Observations after Massachusetts Senate debacle...

Progressives embrace safety nets of rights, basic health care & sustenance for all humanity. Some call this "Socialism" & are violently opposed to "Redistribution of Wealth." But "Socialization of Costs?" The opponents' story changes. Pollution, Hazardous Consumables, Workplace Injuries or fatalities - Let the public assume these costs! Socialize the costs to the masses & privatize profits for the wealthy. Nice...
(And voters continue to roll over, preferring image over issues...)

Jefferson Quips...

A few political quotes I happen to think should grow some legs and wander the blogosphere...

"The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking." – A. A. Milne

"Ignorant free speech often works against the speaker. That is one of several reasons why it must be given rein instead of suppressed." - Anna Quindlen

"The unrestricted competition so commonly advocated does not leave us the survival of the fittest. The unscrupulous succeed best in accumulating wealth." - Rutherford Birchard Hayes (Yes, THAT Rutherford B. Hayes)

"The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts. He ascribes all his failure to get on in the world, all of his congenital incapacity and damfoolishness, to the machinations of werewolves assembled in Wall Street, or some other such den of infamy." - H. L. Mencken, 1936

And finally:

"The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable." - James A. Garfield

I'm open to further suggestions...

Open note to A NeoCon...

I hate that everything in the freaking world is turning into American Idol.

The court ruled... Bush ignored them - but he's gone and thankfully we have now got someone who is a Constitutional Scholar in that office.

The cowboy nonsense won't happen again, if for no other reason than that President Obama UNDERSTANDS the law and what is within the constraints of the Constitution.

Hands down, the weirdest part of the debate is that Progressives like me are arguing FOR the Constitution and the Rule of Law, while NeoCons are arguing that the marginally definable idea of 'safety' trumps the law - and is worthy of finding new and interesting interpretations of the law to arrange.

Extraordinary Rendition? Kidnapping? Black Sites?
That's what we ALL knew the Commies did during the cold war. What the hell happened to make that OK with you guys????

America is NOT a semantic argument.

Today's Executive Orders....

1) "The individuals currently detained at Guantánamo have the constitutional privilege of the writ of habeas corpus."

>> The writ of habeas corpus is restored. We return, as a people and as a country, to the rule of law.

2) "The CIA shall close as expeditiously as possible any detention facilities that it currently operates and shall not operate any such detention facility in the future."

>>Not only does this begin the process of closing Gitmo, but it SPECIFICALLY enjoins the CIA from running any other site of this type - including Black Sites. Excellent!

3) "All departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall provide the International Committee of the Red Cross with notification of, and timely access to, any individual detained in any armed conflict in the custody or under the effective control of an officer, employee, or other agent of the United States Government or detained within a facility owned, operated, or controlled by a department or agency of the United States Government, consistent with Department of Defense regulations and policies."

>>The red cross can visit prisoners. No 'Ghost' prisoners. No 'hidden' prisoners. No more families not knowing where their loved one is. No one can simply be 'disappeared'.

Hooray for freedom.
Hooray for the rule of law.
Hooray for America.

The cynics were wrong. Sometimes government DOES fix what it broke.

The rules... For Bloggers

A lengthy browse of the verbal expectorations know as Internet Blogs reveals that the multiverse of computer-savvy (or at least keyboard-capable) humans, is simply replete with…Nothing.

The world of blogs – if random clickage on ‘Blogger’ is any evidence – is populated with the most mindless, self-centered, boring yutzes since God decided that it was his/her universe and we were just visitors in it.

So, comes the time for a set of commandments. The Seven (so far) Commandments for Bloggers. Unfortunately, as I do not have the alleged powers of the alleged almighty, this list will have to be accepted as an advisory, and my recommended response to infractions against this list (drawing and quartering, followed by incineration and use of the ashes as fertilizer) will go, sadly, unenforced…

1) The word ‘My’ SHALL NOT appear in blog titles and/or subtitles.
We know it’s yours, genius. There has never been a immaculately conceived blog. They are writ by humans (or guys like Ann Coulter) and if this is the extent of your ability to present yourself, you might want to go back to composing grocery lists and greeting cards.

