In Memoriam

• Dr. Rita Levi-Montalcini, neurologist (Nobel Prize co-winner)
• Jane Holmes Dixon, bishop
• Fontella Bass, singer
• Richard Adams, early same-sex marriage legal case
• Charles Durning, actor
• General Norman Schwarzkopf, which I mention only because someone brought up living American generals a few weeks ago without mentioning Stormin' Norman, and I thought that was...odd.

How Soon They Forget

1. There are only 3 World War II veterans left in Congress.  (Lifted from skippy.)
2. Workers' rights:

   Since the Reagan years, improvements in worker productivity have not translated into corresponding improvements in worker compensation. Profits often increase at the expense of workers as companies export jobs to take advantage of cheaper domestic or foreign labor. When workers lose the rights won through struggles culminating in the New Deal and afterwards, they are faced with increasing attempts by management to reduce benefits and wages. Taking away bargaining rights and effective union representation is inherent in the nature of Right to Work legislation. The only right workers are given in Right to Work laws is the right to work for less pay and/or benefits. This is borne out in employment statistics for states that enforce such laws and states that don’t have them.

   (Also lifted from skippy, though not the intended link.)
3. Stan Lee is 90!  (And you can catch all his Hitchcockian cameos!)
4. Something you may not have known about the late Jack Klugman.
5. Yes, I do have obituaries to post.  Later.

The Long Con

Southern Beale has figured out the Republican Party:

This isn’t a new revelation by any means — Rick Perlstein pretty much laid it out in The Long Con: Mail Order Conservatism — but I always assumed the con referred to a few leeches sucking off the system. There will always be some Glenn Beck types playing the rubes in Missouri and Tennessee, selling their snake oil and taking advantage of the gullible in flyover states. But I didn’t realize the whole fruit was rotten. I didn’t realize, until now, that the con is the point of the Republican Party. The Republican Party and all of its ancillary operations are simply mechanisms for making money. Again: end, full stop.

When everyone and everything is for sale, scamsters will thrive because there's nothing of value outside of mere money, but if Moliére and Jonson did not convince modern people of the pitfalls of money-worship, surely I can't.

And a Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it, and those who just like the idea.

In Memoriam

Jack Klugman, actor.

Brass Tacks Spent Ammo Idolatry

Some folks who I like will take exception to this.  That is their right.  Some folks who I could care less about will also take exception to this.  Too bad.

Yesterday a horrific thing happened.

I'm not going to argue about the shooter's mental health.  I'm not going to speculate on his family life.  I'm not interested in his motive, although I hope it can be reconstructed from his writings and whatever he tweeted.  If he tweeted.

The arguments for gun control and its opposite have also been made.  Many times.  As a science fiction person, I'd like guns to be sentient and telepathic, and if they detect that their wielders are about to shoot another human being, they should fire prematurely and incapacitate that shooter's precious body parts.  That would probably take warfare back to hack-and-slash, but, BIG SECRET HERE we don't need war.

I'd just like a bit of honesty here.

Some people (I do not agree with them) claim that the United States is a Christian nation.  That is, that we [fsvo "we"] worship Jesus Christ as the Son of God.  I think Christian-Americans give the Anointed One a lot of lip service, and with some (usually the loudest and most vociferous) it stops there.

Some people hold the gun sacrosanct.  No, I'm not kidding.

Now, a gun is a tool.  Granted, it is a tool with very few applications, but a tool it is.  It is not a holy relic.  It is not the Hand of God.  It can only deal death and wounds.

If the lives of schoolchildren are worth less than the right to bear arms, please say so.  Come clean.  If this nation as a nation worships the Gun, let's end the hypocrisy.  "One nation, under the Gun, indivisible."

(If hunting really were a sport, shouldn't deer be armed as well?)

If firearms are the true objects of veneration, perhaps we can have less cant about how Christian we are while people starve in the streets and stuff.

[ETA:  No More Mister Nice Blog saying somewhat similar things.]

Reminder

Jon Carroll:

It should be remembered that unions are more than just organizations promoting the concerns of their mem[ber]s. They have also been powerful agents of social change. When the civil rights movement was getting started in the South, it was the unions that marched in solidarity with Dr. Martin Luther King. It was labor unions that promoted the idea of universal health care.
So a move against labor unions is, in essence, a move against the 20th century.

