Where to start

And yet another piece of glory for the old hometown. Because we in St. Louis want to make sure the world knows we are the midwest capital for racism and generally backward thinking, we need to pop into the national consciousness now and then with a bold reminder.

This time it's the local disc jockey who made some sort of Freudian slip and let loose with this little gem about Condoleeza Rice:

"She's been chancellor of Stanford. She's got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football. She's African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. A big coon. Oh my God. I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that."

Yes, well, Dave, we're all sorry for that. So, Dave's been fired from KTRS, the almost un-listenable home of the St. Louis Cardinals. And, he's been suspended with pay from his real job as a teacher of some sort at a local college.

So, here's a few questions:

• Everyone seems to agree it was an accident. Do they know the guy has some racist history that leads them to believe he really meant it? If so, why the hell did they hire him in the first place?
• The local college is "reviewing" the situation before determining the DJ/Professors fate. Reveiwing what? Either the guy is a racist - see above - or he's not. Fire him (and whoever hired him) if he is. Leave him alone if he's not.
• Condi Rice admits to a fact her employers deny each and every day: Rice said Sunday that the incident is evidence that the "birth defect" of slavery infuses even mature democracies with racial tensions that take generations to heal. How come she can't convince anyone else in the White House about this?
• And, just when you start to have a little respect for Condi, she sticks in this little gem: Rice added that she hopes the episode inspires Americans to "be a little bit more humble" about the progress of emerging democracies such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thanks, Condi. Now I get it - the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are really about atoning for slavery in the US 150 years ago. How could I have missed that one?

So, we review. Local station KTRS (who dumped their entire talent roster and brought in - well, the non-talent roster - fires a guy who either made a mistake or never should have been hired in the first place and the US Secretary of State uses it to justify one war we failed to complete and one war we never should have started. St. Louis takes another shot in the national press and the US takes another one internationally.

Did I miss anything?

Lack of ...something

I've noticed a distinct lack of posting here over the last few weeks. I've been trying to figure out why, since I do all the posting, and I think I've finally come up with it.

Beyond the fact that I've been traveling and working like a dog and trying to keep up with my parental obligations, it's just that I can't get excited about writing about anything that's going on. It's become boring - all the same old tired stuff.

Bush launches a PR offensive that has nothing to do with governing. It doesn't work. His poll numbers sag. The left rejoices. Holden gets a pony. Nothing changes. More people can't get decent medical care, poverty increases, the debt ceiling goes to nine trillion (yes, with a T), we're more hated in the world, big business continues it's 1920 like rape of the land and the people. On and on and on.

Nothing changes. No one actually governs - and no one seems interested in it. There are a few governors doing some interesting things, but by and large it's all just a big fucking game. Thrust and parry and see who has the better spin and PR and the party ID advantage and all the rest.

Meanwhile, the press looks in the collective mirror and admires it's reflection. The popular media is consumed with ratings and profits and utterly unconcerned with news. The big name folks - especially those overpaid talking heads on cable TV - have no idea what reality is like for 99% of the population.

If Chris Matthews can't understand why people don't like Bush - and he's incredulous about it - he ought to be fired, stripped of every last cent he's swiped, and put naked in The Mall for a week or three and see what happens. I just can't stand it.

The structural damage that has been done to this country, the environment, the world, over the last five years is astonishing. Science - real science - has been raped and left for dead. We've doomed the next generations to massive debt that will consume the entire tax base and a dependence on oil that will, in the short term, fund the radicals who seek our destruction, and in the long term destroy the planet.

So it would seem like there's plenty to write about, but in less than three months of writing this I've covered it. It's like Groundhog day with nasty fucking consequences.

Maybe you need a level of perserverance and stamina that I lack to keep up with this crowd. Maybe when things settle down for me I'll be able to devote more energy to thoughtful commentary. Maybe I'll just hunker down and hope for "our long, national nightmare" to be over.

Maybe...

Finally, some Republican honesty

I've been waiting a long time for the Republican party to come clean. They have been absolutely brilliant over the last 10+ years at identifying issues that either drive their base to the polls or resonate with the middle. This has resulted in enormous electoral success.

Taxes, abortion, spending, states rights, homeland security, faith based funding. It's a long list, and it has worked better than anyone thought possible.

Of course, those of us paying a wee bit of attention noticed early on that the Republican party cared almost nothing about the actual issues they were riding to congressional majorities, the White House and the current stranglehold on the judiciary. Everything they did was a huge contradiction.

Cut taxes but jack up spending. States rights - except when Terry Schiavo or another politically opportune issue comes about. Homeland security sounds great, but it's run by incompetent political cronies and used as a right wing slush fund.

