SOTU

Dear Teacher,

The one thing I learned tonight is that I can pick any buttharp out of 6 notes and nail it with Jethro Tull.

Do I get bonus points for that?

Signed,

konagod (with love most sincere)

Obama's DEA Nominee

President Obama has nominated Michele Leonhart to be administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and I'm sure that will be lost in the media frenzy surrounding the Shirley Sherrod clusterfuck debacle.

Thankfully, NORML is all over it.

Under Leonhart’s leadership [as acting-administrator], the DEA has staged medical marijuana raids in apparent disregard of Attorney General Eric Holder’s directive to respect state medical marijuana laws. Most recently, DEA agents flouted a pioneering Mendocino County (CA) ordinance to regulate medical marijuana cultivation by raiding the very first grower to register with the sheriff. Joy Greenfield, 69, had paid more than $1,000 for a permit to cultivate 99 plants in a collective garden that had been inspected and approved by the local sheriff.

[...]

Ms. Leonhart has also demonstrated that she is unable to be objective in carrying out the duties of the administrator as it relates to medical marijuana research. In January 2009, she refused to issue a license to the University of Massachusetts to cultivate marijuana for FDA-approved research, despite a DEA administrative law judge’s ruling that it would be “in the public interest” to issue the license. This single act has blocked privately-funded medical marijuana research in this country.

Change Is Just Another Word

This new poll from WaPo/ABC News just disturbs me on so many levels.

Overall, a slim majority of all voters say they would prefer Republican control of Congress so that the legislative branch would act as a check on the president's policies. Those most likely to vote in the midterms prefer the GOP over continued Democratic rule by a sizable margin of 56 percent to 41 percent.

Wait. Don't we already have a pretty damn good "check on the president's policies" when he can barely get anything passed without watering it down for Republican taste, and then they typically vote no anyway?

The absurdity of the voter mentality has me ready to throw in the bloody towel and give up.

We Are All Slaves to Corporations

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

For the last few days I've been in one of my pessimistic dark blue funks which have me just wanting to give the hell up on just about everything. Clearly, I'd be better off if I'd just stop watching Michael Moore films because they definitely trigger these feelings of despair. However you may critique his work, his delivery, his attempts to make a citizen's arrest at AIG, or whatever, the bottom line is that he is correct in identifying a huge problem we have in this country which ultimately will lead to our downfall. And if you disagree with that, well, you might be part of the huge problem we have.

I suppose it's very easy for most of us to ignore what's going on, and just ride the awesome wave of life, getting our gravy from whatever work we can find, buying fun shit to distract us, and just observing passively all the things going wrong here, perhaps hoping someone will fix it eventually, and hoping it never directly impacts us in a negative way.

Sometimes I desperately wish I could just turn off and ignore.

I'm at the point where I don't even want to write about politics, whether it's a politician talking out of both sides of their mouth, a Supreme Court ruling, or even a little piece of positive news, rare as that is these days.

As I sit here watching President Obama's approval rating dropping like a stone from the level of 15 months ago, I keep wondering what will happen in the 2010 mid-terms and in the 2012 election. And then I see a poll such as this one, and I simply get bewildered.

Nine in 10 Americans -- including a majority of Republicans, Democrats and independents alike -- think U.S. energy policy either needs fundamental changes or to be completely rebuilt, a new CBS/ New York Times poll shows.

Just 6 percent think only minor changes are needed to the nation's energy policy, according to the poll, conducted June 16 - June 20.

That sounds like good news, right? Isn't this what most of us wanted in the 2008 election, change? The kind of fundamental wholesale changes necessary to get us back on a sound track, and even completely rebuilding what is clearly broken. And it's not just energy policy. Most of us who voted for Obama expected that, as well as a repeal of DADT, the enactment of a strong ENDA bill, an exit from two reprehensible wars, closing Guantanamo, campaign finance reform, comprehensive health care reform including a public option, etc. I could go on but I think you get my point.

Had Barack Obama's campaign slogan been "incremental change you can believe in," I doubt there would have been as much hoopla surrounding his candidacy. "Hope" only goes so far...about as far as praying for campaign finance reform. Go ahead; knock yourselves out, but it's not going to change a damn thing until we change. And "we" don't seem to want to change. I mean, think about it. Obama supporters wanted all this change, and we didn't get it, and now there's a real chance Republicans are going to pick up a few dozen seats in Congress come November. I'm not going to write-off the White House to them yet, but you know damn well it's a possibility in 2012.

This really isn't a problem per se with Obama, or any other elected official. This is a problem with the American people and our expectations, coupled with an ignorance of how politics works, and who really has their grimy little paws on the strings of this absurd puppet show.

Campaigns and all their fancy slogans are nothing more than elaborate advertising campaigns and we are all too easily seduced by the promises of whiter whites, crispier chicken parts, easier housecleaning, and more bars with fewer dropped calls. The reality is that someone is usually taking us for a ride, and we're paying their expenses. Maybe we should just sell naming rights to the White House and all the monuments in DC to the highest bidding corporation and be done with it.

