RIP Air America...

There was a time when I listened to AAR all day. The early programming was that good, and with the exception of the grating Randi Rhodes who I sometimes couldn't take, it was my touchstone of sanity at a dark time in American politics. At some point I realized that I was keeping the radio on all day as I went through my schedule, often stopping to write things down and look them up, always feeling like there was some small ray of hope in what had become a real national nightmare.

For AAR, still considered fledgling, its been a rough go of investors and owners who wanted to see a profit in a business that is guaranteed to not show a profit for years. The lack of patience that each management team has shown was uniquely American, causing the loss of its best shows, tinkering all the time rather than allowing momentum to grow, and missing chances to build on the incredible well of talent that had been assembled from the beginning. Someone was sleeping in Broadcasting 101, unless this was just another corporate fuck, with the attitude of 'how much can we get out of this sucker?' and leave the drained carcass to die. The teams that came and went certainly talked a good game about AAR being more than just a station; yeah, really, "a movement!!" but the problem is bigger than just that; Americans want their profit and their big screen TV yesterday. We haven't yet lined up our Rupert Murdoch, willing to lose billions of dollars in service to a message. The visionary part of that for the neocon very rich is the long run, where an administration like Bushco actually pays them and their friends back tenfold in contracts and breaks. Im not so sure that the very rich liberals are that tied in to the military complex or visionary enough in the same sort of cut throat take over the world vision.

The day that Ronald Reagan did away with the fairness doctrine which protected our airwaves from the likes of the sort of big business machine that has come to rule them, was the day that this all began. The airwaves belong to the American people and the push of capitalism to take over and privatize everything is uniquely ...um...neocon. Privatization with regulations cut, and batty uncle Ronny saying "why do we need regulations? Old Mr Floyd from the hardware store down the street is perfectly willing to police himself...? Right?" Of course, the legacy of that deregulation has come to fruition now in the Supreme Court ruling that corporations have seemingly endless rights...forget it, we're fucked...

So long AAR; it went into reruns last Thursday and no one even noticed. The New York Times had a piece the other day about how liberal radio has to be more business-like and in these troubling financial times it was a bad business proposition, yada, yada, yada....
OK, was anyone gonna get rich on this? They were fools if they thought so. The new corporate model of a quick payout doesn't work in this medium, and trying to force that made the thing messy and embarrassing by the end, with the likes of the well hated, smarmy, Mark Green and his infomercials and continual failed bids at being a political player..."hey, wanna go on a cruise?"...yuck!

AAR was a mad experiment cast by the minds that brought us the likes of the Daily Show, it had a different tone, and it expected more of the audience than to just sit back and absorb the lies; the early Air America challenged us to think, reason, and take control of our lives using the tool of truth. The entire weekday lineup was challenging and at a time where the government was spewing lies at us, echoed by the main stream media news outlets, so, it followed that this programming would take all the more time to find its audience and create the foundation upon which to grow. We sounded like conspiracy theorists before AAR came along and we had Al Franken fact checking everything thoroughly...to the point that no matter what anyone said about him and how ne presented things, they coulldnt say that what he said wasnt true. This was a revelation for me; you could hate Al and his persona, you could say "youre gonna believe that guy?" but you couldnt ever say that his facts were incorrect.
It did find an audience, in that the numbers were growing with the kind of fans that are loyal and long-term. The problem was to maintain an already screwed up business situation and for that they brought in the wrong person.

Danny Goldberg, CEO/investor/good friend of Don Imus, and a music industry "big shot", seemed to think that with Don's input he could program a radio station like he was rearranging the songs on a record or the members of a band. Coming into a situation midstream must have been difficult for him, and the pressure of the board and stockholders was an issue but really, what was needed was a firm hand in assuring everyone that tinkering too much would dislodge the invaluable hardcore fans in the service of passing numbers. According to Goldberg, he turned himself inside out fighting The Man, saving Rachel Maddow from obscurity, and if not for the stockholders and capitalism in general, he was going to save radio from itself.
This guy thought that his gut could somehow turn AAR into a profitable business, way ahead of schedule, and on top of that he would tinker with a lineup with steadily growing numbers to try to create a magic that he knew nothing about. If he thought he could show a profit at that point and presented himself in that light, he was full of shit. No programming, much less a new station which is building an audience could be profitable in that amount of time. In a way it was folly to put a non-radio guy in that job in the first place, but perhaps that was the only way that the investors could hear what they wanted to; that this thing wasn't going to hemorrhage money for 4 or 5 years at least. Goldberg quickly ushered in the beginning of the end of AAR and as much as I understand that he viewed this as production pre-release, he was unprepared for what would happen when he messed with what was a good lineup. His claims that he was hired to raise money fall on deaf ears here, because he clearly was rearranging the lineup more than he was out raising money. This was not the job for him.