The one issue they always stayed true on was abortion. It brought the traditionally Democratic Catholics into the fold and it mobilized millions of evangelicals. And, with Alito and Roberts situated in the big chairs, the Pro-Life time had come. South Dakota was first, with a host of others to follow.

But now that it appears they may get their way, it turns out that on their most bedrock issue, the right wing is proving that everything is political once again. This Newsweek article sums it up: now that the court may overturn Roe vs. Wade (and that laws like the one in South Dakota are profoundly offensive), it turns out the stand on "life" is not so sturdy.

GOP Chair Ken Mehlman has no comment on the cultural centerpiece of Republican politics for the last 30 years. And there is this quote:

"I'm pro-life, but you can't wear the thing out," says Clarke Reed, the legendary architect of the GOP in Mississippi. "I'm worried about it."

Why is he worried?

By a roughly two-to-one margin, polls show, people want to uphold the basic abortion right enshrined in Roe v. Wade, even if they approve of some restrictions, like parental notification.

But guys, babies are dying. If this is so, isn't it worth a little political backlash to save even one unborn child? Surely you won't abandon the cause over a few polls?

Ken? Clarke? Anyone?

I thought so.

Soul singer mainstreams Scientology

Soul singer Issac Hayes has mainstreamed Scientology, the religion based on donating a boatload of money to achieve some sort of quasi-religious nirvana. Long the province of outside the mainstream types and egomaniacal movie stars, Scientology shared a place in the religious heirarchy just up the path from worshippers of Star Trek.

But Hayes, the voice of Chef on Southpark since 1997, has moved the religion squarely into the mainstream by demonstrating, in an act intended to display principle, the three hallmarks of modern religion: hypocrisy, intolerance and bigotry. Yes, the classic misdirection play scores the trifecta.

Anyone who hasn't been in a coma for the last few years knows that nothing is sacred on Southpark. Christianity - ina all it's forms - has been pilloried mercilessly on the show. But when the show went after L. Ron Hubbards money making dynasty, Hayes decided religion was something to be respected and he quit.

Trash your religion - ok. Trash my religion - you are evil. Yep, Scientology, welcome to the fold.

Language Arts

It seems I can never stop commenting on Anna Quindlen columns. Every time I remember to read her, her thoughts and her eloquent expression of them strike something in me. This week she writes about how we communicate - or, more accurately, how we fail to communicate.

She's right, of course. We rely on email and text messages to say important things, but the medium and it's users lack something and it damages the process. So much is lost because the written words are lacking the depth of meaning, the true emotion, that is inherent in face to face communication.

It's ironic that Quindlen writes about this. She's the exception to the rule, someone with such a command of the language that there is no question about what she means. But so few of us have the skills to use the tools of the trade in that way. Some of that is because we don't read enough good writing to learn by osmosis. Some of it is the way we're made - a few with the oversized language lobe and the rest with just enough to get by. Some of it is because we're in a hurry and we don't try very hard. And some of us just don't get it, no matter how it is expressed.

I consider my own skills with language above average, but I rely too heavily on email and have found - much too often of late, and always to my chagrin - that my point is not always taken as intended. It's my preference to blame the reader, and in some instances I'm sure that's true. But mostly it's me, assuming people get what I think as I race through another note.

I'm going to try harder to remember to read Anna Quindlen regularly. No matter what she writes about, she makes her point and she makes me feel it. Maybe I'll pick up a few things and that next misunderstanding won't be.

The Road

I'm back after seven days on the road. Thankfully, it appears nothing has changed. Iraq remains a disaster, Bush continues his popular swoon, and bloggers are so bored they're speculating about Lindsay Graham getting the GOP nod in 08'. Lindsay? Graham? That's a really slow news cycle or a few.

While traveling, I've been reading "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins. It's Greg Palast and "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" redux, but instead of "some little bird" littering Palast's desk with papers about oil and water deals and political corruption, Perkins appears to have been the guy actually generating those papers.

It's an interesting read, although not the compelling thriller type of book it's made out to be. I'm also a bit skeptical of a guy who claims to have had massive concerns and guilt about his rather nefarious job from day one but stayed with it for 10+ years. Then, after reaching the pinnacle of the profession, he quits on principle. It's the big stand in the book.

Then he goes to work shilling for power companies to build nuke plants and excess generating capacity as a hired gun. Ah, John, about that whole principle thing...

Anyway, the storyline isn't particularly surprising: resource exploitation of "less developed countries" for the benefit of the US Engineering, Construction and Oil industries. Massive land rapes that leave the natives in dire straits but enrich the few elites in the country and entrench their power.

