Category Archives: Politics

January 18, 2010 · 8:43 pm

Martin Luther King Day

What do you think about on Martin Luther King Day? Apparently if you’re like a lot of people I run across these days, not much. For many white people I find, Martin Luther King Day doesn’t apply for some reason. No question we’ve come a long way in this country. Legislated, institutional racism is, by and large a thing of the past. But at the same time I believe that Martin Luther King day challenges us to look in the mirror at our own racist convictions. To take a minute and ponder on what vestiges of prejudice and hate we have in our own hearts and minds, and work on dealing them.

But Sank, I don’t have any racist convictions. I’m not prejudiced.

So you say.

The most obvious institutions of racism are gone, but to plant the victory flag and say “See, there is no more racism in this country”, simply because you now share a public bathroom with black people is a bit premature.

My experience, our prejudices have changed, become more subtle perhaps and maybe in that subtly more entrenched than ever. More entrenched because now they’re in a place where to change has to come from within each individual, and that’s gonna be tough. It may be that we need a generation or two to die off and take their stereotypes and prejudices with them before we get to a society that is truely democratic and free. So, for this day, my observance is to challenge my readers to really consider their ideas of race, religion, orientation and put the question to yourself;

What do I think. How do I act.

MLK day seems to always throw up a warning shot or two among my white friends. I can’t count how many times I’ve been in a conversation with people around this time of year who consider themselves to be colorblind and not racist in anyway, but at the mention of the MLK holiday roll an eye, or comment that “well that’s not a big day at our house” and chuckle a bit. To think that this is anything except a demonstration of some inner prejudice is mistaken. There are too many folks who can’t see past the Civil Rights struggles championed by Dr. King as being an African American Issue, which then makes MKL day, in their minds a “black” holiday, and not a holiday of meaning to each and every one of us.

During the debates over making this day a federal holiday, the arguments against ranged from, “well now every group is going to want their special day” to the “Martin was a rabble rouser who was being tracked by the FBI..he had affairs behind his wife’s back, was a communist, he was a revolutionary bent on our destruction and not worthy of a holiday.” Politics aside, if you add “Muslim” and “Born in Indonesia” to the argument, you would have the same charges which we’re levied against a more recent successful Black man, and from the same sources.  All are arguments to discredit the man and accentuate the differences in culture and race in order to dilute the message, a message that was a bitter pill for most of white America, and a pill we’re still working on swallowing.

Ignored in these arguments is the idea that Martin Luther King opened a door for everyone in this country who finds themselves disenfranchised, limited socially, or barred from certain benefits of citizenship, simply because they are black, Hispanic, Jewish, Catholic, Female, disabled, Gay, etc. He was not the first American champion of the inalienable rights of people to be full participants in the American experience. He was arguably the most articulate however, and the most successful, and as such this holiday is not only about Dr. King and his impact on our society, it is an acknowledgement of the ongoing struggle in this country to continue to improve ourselves and the lives of all our citizens, a struggle which continues to this day. It is also a celebration of the often understated or ignored contributions of minorities to the success of America and their dedication to enrichment and improvement of the American Experiment, an experiment in Democracy which continues to evolve.

Dr. Kings forced our country to address issues which we had, to that point, proved incapable of solving on our own. As evidenced by the stubborn persistence of the attitudes which brought us to that place where we needed to push these issues into America’s face and force change. It was and remains the right thing to do to question the morality of our social and economic systems when they are rigged against a segment of our citizenry and justice, true justice; leagle, moral and economic are denied.

There was a time when marriage between people of different races was illegal, and lynching was not. In Dr. Kings time people faced the fire hoses, the dogs and the KKK in their fight, easy enemies to identify and fight. Today it’s not so simple. The enemy today is attitudes and convictions. It manifests itself as court actions to arbitrarily invalidate legal precident about equal protection under the law. It shows up in the way schools are funded in this country, in how we register the poor to vote, how we staff our military, how we pick our sports teams and how we pay our employees. It shows up in family law, and equal pay for equal work. And it shows up in the arguments for and against universal health care, those that have it and those who do not.

When people blame job loss on “them” or complain about “fair” when they really mean “status quo”, it is present.  Most disappointingly to me, it shows up when talk show hosts rally their supporters with angry diatribes to discredit the achievements of the civil rights struggle by attacking its leaders. They rally their listenership around just how different “they” are,but being careful to draw the line between the “good ones” who are the ones just like me, and the “ones I’m talking about” a weak attempt to demonstrate that prejudice isn’t at the heart of their arguments, when it is their sole arugment.

The institution of slavery and segregation has been well documented. In the 1920s, California passed laws which prohibited people born in Asia from owning land in the state, in World War II the Federal Government rounded up it’s native born citizens and put them in camps because their parents and grandparents were Japanese.  In Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, an inner ring suburb is well known as a “Jewish” town, at one time nearly all its residents were Jews. Why? Because even in liberal Minnesota, until the 60′s houses sold in Minneapolis had covenants that prohibited the sale of properties to members of the “Hebrew race”. It was well into 70’s until Gay people were save from being arrested arbitrarily for no reason other than congregating to meet like minded people. Gay’s were subject to being summarily fired from their jobs, dismissed from Church and school, and considered to have a mental illness that could see them incaricrated in mental institutions. Attacking and harassing Gays had no consequences to the perpetrators and resulted in uncounted suicides as normal kids who were attracted to their sex came of age in world they assumed didn’t want them.

Today the same forces who were against de-segregation would suggest that hate crimes legislation isn’t needed, with remarkably similar arguments. “Its’ on the books already”, “what’s a hate crime and what isn’t?” This is a waste of our time. Even something as simple as an Anit-Lynching law, who would argue against that, well it could not be passed in the US Senate because of the objections senators who felt that it wasn’t “needed”.  5000 African Americans and their families between 1900 and 1965 would disagree. Hate crime law not needed? The families of Harvey Milk, Charles Howard, Mathew Shepard, J.R Warren, Sakia Gunn and hundreds of other this century; attacked and beaten, in many cases to death, for the simple crime of being Gay, they would disagree.  In media meanwhile the pundits of hate have free access to the media to weave lies and misinformation which continues to divide this country. People like Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck, are creating a climate of hatred and mistrust, and then when something bad does happen? They  wash their hands of any culpability for the climate they helped create.