Yesterday Goldberg wrote what I'm sure he thinks is the definitive obit of AAR at Down With Tyranny , (and then much more in comments,) alot of pap about how he struggled under the finger of the money people, and how they stopped him from raising funds because of their feelings of asking for funds being unseemly...huh?...He said that maybe he was an asshole sometimes...he had such a hard time...etc...feel sorry for him?...No! He walked out of there with a big payout at a time when the station was foundering, and was one person who did OK in the situation; he didn't take a bath the way others did and he took his payout while others, like talent who didnt come into this rich, were owed money. Its not our problem that he accepted a job for less money than he normally makes; he did OK for doing not much that was helpful and alot that was destructive.

What I know from the inside and as the spawn of a radio family, is that you don't treat people, much less the working talent, like shit, especially in their last weeks. Goldberg might have made the mistake of his life by trying to "save AAR" instead of staying in the music business "where he belongs," but during his time at AAR he certainly tried to cut a bold swath of change, relegating the same Maddow that he supposedly saved from obscurity, FROM the 9AM-noon slot in the fantastic Unfiltered show, TO the dead 5AM slot. He then set about deconstructing Morning Sedition, which was one of the best shows on radio, period. He didn't like Maron and he didn't get the comedy. He didn't make a secret of that either, and to say that it was purely a business decision forced on him by the stockholders and other bosses is disingenuous at best.

Goldberg knows the truth, and regardless of the depths of his depression, which may have had him playing solitaire on his computer for hours on end in his office, rather than raising funds or whatever it was that he was supposed to be doing, he isn't going to be able to escape what happened and his part in it. Tying himself to the coat tails of Maddow is not going to change history either; sorry. The advice of Don Imus was wrong; Goldberg had no talent in programming and tinkering, and every move he made was to render the programming into a more and more dumbed down,happy, format. It did what AAR had never done, which was to pander to the audience. By the time he had alienated the base, what was left?

The Mark Riley Show was what Goldberg wanted, and it was junk....totally junk. It reminded me of the Whoopie Goldberg Feel Good Show, which was not what the base was tuning in for. Riley was a pawn in all of that, and his show was painful to listen to. What could he follow up that sort of brilliance with? The Riley Show was what Goldberg thought was good radio. Regardless of the corporate structure or the financial situation, this guy came into a tanking situation and instead of trying to shore up what was there and growing he decided to scramble it all up and put the best talent either out of a job or in the boondocks. Even with star power, had any been there beyond those with a strong following, it would have been starting over. I have alot of trouble with Goldbergs's line about firing Maron to save Maddow. I just don't think that's true at all...and I am sure that Rachel is not thanking Goldberg for her great career.

Rachel had star power when she started Unfiltered, and continued to be herself on the same intense level straight through to Olbermann regardless of and in spite of Goldberg. The first thing he did was to cancel her show!! Those who got put at 5AM or on Sundays were those with contracts still in effect as opposed to those who's contracts were up.

What became of those talented players? Check out Maron's fantastic WTF Podcast and of course the Rachel Maddow show, which is a must watch every night of the week on MSNBC. I am assuming that Maddow's radio show is no longer available anywhere.
For background on that one particularly brilliant show and its comedy bits, check out Sedition Radio for which we owe PJ Sauter a huge debt of gratitude. The rest is out there if you look for it: Unfiltered, Sam Seder, Janeane Garafolo, even Al and Randi who had their ups and downs, but still are sorely missed around here... Lizz Winstead deserves a shout for putting alot of it together; Its over for good.

AAR as it was in the beginning, brought me laughter, joy, relief, and a kind of deep misery at its loss, that I couldn't have expected. I always though that this was so much more than a radio station and should be funded by a Rupert Murdoch type of deep pocket investor, but for whatever reasons it was set up wrong, by the wrong business folks and that doomed it from the start. Its all about the money in the end, and the money wasn't there...but it should have been, considering how much money is out there in liberal land. Showing a growing audience of loyal listeners and tapping those listeners for funding would surely have gone further towards interesting investors than dismantling what they had back to zero.

