April 2008 Archives

This last weekend, Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, apparently told Chris Matthews something he doesn't know. In the similarly titled segment, Tucker indicated that Bob Barr would be a potential spoiler for John McCain in the upcoming election. While it's interesting to note that even Barr doesn't consider himself a shoe in for the LP nomination, there are those willing to pile on this aspect of McCain's upcoming loss.

Joseph Bell sets out the anemic case for this blame in a recent op-ed. According to Bell's own admission;

"He voted for Clinton/Gore in 1992. Abandoning the convictions that he had held and defended through adolescence and into adulthood was not easy. Sincere soul-searching and a commitment to distinguish fact from fiction compelled him to accept that liberal ideology was bankrupt."

No if he could only realize how bankrupt the country is based on false conservatism.

Jeff Dulgar, a columnist at the 'Daily Nexus' at the University of Santa Barbara has created a snit piece about third parties and the Libertarian Party particularly. While this appears to be the indulgence of a youthful prattler for the status quo, as a former Californian, I have many Republican relatives on the left coast who feel the same as Mr. Dulgar, even if it is based on vague assumptions and chocked with common platitudes.

While it may be acceptable to engage in Limbaugh tactics when it comes to smelly liberals and the like, Dulgar displays his ignorance of the Third Party fight as well as any apologist for the Red & Blue. It may indeed be inevitable that the two parties will win based on the winner take all aspect of the system, but it is by no means certain that alternative issues and concerns will be well placed in the mainstream sensibilities. Asking activists to play in the muck of pluralism is one thing, but projecting one's own failure is another. The Ron Paul campaign is evidence that any 'libertarian' spirit in the GOP tops out at 3-7% of those eligible voters. Mr. Dulgar really ought to check with his comrades in the duopoly about the battle for ballot access, the war on drugs, the national debt, creeping Empire and the free bottle of pills in his grandmother's medicine cabinet. Sorry, but I remember Jim Jones in the seventies and I'd rather not be associated with the ultimate ruin of the country at the hands of mealy mouthed politicians who will do anything to get elected.

My Life as a Kurd and a Terror Suspect

There is a Fox News meme that has been going around since early March which includes the case of Yassin Aref. It has provided fodder for every right wing blogger who sees terror plots around every corner. Hopefully the release of Son of Mountains will persuade thoughtful people to counteract this hit job, not only in the blog world, but everyday life about such matters.

Even when the local news and national news broke about this arrest in August 2004, I had extreme doubts and reservations about a 'sting' and the alleged ties to a real terrorist plot. After reading Aref's book all those doubts are washed away. The man was framed, setup and hung out to advance the political agenda of Karl Rove and his unwitting conspirator George Bush. Fortunately that's not even what the book is about. Aref's life as a Kurd, his suffering, forbearance, faith and understanding about the human condition may well become the bellwether for literature in the 21st Century. We've certainly had enough from the poor rich bastard stuck at Yale in the 20th Century.

The great Pontiff has come and he's here for his flock. In a world of voluntary association, that's just fine. But when he starts messing with good old fashioned secular humanism, I start talking about imaginary friends too. When they start equating it with ideology you know he's either a carzy old man or there is a serious agenda emanating from his palace in Rome.

So let's get this straight, the Catholic Church loots all level of society with its play on the fear of death, suffers an organization whose leaders frequently bugger little children, has all manner of wealth employed in keeping the Pope like an ancient emperor and then derides it own for not casting off the Robe into material nakedness like St. Francis ? Next thing you know they might start taking Jesus seriously and wondering if ideology in general is the cause of war, famine and horrible things to many people.

Stepping Up - The Story of Curt Flood and His Fight for Baseball Player's Rights

Even though it is Jackie Robinson day for Major League Baseball, I always find the story of Curt Flood more compelling. As awful as discrimination of any sort is and as noble as Jackie Robinson's role was, everybody seems to forget the guy who made free agency and multi-million dollar contracts possible. Curt Flood took that fight on in the early seventies and was reviled by ownership and players alike. Yet, his struggle, made the game better and helped reverse the reserve clause which more or less legalized slavery in America's pastime.

Curt's story also includes the segregation struggle, racism and the institutional advantage that owner's enjoyed throughout most of the century. Belth writes a compelling story as he follows Flood's early years to his tragic end in the mid nineties. This is a long over due book about baseball's forgotten hero. It's quite sad to realize that no active player attended his funeral. While Major League Baseball probably hasn't matured enough to recognize Flood's contribution, perhaps a movement could start which would consider Flood for the Hall of Fame. His hall of fame career was cut tragically short because he took a noble stand where none had before.

After an entire political season with Chris Matthews, I have tired of him completely. Apparently just over seven hundred thousand people a night do not. While I'm not a fan of reference posts, a new piece in the New York Times Magazine reveals what I have thought about him all along. Mainly, that he is a bloviating apologist for people in power.

While this feeling is always vague and based on his performance on the tube, it's nice to see some journalism that takes on the man himself. He does equate himself with Hemingway, him and his producers aren't capable of understanding that even an upstate bumpkin like yours truly will suffer through his Sunday morning schtick with mucky mucks, at least during the dead of winter. But when push comes to shove, it only takes little Jon Stewart to out him for the fake that he truly is. Is it any wonder that he totally missed the boat on John McCain and melted for Obama once it became obvious ? I miss David Brinkley.

While the final two months of the LP Presidential nomination may get some nominal notice in the media with the entry of Mike Gravel & Bob Barr, even the acceptance of liberty by two former major party office holders will not inalterably effect the electoral mess that is the American system. Ron Paul's candidacy only proved that there is a potentially active and resolute group of people who want fundamental change, but don't have a real avenue of hope to hop or stroll down.

Libertarians will invariably nitpick their own decision right down until that fateful day in November. Any gloss or hope that a particular campaign brings to the fore will ultimately only be tossed into the dustbin of history. Libertarians would do well to eschew the temptation of the fantasy league culture and confront the the biggest issues facing the country for the next one hundred years. What price will the Empire extol on our lives ? What compromises will be made with that power in order to justify the curious doppleganger created by trillions of dollars appropriated into the future for unfunded social mandates. What defense will the individual have when confronted with the monolithic demands of the power of the state ? The Republicans and Democrats won't deal with this. Will the Libertarian Party nominee ?

I had an opportunity to sit and chat with Mike Gravel yesterday, on and off camera. Between a gig at Cornell and another at Smith College in North Hampton, Senator Gravel & his deputy campaign manager Jon Kraus, stopped through the home of General Electric, Schenectady NY.

My very first personal encounter image of Mr. Gravel will be a pair of black shoes in the air as he dismounted from a red Honda at the stop light at the corner of North Broadway and Liberty Street. Kraus explained on the cell phone as we watched from the studio foyer, that the Senator was disembarking at Pinhead Susan's after the three hour drive and found the immediate port in what must be any 77 year old man's call at that point in the journey.