On the Contrary

The Driveway and My Trusty Friend Sophie On our Way to Get the Newspaper

It is my birthday today so I am giving myself a present by allowing myself to rant illogically much like the Republicans in California and in our Congress seem to do every day.  Usually, although unbeknownst by many readers, I try to be reasonable in my writing, but today I cast caution to the wind.  So here are my favorite hot button issues:

• A 2/3 majority for anything (60 votes in the case of the filibuster) except Constitutional amendments is patently stupid and puts the minority wing-nuts in the drivers seat.  It means change only happens when it is too late.
• Chris Mathews  (who drives me crazy because he can’t let a guest finish an answer) spouted a conventional wisdom the other day that may be totally wrong.  He said that if the stimulus package works the Democrats win and if it fails, the Republicans win and will be back in 2010.  For him it is black and white, but I don’t think so.  If the economy has not recovered in 2010 there is a third possibility:  The voters will know that the Democrats are trying something new and they have been hamstrung every step of the way by the Republicans trying to reinvent the wonderful Bush years.  They will finally give the Democrats the majorities to get something done.
• It amazes me that the ditto heads on the cable news outlets continue to echo the Republican talking points instead of bringing in real economists to have a debate about our policy direction.  Only MSNBC seems to have recognized the absolute hypocrisy of many of the Republican statements and is starting to point them out.  It might just be healthy for the country if the news media gave up on their attempt to be unbiased by allowing ridiculous statements to stand and just started laughing at them as David Schuster did the other day.  Perspective is the heart of finding truth.
• Eric Holder is going to visit Guantanamo to get a first hand view of the conditions down there.  Raise your hand if you think he is going to get the real story.  Back in my Viet Nam days I remember the dog and pony shows that were prepared for visiting dignitaries so they would cause us as little trouble as possible.  I guess he has to say he has been there, but anybody think a planned visit and briefing by those who have an agenda to keep it open is going to get at the truth is smoking weed.
• This one I am really going to get in trouble for.  Most of you have probably read about the Muslim man who beheaded his wife in their TV studio in Orchard Park, New York, after she had presented him with divorce papers.  This is doubly ironic because they had established their TV station so show how modern Islam could be and many think this was an honor killing (by the way this is what Pakistan legitimized when it allowed the Sharia Law to be implemented in Swat Valley).  But I can’t help thinking that this reflects on all men in more primitive societies (read religions here because women are usually subservient to men) and sometimes (actually a lot) reflects on them in our own modern society.  That is that many men are really very insecure little people with big egos.  In this world women must be owned because we don’t have the courage to let them make their own choices.  Women are hated because they can reject you and hurt you deeply, therefore must be controlled at all times.   I guess being loved or not loved for who you are is just too risky a proposition for many.
• Forget bipartisanship when the other side just has it wrong.  It is truly amazing that after eight years of failed policies (deregulate and cut taxes) we even consider these arguments anymore.  President Obama has it right.  Learn to be polite, conciliatory, and tough.  Don’t let the attempt to compromise with failed ideas obstruct the path forward, but don’t ever loose your civility.
• Does anybody recognize what is happening in this country?  We have a President who can think and talk and is out there trying to find solutions to our problems.  After eight years of mental constipation enabled by the Republicans in the Senate (who define the word mental constipation), we actually have a President who is trying to do something besides waiting for the invisible hand of the market place to solve all our woes.
• Did you ever notice that public employees are usually the first to suffer in a budget crisis?  Those much-maligned public servants are the first to subsidize budget shortfalls by furloughs and lay offs.  If public workers are asked to give up 10% of their pay to solve a budget crisis, isn’t it fair to ask private citizens to join the fray with a 10% tax increase?  Aren’t we all in this together?
• Local control of curriculums in our schools is stupid and has led to the dumbing down of our kids by religious zealots.  We need a national curriculum and national standards.  When religious dogma conflicts with scientific findings we need to understand they are not the same.  One is based on rational thought, checking and testing, and open debate through a formal process, the other is magic based upon beliefs that do not stand the test of examination and inquiry.
• Finally get over it.  The bankruptcy courts should be able to adjust mortgage rates.  Sometimes the good of the country is more important than the good of investors.
• One last thought.  Some of you may have seen my pictures of the beautiful place where I live.  But there are a few drawbacks.  For the last week it has been snowing continuously and if I want to stay connected to the world, every 30 minutes or so I have to go out and spray off my internet and television dishes with the hose, not to mention plowing the drive way (1/4 mile long) every six hours or so to stay ahead of the snow.  San Diego is starting to look really attractive.  Andy, you will let me bunk with you won’t you and you have room for my surf board?  I can party hardy until at least 8:30 PM or so.

Okay I feel better. Tomorrow I will try to be more rational.  Or maybe I will just take the day off.  I plan to spend the day in San Francisco and go out to dinner.  As my good friend Mike Ward, who is fighting cancer, likes to say, it is a good day to be alive.  Yes it is.