What of the Fairness Doctrine? These are our airwaves and just because Rush Limbaugh is a huge corporate force barreling through all sense and reason, doesn't mean that this outlet shouldn't be regulated by the government so that one corporation can exert too much influence on people because of money...um...oh yeah...never mind; corporations are now individuals with rights. As it stands our free airwaves are being used to misinform the people of this country, leaving the Fairness Doctrine as perhaps the most important political issue to address because of the way it touches all other issues; voting on issues that you have been lied to about comes to mind.

It was an idea and a dream, and much like Obama not being a corporatist or Edwards telling even the most basic truth, its all gone now. Rush and O'Reilly can breathe a sign of relief because there is really only Sirius Left, for those who have the subscription money; Internet radio shows for those who can afford the Internet...the rabble will never hear a bit of truth. Maybe its when things are really bad and there is no hope left, that some sort of movement will begin that will rise up and again give voice to the progressive agenda. Heaven knows we're out here in Internet-land shouting into the black hole and hoping someone hears. But there is too much noise, and we need more than just one Rachel Maddow to move this thing forward.

Its kind of sad to let those dreams go. But somewhere out there in podcasts or blogtalkradio format the message still lives, and in that there is hope, even if its sketchy....
godspeed to our kids, that's all I can say...this is a very different country than any of us could have imagined.

c/p Brilliant at Breakfast

Rachel Maddow Breaks Through; But Is it Too Late?

Move over boys; there's a new girl in town, and shes speaking truth to idiocy in the citadel of the main $cream media! Congratulations to Rachel Maddow and especially to...um...US, the American people, for her superb performance today on Meet the Press. To have an intelligent, liberal voice speaking for us in that old white men's forum is huge, and looking around the channels this morning, it seemed that those uptight white guys who run the show were especially pale today, and Monica Crowley seemed to be more of a joke than usual as the token whatever she is...idiot! Even old Eleanor, trying to shout down Uncle Pat on McLaughlin, couldn't hold up in the blinding light of what is surely Maddow's rising star.

More important is that Maddow is the real deal. She is a true-crime-glossy politics geek, who is not afraid to speak the truth and can hold her own beautifully against anyone and anything that the smartest wonk could come up with. For those of us who have followed Maddow since the late great Unfiltered in the beginnings of Air America Radio, this comes as no surprise. How long could they resist with the way the numbers in this country are actually going? After Tucker made the incredibly brave and misguided mistake of casting her against himself, thus showing how stupid he is, I actually wrote a letter to NY Magazine about how great Maddow is and it was published! I cant remember what I said but it was about how horrible Tucker is but that it was a ballsy choice. God, what a choice it was, on so many levels; and I do think that Tucker was mainly inside of his own bloated head in not realizing that he could only look bad up against her.... Cue Willie Geist, frat brother turned "producer" turned asshole pundit.

The troubling thing is that in the face of the incredible lies being spun by the fringy right, its taken this long for MSNBC to allow Rachel the chance to go head to head with the roulette wheel of wingnuts being give free reign across the airwaves.
The troubling thing is that any insane theory can be floated and the closest we've gotten to a voice of reason, besides the one profitable show, also the one island of sane, Keith Olbermann, is Chris Matthews "playing hard ball." It may make for "good" TV to have the likes of Michelle Malkin slither back with her odd predictions and her pouty mouth, or Uncle Pat spouting racism and insanity, but at a point its like shooting fish in a barrel and there is no excuse to keep Olbermann out there on his own, like hes some angry old guy reciting Murrow lines. Also, they never let Olbermann go up against the likes of these morning show regulars.

The problem is that the media looks for the elements of the story and presents it in a way that doesn't look for truth, but rather draws a simple picture that will be palatable to a wide ranging audience and advertisers. As in the health care debacle, there is a conflict so deep in the media being run by large corporate interests with their first responsibility, by law, being to their shareholders and ultimately the bottom line. But also, there is the obvious slant of entire stations towards their CEO and "owner's" political bent.

That's why its pretty funny that as the numbers don't lie, and the tide is turning, the corporate interest must be served, and there is no way that they can get around the fact that has been pointed out to America by none other than Maddow's biggest champion, Keith Olbermann; we are in the presence of a real star. As much as this must stick in the craw of every firmly entrenched media slouch out there, there is a new level of excellence out there and it goes beyond gender and a million other reasons why America might not accept Maddow as a voice of authority. But the overriding element here seems to be trustworthiness, truth and reason, all of which Maddow wields beautifully in the face of some formidable characters.

Her level of comfort with her subject gives her an ease with the camera and her surroundings, as if she was born to do this. Her humor cuts the thick air of threats being heaped upon the American people right now and allows us to think what we've been thinking, which is that things are very, very wrong out there. The words of those who would call anyone who dissents unamerican, dissolve in her bemused smile and the shake of her head, as if she is dealing with children.

