Month: December 2012

Dark money

Dark money reminded us of who he is.
Dark money reminded us of who he is.
Matt Koehler is circulating Dark Money Helped Democrats Hold a Key Senate Seat, an article from Pro Publica written by Kim Barker. It is a good overview of politics in the post-Citizens United era.

A few thoughts after reading it:

  • American politics was already corrupt beyond repair, with two big-money parties freezing out every reform effort. The ability to corrupt us even further is a remarkable achievement.
  • Citizens United was handed down in 2010. In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama criticized the ruling as Sam Alito looked on in disgust (never to return for the annual theater production). Since that time, Obama has done exactly nothing about it – no bully pulpit, no bearing down on congress or stumping to help ground-level reform efforts. What stops him from leading? Does he fear dark money would cost him his office? Maybe he is just insincere. In either case, he is worthless.
  • The hypocrisy of Montana Democrats, who were furious when gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill received a similar, but smaller, influx, is illuminating. Says Tester (in a Baucus-like moment of dissembly), “We had no control over what they were saying. But by the same token, I think probably in the end if you look at it, they were helpful.” Later, “But it was important…We had to remind people of who I am.”
  • Finally, Barker insists on describing the cash influx in the wake of CU as hailing from “liberal” and “conservative” sources. I am parroting someone, and I do not know who, but in politics there are no ideologies. Only interests. The only reason that big money is invested in small people is that they return even bigger money. If Barker were to set aside such notions, she would add another level of insight to her already good work.

Red Dawn

There is a remake of Red Dawn playing in the theaters now. The original must have been made in the 1980’s as I remember the bad guys being Nicaraguans, the country we were attacking at that time. [Note: 1984.]

I haven’t seen the remake, and won’t. The premise is that The U.S. is invaded, and I will guess that Iran, Islam and some Arab countries are subtly implicated. Our young people take to the hills and become guerrilla fighters.

It’s an interesting contrast to the way that young people in other countries behave when we invade them. They are terrorists. Ours are patriots.

The absurd premise

002388a5_mediumWe recently subscribed to Showtime, the pay channel, in order to watch Oliver Stone’s “Untold History of the United States.” It’s been a worthwhile investment. These pay channels offer a side street for a little subversion, as there are no advertisers hovering about. Companies that don’t want certain content aired have to sue the network rather than achieving their end by withholding advertising dollars.*

So Stone’s work has an outlet. Even with 200 other cable channels with absurd names like “History” and “Learning,” none would touch such an offering. Censorship in the United States is pervasive. We are so sheltered from the real world that Stone’s work, which would be part of a classroom discussion in a free country, seems radical.
Continue reading “The absurd premise” →

A Christmas message from Tulum

stonehenge-solstice2Phew! We made it! I didn’t want to go out of this world being wrong about everything*, and so waited to see if we survived 12/21/12 before writing this.

The mythologies of the northern hemisphere are based on sun worship. That much is obvious. I’m really curious, however, that the object of worship in Christianity, the “son” is the same sound as “sun.” In other languages we have sol, sonne, jus, soare, soliel … are those words also homophones for male offspring? Is ours just coincidence? The only cultural reference I’ve seen (my American educational background) was on an old Star Trek episode (the original series) where the boys came across a culture that worshiped the sun, and at the end found that the word was actually “son,” meaning the J-man had been there too. The guy travels!

Anyway, here’s the importance of Christmas and all other solstice celebrations: The sun is the giver of life. It brings warmth. As it goes away, things wither away. When it returns, things grow. In the vineyard it turns water into wine. It is the source of all life. It is kind, benevolent, caring and giving, harsh and indifferent, burning and destroying crops as well as nurturing their growth. In desert climates, the gods can be cruel. In climates of plenty, the gods are kind. The Egyptian Ra was benevolent, the Hebrew Yahweh a nasty muhfuh. It just depended on how the sun shone on any particular cultural dog’s ass.**

The sun slowly goes away, each day lower on the horizon. On the day of solstice, which we call December 21st, it reaches its farthest point. Then it appears to stay in one place for a few more days. On December 25th it begins its homeward journey.

On the third day it rises again. And so we celebrate. Hope springs anew. Life will go on.

I did want to make sure on this one, however. It was a close call! We all know that ancient cultures know more about the future than we do, so it was natural to assume that the Mayans had it figured out. Now they can take their place alongside Nostradamus. They are discredited.

Next up: Hebrews. The Israelis will have to stop stealing land, since their bible is made-up stories. After that, hopefully, Ayn Rand sets on the horizon, never to return.

Merry Christmas one and all!
__________
*Shush!
** It is also the reason that Jesus and Mary have halos around their heads … it is our ancient forebears’ way of saying “hint hint.”

Killing them softly

killing-them-softly-poster1I saw a movie that has hung around my consciousness longer than most. It’s called “Killing them Softly” and stars Brad Pitt. As he gets older Pretty Boy Pitt is taking on some gravitas. He has screen presence and commands the viewer’s attention. But the larger issue to me was the plot.

