Did I Mention That I Love This Woman?
So my rediculously talented (and mind-numbingly hot) significant other, Miss Kobina Wright, has decided to jump onto the blog bandwagon. Check this site out for regularly scheduled updates from her prolific pen, then go ahead and buy a copy of, Growth Spurt, the 1st book in her three volume set of collected poetry, for $15.00 through PayPal.com, using her e-mail at likizo@hotmail.com.

Needless to say, I get brownie points if you mention Macroscope when you buy one. And, if you're feeling really inspired, ask how to subscribe to her newsletter, too.

Turning Back The Clock
For those of you who have not seen it, the movie Seabiscuit gives one of the starkest portrayals I can remember about the reversal of economic fortunes that occurred as a result of The Great Depression. Early in the film, when horse jockey Red Pollard was still a boy, his family seemed to live the American Dream. Mom, Dad, a bunch of well-bred kids, sitting around a sumptuous dinner table in a nice, affluent house.

When the Depression hits, his parents were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs, warming their hands over fires in steel trashcans, as they tried to find the least objectionable people to at least give their children a roof over their heads.

Families destroyed. Lives ruined. A country full of desperate people willing to do anything to survive. Working slave wages just to get a can of beans.

So, imagine a world without Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment benefits, Medicaid, or even Welfare. A world with a minimum wage that would give an annual salary well below the poverty level. A world without overtime pay. A world where only the affluent can afford health care.

A world populated with desperate people.

Desperate people will work for any price. I guess, in the end, that's the point.

In this article from the New York Times, Paul Krugman studies the motivation behind people like Grover Norquist, who are providing the intellectual muscle behind the Bush tax policy. While Bush himself may actually believe that cutting taxes will someday create more revenue for the government, Norquist & his buddies are trying to engineer a fiscal catastrophy by cutting the funding far below the government's capacity to pay for itself. In their mind, the only alternative will be to cut out all of the social programs that aren't directly tied to military spending & the operations of the government itself.

Let me restate that: these guys want to get rid of the New Deal & the Great Society.

All those programs put in place to provide a safety net for the working class have an enormous bullseye on their backs.

Why on Earth would anyone want to that?

Because desperate people will work below minimum wage.

It's all about lowering the cost of doing business.

Think about that.

He's Batman
They may have finally gotten it right.

First, Warner Bros. hired Christopher Nolan, writer/director of Memento, to direct a brand new Batman movie.

Then they hired David Goyer, the screenwriter of the "Blade" trilogy, to pen the script.

NOW, the final piece of the puzzle: they've cast Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne.


For those of you who don't recognize the name, Christian Bale played the lead, a blood-thirsty, homicidal yuppie with an obsession for physical perfection in "American Psycho" a few years back. You can also see him in the most recent version of Shaft and in Reign of Fire.

My next casting suggestion? Get Guy Pearce as the Joker.

Sharp As A Tack
Can I say, I miss the old-school, fat, medallion-wearing Al Sharpton. If I could find that picture of him in the jogging suit, walking the streets of Harlem, I would have posted it. Straight-up, Ghetto Warrior. I love it.

But, beyond the pompadour, the gut, and the rhetoric, I must admit that I didn't know a whole lot about the details of Al Sharpton's life. But I must admit, Sharpton has been on G.W. Bush's case since Inauguration Day 2001, where he hosted a kind of shadow inauguration in D.C. to condemn the Supreme Court Decision on the 2000 Presidential Election.

Demagogue? Perhaps.

But the brother does say alot that needs to be said, particularly on issues of power, race, & class in America.

Will he be President? Not a chance in Hell.

SHOULD he be President? Not as long as he isn't putting together a serious platform or strategy on how he'll govern. But, to paraphrase what Public Enemy said about Farrakhan, I think we ought to listen to he has to say. Some of it really is gospel.

Kleptocracy
from Dictionary.com:
klep·toc·ra·cy ( P ) Pronunciation Key (klp-tkr-s)
n. pl. klep·toc·ra·cies
A government characterized by rampant greed and corruption.


[Greek kleptein, to steal + -cracy.]

klepto·crat (-t-krt) n.
klepto·cratic adj.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

While I definitely dig where this article by Jim Hightower in The Nation is coming from, I have one point of contention with him.