2) The word ‘Blog’ SHALL NOT appear in the title unless said blog is a parody.
Think parody movie titles… ‘Scary Movie’ or ‘Kentucky Fried Movie’… As with the first commandment, we already know it’s a blog. Sheesh.

3) We will NOT be having this whine with dinner.
The litany of misery and suffering you have experienced is yours to carry for the duration. Deal. There are bartenders and friends who will gladly share said suffering, and therapists who will gladly decrease the size of your wallet while responding pretty much like those bartenders and/or friends. Thus, unless you are paying me, I do not give a tinker’s damn who took your candy when you were a child.

4) Pictures of babies or pets are a sure cure for being read.
Whoever made the leap from blogging as a way to communicate to blogging as a replacement for vacation-picture-torture or child/grandchild gloat-overing was a terrorist of a magnitude that leaves groups like Al Queida, Hamas or Jehovah’s Witnesses green with envy. The internet, that bastion of freedom and truth, is mired in prattle about how cutesy wiw bay-bees look on the way to Wal-Mart with mommy… or the nanny… or funny Uncle Mervyn. New ways to toilet train are things to discuss in an goddamn email, please.

5) Just say no to exotic background art and zero contrast type.
The definition of communication is simple: Message sent… same message received. If your page looks like Ralph Steadman designed it may get a “first in show’ from the local Art forum, but ain’t nobody going to hurt theyself trying to decipher your brand of hieroglyphics… same-same for silver-type-on-gray-backgrounds… If your page isn’t easy to read it won’t get read at all. Why would a total stranger work that hard for your thoughts when thoughts on the web are retailing for .0000000000000000001 cents a pound.

6) If you allow comments, some perfectly reasonable people will disagree with you. Unless those disagreements are provably dishonest, obscene, or exceedingly uncivil, you don’t delete their account.

Blogs are opinions and everybody has one – the marketplace of ideas is NOT consistent with “if you wanna talk, get yer own blog.” Allowing for comments is a tacit acceptance of the possibility that you’ll learn something from others. If you cancel every though that isn’t yours, you may revel in the gloriously unanimous accolades of those who agree, but you won’t be engaged in educating yourself, nor will you be the one who collects enough divergent viewpoints to synthesize an informed, original opinion. Any parrot can repeat what they heard, just listen to the Political Sci Fi Channel (Fox).

7) On the other hand…

Dogma, jingoism and irrational nonsense, as well as circular logic (“I believe in the Bible because the Bible tells me to.”) is just cause for redirecting your energies toward some useful form of therapy. Or an increase in the quality and quantity of your meds. It is not a reason for your comments to be tolerated by fully functional industrial hominids. Write in your journal and leave bandwidth for those who are not wearing tin-foil hats, looking under the bed for aliens, or exclusively acquiring their “ knowledge” on the Political Sci Fi Channel (Fox).

8) Give everybody a bit of time.

It took a little while for this rule to make sense (ironic, no?). Some folks will arrive, full to bursting with wind and flail, yelling from (or at) the yardarm and saying ill-conceived things. Speak to them is if they were humans. In some cases, a couple, three posts into the dialogue an amazing thing will happen – They’ll calm down and start actually talking to you. The blogosphere is so full of rick-rolling-ranters that many folks start with the volume cranked up to eleven and it takes a calm response to get them back to ground - but back to ground they will go. Not all, not even many, but enough to be worth the few incidental wasted words.

A riff on the people who 'hate' poetry...

The choice of Chicago's Elizabeth Alexander as the inaugural poet is, unsurprisingly, generating sturm und drang among the cultural monotheists who don't think that, with the possible exception of the birthday cards they send their grandchildren, anything writ after Yeats and Pound qualifies as poetry...

The willful ignorance and anger of those who neither 'get' poetry, nor wish to, is staggering. It isn't enough for them to treat it like hot peppers or escargot some other exotic food: "Hey, I don't happen to like it, but if you do fine."

The dismissive voices instead decry the art as if their personal opinion were the be-all and end-all of culture. As if they had, simply put, a clue, about poetry.

