Alan Grayson: Devil Take the Hindmost

Although this piece is at times political, Grayson offers up a good primer of the history of the phrase and concept "the devil take the hindmost," dating back to a 1610 play performed by the Shakespeare's troop The King's Men. As such, it asks if we as a people want to let the least of us fall ... and if that doesn't also threaten the strongest of us as well.

Alan Grayson: Devil Take the Hindmost (Huffington Post)

Humor on Walkabout

Something keeps crossing my mind now and again: what happened to my sense of humor?

I don't think I lost it per se. It's not that my face would break if I smile because it's unfamiliar. Yet I think back to my younger self, before the weight of responsibility and failures and little victories and aspirations the door has closed on, and I think how that person was easier to laugh, much more into comedy and less likely to be mistrustful.

The old me never missed a chance to watch comedians on TV like George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Paula Poundstone, and Jim Carrey. But contemporary comics and comedic actors like Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, and Adam Sandler leave me utterly cold. I wonder, though, if it's the comics that have changed or is it me. I don't listen to music at home on a stereo like I used to, either; habits change over time, but so do perspectives.

The world just seems a more serious place than when I was twentysomething. Back then there wasn't much weight in not succeeding, not as much as the weight of failing seems now. When the world seems a precarious place, it's hard not to see humor as a luxury. Kinda like when a child has to finish the vegetables before dessert, I subconsciously feel there's something undone or unearned when there are troubles in life that give me a "not now" feeling about humor and comedy.

Maybe I'm more contemplative than my younger self was. I used to get into all manner of double entendre jokes, never missed the Airplane movies, and so forth. Yet Carlin remains my favorite comedian of all time, and his offerings were as cerebral as they were irreverent. So I've always enjoyed humor that makes one think. I still enjoy Carlin's books. I suspect a book by Tracy Morgan would not interest me in the least. The Plato and a Platypus books are the only ones that I've enjoyed the way I used to.

If I can get to a point where I tell myself it's okay to let myself enjoy a pleasure that now would make me feel guilty, I could embrace the thorough cleansing benefits of the belly laugh. I'm just not so sure how to get there.

Public Split Evenly on Urgency of Debt Limit Debate | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

The results of this Pew Research poll are disturbing since it shows so many people simply don't understand the grave danger to the world economy of a U.S. default. Perhaps it's a product of our highly polarized political climate, with more people getting their news from Fox News and MSNBC and fewer from CNN. Perhaps it's as Washington Post analysts Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake wrote, that Republicans don't put any stock in Wall Street or the federal government so the dire warnings coming from both have been seen as Chicken Little saying the sky is falling.

Public Split Evenly on Urgency of Debt Limit Debate | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

Pornography and the "Marriage Vow" Pledge

There is probably no cultural issue that tests First Amendment freedom of speech protection than pornography. While there were some infamous examples of the need for freedom of speech after the 9/11 attacks (especially Bill Maher being told by then-Press-Secretary Ari Fleischer to "watch what you say"), the enduring attempts to censor pornography are the perennial example of how unpopular speech needs First Amendment protection for there to be free speech for everyone.

The latest public skirmish on this front is the Marriage Vow pledge concocted by an Iowa group called the Family Leader. Presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum have signed this pledge, which includes references to "humane protection of women and the innocent fruit of conjugal intimacy — our next generation of American children — from human trafficking, sexual slavery, seduction into promiscuity, and all forms of pornography and prostitution, infanticide, abortion and other types of coercion or stolen innocence." Bachmann made a point of equating pornography with human trafficking and slavery, according to Larry Flynt (link below). Moralists have long targeted pornography for elimination, and this pledge makes some wild assumptions to link porn with slavery. But if an unpopular form of expression is banned by government, it's that much easier to start curbing or banning less controversial speech (like the Bill Maher example I mentioned) until freedom of speech is largely meaningless.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58591.html#ixzz1RnnfsSYH

Larry Flynt: Shame on Michele Bachmann for Anti-Porn Pledge - The Daily Beast

Obama calls the GOP’s bluff - The Washington Post

Eugene Robinson gently chides President Obama for what wholesome-sounding government programs will be cut if Republicans don't come off their no-tax-increase demand on the debt ceiling negotiations. Nevertheless, Robinson says Obama is right to call out the GOP (finally, I might add) for their intransigence on revenues and spending cuts. "Every independent, bipartisan, blue-ribbon panel that has looked at the deficit problem has reached the same conclusion: The gap between spending and revenue is much too big to be closed by budget cuts alone. With fervent conviction but zero evidence, Tea Party Republicans believe otherwise — and Establishment Republicans, who know better, are afraid to contradict them."

