It’s Happening! My Starbucks is Closing!

Actually, 3 of my Starbucks are closing. I never thought this would happen to me - ME!! Sure, 600 Starbucks stores are closing, but I felt a certain satisfaction knowing their world domination would be checked.

Don’t get me wrong, of many of the strong corporate cultures out there, I have felt Starbucks led in the ethics department. Subsidizing college tuition, health benefits, not supporting the war in Iraq (please do not confuse this with not supporting the troops; this idea was suffered by many of the peeps I met while suffering the unfortunate fate of living in Oklahama for a year and half).

While visiting London in 2000, however, I first understood the expansion intentions of Slutbucks (I LOVE this new nickname some religious yahoo gave the coffee shop because of their naked mermaid symbol. Apparently, the Christian genius thought her tail was actually her legs splayed. He’s now a poster-boy for the need for college education, if you get my drift). I had not seen a Starbucks in an international setting during my junior year abroad (Strasbourg, represent!) and I spotted the coffee behemoth on a street corner directly across from a lovely mom and pop café that had begun closing procedures. Sniff.

My body doesn’t like a lot of coffee. I haven’t figured out if it’s the acid levels or what, but I’ve always been able to drink Starbucks (especially their Breakfast Blend freshly ground) without too much trouble. So, I’ve developed quite an entrenched loyalty to Starbucks.

When I read that 600 Starbucks were closing, truthfully, I thought nothing of it. Really, we hardly ever actually go to Starbucks. It’s the psychological comfort of knowing my warm, caffeine injection was right around the corner awaiting a dog-on-the-leash, husband-at-my-side stroll.

No longer.

The only thing that could repair the damage to my American-consumer-convenience state of mind is if a walk-up tamale/taco/queso place opens in the stead of Starbucks. There’s already a dive-bar, liquor store, old-school burger joint, donut/jalapeno-pig-in-a-blanket shop, and Walgreens within walking distance of my home. If I can’t have my coffee, give me my tamales. Baby jesus, can you hear me? I swear I won’t play BINGO for a whole month if you let me have my tamales. And when I have children, I won’t give them sleeping pills and just spend the whole day at the BINGO parlor. Probably. Maybe.

Have a great weekend, everybody! And if you can get Sessions beer in your neck of the woods, buy it. Cause it’s some gorgeous stuff served from a stubby, brewed by Full Sail out of Hood River, Oregon.

You can click on this link on The Huffpo if you want to see if a Starbucks near you is closing.

Live Notes Taken During Al Gore’s Speech Today

• all the thanking he’s doing right now probably made a decent minority of viewers turn the channel to a TV judge show. we get it, already.
• he says politicians need get with the program or step aside. Ahem, Republicans.
• so many things going awry simultaneously (mortgage, bank, gas prices, we’re at war…).
• in five years, the entire northern polar ice cap could disappear one summer.
• has he lost weight? he looks better than he has in a long time.
• stats, stats and more stats.
• comment on situation iraq.
• crazy weather: floods, fires, etc.
• Stats.
• he’s much better with a teleprompter than even Obama. we won’t even get into McCain.
• politicians presenting old solutions to each crisis separately without taking the other crises into account.
• these solutions are not only ineffective, they make the other crises worse.
• borrowing money from china to buy oil from middle east. that has to change.
• the answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuel.
• talking about his solution summits. solutions to the climate crisis are the same solutions to the economy and guaranteeing our national security.
• Stats.
• production of electricity cheapest and easiest way to take advantage of renewal energy.
• New strategic initiative is linchpin of bold, new strategy to empower America.
• 100% of energy electricity and renewable and carbon-free sources within 10 years.
• Has he been talking with Boone Pickens? I hope so.
• Wind, solar, etc. getting cheaper and cheaper.
• Stats.

Dammit, CNN cut him off and now I’m watching McCain at a Kansas City Town Hall meeting talking about dependency on foreign oil and alternative energy resources and nuclear power. “Senator Obama opposes nuclear energy. He has a presidential seal I saw that says, ‘Yes, We Can.’ I think we should change it - ‘No, We Can’t’ or ‘No, We Won’t.’” Wow, CNN - this is sooooo much more important than a new energy initiative proposed by a former presidential candidate. Morons.

Found the transcript on The Huffpo.

Did Obama Just Lose My Vote?

This is serious. I’ve been saying for quite a while that Obama has not yet earned my vote and I am quite happy voting for Nader to help strengthen efforts toward a multi-party system. However, I voted for Obama in the primary here in Texas and was excited to vote for the first viable African-American candidate in the U.S.

Also, this is the most important election in years, if for no other reason than the necessity to populate the Supreme Court with judges who will protect civil liberties unlike those Bush has appointed or McCain would appoint.

While I have continuously lambasted the lack of character Hillary Clinton and her husband have shown during the primary season, I would not say I have been sipping “Obama Kool-Aid.” I understand that his “Change We Can Believe In” slogan is only as effective as his ability - to put it simply - to get things done. And politicians have to work together to accomplish progress. (Unless you’re President Bush, in which case you use the 9/11 attacks and existence of terrorism to scare Americans and politicians alike into marching behind your efforts to make the U.S. more of an authoritarian regime than ever before. Ugh, the thought makes it difficult to keep my coffee and chocolate granola cereal down.)

Obama is a politician first. With a degree in Government, I never lose sight of this. While Democrats fall in love (and Republicans fall in line) we must not forget that politicians must operate within the existing confines of the Washington Dance. This will inevitably lead to widespread disapointment with Obama, when he’s president, because he simply cannot please everyone and will have to compromise in order to accomplish certain goals. A president must make decisions when no option is the right one. It’s a hard gig - the hardest one in the world; I thoroughly recognize this.

However, much of my free time this week has been spent trolling the internet for a reasonable justification for Obama’s approval of the new FISA Act of 2008. Of course, I already have my fair share of underlying bitterness because the Democrats have performed disgracefully since taking control of the Congress. They are inexplicably banner ankle-grabbers again and again despite Bush’s record disapproval ratings. Yes, they do not want to seem weak on national security, but they are greatly underestimating the American people’s desire to have their civil liberties protected in this era of heightened danger.