Need I explain that the level of poetry we're discussing is NOT available on Hallmark Cards, in bathroom stalls, or as a dirty limerick?

Poetry is song with the music built right into the words - it is the rhythm of language, and, like any other form of music, some folks will like one tune or type of poem more than another.

It is sad that those who do not care for the art feel the need to attack those who do.

Poetry is not evangelical - nobody cares if you don't like it and you won't 'burn forever' for not listening to spoken word. All you will lose is the magic of vision, the power of imagination, the beauty of a painting that can be heard.

The Supremes sing the fringe right's swan song...

So, It finally came down, all official and everything, from the highest court in the land. There will be no consideration given the nuisance lawsuits challenging the native-born status of the President Elect.

Lets say this again, slowly, for the politico-intellectually impaired:

Any idiot can file a lawsuit for any reason. The filing does not prove, imply or suggest merit to the case.

Our system of government does NOT require that judges hear nuisance suits, even when .05% of the population is whining out loud about the issue.

Ignorance lost.
Hate lost.
Stupidity lost.
Racism lost.

Democracy won!

President Barack Obama. 44th President of the United States of America.

On race in America - Post Election

I have regularly found posts on various blogs that say more or less: "The government is now going to hand out freebies to blacks." "Now that Obama's elected racism is over and we don't have to worry about it any more." and such like. Racist rationalizing.

Such comments piss me off. But, before I could pump up the righteous anger necessary to fire off a couple of rounds from my semi-automatic Bic, a blogpal of mine from the midwest, who goes by the name "It aint necessarily so" emptied a glorious Gatling Gun on the topic, so, with his permission, I quote him...

How dare you. Who the F do you think you're talking to like that? You and your pale, skinny, toothless, methed-out kind are the majority of the people with their hands out.

And you don't get to decide when equality has been achieved and when individual failure can be attributed purely to individual failings. As long as people like you continue to breathe our oxygen and exert your pernicious influence on the lives o others as you are now, it will be more difficult for some people to succeed than others.

You have to be feeling pretty inferior to want to elevate your own social status at the expense of somebody that you feel you can make appear lower than yourself. Do you think anybody that isn't just like you would be influenced to agree with you because of a comment like this? No, sir, you are at the very bottom of the social heap.

And you prove that by being the only ones who feel the need to be so repulsive to pull yourselves up a notch. Do you see anybody else doing this? Do you see black people who are so afraid of drowning socially that they jump on the backs of other people struggling to stay afloat and trying to push them under? I don't. That's just you, you anemic reprobate.

I think that *you* are the one who is confused by what the election of President Obama means to the average African-American. Your suggestion of what that is infuriates and nauseates mean. You are *so* unworthy to live among us, you POS. You're the part of America that shames the rest of us. And in my experience, you white supremacists are the dregs of the white race.

You are also threatened by what the election of a black man to the White house means to a loser like you who needs his racial prejudice to shelter him from the reality of what he is. You may be white and in the South, but you're no man, and this election makes it a little more obvious to everyone that knows you how inferior you are to a man like Barack Obama. He has class. You have a double wide. He shot up through the sea of other black children, of college applicants, of other Harvard law students, of other Chicago attorneys, of other Illinois state legislators and then of other national legislators in D.C. including Hillary Clinton to the highest office in the land like a hot knife through butter. And you? Look at yourself.

You need to put the black race down because you feel inferior. You are. Racist posts like this may help you to temporarily forget how meaningless and failed your own life is and give you a moment of comfort which you are willing to take at the expense of others, but I'm here to tell you that they have the opposite effect. They're seen by the rest of us for what they are: the desperate and unprincipled efforts of a loser in the game of life willing to do just about anything to feel better about himself. You don't deserve to feel better about yourself.

You deserve your small, unwashed, unloved, undistinguished life.

Some thoughts...

It's been almost a week since the uncontested (and incontestable ) victory of Barack H. Obama in the Presidential race.

The hoopla has largely subsided, save the few whose fear and anger does not quench in the sweet, warm rain of historic events. On some blogs, the partisan gall continues with threats of gloom, doom and the end of civilization as we know it.

