Saturday, November 16, 2013

Vimeo of the Day: An analysis of Wes Anderson's Rushmore

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I'm not a huge Wes Anderson fan. His films have an undeniable distinctiveness to them, and they're always rather beautiful, but I generally find his work overly mannered, pretentious, and, a word one often finds associated with him, precious, the worlds and characters he creates, while often amusing, way too quirky and eccentric for their own good. Yes, his compositions are remarkable, the care and attention he gives to each shot almost Ozu-like (a huge compliment, from me), and you can get lost, pleasurably so, in the details, but the films of which they are a part are often as annoying as they are rewarding.

And yet there's one film he's made that I consider truly great and truly a masterpiece, one that to me stands well above The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Moonrise Kingdom (all in the next tier down, the ones I also like, or at least find tolerable). And that film, of course, is Rushmore.

Here's a wonderful video about Rushmore, with some poignant analysis, adapted from the book The Wes Anderson Collection by Matt Zoller Seitz. It will make you appreciate the film even more, and inspire you to watch it again (and again). And if you've never seen it... seriously, come on.

THE WES ANDERSON COLLECTION CHAPTER 2: RUSHMORE from RogerEbert.com on Vimeo.

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Friday, November 15, 2013

P.M. Headlines


(New York Times): "House approves bill that allows policy renewals"

(Ronald Brownstein): "Obamacare's problems could haunt Democrats for years"

(Washington Post): ""For Obama, the last campaign may be the most difficult"

(Roll Call): ""Military sexual-assault bills touch raw political nerve for Democrats"

(Gallup Politics): "Majority in U.S. still believe JFK killed in a conspiracy"

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Democratic freak out will not help


By Frank Moraes

A few days ago, I was pushing back against all this nonsense about the poor people not able to keep their existing insurance plans. As I pointed out, these are just Placebo Policies. They make people feel that they have insurance, as long as they don't use it. And that's worse than useless. It's very much like the Loony Tunes short "Fool Coverage." In that video (which is sadly not available online), Daffy Duck convinces Porky Pig to buy accident insurance that will pay one million dollars for a black eye "as a result of a stampede of wild elephants running through his house between 3:55 and 4 PM on the Fourth of July, during a hailstorm." When this actually happens, Daffy amends the clause, "A stampede of wild elephants and one baby zebra!" And, of course, a baby Zebra shows up because it's Loony Tunes and not the actual life of one of the people with one of these placebo policies.

Jonathan Cohn has laid out just what is going on with the Republican plan to help these tragic victims who are being forced to get real insurance. The plan by Republican Representative Fred Upton is all of 235 words. And in that small bill there is the undoing of Obamacare. The problem is that the bill not only says that these useless plans can be sold to the people who already have them, it says they can be sold to anyone. This will cause of the young and healthy people to bail out of the exchanges and get these cheap faux policies. All the older and sicker people will stay in the exchanges because (1) they need actual insurance and (2) the companies would deny them for these plans anyway. Thus the price for everyone else would go up. Goodbye Obamacare.



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On the Hustings


(CBS Philly): "Sen. Rand Paul: Christie reelected because ‘he got a lot of federal money’ following Sandy"

(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel): "Assembly approves changes to voting hours, ID law"

(New York Times): "Groups mobilize to aid Democrats in ’14 data arms race"

(Washington Post): "John Boehner: 2014 bogeyman?"

(The Hill): "Left wants challenger for Hillary Clinton"

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Liberterrorism?

By Capt. Fogg

The notion that the Government is cracking down on freedom in general and preparing to freeze our accounts and restrict movement of money because of that elusive financial apocalypse the right wing has been predicting since Obama was elected, is the bread and butter of such opinion sources as the Daily Paul, Natural News, and Alex Jones' Infowars.com who amongst too many others to count are celebrating the false report that Chase Bank is limiting cash withdrawals and outgoing international wire transfers. 


The story lacks only truth to be shocking. You can read a more honest appraisal at Forbes. True, Chase is upping fees on certain kinds of business checking accounts, but pace the Liberterrorists, no one in Government is forcing them to do it and what we're seeing is Capitalism at work. Chase simply wants to make more money. Don't we all?