Congressional members have far more concern with the length of their federal careers than casting the appropriate vote - rendering them impotent in the areas of war profiteering (Diane Feinstein’s husband is a defense contractor and why she still enjoys support in California, I have no idea. BTW, she vote AYE on FISA as well), criminal activity at the executive level (erasing emails, Karl Rove and Harriet Miers refusing to testify, Valerie Plame, fixing EPA reports and much, much more), reforming health care and national energy policy, policing unfair lending practices and allowing the establishment of a credit industry that works against the American people, not for them. It inexplicable that Congress has utterly failed to inhibit Bush’s harmful activities when the majority of Americans do not favor his policies in the slightest. It is frustrating and goddamned ridiculous.

So, Obama is Change personified, right?

Apparently, not so. Yes, I have read his blog on The Huffington Post regarding his FISA vote, which proffered no substantial logic for his approval of the bill. A few gems from the piece are:

Given the choice between voting for an improved yet imperfect bill, and losing important surveillance tools, I’ve chosen to support the current compromise. I do so with the firm intention — once I’m sworn in as president — to have my Attorney General conduct a comprehensive review of all our surveillance programs, and to make further recommendations on any steps needed to preserve civil liberties and to prevent executive branch abuse in the future.

Democracy cannot exist without strong differences. And going forward, some of you may decide that my FISA position is a deal breaker. That’s ok. But I think it is worth pointing out that our agreement on the vast majority of issues that matter outweighs the differences we may have.

The problem with our agreement on the vast majority of issues is that his vote on the FISA bill illustrates his inherent weakness and willingness to compromise when no comprise is needed simply to prove (which he fails to do with this vote) that he is strong on national security. This “aye” was unnecessary, dangerous, wrong, hurtful and potentially, yes, a deal breaker. Especially when assessing the guts of the bill, along with those who voted against it. On The Huffpo website, David Bromwich provides a very concise, yet in-depth look at the governmental powers granted with this legislation. I strongly recommend reading the blog and the readers’ comments below.

Among the senators who opposed the vote are Biden, Boxer, Dodd, Clinton, Byrd, Durbin, Feingold, Harkin, Kerry, Leahy, Reid and Levin.

The bottom line is that political agreements with a candidate are moot if the candidate does not have the political strength or fortitude to operate in accordance with that agreement.

Of course, Obama’s folding on FISA was a political calculation - that’s practically consensus. And I wish he could offer an honest defense of his vote; but, alas, this theater of election season would lead any such candor to damage the candidate.

Obama will be elected president barring any unforeseen, intensely damaging and highly unlikely circumstances. Though the media portrays the presidential race as close - it is a facade. McCain’s chances of succeeding in November, in my opinion, are around 1 in 5. Incumbent parties do not win when the economy is in the tank - mentally or not (and it’s not mental, Phil, when milk, bread, cereal, gas and all other necessities are more and more expensive and the dollar is weaker and weaker). McCain is not galvanizing and voter trust of most election issues points toward Obama. I wish Obama the best and will be hopeful as he takes his oath of office.

Furthermore, I applaud Obama’s willingness to work across the aisle and understand there will be areas in which he will break with Liberals. Support of faith-based community initiatives, for one (and this coming from an agnostic).

The FISA Act, however, is so detrimental to democracy itself, my respect for not just Obama himself, but the very idea of Obama has been irreparably damaged. I would encourage hardcore Obama supporters to keep this particular vote of his in mind when daydreaming of the days to come as he takes on the heavy mantle of President of the United States of America. Perfection at this level does not exist and any romance with a candidate will certainly abate over time.

I would never cast a vote for McFlip-Flop, nor would I ever stay home and waste a voting opportunity. Also, I am a thorough, complete supporter of a multi-party system. While I wanted to vote for Obama - and was excited to vote for him - my decision was not cast in stone. It still is not cemented. However, the odds I would pull the lever in support of him this November are greatly diminished. Truthfully, I am ever more looking in Nader’s direction.

If Obama’s political contributions continue to decline, I encourage him to address his FISA ‘08 support with increased seriousness. This is no small issue for those of us who follow politics and government activity.

This weekend, I plan on purchasing Obama’s two books and will begin reading them with a large grain of salt. Perhaps this will allow me some insight behind this recent mind-boggling decision of his.

As of this point, Obama is not Hope and he is not Change We Can Believe In. He is merely Better Than Bush, but isn’t everybody else?

Review: Maxed Out

Are documentaries getting better or is it just me? At least, they’re getting more interesting. Last night, I watched Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lending (2006) and must offer my highest recommendations to those considering adding to their rental “queue.”

While this documentary is certainly a biased vehicle through which writer, director, producer James Duncan Scurlock expresses his opinions on the unethical credit industry and the government’s collusion, it nevertheless provides an eye-opening paradigm behind the every-man’s everyday experience with credit card companies. If you think you have it bad, watch this documentary - for real - and you’ll feel like you’re living large and in charge. And happiness is all in the mind, which is why the Danish are on top of the world.

It’s easy to take away from Maxed Out the the significance of the lack of regulation of the unethical credit industry by the government. It’s so cute when the Republicans and Libertarians parade their free market ideals and forget that the human element prevents these theories from successfully materializing, despite all the good intentions and numerical data. And they want to open the health care industry in the same manner - unregulated, free market doctors, medicine, scalpels. Yeah, that will work out real well! Lack of regulation has proven so effective in the housing industry, which has resulted in mass foreclosures and helped initiate a recession, and global trade, which provides us Americans cheap consumer goods by taking advantage of poor working conditions outside of our borders. Don’t ask don’t tell and the like.

What we need is a combination of economics and anthropology. The human element - which differs from culture to culture - inhibits capitalism, socialism or communism in their pure forms. China has had to mix capitalism with their brand of communism. The U.S. will never fully achieve a free market system that does not victimize the lowest common denominator. Until economists and legislators alike realize this fundamental reality and Americans stop falling for the right-wing line that all their taxes and all the government regulation only benefit the undeserving over the hard worker, we’re going to have these economic meltdowns - most especially when a Republican Congress rubberstamps a Republican White House.