In my mind, the idea of America has always been greater and loftier than Americans themselves. Consider the Founding Fathers: the ideals put forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were not really indicative of their lives, given that the vast majority of them where extremely wealthy landowners (or, in some cases, slave-holders). I suppose the trajectory of the American dream is some great asymptotic curve, always reaching for perfection, but never quite reaching it.

Never Let Them See You Sweat
There is a theory arising among weapons experts that Iraq may not have had any WMDs since 1995, but that they defectors who claimed that there were may have been double agents, dispatched by Saddam, to propagate the illusion as a deterrent to his enemies.

And what is the source of this theory? The captured Iraqi scientists & officials that the coalition has been holding for the last 4-5 months.

In an Appearance With Davis, Dean Denounces Recall Effort

You wanna piece of me, Arnold?!?!?!
This picture actually has very little to do with this NY Times article, where Howard Dean officially endorses Gray Davis for the Recall election next month.

But how often do you get to see the Governor of California acting like he's in a John Woo movie?

Oh, yeah, Dean and Davis both say that Karl Rove is the puppet master behind Schwarzenegger, Issa, and the whole recall fiasco.

Please Tell Me We're Not Really This Stupid
OK. Here's a little public service announcement.

This is Saddam Hussein.


This is Osama Bin Laden.


Hussein is the former dictator of Iraq. Bin Laden is the leader of Al Qaeda, an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist network.

Hussein instigated the original Gulf War in 1991 by invading Kuwait while Bin Laden was fighting with the Taliban to assume control of Afganistan after the Soviet retreat.

Notice how these are two completely different people.

Now, listen very, very carefully.

Bin Laden masterminded the attacks of September 11, 2001. Saddam Hussein did not.

They are not allies. As a matter of fact, they hate each other's guts. Bin Laden has spoken at length about the decadence of Iraq's secular society. And Hussein has slaughtered Shiite Muslims, those who share Bin Laden's faith, by the tens of thousands.

Why is this concept so hard for the American people to grasp?
I don't know, but, according to this Washington Post article, a majority of Americans STILL think Hussein was involved in 9/11.

Come on, America. I'm trying to give y'all the benefit of the doubt. Work with me, people.

Master and Commander?
From Fortune.com, here's the first really in-depth article I've read about the pros and cons of Wesley Clark as a potential Democratic Presidential contender.

As I read somewhere else on the web, message candidates tend to beat resume candidates (e.g. Dean vs. Kerry). Clark clearly has strong pedigree. It still remains to be seen, in my mind, whether he can actually deliver the message.

Personally, I'm hoping for Dean/Clark vs. Bush/Cheney in 2004.

Self-Hate
Ward Connerly doesn't like it when people call him "Black". As part of his Quixotic yet still Orwellian campaign to wipe the notion of race from all our record books, he's spearheading Proposition 54 on the California recall ballot. If passed, it would make it illegal for the government to ever ask or tabulate racial statistics, except in certain exceptions such as medical data or law enforcement.

So, just so everyone's clear: The government won't be able to identify or locate communities of color or address the unique political concerns of those communities because they won't have any demographic data, BUT, they'll still be able to do racial profiling.

Great. Thanks a million, Ward.

But this is indicative of the larger notion of a so-called "race-less" or "color-blind" society. And I would simply suggest to you that the more we try to deny the unique cultural richness that each ethnicity brings to the table, the closer we inch towards an enforced conformity that borders on fascism.

On a personal note, Connerly's special brand of self-hatred is particularly galling to yours truly, since he has made a fortune in real estate while registered as a minority business. I wonder if he realizes that he's favored status in the conservative movement is directly tied to the fact that he's a Black man saying the things that he says?

I bet he does. And it makes him hate himself even more. I find myself reminded of the cries of the bi-racial daughter in "Imitation of Life":

"I'M WHITE! WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITE!!!!!!!!!!!"

Great Expectations
Paul Krugman is an columnist for the New York Times who, in his recent book, The Great Unravelling suggests that President Bush's ecomonic policy is putting America on track for a fiscal disaster of, in his words, Dickensian proportions. I mean, "rising infant mortality and low-birth-weight infants" style poverty across the board for homemakers making about $30,000 or less.

