Crandolph’s Barbaric Yawp

Writer Niranjan Ramakrishnan had some interesting ideas lately on the filibuster flap in the Senate.  A brief excerpt follows, with reaction on my part.

"What is bad in faith is always bad in law. And there is nothing more odious than the way Cheney, Delay, Frist and others have pitched the nuclear option as a defense against an attack on faith. The Republican brandishing of faith as a political tool is cheap, tawdry, and completely disingenuous, but where is it being challenged?

… [I have received] nothing from John Kerry, whose permanent campaign was sending email after email durng the ANWR vote a few weeks back. Nothing from Internet-meister Howard Dean, now Chairman of the Democratic Party. And zip from my own Democratic Senator.

Whether the filibuster is prserved or not, it will not get the fight in its defense that it deserves. At worst, it will be done away with. At best, it will be preserved by compromising on a few judges, which Harry Reid is on the verge of doing, and which Bob Dole has written is the best way out. An obvious strategy occurred to me (Bob Dole has no monopoly on the obvious!). After all, what better weapon to oppose the abolition of the filibuster than — filibustering the vote on the filibuster?

The strategy is not original. It is from the Mahabharata. When Yudhishtira, an inveterate gambler, gambles away himself, his kingdom, his wife, brothers — all, the victors show up at his wife’s door to fetch her away. Now you belong to us, they say, explaining how her husband had gambled away everything. She asks an eminently logical question — do you know if he lost me in the gambling before he lost himself, or after? It was an vital point, because, as she pointed out, in the latter case he had no longer any right to place her as a bet. Similarly, the Democrats may lose the right the filibuster, but they might use it to prevent its abolition.

Republicans accuse the Senate Democrats of using the filibuster too much. In retrospect, they have used it too little. The filibuster is Senatorial Satyagraha. That it may have been used by the likes of Strom Thurmond to oppose civil rights does not besmirch its genius. Whether it can be actually used in procedural debates, I don’t know. But I do know the Democrats must throw their heart and soul into the effort to beat back this travesty."

There is, in fact, nothing from stopping the Dems from using the tactic in the debate on the tactic.  Right now it’s a perfectly cromulent rule.  If you don’t get a filibuster on the filibuster rule, you know where the "hearts and souls" are.  And I don’t expect much out of this sorry lot, starting with anti-choice Sen. Reid.

A large part of the fraud involved on the Democrats’ end in whining about this ‘nuclear option’ removing the filibuster is that they’ve not been using it at all.  In other words, had the rule change been in effect in 2000, it would have made not one whit of difference in the actual decisions of the body since that time!

The Senate has approved 205 of Bush’s appointments while voting down 10.  The most recent Bush appointee was confirmed 95-0, which is par for the course.  Fully 1/3 of the Clinton nominees were blocked, and Clinton’s choices weren’t exactly all lefties.  The total abandonment by the Dems of worthy liberal choices in the Clinton years such as Dr. Lani Guinier - whose nomination was pulled by the Democrats without bothering to have a Senate hearing - was shameful.  Every progressive in America should have abandoned the party on that count alone.

As for satyagraha and Mr. Gandhi:  I suggest reading Orwell’s 1949 piece on him in The Partisan Review, as well as a look at the life and work of Dalit ("Untouchable") leader Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, whose portrait graces the home of many in India where Gandhi’s does not.

The dismal Philadelphia Inquirer, ranking a lowly #19 in national circulation despite being in the 5th-largest readership market in the nation, has hit a new advertising depth.  In a spam email received twice by me in as many weeks, the Inky appears to be taking their marketing cues from the January 1973 edition of National Lampoon [larger image], whose writers and editors considered the dead dog thing to be a joke.  Philadelphia’s Knight-Ridder fast-food style news franchise, however, has upped the stakes to human women, substituting cancer for the bullet.

If the Knight-Ridder Corporation wished, it could easily donate large sums of money to fighting breast cancer independently of boosted subscriptions.  It could also donate advertising space to the appropriate non-profits.  It could, better yet, take a strong line against environmental pollutants, their producers, defenders and elected recipients of campaign cash from same.  They could kick a little cash into investigative reporting on these issues instead of regurgitating press releases of the powerful and cutting city coverage in favor of expanded wine columns and suburban high school sports coverage.  (This could have the added benefit of raising their subscription numbers organically.)

