May 26, 2008 archive

It seems everyone is in uproar over Hillary Clinton’s remarks about her staying in the race for the Democratic nomination to run for president through the month of June, and her ill-chosen example of Bobby Kennedy-the senator and brother of John F. Kennedy who, like his presidential sibling, was assassinated. The remarks were, of course, in the poorest of taste and they have received all the scorn they deserve. But are the commotions raised by those remarks, the sheer outrage and disgust, for the right reasons?

Clinton could just as easily been talking about herself, and the potential threat of assassination to her own person, as about her rival for the nomination, Barack Obama. That few, if any, seem to realize this is yet another attack on her for all the wrong reasons. Yes, it was insensitive and divisive, hurtful and potentially dangerous, for Clinton to invoke the trauma of Bobby Kennedy’s murder in 1968 in making the case that she must remain in contention for the nomination to run for president.

Crossposted Sunday May 25 at Big Orange

On  December 12, 2000 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Florida Supreme Court’s plan for recounting Florida’s ballots was unacceptable, and that no constitutionally valid recount could timely be completed by the December 12 deadline. This decision ended the recounts, and effectively installed the loser of the popular vote as President of the United States of America. The vote was certified according to Florida state election law by Katherine Harris, the Republican Secretary of State who had been the Florida co-chair of Bush’s campaign. Bush’s younger brother, Jeb Bush, was the governor of Florida. Though it was obvious to all that Harris and Jeb Bush had manipulated the election to favor the governor’s brother, it was too little, too late. Gore was eventually found to have won Florida by 543,895 more popular votes than Bush.

Below the fold is a graphic account of the tragedy and legacy of the worst president in history.

i didnt make this video, and find it an imperfect tribute….but any memorial day tribute seems to ring false somehow…

Come In

It’s Cheaper Than Driving To The Mail Box

Monday’s Headlines:  Exemptions for Charities Face New Challenges  An Iron Procession of Honor   Japan has first European sumo champion  Afghan prison nightmare may be coming to an end for Pervez   Fury over Berlusconi’s bid to solve rubbish crisis   Mob of Nazi youths goes on immigrant rampage in ‘tolerant’ Rome   Robert Mugabe threatens to expel US Ambassador    Burundi, rebels repledge peace  Iraqi military says al-Qaida is fleeing Mosul   Carter urges ‘supine’ Europe to break with US over Gaza blockade   Mexico’s War Against Drugs Kills Its Police

Billions wasted on UN climate programme

Energy firms routinely abusing carbon offset fund, US studies claim

Billions of pounds are being wasted in paying industries in developing countries to reduce climate change emissions, according to two analyses of the UN’s carbon offsetting programme.

Leading academics and watchdog groups allege that the UN’s main offset fund is being routinely abused by chemical, wind, gas and hydro companies who are claiming emission reduction credits for projects that should not qualify. The result is that no genuine pollution cuts are being made, undermining assurances by the UK government and others that carbon markets are dramatically reducing greenhouse gases, the researchers say.

The criticism centres on the UN’s clean development mechanism (CDM), an international system established by the Kyoto process that allows rich countries to meet emissions targets by funding clean energy projects in developing nations.

The conspiracy is so thorough that most kids who discover it do so only by discovering internal contradictions in what they’re told. It can be traumatic for the ones who wake up during the operation. Here’s what happened to Einstein:

   Through the reading of popular scientific books I soon reached the conviction that much in the stories of the Bible could not be true. The consequence was a positively fanatic freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is intentionally being deceived by the state through lies: it was a crushing impression. [2]

I remember that feeling. By 15 I was convinced the world was corrupt from end to end. That’s why movies like The Matrix have such resonance. Every kid grows up in a fake world. In a way it would be easier if the forces behind it were as clearly differentiated as a bunch of evil machines, and one could make a clean break just by taking a pill.

Paul Graham, from his essay Lies We Tell Kids.  The whole thing is worth reading.  Hat tip to Robin Hanson.

I’m not sure if all of you have seen George Packer’s New Yorker piece, The Fall of Conservatism.  Even though it’s datelined today, it’s been floating around the blogosphere for a couple of days now.

What struck me about it is how transparently and cynically based on greed, ignorance, racism, misogyny, bigotry, intolerance, and fear Republican.  Party.  Conservatism. is.  It is an anti-democratic in the little ‘d’ sense ideology of a sado-masochistic society where all you get is abuse and the only satisfaction you can have is in your ability to abuse others, a frantic ass chasing dance to see who you can stick the boot in before your butt is kicked.

At it’s heart is a pessimistic view that things will never again be as good as they once were, a backwards looking denial of change except for the worse.  If insanity is repeating the same actions and expecting different results as a political philosophy it is clinical.

As Packer’s interview with Buchanan shows, Republicans have been pushing the fear button really hard for a very long time now.  Communists and Crime, Guns and Gays, your life is spiraling out of control so you should hate and envy those who are different.  Why should they feel any better than you, what right do they have not to be panicing?  Conservatism is about making everyone’s life as miserable and empty as yours is.

It’s all about the self loathing.  They want to be able to express their shameful prejudices in public and force the rest of us to applaud.  They project their own base crimes and secret sins as the general human condition and it almost never occurs to them that perhaps one should aspire to better.  Instead they celebrate their coarse nature, wallowing in the nakedness and audacity of their con games, scams, and lies.

What’s more below is a few quotes that illustrate the shallowness and bankrupcy of Republican Party Conservatism.  I can only count it a good thing if the coming election reduces it to regional irrelevancy along with the 30% at the bottom of the Bell curve who still believe in phallic fairytales of American Exceptionalism.

(crossposted from Daily Kos)

George Orwell once referred to Rudyard Kipling as the “prophet of British imperialism.”  That he unquestionably was.  

Which is not to suggest that Kipling wasn’t a great writer.  He was that too.  

As Orwell wrote in this brilliant essay

Kipling is the only English writer of our time who has added phrases to the language.  The phrases and neologisms which we take over and use without remembering their origin do not always come from writers we admire.

One of Kipling’s most famous poems offers lessons to Hillary Clinton on how she ought to conduct herself as this marathon, bruising fight for the 2008 Democratic nomination draws to a close.  And the need for party unity becomes paramount to coalesce behind a once-in-a-generation candidate who is poised to succeed in the General Election in November.

The choice is obvious: either we succeed collectively or fail individually — only to see a continuation of the most destructive domestic and foreign policies in the post-WW II era.

That is simply what is at stake in this election.