Posts Tagged ‘2008’

Every morning on my walk to the bus, I pass the windows of a shop called Bazar.  They sell imports, womens’ clothing, shoes, etc.  I often look at the dresses on display with an eye for something my wife would like me to surprise her with.  They often have some posters for bands or performances that I assume the owner fancies. 

However, in addition to their normal offerings for eye-candy, they offered something to reflect Barack Obama’s election.  Entitled "a historic night"; it was several large swaths of white paper hanging in the windows.  The hangings, read from left to right were one-line capsules of events, ideas, statements and thoughts from the beginning of the campaign up to election night. 

con⋅serv⋅a⋅tive
/kənˈsɜrvətɪv/ [kuhn-sur-vuh-tiv]
–adjective
1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.
2. cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.
3. traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.
–noun
1. a person who is conservative in principles, actions, habits, etc.
2. a supporter of conservative political policies.
3. a preservative.

The dictionary definition above does not make it sound so bad. I mean, it sounds like part of a spreadsheet on a CPA’s laptop or maybe something out of home economics class. How can anyone have any objection to conservative thinking if it’s this benign? Well the problem for me has always been the wide chasm of disparity between their simple sounding identity and the racism, corruption, bloodlust and tyranny that they promote.

From Wikileaks, comes the truth about Police Death squads operating under legal orders, to round up and kill young men. Kenya: The Cry of Blood – Report on Extra-Judicial Killings and Disappearances, Sep 2008 is documented evidence that over the last 18 months, the government has ordered the capture and murder of its own citizens at the hands of the police. The land of our next President’s father has become like pre-war Nazi Germany with government sanctioned murder and torture.

My country just announced that we are migrating to a new platform to manage our domain, United.States.of.America.gov. It’s called Camelot v. 2.0. It is going to really change how we do things around here. It is about time.

I am pretty excited because frankly, since Camelot v. 1.0 was removed, we have changed platforms every few years with sometimes awful results.

Big Oil, Defense Contractors, Wall St. Speculators and Lobbyists.

They should be afraid because they will no longer have ‘one of their own’ in the White House. Barack Obama is not one of them. He is not the grandchild or child of one. He didn’t take their money to fund his campaign or his career in the US Senate. Although he may have met their children in Harvard, but he did not go to work for them.

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“I was born in a house my father built.” Thus began Richard Nixon’s autobiography. If he were alive, I would say “Well, Dick I was born in the house that Jack built. Jack Kennedy, that is. Until you came along and turned it into the out house.”

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I almost pity poor John McCain. Almost. How did he end up with this ‘crap job’? It has fallen upon him to fight the last battle of slaveholders and plantation owners. I expect this bile from Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Dick Cheney and any of the rest that fall into the ‘angry white patriarch’ model that is interchangeable with KKK grand wizard or plantation owner.

The thinly veiled race baiting of the GOP that has been in force since Richard Nixon’s ‘Southern strategy’ is no longer thinly veiled at all. For a generation, the GOP was able to reliably manipulate themselves into power by scaring white voters about the danger to them from ‘the other’. They have expanded the cast of dangerous people to include gays, Latinos, (always) women and Muslims.

Eugene Jarecki has detailed his experiences with and assessment of dealing with John McCain on the Huffington Post today. He is the director of “Why We Fight”, a film that I posted already on this blog. I highly recommend watching it, if you have not already done so.

Mr. Jarecki was granted an interview on camera with Sen. McCain for his opinions on Defense spending and corruption. In an all-too-familiar fashion, Sen. McCain spoke of the need for accountability, then his staff scrambled to retract his words for fear of upsetting lobbyists.

With the way things are going for them, the GOP brain trust must feel like Roy Scheider, in Jaws.

Maverick used to mean finding a novel way to solve a problem. Now, it means ignoring the law, abandoning ethics and screwing everyone to get your way.

I have reached the point now, where if I ever hear someone use the word ‘maverick’ again, I may resort to uncontrolled sobbing or projectile vomiting.