IT HAS BEEN A WHILE

It has been a while since my last post.  You get caught in the stress of trying to survive.

My income dropped precipitously in this wonderful free market economy, not that it was substantial to start.  Then at the end of the year my brother committed suicide.  I will never fully comprehend his reasons.

The past year has seen the increase of racial tensions in the United States, or perhaps they just became more obvious.  We had the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the choking death of Eric Garner in New York City.  Both victims were African-American males killed by white cops.  There has been a constant stream of stories of abuse of African-Americans by the police since then.

Terrorism, particularly by fundamentalist members of Islam, has rocked the world.  We've had beheadings of captives.  We had the attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris.  We've had people slaughtered in Nigeria.  We're in the twentieth century, but we could be in the Middle Ages in terms of our progress.  We have people with Medieval beliefs who possess modern weapons.

REMEMBERING BARTCOP

Terry Coppage, a Tulsa, Oklahoma, based blogger, died on March 5 from leukemia.  Mr. Coppage was the author of the website bartcop.com, one of the very best liberal and progressive sites on the Internet.

I first discovered bartcop.com in 2000 when I first ventured onto the Internet.  I bought an iopener, a small device that allowed you Internet access, but not much else.  I had a dial-up connection back then.

Bartcop.com combined humor and outrage to expose the venality and hypocrisy of the political right in the United States.  Mr. Coppage had a unique online personality that allowed some of his personal, as well as political passions, to come through to the reader.  I will never think of tequila, for example, without thinking of bartcop.com, or Bixby corn, or the band Garbage.

THE HIGH FLYING RICH

A day or two ago the San Francisco Chronicle's website sfgate.com had an article about the reporter flying in a private jet to get a taste of how the very rich travel.  These jets cost millions and they ferry the very rich hither and yon where they do the things the very rich do.

A study was just released saying that 85 people at the top of the economic pyramid have as much wealth as the poorest one-half of the world's population.  Then we had some guy on TV saying that he thinks it's fantastic that there is such wealth disparity because it "motivates" people.

The crassness of the very rich and their defenders is almost beyond comprehension.

WE SHOULD GET RID OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

All those years of the Cold War we worried about a nuclear missile attack by the Soviet Union while never really considering the danger of having nuclear weapons in our midst.

Eric Schlosser has written a non-fiction book that is in many ways as terrifying as a Stephen King novel.  

Schlosser reveals that a nuclear device was accidentally dropped over the United States just days after President Kennedy was inaugurated.  We were very close to a nuclear blast.  We've had other incidents when we've come perilously close to a nuclear detonation.

Now we find out that the Air Force has suspended security clearances of 34 missile launch officers for cheating on exams to measure their qualifications and for illegal drug use.  How do you feel about a missile launch officer being high while on duty?

The book is called Command and Control.  Check out this article at Mother Jones at http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/interview-eric-schlosser-command-control-nuclear-weapons-accidents.

A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION

I was just observing a forum that has a debate about taxes on the rich.

You usually get a few standard defenses of the status quo.  The rich "earned" their money.  The rich "pay most of the taxes."  I never got a job from a "poor" person.  You generally will also get a few other homilies such as claims the rich create jobs and higher taxes are "job killers."

Why are people defending a system that makes most of us servants to the rich and powerful?  The rich don't give anyone a job because they're benevolent folks with good hearts.  They give someone a job because that person can create a profit and more riches for the rich person.

The rich pay most of the taxes, not because they're treated so grossly unfairly, but because they have most of the money and property.  Just where would people collect taxes to pay for the infrastructure that makes a civilized society possible?  Do you collect it from the people at the bottom who don't have anything?  And who benefits most from the infrastructure we have?  Is it the poor or the people at the top of the wealth pyramid?

The rich "earn" their money because of the collective efforts of lots of other people who make it possible.  And a good part of what they "earn" is  interest and other perks that come with having lots of money.  They aren't earning it by hard work or creativity.

There's nothing wrong with people having wealth if that wealth is created honestly and with integrity.  There is something very wrong with a system that exploits the majority of the people for the benefit of a few.

A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION

Happy New Year.  And let's hope we can make some progress against the forces of darkness this year.  It has always been a struggle and progress has been achieved with considerable pain.  We've come a long way, but there is a long way to go.

I've been reading a book called The War of the World by Niall Ferguson.  It's pretty heavy reading at times.  He talks about the mass atrocities that occurred during the 20th century, which included pogroms against the Jews in Russia,  the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Turks, the barbarity of Josef Stalin, and the Holocaust conducted by Nazi Germany.

I hadn't thought about it, but Hitler got many of his ideas about eugenics from laws that existed in the United States.  For years and years interracial marriage was actually illegal in many parts of the United States.