Surely she had on her serious face this morning, under the spectre of being pitted against the wingnut from the land of wingnuttia, Dick Armey. David Gregory, notable only in his ability to cut the conversation off, and almost protecting Armey from himself and Maddow, was as annoying as his tweets about his hair and suits tend to be, and frail enough at hard reporting to do Tim Russert proud in the chair of the softball show of all times; the platform for McCain and his friends to run wild, and the show that will put it in writing that they wont ask you about the hookers and blow if you'll just come on! Are there any reporters out there who want to report the truth? If the fantastic claims of the wingnuts make good TV, is it still a sin to give the people what they want, even if it kills some unsuspecting fools who thought it was OK to go to a town meeting with their representatives, or ask for health care...? Isn't there a way to let these folks air their insanity in full and then allow a Rachel Maddow to hammer them until they have to answer, or start with that old chestnut, "youre badggering me, and I cant answer any questions when Im being badgered!"

The media is as complicit in the past 8 years as Cheney and the blind American public are. And now we are somehow supposed to be patient and not appear to be pushing things through too quickly, as Obama seemingly drags his feet on some very important issues; some life or death issues for alot of people. Healthcare is the issue here, as we all know, and the claims are so stupendous as to be the stuff of Soylent Green and The Island, among others.
Sure, its easier to read the talking points and to jump on board than it is to read the bill and do the research and listen to both sides. The dumbing down of the educational system has worked, but its not just that, it's that we are lazy when it comes to running our lives; we want it all on credit and we are willing to give away the country so as to hang on to more precious cash per year, even if we pay more on the other side to the doctors and insurance companies; just so long as we don't have to look at the balance sheet; just so long as we don't have to feel like the poor folks downtown are taking part of our paycheck. And all of this has been supported by a corporate media that has to answer to the advertisers and the shareholders. What's wrong with this picture?

Is the addition of Rachel Maddow to the Sunday lineup a good sign, or is it desperation by a corporation that has been forced by the numbers into doing something that it really doesn't want to do? Time will tell, and I predict that Rachel will have that seat if she wants it, or any other position at that claptrap "news station."
We owe a debt of gratitude to Olbermann for his key role in using his numbers to give a hand up to another sane voice in the wilderness. The fact that he has those numbers have been looked at as some anomoly, or we would have seen this type of programming explode...change is slow, but its coming....

You will, no doubt, see the videos of her fantastic smack down of Dick Armey (posted below, and here is the transcript.) The question that I have is why is this guy in the government, and why, even if he was elected by some stupid-heads, does he deserve a forum to spin his tales? Maddow has shown great restraint and has given these matters all serious consideration, and manages to address the concerns of the denizens of wingnuttia seriously rather than spitting her coffee all over them in hilarity, while Armey hems and haws, and blocks and weaves, changing the subject every time Maddow strikes near a nerve, with Gregory cutting off the real hammering questions necessary in these matters. So Armey walks away never having to admit the truth or answer a question in a straightforward manner, and MSNBC has its great TV, and around we go; and who is hurt by this? Why, of course, its the American people who sorely need some sort of true north in this debate. They want to be told about it because they don't want to have to read 1500 pages, (of 4 or 5 lines to a page, but still understandable, I guess,) but there is no one to trust anymore in this game.

My suggestion is to try to pick out what sounds totally off the wall and use your minds, as Olbermann said, to think about this. If you're still unsure then read about it, at least, from some reputable sources; multiple sources. And if you're still unsure then read the freakin' bill!

Here in long version, is a clip from today...check it out because it really is some good TV, and stay for the truthful information that Maddow is trying to tease out of the pompous asses surrounding her. I hope to see alot more of this sort of thing...the truth, I hear, is in style right now....

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

c/p Brilliant at Breakfast

Quick Hits and Countdown to Election Wierdness...Marc Maron at Comix in NYC...

If American life lacks the punch of a reality show to the point that we demand larger than life puppets as candidates for our highest office these days; if Jerry Springer-esque family drama played out in oil wrestling is the thing we need to fill our check-out-line reading needs; maybe we shouldn't be so fucking surprised that we pay to fully costume the actresses and actors and that the production companies...er...campaigns stand on the sidelines with the storyboard and airbrush machine at the ready. No such luck for the McCain campaign which history may look at as really a night course in performance art 101 taught by some agitprop group found in Washington Square Park. It seems impossible that any professional politicos could have run thigns exactly this badly without it being part of some sorta joke. But then, the delusional current administration did at some point drink their own koolaid and after all that inmates/asylum stuff blows over, it will be anyone's guess if we can ever untangle what part of the nightmare thats gonna lave quite a hangover in this country for a long time to come. Whats left to hope for? Well, I hope that my son might be captured by Obama's hope thing in the way that I was captured by Jimmy Carter and before that the Kennedys, when I was a kid. Maybe he can feel some feeling of being able to shape the destiny of his world before the reality comes crashing in.