But I digress as I often do.

Maxed Out hit home for me especially as I am a poster-child for financial misunderstanding and irresponsibility. To put it mildly, I bit off more than I could chew when I was in college and partied like a rock star in my early twenties. And while it can take a week to ruin your credit, it can take a lifetime to repair it. The cards are stacked against you and the system is designed to squeeze every penny from your cold, dead hands. It’s grotesque.

As a wise, old 30-something (does 30 count as 30-something?), I have seen the light and rectified my ways. What I have taken from my experience, however, is the belief in the necessity of financial training for children - especially teens. We have typing class, calculus, electives, foreign languages and yet the very basics of money-management is exempt from regular school curricula. I’m very happy to have learned about STD’s and what PCP does to the human and mice brains. But the development of my adulthood would have been greatly improved had the Texas School Board of Education seen fit at some point to include information on CHECKING ACCOUNTS, OVERDRAFT FEES, FICO SCORES, etc., etc., etc…

Few other skills in life rank above that of money management and merely having a weekly allowance doesn’t cut it. I have no idea why there are not parents at every PTO meeting calling for the inclusion of such education. We are left to our own devices and my devices were fairly shitty. I’m improving bit by bit (my stepdad gives me a subscription to Money Magazine), but you know it’s a long, hard slog and watching college loan payments the size of luxury car payments head into the wind every month still stings.

Quality of life is determined by the quality of our decisions and the quality of our decisions is largely dependent on the quality of our training and education. I knew nothing of finance when I entered my twenties, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let avoidable circumstances dictate the outcome of my financial existence.

So, be smart, get learned and watch Maxed Out. Cause that shit is crazy.

Anti-Intellectualism Half a Century Ago

History repeats itself - an oft-repeated proverb warning us that the the lessons of the past are once again the sins of today. Certainly, I found myself mentally saying a church-worthy Amen! to this proverb as I began reading the Pulitzer Prize-winning Anti-Intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter, published in 1962, 1963.

Let me just say that if this weren’t a library book, I’d be highlighting the hell out of it. Instead, I’m reduced to tearing post-it after post-it to mark all the points of interest. And I haven’t started Chapter 2. My consumption of this work is a result of research I’m conducting for my own respective book, but Hofstadter’s observations have already shocked me into open-mouth disbelief as his descriptions of the anti-intellectualism of the 1950’s readily apply to today’s culture clash between the learned and the petrified. The author does assert that anti-intellectualism suffers cyclical fluctuations and will never fully abate to the netherworlds of silly history, with other theories such as “the sun revolves around the Earth” and “the 2008 election will be between Giuliani and Hillary” (yeah, that was my own Nostradamus endeavors into electoral predictions).

So, please forgive the length of this blog as I indulge myself by providing a few (a bunch?) unusually relevant excerpts from Chapter 1, with my intensely insightful commentary to follow.

…the launching of Sputnik by the Soviets precipitated one of those periodic surges of self-conscious national reappraisal to which the American public is prone. The Sputnik was more than a shock to American national vanity: it brought an immense amount of attention to bear on the consequences of anti-intellectualism in the school sysytem and in American life at large. Suddenly, the national distaste for intellect appeared to be not just a disgrace but a hazard to survival. Pg 4-5.

Perhaps I’m overreaching in my cocoon of progressive political theory, but I view global warming and the rise in fuel prices as the space race of our day. Before you emit a Moe-esqe, “Whaaaa?”, allow me to explain. While there are untold quantities of hydrocarbon beneath the surface of the Earth in not only the U.S., but also Iran, Russia, the South China Sea and other areas, global energy demands - especially of India and China - are helping fuel the rise petrol prices and will continue to do so.

The U.S. must focus on a transcendent energy policy today in the same manner we did with the space race in the ’60’s. Scientific ambitions aiming at a forward-thinking fuel-efficiency and alternative-energy development will help the U.S. maintain a technological and, thus, economic advantage in global markets. If we can me be a maverick in this area, we just might hold on to our hegemony a bit longer - though that need not be the main goal. We need to ride the wave of motivation high gas prices are providing toward cleaner energy and end our reign as Pollution Bastards of the World (especially as China will pick up the slack and more).

The labels of Intellectuals and Anti-Intellectuals were thrown around in the 1950’s in much the same way Liberal and Conservative are today. They were used as bad words by those who hurled them against their opponents and worn as badges of honor by those they described. Obviously, Hofstadter was an intellectual and the examples of anti-intellectual rhetoric he presents are laughable in this day and age - hopefully in the same manner Creationism and Intelligent Design will be laughable in another half century. If you haven’t chuckled today, allow me to send some historical fodder from Anti-Intellectualim your way that will surely entertain:

Novelist “of the right-wing persuasion,” Louis Broomfield, pg 9:

Egghead (euphemism for intellectual): A person of spurious intellectual pretensions…Fundamentally superficial. Over emotional and feminine in reactions to any problem. Supercilious and surfeited with conceit and contempt for the experience of more sound and able men. Essentially confused in thought and immersed in mixture of sentimentality and violent evangelism…

President Eisenhower’s definition of an intellectual, pg. 10:

…a man who takes more words than are necessary to tell more than he knows.

The disdain for intellectualism opened education and the education system itself up for the attacks from the more conservative commentators of the day as well.

Billy Graham, pg 15:

You can stick a public school and a university in the middle of every block of every city in America and you will never keep America from rotting morally by mere intellectual education.

[In place of the Bible] we substituted reason, rationalism, mind culture, science worship, the working power of government, Freudianism, humanism, behaviorism, positivism, materialism, and idealism. [This work of ] so-called intellectuals. Thousands of these ‘intellectuals’ have publicly stated that morality is relative–that there is no norm or absolute standard…

Arthur Bestor, junior-high school principal in Illinois, pg. 17:

When we come to the realization that not every child has to read, figure, write and spell . . . that many of them either cannot or will not master these chores . . . then we shall be on the road to improving the junior high curriculum.