Back here in reality, Milosevic is dead and that's too bad. He should have been forced to suffer the ego crushing humiliation of serving in solitary confinement for the rest of his days. Better yet, let him loose among a group of families who lived his reality and see what happens.

How to treat a hero

I'm sure by now everyone knows the story of Pat Tillman, the NFL defensive back turned Army Ranger after a burst of patriotism following the attacks of September 11. The brief recap: he joined, served in Iraq, spoke candidly of the illegality and foolishness of that effort, was shipped off to Afghanistan and killed by friendly fire.

Of course, the Army waited until the Bush Administration had used his death for political purposes - following on the Army's fictitious story that Tillman was killed by enemy fire during a battle - to announce that he had, in fact, been killed by friendly fire.

As it turns out, the Army was also aware from the beginning that his death was the result of "gross negligence" and they are now opening a criminal investigation. Still, they can't quite get it. Here's the dualing story lines. You decide which one rings true:

A report by the Army found that troops with Tillman knew at the time that friendly fire had killed the football star. Officers destroyed critical evidence and concealed the truth from Tillman’s brother, also an Army Ranger, who was nearby, the report found.

or:

In spite of the Army’s findings, the officer who prepared the report, Brig. Gen. Gary M. Jones, concluded there was no official reluctance to report the truth.

It's becoming cliche to point to stories like this a public examples of the standard operating procedure of this administration. Let's review:

• Everything is political, unless it can be used against us
• When the truth doesn't fit the storyline, lie
• When caught in the lie, blame the media
• When that fails (rarely), quickly leave the country and divert attention

In the category of just deserts...

...DeLay Faces a Rare Primary Challenge

Besides facing an uphill battle against former Democratic Congressman Nick Lampson, turns out criminal mastermind, bad politics poster child and all around evil guy Tom Delay is facing a serious challenge from his own party.

If you need evidence that 22 years of corruption, wrongdoing, power mongering and generally bad behavior will eventually come home to roost (and, yes, I'm aware of the obvious problem there), here you have it.

But, still, it's a beautiful thing. For a guy who brushed off a complaint about him smoking a cigar in a federal building cafeteria with a acidic, "I am the federal government," and who ruled the Republican house like a corrupt prison warden, it's nice to see him struggling just to get the nomination.

"Not that I've ever thought of this..."

This is awful. The South Dakota abortion ban folks are now playing fantasy/rape word games to explain why their bill does make an exception for rape and incest (not that it really needs explaining, but they are lying).

Via Digby, we find how they can reach such a conclusion:

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Napoli says most abortions are performed for what he calls "convenience." He insists that exceptions can be made for rape or incest under the provision that protects the mother's life. I asked him for a scenario in which an exception may be invoked.

BILL NAPOLI: A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.

You can read Digby to get the appropriate level of contempt for this neandrathal women hater. I'll leave that to the professionals. But that whole statement smacks of Rick Santorum and his man on beast or beast on man or whatever thing he went on and on and on about. That's not a scenario that just pops out of the brain and rolls off the tougue. Somebody gave that a lot of thought. Maybe at night. Alone. You can use your imagination for the rest. Hopefully you're not a sick bastard like Bill Napoli.

And, as an aside, who gets to decide if she was appropriately religious? Was she truly committed to saving her virginity until marriage? Has she reached a sufficient level of "messed up" to warrant a "life saving" abortion? I'm guessing in his world, Bill Napoli gets to decide. Good luck with all of that.

Department of Not Sure What to Say

I feel compelled to mention this story (courtesy of Talking Points Memo) about Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary fame and his seemingly inexplicable relationship with the disgraced (and disgraceful) former Ace Fighter/Congressman/thief Duke Cunningham.

I'm just not sure what to say about it. (Enjoy that while you can - it won't last) Part of me wants to scoff at this nonsense. Duke Cunningham behaved worse than any standard brand criminal and fed his greed based lifestyle by abusing the public trust and the public piggy bank. If you've read about his exploits (and TPM is a great place to get a sampling of the depths of depravity), you know he's beyond despicable.

But why would Peter Yarrow come to his defense? If you read the story, there clearly was some humanity underneath the arrogant fighter jock who demanded yachts and Rolls Royces and multi-million dollar real estate deals in return for giving our money to bogus defense contractors. It's hard to reconcile the two, but it makes for an interesting lesson.

Duke was likely a superstar from way back. Ace fighter pilot. Congressman. Celebrity. Hero. And, likely, not a bad guy in the annoying jock sort of mold. Getting Yarrow in front of the Republican Caucus is not a move for the faint of heart or for those lacking a soul. But, somewhere along the line, he started buying his press and wondering why he wasn't living the life he deserved.