Ferguson notes that forty-one states used eugenic categories to restrict marriages of the mentally ill.  Twenty-seven states even had laws mandating sterilization for some categories of people.

In many ways the United States has been the light of the world, but we have some dark blotches in our history.

A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION

I watch a lot of old TV shows from the 50's and 60's.  In shows like Leave It to Beaver the family is happy and middle class.  The mother is a stay at home mother, the dad wears a nice suit, they have a nice two story home and a late model car, and life goes pretty smoothly.

We know that Leave It to Beaver wasn't real life.  It didn't show racial segregation or poverty or the mind-numbing existence of working in an office or factory.  But what is sad is that the working life has gotten worse since the Leave It to Beaver days.

Treaties like NAFTA were supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.  It was an achievement for all those people who pound their chests and yodel in praise of the free market.  But the free market exacts an awful price on working people.  It is capital seeking the cheapest labor and the cheapest resources to make the maximum profit for corporations and the very rich.

It means salaries and wages have eroded.  It means worker rights have decreased.  It means security has become just a memory.  It means being a cog in the great free market machine, ready to be discarded in a moment.

More to come

A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION

Netflix is going to release a movie called "Mitt" next month about the ultimately futile presidential campaign of Mitt Romney.

I have been fascinated for a long time by behind the scenes looks at politics.  The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore H. White created a life-long interest in politics.  Even novels that are well done are fascinating.  You think of Allen Drury's Advise and Consent, for example.

You wish that all political coverage was about the real people behind the scenes, not the slick and contrived commercials that run incessantly every campaign season.  Most campaign ads are about attack, attack, and attack.  They also frequently distort the truth, or make issues out of non-issues.  The biggest and most successful non-issue campaign I remember was George H. W. Bush running against Michael Dukakis with ads about criminal Willie Horton.

I'm glad Mitt Romney didn't win.  I think things would be even worse for the majority of us had he won and put his policies in place.  But I would be interested in seeing Romney behind the scenes.

More to come

 A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION

It seems every day I read about another shooting.  Some person is aggrieved about something, they grab their gun, and they start shooting.  It doesn't even matter who they shoot.  Innocent bystanders are just a part of the fun.

I thought after the massacre at Sandy Hook there might be some thoughtful consideration about gun control.  But things haven't changed and I don't think they will in the foreseeable future.  We just reached the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy, which should have brought the full focus of gun violence to our attention.  But nothing changes.  It reminds me of the scripture from Ecclesiastes that says everything is futile and a striving after wind.

But I guess if you look at history it seems there have always been insurmountable obstacles to progress.  It takes determination and unwavering commitment to achieve progress.  President Kennedy once said, "Let us begin."

More to come

 A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION PART 45

I just saw a headline that right-wing loudmouth Rush Limbaugh pines for the old Robber Baron days.  It's not surprising, but still pretty appalling.

Rush has it pretty good.  He's a multi-millionaire.  He has been successful in making hate and bigotry highly profitable.  Rush is set for life.  If he believes in an afterlife, he might be worried about the fate of his immortal soul.

Would most of us really want to return to the Robber Baron days?  Right-wing extremists consider it a golden age because there was minimal government regulation, no federal income tax, new technologies were being developed, and there were lots of new resources to exploit for profit.

There was no social safety net.  If you lost your job, you were facing immediate poverty.  You probably worked sixty hour weeks in environments where you could use lose a hand, an arm, or your life because there were so safety regulations to protect you.  If you weren't lucky enough to accrue wealth in your working life--and you were lucky enough to live to old age--there was no Social Security.  The only security you had was private charities or the goodwill of friends or family.

If you had any money in the bank and the bank went bust, so did your money.  There was no insurance to protect you.

If you believe Social Darwinism is a wonderful system, then you probably agree with Limbaugh.  But if you have any degree or sanity or humanity, you don't agree.  It's as simple as that.

More to come

A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION PART 44

One of the most annoying and most persistent claims by right-wingers  is that the United States is a "Christian country."  They don't just mean it in in the sense that lots of people affiliate themselves with Christianity.  They believe the government should be run based on their interpretation of the Bible.

I don't know how many times I've seen letters to the editor claiming that the Founding Fathers were Christians and the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.  It doesn't take much investigation to see the absurdity of that claim.  The Founding Fathers made occasional references to God or the Creator, but they were by no means Christians that would fit the definition of today's theocrats.

Thomas Jefferson was so skeptical of the miracles in the New Testament that Jefferson edited the Bible to create his own version of the New Testament.  In the Jefferson version Jesus Christ was a great teacher and leader, but certainly wasn't raising people from the dead.  If the Bible is such a sure and authoritative guide, why are there so many interpretations and so many religions?  It's like a version of the Tower of Babel.