Obama calls the GOP’s bluff - The Washington Post

The Truth About The Economy In 2 Minutes | MoveOn.Org

Here is a quick but potent visual view of how the economy has fallen, given by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich ... this is distributed by MoveOn.org, so you're forewarned that this is not a Fox News version of events:

The Truth About The Economy In 2 Minutes | MoveOn.Org

Lawmakers’ fiscal gambles are worse than the sexual ones - The Washington Post

Dana Milbank gives us some definite food for thought in this commentary. He makes the case that, whether it's sexual scandal or professional misconduct or misjudgment, politicians are guilty of their transgressions because of a sense of invincibility. The more some succeed, the more they "become thrill-seeking adolescents, taking ever-greater risks until they retire or get caught."

Lawmakers’ fiscal gambles are worse than the sexual ones - The Washington Post

Scroogian Insensitivity

When did the Republican Party and the conservative movement cease to care whether they came across as heartless bastards?

Just this week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor suggested that Congress won't pay for relief for tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri unless the budget is cut elsewhere. On Monday, May 23, Cantor linked any aid to the area to offsetting budget cuts, stating "if there is support for a supplemental, it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental." Even Tom "The Hammer" DeLay favored disaster funding as House Majority Leader, supporting disaster relief -- amid his own party's criticism -- for Hurricane Katrina victims without offsetting budget cuts. DeLay stated, “It is right to borrow to pay for it.” I guess things have changed among GOP leaders between 2005 and 2011.

At least equally outrageous was a statement in the Kansas legislature by Rep. Pete DeGraaf (R-Mulvane). The Kansas House passed a bill banning abortion coverage in insurance companies' general health insurance policies. DeGraaf answered a fellow pro-life representative's question whether women would buy abortion-only policies in a shocking way, saying "I have a spare tire on my car." DeGraaf's crude entreaty for women to plan ahead for rape, incest, or any other unwanted pregnancy reportedly drew a few groans from fellow lawmakers.

Our culture -- at least our political culture -- is in a season of vilification from the right. Unemployed are not victims of the Great Recession but lazy bums that won't get a job; some businesses that are starting to hire have bought it and put "unemployed need not apply" on their help wanted ads. Government employees suffer similar disdain even though they are actually working. Women are accused of having abortions merely to fit into prom dresses. Some Hispanic Americans try to pass themselves as Native American due to the irrational anti-immigration sentiment currently gripping us.

Certainly we haven't been free of such positions in the past. What we haven't seen before is the matter-of-fact defamation of ordinary people or groups that would make Scrooge proud. To a Joplin resident, Cantor's remarks probably sound pretty similar to "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?"

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Bin Laden changed us, but did not destroy us - Leonard Pitts Jr. - MiamiHerald.com

We were bent by bin Laden. But we have not broken, and we can heal if we will. Pitts made a great summation, so I'm linking it to my blog.

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Bin Laden changed us, but did not destroy us - Leonard Pitts Jr. - MiamiHerald.com

The Bipartisan March to Fiscal Madness - NYTimes.com

David Stockman, the face of Reaganomics as the OMB Director, offered this analysis in this morning's New York Times of the shortcomings of the budget plans of both President Obama and Representative Ryan and how both approaches foster class warfare. The sharpness and comprehensive scope of Stockman's analysis causes me to link this column, for we will need clear, partisanship-be-damned vision to get our fiscal and economic house in order.