Meanwhile, the President is suggesting that his tax cuts are a dam holding back a tidal wave of even more economic catastrophies.

Funny. I thought we were projecting surpluses ad infinitum when he took office. I suppose that's all Bin Laden's fault. But wait - doesn't Bush know him (see the previous post)? Maybe it's Ken Lay's fault. Oh, wait, Bush knows him, too.

D'Oh.

White House Approved Departure of Saudis After Sept. 11, Ex-Aide Says

The Getaway
Right after September 11, 2001, it was at least a week or more before any more airplanes were allowed to fly.

Or, at least, so we thought.

Apparently, while most Americans were huddling in their homes, trying to comprehend the horror of what had just happened, the U.S. Government was secretly gathering up dozens of high-powered Saudi Arabian citizens still in our country, including members of Osama Bin Laden's family, shuffling them into private planes, and spiriting them off of American soil.

Joe Conason has a much more detailed accounting of this online at Salon.com, but they make you pay to read it (bastards!). The story itself is in the October issue of Vanity Fair.

Someone please tell me why Bush is coddling these people?

Standing Up In The Face Of Madness
Well, say what you will about Colin Powell (let's not get into that whole Harry Belafonte thing again), he proves, once again, that he is the voice of reason in this lunatic asylum they call the Bush Administration. This Washington Post report details how Powell engineered yet another coup to bring the UN into Iraq, over the protests of Don Rumsfeld & the neo-con civilian leadership in the Pentagon.

This is interesting to me for three reasons:
1. Notice that the military brass themselves knew that this was poorly planned, but were promptly silenced by Rumfeld & Co. until the bombs started going off.

2. Why is the President giving more credence for military planning to political appointees instead of generals? Is anyone surprised that this has descended into chaos?

3. Why is it so important to the Administration for the United States to have complete and total control in Iraq? Is it really because they're just arrogant & stubborn? Or could it possibly have to do with the fact that we're holding all of these high level Iraqi officials and that the UN, once involved, may actually want to conduct their own interrogation of these guys? Consider that, to date, none of the Iraqi leadership have confirmed the existence of the WMD arsenal that the White House said they knew had to be there. After all, if any of them knew anything to support Bush's case, they would have been paraded before the public long before now. What other secrets are the US hiding?

TOMPAINE.com - Wounded, Weary And Disappeared

Purple Hearts
Yes, the official body count of American soldiers during the Iraqi occupation has just recently exceeded the number killed during the "war" itself. But the number of wounded is officially set at around 800 men and women. And others in the know, according to this article at Tom Paine, suggest that it could really be up to the thousands.

Consider, for a moment, what being wounded in combat means. This is not like the disabled list in baseball. I mean, we're talking lost limbs. Lost eyesight. Lost hearing. Permanent paralysis. Gunshot wounds. Shrapnel wounds. Things like that.

The President has yet to visit the wounded at Walter Reed Hospital.

I think that speaks for itself.

Rejecting Wedgies
Wedge politics is a term to describe campaign policies meant to highlight the differences between segments in the electorate to incite them to vote one way or another. It is, by definition, divisive.

It was really originated by Richard Nixon, in his appeals to the "Silent Majority" in 1968, a code word meant to distinguish folks from the hippies, radicals, anti-war protesters, & civil rights demonstrators. But it was really raised to a whole other level by Lee Atwater, former GOP National chairman and manager of George H.W. Bush's 1988 campaign, with such things as the infamous Willie Horton ads. Needless to say, when they allowed party operatives to promote rumors South Carolina that John McCain had an illegitimate bi-racial baby as part of their campaign to crush his insurgency during the 2000 Republican primary, Karl Rove & our President proved they were zen masters of the wedge.

And this is why Michael Cudahy, a registered Republican, is now supporting Howard Dean for President.

Why
This gentleman on Common Dreams has EXACTLY articulated the reasons I support Howard Dean for President of the United States.

Favorite Quote: "His present positions do not unanimously agree with mine but I believe Howard Dean actually deals with evidence and reality and then arrives at a solution and a considered policy. In other words, I believe a citizen might be able to change Dean's mind."

Harry Lime Quote of the Day


"You mean the one from the four countries that got together and had a little, bitty summit?..... Yeah, the chocolate makers....."