(This is the best part) Between this day and that a lot of selling must take place. But it’s coming. We shall some day accept the thought that it is just as illogical to assume that every boy must be able to read as it is that each one must be able to perform on a violin, that it is no more reasonable to require that each girl shall spell well than it is that each one shall bake a good cherry pie.

I’ve never made a cherry pie, but I can make a mean cherry cobbler. Does that count?

Jack Schwartzman, of the Freeman, pg. 13:

Our universities are the training grounds for the barbarians of the future, those who, in the guise of learning , shall come forth loaded with pitchforks of ignorance and cynicism, and stab and destroy the remnants of human civilization…

If you send your son to the college of today, you will create the Executioner of tomorrow. The rebirth of idealism must come from the scattered monasteries of non-collegiate thought.

Does it get any better than that?! This quotation thoroughly tickles my funny bone because I have a close family member, who recently turned 70, who continually blames my political viewpoints on the fact that I attended “one of those liberal universities.” I had no idea the University of Texas was a cesspool of left-wing larva ready infiltrate governmental policy-making (don’t tell the frat boys!). In fact, he repeats that these “liberal colleges” are why young people tack liberal and why this world is going to hell in a handbag. I continually try to remind him that I retained nothing from college classes. Especially French.

And perhaps to close, this final quotation from Hofstadter himself that proves yet another proverb: the more things change, the more they stay the same. Pg 12 - and keep in mind, he wrote this in 1962:

Far more acute and sweeping was the hostility to intellectuals expressed on the far-right wing, a categorical folkish dislike of the educated classes and of anything respectable, established, pedigreed, or cultivated. The right-wing crusade of the 1950’s was full of heated rhetoric about ‘Harvard professors, twisted-thinking intellectuals . . . in the State Department.’

Am I the only one who feels like they’re in the Twilight Zone? George Bush thinks the jury is still out on global warming AND evolution. Hillary Clinton somehow warped into the working man’s candidate (talk about shape-shifting) and decried “experts” who opposed her gas tax holiday. Schools across the country are peppered with teachers who want to assert Intelligent Design as a scientific principle when it’s the absolute antithesis to the definition of science itself.

When will these perverted objectors realize that science, math, literature - EDUCATION - is what provided them their military weaponry, their computers, their energy capabilities, every day conveniences, “free market” dreams, and overall U.S. success and domination. It is a shame that people have to suffer when factories close and the jobs that require less education go overseas. As it is natural for species to go extinct in biological evolution and so is the case with jobs during economic evolution. Would the laid-off factor worker rather keep his job, yet amputate the very tools with which the U.S. retains its global position and military domination? Well, that would be unpatriotic.

Anti-Intellectualism is an embarrassment that has enjoyed many a decade hindering the development of humanity. For some inexplicable reason, Americans tend to wallow in more than their fair share. I suppose fear of change and development is at the heart of the matter, though it is hard for me to reconcile the “Great American Dream” with this entrenched detestation of progress and reason.

I do, however, think we’ve come a long way since Hofstadter penned his academic opinions. College education is ever more the norm and I’m sure 50 years from now we’ll laugh at the crazy old people who didn’t want the gays to marry and thought someone having a college education was a clear indication of an elitist in their midst. And I appreciated a sentiment by James Carville (who has stoked some of my ire during the current primary season) who said on AC 360 the other evening, “Competence is patriotic.” Well, halle-freaking-lujah.

I can tell I’m really going to enjoy the rest of this book. In the meantime, let’s get-to on those alternative energy sources!!

How Obama Can Beat McCain I: Use McCain’s Words Against Him

I have never been involved in a political campaign other than my successful run for National Junior Honor Society President and my unsuccessful shot at National Honor Society President.

Inside the Campaign?

I imagine it cannot be far from living in the eye of a hurricane 24/7, the unpredictability of embarrassing revelations or gaffes, the threat of darkening skies always looming off the horizon and the ethereal moments of clarified victory when poll numbers are favorable. The tantalizing possibilities behind voter psychology, the sea of wadded paper full of unrealized brainstorm sketches, unending analysis of electoral demographics, passionate debates, cultish ideology, coffee and Redbull, pizza and deli sandwiches, and the numbers - always the numbers. I saw War Room. I know what’s up.

Having a government degree, I’m sure I romanticize the goings on in a campaign headquarters and have considered applying my efforts to local organizations. Being in Texas, however, I’ve never quite found that candidate I could wholly support and the thought of working at a phone bank does not hit me in the sweet spot. Furthermore, I’m probably one of the least diplomatic people I know and would have a hard time maintaining that vaseline-required smile when speaking with dissenters.

So, I maintain my safe, self-indulged distance while I write commentary and opinion and shout at the television when necessary - which is a lot under the current circumstances. And I’m convinced, that an outsider’s opinion (including other outsiders, not just moi) could be a valuable asset were campaign strategists inclined to listen. The whole forest for the trees argument is applicable.

2004

I wanted to rip somebody’s arm off in 2004 when nary a Democratic ad used footage of Bush’s 2000 campaign promises - the majority of which the man reneged on, becoming the disastrous tragedy we now have before us. Need I remind anyone of the 1992 stroke of genius when Democratic strategists replayed “No New Taxes” over and over again? If speech writers comb through the archeology of presidential oratory for inspiration, why didn’t the 2004 strategists use the triumphant advertising maneuvers of yesteryear? I still believe W. could have been a one-termer had his broken campaign promises been used against him.

McCain

Now Obama must turn his focus to McCain. This should be an easy one, though no one on the inside can take anything for granted, lest they find themselves confetti-free November 5. I hate negative advertising, which normally doesn’t work on educated voters, so McCain is the gift that keeps on giving because the man has already produced a library of gaffes this primary season and there’s no end in sight. Now, I’m not sure where the boundaries are, but I think ads that simply use the candidate’s words (albeit, against him) are not necessarily negative enough to turn off voters.

Here’s a recount of a few verbal missteps of McCain:

• He asserted May 29 that American troop levels in Iraq had been reduced to pre-surge levels.
• Last month, he insisted to Joe Klein that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the leader of Iran.
• McCain claimed last year there were parts of neighborhoods in Baghdad where “you and I” could go for a walk - even though his walk was guarded by 100 soldiers, 3 Blackhawks and 2 Apache gunships.
• Humorously, on June 2, McCain said he will win in January, kinda forgetting the election and, thus, potential victory, occurs in November. The 5th, to be exact.
• He’s forever mistaking Sunni/Shiite and Iran/Al Qaeda.