And that probably makes him just like a lot of us, except we're never presented with the opportunity to steal on that sort of scale. He came to that fork and determined that he deserved that house, that yacht, that car. He justified it to himself as his reward for a life of service. And he took it.

Lots of people face that crossroads on all scales everyday. Most people - at least I'd like to think - choose the right way. But how many of us have thought...maybe, just a little...

Breaking News: Drug Companies screw public again - FDA helps

Here's a surprise. It turns out that many of the fast track approvals granted to new drugs by the FDA are contingent on follow up studies that the manufacturers commit to in order to get the drugs on the market faster. I think that's a fine plan - I'm a firm believer in getting new medications on the market.

But, here's the real shocker: The drug companies aren't actually doing the follow up studies. About two of every three of the promised studies haven't been completed. But the crack staff at the FDA is right on top of things:

The 797 pending studies represent a slight dip from the 812 still pending as of a year earlier, according to FDA documents. FDA spokeswoman Kathleen Quinn said the agency feels that “these numbers show drug companies are taking this thing seriously.”

Yes, they got started on a whopping 2% of the backlogged studies in the last year. That sounds deadly serious to me, particularly if you are using some of these medications.

Call me cynical, but why do I think that if you follow this up to the decision making level at the FDA you're going to find some Bush family sycophant who roomed with W's buddy in the frat house at Yale?

Rats leave ship that sunk months ago

Talk about imcompetence. Six months after the spectacular federal flameout in responding to Hurricane Katrina, former FEMA chief Michael "Heckuva Job" Brown now says his ex-boss, Michael Chertoff, should be fired.

These guys don't even know how to properly savage each other. After six long months of public humiliation and national flogging, Brown has now decided it wasn't his fault. "Chertoff did it," he seems to be claiming. "Blame him. I told him this would happen. Moooommm!!"

I find this is becoming a mantra when discussing imcompetence within the Bush administration: This would be funny if only...(fill in the awful consequence yourself).

The Domino's Effect

What is it with religous zealots? I'm all for free expression of religion (provided you're not in a black suit, white shirt, and skinny tie standing on my front porch), but with the obvious problems created by radical Islamic fundamentalists, you'd think people would be giving serious consideration to moderation.

First you've got Mel Gibson constructing some sort of 16th Century Catholic fun house in the hills of Malibu - where, I think, the price of admission is to downplay or ignore altogether the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust.

And now, along comes Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monoghan, building a town for 20,000 in Florida where you can't buy Playboy (or other pornography), condoms or birth control pills (note to Monoghan - if you're buying the former you don't actually need the latter - nobody is going to get knocked up when the act is between a guy and his magazine), and where cable TV won't offer pornography.

So, you can go live there with like minded people and...and what? Are the true believers in Monoghan's version of Catholicism so weak that they can't stumble into a Walgreen's without breaking down and buying a pack of Trojanz? Can't they just not order the porn on the cable menu? I never order on mine (I can't find the time) but I don't feel compelled to sequester myself in some Catholic version of Jonestown.

And we wonder why there's such hatred and division in the world. All in thirty minutes or less.

Reading between the lines

As more truth seeps out each day that defines the almost incomprehensible incompetence of the Bush Administration, the Bushies are truly struggling to defend the actions of their leader. In response to the video noted in the link above, this is really the best they could do:

In an article titled, "White House fires back at Katrina critics", here are the key paragraphs:

With critics noting that the president did not ask a single question at an August 28 briefing and insisted that "we are fully prepared," the White House fired back that he was heavily involved in preparations.

"President Bush participated in briefings, phone calls and conversations throughout this process, and his administration was focused on making sure that the federal assets were in place to help the people of New Orleans," Bush spokesman Trent Duffy said in a statement.

So, we are to believe that, although he inquired about, well...nothing, gave no directions, and generally acted as some sort of demented cheerleader, he was fully engaged in the crisis.

Many of us "Bush haters" have warned of this lack of leadership since 1999 when he first came on the national scene. I'm sure it was Molly Ivins or some other Texas based writer who described Bush as "uncurious" back then. That term has always stayed with me, and it has always carried with it an ominous undertone given the scale and severity of this administrations follies.

Of course, we were dismissed by both the middle of the road crowd and the true believers as idealogues bent on destroying this "regular guy".

But, on issue after issue, the evidence is overwhelming. This guy just doesn't want to know. He likes bold pronouncements and cowboy talk and all things related to image (think about the recent revelations regarding his conversations with Jerry Bremer - a little pep talk, a little concern about perception, get the hell out of here) but could care less about the actual ramifications of his policies.

I'm usually not like Bush with regard to bold pronouncements and cowboy talk, but I'll give it whirl and join the club:

Worst. President. Ever.