According to an e-mail from PT Shamrock.com, a Libertarian organization dedicated to misleading people about the need to get their money out of the country before the Liberals confiscate it and give it to "the takers," Chase customers have received the following letter:

Dear Business Customer, Starting November 17, 2013: - You will no longer be able to send international wire transfers.

You will still be able to send domestic wires and receive both domestic and international wires. We'll cancel any international wire transfers, including reccurring [sic] ones, you scheduled to be sent after this date. - Your cash activity limit for these accounts(s) will be $50,000 per statement cycle, per account. Cash activity is the combined total of cash deposits made at branches, night drops and ATMs and cash withdrawals made at branches (including purchases of money orders) and ATMs. These changes will help us more effectively manage the risks involved with these types of transactions.

No they haven't. Unfortunately devotees of Paul and Jones and all the other panic profiteers will take it at face value without taking a moment to check the facts. Some won't even notice the misspelling and poor wording, the urge to believe being as strong as it is. The confusion between the artifacts of free market capitalism and Federal authoritarianism continues to be the medium in which the fungus of Right Wing politics is grown -- and grown in the dark, of course.

(Cross posted from Human Voices.)

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Out with it, John

By Mustang Bobby

Speaker John Boehner repeated his bullshit excuse for not bringing ENDA up for a vote.
“I am opposed to discrimination of any kind in the workplace or anyplace else, but I think this legislation … is unnecessary and would provide a basis for frivolous lawsuits,” Boehner said at a Capitol press conference, signaling the bill had no future in the House. “People are already protected in the workplace.”

Unless there’s been a change in the law in 29 states, including Florida, in the last two weeks, it’s still legal to fire someone for being gay. So no, they’re not already protected in the workplace. Period.

I honestly wish he would just come out and say that he’s opposed to gay people and get it over with. After all, he’s a Republican and being a sniveling bigot about other people is part of the package along with his NRA card and membership in a restricted country club.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

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A.M. Headlines


(Washington Post): "Insurers are furious about the White House’s new Obamacare plan"

(Politico): "Liberals to President Obama: Keep it together"

(First Read): ""First Thoughts: The divided Democrats"

(CNN Politics): "Clinton: Helping women succeed is the 'great unfinished business of the 21st century'"

(Daily Beast): "Janet Yellen succeeds in the Senate without really trying"

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Thursday, November 14, 2013

P.M. Headlines


(Reuters): "An apologetic Obama unveils fix on health law"

(Politico): "Obamacare fix: Keep plans"

(New York Times): "A contrite Obama unveils a health fix"

(Andrew Sullivan): "The worst days of Obama's presidency"

(NorthJersey.com): "Former Governor Kean cools on Chris Christie"

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Making choice a federal case

By Mustang Bobby

This would be a huge step forward in keeping reproductive choice legal and available.

Following an unprecedented three-year wave of state legislative attacks on abortion and family planning services, a group of Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate plan to go on the offensive Wednesday with a historic bill that would make it illegal for states to chip away at women’s reproductive rights.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) will introduce the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2013, joined by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Reps. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Lois Frankel (D-Fla.). The bill would prohibit states from passing so-called Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws, which impose strict and cost-prohibitive building standards on abortion clinics, require women seeking abortions to have ultrasounds, and create other barriers to abortion access.

[...]

Blumenthal’s bill wouldn’t automatically overturn states’ existing anti-abortion laws, but because federal law trumps state law, it would provide a means to challenge them in court. The bill would direct judges to consider certain factors in determining whether a restriction is legal, such as whether it interferes with a doctor’s good-faith medical judgment, or whether it’s likely to interfere with or delay women’s access to abortion.

This law would be similar to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in that is a federal remedy to the various state laws enacted in response to Supreme Court rulings that reproductive rights are constitutionally protected. In the 1950′s certain states in certain parts of the country enacted laws that made it hard for certain people to go to local schools despite the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954, eat at the lunch counter at Woolworth’ s despite the 14th amendment, or vote despite the Reconstruction amendments. That’s why we needed the CRA and VRA then, and why we need this law now.


