SOOOOOO sorry! I've Been Working!

And so I have not been blogging.  Yes, I know, for years.  But I've had major health problems too. Not that I have not been engaged in politics, mind you. If you are American, or follow news from America, you know we are entering our presidential election season and Americans have a critical choice to make on who will lead the country for the next four years.

As you might imagine, I support President Barack Obama. I will go so far as to say that, if he is not re-elected, there will be dire consequences for the world as well as the United States. In the States, our new and just-going-into-effect health care reform will be immediately repealed by the man who originated it as a governor, Mr. Romney. Women's reproductive rights will be curtailed, and here we are speaking of contraception, not just abortion (which Americans are queasy about but have reached a consensus regarding.) The social safety net, already the least generous in the industrialized world, will be ripped apart and Medicare will be turned into a voucher system throwing the elderly and disabled into the private insurance market, the rich will get yet another tax break but austerity will be imposed on Middle Class programs, education funding cut, and on and on. It would be a disaster for the American people. And yes, economically, if America collapses, as it probably would with Romney's vows to deregulate the financial markets and banks again, it would affect the rest of the world due to the size of our market and our inter-connectedness.

However, perhaps what concerns me most is foreign policy. First I'll revisit where we find ourselves at this critical juncture. We have finally (sort of) ended the war in Iraq. I say 'sort of' because we have left a veritable army of mercenaries there to police the biggest embassy in the world. The American people, intellectually lazy and with the attention span of a flea (unless you're talking about Paris Hilton) don't seem to realize it. They think it's all over even though we are paying the mercenaries big bucks but have no control over their behavior. Part of it is our media's fault (see above criticism regarding fleas). I can't remember the last time I saw a story on Iraq. I have to go looking for them in the international press. The use of mercenaries is common before the end of empires. It's a bad sign. Not that I want our army there either but that has the virtue of being honest at any rate.   

The war in Afghanistan, equally unwise (it's a photo finish with invading Iraq for worst dumb idea EVER) will drag on indefinitely, with a supposed 'end to combat operations' still two years away. The American people have long been tired of this, our longest war, which we were told was to get OBL and dismantle Al Qaeda after 9/11. Romney did not mention Afghanistan in his convention speech. Imagine that if you can: a presidential candidate fails to mention a war in which the country is engaged in a speech spending a good bit of time on foreign policy. When asked about it, he said he only talked about things that were important to him. Now imagine THAT if you can. Lately, the American casualties have all been coming from the forces of our involuntary hosts, the Afghans. Have you noticed we are kind of unwelcome? When your allies start shooting you, it's another bad sign.

Both of these wars, and ongoing operations by drones and other means, have all seemed to be against Muslim countries. Is it any wonder that Muslims view America as a negative force? Perhaps even an enemy? If it walks like a duck and quack likes a duck...

Now I'm not thrilled with President Obama's conduct of foreign policy which, with a few exceptions, seems to be almost Bush-like without the cowboy bluster. The exceptions are the suspension of torture (I'll come back to this) and a resistance to attacking Iran--which the GOP salivates over.  I do believe he hated the invasion of Iraq because, like me, he said so before it happened and feels trapped into the current situation. Early on, he wanted to double down in Afghanistan, and so he did, having a 'surge' of his own.  Did it work? Of course not. So there we are, with 98,000 unwelcome and exhausted American troops in harm's way along with the Afghan civilians, all of whom live in fear of both sides, and rightly so. For those of you who don't know, the suicide rate among returning American soldiers is exponentially higher than that of the general population and getting worse every day. 

Although President Obama banned torture on his first day in office, the Executive Order has no force to bind his successors, and Romney has already vowed he will reinstate all the Bush era policies regarding 'enhanced interrogation' (aka torturing people.) Liberals and those who value civil rights (and human decency) in America have decried that our Justice Department has declined to prosecute any of those crimes.  I am deeply ashamed and furious about it. I expect conservatives to act this way, the reactionary mind is a study unto itself, operating out of the 'fight-or-flight limbic system,' the lizard brain, but I expect better from liberals and moderates. I do understand that they did not want President Obama's first term to be sucked into this maw, but failing to punish people who commit war crimes is immoral (and against International Law.) There were two cases held out for possible prosecution, two victims everyone agreed were outright murdered while in US custody. The other day, the Justice Department passed the deadline for charging anyone with these murders and quietly closed those cases. They will go unpunished. Since no one, at any level, was brought to justice, the hold on torture is nothing but an executive order which can, and will, be rescinded by Romney on his own first day in office. God (and decent Americans) forbid he actually has one.