It never ceases to amaze me that corporate America doesn’t only not get criticized for these self-promotional stunts, but actually earns accoaldes for them.  Private Americans, overburdened on the whole with low wages, regressive taxation schemes (lobbied for by corporations no less), lack of access to basic services such as health care, and so forth, routinely out-give the corporations as both a percentage of their income and in raw numbers when compiled.  This is true even in our era of record-low taxation for corporations; many of them receive rebates, even as social services go begging.

Can you imagine this sort of emotional blackmail attached to individual relationships, to the credit of the manipulator?  Let’s eavesdrop on Bob and Mary at the end of their third date:

Bob: "Here we are, your place."

Mary: "I had a lovely evening."

Smooch!

Mary:"Well, I should get going now…"

Bob: "Wait, Mary - I have a proposal.  I know you care about your community, and you should hear me out."

Mary: "What is it, Bob?  I try to be a good citizen, you know that."

Bob: " I do, cutie.  And that’s why I think I have a package here that could work for everyone.  For a limited time, I’m offering a donation of $100 to the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation if you give me head.  Think it over, but I encourage you to act quickly, because this offer won’t last forever."

Mary: "Well, breast cancer is an issue we all should be concerned with… and the fact of the matter is I was considering going down on you at some point in the future anyway.  … OK, then, park the car and come on in!"

Bob: "Thanks, Mary, you’re doing a good thing!"

Mary: "Well, Bob, I mean, if I’m going to be doing this sort of thing sometimes anyway, it makes me feel better about blowing a guy who cares enough about the community to make his support for non-profits conditional upon my choice of giving him what he wants!"

You can, instead, give money directly to the foundation by following this link.

—–

A sample of their guilt-based marketing approach, decorated in the original with mandatory pink ribbons:

"The fight against breast cancer is fueled with money. And now, you can help the fight while enjoying something so many people enjoy…The Inquirer.

The Inquirer has partnered with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Philadelphia Affiliate in the Subscribe to Save Lives program. Now, when you subscribe to The Inquirer, $10 will go to the battle against breast cancer.

LIMITED TIME OFFER. ORDER TODAY!"

Newsflash!

So now it’s Miss disAbility International for Janeal Lee.  At this point the grammar and spelling mavens will have at that title.  Not to mention the gender-based language police, who will no doubt object to the replacement of Ms. with Miss.

Little wonder that Ms. Wheelchair Minnesota resigned in solidarity; I now see that the two are sisters!  Lee, unfortunately, has "limb-girdle muscular dystrophy," which I can only assume runs in families.  Here is a story on the original flap, along with an "incriminating" photo of Ms. Lee standing while teaching.

Yet another tale of Philadelphia Police brutality and DA office overprosecution.  This disturbing email was in my inbox from my friend Alison, who as a former social worker in grad school for same is surely a threat to society.  Keep in mind that this is how we’re treating college educated whites and Latinos; one shudders to think about the undereducated African-American population (or clearly working class whites, of the sort roughed up at this year’s Wing Bowl).

I’m going to attempt to help these folks get some representation and press, a small step in the latter direction starting right here:

"I was with a group of friends last Saturday night — there were 6 of us
in total. A German, Spaniard, and Mexican — all documented — and 3 white
Americans. It’s a little after 2 am. We’ve had some drinks, but are far
from wasted. we head down to South street to grab some pizza at Lorenzo’s.
There are 3, maybe 4, cops outside the restaurant. Immediately, they start
giving our friend Sergio a hard time about smoking a cigarette outside the
restaurant. He was waiting for his girlfriend Erica who was getting
some slices and the only moment when he even approached the door was to pass
her some money.

A minute later, two more guys in our group, Peter and Martin, walk up
and are also finishing their smokes outside before walking into the
restaurant. The cops tell them they can’t stand there. Peter and Martin question
this, but there’s no resistance. They finish smoking, go in, get their pizza,
and we all move over to the corner to eat.

At this point, a guy who’s not in our group heads into Lorenzo’s, got a
slice, and had a similar exchange with the cops while he stood outside
the restaurant eating. A few minutes later, this guy is getting handcuffed
and tossed in a police car. Peter starts moving toward the scene to inquire
about why they’re arresting him and the cops (there are at least 6 at
this point) tell him to stay out of it. He asks again and one of the cops
charges toward him, grabs the pizza box out of his hand, pushes him against a
building and cuffs him.

My friend Todd at this point says the cop is "pathetic" and asks what
ordinance they are basing their use of force on. Two cops then rush
Todd, slam him on the sidewalk. One pins his neck down with his boot, while
the other cuffed him. Martin and I, who are standing in the middle of this
assault, again question this use of force and demand that we have an
explanation of why they’re restraining Todd. This led to Martin and I
also being cuffed.