Sarah Palin may well be looking towards 2012, and for the appetites of the wingnut fringe, the ongoing Palin saga should be a great diversion while Obama races to deconstruct all that the Bushies have put in place. This, my friends, is not a joke. It would behoove us to keep the lunatic fringe that Palin will lead back underground with her in mind because if we don't there wont be any excuse. I tell myself that its gonna be a good time for me to pull back from politics and to try to work with birds and just be happy...but really, its probably not going ot be possible in the long run. I can always hope though, cant I?

With an unbelievable eleven days to go, Rachel Maddow is taking over the TV-box cable ratings game with her MSNBC show, proving that even a network run my the M$M has to listen when ratings talk. The American people surely have made it clear that they want liberal voices out there, and Rachel has risen to the top on sheer intelligence and star power. Its been fantastic to watch her rise. Tonight Keith Olbermann had Sam Seder on to punditize about snarky republicans spinning Obama's break to see his grandma into some sort of air mile thievery. Sammy immediately turned that silliness into how sick McInsane is in his cold assessment of "the life of the mother" being important in the abortion issue, spotlighting how fucking cold the radical right can be when dealing with real people as opposed to test tubes of cells....and how cold McCain is in general as he would say anything to get a few more votes. This delighted me because no one is better than Sam at pointing out wingnuttia in terms that draw us all together, along with Obama, shaking our heads in disbelief at the silliness of the children in their pretend world.

It occurred to me tonight that with Rachel rising, Sam is going to be moving into the spotlight more and more. At the same time, Seder and Marc Maron are breaking ground with their web based daily live show, Maron v. Seder 3PM EST, M-F, here. Maron is currently traveling cross country with the UK Guardian and talking to a remarkable array of people from all walks of life showing us the front lines in America up close and personal. Of course, Marc also has his way of pulling even the most far-out survivalists close, and helping us to see their humanity if not really understand it. Looking at our ever morphing culture along with Marc makes it all a little more bearable...and seeing things like the plight of homeless veterans standing on line for services with our own eyes is jarring and sad. This is merely a small glimpse of what the future will be like as we pull out of Iraq and the Guardian and Air America are doign a great thing by showing us some unvarnised truths. Maron v. Seder should be on cable or even network TV...I think that they would have to tone it down for network, so it probably belongs on HBO, Showtime, or FX, daily. In any case, look for Maron to also start turning up on Olbermann etc, as he is a tremendously smart commentator with a gift for explaining issues from angles that touch on everyday people while not being so wonky as to over intellectualize them.

Lucky New Yorkers will have the opportunity to see Maron on Friday the 24th and Sat the 25th at Comix in NYC...I'll be there at some point, tho I'm not sure which show yet...I'm in transit again from CT to NYC, and everything is in flux, as usual. Come on down and see our traveling correspondent in his element...its always fun, and Comix is a nice place. Its gonna be a rainy Saturday in NYC, and you know, I love me some weather...

See ya there!

c/p Briliant at Breakfast

Are We All the Same? Rachel Maddow on the Differences Between the 3 Democratic Frontrunners...How We Decide...and all that...

We are the Deciders!
Today I posted some audio from Rachel Maddow's January 16th show, on my player over there. Rachel has spent the past week at MSNBC in the liberal's, gayz, and wimmin's only isolation booth, and during her moments on camera has been hammering her head against a wall of...I'm sorry, but the only way to describe it is stupidity... that prevails at that anchor table between Tweety and Pat and the other guyz, with Tweets scowling dramatically at Keith's every word. Yeah, Keith is the shining star over there, but he sure knows when and how to share the spotlight with really talented and smart people like Rachel. Hey, its not his fault if he makes all the rest of 'em look bad!

I understand that there is some deep need to get on with it, and that the job of the media has transformed from informing us into a service to expedite the wishes of the large corporations that have conglomerated any critical thought or problem solving skills that might be inherent in us, into an easy cartoon for the masses who are too lazy to think. But, before we sew this thing up, doesn't it make sense to, at least, know a few of the major differences between the 3 democratic frontrunner's? Isn't it worth a moment of thought in an election cycle that is drawing unprecedented crowds, and upsetting the control of powers that have put us in a box and decided for us for so long?

