Tag Archives: Sharron Angle

Point of View Columns

Domestic Exile

Unless you spend your time plotting fantasy football fantasies it is almost impossible to ignore the political prognostications that predict overwhelming victories for the G.O.Tea Party. As a citizen and the resident of the United States I am wondering when I fell asleep and woke up in a foreign land.

Is it possible that adult voting Americans are not offended by a political party that is comfortable having Nazi reenactment aficionados and supporters of the Dred Scott decision? Clearly the answer is in the affirmative and that is really just too damn bad.

The campaign that is mercilessly grinding to an end has seen President Obama called a liar on the floor of the Congress and hung in effigy within sight of the Lincoln Monument, with no remorse or indication of an effort to distance the G.O.Tea Party from these odious acts. We have seen G.O.Tea partiers question the need for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and unemployment insurance and yet voters are supposed to flock to the polls on November 2nd to support these damnable and heartless public policy positions.

Sharron Angle, who famously stated that her fellow Nevadans should seek “Second Amendment solutions” to the public issues of the day, is now favored to become the next senator from Nevada. Carl Paladino, who is infamous for unapologetically sending racist and misogynistic e-mails to his friends and colleagues, is the G.O.Tea Party candidate for governor of the state of New York. And while he probably won’t win, it appears that at least 3 out of every 10 voters in New York will vote for him.

I am under no illusion when it comes to these United States. From Jefferson Davis to Roger B. Taney to Father Coughlin to Lincoln Rockwell to George Wallace, this country has disgorged its historical share of villains – enemies of all humanity who abused and misused the public platform to appeal to the lesser aspects of the American people. But today’s villainy is more cosmetically presentable, wrapped in a banner of patriotism, addressing the urgent need to “take back America”.

Of course, it would be useful to know if this foolish slogan is meant to refer to taking America “back” from some unstated cabal of evildoers or taking America “back” to another time. Perhaps a more comfortable and simpler time, when issues of racial equality and sexual equity were unspoken? Perhaps there was a time when energy conservation and environmental protection and international understanding were not priorities for the American people and that is where America should go “back” to?

This message is intentionally blurred and clouded so as to take advantage of the clear rage and frustration that many Americans feel as they feel their way of life gutted by an economic system that no longer rewards productivity and punishes commitment and dedication to building for the future. And President Obama and the Democratic Party are useful targets for that rage – reason be damned.

Supposedly, according to the G.O.Tea Party avatars, Americans want limited government. Those limits are not defined, however. These limits certainly don’t include farm subsidies, Social Security or the work of the Army Corps of Engineers or the Food and Drug Administration. But we are supposed to believe that there is some intrusive act of government that must stopped by any means necessary. And the G.O.Tea Party moves forward, riding on waves of diversion, incitement and obfuscation.

I am afraid that when I wake up on the morning of November 3rd I will find myself in exile in the only country of which I am a citizen. When the waves of hate and lies and avarice subside, there will be time for hope again, and it will be time for all of us to wake up all over again.

Standard
Point of View Columns

Weekend Edition – October 29, 2010

Halloween approaches and that is the time for children and the young of heart of make believe. The midterm elections approach on November 2nd with signs that Fright Night can still be avoided:

Boot Camp
Recently in Kentucky a supporter of G.O.Tea Party senatorial candidate Rand Paul was videotaped pressing his foot on the head of a woman who had presumably not drunk the G.O.Tea. The woman’s glasses were crushed and she suffered a concussion.

The big footed miscreant’s explanation was that he was a “big guy” and couldn’t bend down to restrain her. And that is why he used his foot. And while the symbolism of the moment is inescapable, we are still waiting for someone from the Rand Paul camp to, at the very least; disavow the actions of this Kentucky Stomper.

It looks like we will be waiting for a long, long time.

Shake me, wake me……
The political pundits of every stripe and color predict a G.O.Tea Party avalanche on November 2nd. While Meg Whitman’s millions will not win her the gubernatorial election in California, Sharron Angle’s mindlessness has her substantially ahead of Harry Reid.