But back to that CBS poll I linked to earlier. Here's our other problem, and until we can come to terms with it, we are never going to experience the kind of change we expect and demand.

Moreover, nearly half of Americans -- 45 percent -- would support an increased tax on gasoline to support the exploration of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. But most people -- 51 percent -- oppose such a tax.

So, 51% of us want all this change, but we think it needs to come without a price and without any effort on our part. A majority of us -- slim as it is -- don't want the inconvenience which is often necessary for progress. I can't help but wonder if these are the people who want all taxes removed from fuel and everything else.

Go ahead, drive your cars with untaxed fuel until the roads and bridges start to crumble. I don't want to hear your complaints when a bridge falls into a river. I don't want to hear a peep from you when you hit a pothole and you spill hot Starbucks on your crotch. Eventually, a corporately-managed toll road will come to your rescue. Enjoy your ride.

And I'm going to stop wasting my time on hope until that other half gets their fucking shit together.

To those of you who voted for "hope" and "change" and are dissatisfied right now with the direction of the country, and you think swinging back to the Republican Party is going to make it all better, you either have a short memory or you're incredibly stupid naive, or both. Stop believing in slogans. Life is more complicated than that and requires a hell of a lot more effort to find the truth. And when you find the truth, you ain't gonna like it very much because the system is not going to be fixed by putting an X next to a name in a voting booth or on an absentee ballot; it's going to take an uncomfortable revolution to fix it. And frankly, I'm not sure when 51% of us are going to have the cojones for it.

Problems in the Factory

We certainly knew the Obama Administration was going to bring us change. And here we are. Obama, in his first year, does what George W. Bush took seven years to do: admit that mistakes were made.

When Mr. Obama presents his first State of the Union address on Wednesday evening, aides said he would accept responsibility, though not necessarily blame, for failing to deliver swiftly on some of the changes he promised a year ago. But he will not, aides said, accede to criticism that his priorities are out of step with the nation’s.

President Bush didn't get a bounce from his admission that mistakes were made, "where there were mistakes," and things are a hell of a lot worse now than in January 2007. Both of those goddamned wars are still raging without end, millions more unemployed, millions have been through or are facing foreclosure, and the economy isn't showing signs of life for the tens of millions affected by it. In additon we've seen racism refueled and an uprising by Tea Baggers and the hardcore Republican base is angry and energized in contrast to 2007.

It's a shame this health reform legislation wasn't passed already by late summer 2009. Perhaps Obama could have done more, pushed harder, had more heart-to-heart conversations with the American people about the urgency and importance of the legislation. Perhaps he tried to be too bipartisan in a new world where the differences between the left and right are no longer similar to a reconciliation between opinions in Oregon and opinions in Missouri. These days the contrast is more like Iowa and Iran.

Obama clearly has made some mistakes. But it is equally accurate to say he's not 100% to blame. Our dysfunctional Congress gets their share. Congress is like a faulty automobile assembly line trying to pump out vehicles which are acceptable to the public by welding parts from a Hummer onto a Mustang and thinking we wouldn't notice all the ill-fitting parts, and providing us with absolutely no clue when we can get the lemon fixed.

If we truly want to move forward, it's not enough to have a president who can move his mouth and make inspiring words. We need a president who isn't afraid to crack a whip. More importantly, we need to repair the factory. We need to stop outsourcing to corporations and lobbyists. The factory needs new management. The workers need better training and some workplace diversity classes. They need to learn how to walk and chew gum at the same time. And the assembly line might need to be stripped down and replaced.

Nothing coming out of Barack Obama's mouth tonight is likely to change those facts.

“Democrats are really looking for that spark again,” said David Young, chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party. “We feel like we may be off track and we’re looking for the president to come out with bold initiatives and to lead.”

With a quarter of his first term behind him already, I suppose now is as good a time as any. Whether or not that will be enough to get us progressing remains to be seen.

I have my doubts.

War & Peace & Excess Emissions

Gotta love the irony of a war president accepting a peace prize.

Nine days after announcing a major escalation in the war in Afghanistan, President Obama arrived at Norway’s City Hall on Thursday to formally accept the Nobel Peace Prize, evoking the notion of a “just war” and robustly defending the use of military force “on humanitarian grounds” and to preserve peace.

At least he sees it.

“Still, we are at war,” he said, “ and I am responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to battle in a distant land. Some will kill. Some will be killed. And so I come here with an acute sense of the cost of armed conflict — filled with difficult questions about the relationship between war and peace, and our effort to replace one with the other.”

So did a few others.

Across the street from the institute, a crowd chanted and held up a yellow banner, saying: “Obama You Won It, Now Earn It.”

Many Norwegians were annoyed that Obama's trip was so short, and that he skipped a few traditional formalities surrounding the event.

The president is scheduled to return to Washington on Friday.

Oh, but not for long. He'll be hopping back on Air Force One next week en route to Copenhagen.

The United States will have representation in Copenhagen throughout the negotiating process by State Department negotiators and Cabinet officials who will highlight the great strides we have made this year towards a clean energy economy.