How quick are we to listen to these guys and dismiss them as harmless windbags. How many times do you laugh a joke you hear among one group of friends.. but would be ashamed to repeat to your African American friends? How often do you reinforce stereotypes which cast people in one way or another, clever Asians, frugal Jews,  great at sports, poor at driving, super lazy, 23 in a house and on and on.. And how many times.. and this certainly applies to me, do you hear some aged family member make some horrible comment or observation that deserves condemnation and distain, but you pass it off as “they’re old” and in doing so not only tolerate it, but teach your kids that while it’s wrong when you say it, its sort of OK when your beloved Grandpa says it.

Martin Luther King Day is a day that I think we should all stop for a minute, and consider the teachings of Dr. King. Remember his dream; work on putting aside your own prejudices against others. The good news.. I think we’re moving in the right direction. Kids today seem to be much more casual about race and religion. Americans with disabilities have access to the same things that the rest of do, and Gays and Lesbians , while not fully enfranchised yet, today enjoy more freedom to be out and be open then at any time in this history of this country. Is there still work do? Ask yourself what your reaction would be, and be honest, when your daughter or your son brings home a partner of another race, or of the same sex, or both. What would your reaction be? That’s probably, the place to start.

Happy Martin Luther King Day everyone.

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January 3, 2010 · 9:31 pm

Iron Chef

I’m not an iron chef, not even a rusty iron chef. What keeps me from being a great chef, isn’t my recipes, many of which I’ve made up myself. It’s not my use of fresh ingredients or my choice of spices, it’s not the fancy cookware, no what keeps me from really being an iron chef and cooking on TV.. is the number of band aids I go through while cooking. In one way or another I’ve hacked myself so many times that now, when I’m cooking, and shout out some sharp expletive, the family comes running with the band aids.

Usually a band aid is all need as most of these cuts, while deep, they are just that; cuts. Meaning there are two sides to the wound which, when pushed together and bound with kitchen twine will eventually heal.

You know, I really think I practice safe cutting, and I do, barring being in a hurry.  I just seem to have a knack for slicing open my fingers. Specifically on my left hand because I’m right handed. I’m sure my left hand would like to be relocated to the right side for a while. And it’s only when I’ve cut open my left my hand and subsequently bound it up with some massive amount of gauze that I realize that the left hand comes in useful for more than shaking hands with Boy Scouts. Apparently I type with it, albeit poorly, and well.. it’s the hand that.. I hang on to the steering wheel with when I shift?

This whole mess started 4 years ago when I first took over the cooking detail for the family. My wife finally admitted that she hated cooking so much that I would be a lot more attractive to her if I cooked dinner. What we men do for uh, not even for a guarantee, what we would do for a shot, however remote.. just a shot mind you .. if cooking means that my chances would improve, apron and knives here I come. Then again, maybe it’s just me.

The first sign of my clumsiness around sharp objects was when I knocked a block of knives off the counter. You know, years in little league and rarely caught a ball. I sucked at baseball. I sucked at football. Couldn’t catch. But, I have the reflexes and when I saw the knives falling off the counter and unconsciously I reached out to catch them. Catching a falling block of knives stupid, I know that now and 11 stitches across three fingers later I have a reminder of that lesson. What a moron. But ever since then it seems to me that I’ve been on a horrible run. Slicing tomatoes seem to be the worst, serrated knives and slippery fruit.

Now, I’ve been much safer as of late. Matter of fact up until yesterday I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a kitchen accident. However instead of knife accidents I filled in my down time from kitchen issues with a particularly nasty incident with my Kirby Vacuum.

Yesterday.. a doozy. Chopping carrots of all things, and in a big hurry, doing my best Yan Can Cook imitation, I managed to take of the last 1/8 inch of my thumb, nail and all. OMG was that nasty.

BTW, I met Martin Yan once, way back in the early 90′s. I was living in California at the time. Yan was making a celebrity appearance in San Francisco, he was doing his human food processor gig and playing up the accent. Later on after the appearance I happened to catch him picking up his stuff and talking with his assistant. No accent. Amazing.

Meanwhile, wham.. oddly enough, no pain what soever. I stared at the indent where my thumb used to be and in my most controlled tone uttered an curse from deity, a reference to copulation, I blessed a turd and ran my thumb back under the water. Holy shit did that hurt. (there’s that blessing again) Mrs S roared downstairs, a little pissy if you ask me, but frankly.. she’s a nurse.

When I married a nurse, in my mind I had an image of the caring loving nurses from Rampart that took good care of all the people Randy Mantooth and Johnny Gage would bring them. Nurse Dixie I think was her name. Who doesn’t have visions of the nurse in the short skirt with the Victoria’s Secret Nurse outfit. Well apparently that’s not how it works

Reality is more the Nurse Ratched sort of deal. Nurses as wives are, for the most part, pretty unsympathetic to their husbands. They’re sort of coldly clinical in their approach. Comes from having to deal with whiny sick people at work, apparently that lowers their tolerance for whiny sick people at home. Go figure. Mrs S’s assessment of the situation was a firm “for G-d’s sake you moron”, or something like that.

“ER dear?” I asked.  Looking at me like I like I was an idiot. I got “No we’re not going to the ER. Nothing they can do, there’s nothing to sew together here. Wash it off and we’ll wrap it in bandages. Problem is, we just couldn’t get it to stop bleeding. After soaking through a couple wads of gauze and bandages we finally got to the point where it was no longer soaking through the bandages. I went back to finish the soup I was making. Only after I was finished up with the carrots did I realize that I hadn’t found the missing piece.

Hmmm. Looking at the soup I had a really bad thought. You don’t suppose..

About that time Mrs S had put away the first aid stuff and come back for dinner. “Ready yet?” Well I think so. I’m calling it Donner Turkey Soup. Named after the Donner party of course. Or perhaps turkey-thumb soup.. either way be careful and look out for the nail. So uh, we got some extra soup over here. I’ll freeze it if readers want some.

Nasty huh?