The reason that so many people vote against their own best interest is because they accept the fear and manipulation of the parties without doing even a little work to find out the basic stances of the candidates. We are somehow encouraged to trust our gut, and to go with the feelings that we personally have about a candidate, as if this is some sort of high school popularity contest.

Last week Sam Seder said something really helpful while on the air with a caller. He said that he doesn't believe that voting is about your own personal preference, as in which candidate that you personally like, is pretty, or whose views you like. Its about assessing all of the information that you have and voting on what works and is logical for the process and the country. This is absolutely true.
We live in a me, me, me society that encourages individuality and political correctness to an extreme that was probably unthinkable in the election cycles of the founders of this thing. In order to be a workable society, we have to consider what is best for the entire society...right?
This isn't just about what serves YOU personally, but what serves, not only the process, but the continuation of this imperfect union, and the society as a whole. If we consider that this country is only as strong as it's weakest citizen, and that we are supposed to be a country of immigrants, each giving a hand up to the one below, then a question arises about how this thing got twisted into a way for the rich to get richer and to hang onto their wealth while the poor, and increasingly the middle class, are getting the shaft. Capitalism cant possibly work over the long run unless the more fortunate and talented members of our society pay a scaled percentage of their earnings back in. If they use their position to hang onto an unfair share, (that's a relative unfair share...as in, not comparing it to the average middle class wage, but to what is above and beyond most of our wildest dreams, as in the percentage difference between the CEO and the lowest worker, and that sort of equation rule of thumb,) then they are pulling the foundation out from under the society that allowed them to build that wealth in the first place!

You may be able to build your McMansion on the hardship of others for a while, but this is really a house of cards, and one natural disaster or catastrophic illness could be a great leveler. So, unless you really have no feeling about who we are or what our aim is, or who your neighbor is and how the homeless man on the street could be your brother, you need to learn what is happening out there and have real reasons for why you're doing what you do...more specifically, why you are voting the way you vote.


Conservatism is not a bad thing at all, and it actually is part of the delicate balance and the checks and balances of our government, but fer' Christ's sake, at least know why you are a conservative....and try not to have it always end up back at your disdain of taxes and how you deserve somehow to have more money in the bank as opposed to people who cant go to the doctor or afford their medicine.
I spend more time than I'd like talking to people about politics, because I am the political one...you know, the one who knows whats what, and so its easy to get a quick and easy fix on whats happening without having to sit through Tweety and...er...the national news, every night. And, I have to say that I'm hearing, more than I like and mainly from middle class people who are working so damned hard to just make ends meet, that they are sick and tired of these immigrants and poor folks with their hands outstretched. Give them health care for free? No way!! School for their kids? No way!!
But, the long view tells us that, on the ground its different. Should you spend some time at say, an inner city after school program, or a food pantry, you might see that neglecting a shot or a checkup can result in long term costs to society that are much more than it would cost just to make medical care available to all. I also have been very troubled by the ongoing impact of Clinton's Welfare reform package and the lack of programs for children who have no place to go in the afternoon. I see kids wandering around with little parental oversight, parents working way too hard to barely get by, and the very real possibility passes by me each day, that our society is saving money on social programs in favor of long term care for teen parents and their kids in the same cycle. Very young girls pushing baby carriages, and girls sneaking to see their boyfriends even as parents tell them not to...what can a parent do if they have to work so many hours and there are no programs for teens in this entire city? If we don't do something preventative now, we are throwing away our most valuable asset of educated future generations.
Knowing what your opinion is and why is of the utmost importance. For those who say that its just too depressing or that it infringes on their life to worry about such serious things, I say that if you find this hard, then just wait until we ignore this for a few more generations.
And we all have the responsibility for future generations. Its not like, if you don't have kids yourself you shouldn't have to pay for schools, because the schooling you're paying for is as easily your own, as it is for the people who will carry on for you, regardless of if they are your flesh and blood or not.

I also have to say that I don't know where the idea came from that Americans are somehow deserving of an easier ride in life than anyone else on this planet. We are lucky to have an abundant country and power in the world, but to assume that we deserve to never be touched by what happens in the rest of the world, or what the fallout is from our actions, and alto of what got us where we are in the world order, is a little shortsighted. If its about being safe and ensuring our continued luck of abundance, then the long view is necessary for all of our citizens. We also have to be aware of what we've done on the path to where we are. It was the disregard of history and scholarly advice that got us into this war, and that we will be paying for for generations to come. There is nothing more powerful that having good diplomatic standing and a reputation as a good guy. There is nothing worse than being hated by the entire world because we've fucked up a country and made the worldwide terrorism problem worse.