His gaffes, while funny and likely effective should they be played on a loop closer to the election, do not compare in seriousness to his policy flip-flops, which are also quite numerous:

• Ethanol
• Tax Cuts
• Abortion
• Talking w/ Hamas
• Religious Right
• Immigration
• Torture
• English as the Official Language
• U.S. troops in Iraq 100 years
• Warrantless Wiretapping
• Social Security
• Foreclosure Crisis
• Ethics Reform

Now, I’m not good at math, but I think - I think that’s more flip-flops than I can count on two hands. McCain makes Romney look like a party-line loyalist.

It’s quite possible that Obama’s camp is allowing the blogging, online and YouTube universe to attack McCain for him and biding time until polls dictate the right moment to release the marketing big guns. Needless to say, McCain’s own words can easily cost him the election and should be used against him relentlessly.

McCain’s folks are already taking note of the hard times these flip-flops will bring. I haven’t heard his campaign use the term “Straight Talk Express” in a while, but that’s most likely because it’s being used against him:

• Double Talk Express
• McCain Straight Talk Express Loses Some Wheels
• Straight Talk Express Derailed?
• Straight Talk Express Stalls
• Not-So Straight Talk Express
• Straight Talk Express Takes Scenic Route to the Truth (Ann Coulter, by the way)
• Less-Than-Straight Talk Express
• “McCain’s ‘Green Straight Talk Express’ is actually the ‘Black Energy Twisted Action Delay Machine’” (personal fave)
• Straight Talk Express Veers into Mud
• McCain’s Straight Talk Express Takes Every Fork In The Road?
• No Free Rides on the Straight Talk Express
• Straight Talk Express blows a tire in Baton Rouge
• McCain’s Straight Talk Express Hits the Gravy Train
• Detours on the ‘Straight Talk Express’

Wow. The longer this blog goes on, the more I think, Obama - you sit this one out, we’ll take care of McCain.

I’m not saying this campaign is in the bag. Not at all. Crazy things happen in an election cycle and Obama has to be vigilant (ahem, guns-and-religion) while presenting a sincere and honest resume to the American people.

Yes, the Willie Horton ads are coming. In fact, the strategist behind the Swift Boat ads, Chris Lacivita, has already indicated he’s out for blood, saying, “We will attack Obama viciously on all fair issues, whether they are national security, whether they are taxes or the economy.”

But the Obama camp has to keep in mind: 1. The Rush Limbaugh zombies and the evangelical vote McCain is losing could cancel out any underlying racists and the bitter Hillary voters Obama could lose, 2. Democrats turned out in droves during the primaries to vote and will do so even more in the general, 3. The incumbent party has not won in recent history when the economy is in a recession, 4. Bush is an anathema across the country and McCain differs from him by about .0045 degrees.

When countering McCain, Obama should stick to the issues. Despite McCain’s questionable personal history (there’s a lot of meat there), do not launch personal attacks. Do not issue advertisements with some deep-throated, long-time smoker narrator hurling accusations at McCain and making me want to take a two-hour shower after each viewing. His camp ran an ad here in Texas with a guitar riff that was just amazing. I certainly didn’t mind seeing it over and over and over would suggest replaying it during the general. I can’t find it on Youtube, though, which really bites.

If Obama can stay positive, stay on message and build his credibility with voters by delivering specific solutions (specific being the operative word here), McCain’s words alone will do him in and the Obama camp should allow them to do so. Never has one candidate in history had so much video of his many 180’s, reneges, retreats, reversals and turnabouts. It’s a campaign goldmine.

Democrats, there should really be no excuse for a loss this year. Unless a freak, unpredictable political meteorite of untold proportions manages to sabotage this election, Obama should take this thing home handily. If it even looks questionable or like it’s slipping away, an unleashing of McCain flip-flop videos in torrential volumes will at least encourage Republicans to stay home rather than vote for a dishonorable liar. That’s right. I said it.

There’s a lot at stake here. This is the most significant election in modern history and it is of the utmost import that McCain not win. Luckily, he’s been helping us make the case against him - which I, at least, will continue to do. I will be on the lookout for the next gaffe, the next flip-flop and continue to update this post each time I spot one.

It’s our time people. With the primaries over, it’s time to get focused and get smart and get organized. We have to take our hijacked government back. This is still a representative democracy and it’s time to represent!!

UPDATE:

Latest Flip-flop: Offshore Oil Drilling

Hell No Hillary for VP!!

With all this talk of the possibility of Hillary as VP, Hillary demanding to be VP, Leni Davis and Robert Johnson (as in, the founder of BET) pushing for Obama to ask her to be VP, I just have to add my two cents. I had another blog in mind for today, but this topic begs - no demands! - a response. Even Jimmy Carter, the gold-medal diplomat of our time, can’t hold his tongue behind those big, mamba jamba lips.

Barack, for the love of everything holy, do not, under any circumstances or for any reason pick Hillary as your vice presidential candidate. Don’t even do it as an olive branch under the strident assurances that she will not accept. You don’t owe it to her. You don’t owe it to her voters.

I say this knowing you won’t pick her and knowing she wouldn’t accept. But, still, let’s have a little chatty-chat, let’s ruminate and ponder this little political gem that has all the pundit gums flapping.

Again, you don’t owe it her. In fact, she doesn’t even deserve the consideration - for more reasons than just the fact she’s being self-righteous even in loss. I’m going to tell my future children tales of her as an example of how not to comport yourself. “There once was this cackly old lady with a blond mullet who wanted to be a dictator, but - alas, she was born in a land of democracy. She claimed to want to save the children of the world and give them lollipops. But, there were these other adults who thought it would be better to give the children tootsie rolls. So she tried to poison the other adults with her pottymouth! Still, they were smarter than she was and erected a forcefield of cleverness called Change and Hope. People liked the other adults more, so the bad lady was mad and said mean things about speeches. She tried to cheat and even say everyone liked her more! It was a shameful lie in the light of day and, finally, the bad mullet lady was shunned to the gaol of no respect. It was the greatest and worst political theater of all time that threatened democratic possibilities in the most dire of circumstances. It’s why mommy has gray hair and a bad liver.”