Follow up- This morning I took off the bandage, which had become one with the clot making for fun morning peeling that thing off the wound. Nearly pissed myself to be honest. I reviewed the missing hole again, and then proceeded to re-wrap it, re-living the whole bloody affair again, only this time with no assistance. Perhaps a trip to the ER at this point? Well, it was 23 below zero. I wasn’t to interested in going out, and when Mrs S woke up and figured out what I was thinking.. holy shit. Apparently I was supposed to leave it alone. Instead of a Dr visit we went to a nice couple from the Scout troop, both of whom were paramedics. they had a garage full of sutff including some kind of liquid skin stuff that would seal open meat. Bad news is.. to remind you of what an idiot you are.. it’s burns like son of bitch.. I haven’t experienced a burning sensation like that since…

Never mind.. as they were working on it, and stopping the blood.. I found myself remarking between cleansing breathes.. and in answer to the question “does it hurt?” like my right leg dancing all by it’s self wouldn’t indicate pain? Um.. Actually I’m finding the phenomena of referred pain to be remarkable. It’s amazing to me how my thumb could be bleeding out but the index and ring fingers on that hand were experiencing a sensation of thumbtacks being jammed into my fingernails. The human body is so incredible is it not?

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April 27, 2009 · 9:19 pm

100 Days In for Obama

The 100 day milestone on the new administration. Check in time. How’m I feeling about the new President?

Overall I’m pleased, actually on a one to ten I’m at about a seven with Mr. Obama.

For one thing, this guy acts a lot more presidential than anyone we’ve seen in the White house for a while. I think that makes a big difference.

Here’s my grades-

Economic Policy- C+

The number one issue of our day, at least until Swine Flu. This economy was a mess, no question about it. Unlike some of my less rational and more partisan Liberal commentators, I’m not going to blame George Bush for the economy. Too much was going wrong for any one President or other head of state to cause it. What I do like about Obama’s approach is, he has an approach. He’s making a difference. While a don’t agree with the entire approach (hence the C+, why GM is still in business for example, or why Lehmann Bros and Citi are still alive) what he seems to have done is restore some hope. The banking industry seems to have found a bit of a bottom. Capital markets are opening up a bit and consumer confidence might just be on the upswing. Obviously there’s a long way to go but we seem to be on a “better” track. At least better than what we were on.

Where I fault the new Administration was his signing off on the 8000 earmarks in the new budget. That certainly didn’t LOOK like change to me.

Foreign Policy- A

Nice to be able to show the world leadership again and demonstrate that America’s still number 1. Obama has impressed me here so far. Three things, outreach to Muslim World, a harder line to the Israelis, engagement with Latin America, engagement with Russia. All things I believe will undermine the ability of extremists to operate in the world, and we’ll be a better place for it. I’m in step with the Presidents approach so far. Closing GITMO? About 4 years later than it should have been done.

Cuba- Nothing would have brought down Castro faster full engagement with the United States. Even Fidel knows this, which is why he was chirping about his brother “misinterpreting” Obama’s statements about talking with Cuba. With out an America to demonize, The Brothers Castro and their bullshit revolution last about 10 minutes. Republican responses here are pretty out of touch and humorous to see.

Ending our occupation of Iraq, huge win. Beefing up Afghanistan, timely and needed. Invading Pakistan? G-d I hope not, but seems to be inevitable.

Domestic Policy- B

Ending the ban on Stem Cell research has been a long time coming. Getting theology out of our science is bit of an achievement. A bit because I’d argue that Bush, going against the will of the 65% of Americans who support it, was more of an achievement. Getting the Federal Government out of the marriage business is a welcome change. Health care- the jury is still out, and I’m still uninsurable so I hope I don’t get sick because even so far, as it was in the previous two administrations, should your old pal Sank fall ill with something serious, the only treatment is a 6 foot hole. We’ll see how this plays out. I’d like to have options.

Still to do- Border control, I’m torn between a libertarian view and a, especially in light of the civil war in Mexico and the Flu.. of course if you’d eliminate the laws prohibiting drugs you’d eliminate the most of the Mexican drug violence.. but I guess we’re not ready for that yet.

Environment- F

Not unexpectedly Obama has bought into the Al Gore Bullshit and is proposing carbon taxes, what could be the dumbest racket ever thought off. Any carbon tax scheme created by government is going to be a massive ponzy scheme with our tax dollars. This one issue will destroy the good works he’s been able to bring to the table. Lets hope common sense prevails. BTW, to my neighbors who were doing an Earth Day Festival in the park behind us, if you want to buy some carbon offsets to make you feel less guilty about your driving to the local adult bookstore to sneak your porn fix, send me $10 bucks. For every $10.00 I get I’ll send you a handsome certificate showing that you did something when no one else would, and I’ll stop eating broccoli for a week. That alone is a “shit” load of carbon gass avoided.

A few other things that I’m hoping for in the Obama administration..

1) Richard Bruce “Dick” Cheney- No kidding here people. I firmly believe that Dick needs to go on trial for corruption. Forget the Human Rights abuses and the way he literally wiped his ass with our most precious of documents, the Bill of Rights. Cheney abused his position in power to get sweetheart deals in the oil fields of Iraq for his company. And I don’t buy for a minute that “well Halburton is the ONLY company that could handle the contracts” fact is there were a couple including Bechtal in San Francisco. This blind bidding deal was a farce and he should have had nothing to do with it. I also would charge him for breaking the law according to the Federal Sunshine Laws and Freedom in Information acts for his meetings on energy policy held prior to the Iraqi war. Those should not have been covered by National Security guidelines. Then again we wouldn’t know.

2) Closing the books on American Torture. My country doesn’t torture people. Period. Naive or not, what went on in the prior administration was a travesty.

3) Restoring Due Process- The courts are here to protect Americans, not stand in the way of surveillance schemes against any one the President, or his advisors decide they don’t like. With all due respect to Sarah Palin and her speech here in Minnesota at the Convention. Sarah- it DOES matter what happens to people in the custody of government. It’s mattered since 1776 and it’s because it matters that we’re the country we are, not in spite of it.

 

So that’s where I’m at 100 days in. Conflicted as always at the Casa del Sank… the cruel intersection between Libertarian philosophy and Liberal thinking. 