Great green strides indeed! Like going 10 miles in a Hummer to pick up a can of tomato paste at the supermarket and returning home, and then an hour later going back out two miles beyond the supermarket to a post office to fetch a single stamp.

Nice carbon footprint!

Really?

During the George W. Bush years many “real” things happened.. For instance, the USA really did get attacked on 9/11/2001, by terrorists. George Bush sat reading “My Pet Goat” in Florida, at the Emma T. Booker Elementary School for five minutes after he had been told the second tower in New York had been attacked. Really, there is even film of it. http://www.thememoryhole.org/911/bush-911.htm). Bush hastily enacted the Patriot Act after the 9/11 attacks. This act allows the government to do warrantless searches (Section 213), it really allows warrantless wiretapping (Section 206). It allows the subpoenaing of personal records without probable cause or judicial oversight (Section 505), and Section 412 gives the attorney general authority to order a brief detention of aliens without any prior showing or court ruling that the person is dangerous. Really. George Bush initiated two wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Iraq war really was based on lies, the Afghan war, a supposed hunting down of Bin Laden and eradication of the Taliban has really been a dismal failure. Over 4000 American military personnel, along with countless thousands of Iraqis and Afghans have died in these wars. They are really dead, and every day more people are really killed. Bush really opened detention facilities where “enemy combatants” could be held, indefinitely, without charges. With the help of the Attorney General, at the request of the CIA, he and Dick Cheney really did authorize and then allow the use of (as defined in the Geneva Conventions) torture such as water boarding, sealing people in boxes with stinging insects, and dousing them with ice cold water.

In 2008, just before leaving the presidency, George Bush really did request that Congress provide money to AIG, and several failing financial institutions and Congress (which included Barack Obama) really did grant his request, setting aside almost a trillion dollars to be doled out to these failing giants. George Bush started the “bailout” on his watch, giving away almost a half billion dollars to failing banks and Wall Street firms. Really.

Despite of all of these real things done and said in the prior eight years, for the first eight and a half months of the Obama presidency it seems we have entered into Superman’s bizzarro world, some version of an alternative reality. A world where, if you listen to those on the right, the government is itching to turn America into some sort of Socialist/Fascist hybrid, a world where the President is a secret Muslim, a world where the government is poised to unleash death panels, hell bent on killing the infirm and elderly. A world where the man who inherited the biggest deficit in history, two wars, and an economy on the brink of collapse, with a constitution stripped by the previous administration to it’s bare bones, is actually the man responsible for it. Reality or reason has no place, it would seem, when it comes to discussing Obama, only raw emotion and pent up rage, not just over the loss of an election, in my opinion, but the winning of the presidential election by a black man. That is sad to say in the very least because it precludes any genuine discussion based on facts, of issues such as health care for those who do not have it, turning the economy around, or any other change for the better in the real world, that my lovely wife, my children, my friends, my fellow countrymen, and I live in. Ironically, it also makes it nearly impossible for any genuine criticism of the Obama administration, because how do you separate reality from the bull shit based on out and out lies, wild unsubstantiated conjecture or disingenuous interpretations sold as “fact”, and then propagated by an irresponsible press and the ignorant racists who want to believe them?

There is of course, a difference between thoughtfully supporting the president and unconditionally supporting him like you would a sports team, or a pop star. “Fans” leave reason at the door, and blindly support the object of their fanaticism. The fans who supported George Bush through one disaster after another during his eight year reign of incompetence are no different that the “fans” of Barack Obama who blindly support anything he does. Personally, I do not agree with Obama’s decision to forgo prosecution of those whose committed acts of torture, including those who authorized it. I do not agree with his supporting, with my tax money, companies who have mismanaged themselves into near bankruptcy. I do not agree with his continuing compromise with an opposition party that does not control any branch of the government, but seems to continue to call the shots when it comes to policy. I don’t agree with allowing Van Jones, who could have done immense amount of good for the country, to resign from his green jobs creation position appointed by Obama, after pressure from ass-clown and seditionist Glenn Beck. I don’t agree with including the health care providers in any discussion of health care reform. That is sort of like getting the foxes to negotiate with the chickens on diet reform. I think we should be pursuing a single payer health care system; or in simple terms, Medicare for all. I don't think we should continue to pour troops into an unwinnable war in Afghanistan. These points of contention though, unlike death panels, Muslim conspiracies, and Obama’s alleged desire for a ridiculously dichotomous, socialist/fascist America are based in reality, they were not the product of some primeval, visceral rage against someone based on their party affiliation, or skin color.

Reality seems to be an unpopular basis for debate these days. It would be refreshings, and a whole lot less mind numbing if the debate on health care specifically, and the new administration’s policy in general could be discussed rationally and thoughtfully, minus the fan’s blind admiration, and the people who seem to hate Obama for reasons other than his policies. Really.

I Still Believe

And fuck those Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats who stayed seated during the most poignant moments of his speech. Damn them to defeat.