Santayana Strikes Again

Driftglass (the Mike Royko Memorial Emeritus Chair of the Department of Journalism at Unseen University) on vast conspiracies:

Which is why, even though artifacts like the Mann & Ornstein critique remain virtually unknown or unacknowledged or simply denied by the wider world, we on the Left pass them around like Zappa bootlegs. We are the ones who refuse to forget what was actually said and done during the Age of Clinton. Who refused to forget Valerie Plame. Who refuse to forget a report named Jeff Gannon, who was not a reporter and was not named Jeff Gannon. Who refuse to forget Lee Atwater. Who refuse to forget how we were mocked and derided for suggesting that criminal wars and reckless tax cuts would lead to crippling deficits. We refuse to forget these historical facts and hundreds of other because, even though it isn't much, like the Irish monks who painstakingly copied and maintained the documentary record of Western Civilization during its dark age, we will not let the truth gutter out and die without a fight.  [Links in original.]

Lest we forget. As it were.  Also, fundraising time over there.

Cindy Lou Who, Me?

Driftglass has kicked off his postponed fundraiser with a Dr. Seuss parody, and that's giving enough away.

Why the Drug War Won't Be Won

Lewis Lapham essay, reprinted at AlterNet.  Orotund but true:

So again with the war that America has been waging for the last 100 years against the use of drugs deemed to be illegal. The war cannot be won, but in the meantime, at a cost of $20 billion a year, it facilitates the transformation of what was once a freedom-loving republic into a freedom-fearing national security state.

Novelist to Spy

About Dennis Wheatley, why Ian Fleming's spy is famous, and really bad intelligence services.

Fraud Fraud

• Over at The Brad Blog, a little electoral mythbusting going on:
  

  Quite simply put, if people are going to argue that Barack Obama's four million vote popular vote margin and his decisive 332-206 electoral vote margin were achieved because of fraud, they are going to have to do better than to continue to promote fake reports of exaggerated turnout and real reports of Romney's colossal failure to secure the votes of urban African-American voters. They are going to need compelling evidence, of which to date, there is none.

  Article by Keith Darling-Brekhus. Using, y'know, research and evidence.
• Via skippy and MoveOn.org:  Graphic of union benefits, most of which people take for granted, or why we should support strong unions.
• Vagabond Scholar on the fiscal speed bump negotiations:

  Not that any of this is new, but this latest political battle shows once again that:
  1. Republicans do not care about good policy or responsible governance.
  2. Republicans do not care about public opinion. (Numerous polls show that the public supports raising taxes on the rich.)
  3. Republicans do not care about election results (unless they win).
  4. Republicans do not believe in fair dealing and good faith.
  5. The media will not report political disputes accurately if doing so means criticizing one party significantly more.

• Republic of T and the season to be jolly.  (Blame Emperor Constantine.  You might as well.)

By the way,

Is it selective reading on my part, or have conservatives been sounding like very small children lately?  They seem to gloat if they "win," and whine when they don't get their way.  (There are other examples; it's an embarrassment of riches.)

The Dough-Re-Mi

• Gold and its properties, from Naked Capitalism.  I actually remembered some of this...
• The possibility that the Republicans are trying to wreck the economy, from the Guardian (before the election, which renders some of the points moot and some...suspicious) via skippy.
• I can get a secure fax solution for my medical practice (yes, the What?? was strong when I got a good look at it; spam just gets weirder and weirder).

Gaffer Twist

Lance Mannion (via Avedon's Sideshow, where I discovered that a blog on her blogroll that I click maybe twice a year is now a Japanese porn site) on Social Security:

But the larger plan was to put a program in place to be built on and expanded so that---and here was the crazy idea---nobody would have to work until they dropped or else face a cold and hungry and penurious old age.

The idea was that none of us should have to ask permission from the likes of Lloyd Blankfein to live past the age when we can push a mop or swing a shovel or load a truck, sew a stitch, drive a rivet, sweat pipe, bag groceries, flip burgers, gut fish, make beds, haul trash, dig coal, pick lettuce, or clean other people’s houses and raise their kids.

The idea was that it wasn’t the natural order of things that most people should break their backs, break their hearts, and have their spirits broken working all their lives to make a few people rich.