At this point, Todd and Peter are put in a car and taken to the station
on 9th and South. I’m still asking for answers, Martin is standing by
quietly, only asking the cop not to call him "dude." The officer that cuffed me
continued to tell me that we should have minded our own business and
then he assured me "don’t worry hon, we’re gonna let you go. Just calm down." 
I ask why they would let me go but continue to arrest Martin — no answer to
that, just more suggestions that I relax, and take the opportunity to be
released.  So they take off my cuffs, put Martin in the car, and that’s that.
They’re off to the station.

I walk down to 9th st, south street is dead, nothing happening. Until I
get to the station, where I meet Sergio and Erica, who are talking to 4
young black kids whose friend was just arrested for — you’ll love this –
"attempted urination." The kid insists he had no clothing removed and
was doing nothing but standing by a wall. Didn’t even have to pee.

At this point, we wait and wait for Todd, Peter, and Martin to be
released and have one of the cops who assaulted Todd come out to tell us we
"might as well head out because they’re going to jail." This is the same guy who,
on the ride to the station, were catcalling some women on the street, and
telling todd and peter that "they’d be getting laid while they were
sitting in jail tonight."

So eventually, they guys were all discharged with completely inflated
police reports, charges of failure to disperse, and a court date for today at
8:30am. Todd had a pretty large bruise on his jawbone, which we took
pictures of that night.

Peter, Todd, and Martin all went to court this morning, pleaded not
guilty and and the DA added the charge of disorderly conduct to the charge of
refusing to disperse. There’s now another trial on May 23rd.  Sergio, Erica, and I are all hoping to testify as witnesses to all this nonsense, but these guys really need a good lawyer."

My primary opponent in last year’s dismal "race" for the 1st District Congressional seat, Philadelphia Democratic Party Chairman and Congressman Bob Brady, just voted for the Bush energy bill.  Again.  He’s actually never voted against a Republican energy bill, no doubt the result of having received around $100,000 in lobbying loot from oil, gas, auto and related industries.  Meanwhile, residents of his district live in the shadow of refineries and reap the ‘benefits’ thereof.  Brady has received less than $100 in contributions from environmental groups lifetime, and continues to take large amounts of cash from polluters even though he runs in a gerrymandered district that makes it nearly impossible for him to lose.

It’s not only greedy party machine politicking, it’s completely unnecessary and unjustifiable at that.

He wasn’t alone; some 41 Democrats voted with Bush on the package, giving him a 249-183 victory with 3 representatives (1 Dem, 2 Reps) sitting it out.  Had the 42 Donkey Party misrepresentatives grown spines and/or not been on the take, the Bush bill would have been easily defeated, 224-210 (or 223-208 if the same 3 who missed the vote still sat it out).

The picture of the House Democrats is worse than it looks at first glance, considering that one of the 183 was in fact the sole independent in the House, Bernie Sanders (I-VT).  Even more embarrassing, some 22 Republicans had the gonads to vote against Bush and their own party, not a single one of them bowing to massive campaign contributions from the many-tentacled environmental lobby.  They were listening to their constituents and considering the long-term impact of their decisions.

No environmental group endorses Brady, but this doesn’t stop every local affiliate of the national groups from inciting their members to vote straight Democratic ticket.  Most instructive in this capacity is my fellow Philadelphian Ms. Susan Gobreski, who, in what appears to me to be a serious violation of the spirit if not letter of the law as regards non-profit tax status, functions as both an employee of the League of Conservation Voters and as a poster girl for House Democrats.

Ms. Gobreski gets out the vote for Bob Brady.  The LCV won’t endorse Bob Brady, and Ms. Gobreski refused to talk with my campaign about the possibility of endorsement.  "Non-partisan" my ass!

This is just one small example of how ‘liberal’ lobbying groups nationwide and the Democrats themselves work in concert to keep change from happening.

They’re in the zone, folks.  Auto-pilot knees-on-the-floor Bush fellation overdrive, don’t let the tempest in the teapot judicial quibble fool you, these guys and gals couldn’t opposition-party their way out of a wet paper bag. Tellingly, their leader Harry Reid of Nevada is an avid pro-lifer himself.  Foxes guarding chicken coops, and not even getting a decent cut of the McNuggets.

Speaking of foul fowl, how have these turkeys voted of late?

On the Bush $82,260,000,000 (not a typo) supplemental war funding, we note a vote of 99-0, with Dem Daniel Inoyue of Hawaii - one of the fellows who supported drilling in the ANWR - "sticking it to the Man" by failing to vote at all.  "Holy totalitarian agit-prop, Batman, even the Soviets had a dissenting vote in the Politburo every 5 year plan or so!"