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On the Hustings


(Daily Beast): "Republican Party weighs a 2016 shakeup with ‘Midwestern primary’"

(Stu Rothenberg): "A critical few weeks for Democrats? It could get worse"

(BuzzFeed Politics): "Obama campaign manager in talks to head Hillary Clinton project"

(Politico): "The Jeb Bush boomlet — Blankfein on Christie — Yellen hearing prep"

(Des Moines Register): "Paul Ryan tells the Register his goal is common ground"

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Mike Enzi way up on Liz Cheney in Wyoming

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Question: Who's even less popular than Dick Cheney? (Please answer in the form of a question.)

Answer: Er, how about Liz Cheney?

Bingo.

Liz Cheney's support has faded in Wyoming since the summer, according to internal polling conducted for a super PAC that's been running ads against her and shared exclusively with POLITICO.

Sen. Mike Enzi (R) has expanded his lead over the former vice president's daughter by 12 points among likely primary voters since August. The three-term incumbent was up 52 points, 69 percent to 17 percent, in a survey conducted by Bob Wickers of The Wickers Group at the end of October.

Okay, this is an Enzi-friendly poll, but still. (Other polls show pretty much the same.)

It was always going to be an uphill battle for Liz to unseat a fairly popular incumbent, but maybe it also has something to do with the fact that she's completely crazy, absolutely nuts, and downright insane.

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Uncivil war: Tea Party radicalism and the deepening divide in the Republican Party

By Michael J.W. Stickings

You gotta love it when the Tea Party, a movement largely co-opted by an increasingly extremist Republican Party (as it was largely a creation of opportunistic right-wing Republican interests), comes out and calls Republicans traitors for not being extremist enough and for daring to work with Democrats to address the country's problems, subjecting them to primary challenges from the even further right and otherwise driving the wedge deeper into the party's disease-ridden carcass:

A tea party group has launched a campaign to support primary challenges against all 87 Republicans who voted for the deal in late October to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling. 

The Tea Party Leadership Fund, a PAC affiliated with the group TheTeaParty.net, began a fundraising push — dubbed the "Primaries for Traitors Fund" — shortly after the shutdown deal passed in the House, and they are now ramping up efforts to find "credible candidates" in each of the districts, said the fund's treasurer, Dan Backer.

"From our perspective, we see this as a signature vote. You can't be a conservative and vote to raise the debt ceiling," Backer said. "I recognize there are some places where voters may actually think that was the right vote. And there may be places where you have an incumbent who wins with 90% of the vote every time and there's not a credible challenger. I recognize that, but we're certainly going to do our best."

Backer says the group has honed in on a few specific members to start: Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, New York Rep. Peter King, North Carolina Rep. Robert Pittenger, Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany, and most importantly, Backer said, House Speaker John Boehner in Ohio. 

Of course, even Ronald Reagan, like every Republican president, supported debt ceiling raises, but, oh, no matter. These are crazed ideologues long divorced from reality.

And for Republicans like Boehner and so many others, this is what is called making your bed and having to lie in it. Or playing with fire. Or being hoisted with your own petard. Or getting bitten in the ass.

Not that I think it's a great thing that this is what American conservatism has come to -- it's awfully dangerous, given that this is one of the country's two main political parties -- but this is one of those times when you may want to grab some popcorn and settle in for what is sure to be an entertaining ride.

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It's time to stop the anti-abortion extremism rising up across America

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Abortion -- or rather a woman's choice to make that difficult decision -- is the law of the land. The Supreme Court said so a long time ago. But, inch by inch, the anti-abortion extremists who control the Republican Party and so much of the political narrative are rolling back that hard-won freedom, enacting unreasonable restrictions in state after state.

Well, enough is enough:

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) [yesterday introduced] the Women's Health Protection Act of 2013, joined by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Reps. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Lois Frankel (D-Fla.). The bill would prohibit states from passing so-called Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws, which impose strict and cost-prohibitive building standards on abortion clinics, require women seeking abortions to have ultrasounds, and create other barriers to abortion access.

The Supreme Court decided in Roe v. Wade that states cannot block women's access to abortion before the fetus is viable outside the womb, which is estimated to occur between 22 and 24 weeks of pregnancy. But state legislators have found a number of ways to make it difficult logistically, financially and emotionally for women to have abortions before that point.