Further, Romney, who has no experience--or even any interest--in foreign policy, but has Bush neocon advisers, has said that he considers ending the Iraq War 'a tragedy' (not surprisingly, I consider the invasion itself a tragedy). Will he re-invade? He won't rule it out. He does say that he would leave at least 100,000 troops in Afghanistan indefinitely. And he will do something (we don't know what but we can guess) militarily to Iran, intervene in Syria (not that they don't need help but I think it should come from the Arab League, or UN, not the US), and threaten four or five more hot spots he outlined in his convention speech. I confess I had to stop listening because I started foaming at the mouth, but I"ll look up his list. He considers Russia our #1 geopolitical foe! He wants to increase the size of our already bloated military budget by a trillion dollars. Someone smart once observed, "If you buy a bicycle, you're going to ride it."

He is, despite being somewhat more articulate than W, not to put too fine a point on it, a blithering idiot. And a dangerous one at that. So everyone, world wide, has a lot to lose if he is elected.  As unsatisfactory as President Obama has been to liberals in this arena, Romney would be infinitely worse. Want to go back to the bad old days, arguably the worst set of policies in American history? Hope Romney wins. We'll get there so fast, it will make your head spin.

And that, dear friends, is why, despite my disappointment with aspects of his first term, I'm working as hard as I can to help re-elect President Barack Obama.  And I pray for peace and justice in all the world, God willing. It will be up to the people of the world--the peacemakers--evidently, not the politicians who have failed us, to help bring us there. Where are our Gandis and Mandelas? We need you.    

Hate Speech and Impending Right Wing Violence

We are entering into a period of crisis here in the United States. The outcome of this struggle will determine the kind of nation we will be, an enlightened tolerant democracy or a reactionary, theocratic, racist state. I think the good people will win but we need to both take note of the activity around us and call it out for what it is. Both photos below were taken at the so-called Tea (Bag) Parties in August. Shameful to think anyone would display their hatred in such a blatant way. I'm calling them out. Right now.

In my second blog, I had intended to talk about my own reasons for wanting health care reform (hint: I'm paying $1950. a month out of pocket for a drug to keep me alive), but I've been moved instead to write about the disturbing trends I've seen from the right wing and it's media outlets: Rush Limbaugh, the entirety of Fox "News", Lou Dobbs of CNN and the right wing radio cadre of hate jocks.

The fruit of their labors has been on full display in the unhinged "Town Hall" meetings in August which were orchestrated by these outlets and funded by several right wing organizations affiliated with the health corporations, particularly Dick Armey's Freedom Watch.

These near-riots were a mixture of some decent people reacting to misinformation campaigns (Death Panels), anti-Government zealots, operatives from the aforementioned corporations including their employees--many of whom were forced to participate--and the subject of my blog today, the unhinged racist and xenophobe crowd motivated by Glenn Beck, Limbaugh and Dobbs among others.

Their signs were not about health care or, if mentioned, it was tangential to a racist attack on President Obama. Now, I ask you: is that poster above really about health care? We've seen these manifestations of overt racism since the Palin rallies. During the presidential campaign, the former half-term Alaska governor, Sarah Palin, introduced the entire "Obama is a Terrorist" "Obama is 'The Other'" meme which ran through the right wing like a wild fire in California.

Soon, her crowds started calling "Kill him!" and "Hang him!" and "Terrorist" when then-candidate Obama's name was mentioned. She never batted an eye; on the contrary, she looked supremely self-satisfied. Senator McCain himself had to try to dial back the rampant hatred when he was faced with one of these seething rallies of his own. But it was too late. The beast had been fed and it was on the rampage.

This had been prepared for in advance. During the Democratic Primaries, a series of scurrilous emails had been circulated claiming that, among other things, Barack Obama was a Muslim, a Socialist, hated America, didn't say the Pledge of Allegiance or salute the flag and was sworn into office on the Koran and, to top it all off, was no doubt the Anti-Christ.

Reasonable people shrugged it off but it did gain wide acceptance among the ignorant and the people of bad will and intent. I'll illustrate this with the example of one of my own cousins who after sending several of these emails even sent me an email claiming that Barack Obama wanted to change the national anthem from The Star Spangled Banner to "I Want to Teach the World to Sing." She believed this. The triumphant last line she added to the forward was, "If he won't say our pledge, salute our flag or sing our anthem, he doesn't belong in our Oval Office." Note the word 'our' in there. She also added, in a remarkably un-Christian way, that no matter what he claims or practices, he is not a Christian and, furthermore, he was 'born in Kenya' and not eligible to be President. This belief later became known as "The Birther" Movement. After the election she claimed that he was only elected through a huge voter fraud perpetrated by the (tiny) community organizer group ACORN. It would be funny if it were not so hateful and vile.

My cousin believes everything bad said about President Obama because she is a racist--that much I know from growing up with her. She circulates this garbage and routinely sent it to me even though she knew I was a Super-Volunteer in the Obama Campaign. I finally asked her to stop (twice) and now she's not speaking to me.

No great loss, that, but I want everyone to note this trend of which she is but one personal example. They are vilifying President Obama and trying to dehumanize him for what reason? To what purpose? What happens when you whip up crazy people? I'll answer for you: JFK, RFK, MLK and others including many dead civil rights activists.

