Drama Obama

I have no idea what that very odd first debate was all about, but if that was some form of "ropa-dopa" and the idea was to add a bit more drama to the election, it certainly worked, didn't it? It also scared the crap out of all the other world leaders, if one can judge by their huge sighs of relief at the outcome:  CLICK HERE

Oh, and all the concern about the Republicans taking over the election by hacking electronic voting systems? You know, because one of the Romney sons owned a share in a company that was involved in the Ohio election? The State that has a blatantly partisan Secretary of State who worked to cut down voting hours and tried to install an untested and unapproved vote counting software the morning before the election? You remember him, the guy who was told by a Court he couldn't do that? Remember Karl Rove on Fox News arguing desperately that the Ohio election could NOT be called yet for Obama, that it just couldn't be! He was so agitated that the Fox News staff were politely explaining to him that no, there was no mistake, that it just really was all over. While Rove was losing it, the Ohio Secretary of State was closing his office, issuing a statement that the election was over and going home. Odd that he fought so hard, then folded. Did anyone stop to wonder why?

In Obama's speech, do you remember one part where he talked about people having to stand in line for hours to vote, saying "We're going to have to fix that, that's just wrong, that will never happen again". His tone of voice was markedly different than at any other part of his speech. Then he shifted gears and went on to talk about us coming together and making this a better and stronger nation, but that one small remark struck me as signaling that there were going to be no more Florida/Ohio voter suppression efforts, ever again. That there were going to be no more "hanging chads" and phony Voter ID shenanigans, that this would be the last American election that was going to be bedeviled by corrupt attempts to steal the election. I've said it before and I will say it again, our government has a very high level of cyber-defense capabilities. Our entire economy relies upon electronic communications, both personal and structural. Various bad guys around the world, from Russia, China, Iran, Nigeria, Israel and God knows where are continuously probing our defenses, both personal, governmental, military and commercial, in hopes of being able to steal something of great value, or to find a way to cripple our national infrastructure.

Needless to say, our nation is well-aware of such efforts. As we become increasingly interconnected, there is a quiet war going on every hour, minute and second of every day. We gain enormously from our massive electronic infrastructure, but it has an obvious vulnerability that our nation is keenly aware of. We are working, constantly, with our largest technology firms, to keep on top of any potential weaknesses in our nation's security. Oh, and in those tech firms' own security. Each hand washes the other's.

If you accept that as a given, does anyone seriously imagine that our nation, at this point in our history, would be dumb enough to permit any entity, foreign or domestic, to hack into the electronic voting system, in any State or County, and let it be "taken over" in order to generate a false count of the votes that were cast by our citizens in a national election? Seriously? Does anyone think we are that stupid? If the GOP were allowed to do something like that, why would China hesitate to do so? Forget the brainwashed "Manchurian Candidate" meme, China could step in and fiddle the results juuuust enough to overturn a national election.

In the grips of his partisan passion, the Ohio Secretary of State may have imagined he could do just that. We may never know for certain until the story gets declassified twenty years from now, but it certainly does seem odd that he tried to install a new and untested vote collection software package the day before the election, doesn't it? And that was only one of the GOP efforts to try to steal this election. The harsh voter ID law enacted in Pennsylvania, those enormous lines, only in certain neighborhoods in Florida and Ohio? Deja-vu 2004, wasn't it? It is not Rocket Science to be able to see how many voters there are in an area and assign enough voting stations and staff to accommodate that number, is it?

If we take the President at his word, this will be the last election where States, Districts or Counties will be able to engage in that mischief without there being serious consequences. Judging by the curious actions of the hyper-partisan Ohio Secretary of State, who seemed to suddenly fold up his tent and go home, my guess is that someone carefully explained him that he was under very close observation and that he could do what he wanted, but that actions have consequences, and bad actions often tend to have bad consequences.

And I can tell you that the entire world just issued a huge sigh of relief. Now the Chinese can go ahead and elect their new Premier, after delaying their National Party Congress until two days after our election so they would know where they stood. The Europeans are either publicly celebrating the outcome of our election, both governments and citizens alike. They have been on edge for months, hoping for the best, fearing the worst.

It's a good day. There is still a tremendous amount of work to do, just as there was before this election circus got started. We've learned which people are trying to move our country forward, and which people are trying to game the system as though our government was a huge card game in which they play with a marked deck and win the pot. Something really important happened in this election. Things are going to be okay. A lot of the work that is going to be done will not be done publicly, nor will it be done with a lot of fanfare or perp walks... but it will be done. Our country has gone through other dark periods, for example in the 1930s when a ground of Millionaires (that was big money back then) tried to get General Smedley Butler to stage a military coup.