"In states like Texas and Wisconsin, legislatures are passing bills with the false pretext of protecting health when their only objective is to obstruct and curtail access to safe and legal abortions and reproductive services. These laws are largely unconstitutional, and some measure of certainty and clarity is required to preempt these regulations and laws so women are not deterred in their very personal decisions based on their own values on how they want to use their constitutional rights," Blumenthal said. "The Women’s Health Protection Act will provide a clear and certain response to these regulations and laws that impose unnecessary tests, procedures and restrictions — including requirements for physical layout in clinics — on reproductive services."

There are certainly reasonable restrictions that pro-choicers can accept. No one is saying, for example, that there should be unfettered access to abortion in the third trimester. But what's going on here is that Republicans are trying to get around abortion's legality by making it next to impossible for a woman to get one, blocking access in a way that interferes with women's health more broadly and also that disproportionately targets women who can't afford to travel to states where abortion is more readily available. (We talk about the Republican war on women, but this is also an example of Republican class warfare.)

The time to fight back is now.

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A.M. Headlines


(The Hill): "House Dems about to 'go crazy'"

(Daily Beast): ""The Democrats need to stop freaking out about Obamacare and take charge"

(New York Times): "Yellen to back stimulus plan in remarks to senators"

(Wall Street Journal): "Obama pushing immigration as new doubts emerge in House"

(Mediaite): "Ted Cruz: When you attack me, you’re attacking the ‘American people’"

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Wednesday, November 13, 2013

P.M. Headlines


(USA Today): "First Take: Obamacare data are simply grim"

(New York Times): "Democrats threaten to abandon Obama on health law provision"

(The Hill): "Obama is boxed in by Bill Clinton"

(WFPL News): "Mitch McConnell wants Kentucky senate race to focus on Obamacare woes"

(USA Today): "Steady stream of abortion cases headed toward high court"

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The trouble with liberals

By Carl

I was watching FreeSpeechTV this morning.

(Side note: If you don’t get FreeSpeechTV on your television provider, switch to DISH Network, stat. You’re missing out on some amazing programming.)

In the course of a “commercial break” – FSTV does not accept sponsor ads or government assistance in order to stay completely independent. It is wholly supported by viewers like me – I saw in rapid succession public service announcements for marriage equality, a greener earth, and aid to the homeless.

And it started me thinking: those are all noble and worthy causes, which means they’re all pretty much doomed to failure if something doesn’t change in the reality-based community.

In one way, Republicans got it correct. They managed to squeeze under their so-called “big tent” libertarian social conservatives, Bible thumpers and economic royalists, none of whom has a whole lot in common with the others. Yes, there’s some crossover, but the poor white church goer has a lot less in common with the Wall Street banker than he does with the guy down the road on Medicaid and food stamps. 

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Can we end the filibuster now?

The Senate Republicans have just filibustered the third nominee, Cornelia T L Pillard, for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. This raises the obvious question that I've been asking for years: how long are we going to allow this to go on? No amount of handshake agreements and temporary armistices are going to solve this problem. The Republican Party is long past the point of respecting institutional norms.

As I showed back in January, Republicans Caused All Filibuster Abuse. Since 1960, each time the Republicans were in the minority, they increased the use of the filibuster. When the Democrats were in the minority, they abided by the new norm that the Republicans set. In some cases, they actually reduced it to a new norm, only to have the Republicans push the number of filibusters to unprecedented levels.

Folks, this is very simple: when the Republicans are in the majority they willat least stop the filibuster for nominations. Democrats who think otherwise are living in some fantasy land where everyone is fairies and elves, the the Republican Party doesn't even exist. Does my own dear Senator Dianne Feinstein really think her support for the filibuster is going to save it as a Senate tradition after the Republicans take over again? In the 20 years she has served, she's watched as the Republicans, and the Republicans alone, have caused the number of filibusters to go up almost 400%. She's a cynical old slumlord; she can't possibly be blind to what is really going on.
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On the Hustings


(Daily Beast): "Elizabeth Warren fuels 2016 fire with anti-bank speech"

(Public Policy Polling): "NC senate race tightens up"

(National Journal): "Wide-open race in 2016 offers ocean of possibilities"

(First Read): "In response, on black voters in Virginia"

(Stu Rothenberg): "Why most postmortems of Virginia’s gubernatorial race are wrong"

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Annals of asshattery

By Mustang Bobby

I try to avoid Sarah Palin and her dullardry, but every now and then I come across something that invites comment the same way a dog turd in the middle of the living room carpet does.