Now, for some of us, civ-as-we-know-it for the past eight years (and even before that), can't end soon enough. An imperial President, who feigned 'folksy' to appeal to the lowest common denominator, was not the country, or the government, we wanted.

It could not be other than that, one day, there would be a President of color and it could not be other than that, one day, there would bigots and racists who'd hate the very notion of that President.

It is simply progress... The nineteenth and twentieth centuries versus the twenty-first. Class versus equality, caste versus equality - and the silly idea that looking at someone's skin as an avenue for judgment bears serious consideration - versus equality.

The world that spawned the bigots, the racists and, indeed, the current semi-literate-in-chief, is all but over.

Already, the country is different... Progressives, including veterans who had, until Tuesday night, packed away that American Flag that had flown over the Capitol, were gone to the cellar or the attic or the desk drawer, to find and display those flags, so proud are they - are we, that America is offering us a promise again. Yes, I am proud and hopeful... Just today, the WaPo offers this:

"Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team."

Granted, this is merely evidence of President-Elect Obama doing the job we hired him to do, it also bodes well for our country, our freedoms and the most historic election on our lives.

America lives up to its promise...

A truly historic occasion - I am thrilled by the results of the election, and proud of my fellow citizens for choosing hope over fear... Our latest "long national nightmare" may soon be over... Congratulations to President-Elect Barack Obama!

(and kudos to Senator McCain for a truly gracious concession speech - probably the finest words he spoke throughout his campaign...)

Shameless Self-Promotion (2-of-2) - Biker Poetry

OK... now that I got in *my* plug for The Rogues, I shall now draw your attention to some high-profile exposure recently received by Jefferson Weeps correspondent (and Biker Poet extraordinaire) RoadPoet-NY... Seems that our very own J. Barrett Wolf (or Bear, as he is known to many of us) managed to get some front page coverage on Boston.com - which is the online extension of the Boston Globe newspaper... Bear gets featured prominently in a story entitled, "The rhythms of the road" which examines the growing popularity and acceptance of Biker Poetry... Why not go and take a look for yourself? The article can be found at: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2008/10/21/the_rhythms_of_the_road/ Meanwhile... a hearty congratulations goes out to Bear, along with best wishes for the continued recognition of Biker Poets everywhere!

Shameless Self-Promotion (1-of-2) - The Rogues Acoustic Duo

Howdy all...

Just taking the briefest of moments to draw your attention to the online home of my most recent musical venture... After performing for many years as a solo act and as a member of touring rock bands from New Haven, CT and Hyannis, MA, I am now back on stage and lending my guitar and vocal abilities to an acoustic duo called "The Rogues" based out of the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts. We can be found online at http://www.valleyrogues.com (keeps us differentiated from all the 'other' Rogues out there...) or you can email/IM us at valleyrogues@yahoo.com More details will be coming soon... including news about a full band venture where we will be joined by a bassist and drummer!

I've seen the needle and the damage done...

a little part of it in everyone... Neil Young

The damage is done. We have allowed the corporate ideologues and Bush-league political whores to vote themselves the biggest golden parachute in the history of America.

They have chanted 'free-market' while they privatized profits and socialized losses.
They have covered the pasty-white arses of bankers and CEOs while a 90-year-old Akron, Ohio woman commits suicide inside her foreclosed home.
They have pointed fingers at ill-educated borrowers while lowering the standards for lending money - NOT because of any community lending laws - but because they MADE MORE MONEY.

Want to hear loan officers explain what they were doing and why...?

Podcast:

This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1242

The coming days will be interesting... in a Chinese curse sort of way.

Just say "No!" to the Wall St. Bailout Legislation!

Here is a "Call to Action" - compliments of:
http://www.votenobailout.org/

If you go to the site, you can have a form letter delivered to all your legislators, demanding that they balk at the blank check being demanded by Paulson and Bernanke.

You can also customize the letter to your liking, so I have attached my particular customized version for your perusal...


--- Text of Letter ---

Congress has no right to give the White House and its Secretary of the Treasury the power to transfer the people's money to the richest bankers in the country.

Vote No to the Bailout legislation.