This week as the nation we face some, and I would say the biggest challenges of our short history, and what we get in Washington is political circus.  Of course it is grist for the media bozos who love this stuff over substantial issues.  Why is that you ask when we are facing some of the biggest choices we are going to have to make?  Because opinion in these soap operas masquerades as journalism and does not require the discipline of doing your homework.  A prime example was in the San Francisco Chronicle Editorial pages where they claimed that the Secretary of the Senate had grounds to send Blagojevich appointee Roland Burris packing because his appointment letter wasn’t signed by the Illinois Secretary of State.  There are two problems with this statement, first of which is that the Secretary of State has no approval authority, just a requirement to sign the appointment letter.  The second is that Rule 2 of the Standing Rules of the Senate is only a recommended procedure.  At least if you are going to give us an opinion, have it based on reality.  But here are the other related follies that are distracting us from our real business:

• Harry Reid is an idiot – Harry Reid is George Bush in Democratic clothing.  By that I mean he is not a deep strategic thinker.  Any fool could have figured out that his promise to not seat any appointment of Governor Blagojevich would put him in a box with no way out.  The fallacy of this stand is detailed in my blog, “The Rule of Law”, but let me just reiterate that if the Senate gets in the business of nitpicking duly appointed or elected officials from the states, we are going to go down a political road that won’t be pretty.  Even Diane Feinstein figured this out.  Harry has made other stands that he has later had to retract and he just makes the Democrats look stupid and weak.  In the meantime they will finally roll over and look stupid once again.  If I were Burris, I would not agree to the “not run in 2010” compromise.  I have no horse in this race, but the Senate needs to stay out of the State’s business.  Illinois has already shown how capable they are of making fools of themselves.
• Diane Feinstein is a prima donna – That is probably an unfair characterization since most Senators having become use to their exercise of power are prima donnas.  I have been somewhat prejudiced against her since she supported the Patriot Act and said she would support a Constitutional amendment banning flag burning, a true assault on free speech.  But her being miffed about President-Elect Obama’s choice of Leon Panetta to lead the CIA since she wasn’t consulted, was true pouting.  Reminds me of Robert Reich’s description of his confirmation process for Secretary of Labor.  He had studied all the issues and was ready in his confirmation hearings to show he had a command of all the issues.  That is when he figured out what the process was really about, genuflecting to power in the Senate.   I like Rachel Maddow’s opinion of this pick:  Obama doesn’t want anyone tainted with Bush administration policies, whether that be torture or violations of our constitutional rights.  Diane Feinstein and her pick for that position, Jane Harmon, may have gone along with the flow a little too much and stood by while our Constitution was trashed.  Time for some new blood.
• In Minnesota, what is the issue? – In Minnesota, Al Franken was certified the winner, but Republican Norm Coleman filed suit.  This one is a no-brainer.  While this is being contested, the Senate cannot seat Franken because Republicans with their filibuster friend will refuse to seat him.  What I would like to know is what is the real basis of Norm Coleman’s suit.  More to the point are the votes Norm Coleman is contesting likely to give him the seat?  Oh excuse me that would take real investigative reporting requiring work and opinions are so much easier.  I don’t fault Norm Coleman for filing suit in an election that close, I would just like to find out if he is being prudent or not.
• Super majorities are being badly abused – The contested elections above all have one thing in common, power.  The Democrats can no longer get the 60 Demos to prevent a filibuster (Thank you Georgia and the backwards South, if you people had your way we would be a theocracy), but they can get close (59).  This is critical to moving the country forward and enacting Obama’s agenda without too much obstructionism from the Republicans.  But the 60 vote super majority rule in the Senate makes it sound like the Democrats didn’t win in November and gives the Republicans way too much power to thwart change.  We face the same problem here in California where it takes two-thirds of the State Senate to pass a budget making a handful of ideological Republicans in charge of our ship of state.  I am sorry, but this is just stupid.  Change is hard and in the organizations I have worked in (large federal bureaucratic organizations) you are never going to get a super majority to agree to anything.  So let’s get real.  If you want to make a fundamental change in rights, that should take a super majority.  For all other issues, simply majority rules. Otherwise, when the people speak in election, it is then thwarted by these stupid rules.   If you want to see how counter productive this is, just watch California go broke.
• Caroline Kennedy – Maureen Dowd wrote a great column Wednesday in the New York times (Sweet on Caroline), and made a similar point that I did in my blog on 12/15, “Three Things to Pay Attention To” (also addresses the Blagojevich issue),  which is that if you are judging Caroline on her ability to be a politician, ability to slap backs, say sound bytes, and be disingenuous, then she is unqualified.  But if you want someone who is genuine, has not compromised her values, then it might just be a breath of fresh air in the Senate.

Won’t it be nice when we are done with these sideshows and start a real discussion about what sort of economic stimulus will move us forward and build our future?  I’ll give you a hint:  Tax cuts are a waste of our money.  Care to debate it?