Awkward Moments in Television

For those of you who missed this on Hardball last night, I present you with one of the most uncomfortable interviews I have ever seen. I joked to txrad that Sarah Palin should choose this woman to be her VP running mate on 2012.

But seriously, why this woman would choose to go on national television is beyond my comprehension.

Stop the F-22 Now!

My three-dimensional political spectrum just got a little more bent this morning after reading about the F-22 fighter jets. President Obama has rightfully said he won't sign the military spending bill unless the $1.75 billion program to buy seven jets is removed from the bill.

Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry support the purchase. Senators Carl Levin and John McCain oppose it. Supporters want the program because of the high-paying jobs which will be retained. That sounds reasonable on the surface except for one small detail: The Pentagon doesn't really need these jets.

The Pentagon would rather buy unmanned aircraft to gather intelligence in Afghanistan and accelerate the testing for the F-35, a new plane designed to attack ground targets. Pentagon officials say the F-22 is hard to maintain and costs $44,000 to operate for an hour, compared with $30,000 for older planes.

But many Republicans in Congress say more F-22s, which were designed for aerial combat, are needed as a hedge against countries like China.

Holy shit! Let's break this down into bite-sized pieces. In an era when we desperately need to be spending money on things like infrastructure, education, reducing poverty, combating homelessness, health care, gaining energy independence and developing renewable energy sources to name but a few, we have senators pushing for a military expenditure which is unnecessary, simply to keep workers employed. (And keeping executives and stockholders of Lockheed Martin happy.)

It is this kind of disconnect which has me wondering how we'll ever get out of this hole. (We won't, but that's another issue.)

And that argument that the F-22s are a hedge against China? Please. If China wanted to bring us down, they already are well-positioned to cripple us via the economic system. However, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the chairman of the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee, believes China will potentially be a threat at some point, "particularly as it will compete directly with the United States for energy supplies."

All the more reason we should be addressing our energy needs now, not when we're over a barrel. No pun intended.

Consider as well, the costs to operate each of the F-22s: $44,000 is one American worker's annual salary for every hour the jets are in use. And that's on top of the $1.75 billion price tag which is another 38,636 such annual salaries.

While that may amount to a minuscule fraction of the jobs we've lost in the current recession, to squander that money unnecessarily is wrong-headed, misguided, and totally void of reasonable logic.

Let's jump back to the China statement for a moment, and John Murtha. And Japan's desire to buy F-22 fighter jets. But there's a slight problem: there's an export ban on the jets.

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the chairman of the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee, said Wednesday that he intends to meet in the coming days with Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) and Rep. Bill Young (Fla.), Murtha’s GOP counterpart on the Defense subcommittee, to discuss lifting the export ban on the F-22.

The key player in that briefing will be Obey, who in 1998 wrote the legislation that bans the exports of the F-22 mainly to keep secret the aircraft’s radar-evading stealth technology. Obey has not budged since, and it’s unclear whether he is willing to relent.

On the surface, it sounds like a pretty good idea if we want to keep these jobs. Allow Japan to buy the jets instead of us building them for ourselves unnecessarily. A win-win situation, right? Ummm, not so fast. In the world of politics, military, and money, things are never simple.

Murtha, who is willing to work with Inouye on facilitating the sale of the F-22 to the Japanese, admitted it is an expensive proposition that also depends on whether Lockheed Martin’s Marietta, Ga., production line will stay open for several more years. That production line in turn depends on U.S. domestic orders for the plane. The Obama administration did not ask for money for the production of the fighter jet in fiscal 2010 and is adamant about halting production after the 187th airplane is delivered to the Air Force.

Murtha said that he would like to be able to purchase another 20 aircraft in 2010, but that he is uncertain whether that would be possible, considering the total price tag for those planes is $3.2 billion. Murtha also said that he is concerned about the high cost of operating and maintaining the existing planes.

Ahh, catch-22 with the F-22! We need to keep paying to keep the plant operational (i.e. churning out unneeded and expensive jets) until we can work out the details of an export to Japan, which might ultimately help with that Big Red Scare from China when they need more energy.

There are not even any guarantees at this point that this plan will even come to fruition.

For the F-22 to end up in Japan, Lockheed Martin would have to spend a considerable amount of time — several years — demilitarizing the plane. That essentially means stripping the jet of sensitive technologies employed by the U.S. military. That could be costly. By Murtha’s calculations the research and development to remove those capabilities would cost at least $1 billion and could go much higher, and it is unclear whether the Japanese would be able to pay such a steep price.

There's a lot more going on here than just "saving American jobs." I smell a big ol' stinking dead rat.

Losing My Hope

I've been in the doldrums all week and can't seem to snap out of it. The heat might be getting to me. We've already had 15 days of temperatures at 100° or over, and 8 of those days were 105° or more. Today is likely to be the 9th day of such extreme heat. Incidentally, that is my threshold for meeting the definition "hot as fuck." Between 99.5° and 104.4° is just "damned hot." Unless there is an afternoon cloud providing some shade, I am now limiting my walking regimen to mornings until this heat subsides. But I digress.