Carl Paladino’s anger may not win him the governor’s mansion in Albany but President Obama’s former senate seat in Illinois is in serious jeopardy.

It may be useful to ask at what point this “change” take place. Less than two years ago this country was celebrating the breathtaking spectacle of a young, progressive African American becoming President of the United States with the promise of transformative change that would benefit all Americans.

At what point did ignorance trump knowledge and insight? At what point did it become acceptable to run for the United States Congress (Rich Iott from Ohio) with an acknowledged practice of dressing up in Nazi S.S. uniforms.

At what point did a G.O.Tea Party candidate office (Jon Runyan of New Jersey) state without fear of criticism or retribution that his favorite Supreme Court decision was Dred Scott (that is the one which held that no black man had rights that a white man need respect).

These anecdotal nightmares are just the tip of the iceberg. There are over 750 G.O.Tea Party candidates for Congress and state legislatures that are on record as being against any kind of energy reform initiatives – the kind of legislation that might make this country less reliant on fossil fuels and……..oh yes, help save the environment of this planet.

Steven Thrasher in his September 29, 2010 Village Voice article “White America Has Lost Its Mind” http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-09-29/news/white-america-has-lost-its-mind/ identifies the point as a few minutes after noon on January 20, 2009 when Barack Obama was inaugurated as President of the United States.

It is hard to believe, however, that all of this bile and anger and stupidity and self-destructive dumbness metastasized so quickly.

These poisonous wellsprings disguised as patriotic crusades to “take back America” have been around all along. Perhaps the Obama inauguration motivated some aspects of the right wing of the right wing to come forward, but the madness has been around us for a long time.
How long it will stay with us is now the question.

A Question?
Assuming a worst case scenario on November 2nd, the G.O.Tea Party will take full control of the House of Representatives and will also effectively control any legislative initiatives that take place in the Senate.

Continuing with this nightmare, there will be governors and attorneys general and state legislators throughout the country who have also drunk the G.O.Tea and will be railing against the “leftist Marxist” in the White House.

We will see efforts to repeal the recently passed healthcare bill as well as the financial regulatory reform legislation. Environmental initiatives will be gutted and President Obama will be checkmated on any move to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan.

In just a few years we will see the economy of this country rocked like never before with the standard of living diminished for all except the very rich. Ignorant American children will graduate from high school believing that creationism is a scientific theory and the continued deterioration of this country’s national security will continue due to mindless military incursions in the name of some unknowable war on terror.

In just a few years your children will ask you what did you do to prevent this catastrophic scenario. Especially when you could see it coming.

What will your answer be?

(Try to) have a great weekend and DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!

Standard
Point of View Columns

Weekend Edition – October 22, 2010

November is nearby and so are the midterm elections. Rhetorical pyrotechnics, no matter how brightly they coruscate in the sky, do not seem to be enough to awaken the somnolent legions of progressives and moderates who are ceding the high ground and the low ground to the right wing of the right wing. Winter may come early this year and for years to come if the G.O.Tea Party has its way.

Race and the Tea Party

Recent news reports have highlighted the apparent attraction that the Tea Party has for angry voters. That anger reportedly stems from the maddening perception that the government interferes too much in the lives of Americans and that the principles of the Founding Fathers should be the sole guiding principles for all governance.

It might be useful, however, to consider the rational basis for this anger and what kind of voter the G.O.Tea Party has attracted. After all, there are some fairly subtle constitutional debates that arise when considering the strict interpretation of the United States Constitution given that it was written over two hundred years ago at a time when slavery was legal, women could not vote and rapacious and persistent genocide was being perpetrated against Native Americans.

Most historians and legal scholars would agree that the unique exceptionalism of the Constitution is that it is an organic document, designed to change. This change can take place through judicial interpretation or amendment. The idea of the Founders was to create a document that could evolve and adapt over time. Otherwise, we would be living in a country where slavery was legal, women couldn’t vote and the physically disabled would not deserve any special consideration as a matter of law.
Simply put, the Constitution was never meant to be the Ten Commandments.