There is a belief around here that the way California goes, so goes the rest of the country.  California sets a an example for most of the rest of nation in its approach to the environment, alternate energy, and global warming.  Well in some cases let’s hope not.

California has made some very bad choices in the way it governs itself.  First and foremost in bad mistakes is the two-third super majority requirement to pass a budget.  What that super majority requirement has done is gridlock our government, kind of like the filibuster in the Senate.  But here in California we are held hostage by a small minority of conservative Republicans who will never raise one tax.  When the Democrats came to them and said we will compromise, for every program cut we agree to, you will allow us a potential tax increase, they simply said all taxes are bad and nothing doing. It is cut or nothing.  Like all good conservative Republicans, it is their way or the highway.  The result is gridlock and an ever increasing state deficit.  Even the Govenator is frustrated with them when he proposed a 1 cent sales tax to help with our deficit and they balked.  But like the national elections, there is a chance that their one-third tyranny may be over if enough Democrats get elected.  On a positive note, if the Republicans keep up their intransigence, they may not be around much longer.

Second, since nothing gets done in the state government, everything is a Proposition put forward to the voters on election day.  Now there are two problems with this.  First these Propositions are complicated and a tough slog through to figure out just what they really do.  I have a degree in electrical and structural engineering and I have a hard time figuring out if what they are advertising is what the bill actually does and what could be the unintended consequences.  The second problem related to that issue is that there is no give and take like in a legislative process with amendments to fix an otherwise flawed bill.  It is what it is, take it or leave it.  Basically in this system the things that need to get fixed get thrown to a confused electorate to figure it out.    One of the favorite tactics is to take something like funding for education or firemen that we all think is important and pass a state constitutional amendment to guarantee a certain amount of state funding.  This might seem like a good idea, but it reduces the state’s ability to balance budgets when shortfalls occur, and we have so many of them now, that there is really very little discretionary spending left to manage.  This is no way to run a government and California is long over due for a financial restructuring.  Some think the constitution ought to be just thrown out and we start over again.

Speaking of Propositions, my favorite here in California is Proposition 8, the proposition that will amend the Constitution to deny gay marriage.  The California constitution guarantees equality for all its citizens and the ruling by the judge overturning an earlier proposition to outlaw gay marriage went something like this:

“The state Constitution’s guarantees of personal privacy and autonomy protect “the right of an individual to establish a legally recognized family with the person of one’s choice,” said Chief Justice Ronald George, who wrote the 121-page majority opinion. He said the Constitution “properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as opposite-sex couples.”” (San Francisco Chronicle)

Now the fruit loops on the right immediately began their activist judge chant.  I think Malbury versus Madison is lost on them, but so is rational thought.  Let’s face it, not even Sarah could name this case, but that should not be a surprise given her politics.  Worse are the moronic ads for the Proposition, paid for primarily by Morons from Utah.  No I am not kidding.  The Mormons were flooding the state with calls and money.  The basic argument is it is against their religious belief.  What I can’t ever figure out is if they are against it, then don’t marry a gay person, but don’t force your religious beliefs on the rest of us. I guess this little piece of logic just can’t enter their heads. This is always coming from those who shout the loudest about freedom, but are the first to take your freedom away if you are not like them.

Their latest ad claims that they will teach about gay marriage in schools and somehow your children will be irreparably harmed.  Right, like when I was young and somebody told me I could marry a man it would have made a difference.  It is either in your nature or it isn’t you morons.  It’s really sad when mob mentality is going to try to disenfranchise some of our citizens and make them second-class citizens under the law because they are afraid and intolerate.  Hopefully it will fail, but like the Republican machine, fear and misinformation is their tool of choice and unless the young vote, all the old homophobes will do something stupid on election day and embarrass us all with their ignorance and intolerance.

The last bit of stupidity from the Golden State is their get tough on crime.  Politicians are amazingly gutless wonders and we have passed all these mandatory sentencing laws to look tough on crime, but now their stupidity is coming home to roost.  In the last ten years prison cost have grown by 50%, will soon exceed what we spend on education in the state, and eats up 10 percent of the total state budget. It cost more to incarcerate someone than to send them to Sanford.  And it is a great system as 66 percent of parolees are back in prison after three years compared to about 40 percent nationally.  The parole system is horribly unfair, treats all offenders alike, and makes it difficult to re-enter society.   Clearly some sentencing modifications, reform of our parole system, and more focus on rehabilitation would pay big dividends, but then you might look soft on crime.  Well you gutless wonders who have thrown so many people on the heap pile of the human race, you can no longer afford it.  You can’t just look away any more.  Maybe many of them are redeemable and we simply can’t afford, meaning real money, to ignore them any more. (New York Times – California Prison Disaster)

So even in the golden state where I live in the middle of a beautiful vineyard, I am surrounded by ignorance, intolerance, fear, and stupidity.  Maybe it is the human condition.  I wonder when we will ever grow up.