because of its enduring democracy—our government, as Abraham Lincoln declared, “of the people, by the people and for the people”—then we have only ourselves to blame for our current plight.

And so, fellow citizens, what shall we do about it?

The dark side of cyber-citizenry

is astroturfing by groups, but even more so by corporations and the US military. Outrageous--but inevitable in our evil world.

Faux News

Literally. (Video)

Interesting interview

especially on topics that concern me most: How to write meaningfully about meaningful subjects, and how to make story tell more than story.

Do you want fries with that?

Here's a shocking---shocking--story about the wage level of those jobs that America is creating in the wake of the recent huge bubble-burst. Imagine my surprise.

Sometimes you wonder

who in their right mind would do this (video)

and then you realize, he's not in his right mind.