The flawed constitutional analysis of the G.O.Tea Party is paired with a mystical desire to “get government out of the lives of Americans”, even though it is very unclear what aspect of government should be out of our lives. Rand Paul, the Republican candidate for senator in Kentucky believes in removing government from our lives. This would be the same Dr. Rand Paul that accepts Medicaid and Medicare payments for fully 50% of his patients.

Sharron Angle, the Republican candidate for senator in Nevada receives medical insurance and healthcare coverage through her husband’s federal pension yet she is part of the G.O.Tea Party movement to get government out of our lives.

Would it be the government that devised and implemented the G.I. Bill that is absolutely responsible for the creation of a true middle class in this country? Would it be the Food and Drug Administration that is responsible for making sure that market forces don’t result in a failure to adhere to basic health standards in the production and delivery of what we ingest daily?

Perhaps the G.O.Tea Party would eliminate unemployment insurance (that would be Joe Miller, G.O.Tea Party candidate for senator in Alaska)? That is the government program that has helped countless millions of Americans and their families avoid homelessness and hunger during this economic depression.

Perhaps G.O.Tea Party is in favor of eliminating farm subsidies that skew and destroy agricultural economies around the world? Not likely.

So what aspect of government should be out of our lives? The military? The Federal Aviation Administration? The U.S. Parks Service? The Army Corps of Enginers? The Postal Service? It is difficult to understand how these critical government services are the source of such rage.

Perhaps we should examine this rage more closely. Since its inception, barely three months after the inauguration of President Barack Obama, the Tea Party movement has attracted overtly racist supporters, including some of the most dangerous white supremacists in this nation.

Tea Party rallies have featured President Obama being lynched in effigy, dressed in Africa garb and painted like a minstrel. Questioning Barack Obama’s birthplace and mocking his name are all part of a racially-based disaffection with this President that transcends policy differences and constitutional debates.

Congressman John Boehner, who is salivating at the prospect of becoming Speaker of the House as you read this column, was quoted as saying that President Obama could save money on his inauguration by having a “fried chicken dinner”. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that he and his G.O.Tea Party cohorts intend to teach Barack Obama a lesson (blessedly, he did not refer to the President of the United States as a “boy”).

If the policy differences regarding the presence of government are false straw men, and if the constitutional debate is at best the result of subtle philosophical perspectives regarding the United States Constitution, what is all the fuss about? Clearly the mere presence of a black President of the United States has been enough to throw logic, common sense, good taste and equanimity out the window.

And the silence in the presence of this onslaught is deafening.

Driving Miss Ginni Crazy

Last week in Point of View’s “Weekend Edition” I wrote about Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pointing out the disquieting aspects of her raucous and loud rhetorical attacks on the President of the United States while her husband sits on the Supreme Court. The ensuing free speech debate was discussed and ultimately tabled.

This past weekend Ginni Thomas took time off from attacking Barack Obama to call Anita Hill at 7:30 in the morning to demand an apology from her. The news reports of this bit of unfathomable hubris read like something from the National Lampoon, except that it was real. One wonders at the source of her empowerment.

Is it because, as a new leader of the right wing of the right wing she felt that she could simply call Anita Hill and demand that she apologize to her husband? Did Ginni Thomas take her “Miss Daisy” pills that morning and decide to put an uppity black woman in her place?

Or was she channeling Michael Corleone from Godfather II who famously said, “Today we take care of all family business”? Perhaps she was giving us a prequel of a Tyler Perry sequel, “Diary of a Mad White Woman”.

Maybe she was just warming up for the glow of victory that she anticipates on November 2nd?
I only hope that she is disappointed when she wakes up on November 3rd. Instead of Miss Daisy pills perhaps she will be eating humble pie.

Have a great weekend!

Standard
Point of View Columns

This Is Not A Test!

At the height of the Cold War, there was something called the Emergency Broadcast System. It was the mid-century version of high tech emergency preparedness and it was designed to disseminate rescue and relief information to that portion of the American population that was not incinerated by a Soviet nuclear attack.

There were Emergency Broadcast channels on the radio and this nation’s television stations were geared up to calm a suddenly radioactive countryside.