A relative roar of opposition was sounded against the Bush appointment of John D. Negroponte as new Director of National Intelligence, 98-2.  Senators Wyden (OR) and Harkin (IA) led the, um … charge… in all likelihood becasue Negroponte is a vicious bastard supportive of Reagan-era Central American death squads who figured in the Iran-Contra scandal.  His service to Mammon and the worst excesses of racist butchery in the service of capital as a brutal spook extends back to Vietnam.

Voting with the Dubya on both counts?  Senators John Kerry (MA) and John Edwards (NC), with whom I believe some of you readers are familiar.  [Looking to the future, Hillary Rodham Clinton (supposedly NY) naturally voted with the President as well.]

Every once in a while, you see a line from a newspaper story which begs to be it’s own story.  Sometimes the fact mentioned in passing seems far more interesting or important than the story to which it adds context.  I think this line from an article in the Chicago Tribune about the reintroduction of alcohol into Afghanistan is one such instance:

"As of late March, 84 businesses were licensed to serve liquor in Kabul, according to tourism officials."

According to tourism officials?!  Plural?!  Jumping the gun (no pun intended) a bit here, aren’t we?

Don’t forget the prescience of punk legends Circle Jerks and their song "Paid Vacation" c. 1980:

I hope you’re having fun
where’s your uniform? where’s your gun?
better rub up that suntan oil
’cause you’ll be fighting in the desert, in the hot sun

salute that flag of Uncle Sam
get your money out, place your bets
it’s Afghanistan!
fix bayonets,chuck grenades
got enough bullets,
got enough rounds to wipe out this place?
We’re the infantry & the cavalry
parachutes fill the sky,bodies burn and people die

Paraphrasing the words of Simpsons anchorman Kent Brockman, "Allow me to be the first to welcome our new Qatari overlords!" , which may also be rendered:

Link to article.

Qatar was my home for a stretch in 2001, where I taught and tutored these Sons of the Desert in English.  The "long white robe" referred to in the article is distinctly non-robelike - more of a tailored dress shirt/night shirt combo - and is called a thaube locally or a dishdash in the wider Arab world.

"Little noticed, Qatar has reversed the typical role of the producer country, which simply opens its territory to oil companies to explore, and takes a cut of whatever they find.

Not only does Qatar own the majority share of each LNG joint venture, but it will also own delivery ships and stakes in import terminals in Europe and the United States. The arrangement allows Qataris to profit from processes and sales far beyond its borders, elbowing into a business that was once the sole province of big oil."

In other words, Qatar is boosting its wealth by doing precisely the opposite of what the World Bank/IMF group have counselled for the ‘developing’ world.  Instead of merely becoming a primary producing exporter of a raw material (one which would, in this case, provide a great income in any event), they are becoming involved in the "value chain" of that commodity.  The standard, perpetually failed model espoused by Washington has been for the producers of "our" primary commodities to remain at the lowest rung of the chain, bidding each other lower for our business.

While not quite "import substitution," this development model cleaves much closer to the self-investing and rabid capital retention model of the ‘Asian tigers’ than anything that anyone at the Bretton Woods institutions or the University of Chicago’s econ department has farted out.  It is, in fact, similar in spirit to the protectionism of early industrial development in the UK and US, or to the Soviets’ stretch of "socialism in one country."

Protection of internal capital/internal reinvestment and control of the value chain in the life of commodities have been the only successful development model components in human history.  That we continue to push the open market for low-rung fungibles upon the struggling billions of the Third World is a testament to our hypocrisy and greed.

Drop what you’re doing this instant and buy a ticket to see the documentary In the Realms of the Unreal, a well-done film on the sad life and beautiful work of Henry Darger.  The two major Philadelphia weakly… ahem, weekly papers panned writer/director Jessica Yu’s approach to her subject, and I was prepared to love the subject but hate the presentation.  They couldn’t be more wrong; Yu showed a great deal of respect for Darger in using the man’s own words when possible to tell his story, and in literally animating a world that Darger struggled to produce.

I’m inspired now to see Darger’s work at The American Folk Art Museum and somehow get a copy of John MacGregor’s book for less than a fortnight’s rent…

Another splash of color for this wordy blog, the underside of the marquis of the majestic, refurbished Grand Lake movie palace of Oakland, California.  This photo was taken by yours truly in November 2004.  Will the SamEric be its equal on this coast?

Click photo to enlarge.