Yeah, I’m the next Dr. Seuss. Moving on:

Hillary’s 18 million voters are not all die-hard women. First of all, it irks me to hear over and over again that women are one of her solid demographic supporters. I would urge commentators to specify OLD women as one of her solid demographics. Us young females are not. We’re happy to hold the exit door open for her, if you know what I mean. Also, while many voted for her, I submit that the majority have already embraced the Obama nomination. In other words, all this talk of her “assets” is so much like the Bush talk of “political capital.” It’s bullshit. Time heals all wounds and after everyone hears the policies of McFlipFlop, as well as his terrible speeches (which sound like he’s reading from a cereal box), as well as the debates, they will vote for Obama. As gas, milk and bread prices continue to shock, Hillary’s voters will abandon their little islands of bitterness and head for the mainland of political common sense.

She does not wield this power of the masses that is paramount to an Obama win in November. I disagree with the premise entirely. Her voters are not simple, mindless zombie followers. They’re democrats and most of them are reasonable.

Other reasons:

• She has expressed McCain is a better candidate for president than Obama. Won’t it be lovely to see the RNC play that clip over and over during the general campaign if he picks her?
• Governing with her would be pure hell. There’s a reason Spitzer chose blind ole adulterer Patterson as his lieutenant. You want the VP to be beneficial, but not powerful. (Remember, the Bush/Cheney dynamic is an anomaly)
• Worse than Bill as First Gentleman or whatever, would be Bill as Second Gentleman. Then he would really feel free to grab as much poon around NY and DC as the viagra popper can handle - while simultaneously lecturing on policy. Just look at the man.

I could go on and on, but really, he’s not going to pick her. Caroline Kennedy-Schlossberg is on the committee to help chose the VP nominees and she’ll help Obama make the best decision.

Last comment reserved for Joan Walsh: You should be labeled “Clinton supporter” when you choose to air your opinions on television. Your commentary is one-sided as you see what you wish rather than assessing events as they are. It’s not a big deal. We all do that. But call a spade a spade. Your analysis is biased and should be labeled as such. Plus, quit tilting your head when you speak and getting all pissy when people disagree with you. It’s annoying.

Appropriate Immigration Reform: Stop The Hate and Fear-Mongerring

A study, commissioned by the Americans for Immigration Reform Task Force (part of the Greater Houston Partnership), found that if 8.1 undocumented workers (otherwise knows as illegal immigrants) left overnight, the U.S. would lose $1.8 trillion in annual spending, according to today’s Houston Chronicle. While the task force has a vested interest in highlighting the detrimental effects of the absence of illegal immigrants, the study presents a merited discussion on the positive aspects of their inclusion in American society.

There has been much fear-mongering in the media over the ethics of allowing undocumented workers within our borders and workplaces. They’re taking jobs from American citizens! There are criminals among them! They don’t speak English and will marry our daughters! The lack of reasoning among those who cherry-pick statistics and facts and then use them as scare tactics for either political purposes or sensationalist media strategies is appalling.

While comprehensive immigration reform should undoubtedly be a priority of our legislative leaders, simply building a wall and kicking out “aliens” would not only NOT address our current problems, it would have a hugely negative impact on the farming, construction, restaurant, meatpacking and many other industries already under severe economic strain. Unfortunately, undocumented workers can be at a tremendous disadvantage in the workplace, receiving unfair wages and facing dangerous working conditions - a much more cogent motivation for reform than the “drain on our economy” argument used by the media crazies and right-wing politicians looking for that next leg up during election season.

The vast majority of our families were at one time undocumented and arrived in the U.S. without adhering to our strict immigration laws. Truth be told, the United States has a strong economy, capable of absorbing the millions of illegal immigrants - a large percentage of whom have been in here for years. Much of the media coverage and the shouting from the right wing is simply unfounded propaganda.

Anna Quindlen wrote in Newsweek last August that Mayor Bloomberg “testified before a Senate committee that they (undocumented workers) are the linchpin of his city’s economy.” She went on to write that new businesses are started by Latinos at a rate three times the national average.

Immigration reform cannot simply focus on kicking them out, having them pay a fine and then they can return. This is a very short-sighted non-solution that would do more harm than good. The path to becoming a citizen must be cheaper, shorter and less bureaucratic. Only then will immigrants opt for the legal route rather than the back alleys. This will also help separate the well-intentioned hard workers (that make up the vast majority of illegal immigrants) from the few bad eggs.

For any of us to claim that the U.S. and the possibilities available here are ours and ours alone is absurd. Numbers, studies and statistics are continually manipulated by all sides for ulterior motives, leaving us the individual duty of researching and judging for ourselves where the solutions lay. Talking heads are merely hurdles for the truth. Unreasonable fears implanted in today’s society prevent many from appreciating the enormous cultural and economic value undocumented workers present. For example, the contribution by these workers to Social Security annually is in the billions, yet they themselves will not benefit from these payments.

I live in Texas and think we should try to extend a helping hand rather than flout the ideals that once made our country great. Let’s be cool about this, people. Get of the ineffective Hate Train and stop yelling, “Off with their heads!” These tactics have been historical failures. Undocumented workers will not stop coming, wall or no. And if we offer a voice and protection and fairness in exchange for the meeting of reasonable, legal demands, only then will the situation benefit all parties involved.

Screw The White Working Class

David Axelrod took the words right out of my mouth. According to The Huffington Post, David Axelrod told NPR 4/23, “The white working class has gone to the Republican nominee for many elections, going back even to the Clinton years.”

All day yesterday, as I’m hearing the news stations ask over and over, “Why can’t Obama close the deal? Why can’t Obama close the deal?”, it became even clearer that mainstream media has once again donned the dumbass cap and can’t see the forest for the trees. Again.