Every now and then there would be a “test” of the EBS and high pitched tones amidst the static gave jittery citizens assurance that radio and television stations that survived a series of thermonuclear blasts would be beacons of hope as the nuclear winter approached.

After the “test”, listeners and viewers would be told that this was a test and that, if this was a real emergency life saving instructions would be dispensed. Thankfully the EBS was never used. Thankfully the United States and the Soviet Union stepped back from the nuclear precipice. Thankfully sanity had a momentary reign.

And now, there is another disaster looming, and this is not a test. The rising tide of the G.O.Tea Party activists abetted by millions of anonymous dollars from even more anonymous corporate sources have set the stage for a legal coup d’etat. The inevitability of serial electoral victories by the right wing of the right wing are broadcast hourly by Fox News and CNN and MSNBC and every other electronic media outlet with an audience of more than a dozen.

We have been assured that the accuracy of modern polling is so exact that there is no possibility of the equivalent of “Dewey Defeats Truman” headlines on November 3rd.

Perhaps it is this contrived inevitability that has dampened the enthusiasm and dulled the wits of the progressive and moderate factions of the American electorate. These same absolutist polls also assure us that these progressives and moderates lack the “enthusiasm” to come out to vote on November 2nd, while the G.O.Tea Party adherents, pitchforks and torches in hand, are set to appear at the polls in record numbers and will bring about a new and unprecedented era in political lunacy in this country.
The wonderment is not that this country has brought forth full-grown personas out of nowhere, like a team of Aphrodites walking from the brow of Zeus.

This country has a history of supernovas coming from nowhere and blazing across the sky of the public’s perception. President Obama comes to mind in this regard, but obviously his star came from a very different point on the horizon.

It may be amazing that Sarah Palin endorsed candidates like Joe Miller, Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, Christine O’Donnell and Linda McMahon may soon be in the United States Senate, but we shouldn’t be amazed if it happens.

Countless millions of dollars in cash and free air time donated by Fox News have combined to make political stars out of individuals that aren’t ready for prime time by any stretch of the imagination.

It is amazing that progressives and moderates are not motivated to vote on November 2nd. Whatever the dissatisfaction may exist because of various legislative initiatives that have not come to pass, it is very clear (because the G.O.Tea Party candidates are very clear and articulate in this regard) that there is an intent to dismantle as much of the governmental apparatus as possible.

The fact that this governmental apparatus has allowed Americans (including all of the G.O.Tea Party candidates) to enjoy a quality of life unequaled in world history is clearly irrelevant. Taking back America means taking this country back to a time when racial segregation is a state matter, corporations can make unlimited anonymous contributions to skew political campaigns and when Social Security was debatable and Medicare was part of a communist conspiracy that should be opposed at all costs.

THIS IS NOT A TEST and the G.O.Tea Party is no joke. Despite the fractured syntax and ignorance of basic items like world events and the United States Constitution and American history, these men and women mean to remake this country in their own benighted vision and we will all be truly worse off for their victory.

For men and women who are eligible to vote to suggest that they are not sufficiently inspired by President Obama would be laughable if the stakes weren’t so high. If the changes advocated by the G.O.Tea Party are implemented it will take more than another set of elections in 2012 to right the wrongs and repair the damage.

Consider how difficult it has been to redress the damage done by 8 years of George W. Bush – and he is considered a suspicious moderate by the G.O.Tea Party faithful!

During the next few weeks every Point of View column will focus on the importance of voting as well as the importance of understanding the G.O.Tea Party agenda. How you vote is up to you.

But remember—-THIS IS NOT A TEST!

Standard
Point of View Columns

Weekend Edition – September 24, 2010

Summer has departed. A disappointing season to be sure, too hot, too angry and too crazy. Autumn usually promises a cooling a soothing moment before arid chill of winter, but probably not this year:

The Tea Party at the Gates

There has been much talk about the Tea Party movement and how it represents a populist surge that is therapeutic and cleansing. It has been likened to being a high colonic for the body politic.