I am also being weighed down by some very unpleasant political realities which, unlike the heat, will not fade away by mid-September. It's giving me a restless anxiety.

The fact that I built up a set of completely unrealistic expectations for change in the Obama administration is chewing the hell out of my raw nerves. And now that Barack Obama's approval rating is dropping, speculation is being fueled as to whether he will be a one-term president, and whether the Democrats will start losing seats in the 2010 mid-terms if the economy hasn't improved substantially by this time next year. In the meantime, everyone is scrambling to figure out what to do.

The looming political battle is about how to respond, and three camps are forming. The first includes the White House and most Democratic leaders in Congress, who champion a wait-and-see approach until more of the stimulus money hits the streets.

White House officials estimate that the government has committed $158 billion for spending around the country, but only about one-third of that has been spent. Temporary tax cuts have totaled about $43 billion thus far, according to White House estimates.

A second camp, consisting of nervous Democrats and some economists, argues that the government must spur the economy with another round of spending, tax cuts or a mixture of both.

The third camp is led by Republicans, many of whom argue that the spending program was wrong from the start and that the government should focus on tax cuts.

Ahh, yes, the same old tired song and dance routine. Maybe we need a fourth camp.

I keep asking myself, "why are our choices limited to center-right Democrats or far-right Republicans?" The progressive left really isn't getting much of a shot at fixing the problems if we keep becoming disillusioned with a lack of progress among the current crop and then swing wildly back to the right in 2010 and/or 2012.

Then I realize that is the only scenario because this country will probably require another century or two for us to get our shit together. Because the substantive change I am seeking is not going to be brought about by Congressional coddling, reaching across the aisle, and compromising on critically important matters.

To use a beer analogy, when I voted for change, it was not to replace Bud Light with Miller Lite, or even Heineken. I want to be knocked off my feet by a rich, dark, smoky unpasteurized brew on tap, with a thick frothy head, served in a pint glass instead of an aluminum can.

Unfortunately, that's not the American way. And this reluctance to not only embrace change, but failing to aggressively pursue it, could well be our downfall.

The level of corruption in politics is astounding, and our political system itself seems to be choking our hope, or mine at least. Here is one example which brilliantly illustrates the gross inefficiency of our federal and state governments.

According to an analysis by The New York Times of 5,274 transportation projects approved so far — the most complete look yet at how states plan to spend their stimulus money — the 100 largest metropolitan areas are getting less than half the money from the biggest pot of transportation stimulus money. In many cases, they have lost a tug of war with state lawmakers that urban advocates say could hurt the nation’s economic engines.

The stimulus law provided $26.6 billion for highways, bridges and other transportation projects, but left the decision on how to spend most of it to the states, which have a long history of giving short shrift to major metropolitan areas when it comes to dividing federal transportation money. Now that all 50 states have beat a June 30 deadline by winning approval for projects that will use more than half of that transportation money, worth $16.4 billion, it is clear that the stimulus program will continue that pattern of spending disproportionately on rural areas.

“If we’re trying to recover the nation’s economy, we should be focusing where the economy is, which is in these large areas,” said Robert Puentes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, which advocates more targeted spending. “But states take this peanut-butter approach, taking the dollars and spreading them around very thinly, rather than taking the dollars and concentrating them where the most complex transportation problems are.”

[...]

Seattle found itself shut out when lawmakers in the State of Washington divided the first pot of stimulus money. Missouri has directed nearly half its money to 89 small counties which, together, make up only a quarter of the state’s population. The United States Conference of Mayors, which did its own analysis of different data last month, concluded that the nation’s metropolitan areas were being “shortchanged.”

Basically, the stimulus money, or the transportation segment of it at least, is simply being squandered with no rhyme, reason or logic.

Oh, there's a reason all right (emphasis mine):

“We have a long history of shortchanging cities and metropolitan areas and allocating transportation money to places where few people live,” said Owen D. Gutfreund, an assistant professor of urban planning at the City University of New York who wrote “20th Century Sprawl: Highways and the Reshaping of the American Landscape” (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Professor Gutfreund said that in some states the distribution was driven by statehouse politics, with money spread to the districts of as many lawmakers as possible, or given out as political favors. In others, he said, the money is distributed by formulas that favor rural areas or that give priority to state-owned roads, often found far outside of urban areas.

Here we are facing the most dire economic situation since the Great Depression and it's still all about selfish personal greed in political circles. Have no fear, this is all part of the Obama administration's master plan:

Obama administration officials, who have called for ending sprawl and making sure that federal transportation spending is cost-effective, say they are looking at how states are spending the money from the stimulus law, officially called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the current system.

“The transparency that comes with Recovery Act funds is letting us see what’s happening in real time, and that’s a good thing,” said Roy Kienitz, an under secretary of transportation for policy. “Understanding where recovery dollars go and why will help us determine how to shape long-term transportation policies with the goal of getting the most benefit for every dollar.”

Bull-fucking-shit! Come on! This behavior is nothing new; this has been going on in some form or another through the centuries.