You can spin the Pennsylvania results however you like. Hillary won by 10 percent, giving her divine right to continue in the primary and torture the democrat electorate with her negative campaigning and hypocritical criticisms. Obama, however, had been behind in the polls 30 percent when the race for Penn. started and managed to close the gap some 20 percent while being forced off message by the Wright bullshit and Bittergate. Take your pick. They’re both right and irrelevant.

The only guarantee we have is that the race will continue on its U-G-L-Y, YOU AIN’T GOT NO ALIBI, YOU UGLY, YOU UGLY, YO MOMMA SAY YOU UGLY course. Hillary effectively paralyzes Obama when she attacks him and he still has not been able to reach the “everyday man” with specific policies that will better the lives of the lower-middle, white working class.

So, the white working class stays with Hillary. Just like they did in Pennsylvania and possibly will in Indiana and definitely will in Kentucky. The silly white working class! Gotta love ‘em! Right?

Give me a freaking break! Let’s talk about these white working class. They’re the ones who picked Bush. They’re the ones who picked Bush AGAIN. They’ll probably head over McCain’s direction in the general ANYWAY.

I say screw ‘em! They’ve jacked this country up enough. Why don’t we let the educated, young people who will inherit this nation decide this presidency. We’re the ones who are entering the workplace and finding decent salaries and ethical treatment and good management sacrificed in the name of the almighty dollar by the whores who went before us. We’re the ones who will die from black lung as unfair trade with China and others vastly increases pollution in the U.S. because we’re not holding them to our same environmental standards as we hold our own factories. We’re the ones who see inflation, commodity prices, and housing prices double and triple while pay rates go down. Congress has given themselves what, eight?, pay-raises since the last time they increased minimum wage. Thanks, whitey.

You can thank the white working class for giving Bush the free pass to continue Iraq with failed polices. You can thank the white working class for prejudicial Constitutional Amendments across the country against gay marriage. Amendments that would make founding fathers cringe. You can thank the white working class for continued government support for abstinence-only programs that have never proven to be effective and are possibly harmful. You can thank the white working class for ensuring that semi-automatic weapons and other needless, non-hunting fire-arms stay on the street and continue to wreak havoc in poor neighborhoods with ever-spreading tentacles.

I say it’s time the white working class stepped aside and retire their failed philosophies. We are worse as a nation - and as a world - than we were eight years ago. And, you know what I think, peeps? It’s only going to get worser. Especially in the last 270 days of the Bush presidency. Especially if McCain is elected president. They the white working class is truly insane if for no other reason than they keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting things to change or improve. Talk about tyranny of the masses - or, at least, the majority. The rest of us suffer because of their inadequate critical analysis and decision-making.

Forget political correctness. The white working class as a demographic, as an electorate, and as a decider has failed themselves and failed the rest us.

Let us pick this one, White Working Class, and I bet your life will improve. The Republicans have tricked you into thinking they’re looking out for your best interests by holding poor people accountable for their poorness. They haven’t. They’ve just ceded power to the multi-billion dollar corporations in exchange for campaign contributions and free golf games while your kids go without health care. It’s not your fault. You didn’t know. But if the reprehensible actions of Bush and Cheney and a whole slew of Congressional members haven’t taught you anything, I don’t know what will. You’re losing your homes. You can’t afford your medicine. You’re overweight and unhappy. Well, take a seat. Sit back. Put the Depends on. And give the rest of us a chance to right your wrongs.

And OBAMA - for CHRISSAKES - start giving specific examples of policy you will enact instead of simply saying You’re Going To Change Washington. We’ve heard that shit over and over before. We want specifics and we want them now. Definable, tangible solutions. Not generalities. Not campaign rhetoric. It’s time to get with the g.d. program. And if you lose Indiana, so help me, I’m voting for Nader!

News of the Day 080506

1. Legislative opposition to online gambling is slowly fading, according to Patrick O’Connor on Politico. Wooohooo! This has been a ridiculous regulation (perpetuated by those crafty “limited government” Republicans. Remember kids, the word is “hypocrisy”) for a longtime that prevents the government from making a lot of money and adults from making adult decisions.
2. OPEC tensions on the rise as the organization refuses to increase production, citing mismanagement of the American economy as being largely responsible for the increase in oil prices. In fact, many OPEC countries were thinking of cutting production to drive oil prices up in order to compensate for the weak dollar. It’s good to know the providers of the world’s equivalent of “mothers’ milk” continue to use their control over the valuable resource to bend consumers over. I swear to god I’d buy some solar panels if my house wasn’t covered by a massive pecan tree!
3. Freakonomics posted this paper by a few economists saying, “smaller businesses create more jobs, on net, than larger ones. It’s a long, boring read - but the result are interesting. And it’s pdf, so it might take a little time to load.
4. Rolling Stone endorsed Obama today, I’m sure you heard. Should we revisit this culture of news publications (which Rolling Stone isn’t, necessarily) endorsing candidates? I get why they did it back in the day when access to information was limited and they thought they were doing a public service (albeit, motivated by bribe monies much of the time). But these days?? When the public has widespread access to information and can easily make up their own minds? All the major newspapers in Texas endorsed Obama. Didn’t do him much good and aren’t they supposed to be unbiased? Interesting topic for debate and discussion. I must marinate on the topic a bit more.
5. Experts are returning to their professional dominance after years of tyranny of the masses on the internet, according to Newsweek. “In December, Google began testing Knol, a Wikipedia-like Web site produced by “authoritative” sources that share ad revenue. The sample page contains an insomnia entry written by Rachel Manber, director of Stanford’s Insomnia and Behavioral Sleep Medicine center. In January, BigThink.com, a self-styled “YouTube for ideas” backed by former Harvard president Larry Summers and others, debuted its cache of polished video interviews with public intellectuals.” Us neophytes with our misinformation are going to be relegated to the netherworlds of the web where we belong!!

Missouri Considering Law Redefining Morning-After Pill So Pharmacists Can’t Be Sued If They Refuse To Dispense It

Obviously, I hope this bill doesn’t get much traction. According to this article in the The Kansas City Star, a reproductive rights advocate says 26 percent of women in Missouri already live at least 30 miles away from a pharmacy that does not carry Plan B, or the morning-after pill. Perhaps they live in the boonies, but still… The bill would simply make it harder for pharmacists to be sued if they refuse to fill a prescription for Plan B if the pharmacy in which they work carries the drug.