But nothing in politics is ever that simple. There are deep seated resentments and restrained urges towards meanness that are now in the light of day, having been given legitimacy by a seemingly supine Republican Party leadership.
Current G.O.Tea Party Republican candidates for Senate promise to bring an agenda to Washington that does not seem to be therapeutic.

There is one candidate who believes that unemployment insurance may be unconstitutional (Miller – Alaska). There is another who believes that women in the military vitiate the preparedness of the American armed forces (O’Donnell – Delaware). We can’t forget the candidate who questions the legitimacy of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Paul – Kentucky). And then there is the potential United States Senator who proposes to abolish the Department of Energy and the Department of Education as well as Social Security for good measure (Angle – Nevada).

I wish that someone would ask Michael Steele or Mitch McConnell or John McCain or Sarah Pailin if they really believe in this madness. Prior inquiries have been greeted with pabulum-like homilies about the right of the local electorate to express itself. But, of course, the United States Senate passes national legislation that affects everyone in this country.

Does Michael Steele really believe that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should be reconsidered? As an African American Mr. Steele and his family personally benefited from this historic legislation, does he give Rand Paul a pass on this one?

John McCain has spent his entire life in the military and has always been a supporter of women serving in the armed forces of this country. Is he prepared to support Christine O’Donnell and her antediluvian views on this subject?

Sarah Palin presumes to belong to America now, but she never hesitates to refer to her Alaskan roots. No state has benefited more from the policies of the Department of Energy than Alaska. Is she prepared to correct Sharron Angle on this subject?

Clearly there is anger and resentment and bitterness flowing through this country. Candidates who channel that anger can be successful in the short term. But if those emotions are only channeled in a destructive direction Steele, McCain, Palin, etc. may regret reaping what they have sown. And so will the rest of us.

War Without End

“You have to recognize also that I don’t think you win this war. I think you keep fighting. It’s a little bit like Iraq, actually. . . . This is the kind of fight we’re in for the rest of our lives and probably our kids’ lives.”……General David Petraeus from Obama’s War by Robert Woodward

This one quote from Robert Woodward’s new book is chilling and sad and heartbreaking. If the military proponents of the war in Afghanistan do not believe that the war is “winnable”, however that may be defined, then why are hundreds upon thousands of men, women and children going to die as a result of that war?

It is clear to many that the security of the American homeland is not tied to the war in Afghanistan in terms of protecting the citizens of this country. The security of this country is undoubtedly endangered by the anger and resentment arising from the collateral deaths of thousands of civilians sucked down into the cauldron of war. And yet, this country still goes forward in this war without end.

The Mouths of Gift Horses

There is an old saying about not looking a gift horse in the mouth. A fairly benign advisory needs to be brushed off given the events of this Friday.

On September 24th, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook and said to be worth over $7 billion, will announce a gift of $100 million to the Newark (New Jersey) school system. This gift represents 10% of the annual budget for that city’s school system and is by far the largest individual gift that it has ever received. Newark Mayor Corey Booker will accept this gift on the Oprah Winfrey show. So what could be wrong with this picture?

Some critics are carping that Mr. Zuckerberg is making this gift because an uncomplimentary bio-pic entitled “The Social Network” is opening in theaters at the same time. Somehow, this $100 million donation to the children and teachers and administrators and parents in Newark is supposed to blunt or deflect the inevitable criticism that will flow after “The Social Network” hits the silver screens of the world.

The thought that comes to my mind is “Who cares?” Tens of thousands of people will benefit from Mr. Zuckerberg’s largesse. In this era of naked and rampant greed and selfishness perhaps a few more of the mega wealthy men and women of this country will use the fig leaf of charity to hide their nakedness.

Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, Ford and many others have done it. If Mark Zuckerberg wants to burnish his image by doing undeniably good and charitable work, here’s hoping that a few more tycoons, athletes, rappers and bankers follow his lead.

Have a great weekend!

Standard
Point of View Columns

G.O.Tea Party

It was with great interest and no small sense of irony, that I read a recent article about Democrats debating whether or not to link the Republican Party to the Tea Party movement that is surging and deluging the right wing of the right wing. I actually wonder if predicate debates involved determining if the sky is in fact blue or if the law of gravity is a scientific fact.