It is clear that states and politicians cannot be trusted to spend the stimulus money wisely, and as it was intended. Hooray for transparency so we can all be annoyed. Well, except for the millions of Americans who aren't paying attention. I know, I know, I'm being too harsh. Let them get through their Michael Jackson grief and then I'm sure they'll come around.

Aside from the economy and the recovery efforts, there's tremendous pressure to overhaul health care which, if the transportation stimulus spending provides any clues, we are likely to get screwed in the ass on that front as well. There isn't a perfect health care scenario, but you can bet we could do a whole lot better than what we'll end up with once Obama and Congress are done compromising and kissing ass with Big Pharma.

The nation's largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosures and other records.

[...]

The hirings are part of a record-breaking influence campaign by the health-care industry, which is spending more than $1.4 million a day on lobbying in the current fight, according to disclosure records. And even in a city where lobbying is a part of life, the scale of the effort has drawn attention. For example, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) doubled its spending to nearly $7 million in the first quarter of 2009, followed by Pfizer, with more than $6 million.

The push has reunited many who worked together in government on health-care reform, but are now employed as advocates for pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

It is ironic that the entire health care reform movement is one giant spreading cancer. But that's politics and the American way again. Expect real substantive change and progress and ye shall be disappointed.

Outside the unpleasant realm of health care and the economy, things aren't any better on the civil rights front. We continue having to fight like hell over no-brainer issues like DADT (although hope is brewing), which makes a repeal of DOMA and full nationwide marriage equality seem hopelessly distant. At least one state has the cajones to go to battle for justice.

Even this initial breath of fresh air is already stagnated a few miles up the coast.
Barely two months after Maine became the fifth state to allow gay marriage, 55,087 assholes have now signed a petition to put that up for a public vote. Thank the Catholic Diocese of Portland and others for that effort. And people wonder why I have such issues with organized religion.

We'll now have that homophobic gem in our faces, along with a big infusion of cash from out-of-state interests to push infuriatingly obnoxious bullshit advertising for weeks leading up to the election day showdown.

Whoever first uttered the words "life is just not fair" deserves a gold brick award for overachieving in understatements.

For the record, in a battle between red and blue, this is not how a progressive country should look.

But once the summer heat subsides, I'm sure I'll calm down and realize just how irrational I'm feeling at the moment.

President Obama Stops Short Again

Mr. Obama,

First of all, I'd like to request you return my $15 campaign contribution. I was obviously drunk when I made the donation because I sincerely believed in my out-of-body experience that you were going to be the president of ALL the people, that you would truly be the agent of hope and change, and that we would be turning a long-awaited corner on LGBTQ issues. Or at the very least LGBT. Or, realistically, LG issues. In my sober heart, I knew better.

I suppose you think by signing that memorandum today which extends job benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees, that all of us will feel placated and will perhaps shut the fuck up for awhile. Sorry, no can do.

President Obama will sign a presidential memorandum on Wednesday to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees, administration officials said Tuesday evening, but he will stop short of pledging full health insurance coverage.

As a goodwill gesture, based on the value of this benefit as a percentage of my contribution, I will let you keep 50-cents. If and when you decide to aggressively pursue genuine equality for us, while using your brilliant charisma to swing Congress to our causes where necessary, I'll gradually return portions of my donation based on my perceived value.

Extend full health insurance coverage to same-sex partners: $1.50

Repeal DADT: $3.00

Repeal DOMA: $3.00

End the war in Iraq: $4.00

Close Gitmo: $3.00

There's so much more, but that would be a nice start. More than 10% of your first term in office is already behind you. If this were a movie which I'd paid to see, I'd already be yawning at this point and checking my watch.

As a presidential candidate, Mr. Obama vowed to “fight hard” for the rights of gay couples. As a senator, he sponsored legislation that would have provided health benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.

But President Obama and his advisers have been reluctant to wade deeply into divisive issues like overturning a ban on openly gay military members or extending benefits to partners of government employees, fearful that such moves could overtake the administration’s broader agenda.

Here's the disconnect: civil rights and equality for all should be an integral part of that "broader agenda," Mr. President. That is, or so I've been led to believe, the backbone of what the United States of America is as a nation.

I don't expect my voice alone to hold much sway. But look around you, Mr. President; when the New York Times begins to criticize you in an editorial, you might want to consider recalibrating.

The Obama administration, which came to office promising to protect gay rights but so far has not done much, actually struck a blow for the other side last week. It submitted a disturbing brief in support of the Defense of Marriage Act, which is the law that protects the right of states to not recognize same-sex marriages and denies same-sex married couples federal benefits. The administration needs a new direction on gay rights.

[...]

The administration has had its hands full with the financial crisis, health care, Guantánamo Bay and other pressing matters. In times like these, issues like repealing the marriage act can seem like a distraction — or a political liability. But busy calendars and political expediency are no excuse for making one group of Americans wait any longer for equal rights.