No where in the bible does it tell people to prevent others from having an abortion. God and jesus never said, “And thou shalt prevent thy neighbor from ending or preventing a pregnancy!” A pharmacist should check their personal beliefs at the door when practicing their medically-significant profession. If we all went about our day forcing our beliefs onto those with whom we have professional relationships, we would be the land of oppression and intolerance rather than freedom and liberty.

I will never use the pharmacies at CVS because, years ago, they refused to fire a pharmacist who would not fill birth control prescriptions. And, I really only ever want to go to Chick-fil-a on Sundays when the damn place is closed due to religious doctrine. If their chicken biscuits and coleslaw weren’t so tasty - I’d never go! It’s about consumer activism and I try my best. But, I have to say, not getting birth control at CVS is a really easy boycott as opposed to trying to buy NOTHING from China. I’ve tried. It’s a bitch!

Dems Cracking Down on Pharmaceutical Companies - Commentary on Republican Aiding of Big Corporations

While this just might be political payback - after all, Edwards kept accusing Obama and Clinton of taking contributions from big drug companies - but, either way, Democrats in Congress have launched investigations into pharmaceutical corporation’s behaviors regarding Medicare, television advertising and the drug approval process. I for one, am thrilled. The pharmaceutical companies committed many transgressions under the approval of the Republican Congress.

Political philosophy has long held the belief that a vote for a Democrat means a vote for bigger, more powerful government. And this may be true (though not under Bush, who has expanded governmental powers above and beyond what any democrat could have ever gotten away with). The philosophy that a vote for a Republican will result in smaller government. Hmmm. That might be so, but instead of the powerful government you get with Democrats, you get powerful corporations with Republicans. And that is not good for the everyday American.

The pharmaceutical industry is simply one example of the havoc unregulated companies and industries can wreak on Joe Schmo. Just this past Sunday, 60 Minutes offered a report on the deaths caused by Bayer’s Trasylol each month due to the FDA’s unwilling to pull the drug that is 200 times more expensive than other drugs that are just as effective and don’t lead to renal failure and death.

Drug companies have armies of lobbyists who push the approval of drugs onto the public without effective clinical trials, who push for the approval of the use of adult cold medicines and antibiotics for children with no testing on children, who lobby doctors incessantly to prescribe chemicals for people for the slightest ailment and questionable diagnosis. Has anyone ever considered depression to be a developed-world condition and perhaps a visit to Sierra Leone or a labor camp in China or regular exercise might help to alleviate the symptoms rather than a myriad of tablets and pills? Just wondering…

Furthermore, and this is a comment on the free-market ideals of all the Ron Paulies out there, pharmaceutical companies control the patents on their drugs for years and can assign any cost they choose to life-saving medication. Customers simply cannot wander over to another drug company if they are unhappy with the services provided by the makers of Drug X.

Corporations collude, they merge, they control prices when unregulated. The free-market ideals introduced by Adam Smith and others that came during the Industrial Age in their purity do not apply in today’s setting. Pure theories, such as Communism, Capitalism and Socialism fail when taking into account the human psyche and cognitive dissonance. A balance must be struck. And the Republicans certainly are not willing to attempt such an endeavor. And so, we have unregulated industries.

The oil industry, with its record profits soaring - along with the prices of consumer goods; the airline industry, with its delays, overcrowding, and mass consumer disapproval; out-of-control lenders with their adjustable-rate-mortgages preying on subprime borrowers; dangerous toys from China making their way to kids’ mouths; CEOs with bonuses in the tens of millions while bottom-level employees can’t afford healthcare; monolithic corporate mergers; insurance companies that won’t pay their customers’ claims; the list goes on an on.

Personally, I’d rather a vote for bigger government. With a vote, I still have the power over who has the power. With a corporatocracy, I have no control over board-room deals that dictate my expenditures and consumer choices.

I do not prefer the idea of government regulation of our life, such as media censorship, but I choose react to the political reality of today, rather than the political ideal of what is supposed to be. The result of a Republican vote no longer means limited government, if it ever did. Republicans limit government when it comes to corporate behavior, not citizen behavior.

If it were up to Republicans, government would have greater control over what we do and don’t teach our kids in schools (creationism, abstinence) with very detrimental consequences. If it were up to Republicans, the government would control our decision to have an abortion. If it were up to Republicans, we would be much more concerned with NFL coaches destroying tapes of opposing teams’ play signals than the destroying of the CIA tapes and much more concerned with a boob shown during the Superbowl than genocide in Darfur. If it were up to Republicans, the concentration of executive powers acquired under Bush would remain, thwarting the effort of checks and balances intended by the founding fathers. If it were up to Republicans, government would launch a massive effort to criminalize undocumented workers in this country, going against the very foundations of our country’s greatness. Small government? Whatever!

We have a reality that must be recognized. Political party philosophies no longer apply to political party behavior. It is a shame we do not have a greater choice in the political parties to whom we may assign our votes. Given the two we got, however, I’m going with the Democrat. Because, in reality, with the Democrats, I stand a much better chance at determining the situations which affect my life rather than ceding them to Republican power whores and their corporate pimps.

Stores in New York Beginning to Take Euros

Who doesn’t think the world is becoming more and more globalized?? I saw this Reuters article on the Freakonomics blog. How is everyone dealing with the decline in U.S. hegemony? Having lived in France and Australia, I’m doing alright. Australia is a lot like Texas and I’d move back if I weren’t afraid of having my leg ripped off by a great white. You think I jest? It happened to a dude when I was there. Plus, many poisonous spiders and snakes and jelly fish. But the beer is good and the parties are better!

Stimulus Package - In Case You Were Wondering

This is from the Treasury Department website:

Link to the PDF Fact Sheet on the new stimulus package

I still haven’t figured out if we’ll have to pay these rebates back next year, as we did with Bush’s first set of rebates (which he kept calling refunds) in 2001. I’ve heard that we won’t, but until I see it in writing, I won’t believe it.