When she’s not launching a pre-emptive attack in the War on Christmas by exploiting it for her own gain, she’s telling the vacant jars on Today about the evils of Obamacare.

The plan is to allow those things that had been proposed over many years to reform a health-care system in America that certainly does need more help so that there’s more competition, there’s less tort reform threat, there’s less, um, trajectory of the cost increases, and those plans have been proposed over and over again. And what thwarts those plans, it’s the far left, it’s President Obama and his supporters who will not allow the Republicans to usher in free market, patient-centered, doctor patient relationship links to reform health care.

Okay, um, what?

Bonus Track: She also thinks the pope has been pallin’ around with liberals.


(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

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Behind the Ad: Hey Rep. Phil Gingrey, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out

By Richard K. Barry

Who: The Rep. Phil Gingrey campaign for the U.S. Senate

Where: Georgia

What's going on: Republican Phil Gingrey is running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia in an attempt to succeed Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss who announced on January 25, 2013 that he will not run for re-election.

There are seven announced candidates on the GOP side: U.S. Reps. Paul Broun,  Jack Kingston and Gingrey, former Secretary of State Karen Handel, businessman David Perdue, former president of the Federation of Korean Associations Eugene Chin Yu, and minister Derrick Grayson.

It will be a tough slog for Democrats as Republicans hold both U.S. Senate seats, eight of the 13 congressional districts, the governorship, and both chambers of the state legislature, but Democrats are hoping the GOP contenders beat the crap out of each other to the extent that Michelle Nunn, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has a real shot.

As for Gingrey, he has released a new ad saying that he will repeal Obamacare in his first term or he will not run again.
I'll help repeal Obamacare in my first term or go home because you deserve a senator who gets the job done or gets out of the way. Repeal or go home, that's my pledge to you. 

There are two things that I am sure are going to happen: the first is that Obamacare will not be repealed, and the second is that, assuming Gingrey is lucky enough to win the seat, he will not fail to seek reelection.

Nice stethoscope, by the way. Just what we need, a doctor who doesn't give a shit if people can afford healthcare. 

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A.M. Headlines


(Real Clear Politics): ""Poll: Obama's approval rating at all-time low"

(Seattle Post Intelligencer): "Hawaii Senate passes gay marriage, clearing islands to become a same-sex wedding destination"

(New York Times): "Republicans again reject Obama pick for judiciary"

(The Hill): "GOP skeptical of DHS nominee"

(CNN): "Typhoon aftermath: Philippines aid pours in but survivors still going hungry"

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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

P.M. Headlines


(CTV News): "Typhoon Haiyan: Before and after photos of storm's damage"

(Richard Cohen):"Christie’s tea-party problem"

(TPM): "WaPo publisher calls Cohen column 'brilliant'"

(Bill Clinton): "Assessing the healthcare rollout"

(Politico): "Congress seems to be done legislating for the year"

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Could Elizabeth Warren lead a progressive insurgency against Hillary in 2016?

By Michael J.W. Stickings


It's one of the speculative non-stories du jour, if still an enticing one, and, as Scott Lemieux over at LG&M writes, Noam Scheiber says yes while Jamelle Bouie says, er, not so much. Lemieux hopes that the former is right but agrees with the latter:

[W]hile I take Scheiber's point that it's too early to declare anyone inevitable, it's just going to be very difficult for anyone to beat Clinton. Clinton is a much more popular figure than Christine Quinn, so I don't think the de Blasio example gets you very far. Since I don't see a better possible candidate to challenge Clinton at this point, I hope Warren runs, but she'd have to be considered a massive underdog against Clinton.

I agree.

I want to win in 2016, and so Hillary seems like the obvious pick, and I'll back her if she wins the Democratic nomination, of course, but I have my concerns, as I did with Bill, not least because of her Republican-friendly centrism and the cadre of corporate cronies that make up so much of the Clinton inner circle, and ideally would like to see a more progressive nominee or at least for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party to have more influence in the party, particularly after the less-than-impressive progressivism, to put it mildly, we've seen from Obama thus far.

And I really like Elizabeth Warren.