Two weeks ago, they found a census worker lynched in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky. He was discovered naked, bound by duct tape, a rope around his neck, with his Government ID card taped to his chest and the word "FED" scrawled on his chest.

Expect more of this. This kind of acting out will escalate, I promise you. One of the advocates of this anti-government behavior (read that as anti-Obama because they didn't object when Bush was President) is US Representative Michelle Bachman who told her constituents to be 'locked and loaded' to oppose the census. I guess someone took her literally only they used a rope.

Another example is the doctor who performed abortions being gunned down in his church. And the congregation of the Unitarian Church who were fired upon and several members killed by a man who said he did it to help 'eliminate the liberals.' He was inspired by an anti-liberal book by Bernard Goldberg. And the three Pittsburgh police officers shot by a guy who claimed 'Obama is going to take my guns!' There are more examples but I'll stop here.

I live, as my blog suggests, in the liberal bastion of Austin. Even so, we have a few of these people. Recently, I was parking my car at my doctor's office. My car still has my Obama campaign magnets on it to show support for the President. From my open window, I heard a voice cry, "Fuck Obama and Fuck You!" I turned to see who had yelled and a man was standing by his pick up truck scowling at me with both middle fingers raised. On his bumper was his own sticker "Liberal Hunting Permit." Hatred, violently expressed, is their organizing principle. Since people can carry guns in Texas, I waited until he'd left before I got out of my car.

When I was growing up, the Republican Party was a party of the affluent Country Club Set.

They were reasonable citizens in their oligarch-ist way, conservative in the true sense of the word. Now, the Republican Party has been taken over by this fringe element. The moderate GOP (there aren't any liberal ones) have become Independents or Democrats. The GOP in the legislature are merely obstructionists who oppose everything President Obama does; however, the rank and file are seething, angry reactionaries who are infuriated to have an African American President. The GOP legislators play to them. That is their base.

Superstitiously, I'm afraid to articulate this but I fear for President Obama's life. Frankly, I fear for the lives of all of us who run afoul of these zealots. They are organizing into militias and preparing to launch an insurrection to overthrow our duly elected government. Should we take them seriously? That will be the topic of my next blog.

To end this entry, I'll refer back to the sign at the top of the page from a Tea Bag Party. As you see, the sign was held by a smiling child. To indoctrinate children into hatred and racism is surely the worse sin of all.

Let's Get Started

Thank you for visiting me, an unknown blogger on my first post. I am a writer by trade so this blogging business is an outgrowth of that creative impulse meant to give my opinion and tell the story of those of us here in Austin who keep the flame of liberalism alive in a state that is...well...our governor wants to secede because we have a black president (he gives all kinds of other stupid reasons but we know the truth) so that gives you an idea of what is all around us.

Here in Austin, we are a small dot of blue in a seething sea of red. Austin is the only reliably liberal city in Texas, although Houston is coming along. When I venture out of town, I see bumper stickers such as: "Liberal Hunting License" (they want to kill us) and "I'll keep my guns and you can have your change." What wit!

First, I'll tell you about my recent political activities: I was a so-called 'super-volunteer' for President Obama in the election. My project was to help recruit and train people from Texas to go to battleground states to campaign. We realized, of course, that Texas itself was futile so we sent our best volunteers to places like Florida, Colorado and Ohio. They took a month or so off work and went to live and work in precincts at the grassroots. I admire their dedication and appreciate their efforts. In all, my program sent 2740 volunteers out of state. We won every state our volunteers worked in and I'm sure they contributed to the victory.

Since then, I've been working with OFA which has been retitled from "Obama for America" to "Organize for America" in the trenches of health care reform. I awakened late to the need for involvement. Silly me, I imagined that after electing our Democratic president, senate and house, we could relax and let them take over. I reckoned without the tea-baggers and all the other reactionaries. My wake-up call was the sight of Congressman Lloyd Doggett being chased and threatened by crazy protesters carrying "Obama is Hitler" signs at a town hall meeting in South Austin.

In response, we had an event to bolster Congressman Doggett's resolve. It was a Health Care Forum held in downtown Austin. Three groups were involved: Move On, OFA, and the Gray Panthers. We overflowed all three venues we had reserved because over 2000 PROPONENTS of health care reform came to the event. Only 100 protesters stood across the street with the usual nasty signs. If you had seen the television coverage, you would not have realized that ratio. They shot the footage so that it looked equal. The media loves controversy, not truth. I was livid but it doesn't seem to matter what anyone says to them. They are like crows to a shiny object. Even liberal MSNBC did not mention our event although they covered several smaller town halls with angry protestors. I sent all the hosts links to our coverage. Nothing.

That is apparently why normal Americans who want and need reform of this broken system are not given coverage. We don't shout. We don't dress in funny clothes and wave crazy signs and we don't shout people down. Maybe we should rethink our tactics. We don't seem to be getting through to the politicians on either side.

Next time, I'll tell you why I'm so interested in health care reform. It's personal.