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February 5, 2009 · 11:19 pm

Three Dot Writing

Growing up I loved the San Francisco Chronicle. It was a subscription I paid for my self, using the money I made at my Dad’s shoe store. I gladly forked over $8.25 a month for home delivery of my favorite paper, I mean we had nothing else. You have to remember that I grew up in Stockton California, which was about 90 miles for the City by the Bay. In Stockton we had the Stockton Record, which my folks subscribed too. The Chronicle was an exotic rag from the big city. I loved it because it had “real” news. The Stockton paper carried nothing, or so I thought. In one of those ultimate “grass is greener” times of my life, I pretty much rejected anything from from Stockton. Stockton was a hell hole I couldn’t wait to get away from (30 years later I’ve not been back leading me to wonder if it’s not the case).

What I really like about the Chron back then however were two things, the Sporting Green, which at the time was actually printed on green newsprint and was the best sports page around. The other thing I love in the Chron, columnists. Particularly the now deceased Herb Caen and Art Hoppe. Herb in particular, Mr. San Francisco, represented to me the last of the old school local newspaper guys whose typewriters were weapons in the culture wars of the day.

Herb wrote what he called three dot journalism, short snippets of story followed by three dots. I’m not sure what the three dots meant, either “more to come” or “ADD has kicked in and I grow weary of this topic, NEXT…”

If you’ve read this space long enough you might have noticed I use the same technique in my “writing”. especially when I’m doing shorts.

Herb, btw was a Sacramento native, as am I, and that’s as far as the comparison goes. He was also the fellow who coined the term “beatnik”. Herb passed away this 12 years ago this week from lung cancer, brought on no doubt from years of chomping on a heater whilst trying to make deadline on a typewriter. At least that’s how I’ll choose to remember him.

Art Hoppe was another San Francisco original, tough old journalist, lung cancer victim as well, I’m sure the old newsrooms were pretty smoky. He was a cross between a gossip columnist and society reporter, back when we had such a thing, and a attack dog. Art’s symbol, if I remember correctly from his banner line, this was before they had the little pictures of the writers, was a Don Quixote looking dude with a long sharp lance. If you were in the snooty upper crust, and believe me, San Francisco was full of those folks, you were going to get gored.

In the Twin Cities, where like every other place in the country, the newspaper business is in it’s dying throws, we have a throw back journalist whom I also love, Patrick Russe. Pat’s a sport columnist, the best in town, who brings crusty, edgy columns to ink. Although, not as often in his new gig as a radio host. As a radio host I’ve sort of learned that a little Russe can go a long way. Russe, as old and crust as he is, is still not the oldest, we do have Sid Hartman, but frankly Sid hasn’t been relevant for at least 15 years, or since I moved to town.

Reading these guys is what motivated me to major in Journalism in school. A field I quickly realized was not for me because A) I can’t write so well, B) I spell worse and C) My attention to detail precludes me from editing correctly.

One side note… you know why I can’t spell? I think I have it nailed. I was raised in a home with a mother, born in Cairo Egypt, not Ill. Again, sidebar: someone, anyone has to explain to me why in the hell they call the convergence of the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers “Little Egypt”? As if swamps, mosquitos, more swamps and hot muggy summers evoke memories of sand and pyramids? And yet we have cities named after Memphis, Cairo etc…

Anyway, Mom was from Cairo Egypt, where the accents, while not as twangy as Cairo Ill, are just as intelligible. AND when she didn’t know the name of something in English, which was pretty often, she’d say it in French or Arabic. And when I misbehaved.. the stream of conscious flow of words in Arabic armed me, to this very day, with some very choice words which come in handy at the local gas station when the owner is a dick head. Which is, most of the damn time.

So I got Ma speaking in an English “like” tongue. We got Pop, my Dad, who grew up in Ft. Worth Texas and had, during my formative years, one of the thickest southern drawls I’ve ever head. “Boy, get up ‘an tell y’mama that we should be a ‘goin.” That very line, 11 words, could take as a long as a half hour to say, making us late to everything.

It is, with this phonetic baggage that I learned the English language and as such can’t spell a G-d damn thing. I can’t hardly pronounce anything either.

Chaos Theory

I work with a brilliant young statistician type. One of those folks who enjoyed calculus in school and sees the sense and logic in Mathematics. The other reason I became a journalism major was to avoid taking the same courses. My availability to help kids with math homework ends in the 5th grade.

Anyway, this guy is a big fan of chaos theory. I don’t get it, really, expect to say that something about a fart in China sets off a chain reaction that eventually leads to a certain BIG BOX Nameless retailer in the United States to decide that round pill bottles with caps are not the future of pills. And, without asking me, change their pill bottles to a red thing with the cap on the bottom. I’m sorry, I’m just not hip or smart enough to deal with the cap on the bottom of the bottle and 6 times a year or so, I will set set the stupid thing down, sans cap, sending my pills across the counter and into the sink. Thank G-d for $4.00 scripts or I’d be out hundreds.

I did this, just last night, with a bottle of 90 pills I’d just had filled the day before, emptying the entire lot.

When you spill pills, you realize that having a dumb shit dog that wants to be near you every second is bad, as he helped himself to 50mg of Atenelol. OK, when I get pills from vet for poochie I have to sit on his chest, stick my soft but delicious meaty hands into his mouth, pry apart his jaws, drop the pill into the back of his throat and then hold his jaws shut, rubbing his neck until he swallows them. It’s a bitch. If you put the pill in cheese, well that’s not the best idea as the smallest amount of cheese seems to have the adverse effect of turning his hind end into lethal weapon, which emits those doggie SBD‘s that suck the oxygen out of a room. It’s so bad that when you drop cheese on the floor and potlicker runs for it, the entire family goes into Matrix mode, screaming NOOOOOO and floating on guy wires around the room the prevent, what I like to call “cloud seeding”. BTW, almonds… they seed my clouds.

Anyway, give the dog a pill in cheese and he will eat it happily, look at you, lick his nose, smile in that dog way, and hack up the pill. Every time.

