Sunday, March 22, 2009

Snippets:

From Daphne Merkin "If Looks Could Kill," NYTimes:

On Bernie Madoff:
This is both the problem and the mystery of the man — and speaks to what so enrages people. If you’re going to be a con man, that is, you should at least look the part. No matter how much we’re told appearances are deceiving, we think we know better. Or rather, we think we’re exempt from the deception that ensnares others. In a way, Mr. Madoff and those he defrauded were co-dependent, the one offering a cover of benign paternalism and the other buying into the act. It’s interesting to me that institutional investors were the least likely to overlook the irregularities in his records; they weren’t looking to be part of a family, they were merely looking to make money.

(Merkin continued) On MONEY:

At the heart of the matter, of course, are the complex feelings we all bring to the subject of money itself. We covet it but we are ashamed of overtly lusting after it. We know money is frequently a matter of luck or conniving rather than a just reward, yet we regard very rich people with no small amount of awe. How ever did they do it? Although a gift for making money may not indicate any larger sphere of talent, we willy-nilly ascribe great intelligence to financiers.

On Timothy Geitner:

(Me) Maybe Obama should not have kept Bush's Geitner so that there would be "cohesion" from the September bailout. Geitner's motives and philosophy are definitely pro-high executive pay (when bankers are making millions where does that money come from if NOT from their clever investments? In case the answer isn't obvious: the people who hold deposits in the bank.)

Here's Maureen Dowd (NYTimes "Toxic R Us") on Geitner:

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who grew up as a Republican and was head of the New York Fed for five years, sees things from the point of view of that wellspring of masters of the universe, Goldman Sachs. (His Treasury chief of staff was a Goldman lobbyist, who fought then-Senator Obama’s attempt to curb executive compensation — just as Geithner has done within the administration.)

At the New York Fed, Geithner helped preside over the A.I.G. bailout in September. But in October, it was Andrew Cuomo, the New York attorney general, who had to threaten to sue unless A.I.G. canceled $160 million in planned expenses for conferences and a $600 million bonus pool.

And from me: the GOP outrage of all this financial debacle is pure HYPOCRISY from the political shysters who have created these mob CEO monsters and the financial fiasco we find ourselves. They are the ones who got elected based on: smaller government (which to ignorant mass of followers means no more welfare for minorities, but to political "mavericks" means no regulations! weak OSHA, weak IRS, more loopholes and to corporate CEOs, it means: Let's party!) If you've been around a while think: savings and loan debacle, the Enron scandal, the California utility fiasco, the no-bid contracts to Cheney's oil company, the privatization of the military, and a trillion dollars toward a Neocon War that didn't need to happen.

I'd like to stuff some socks into the mouths of these red-faced blow-hards who pompously boast that they'd like to see Obama fail to prove his inadequacy. Some people ought to hung in the town square. At least, they should be fire-hosed into oblivion, left to soak in some humility.

Great Day to be an American!

I can't believe how weepy I am. Today is a day to celebrate so much. First, I am so grateful that, for the most part, Obama ran a civil campaign and did not stoop to the low tactics of name-calling and fear-mongering. I hope the Republicans have learned that there is not enough racism in this country to bank on it politically. It is of the past, I want to believe.

November 4, 2008...America chose hope over fear, the future over the past, love over hate, integration over separation, the greater good over selfish desire. They chose inspiration, hope, and the communal spirit. We have a real chance to be a nation of one. Thank you, President-Elect Obama, you have renewed my desire to serve my country and renewed my belief and faith in people and politics. Quite a feat!

Hate Mongering Is Alive and Well in America

Be on alert. Let's not let this slide. Hold McCain and Palin responsible for the hate mongering that they've unleashed. This could ignite. There are darks hearts aplenty in this country--just waiting for a chance to explode. Whoever instigates American mobs into violent stupid acts of hate is the real OSAMA BIN LADEN. Let's shear the sheep's wool from this Republican Duo so the mob can see who they're following.

What I Wish Obama Would've Said

after one of the countless times that John McCain emphasized his experience:

"It seems odd that with all of your years of military experience that I was one of the few senators who got Iraq right from the beginning not AFTER 4,000 Americans paid for your error with their lives."

I know it was implied and sort of said, but I wish it had been emphasized and timely.

A MUST READ

Leave it to a spiritual guru to encapsulate what's really going on in America and in this election.

I'm reprinting the entire blog, but to give the author credit, please visit his website at: Chopra's blog

Obama and the Palin Effect
by Deepak Chopra

Sometimes politics has the uncanny effect of mirroring the national psyche even when nobody intended to do that. This is perfectly illustrated by the rousing effect that Gov. Sarah Palin had on the Republican convention in Minneapolis this week. On the surface, she outdoes former Vice President Dan Quayle as an unlikely choice, given her negligent parochial expertise in the complex affairs of governing. Her state of Alaska has less than 700,000 residents, which reduces the job of governor to the scale of running one-tenth of New York City. By comparison, Rudy Giuliani is a towering international figure. Palin’s pluck has been admired, and her forthrightness, but her real appeal goes deeper.

