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Multiple choice

16 October 2011, 2:01 pm

No less than four of the Republican candidates for their party’s nomination to the Presidency of the United States claim they were called by God to run for the job.

Four! Perry, Santorum, Bachmann and Cain have all claimed God as their ultimate political consultant.

Fred Clark at Slacktivist says:

Several explanations suggest themselves for how four candidates for the same office came to believe they were called by God to do so. It’s possible that at least three of them are mistaken. Or this may be evidence that those of us who are monotheists are mistaken and all four candidates really were called, just by four different Gods. Or perhaps God simply subscribes to a management theory that values fostering competition.

One wonders how God divided this up. “Okay, Yahweh, you’ve got Cain. Jehovah, who do you want? Elohim, Adonai, how about you two?”

Filed under Fundamentalist lunacy.
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Occupy! goes global

15 October 2011, 2:02 pm

Elites Bad, People Good.

In dozens of cities around the world on Saturday, people took to the streets, clutching placards and chanting slogans as part of a planned day of protests against the financial system.

[snip]

In other European cities, including Berlin and London, the demonstrations were largely peaceful, with thousands of people marching past ancient monuments and gathering in front of capitalist symbols like the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. Elsewhere, the turnout was more modest, but rallies of a few hundred people were held in cities including Sydney, Australia, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Protests also continued in New York and were held in several other cities in the United States and Canada.

Meawhile, Wall Street bankers sneer:

Some on Wall Street viewed the protesters with disdain, and a degree of caution, as hundreds marched through the financial district on Friday. Others say they feel their pain, but are befuddled about what they are supposed to do to ease it. A few even feel personally attacked, and say the Occupy Wall Street protesters who have been in Zuccotti Park for weeks are just bitter about their own economic fate and looking for an easy target. If anything, they say, people should show some gratitude.

“Who do you think pays the taxes?” said one longtime money manager. “Financial services are one of the last things we do in this country and do it well. Let’s embrace it. If you want to keep having jobs outsourced, keep attacking financial services. This is just disgruntled people.”

Keep thinking that way, buddy. I’d only note that disgruntlement can grow into anger, and anger into rage.

Filed under Income Inequality.
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What, that again?

14 October 2011, 2:49 pm

Out here the local TV weather bromide, heard nearly every night, is the forecast “Windward and Mauka showers.” It just means that our tradewind and rainfall patterns will almost always include a little liquid sunshine over on the Eastern side of the island and in the upper elevations (“Mauka” means “to the mountains”).

Similarly, the one thing I hear every time I go to the dentist for a cleaning is “Floss back here.” His office people ought to put that on a tape loop and turn it on as every new patient walks in and sits in the chair.

Filed under Frivolity.
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Voices from the past

13 October 2011, 1:08 pm

In light of the news that Lech Walesa plans to visit the Occupy Wall Street crowds in NYC soon, I’m reminded of a summer long distant.

Back in 1980 I had gone to work for a start-up, a health, fitness and social club in Honolulu. I was the Data Processing Manager, and as such was responsible for all things computer, including most importantly getting monthly bills out to the club members. The club didn’t accept cash, so those bills were the only source of income it had. My three data-entry people worked like crazy building the membership database and entering the daily charges at the bar, restaurant and pro shop. Meanwhile I was tweaking the programs (or writing new ones) to suit the club’s particular needs, which were somewhat different from the club which had sold us their version of club software. In other words, we were busy. The entire Accounting department worked day in and day out for several months.

Sometime in August we were all exhausted. One day that month Walesa and his Solidarity Union all declared they weren’t going to work the next day at their shipyard in Gdansk, and the headline above the story about that in my local paper read “Poles Defy Leaders, Take Day Off.”

One of us clipped the story and put it on the corkboard in the office in plain view of everyone who walked in, including the boss.

He got the point. We all took the following weekend off.

Filed under Personal Reminiscences.
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Taliban acolyte moves to Florida legislature

12 October 2011, 2:21 pm

What else could he be?

Florida state Rep. Brad Drake (R) is angry that Valle’s execution took so long. So angry, in fact, that he introduced a bill yesterday to eliminate lethal injection as a execution method altogether in favor of electrocution or the firing squad. “I’m sick and tired of this sensitivity movement for criminals,” Drake declared.

Let nobody say Drake doesn’t listen to his constituents:

In a Waffle House in DeFuniak Springs, Drake said he heard a constituent say, “‘You know, they ought to just put them in the electric chair or line them up in front of a firing squad.’” After a conversation with the person, Drake, 36, said he decided to file the bill.

“There shouldn’t be anything controversial about a .45-caliber bullet. If it were up to me we would just throw them off the Sunshine Skyway bridge and be done with it,” Drake said.

I know there are some nice people in Florida, but apparently they’re not in the state legislature or the Governor’s office.

Filed under Crime & Punishment.
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When jurisdictional fights go bad

11 October 2011, 9:31 pm

Tom Frank wrote a book entitled “What’s the Matter with Kansas” a few years back, attempting to explain why citizens vote against their best interests.

After reading this, one can only wonder what indeed is the matter with Kansas.

“By a vote of 7 to 3, the City Council repealed the local law that makes domestic violence a crime.