But, drop a pill on the ground that’s meant for people.. and well, we have a dog who the vet tells us we should watch tomorrow, should be fine but might sleep all day. Which I guess is different than every other day for stooopid, I don’t know how.

I thought I got all the pills off the counter. Tonight, I saw one I missed sitting on the counter. I brushed the tooth, flossed it and put it in it’s case and took my pill and climbed into bed. Mrs S went back into the bathroom and uttered the following statement, confirming that chaos is more than a theory, and it’s out to get me.

“Sank.. where’s my birth control pill?”

Apparently we got more in common now than we did 10 minutes ago. When the nurse, as in RN, as in supposed to take care of me, I married stopped laughing 20 minutes later, she assured me I’d be alright. I had visions of transforming into some sort of fat tranny thing and having to use a different restroom at work which I’m pretty sure would cause people to talk. Well.. all I could do was cry, which I did for about an hour. I then got a headache, became weirdly obsessed with the idea that she wasn’t listening to me, and for the first time in my life noticed that yes indeed, the ceiling does need painting…

More Chaos

The GOP, our friends in the Loyal Opposition have decided that there’s something to this Obama thing, and have elected the first African American chairman of their party. I don’t know if Michael Steele was one of the 9 people of color (their number not mine) at the GOP convention in St. Paul.. but this does make politics interesting.

And More Chaos

I would like the butterfly in China, the one whose wing flaps influence the weather in the Western Hemisphere to please knock it the hell off for a while. For the month of January we had one, uno, eine, 1, day above freezing. We had 25 days below Zero…

Being a Zero Hero is not that great.

This weekend, youth trip to Northern Minnesota. Follow on Twitter.

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November 20, 2008 · 11:24 pm

Sign of the Times

I can’t get in the car and turn on the radio these days with out putting myself through hours and hours of depressing talk about the state of the economy, the world on and on.. But before you stick your head in the oven and turn on the gas.. a soothing thought I’m sure lets put some thoughts out there. The world is confusing, but you have Dear Old Mr Sank here to pat your hand and guide you…

So, a few thoughts from your special friend Sank, I’m not the brightest guy in the world but here’s what I see/think…

Bailouts I could make the argument that the scope of these bailouts is a big part of the problem, I could also argue that things would be alot worse if it hadn’t been for the bailouts. At the end of the day I’m not comfortable with the government stepping in and supporting failed businesses. Just as I’m not going to be in favor of the government bailing out my over-extended neighbor by forgiving their home loans. Then again. I don’t know that I want to live next door to a house that’s going to be empty for a year or more.

Here’s my bottom line on the automotive bailout… I find it appalling that it took until day three of these hearings for someone in Congress to ask the f#’n car execs for a business plan. If it were me, I’d say no bail until the following occurs 1) Top execs at all three companies are replaced. By who? Hell, bring in Honda execs, they seem to have had the foresight to have understood how to make a car that makes money instead of being $1400 in the hole the day they roll off the line. 2) The existing UAW contracts are null and void, to be renegotiated. This Ron Gettelfinger dude is claiming that the UAW’s has already given blood, it’s managements turn. He’s right about it being managements turn, but he’s wrong about concessions. This is an industry that’s sick, the patient has cancer, and has had a heart attack. We’re treating the heart attack to keep them alive, but there’s a bigger problem. A MUCH bigger problem and both parties in this case have to decide is getting laid off permanently at $23.00 an hour better than keeping a job at $15.00 or so? Man, we’re all taking hits these days.

Presidential Transition So far Obama has been judicious in his cabinet selection. No radicals, no socialists, looks like we got Hillary at State, I like that pick. We got Dashale at Health and Human.. good choice there. Eric Holder is a solid choice at AG. Only blemish on his record, that stupid Marc Rich pardon. Sounds like Robert Gates will stay on at Defense.. I like that play a lot. Seriously. The one thing I’m curious about is where the change might be. We’re bringing back a lot of Clintonista’s, but then again the Clinton administration wasn’t bad.. I do really like Rahm Emanuel, or as we liked to say in the days of West Wing- Josh Liman, who was modeled after Rammie.

World Events Imports into US ports are down 10% in September. Chinese factories are shutting down left and right, production is slowing down big time. This creates a big a problem in that country. China has modernized by embracing capitalism but not a level I think they understand. There’s pretty good evidence to indicate that they Chinese have been lying for years about the rate of growth. Chinese fiscal year ends in January and in 4 weeks they have their year recapped and reported on? It takes the best accounting firms in the United States 2 months to generate the same information about their clients. The Chinese have been manipulating their currently, moving peasants from the country to the cities. Building away, being the factory for most of the products sold in this country…

Now that the Chinese are facing an economy with an employment deficit they won’t know how to handle. What do you do with 6% unemployment in a country of 1.3 Billion? That would be 78 million people without jobs in a country with little or no safety net. 6% is probably seriously understated should the economy continue to be in recession. Demand for Chinese products in the United States continues to erode, the Chinese economy does so faster and harder. For the Communists this has to be a big concern. These are people who have been told where to work and what to do for generations. Now you’re going to have them on the streets? The media has already reported the first job riots in China. 65000 factories have shuttered in China this year. The good news, this is creative destruction that capitalism creates. This may, more than anything, bring about profound regime change to China. This is the cost of engaging in the global economy.

Now, China is in peril. India on the other hand… I’m thinking they’re going to come through this much easier. For one thing, the Indian economy is built on the basis of free markets. While there is corruption and government intervention, Indians have a history of business acumen in government missing in Communist China. India is enjoys a better model for self sufficiency than China. I sort of attribute that to India amazing spiritual traditions. People in India haven’t been existing on government directives their whole lives, they’ve been free to make their own choices (mostly), and they recognize that there is something bigger than themselves and generally aren’t out screw thy neighbor in the same way I see Chinese business. 