So, no matter what your persuasion is politically, or what candidate of either party sounds good to you, look into what their platforms are now, in this cycle, and look at what they are saying.
If you are a republican or even just like McCain or any other the other clowns in that freak show, you're on your own over here. There is a ton of information out there, and its up to you to figure out what the proposed policies are beyond your impressions of the candidates, (locally, here is some of it.) Good hair or having been in a prison camp does not make for a great president, or even a passing one. A general feeling of liking or disliking someone doesn't pass for knowing what they are going to do at this critical juncture. Keep in mind also that anyone who wants to be president at this particular juncture is either half crazy or some kind of true believer. It is up to us to know which and of what before we go in the voting booth, or the folding table that we get here in CT now.

Regarding the democratic front runners, Rachel Maddow does a great rundown in the audio on the RIPCoco player from 01-16-08; The Differences Between the 3 Dem Frontrunner's. This goes beyond the woman vs. race vs. white guy line that we keep getting. These candidates are very different in how they would govern, and anyone who doesn't know the differences between them needs to look into it. A synopsis of Rachel's explanation of it might go like this:

Hillary Clinton is the candidate of change from within. She thinks that it is enough to have a Democrat back in the White House. She wants to work with corporations and within the structure of the government, as it is now, to create some programs that address the problems of the country. She is a party player and believes that lobbyists and large corporations deserve to be heard on the same level as regular citizens.
On the war, she wants to get us out, but foresees being in militarily for a long time and having a presence there via our embassy. She seems to want to reserve judgment on what exactly will be done until she gets into office. Even as she says that she will end it, it seems like there are no hard numbers forthcoming, except for a plan to begin within 60 days of taking office. There is alot of talk about our strategic interests in the region and fighting terrorism, but it sounds alot like the Bush agenda. Like most of what I hear from her, this position isn't really stated clearly; like, she has a plan but its not fully formed yet.

John Edwards is the candidate of change by force and power. He wants to turn the system upside down and try to return it to a more equitable distribution ideal. He sees the system as being in such a state of disrepair that it really needs to be changed. Edwards entire career has become one of working for the middle and lower classes and trying to right the wrongs that come about when unregulated capitalism is allowed to go wild. Edwards wants to re regulate the deregulated big businesses, (and particularly the insurance industry,) that Reagan was so sure would regulate themselves if the government just backed off. Hows that working? Its not! And the result has brought out the basest of human frailties and cruelty that anyone could imagine.
Edwards On the war: He wants to start to withdraw troops and get us completely out of the country within 9 months. He would order an immediate drawdown of 40,000 to 50,000 troops, and continue until we are out for all intents and purposes, leaving 3,500 to 5,000 troops to guard the embassy and humanitarian workers. He wants to keep sending the vetoed supplemental funding bill , with the timetable for withdrawal, back so that Bush has to veto it over and over, (this is an idea I like, because maybe the American people will start to look at what exactly is going on, and maybe we can make a record of this so that future generations know that this was Bush's war and his prerogative to stay there this long.) He wants to engage in diplomatic talks with all the countries in the region and hold peace talks. He also wants to continue to help Iraq train its forces. This plan still has a ways to go, in my opinion, but it does have that concrete withdrawal which will bring things to a head pretty quickly and lets the country stand up and figure out its leadership one way or another. The likely chaos that will ensue is not worse than dragging this out and having a slightly lesser level of the same over more months...it has to be done one way or another because we are clearly making things worse by being there.

Barack Obama is the great communicator candidate. he believes that only through communication and unification will this partisan country resolve it's differences and get anything done. Beyond that its a little unclear as to what exactly he will be able to do that is all that much different than Edwards. One thing is for certain, he is new and inexperienced, and he is sliding towards the center as this thing goes on. I would like to see more concrete plans from him. Pretty words don't mean much anymore.
Obama on the war: he seems to have a 16 month plan that involves bringing home 1-2 brigades per month, and not leaving a permanent base...that is, unless Al Qaeda build a base there...then its all out the window. One interesting thing is that he feels like we never finished the war in Afghanistan; its unclear if he wants go back there and finish or just keep strategic outposts in order to strike Al Qaeda when necessary. My opinion is that he may find that drawing down so slowly is more dangerous to the troops left behind and draws out a situation that may need to become chaotic before it reaches its own level.
And firewater always seeks its own level.