[snip]

“Eighteen people have been arrested on domestic violence charges since September and released without charges because no agency is accepting new cases.”

Oh, and just to top it off: “Some critics pointed out that even as local governments are cutting deeper into important services, Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, is preparing a sweeping tax cut plan.”

Of course he is.

Filed under Budget & Economy, Civil Rights, Crime & Punishment, War on Women.
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Role model

11 October 2011, 2:35 pm

I had to go run some errands today (Longs Drugs for photo pickup — yes, we still use film occasionally; Safeway for cottage cheese and papaya; the tobacconist and the gas station — $4.08/gallon). Took me about an hour.

If I were female, driving a van and dropping off my kid at a soccer game I’d be a Soccer Mom!

Filed under Frivolity.
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NYT sees no voter fraud

10 October 2011, 2:41 pm

Hey, the NYT suddenly recognized the Republican party’s war on Democratic voters. In an unsigned editorial titled “The Myth of Voter Fraud” it says:

It has been a record year for new legislation designed to make it harder for Democrats to vote — 19 laws and two executive actions in 14 states dominated by Republicans, according to a new study by the Brennan Center for Justice. As a result, more than five million eligible voters will have a harder time participating in the 2012 election.

Of course the Republicans passing these laws never acknowledge their real purpose, which is to turn away from the polls people who are more likely to vote Democratic, particularly the young, the poor, the elderly and minorities. They insist that laws requiring government identification cards to vote are only to protect the sanctity of the ballot from unscrupulous voters. Cutting back on early voting, which has been popular among working people who often cannot afford to take off from their jobs on Election Day, will save money, they claim.

None of these explanations are true. There is almost no voting fraud in America. And none of the lawmakers who claim there is have ever been able to document any but the most isolated cases. The only reason Republicans are passing these laws is to give themselves a political edge by suppressing Democratic votes.

One hopes that message gets out. It’s impossible to shame Republican Party legislators, but some cable commentators might have to wind down their claims if they suspect their guests might rebut with this.

Filed under Elections, Republican perfidy.
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Baseball has saved us!

9 October 2011, 11:58 am

Hoo boy. Brian Fischer of the evangelical American Family Association asserted yesterday that by singing “God Bless America” instead of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” baseball has saved us from more 9/11-style tragedies.

“By God’s blessing, we have not been hit by a Muslim attack since 9/11,” Fischer said. “I suggest that in part, we have Major League Baseball to thank. You remember that the week after 9/11 Major League Baseball converted the seventh inning stretch from the singing of ‘Take Me Out To The Ballgame’ to the singing of ‘God Bless America.’”

“Now ‘God Bless America’ is not just a song, it is a prayer. When we sing that we are inviting God to bless America, to stand beside her and to guide her through the night with a light from above,” Fischer said.

“So for one brief, shining moment every night, Major League Baseball has converted our stadiums into cathedrals in which tens of thousands of ordinary Americans lift their hearts and voices as one and ask God to watch over and protect the United States,” Fischer said.

“Ladies and gentleman, I think that those prayers have been heard and they have been answered,” Fischer said.

You know, there’s so much wrong with this it’s silly. Start with the fact that only at Yankee Stadium and Dodger Stadium has “God Bless America” been regularly sung at the 7th-inning stretch in recent years. Most other stadiums stopped playing it years ago except on special occasions like playoff and World Series games.

Secondly, most Americans go to ball games to worship at the church of baseball, not Brian Fischer’s church. I’d venture to say that unless your team is behind in a close game in the 8th or 9th inning, there are very few prayers of any sort to any Supreme Being being offered up.

The man’s not only a bigot, he’s a fool.

Filed under Basketball, Fundamentalist lunacy.
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R.l.P., Al Davis

8 October 2011, 1:31 pm

There’s a lot that will be said about Al Davis, the managing general partner of the Oakland Raiders who died today. He was a polarizing figure, no question about it. But the thing that may be given short shrift in all the eulogies soon to be written is this:

He . . . holds the distinction of being the first to draft an African American quarterback, the first to hire a Latino coach, the first to hire an African American head coach and the first from one of the four major professional sports to hire a woman as a chief executive.

“The Raiders have never been interested in a man’s color, only his ability,” Davis said.

It’s hard to believe when you look at the Michael Vicks, the Vince Youngs, the Cam Newtons and the Donovan McNabbs who play quarterback in the NFL today, but it was a pretty damned white league in 1968. That year, while still in the AFL, Davis spent the 25th pick on a guy named Eldridge Dickey who’d played quarterback at Tennessee State. Dickey didn’t play much, but the Raiders already had a great quarterback named Daryle Lamonica. After the merger in 1970 and John Madden’s subsequent retirement to the broadcast booth, Davis hired Tom Flores to be head coach. When Flores left in 1987, Davis tried Mike Shanahan for a season-and-a-half, then replaced Shanahan with Art Shell, the first black head coach in the league.

More importantly than the simple personnel moves was the fact that the team won three Super Bowls in five appearances, one under Madden and two under Flores. It was a very successful franchise on the field for years under Davis’s stewardship.

He was one of the best NFL owners of all time.

Filed under Football, Obituaries.
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