She is the reverse of Barack Obama, in essence his shadow, deriding his idealism and turning negativity into a cause for pride. In psychological terms the shadow is that part of the psyche that hides out of sight, countering our aspirations, virtue, and vision with qualities we are ashamed to face: anger, fear, revenge, violence, selfishness, and suspicion of “the other.” For millions of Americans, Obama triggers those feelings, but they don’t want to express them. He is calling for us to reach for our higher selves, and frankly, that stirs up hidden reactions of an unsavory kind. (Just to be perfectly clear, I am not making a verbal play out of the fact that Sen. Obama is black. The shadow is a metaphor widely in use before his arrival on the scene.) I recognize that psychological analysis of politics is usually not welcome by the public, but I believe such a perspective can be helpful here to understand Palin’s message. In her acceptance speech Gov. Palin sent a rousing call to those who want to celebrate their resistance to change and a higher vision

Look at what she stands for:

* Small town values — a nostaligic return to simpler times disguises a denial of America’s global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.
* Ignorance of world affairs — a repudiation of the need to repair America’s image abroad.
* Family values — a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don’t need to be needed.
* Rigid stands on guns and abortion — a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.
* Patriotism — the usual fallback in a failed war.
* ”Reform” — an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn’t fit your ideology.

Palin reinforces the overall message of the reactionary right, which has been in play since 1980, that social justice is liberal-radical, that minorities and immigrants, being different from “us” pure American types, can be ignored, that progressivism takes too much effort and globalism is a foreign threat. The radical right marches under the banners of “I’m all right, Jack,” and “Why change? Everything’s OK as it is.” The irony, of course, is that Gov. Palin is a woman and a reactionary at the same time. She can add mom to apple pie on her resume, while blithely reversing forty years of feminist progress. The irony is superficial; there are millions of women who stand on the side of conservatism, however obviously they are voting against their own good. The Republicans have won multiple national elections by raising shadow issues based on fear, rejection, hostility to change, and narrow-mindedness

Obama’s call for higher ideals in politics can’t be seen in a vacuum. The shadow is real; it was bound to respond. Not just conservatives possess a shadow — we all do. So what comes next is a contest between the two forces of progress and inertia. Will the shadow win again, or has its furtive appeal become exhausted? No one can predict. The best thing about Gov. Palin is that she brought this conflict to light, which makes the upcoming debate honest. It would be a shame to elect another Reagan, whose smiling persona was a stalking horse for the reactionary forces that have brought us to the demoralized state we are in. We deserve to see what we are getting, without disguise.

Obama Smear Begins

Here is a Robert Greenwald video that highlights right-wing Fox News guests smearing Barack Obama.

Obama in Berlin

"PEOPLE OF THE WORLD, THIS IS OUR MOMENT; THIS IS OUR TIME."

This speech is amazing in its elocution and delivery. Notice that he's not looking at cue cards either. He knows the art of pacing himself. The only thing that bothers me is the strong talk against the abstract act of terrorism. No, I'm not "for" terrorism. But that talk seems like masked anger toward weak, miserable, deluded people who happen to be arab and Muslim, and it just sounds too much like GWB macho speak. It's forgetting that the people who commit acts of violent desperation are the most miserable, disempowered, and hopeless people in the world. More than anything, I wish he was sending those people a message that they were not forgotten, that their misery is observed and that we all believe in justice for them too, not just Israelis, not just Germans, not just Europeans. Now, do THAT, and we might begin to end terrorism.

The first segment:


Part 2:


The Last Segment:

A Call For Hate-Mongers (see what fear does)

Why am I scared?

Why is it that despite the winds of change and the audacity of hope Obama gives me that I still shake in my shoes for what's in store for a new president? Especially a Democrat...inheriting such a huge financial and political mess. Especially a nice guy. The cynic in me imagines that I'm going to witness a lynching of the political and gruesome kind. I'm not sure that the failures of the present administration nor the unrestrained experimental unleashing of conservative, pro-war, pro-business, anti-environment dogs have learned anything from the mess-at-hand they created. I imagine the right wing attack dogs will be just as ruthless and that the Democrats will be just as naive and self-examining, perhaps eager to please their enemies and make friends and maintain some status quo (because they're fair and not revengeful, bless their hearts)...and this scares the bejeebies out of me.

Can't the Democrats manufacture some dogged, mean ranters who'll circle and snoop for any material and help silence the mob? Can't they produce a teeny-weeny, mean-spirited media character? Oh, Howard Dean and Keith Olbermann aren't enough. Anyway, they're always right. I'd like to be bothered by just a few wrong-headed, offensive, malevolent left-wing power mongers who taste fascist, hawk blood and go all Dobermann. I guess intellectual prowess doesn't spawn such.

On another note: here's a wise and interesting analysis of McCain vs Obama, in case you missed it in the NYTimes or Truthout. Frank Rich really shows a cultural depth in this piece that is particularly rich and impressive in its breadth across American generations.