Products of the week:

Rapturewear (What will YOU leave behind?) is a real company...so I'm not suggesting actually giving them money. But some of their products are just too good not to share. Behold a sampling of their T-shirts!:


c/p Brilliant at Breakfast

Malcolm Nance and Torture...A Sane Voice in the Crowd Flies in the Face of the Utter Bullshit Being Tossed Around Out There!

Ive been driving around for a week in a state of some sort of dejection about the idea that we are torturing people, and worse, but who knows for sure until all the horror stories come out from reliable sources. I fear that the information that is culled from these horrific acts is not reliable and so actually is dangerous in that our forces might waste time chasing down false leads while other real threats are growing...and then theres the ethical and moral dilemma that I am feeling in that as
a citizen of this country I don't want any part of what this administration has done. I don't consider most of it to be anywhere near the American way,and I feel like alot of what is wrong with this picture wont be fixed in my lifetime. I've always been proud to be American. I've always questioned authority, and worked for candidates that were liberal, like my family is. I even went to protests and all that as a kid.
I felt that I could bring change about by using my little voice, and that the balance of powers were an important part of how this thing works. Maybe thats something like hope....can't remember much about hope.
After so many years of this Bush crap...after seeing people stand on 12 hour lines to vote and insane voting machines that tallied wrongly...after watching the diplomacy and aide that America represented, be it truthful or not, it was at least a facade, be crushed to death by these horrible neocons, I just don't know how much fight there is left in me.
I feel incredible empathy for those who have been lied to and hurt. And I know that history will look upon people like Malcolm Nance as heroes, in that they stood up and told the truth. This is a truth that the Bush administration will not listen to, and information that flies in the face of all of the lies that have been propagated carefully for public consumption.

The subject is torture, and the expert is Malcolm Nance. There is no one better to tell us about what exactly is being done in our names than this guy. He is not a radical lefty, he has no stake in this besides his feeling that this information must get out there. He was charged with teaching soldiers who might find themselves in danger of torture what to expect. In that position of responsibility and in that the training of these soldiers sometimes requires that they experience the torture procedures, he has had personal experience with different forms, and in particular waterboarding. So please listen to and watch what he has to say...or not say...in that this guy knows when to step back and let the wingnuts dig their own hole.


CLICK HERE to play Streaming Audio of Malcolm Nance and Rachel Maddow from November 20th, 2007.

Then, of course, here is the full Dan Abrams throw-down...which is just incredible in that Pat Buchanan is talking out of his ass, like so many of these pundits do, and he has no idea of the law and that what they are talking about is, in fact, illegal. This is all too common among these guys. They are not used to being questioned sharply by the usual suspects like Russert, Matthews, and...er, sorry Dan, but Abrams...so when someone as sharp as Rachel Maddow gets on the case, (and bless Abrams and Olbermann and the whole gang at MSNBC for having her on so often, even if she challenges them to actually THINK and tell the truth,) we are shown just how out of our depth we are on issues of law and what is being done illegally in our names. This is a huge problem, and if not for ethical and moral reasons, then for the protection of our own soldiers, we have to change who is making these decisions. All too many people still get their information solely from Faux News, and this is an example of the disinformation floating around that crowd. If the constituents of republicans don't have the information with which to make their decisions, then how can they make decisions or even tell their representatives what they want to see their government doing?



And here is a clip from the senate testimony of Nance and Interrogator/Air force Reserve Colonel, Steve Kleinman,before the House Judiciary Subcommittee about waterboarding and torture on November 8, 2007...This is fantastic, and there should be no American out there who doesn't see this and understand what is involved in getting information from suspects:



AND this is why its so reprehensible to have to hear the nominee for the Attorney General job act like he has been living on a desert island with his head in the sand, regarding this stuff. He is just being a lawyer, in that he doesn't want to admit to knowing OF something because then he might have to take on some culpability and/or point the finger at those who he is really being sworn to protect: i.e. Bush/Cheney and their minions.
The fact that this guy is acting like a shifty lawyer is good in the sense that maybe he has tried a case or acted as a lawyer in his life, as opposed to Gonzo, who had very little real experience for the job. So, maybe we can hope that somewhere the root of the love of the law that these old shriveled farts once had, will still be active enough to make him balk at the insanity....that is, once he learns what waterboarding is and how its done.
Its hard to believe that he has never heard of waterboarding, and I take it as an insult to my intelligence and the intelligence of everyone in that room, and of the American people that he thinks we're gonna buy that line.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet your new Attorney General:




Good Luck folks...Good Luck to us all....