And the New York Times is being too kind. When progressive liberal bloggers start chewing off chunks of your backside, you know you've got a public relations disaster on your hands.
Pam Spaulding:

UPDATE: It gets so much worse. This partner benefit plan is simply an administrative memo - it expires when Obama leaves office! LOLOLOL. FAIL-O-RAMA.

On second thought, give me back my entire $15 contribution. You don't even get 50-cents for this hollow move, Mr. President. Or as I shall henceforth call you, "President Stop Short."

Sonia Sotomayor Picked for SCOTUS

Sotomayor is Obama's SCOTUS pick!

Now the fun part begins.

Judge Sotomayor is Mr. Obama’s first selection to the Supreme Court, and her nomination could trigger a struggle with Senate Republicans who have indicated they may oppose the nomination. But Democrats are within reach of the 60 votes necessary to choke off a filibuster, and Republicans concede that they have little hope of blocking confirmation barring unforeseen revelations.

Initial reaction to the selection reflected party divisions and signaled that Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee would be spirited.

Spirited indeed. Let the Republicans have their rants, their meltdowns, whatever. Go ahead and continue to alienate women and Hispanics in one double whammy.

This should be an interesting evening for tequila, "Hardball," and "Countdown" since a California Prop 8 ruling is also forthcoming shortly.

It's Official: We Elected a Moderate

Forget all the paranoid right-wing racist emails which still litter the internet regarding President Barack Obama. (I still love saying that after 8 years of the previous asshole. PRESIDENT Barack Obama!)

Forget most of the radical change those of us on the far left hoped for with his election. Barack Obama is simply a moderate. And that's still very refreshing after what we've been through.

Now Mr. Obama is preparing to select his first Supreme Court nominee to replace retiring Justice David H. Souter. In interviews, former colleagues and students say they have a fairly strong sense of the kind of justice he will favor: not a larger-than-life liberal to counter the conservative pyrotechnics of Justice Antonin Scalia, but a careful pragmatist with a limited view of the role of courts.

“His nominee will not create the proverbial shock and awe,” said Charles J. Ogletree, a Harvard professor who has known the president since his days as a student.

Mr. Obama believes the court must never get too far ahead of or behind public sentiment, they say. He may have a mandate for change, and Senate confirmation odds in his favor. But he has almost always disappointed those who expected someone in his position — he was Harvard’s first black law review president and one of the few minority members of the University of Chicago’s law faculty — to side consistently with liberals.

4/20: That's Entertainment

Prepare to celebrate the high holiday.

April 20 has long been an unofficial day of celebration for marijuana fans, an occasion for campus smoke-outs, concerts and cannabis festivals. But some advocates of legal marijuana say this year’s “high holiday” carries extra significance as they sense increasing momentum toward acceptance of the drug, either as medicine or entertainment.

“It is the biggest moment yet,” said Ethan Nadelmann, the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance in Washington, who cited several national polls showing growing support for legalization. “There’s a sense that the notion of legalizing marijuana is starting to cross the fringes into mainstream debate.”

Say what you will about pot enthusiasts but at least we have a sense of humor:

Beneficiaries of the moment include Norml, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which advocates legalization, and other groups like it. Norml says that its Web traffic and donations (sometimes in $4.20 increments) have surged, and that it will begin a television advertising campaign on Monday, which concludes with a plea, and an homage, to President Obama.

“Legalization,” the advertisement says, “yes we can!”

That seems unlikely anytime soon. In a visit last week to Mexico, where drug violence has claimed thousands of lives and threatened to spill across the border, Mr. Obama said the United States must work to curb demand for drugs.

Oh, come on, Obama! This "war" has been going on far longer than the other mis-guided wars and it clearly cannot be won...ever! Did we learn nothing from prohibition? The time has come to let it go. And that's probably the only solution to the problems which plague Mexico.

It is the ultimate in hypocrisy to have legalized alcohol, and from a public health perspective, legalized cigarettes, to give fines for public intoxication while sending marijuana users to prison! The time is now for a sensible and logical marijuana policy.

The real party starts at 4:20 this afternoon, naturally.

In San Francisco, meanwhile, where a city supervisor, Ross Mirkarimi, suggested last week that the city should consider getting into the medical marijuana business as a provider, big crowds are expected to turn out at places like Hippie Hill, a drum-happy glade in Golden Gate Park.

A cloud of pungent smoke is also expected to be thick at concerts like one planned at the Fillmore rock club, where the outspoken pro-marijuana hip-hop group Cypress Hill is expected to take the stage at 4:20 p.m.

“You can see twice the amount of smoke as you do at a regular show,” said B-Real, a rapper in the group. “And it’s a great fragrance.”

One toke over the line, sweet Jesus.

Top Five Countries

These five places make me glad I'm not in Obama's shoes right now.

Mexico

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives in Mexico on Wednesday for what will be the first in a parade of visits by top administration officials, including President Obama himself next month, to try to head off a major foreign policy crisis close to home. They will find a country mired in a deepening slump, miffed by signs of protectionism in its largest trading partner, and torn apart by a drug war for which many in Mexico blame customers in the United States.