The idea was that there ought to be more to life than toil and sorrow and that at some point everybody should be able to lay down their tools and enjoy a few years of rest in comfort and security before they die.

(Leaving aside that it was also carefully designed to exclude domestic workers originally.)

That's why we need to ensure that no cuts are made.  The odds are that you will get old and Wall Street is a crapshoot.  Really, the 19th and early 20th centuries were not good places to live.

Serious Business

• Via Hullaballoo, Jobs and Growth, Not Austerity.  (A large clutch of economists approve this message.)
• Christmas, materialism, and the Amish:  Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast waxes thoughtful.
• Long interview with Julian Assange (Democracy Now via AlterNet).
• Follow-up on fast food workers' strike.  (Hullaballoo.)

What?

From Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog:  Pundit With Issues.

Changes

African American community becoming more accepting of gay people.  With personal testimony.  By Terrance of Republic of T.

"No, No, No, No, He's Outside, Looking In"

• Eighteenth century skeleton in a twenty-first century world.  
• Nineteenth century economic and social ideals in a twenty-first century world, or why I wouldn't let Ron Paul take out my garbage, much less represent me in Congress.
• Fast-food workers on strike.

  Fast food workers in New York City earn just below $9.00 an hour on average, and rarely receive health care, paid sick days or other benefits that make it possible to live in an expensive urban center like New York City. These workers are also often given only 20 or 30 hours of work a week, which keeps their annual income far below the poverty line. According to organizers on the campaign, many workers have to resort to collecting public assistance, eating at their restaurants to save money and sometimes even living in homeless shelters--necessities that not only make their lives incredibly challenging but also put intense strain on the city’s social safety net.

  Mind you, this writer forgot Wisconsin's troubles earlier this year.  But that's a quibble.

I'm Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band

Yes, I'm on something of a Moody Blues kick.  How could you tell?

Obsidian Wings is running an interesting symposium on wages, labor, MBAs, profit, and what has gone wrong with business since the '80s, beginning with an essay by Doctor Science and running through the comment section (only one attempt at standard conservative victim-blaming), viewpoints, history, etc.  A chunk of business woes seems to be bad management and being rewarded for bad management, for example the Hostess bankruptcy:

But what’s the big risk for Hostess if it doesn’t offer bonuses that average about $100,000 per person? That they’ll quit and the company will go broke? That business will suffer? That the Hostess image could be tarnished?

Hostess is already bankrupt. All that’s happening is a sell-off and winding up. It has no image other than as a once-profitable enterprise with universally-recognized brands that was driven into bankruptcy through a combination of lousy management and bitter unions. While managers may blame workers for driving the ultimate stake through its heart, it would be more than a little disingenuous to suppose management actions had nothing whatever to do with the decline. Unions, dumb as they can be, don’t kill healthy companies for fun.

While requesting permission for the bonuses, Hostess’s lawyers also reported that it can’t pay retiree benefits, and quit contributing to the pension plan more than a year ago.

(Kelly McParland at National Post.com; emphasis in original.  Via skippy.)

Additionally, education seems to be unnecessary for many jobs (although it's not really the education; it's the hiring filter).

Hmmmmm.  The impression one might get is that corporate America only wants to hire young healthy kids fresh out of college/university with advanced degrees for $10/hour.

It's one of the reasons strong unions are needed.  Another has to do with how labor gets organized in the US; Jane McAlevey talks about that and other matters in an interview with Sarah Jaffe at AlterNet.  (I managed to mislay the URL; thankfully, Avedon linked to it today.)

And incidentally?  Florida Republicans come clean; they don't want you to vote.

...And Fill His Mouth With Garlic

Apparently Mr. Norquist is not worried.

Terrance (Republic of T) on the "fiscal cliff," Norquistism, and risk:

The stakes are different for Democrats, because the stakes are different for Democrats’ constituent groups. It’s unlikely that wealthy Americans are will go hungry or go without medical care if their taxes increase. But it’s very likely that many elderly, disabled, low-income, and middle- and working-class Americans will face such choices if Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are subject to deep cuts. These groups have traditionally supported Democrats, because the party could be counted on to defend these programs. That will change if they’re convinced that they can’t count on Democrats — or anyone else — to defend programs that are important to them[.]