 

It never happened, but it was the sort of thing that HAS happened in other nations, during times of enormous social and economic stress. Our nation has been tested before, and it was just tested again. The sounds you thought you heard, but weren't sure of? Those were the sounds of Dark Armies, positioning themselves and maneuvering themselves to take greater control of our nation, and by extension the world. So no biggie, just the something that happens now and again. In business they call it an attempted "hostile takeover". Defenses are thrown up, actions are taken, the takeover is thwarted... and everyone goes on about their business. And that's what our nation will do, as it has done many, many times in the past. Nice try, but please don't ever try that again, okay? By sheer coincidence (I am sure) the Ohio Secretary of State just decided to call it an early night and go home yesterday. He just suddenly felt really, really exhausted, for reasons he can't exactly explain.

The world has issued a collective sigh of relief, our role as the most powerful, and currently the most admired country in the world, has been reconfirmed. But it should be remembered that with great power comes great responsibilities. The world is a Godawful mess. Our world population has grown so large that a widespread famine could kill Billions. That is with a "B". A virulent plague could kill half of the world's populations. That would be three or so Billion. With a B. Every other country on this planet looks to us, either to help figure it all out, or as the country that is keeping it from being figured out. We are far from perfect and everyone understands this very, very clearly. China is trying to figure out whether to become us, reject us, turn back into a fake Socialist fantasy world or become more democratic, in hopes of staving off a revolt among its massive and increasingly angry population. Workers making iPhones for 75 cents an hour are glad to have a job, but not happy to see a Chinese plutocrat drive by in the back of a brand new Rolls Royce, with their two mistresses tickling them and feeding them caviar. You think our country has problems and a growing gulf between rich and poor? Please let me tell you about China. Almost everything you think you know about it is wrong.

It was a good night, today is a good day, as a nation I think we just avoided a train wreck. As a nation, we've got a lot of work to do over the next four years, but the wonderful thing is that no election will ever have the structural flaws that this one did. I could explain, but I think when you stop and think about details like appointments to the Supreme Court and the heads of government agencies you can figure it out for yourselves. There is a lot that will go very, very right in the years ahead, that will have resonances that will impact our nation and our history for the better. But we can celebrate all that later. For now it's time to get back to work. And for me it's time to go back to sleep, now that I've gotten this off my mind.

 

Arthur

 

The Real Question

Paul Krugman asks the relevant question. What next? Mitt Romney's boasts about being bi-partisan have been scathingly debunked as no more true than his claims about Jeep production being sent to China. In Massachusetts he was either at war with the Legislature, or trying to alter their work with over 800 line-item vetoes, that they thanked him for by over-riding them, in many cases unanimously. There is s reason that Mitt Romney is polling in the 30s in Massachusetts currently, which is unusual for a former Governor.

But back to Krugman. This really is the argument, isn't it? "If you want a government that works, then it HAS to be Republican or we will never let it function without constant fighting and intransigence, okay?"

In other words, elect us and support us or we will destroy the government and all that it stands for and is attempting to do on behalf of the American people. We don't WANT to have to do this, so the voters need to vote for us so that this will not have to happen.

What an offer. Have some corrupt morons in government, or a working majority of them. Okay, don't rush me now, I have to think about this...
Arthur

A 60 Point Spread

Obama is up to a more comfortable 60 electoral vote advantage over Romney (O 299 - R 239) and there looks to be a 90% probability of Democrats holding control of the Senate. I think those margins may inch up somewhat more, with Obama taking 310 to 330 electoral votes, a respectable margin over the 270 needed to win the election.

Today the world's oddest couple, Obama and Governor Chris Christie, are going to be the news as they tour New Jersey's hurricane damage. Romney has very pointedly not been invited to come to New Jersey and say stupid things, which means he will be struggling to appear relevant and coherent, while saying "Gosh" and "Golly" a bit too many times to be believable. About the only thing Romney could do to breath some life into his flagging campaign would be to tell someone to get fucked, but that's not likely. "Sandy" seems to have helped the public focus on reality vs. posturing. I continue to believe that the election is essentially over, with either a flatline or a steady GOP slide in the final week. Any last-minute Omigod! moments have been outgunned by the tangible reality that the climate and the oceans really do matter, and FEMA is a pretty decent way of sharing the risks among all fifty states.