Pakistan

Now, as the Obama administration completes its review of strategy toward the region this week, his sudden ascent has raised an urgent question: Can Mr. Sharif, 59, a populist politician close to Islamic parties, be a reliable partner? Or will he use his popular support to blunt the military’s already fitful campaign against the insurgency of the Taliban and Al Qaeda?

Czech Republic

Transatlantic tension over the handling of the global economic crisis intensified Wednesday when the prime minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the European Union presidency, described the President Obama’s stimulus measures as the “way to hell.”

[...]

...Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek argued that the Obama administration’s fiscal package and financial bailout “will undermine the stability of the global financial market.”

Mr. Topolanek’s comments, only a day after he offered his government’s resignation following a no confidence vote, took European officials by surprise.

Whew! Feeling sick yet? We're not done!

Israel

Israel’s prime minister-designate, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Wednesday that the coalition he is forming would be a “partner for peace,” offering a pledge that seemed designed to reshape his reputation as a foe of the peace process with the Palestinians.

The promise brought a muted response from some Palestinians.

[...]

On Wednesday, Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister and leader of the centrist Kadima party, called the prospective coalition a government “conceived in sin,” according to The Associated Press.

United States

The Obama administration said Tuesday that it would move hundreds of federal agents to the country’s southern border to prevent a spillover of drug-related violence from Mexico, and that it would focus more efforts on stopping weapons and money from flowing south.

And...

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Wednesday pressed the case for expanding the government’s ability to take over and restructure ailing institutions that threaten to the broader financial system.

There's five already and I haven't even mentioned Iraq, Afghanistan, China or Russia. Holy shit.

Much Better Than Politics

I love Michelle Obama. Say what you will about all the other crap going on in Washington, this is almost too wonderful for words.

While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.

[...]

The White House grounds crew and the kitchen staff will do most of the work, but other White House staff members have volunteered.

So have the fifth graders from Bancroft. “There’s nothing really cooler,” Mrs. Obama said, “than coming to the White House and harvesting some of the vegetables and being in the kitchen with Cris and Sam and Bill, and cutting and cooking and actually experiencing the joys of your work.”

For children, she said, food is all about taste, and fresh and local food tastes better.

“A real delicious heirloom tomato is one of the sweetest things that you’ll ever eat,” she said. “And my children know the difference, and that’s how I’ve been able to get them to try different things.

Seriously, how refreshing and uplifting is that after eight years of Bush?

I can't help but notice the absence of watermelons. That would have played right into the hands of the wingnuts who were circulating emails prior to the election of a huge watermelon patch on the White House grounds. If it were me, I'd plant some.

My "What the Fuck" Morning

As relieved as I am that George W. Bush has been discharged from the White House, I'm starting to realize how there is always plenty of room for improvement. I suspect in the next few weeks we'll start too see Obama's approval ratings drop sharply if he follows through with this.

The Obama administration is signaling to Congress that the president could support taxing some employee health benefits, as several influential lawmakers and many economists favor, to help pay for overhauling the health care system.

The proposal is politically problematic for President Obama, however, since it is similar to one he denounced in the presidential campaign as “the largest middle-class tax increase in history.” Most Americans with insurance get it from their employers, and taxing workers for the benefit is opposed by union leaders and some businesses.

What the fuck? Why not tax things which don't actually improve one's health, things which people can still choose to purchase? We already do that with cigarettes. For some reason lawmakers can't seem to take it another step, like taxing soft drinks. Raise taxes on distilled spirits. Slap a federal tax on fast food. Although it's not unhealthy, maybe we should tax bottled water. Tax any beverage sold in a plastic bottle. Tax plastic grocery bags. But leave our health benefits alone! Those of us lucky enough to have them don't need the government giving us an excuse to decline them.

Maybe we should stop bailing out corporations and use that money to overhaul the health care industry, instead of having it squandered. Seriously, this is making me livid!

The American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.

What the fuck???

I was already not on board with the idea that any corporation is just too big or too important to allow it to fail. And this AIG situation is just driving me to not give a crap whether they live or die.

This reminds me of a game of solitaire in which I keep replaying in order to succeed and I keep getting the same frustrating result. Eventually it makes more sense to simply shut it down and deal a new hand.

I Love This Woman!

And I can hardly believe what she did on Friday.

We're A Happy Family!

Picture of the Day:

Actually it was a tossup between that picture and the one of Obama undoing a bit of Bush dirty work: signing the executive order to close Guantánamo! And this is what, the 2nd full day of his term?

But even as he reversed the most disputed counterterrorism policies of the Bush years, Mr. Obama postponed for at least six months difficult decisions on the details. He ordered a cabinet-level review of the most challenging questions his administration faces — what to do with dangerous prisoners who cannot be tried in American courts; whether some interrogation methods should remain secret to keep Al Qaeda from training to resist them; and how the United States can make sure prisoners transferred to other countries will not be tortured.

Granted it may take a year, and there are some logistics to work through, but at least he didn't wait six months to get moving on it.

I am pleased. So far, so good. Carry on, Mr. President.