But let's face it, barring something crazy happening, if Hillary runs, she wins. She's already seen as more or less inevitable, and I suspect that Democrats will jump on the bandwagon sooner rather than later -- those that haven't already jumped on, that is.

Still, it would be a shame if Hillary were just crowned the nominee without any serious challenge, whether it's from Warren or some other credible progressive. At the very least, there ought to be a serious discussion of the issues that matter to us, a presentation of the alternatives, before Hillary is selected. That would be healthy for the party and also an important reminder to Hillary that there is more to the Democratic Party than her inner circle of loyalists.

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Sarah Palin still terrifies me

By Frank Moraes 

As The Des Moines Register reported the other day, "Palin Compares Federal Debt to Slavery at Iowa Dinner." And you may well ask why I care. After all, Sarah Palin is always saying something stupid and she is always somewhere. This weekend, it was Iowa.

But I think it is important. I don't care about the slavery bit and all her racist talk. What does bother me is this, "Our free stuff today is being paid for by taking money from our children and borrowing from China." There are two things wrong with this sentence. First: China. It's been a while since I've talked about this, so I think it is worth bringing up again. As I discussed in China Owns America! In Republican Ads, only 32% of our debt is owed to anyone outside the country; only 8% is owed to China. The vast majority of American debt is owed to ourselves.

I see this kind of fear that we are going to bury ourselves in debt -- especially from conservatives. But it is based on an extremely poor understand of finance. Consider this example. When I was five years old, my parents bought a house for $17,000. It is now 44 years later. Imagine that they had kept that house all this time and had only paid the interest on it. Let's also assume that their mortgage rate was 8%, which is actually kind of high. That would mean that today, they would be paying $113 per month in interest. Clearly, they would be better off having paid off the principle -- $113 per month better off. But it's not the case that they would be buried in principle. What's more, they would now have a house that is worth about a quarter million dollars.

That brings us to the second problem with Palin's sentence. We aren't taking money away from our children by borrowing money today. That is especially true if we are using the money we borrow to invest in infrastructure, health, and education. College graduates are having a hard time finding jobs right now. And that will hurt them into the future. Having a low paying job or no job at all will be a big problem compared to that modest $113 mortgage we are supposedly saving our kids from.

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Monday, November 11, 2013

Veterans Day is a day to apologize

By Michael J.W. Stickings

From our friend Gordon at Alternate Brain:

Thank you for please not thanking me for my service on this Veterans Day. I don't need it and I don't want it. Instead, I think we should APOLOGIZE to Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, the living, wounded, and dead, for being so horribly used IN OUR NAME for NOTHING but an imperialistic neocon wet dream that has come to naught but a terrible butcher's bill.

And for all you armchair militarists waving the flag and spouting knee-jerk jingoism, this guy's got real cred. So fuck off.

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Remembrance on Veterans Day

By Frank Moraes 

I got this picture from Wikipedia. The caption reads, "Joseph Ambrose, an 86-year-old World War I veteran, attends the dedication day parade for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982, holding the flag that covered the casket of his son, who was killed in the Korean War." This is not just how I think about Veterans Day; it is how I think our country should think about it. Let us honor veterans but let us also regret that we have them.

In most countries, today is Armistice Day: it marks the armistice that ended World War I in 1918. It is also referred to as the more appropriate Remembrance Day. It is a day to remember those who have died in our wars. It is a solemn occasion. And it should be. Even the "good" war, World War II, should not be looked back on as a great adventure. It was a tragedy for the world. Over 60 million people were killed in that war. And for what? A bad economy that allowed a megalomaniac to gain power in Germany?

It's my opinion, based upon nothing but a fair insight into human nature, that most people just want to live their ordinary lives with their families and friends and the occasional barbecue and backyard party. And that's as true of people in the army as anywhere else. I put the number at 95%. It's that 5% of the population that fucks everything up. And I'm not just talking about Hitler here. Why did we started the Iraq War? It certainly had nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction—that was just a cover. And I don't think it had to do with oil either, but that doubtless played some role. I think it was just another example of a small group of men who thought it would be super keen to take out big bad Saddam Hussein.