I find it telling that Romney is collecting plastic bags full of canned goods, something he may have learned in his Boy Scout days. Or his kid's Scouting days. Our youngest is an Eagle Scout, so I spent a lot of time with Scouts and I respect the organization, but FEMA it ain't. Interestingly, many Mormon boys are encouraged to join the Boy Scouts, which made me wonder whether Romney was a Boy Scout? For a Boy Scout to gather together a gang in a Private School and hold down another student so Romney could give him a forced haircut would have been very much against the Scout Code. It turns out that Romney was not a Scout, nor an Eagle Scout, but three of his sons are Eagle Scouts and Romney has been on the Boy Scouts Board for ten years. It is not clear he learned anything, except to collect canned goods.

Romney seems increasingly desperate, showing easily debunked ads that claim that Chrysler is planning to ship all Jeep production to China, which the Italian head of Chrysler issued a scathing rebuttal of in a mass mailing and e-mailing to all of the Jeep workers in Ohio and Michigan. To the contrary, some Jeep plants are working double shifts, employment is up by thousands and sales have tripled. There are no plans to move that production offshore. That information, now being widely disseminated in Ohio, makes Romney seem like a pathological liar and desperate propagandist, which I would suggest that he is. Rather than taking the high road, my hunch is that Romney is going to try to double down on his Hitlerian/Joseph Goebbels "Big Lie" tactics in this last week, in hopes of brainwashing the "truly clueless" class of voters. Fortunately a lot of them are Union Members and the Unions think Romney is a dickhead. I think the net effect will be to energize his opponents, rather than convert them to his version of Scientology and Fantasy. Some Americans may be a bit slow to catch on, but they don't like being lied to.

When this election is over I predict that there are going to be a lot of confessions from pundits and reporters about what a jerk they always secretly thought Romney was. They've kept the false meme of "a close race" going as long as was needed to keep viewership up, but now I think the storm is a better story, so they don't need to spin the "Romney could win" fantasy any longer.

In the interests of full disclosure I should mention that I disliked George H. W. Bush so intensely that I felt certain that some Iran-Contra dirt would come out about him before the election and sink him like a rock. So I called up a bookmaker in London and put a $1,000 bet on him to lose. Not the best gamble I've ever made, so I vowed to make donations in the future, rather than try to be a predator, which I came to see as bad Karma. In this election I've given some modest support to Elizabeth Warren, one of the smarter and more principled candidates I've seen in years. The Republicans hate her because she is so damn smart and so principled, while having such a clear sense of what is needed to do to protect American consumers from Predatory Banking. We all should be taking our funds out of Major Banks and putting them in Credit Unions. I like the Oregon Community Credit Union myself; they provide fantastic service and operate on honest business practices. How old-fashioned of them!

And that's what I think is needed right now... a return to honest business practices and straight talk. Mitt Romney is pretty much the polar opposite of that, which I think many Americans are beginning to understand. Lastly, it has nothing to do with Romney being a Mormon, though I think many will be conscious of that. Senator Harry Reid is also a Mormon, which strongly suggests that there are good Mormons and wingnut Mormons. This election may have a catalytic effect on whether Mormons lean strongly conservative Republican in recent decades. I think when more is known about Romney's tax dodging, some of which appears related to his donations to the Mormon Church, they will be doing some soul-searching.

Arthur

Sports, Politics, and Weather

For those of us who live in the San Francisco area the SF Giants have given us a pretty fun ride this fall. One of the more memorable moments was when the Giants recovered from a 3-1 deficit, which is not easy to do, and won the next three games straight, one in Cincinnati and two at the AT&T Park here in the Bay Area. Great p.r. for the city, from Fox Sports blimp footage of the Bay near sunset.

 

So, that shows a lot of crazy confidence, to come back from the brink of oblivion to win the next three games and go on to the World Series, and then win that in a sweep, for the first time since something like 1992. Or one of those mindless statistics that Joe Buck kept blathering about.

But back to game Seven in the National League playoff. The Cincinnati Reds were understandably fairly bummed. Who wouldn't be? But the Giants were playing their tails off, doing strange things, looking odd and generally being what passes for "normal" among them. And then, an hour before the end of the game it began to rain really, really heavily up north here. About five or six miles from the Ballpark. And we could look out the window and see a massive black cloud, moving slowly, majestically south across the Bay. Pissing down rain. Apparently in a World Series they don't call games on account of rain. Instead they have a rain delay, of an hour or two, or a day, and then they go at it again. On television, and in the sky, we could see when the Black Cloud reached the Ballpark. It was... kind of like Judgment Day.