More to come

A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION PART 43

Unemployment and unemployment insurance has been much on my mind. Social safety net programs like unemployment insurance were a major progressive step.  It made working people a little less vulnerable to the boom and bust cycles of capitalism, or to the whims of employers.

It also has economic advantages for the country.  As I said before, people who get unemployment insurance are going to spend that money and circulate it throughout the economy.  They will pay mortgages or rent, pay bills, buy necessities like food, and use the money to look for another job.  Republicans act like unemployment is just a windfall for people who don't want to work.

Senator Rand Paul even made the inane statement that people will benefit from losing unemployment benefits because long-term unemployment is such a stigma now.  Stigma or not, people still have basic needs and to fulfill those needs they require money.  Maybe Senator Paul and others like him should consider measures to create jobs.  We have lots of crying needs in this society, but people like Paul are unwilling to spend any money to address those needs.  Unless you're part of their exclusive club of the very rich, you don't count.

More to come

A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION PART 42

We're a little over two weeks from another Christmas and Republicans are demonstrating their affinity with Dickens' character Ebeneezer Scrooge or Mr. Potter in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life."  But they are good Christians all.

I will be among those people hurt severely if emergency unemployment benefits are not extended.  I have been working, but like lots of Americans I have a job that doesn't pay enough to survive if you have things like bills, rent, and need to buy food.  I would love to be in a situation where I could survive without unemployment, but I am not.

The Republican policy of socking it to the poor and working class is not only callous and cruel, it's idiotic from an economic standpoint.  I have already reduced my spending out of necessity.  Without the help of unemployment I will have even less money to spend.  Multiply that by a factor of millions and it's a major drag on the economy.

Republicans are never shy about tax breaks or subsidies for the very rich and for corporations, but it's anathema to them to do anything for working class people.  Ultimately, it is working class people who make this country work.

If karma is a reality, then Republicans are going to face a bleak future.

More to come

A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION PART 41

I wonder sometimes if people who  buy into the idea of laissez-faire economics would really want to live in a world of dog-eat-dog predatory capitalism.

If we take the idea of laissez-faire to an entire societal level it means everyone for himself or herself.  You wouldn't have traffic laws.  It would be whoever was the most aggressive who got through the intersections.  You wouldn't have regulations governing food and drugs.  You would take your chances, a little like playing a lottery.  You wouldn't owe your employer anything and vice versa.  It would be a question of who could rip off whom.

Can you imagine a world where you had to pay a fee for every road you drove on?  Would you like having to pay the fire department a fee for putting out a fire that would burn down your house, or pay a police officer to investigate a crime?  In fact, in such a world would there be such a thing as crime?

It would be a world where the gangs ruled.  It would probably be your only chance of survival.  It would be a form of high tech barbarism.

More to come

 A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION PART 40

One of the clips I most remember from Michael Moore's documentary "Fahrenheit 911" was of George W. Bush speaking to a crowd of plutocrats.  Bush smugly noted that he was speaking to the "haves" and "have mores."  It was a blatant admission of the people Bush and his administration represented.

Mitt Romney, during the 2012 presidential campaign, glibly claimed that 47% of the people in the United States were "takers."  According to people like Romney, it's your own fault if you're poor.  Never mind that Romney inherited most of his wealth.  That kind of sanctimony seems to be typical of the very rich in today's environment.

People who have more money than they could spend in several lifetimes have a proverbial hissy fit at the thought the minimum wage might increase to a level that could actually support someone.  They act like working for them is a privilege and any crumbs working people get are all they deserve.

Most historians would probably agree that the most prosperous period in United States history was from around 1945, when World War II ended, to about 1970.  The rising tide did lift all boats.  The rich did very well, despite all the gnashing of teeth about paying taxes or decent wages.  The very rich, who gripe constantly about "entitlements," believe they are entitled to benefit from the misery and hardship of their fellow citizens.

More to come

 A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION PART 39

I just learned of a new book by Claire Conner called Wrapped in the Flag.  Ms. Conner is the daughter of two reactionary parents who were dyed in the wool John Birch Society members.  An excerpt is available on Google Books.  Even in the brief excerpt you get an idea of the almost religious fervor these people have and how they see enemies and conspiracies everywhere.

The Republican Party has always been the vehicle for the reactionary right to promote its ideology and, worse, to attempt to pass legislation based on that ideology.  At one point the John Birch Society was too extreme for the Republican Party and the party tried to distance itself.  But in recent years we have a reincarnation of the Birch Society in the form of the Tea Party.

Members of the Tea Party, like their John Birch forebears, see conspiracies everywhere.  Now, instead of Communism, the boogeyman is radical Islam.  They accuse President Obama of being a Muslim dedicated to the subversion and overthrow of Judeo-Christian principles.  They call Obama a Marxist, a reversion to the old zealotry of anti-Communism.  They deny the existence of global warming and want to impose their idea of Christianity on everyone else.  They speak of "freedom," but don't see the contradictions in their own ideology.