In the United States, of course, we celebrate Veterans Day. The idea of it is not bad. We need to honor our veterans, although I think better than a single day would be an everyday approach to providing them their earned benefits. But it seems that Veterans Day to most people is just another day to celebrate what a kick ass country the United States is. Except because it references veterans, there is more explicit jingoism. To most people, it is a time to celebrate the fact that the United States spends 46% of what all the 171 countries of the world spend on military. It ought to be our great national shame, especially when even the Democrats want to cut food stamps for the poor.

But back to that picture. That's how we should think of Veterans Day: an old veteran from one of our many useless wars with a symbol of his son who died in another of our useless wars. To call the wars useless is not to disrespect the veterans. It is no disrespect to Achilles and Hector to note that the Trojan War was useless and tragic. To see wars clearly is a reminder of what a precious thing life is and how we should value it just as much before the war as after it.

Have a safe and thoughtful Veterans Day.

(Cross-posted at Frankly Curious.)

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Remembrance Day / Veterans Day 2013

By Michael J.W. Stickings

(This is a reprint of the post I've put up the last couple of years, but with a different Great War poem. Two years ago, it was the justifiably famous "Break of Day in the Trenches" by Isaac Rosenberg, one of the greatest of all war poems (of any war, not just WWI). Last year it was "Dead Man's Dump," a remarkable portrait of the brutality of war, also by Rosenberg. Going back further, to 2009, I went with Wilfred Owen's powerfully anti-jingoist "Dulce et Decorum Est." Today I turn to Siegfried Sassoon, whose wonderful poetry I have previously featured.)

Today is a day to remember those who served, those who fought, those who gave their lives. But it is also -- and we must not lose sight of this -- a day to remember the horror of war. While many of those who served did so nobly, war itself is not noble, even when somehow justifiable, and undeniably necessary, as was World War II.

Even if we should remember today not just the so-called " Greatest Generation" (a made-up American concept/conceit) that fought that war but also the countless innocent civilians who suffered and died (in that war as in all wars), as well as the incredible devastation of that war, not just on "our" side but on "their" side as well, from Dresden to Hiroshima. There may be ideals of good and evil, but there is an awful lot in between.

But World War I, the "Great War," the specific war this day commemorates? That was a pointless, generation-destroying abomination that resulted in nothing but another war, a continuation of the war, 20 years later. It was a war of dying empires, heavily militarized after a century of relative peace following the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna, the generals and their political masters moving pieces around on their gameboard, the lines moving a bit this way, a bit that way, all for some greater glory that existed only in their illusions and delusions, while thousands upon thousands were dying for nothing at all on the fields and in the trenches. Think of the Battle of the Somme, one of the Great War's key turning points, with a death toll over a million. It was one of the worst, but it was also one of many such devastations. It is impossible, I think, to come fully to terms with such horror.

Let us, then, think not of the usual red poppy but of the white one, which symbolizes peace (and not so much military valour and certainly not the "nobility" of war).


Here is "Survivors" by Siegfried Sassoon, written at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Scotland (where he met Owen) in October 1917. A decorated soldier, having received the Military Cross in July 1916, Sassoon had understandably turned firmly against the war by then, and this short and deeply moving poem reflects his unwavering contempt for the still-raging war:

No doubt they'll soon get well; the shock and strain
Have caused their stammering, disconnected talk.
Of course they're "longing to go out again,"--
These boys with old, scared faces, learning to walk,
They'll soon forget their haunted nights; their cowed
Subjection to the ghosts of friends who died,--
Their dreams that drip with murder; and they'll be proud
Of glorious war that shatter'd all their pride...
Men who went out to battle, grim and glad;
Children, with eyes that hate you, broken and mad.

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Sunday, November 10, 2013

Anathema: "Untouchable (Part Two)" (live)

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Back in August, I wrote about Anathema's soon-to-be-released live concert album (2 CD, DVD, Blu-ray) , Universal, directed by Lasse Hoile, best known for his work with Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson's solo projects, and filmed at the band's September 2012 show at the ancient Roman theater in Plovdiv, Bulgaria (also known by its Greek name, Philippopolis), with the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra.

Well, no surprise, it's an incredible film of an incredible performance by an incredible band. (I'm biased, yes, because I'm a huge Anathema fan, but seriously, they're amazing.) So let's right to it. Here's Anathema performing "Untouchable (Part Two)," from their most recent album, Weather Systems (2012). It's probably my favorite Anathema song. Enjoy.

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