In the Park it began raining quite heavily. One of our players threw his head back, opened his mouth and began drinking the rain, as though it was the champagne he expected to be tasting soon. But for the Reds, it felt very much as though their parade was getting rained on. It was not fun. Great players, just not their destiny to win that critical game.

And while that was going on, everyone in San Francisco came to believe that SportsModel Joe Buck was a complete jerk. People made signs that read "Joe Buck Sucks" and waved them instead of their team colors. They decided that they hated Fox Sports and most of all they hated Joe Buck, who would NOT shut up. They also hated that when the Giants did something great, Buck always seemed to speak of them as having had a stroke of luck. What's with him?

Anyhow, where I am going with all of this is that Hurricane Sandy is a bit like that dark cloud we watched cross the Bay, moving inexorably down to drench the Reds chance to win the World Series. Just one of those things. So Mitt Romney? When he can stay on script, he was getting fairly good at sounding like he had half a brain. Not more than half, but okay, a half. But toss in some bad weather and what is he out doing? Collecting canned goods in Ohio. That the Red Cross says that they cannot accept, since they don't have time to sort through them in time to get them where they are needed. Please just send money, they told him. Did Mitt listen? Naah, he really is a moron. See, he thinks that he is anointed by Mormon theology to win this election because he is the "White Horse". I mean, he's definitely white, and Lord knows he's got lots of horses, see? It all makes sense.

But it doesn't. And now it has rained on his parade. Badly. So badly that Chris Christie just converted to Democratism in hopes of getting lots of Federal assistance. Why? Because if he doesn't he will end up in the crapper like Bobby Jindal, and he knows it.

Politics really does make strange bedfellows, doesn't it? Obama is about to prove to the nation that he can work perfectly well with Republicans, even morbidly obese trash-talking morons like Chris Christie. I mean really, can you imagine anyone who is more of a polar opposite than Obama?

Anyhow, so the Presidential election is over. Oh, you still need to go out and vote, there are a lot of candidates and other things that are still in play, but the Presidential election just got decided by Mother Nature.

She probably doesn't like Joe Buck, either.

 

 

Arthur

Beware "The Crazies"

(Halloween is upon us once again, and the crazies are coming out of the woodwork.  There's a particular eerie feeling in the air this year, what with the full moon, Halloween, and the presidential election all within two weeks of each other.  I use to enjoy Halloween.  I loved the little kids who came to the door in their costumes trying to muster up the courage to say "twickertweet" in hopes of getting some candy.  Now I'm glad I live in a very hilly neighborhood, with more up hills than down hills.  Keeps the little bastards from bothering me.  It's an age thing.  But I digress ...)

• Not sure how you feel about the final debate between Obama and Romney, but I'm sure you all have an opinion.  If "zingers" were the gauge of who won, this one went to Obama.  His comment to Romney about the military not needing bayonets and horses anymore was beautiful.  But as usual, the end of the debates signals the start of what I call "The Weirding."  For example:  General Colin Powell endorses Obama; Dick Cheney holds a fundraiser for Romney with Glenn Beck as special guest; former Republican official and current preacher tells his congregation "You can't be a Christian if you don't own a gun;" (The) Donald Trump offers to contribute 5 million dollars to Obama's charity of choice if he shows the world his college transcripts and passport information. What? 
• Bad Hat Comment of the Week:  In a Rolling Stone interview recently, President Obama finally told it like it is.   He called Mitt Romney a "bullshitter."  Could this be the beginning of a whole new trend in campaigning?
• Arthur writes: Omigod. Of all the earthly demonic forces I would HATE to have pursuing me across the surface of our home planet, Gloria Allred would be at the top of my list. Once she gets a taste of blood, she never stops.  The key points of the story would appear to be that the lady who got cheated in her divorce by Mitt Romney's dishonest testimony went on to having her wealthy husband take her child away from her, only to later reject and discard it, cut off her health insurance although she ALSO had MS (like Anne Romney, but minus the expensive therapeutic horse and two Cadillacs) and then she lost her house. Nice. A preview of what Romney might like to do for those slackers in the 47% of our nation. Screw them over bigtime:
  (Click Here)  And here's more on that story, "Court Releases Romney's Testimony."
• And what's a post about "crazies" without mentioning the queen of crazy, Ann Coulter?  Apparently after the third debate she referred to President Obama as "a retard."  Now, I've often wondered if Ann Coulter's act was just that, an act.  She not very bright.  She's more comedienne than pundit.  Even the right-wing don't take her seriously.  Yet she's still out there, vomiting all over herself.  She's like the passed out drunken co-ed in your roommate's bedroom who nobody wants to take home. 
• What's up with the Republican party and rape?  Several references to this heinous crime have been made by Republican officials lately, from "legitimate rape" to the latest from Richard Mourdock, Republican Senate candidate from Indiana, who has not retracted his debate remark that a pregnancy caused by rape "is something that God intended to happen."  Listen, wives of redneck American men:  Don't let your husband vote for you.  Tell him you'll do it yourself this year, because this time, you really care.