Markets Seems like heady times just a few months ago when we were all worried about inflation. Gas was $4.00 a gallon. Some dumbshit Russian oil guy was thinking $200 a barrel oil by this year.. The market was at 1400.. those were the days. And just like that the crash of crashes. The Market gives up 43% of its value YTD… This is ugly no question.. I happen to believe that were not quite done sinking yet. There still some carnage left in the market. Citigroup will go down and no question that’s to rattle us. We’re going to see some old names in manufacturing cease to exist. Retailers are going to seriously thin the herd. Real estate companies are going to consolidate… and then.. it’s going start getting better. I think you’re going to see manufacturing jobs coming back to the United States. Agribusiness will be strong, there’s going to be a seriously pent up demand for homes and properties when people start feeling better about their own jobs. I don’t think that’s going to happen for another year or more. Again, the destruction cycle of our economy can be brutal.

On a lighter note, this pirate thing in Somalia is most amusing to me. Here you a non-functioning country of entrepreneurs who have found a way to bring millions of dollars into their communities. And while we don’t like their objectives, you have to respect their methods. Personally, I think using some of their ill-gotten gains to hire caterers and support services for their hostages and captured ships makes you think they’re the new modern pirate, Robin Hoods, ripping the da man to pay the local poor. If we really wanted to stop this shit we’d follow the direction of the Russian defense minister and put together multi-task force and invade the pirate stronghold and wipe’m out on the ground. Kudo’s to the Indian navy for sinking the other ship earlier this week.

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November 5, 2008 · 8:32 pm

Taking it in-

Last night was amazing. Obviously I’ve been on the Obama train for a long time, but to see it all actually happen, and in a decisive way, and by the biggest margin in decades.. too much. I’m quite certain the best man won in this case. I’m also confidant, perhaps mistakenly so, that Barack is exactly the guy we want leading this country at this time. We have a president who understands the issues, who will work tirelessly for all of us, and who will leave the world a safer place.

The bad news? He’s inheriting a massive mess from eight years of the worst, most inept administration this country has ever seen. If it wasn’t putting our nations best in harms way in a horribly planned war which has cost us 4300 of our finest citizens, it was a massive deficit and unprecedented growth of the government, or the way they wiped their asses with the constitution, wiretapping and arresting people with out cause and then granting immunity for big telecoms spying on Americans, corruption with massive construction projects in fixed bids going to the former companies of administration officials (Dick Cheney), Guantanamo Bay, standing by and watching while one of our great cities drowned and 2,000 of our citizens dead, and finally destroying the good will of America in the world and making it a more dangerous place.

One of my coworkers, challenged me when I said was voting for the Harvard Grad over the Boise State drop out (Palin) had the nerve to say “smart is all your worried about”.. well we’ve tried stupid and that didn’t work. I digress.

Now that the dust has settled for a day on the whole election deal, shock, I have some thoughts. Here’s what I see-

President- One word- BUZZSAW. John McCain never had a chance. While I think he’s a decent guy and would have a made a decent president, he was in losing race from the beginning. He was up against the perfect storm of one of the best run campaigns the country has ever seen, a fantastic candidate who leveraged resources and messages that resonated with huge numbers of people, and association with the worst President and worst administration this country has ever seen. And along the way…

1) McCain never had the support of his parties base. I don’t know if it would have mattered much, but that lack of support caused him to select Sarah Palin over Tim Pawlenty or Joe Liberman, a decision that got a lot of applause at the convention, but turned out to be an albatross in the election. Sarah was a big mistake. Her interviews were disasters, she lacked sophistication on foreign policy, and her hard core convictions on abortion and the environment conflicted with the mainstream, making her a lightning rod. Ironically, in the end her caricature by Tina Faye became more popular than she was.

2) John made some tactical errors, trying to cancel the debate for example which generated huge negative press for him. The party went negative, played the domestic terrorist card.. which backfired on them, generating more negative press for McCain and allowing his opponents to portray him as negative and out of touch.

3) In the end, the collapse of our financial system did McCain in. His message of tax cuts for the wealthy didn’t resonate with the real Joe Plumbers, people in foreclosure, facing layoffs and so on.

4) Finally, the Republican base… that holy crucible that many conservatives feel drives elections their way.. is just not big enough to win an election. They have to figure out a way to enfranchise more people in the Republican tent. Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians.. at the convention here in Minneapolis this summer there were 17 African-American delegates, just over 1%.

National Trends- More examples of the decline of the “conservative agenda”.. While it looks like Prop 8, the ban on same sex marriages will pass in California, and Nebraska has outlawed Affirmative Action there are some signs. California defeated a parental notification bill on abortion. Shockingly South Dakota defeated a watered down ban on abortion that was supposed to be the challenge to Roe v Wade. Even the supporters were surprised that it failed in such a conservative state and that it failed handily. Colorado has a “live beings at conception” measure on the ballot, it was crushed.

Minnesota passed a sales tax increase, handily mind you, to provide funding for the Arts and Environmental issues. As Mrs S so eloquently said, “We’re going to have some bitch’n empty concert halls now”. I was surprised by that vote as it’s bad law to control budgets in the constitution. I chalk it up to hoards of Obama supporters.

Minnesota Senate- It ain’t over till it’s over.. and the Al Franken/Norm Coleman saga continues. As of this writing, Coleman has won by 725 votes. That’s 725 out of 2.4 million cast. There’s going to be a recount, so results could change in this one. I’m quite sad to report that Al Franken’s success in this election is in large part related to his negative campaigning. Al is a pretty angry, pretty bitter guy, but a guy who surprised every one in his ability to crush his opponents in the primary and to successfully compete with Norm, a candidate who in all honesty is fairly bi-partisan ( he as been in both parties after all). Al rode the Obama coat tails and high voter turnout in urban precincts and the Iron Range. Coleman won all almost all of the rural counties and crushed Al in the suburbs.

The other wild card in this was Independence Candidate Dean Barkley. Dean played the spoiler by sucking about 15% of the votes out of the election. I’m feeling like these votes came from both sides.. it’s going to be a while before we sort this one out.

Minnesota Congress- Remarkably there were no changes in the partisan make of Minnesota’s Congressional delegation. In my local district, all talk of a challenge to John Kline, the Republican incumbent, were once again nada. Last time the Dem’s ran a horrible divisive candidate, Colleen Riely. She was crushed 60/40 or better. This time we ran a war veteran, albeit a new comer to politics, Steve Sarvi. Steve was far more middle of the road and more acceptable to the Republican majority who lives in this district. In the end however, the results were the same. 60/40. I’m afraid this seat is John’s until he decides to retire and turn it over to Chris Gerlach, our local State Senator.