My unsolicited advice is to simply state the facts – the Republican Party has become the carrier for the virulence and ugliness that is the Tea Party and is as dangerous and as toxic as the legendary Typhoid Mary or Gaetan Dugas, also known as Patient Zero (reputed as having been responsible for introducing the AIDS virus to North America).

The historical legitimacy and institutionalized stature of the G.O.P. has been hijacked and has been used to camouflage the nihilism and racism and extremism that are the true hallmarks of the Tea Party movement. And the traditional Republican leadership has been a willing participant to the hijacking, kind of like the Stockholm Syndrome gone wild.

Exhibit A: The REPUBLICAN senatorial candidate in Nevada, a Tea Party alumna by the name of Sharron Angle, is on record as saying that if a woman is impregnated as the result of rape she should not be permitted to have an abortion. Instead, according to Ms. Angle, the woman should look to “make lemonade from a lemon moment” and forego abortion and have a baby conceived by force and violence. Not one Republican leader has refused to support Ms. Angle’s candidacy.

Exhibit B: The REPUBLICAN senatorial candidate in Delaware, another Tea Party savant by the name of Christine O’Donnell, is on record as saying that women in the American military academies tends to weaken the capabilities of the armed services. Despite the fact that women in the military as an issue was decided many years ago, Ms. O’Donnell felt compelled to dredge up the bones of this moldy corpse of discrimination. Not one major Republican leader has refused to support Ms. O’Donnell’s candidacy despite the fulminations of Karl Rove to the contrary (he is supporting her, by the way).

Exhibit C: The REPUBLICAN gubernatorial candidate in New York, a Tea Party troglodyte by the name of Carl Paladino, has admitted to distributing e-mails containing pornography, titles like “Run Nigger Run” and has referred to the Jewish Speaker of the New York State “the ant-Christ”. While it is amazing that thousands of New Yorkers would find Mr. Paladino qualified to serve as governor, it is even more amazing that not a single Republican leader is sufficiently repulsed or revolted by his commentary to speak out against him.

We are witness to the Republican Party hierarchy remaining silent while their Tea Party spawn refers to President Obama as Hitler and an enemy of America. We have heard Republican candidates and wannabe candidates use terms like socialist, communist and Nazi when referring to President Obama and his Administration and I no longer wonder when they will hit bottom. The answer is never.

The silence of the Republicans, and too many Democrats and independents, is dangerous because hyperbole begets more hyperbole until the entire political discourse becomes overheated and potentially destructive. When “the tree of liberty must be watered by the blood of tyrants” becomes a campaign slogan we should be concerned. When “Second Amendment solutions to our political issues” becomes a political strategy we should be afraid.

America does not do metaphor very well. Not too long ago a misguided fool and Tea Party advocate flew his plane into an IRS office building to protest big government. He not only killed himself, he also killed an innocent IRS employee who thought he was serving his country and was not its enemy. We should be afraid to ask what is next.

But we should not be afraid to speak out against the madness that is being foisted upon the American people. The bright light of public attention and scrutiny must shine on the bizarre, fallacious and misanthropic rants and ravings that are thinly disguised as campaign rhetoric.

In point of fact we are witness to an effort designed to fundamentally change this country. Talk of “taking this country back” is not idle chatter. This is a clarion call to take this country back into a time when civil rights and social compassion were simply not a part of the national dialogue. It is a call to take this country back into the hands of an almost entirely white, monochromatic segment of this population, relegating everyone else into the class of the “other”.

That is why the Lower Manhattan Islamic center controversy is so important. Today it is the Muslims and the Arabs. Tomorrow it is the immigrants who can be racially profiled. It is always the black people and the day after it may be gays or Jews or any other “other”. The stampede towards mindless prejudice in the name of some barely articulated concept of patriotism and nationalism is a story that has been told many times in history. It never has a happy ending.

It is time for those of us who have a different vision to be heard. Silence would be a greater sin than all the clarion call for injustice.

Standard