More to come

A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION PART 38

George W. Bush's greatest skill was taking vacations.  Just weeks before the attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush was at his make believe ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he got intelligence information that Osama bin Laden was planning a major attack on the United States.  Bush acted annoyed and brushed off the information.

When the attacks occurred Bush was in Florida at an elementary school reading "My Pet Goat" to school children.  When he was told of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a plane that went down in Pennsylvania he looked like a deer in the headlights.  Instead of heading to Washington, D. C., or to New York he went West.

Later on,  he played the macho game by standing at Ground Zero with a megaphone.  But the real heroes on 9/11 were the first response teams and the passengers aboard the United flight that went down in Pennsylvania.  They prevented terrorists from crashing the plane into the Capitol.

It was an unbelievable dereliction of duty by Bush and his administration because there were sufficient warnings to prevent the attacks on 9/11.  Bush compounded the horror by launching an attack on Iraq, which had nothing to do with the attacks.  He also used the attacks as an excuse to pass tax cuts for his rich friends and to begin an assault on civil liberties in the United States.

More to come

A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION PART 37

Until the 2000 presidential election I had never heard of a "hanging chad."  It turns out it's the part of a ballot that you punch out that doesn't totally detach.  Hanging chads and other questions in Florida held up the final decision on the 2000 presidential race for weeks.  Al Gore won the popular vote and Bush, thanks to Florida, won the electoral vote.

Republicans exerted tremendous effort to steal the election for Bush.  They "protested" outside offices where ballots were being recounted.  When you look at photos of the "protesters" you see readily identifiable Republican operatives in the crowd.  But the biggest ace they held was a friendly Supreme Court that ruled in favor of Bush and stopped the recounting of ballots in Florida.

George W. Bush was one of the least qualified people to enter the White House in the modern era.  He had been a cheerleader in college, got preferential treatment to get National Guard duty and avoid Vietnam, was known as a drunk and drug user, got a sweetheart deal to own part of the Texas Rangers baseball team, got elected Governor of Texas, where the governor is mostly a figurehead, signed lots of execution orders to give Texas the dubious distinction of executing more people than anyone else, and then sneaked his way into the White House.  This country paid a major price and so did the people of Iraq.

More to come

A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION PART 36

In the 1990's AM talk radio was dominated by extremists like loudmouth Rush Limbaugh.  Limbaugh has little positive to say.  His whole approach is to attack, attack, attack.  He attacks liberals, gay people, minorities, women, and anyone else who doesn't support the oligarchy.  The amazing thing is that many working class people have bought into Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and other right wing blowhards.

Right wing media had a field day with the Monica Lewinsky scandal during the Clinton administration, which finally led to Clinton's impeachment and eventual acquittal in the Senate.  If they acknowledged the good economy at all,  right wingers claimed  it was  due to the benefits of Reaganomics that allegedly were just beginning to manifest themselves.

It would have seemed logical for Al Gore, Clinton's vice-president and the Democratic nominee in 2000, to win the presidency.  Gore was qualified, had no real personal scandals, and had worked for an administration that produced a good economy and avoided war.  But the right wing media was busy making scandals out of thin air again.

Gore supposedly claimed credit for inventing the Internet, for instance, while his opponent, former Texas governor George W. Bush,  was a good old boy you would want to have a beer with.

By any logical measurement, Al Gore won the election.  But we have this thing called the Electoral College.  Republicans were able to use the Electoral College and a few good buddies on the Supreme Court to steal the 2000 election.

More to come

A SHORT HISTORY OF RIGHT WING DESTRUCTION PART 35

The economy turned sour just as it always does with Republican administrations.  It has been a pattern and you would think people would notice.  We had recessions under Eisenhower.  We had recessions under Nixon and Ford.  We had a horrific recession at the beginning of the Reagan administration.  We had another recession under George H. W. Bush.

Bill Clinton ran for the presidency using the mantra "It's the economy, stupid," and Bill Clinton won the election.  If you can't cheat your way into the White House, the Republican way is to create scandals out of thin air and dominate the discussion with the alleged scandals.

With Bill Clinton it was a land deal called Whitewater.  And Clinton, who already had a reputation as a womanizer, played into the hands of his enemies by having a fling with Monica Lewinsky.  Right-wingers went after him more for alleged perjury than for the actual affair.  The party of "family values" also enlisted Ken Starr and Starr published a sleazy account of Clinton and Monica that would make many people blush.

Republicans also didn't vote for Clinton's budget.  We know that the economy prospered under Clinton, who had raised taxes on the rich, and certainly not to an astronomical level.  Clinton also kept the country out of major military involvements.

More to come