Weekend Update - "Bunch of Malarkey" Edition

(Been busy taking care of a good friend who just had back surgery.  Seems to me that older people - my age - can and probably will get all sorts of ailments, like arthritis and fallen arches and unexplained shortness of breath, and we generally work through them or take ibuprofen and brandy until it goes away.  But when your back goes, it's pretty much all over, life-style wise.  My friend Jodi is a singer and is my age and we've known each other for 30+ years, and we've made music together and had many wonderful adventures together - we "did" the 80's together, if you know what I mean - and I hate to see what this back thing is doing to her.  It's making her look her age.  Before the surgery she was in constant pain, some days better, most days worse, bent over and not in the best of moods.  Immediately after the surgery it was more pain, sometimes absolutely excruciating, only helped by drool inducing pain medication.  She seems to be getting better each day now, after the operation.  And that's a good goddamn thing, because I wonder if she can take much more.  I hate getting old.  I hate that my friend has to go through this.  In spite of the fact that I'm not in any way a religious person, I pray that this operation helps her stand up straight again, without pain.  As the old saying goes, life is, indeed, a bitch.  But I digress ...)

• Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci snapped the photo of Mitt Romney you see on the right, and it's kinda funny I suppose, as the little girl was really excited that Mitt was about to sit next to her for some reason or other, but Bill O'Reilly got all kerfluffed and pissed off and demanded that AP apologize immediately.  Did I mention that Bill O'Reilly is a idiot?
• Remember when Joe Biden got to debate the little empty-headed cheerleader from Alaska named Sarah Palin?  I'm sure he had fun.  Well, he had fun once again in his latest debate.  Paul Ryan's smiling, doe-eyed, zombie-faced look did nothing to hide his desperation as he attempted to lie his way through the facts of life once again.  If you watched the debate, you know, regardless of your political leanings.  If you missed it, here's a great report from Charles Pierce that pretty much sums it up.  (Also, see Arthur's post, below)
• Ever heard of the "Gish Gallop?"  Neither had I, but apparently it's a debate tactic created by creationist Duane Gish, that involves spewing so much bullshit in such a short span that your opponent can’t address it all, let alone counter all of it. "To make matters worse a Gish Gallop will often have one or more 'talking points' that has a tiny core of truth to it, making the person rebutting it spend even more time debunking it in order to explain that, yes, it's not totally false but the Galloper is distorting/misusing/misstating the actual situation."  Does anything about all this remind you of the Obama/Romney Debate the other night?  

Getting To Know You ...

I think I did get to know Paul Ryan a great deal better last evening in the debate. What I came away with is a sense that Ryan believed that if he looked straight into the camera and gave long speeches, while his soulful eyes were staring out at me, that I would swoon and believe every vague promise and dubious claim that he made.

Didn't work. Instead I found myself looking at what an odd double-bump nose he has, what odd Brilliantined hair, what a peculiar rabid puppy-dog look he has, and I found myself not wanting to be subjected to any more of his diatribes. Ever. He came across as a true believer, a sort of "Mini Mitt", a less practiced version of his running mate, but with more extreme theories about the economy and our society. I would not want such a person to be "one heartbeat away" from the Presidency.

So, not only do I think Biden won, on points, on personality and on the facts, the contrast between the two men has fired me up to work as hard as possible to make certain our country is not subjected to Ryan and Romney.

Oh, and their claims about Romney being so bipartisan when he was Governor of Massachusetts? Because he worked with an 87% Democratic Legislature? (their figures, not mine). Well gee, did he have any CHOICE about working with Democrats? Short of barricading himself in the Governor's Mansion and bellowing out the windows over a bullhorn, he either had to work with the Legislature or take a hike. Now if the Legislature was 49.5 - 50.5 and he worked well with Democrats, then they'd have a talking point. Do they imagine the American people are too stupid to understand the difference?

Guess again, quasi-pseudo-crypto-conservatives!

Arthur