Bottom line folks on the Dem side. We live in a conservative Republican stronghold and our victories will be difficult.

There really were only two races in play in the state, one replacing the retiring and greatly respected Jim Ramstad in the 3rd. The other wasn’t supposed to be in play, and as it turned out really wasn’t was Michelle Bachmann’s seat. Bachmann is a neocon dinosaur, who effectively wraps tax relief and religious fundamentalism. Her tax message plays well in her affluent conservative district, but her religious fascism and single mindedness on social issues should weigh in on the voters of that district. Seems the yuppies out are more concerned about preserving their personal wealth than upholding the constitution.

Local State House- The Democrat I helped out two years ago was pretty soundly defeated in her first reelection bid, 52%-47%. In Shelley’s case I think there were a couple issues.

1) She got caught up in the backlash of the Obama/Franken campaigns. In our heavily Republican district high voter turnout in a heavy Republican district sunk her. Case in point, our biggest precinct, and the most conservative and wealthiest demographic, Madore got crushed almost 60/40.

2) Her opponent, 24 year old Tara Mack hustled her ass off. As opposed to Lloyd Cybart, her previous opponent, the Republicans learned something this time around. They took the campaign page right out of the Madore play book and put the miles on the feet, door knocking and campaigning. And, in a conservative district, it didn’t take much to push her over the top.

3) Conservative agenda- More than anything, talking to my conservative Republican neighbors, Madore was unpopular thanks to her support of the Transportation Bill, which raised gas taxes to fund roads. That was a big courageous vote for Shelley, but one that was out of step with conservative leanings of the district. Shelley is also supportive of single payer health.. another problem in a conservative district.

I’m afraid that Tara Mack, our new representative will be very difficult to unseat once she gets entrenched in St. Paul. Her conservative credentials will resonate in the district and I do not believe that she will make the same mistakes the last incumbent made in taking a such a low profile.

All in all, despite the euphoria of the Presidential win.. for the local Democrats in Dakota County, this election was a disaster. Again. In a year when Democrats were running the table we failed to protect our one incumbent, while our challengers lost big. Dems.. we have to reassess how we pick candidates in our district and how we support them. Partisan left wing politics, while fun to talk about will not win elections in District 37. Next election we have some big challenges, Chris Gerlach is up for reelection in the state senate, Tara Mack is up again in her first defense of her new job.. and John Kline will run for his 4th term..

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November 4, 2008 · 10:10 pm

Done

CNN just called it. I’m in shock, I didn’t think he could pull it off… this is a historic day..

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· 11:48 am

The Deed is Done

There never been an election day in Minnesota that I can remember that was as nice as this one! NEVER have I been able to walk the mile or so to my polling place in shirt sleeves at 8:30 in the morning. Unbelievable. It was 62 degrees this morning. If this is a side effect of Global Warming, I’m going to have a tough time arguing against it. Then again this is Minnesota and we’ve had snow already too. Our next snow fall is scheduled for Friday. See if that gets delivered.

I walked down to my place and happily cast my ballot. If you’ve read this space over the last decade, how I voted is a surprise to know one so I’ll leave it at that, other than to say I did vote for the Independence Party candidate for Senator. No Mad Al Franken and No Dirty Norm.. instead I’ll take my chances on the unknown guy. I did have on interesting experience down at the polls. One of the election judges down there made the comment that “there’s been some stories about me locally, that I’ve changed sides..” Where in the hell would that be coming from? Is that why I’ve not been contacted to help with any campaigns?

Well, for the record I haven’t changed sides. I happily cast my ballot for all the Democratic Party candidates, with the exceptions of the idiot..

When it came to all the district judges, water commissioners, soil conversation district members, school board folks and garden club presidents I pass. Funny thing, when you do your research on those positions, which I do because for some reason people come talk to me about who and how to vote, there’s NOTHING to talk about these. It’s as if these elections don’t matter. Fact is, when 2/3rds of them are running solo, it doesn’t matter. Still I did find myself researching some school board positions for people in Minneapolis, since at the office I had people coming by. the only thing I could recommend is that you NOT vote for any school board members who homeschool their kids. Those people are running for only for a couple reasons 1) they want money from the state for their little private schools, 2) the want access to something, like sports teams or laboratory time.. something where the want to use the tax payers facilities while they’re protesting against it or lastly 3) they’re trying to corrupt the education system by introducing creationism or abstinence training or some other bullshit into the public schools.

I’m on the record time and time again that if you go to school in Kansas, and have been thought the there is no such thing as dinosaurs or that dinosaurs and cavemen co-existed.. you should be precluded from attending any University except M’Oral Roberts.. If I’m the dean of a school.. that’s my order.

Speaking of schools.. the Jock got his first acceptance letter from a real university yesterday… Missouri School of Science and Technology aka Missouri School of Mines. So, he’s going somewhere. We’re waiting on Michigan Tech and Colorado School of Mines.

I digress. I might want to investigate Missouri a bit more to make sure that’s not sum Fundie run school.

The election is over, back to back to back to back ads for Norm Coleman and Al Franken, one after the other all day, every day.. will be refreshing. Thank G-d this is over and I’m hoping the good guys win..

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October 19, 2008 · 2:34 pm

Minnesota Politics

The local paper came out with first of their endorsements for the upcoming election. They started with president. Cool. This on the day that Colin Powell went on record endorsing Obama. Our spineless papers endorsement: “Pick’um”. Yup, the newspaper has decided that because we have “two great candidates, both honorable men who would serve the country well”. So they’re going to take their resources and focus on local elections.

What a bunch of weenies.

Big news in Minnesota this weekend, our local congresswoman from Minnesota’s 6th District Michelle Backmann, of attempting to kiss George W at the state of the union opened her mouth again.