I’ve read two reviews of the movie, and neither liked it. Roger Ebert treated it as just another mob movie with a recycled plot, but made me laugh when he mentioned how odd it was that in the movie so may bars had CSPAN running in the background. That’s hilarious when you think about it. Filmspotters, a podcast I listen to, complained about the heavy-handedness of the inserted Obama/McCain dialogue in the plot and generally panned it.

I liked it, of course, even as I saw everything coming. I knew the young punks would get hammered. I was sure throughout that I was watching Casey Affleck putting up another excellent performance. That character turned out to be played by Scoot McNairy (not a typo), and I’ve never heard of him either, but he was good.

But to the larger plot, it revolves around some young punks who rob some mobsters, and then get their due. Things sink in with me only slowly, and tonight we were having a discussion about various things, and I mentioned Bernie Madoff – not that he stole money and is in jail, but rather that he is only in jail because he stole money from powerful people. And suddenly the movie made sense. Of course it made sense! It was about how people get away with crimes but only get punished if they choose the wrong victims. Which was why it was set in 2008 when all of those bankers involved in all of those crimes got away with it, and only Bernie Madoff went to jail.

I like Ebert – he’s really got some smarts going on and generally understands movies that I see on a far deeper level. I see a movie and then read his review and slap my forehead. But this one time only, I think I saw more of a movie than him. Possibly.

Moments of boredom at a tax conference?

I am in a room today with 71 other CPA’s, and man is it fun!

All professions have meetings like this, and none are fun. What is interesting is this: The speaker, a very smart and successful man with three offices and many employees, speaks of the Social Security program as if it is broke.

SS is in fact in good health, but of course would be doing better were we not in recession/depression.

In this room there were no protests or arguments beyond the surprised look from me. If tax people do not understand the system, how can we expect journalists or others to do so?
Continue reading “Moments of boredom at a tax conference?” →

Primer on terror

When we attacked Libya, we called them Libyan freedom fighters, though they were only terrorists and acted as death squads. Now in Syria we call them Syrian opposition forces. Same deal – terror, death squads, massacres. Our money, our weapons. Even though they are Saudi-trained (or KLA), they go by the name we used when they were fighting the Russians in Afghanistan, where we armed, trained and financed them. Later that name became a scary word.

They are trained thugs, well armed and organized, following our orders. Even when we needed to make them look like an enemy, on 9/11, which they had no part in, they were our guys.

We call them “Al Qaeda.” It gets even worse – you’d be amazed where they get their money, at least in part. But I’ll stop there. If you understand that you are half way home in undestanding how the world works – at least piercing through the filtered American media. Nothing is as it appears.

The magnetic personality

I could not help thinking as I watched President Obama during the Newtown tragedy that he is not real. The touching of the eyes, the perfect cadence and pauses, the reflective moments … this guy is our best actor since Reagan. I suppose that is what is expected of basically a ribbon-cutting office, but our media does fawn over him.

Which of course makes me wonder about the office in general. What is he – our daddy? Why do we even care about his thoughts on anything outside of presidential actions? And even there our toady press follows his every word, deed and action. Real power lay elsewhere, and the job of the media is to deflect our attention from the actions of really powerful people. So he’s a nice magnet for that purpose.

But watching him during the tragedy gave me the creeps. This guy is too good, too smooth to be real.

Packing heat

I am reprinting Mathew Koehler’s comment from 4&20, and he is quoting his friend Jeff Gibbs – co-producer and composer for “Bowling for Columbine,” who had this to say about the most recent school shooting tragedy…”the 18th (!!) since Columbine”:

“A world full of guns and empty of mental health care is, well, the hell we are living in. Violence is down? HAHAHA! Almost a thousand times more American’s kill each other with guns than in other “civilized” nations. Time to grow up and stand up to the egoistic gun nuts. No one wants your guns, you’re not that important. It’s just that the rest of us don’t want to live in a world in which blow-hard egoists carry guns to the mall, schools and sporting events. You stand almost zero chance of using that gun to stop violence. Far greater is the chance someone will use your gun to do terrible things in your own family. We don’t want to live in a world in which your children take your guns and commit suicide, kill a family member, or massacre people which is exactly what happened yesterday and at Columbine. If you enjoy the gun toting lifestyle, move to Somalia, Juarez or join the Taliban. Or rent an island to play-pretend you live in the wild wild west with your buddies while the adults come up with some sensible laws here in what’s left of America.”

Making sense of insanity

There is no horror that compares to loss of a child. The shock is settling in and grieving right now is intense. There will be a genuine outpouring of love and support from family, friends and even strangers. People get back to their lives, and then comes the slow and only partial recovery. “The hours,” those times alone, in the early morning hours, force reflection and acceptance, and out of that can come strength. But there will be no forgetting. For a parent, the loss of a child is a wound that can only be compartmentalized as life moves forward. It will never heal.

Iraqi, Afghani, Serbian, Libyan, Panamanian, Vietnamese parents feel no less pain. They surely look on the actions of the American killing machine as being as senseless as those of Adam Lanza. They grope for explanation, try to make sense of it all.