- State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher, referring to a proposal by France, Germany, Belgium, & Luxembourg to create a European military command center separate from NATO.

For those of you who don't know who Harry Lime is, do yourself a favor and check out The Third Man. It's especially relevant now, in this "post-major combat" days.

No Chance In Hell
So, it looks like I'm going to have a Dean Hat-Trick today. Let the ranting commence....

I just had a conversation with one of my co-workers who'd heard Gov. Dean speak for the first time this weekend on C-Span. This gentleman, who'd campaigned for John F. Kennedy in the 1960 election, said that he believed Dean was his kind of candidate - he was thoughtful, strong, and had integrity. He said he would DEFINITELY vote for him.

But he also said that Dean has no chance in Hell of becoming President of the United States.

He cited the '60 election as an example: Nixon had spent the previous 8 years as the incumbent Vice-President from a popular administration. On paper, Kennedy had nothing even close to Tricky Dick's qualifications. But JFK was a good looking man and, in my friend's estimation, Americans vote with their hearts instead of their heads.

I cannot tell you how many times I've been told the exact same thing - people (usually men) love Dean but think he'll get creamed in the election. But when you listen to the reasons they cite, it tends to be something along the lines of this:

"The American people are too stupid to vote for what's good for them."

Now, to be honest and fair, I've said similar things myself. But then, I have to consider this: how often has the electorate actually made a mistake?

Gore actually got more votes than Bush, it's just that the election was within the margin of error and went to Bush on a technicality.

Was it a mistake for the public to vote for Reagan over Carter? Well, in light of that given moment in time (inflation, oil shortages, American hostages in Iran), it didn't really look like Carter was getting the job done. He was probably a better humanitarian than Reagan, but he wasn't handling the basic requirements of the job, namely peace & prosperity.

Was it a mistake to elect Bush over Dukakis? Or Nixon over Humphreys?

I think what all of these guys (Carter, Dukakis, Humphreys) had in common is that they allowed the opposition to paint them as soft. And the fundamental requirement of leadership is strength.

In the oath of office every President must take on his Inauguration Day, he pledges to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States". It's not a job for equivocation. You can't run a country by citing your credentials or brandishing a resume.

If you want to be the most powerful man (or, dare I say, woman, Mrs. Clinton?) in the world, you have to demonstrate that you are worthy of power. And power begins with strength.

George Bush is many things, but, no matter how many mistakes he makes, it is his illusion of strength that makes him seem insurmountable. All of the Democratic Senators who are running for President are losing ground to Howard Dean because they are clearly pandering to Bush's side of the electorate instead of standing up for something. Guys like Kerry, Gephardt, Edwards & Lieberman would all be crushed against Bush. I mean, really, if I want a Republican agenda, why would I ever vote for a Democrat masquerading as a Republican? The country is polarized, and rather than trying to steal from Bush's thunder, Dean is waking up the other side of the equation.

Trust me, my friends, a Dean vs. Bush election will be VERY, VERY ugly. But guys only fight dirty when they're afraid they'll lose.

And I think Karl Rove gets the "Duck Season - Wabbit Season" award for asking for the thing he doesn't want to make people think he really wants it so they'll keep it from him. They don't really want to run against Dean, because Dean won't bow to Bush like he's f'n Hirohito.

No Chance In Hell? We'll see about that.

"I LOVE me some John Ashcroft! Don't NOBODY be talking bad about John Ashcroft!!! YOU JUST SHUT YOUR STINKING MOUTH ABOUT JOHN ASHCROFT!!!!!!!!"

After Howard Dean said that John Ashcroft is not a patriot, Tom Delay has issued an official press release from his office calling Gov. Dean, among other things, a "cruel and extremist demogogue".

Whoa.

Ignoring the whole "pot-calling-the-kettle-black" aspect of all of this, who knew that the Attorney General had such a special place in the majority whip's heart. People might start to get ideas about them, you know....

Humbling Quote of the Day

"Seeing all those people out there, the enormity of it all really struck me. For the first time I realized what it really means to be President of the United States--seeing all those people out there, counting on you."

-Howard Dean, reacting to the 15,000 people who showed up to rally for his Presidential Campaign in Seattle last weekend.