I will go on record, as I’m sure no one who has read this thing wouldn’t know, as saying that I can’t stand Michelle Backmann. There’s right wingers and then there’s Michelle. She’s a reactionary bigot, who hates Gays and Catholics, belongs to a church that includes in it’s doctrine a belief that the Pope is Satan’s agent on earth. She believes that schools should teach 12 Christian principals , I don’t know exactly what they are but I assume they have to do creationism and fundamentalist philosophy. She’s scares the crap out of liberals and moderates because she’s ideologue who would just assume limit personal freedom and rights and has confused the constitution of the United States and the Founding Fathers with Fundies’s who believe the same thing that she does. She is on record saying that G-d has sent her to Congress to do his work. I wonder how she gets along with Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of Congress, also from Minnesota.

Bachamann has history of saying asinine things to the press, including inappropriately sharing intel data with the press and making up rhetoric about Iran that the State Department found “unhelpful”.

Now Bachmann in an interview with Chris Mathews has gone on record saying that she suspects that Obama harbors anti-American views and calling for an investigation into other members of Congress who have anti-American views. Sheez

I’m sorry, but this woman is the antithesis of a America and all that made this country great. Apparently she has more in common with an theocracy like Saudi Arabia than she does with the United States of America. Let’s hope the voters of the 6th do not send this subversive radical back to the house.

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September 11, 2008 · 6:40 pm

The three D’s of politics, Distract, Derail and Deceive

Reports of the demise of the Democratic Party are-

Premature.

 

I’m sensing a new Swiftboat campaign is afoot. The old Dirty Tricks bunch from the Bush campaigns are down in the dungeons of the McCain campaign, brewing up their toxic messages and conjuring up demons from smoke and mirrors to hijack the campaign away from the issues at hand, derail the discussions from topics of merit and attempt to put the opposition on the defensive. The question is: are we going to buy it this time around?

 

At this point I’m not sure.

 

Change has been in the air since the close of the Republican convention, where Sarah Palin clearly stole the show with her reopening of the culture wars and her reigniting a party who’s core has been feeling a bit disenfranchised with a hated moderate like John McCain at the top of the ticket. Fact is, as demonstrated in my little analysis, Palin, and to be fair Obama as well, spoke very little about issues and focused on hazy leadership and promises that, under the scrutiny of daylight leave most political junkies and policy drafters wondering, “how the hell are they are going to do that?” or more accurately, “How do we measure success on that statement?”

 

Since the close of the convention we’ve been treated to the following discussions around the campaigns. .

 

  • As a nation we’re deeply concerned about lipstick and pigs. This is the top story coming out the campaigns the last couple days.
  • The Democrats are melting down. Obama was not able to solidify his party’s base.
  • Obama the Muslim.
  • Hillary and her minions of angry supporters are not on board,
  • Harry Reid and Nancy P are going in circles fretting about what’s happening…
  • The Liberals have no response to Palin, she’s filleted them.

 

What happened to discussions about health care, energy policy, foreign policy? Again, since the end of the conventions I’ve been treated to about 2 ads per commercial break that tell 1) link Obama to Ried, and 2) tell me he’s not ready to lead. The New Mavricks are riding on their track records of change because “Change without substance is empty talk”.

 

My fellow Democrats complain that we haven’t seen the counter attacks, the momentum is shifting, the Republicans can actually win this and we’re going to let it happen.

 

I would tell folks to relax just bit here. First of all, I think we learned our lesson with the Kerry swiftboat deal, the biggest mistake of the ’04 campaign was to ignore the attacks, trying to discount them hoping the American people would see them for what they are… which didn’t work.

 

Obama came out swinging this week when the Republicans tried to make an issue out of pigs and makeup. Demanding an apology for a personal attack when there was none… that’s a Rove distraction play. Obama played it right and got feisty.

 

What’s going to come in the next 60 days or so, especially considering the war chest the Obama campaign has put up are going to be, I predict, a two pronged attack. First up Palin is peaking right now. Matter of fact she just might already post a bit. One thing we politico’s have noticed is that she’s not yet granted a single interview or said anything impromptu. It’s all been scripted and direct from the convention speech. In October we’re going to have the most anticipated VP debate since the Nixon-Stevenson debate of 1952 where America saw for the first time on TV candidates going at it. BTW, that debate is forever remembered in American political history for the Nixon’s dodge and derail deal over Checkers the dog.

 

How will Sarah hold up againt a seasoned pro like Biden? How will she answer questions on national security and the war in Iraq? Russia’s invasion of Georgia? The EU and their new advances in the Ukraine? I actually Think Uncle Joe needs to be careful, he can be a bit long winded and attacking. The strategy is to let Sarah stumble on her own (like Dan Quayle) rather than bring her down.

 

We’re going to see more information about Palin and her work in Alaska, her flip-flop on earmarks, her support of creationism, abstinence and her strong pro-life stands, which while energizing the hardcore right, will alienate the middle.

 

The other strategy will be to hold McCains feet to the fire on the economy and on the war, the two salient issues of the campaign. Obama has to create the link in the voters mind that McCain is 4 more years of the most hated administration in recent history. Talking points you’ll see ( I believe)

  • Deregulation and artificially low interest rates, (actually more the result of the heretofore untouchable St. Greenspan) are the cause of the collapse of the housing crisis. Nationalization (my term) of Fred and Fran are in fact last minutes saves by Republicans to attempt to save an economy devastated by Republicans.
  • John McCain will not get us out of Iraq, it will be more of the same.
  • He has to tie the war to the economy.
  • Emphasize that at the end of the Clinton administration, we had a balanced budget, * years of Bush and Republican stewardship have destroyed that.
    • He will have to counter the charge that the Democratic congress is more to blame, which shouldn’t be a big issue, as the Democratic congress has only been in play for 2 years, and in that time they really haven’t accomplished a single thing.
  • Turn the energy debate around and stick in the minds of the voters than when Bush took office oil was selling for $25.00 a barrel. Gas was at about $1.00 a gallon.
  • Get the middle of the road voters to answer the question in their minds, “are you better off now than you were 4 or 8 years ago”.

 

And in closing my Democrat friends.. The Obama campaign is not in shambles, in contrast the campaign is extremely well funded, has tons of grass roots support, and in spite of what you read, both Hillary and Bill are out on the campaign trail trying to reach out to middle in this campaign. Don’t believe all the hype and negative press, and for goodness sake, don’t bother watching Fox News, Carl Rove is writing their scripts.

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