The Bailout legislation is being rammed through Congress in a matter of days. This is an illegal power grab by the White House and their richest friends on Wall Street.

The Legislation allows the Treasury Department to appoint the same bankers who created the crisis to administer and dictate the use of trillions of our tax dollars.

If this legislation were to pass, it would constitute one of the biggest transfers of public wealth from working families to the private coffers of the ultra-rich in the history of the United States.

(Additionally, the "no judiciary review" clause in the bill is something that has been found unconstitutional time-and-time again, since the days of Marbury vs. Madison back in 1803!)

Congress should help families stay in their homes. Wealthy executives should be forced to disgorge their obscene profits, fees and bonuses that made them ultra-rich while they ran the economy into the ground.

This is nothing more than a publicly-funded bailout for private criminal recklessness, and there MUST be personal accountability on the part of those responsible.

Denver Flashback - Kucinich Rocked the Convention

In what probably *should* have been considered the keynote speech of the 2008 Democratic Convention, Ohio Representative and long-time Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich positively electrified the audience, bringing the crowd to its feet, causing those present to roar so loudly he had to yell into the microphone to be heard, and leaving the delegates cheering through the first part of the next speaker's remarks.

In the most spirited speech of the Tuesday session, now known as the "Wake Up, America!" speech, Kucinich railed against our illegal wars, the pitiful state of our economy and the Republican assaults on the Constitution and the Middle Class.

The text of the speech appears below, but please pay a visit to www.kucinich.us to see the amazing video footage, to sign on to an Impeachment Petition, or just to show some support for America's most courageous public servant.


--- Text of Speech ---

It's Election Day, 2008. We Democrats are giving America a wake up call. Wake up America. In 2001, the oil companies, the war contractors and the neo-con artists seized the economy, and have added four trillion dollars of unproductive spending to the national debt.

We now pay four times more for defense, three times more for gasoline and home heating oil, and twice what we paid for health care. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, their homes, their health care, their pensions. Trillions of dollars for an unnecessary war paid with borrowed money. Tens of billions of dollars in cash and weapons disappeared into thin air, at the cost of the lives of our troops and innocent Iraqis, while all the President’s oilmen are maneuvering to grab Iraq's oil.

Borrowed money to bomb bridges in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. No money to rebuild bridges in America. Money to start a hot war with Iran. Now we have another cold war with Russia while the American economy has become a game of Russian roulette.

If there was an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and misappropriating this Administration would take the gold. World records for violations of national and international laws. They want another four year term to continue to alienate our allies, spend our children's inheritance and hollow out our economy. We can't afford it, America.

Wake up America, the insurance companies took over health care.

Wake up America, the pharmaceutical companies took over drug pricing.

Wake up America, the speculators took over Wall Street.

Wake up America, they want to take your Social Security.

Wake up America, multinational corporations took over our trade policies, factories are closing, good paying jobs lost.

Wake up, America. We went into Iraq for oil. The oil companies want more. War against Iran will mean $10 a gallon gasoline. The Oil Administration wants to drill more -- into your wallet.

Wake up, America. Weapons contractors want more. An Iran war will cost five to ten trillion dollars.

This Administration can tap our phones. They can't tap our creative spirit. They can open our mail. They can't open economic opportunities. They can track our every move. They lost track of the economy while the cost of food, gasoline, and electricity skyrockets.

They skillfully played our post-911 fears and allowed the few to profit at the expense of the many. Everyday we get the color orange, while the oil companies, the insurance companies, the speculators, the war contractors get the color green.

Wake up America. This is not a call for you to take a new direction from right to left.

This is call for you to go from down to up.

Up with the rights of workers.

Up with wages.

Up with fair trade.

Up with creating millions of good paying jobs rebuilding our bridges, ports and water systems.

Up with creating millions of sustainable energy jobs to lower the cost of energy, lower carbon emissions and protect the environment.

Up with health care for all.

Up with education for all.

Up with home ownership.

Up with guaranteed retirement benefits.

Up with Peace.

Up with Prosperity.

Up with the Democratic Party

Up with Obama - Biden

Wake up, America.

Wake up, America.

Wake up, America.