In Memoriam

Marvin Miller, Major League Baseball Players Association.

All His Sins Remembered

Back in 2008 or some distant past, either I or Avedon discovered Bruce Bartlett and mentioned him to the other because he seemed to make sense for a conservative and then there was this election and we kind of forgot about him.

(People of the "left" do not think about people of the "right" nearly as much as people on the "right" seem to think.)

This is where he's been.

I’ve paid a heavy price, both personal and financial, for my evolution from comfortably within the Republican Party and conservative movement to a less than comfortable position somewhere on the center-left. Honest to God, I am not a liberal or a Democrat. But these days, they are the only people who will listen to me. When Republicans and conservatives once again start asking my opinion, I will know they are on the road to recovery.

I got that link from Driftglass, who lets Messrs. Bartlett and Sullivan have it with both barrels.

Honestly, what can you say about someone who has salvaged his own career as a Fearless, Truth-Waving Conservative by frantically bootlegging virtually the entire Liberal critique of Conservatism while at the same time maintaining his media credentials by joining the media embargo on acknowledging that Liberals even exist?

AlterNet's Alex Kane summarizes for those who don't want to read the actual article.

And Melissa McEwan at Shakesville suggests that absolving the man of prior opinions may be premature.

No More Mister Nice Blog has some good links, too, although not to Mr. Bartlett.

Viewing With Alarm, Part n

• The Murder Program, presented by Arthur Silber.
• "Push to step up domestic use of drones."

  The drone makers have sought congressional help to speed their entry into a domestic market valued in the billions. The 60-member House of Representatives' "drone caucus" - officially, the House Unmanned Systems Caucus - has helped push that agenda. And over the past four years, caucus members have drawn nearly $8 million in drone-related campaign contributions, an investigation by Hearst Newspapers and the Center for Responsive Politics shows.

No point in lighting the beacons; it's raining too hard.

I Didn't Like the 19th Century the First Time, Either

"Christian" poultry supplier (in horrific conditions for the workers) donating turkeys to a Missouri Air Force base:

According to a 2008 Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety hearing, "House of Raeford has repeatedly been cited by State and Federal occupational safety and health agencies: 130 serious safety violations since 2000, among the most of any U.S. poultry company." And it appears that the violations continue, as with this one from June 2011 where OSHA found that House of Raeford "did not furnish to each of his employees conditions of employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees, in that employees were exposed to extended exposure to anhydrous ammonia due to improperly maintained/fitted doors where the broken doors allowed emergency ventilation of the atmosphere in the engine rooms to be reduced."

Read the rest, please.

Nibbling Away at the Privacy You Don't Have

Monitoring for lower rates, the surveillance state buy-in.

Hey, You're Welcome

A thank-you note from Meteor Blades at Daily Kos to the opponents of voter suppression, from those who did the research and publicized and educated, to those who stood on line for hours waiting to register, waiting to vote.

(Via private email list.)

Note to incipient fascists:  Do not mess with old women.  They know about older and fouler things than you.

Let the River Run

A little something about copyright and its purpose.  (Mercury Rising.)

There has been a certain pressure to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian fighting.  Folks, this blog snarks about politics.  The Middle East is not a snarkable situation.  Sorry.

In Memoriam

Larry Hagman, actor.  Announcement via Driftglass, who provides a video clip from Fail-Safe.

The Rest of the Cake

• That's Billie Holiday on the old MacBook.  Mmmmmmm, Billie Holiday...
• Lincoln, buddies with railroad magnates (which isn't in the movie).
• Fewer men are into casual sex than is generally believed.
• Nudism, the movement.
• College admissions and the stacked deck.
• Republic of T on a group encouraging clerks to avoid issuing marriage licenses for same-sex couples.

  I’ll keep this simple.
  
  First, once you decide its against your religion to carry out the duties of your position, it’s time to find a new job. Voters in these states have spoken, and marriage equality is the law. If you have a religious objection to serving certain people in the course of doing your job, you don’t belong in that job. Period.

  Further, that group has its own brewing scandal.  The only variation here is that the attorney is female.  Otherwise, Hypocrisy 101.
• Pat Robertson (yawwwwnnnnn) starting up the creaking machinery for the war on Christmas.  Really, Pat, just hang tinsel from yourself.