The Bipartisan March to Fiscal Madness - NYTimes.com

Budget Battles - Tax and Spending Myths and Realities - NYTimes.com

I include this column here because the enduring perspective that tax cuts are always good and tax hikes always kill the economy needs a cold water splash of fact, and this New York Times column outlines the record under Reagan, Clinton, and Bush the younger in a useful way. By the way, I was a Reagan Republican (before the GOP scared me out of the party in 1992) so seeing his record is a bit painful for me. But the record under Clinton's budget-surplus years is irrefutable.

Budget Battles - Tax and Spending Myths and Realities - NYTimes.com

Political Cartoons December - US News and World Report

I'm including this here simply for the Dalai Lama cartoon ...

Political Cartoons December - US News and World Report

An atheist view of December – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

I found this fascinating and worth a thorough reading. Quoting one passage from David Silverman, president of American Atheists: 'Silverman says it’s a problem that Christmas is a religious holiday that’s also a U.S. federal holiday. “If you’re going to force Jews, atheists, Hindus to observe Christmas by shutting down the country, what we’re going to observe is the most secular parts of the holiday,” he explains.'

An atheist view of December – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

Of Conflicts and Keith Olbermann

Journalists and editorial commentators have become embroiled in incidents that call their impartiality in question. Juan Williams was shown the door at NPR for saying on a Fox News program that obvious Muslims on airplanes make him nervous. He responded by telling Bill O'Reilly that he was viewed disfavorably at NPR because he appeared on Fox News programs.

Now it's Keith Olbermann's turn. The host of Countdown and one of MSNBC's brightest stars was suspended indefinitely last Friday for contributing to three Democratic candidates for Congress in violation of NBC policy. As it turned out, indefinitely lasts only a few days; buoyed by hundreds of thousands of protest messages, Olbermann was reinstated as of Tuesday, November 9.

There are those who argue that the old rules of impartiality should not apply to commentators who have a partisan point of view; only transparency is necessary. I do not agree.

I first became a fan of Countdown because of Olbermann's razor-sharp humorous sarcasm, honed by his ESPN days. He was an equal-opportunity spotlighter of the foibles of all public figures, whether celebrity or political. But his Special Comments developed against the excesses of the Bush Administration, and he rocketed to cable TV stardom.

However, it became clear during the 2008 presidential campaign that Olbermann showed favoritism toward Democrats in general and then-candidate Barack Obama in particular. What I once saw as righteous indignation toward Bush-era outrages had disintegrated into mere partisanship. As a result, I now watch MSNBC less and CNN more (and Fox News not at all).

Olbermann has castigated Fox News over owner Rupert Murdoch's $1 million donations to the Republican Governors Association and the U. S. Chamber of Commerce. How can he now claim the moral high ground when he himself has contributed to political candidates he has covered on Countdown? There is no difference. And this is why journalists and commentators should not contribute to those who they cover.

False Belief

Nothing is as frustrating and deflating in public policy debate as false belief -- either in the form of willful ignorance or those taken in by deliberate misinformation. Never in my lifetime has there been such an overabundance of false belief as now.

Our politically polarized world has gone beyond a difference of opinion to a place of malicious fictions where demons abound, anger is easy, and ignorance fuels the flames. As one reporter put it, how can the president get people behind his policies when he can’t convince a third of the people he’s a Christian.

So we have Rick Santelli's famous call for a tea party because of "losers' mortgages," blaming the housing crisis on the victims and not the predatory lenders. Forbes magazine stated "the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s" in a cover story. Proposed mosques are frantically opposed from Manhattan to Murfreesboro, and even wild charges have been made of Sharia law coming to Dearborn, Michigan. Such fears of terrorist havens were never leveled at Christians after Timothy McVeigh bombed the Murrah Building.

This naked deception by some and willingness to ostracize by others is poisonous to the health of our society. The only way it stops is for enough people to stand up to malicious falsehoods and demand "enough."

Letter to Daily News, 9/10/10

This was a letter I wrote to the Daily News in Bowling Green KY and published on September 10, 2010:

Your Sept. 1 editorial “Hope and Change Was Disappointing” sounded wearily like the constant drumbeat of automatic opposition that has come to characterize the Republican Party.

The editorial’s language – “ram a stimulus package down the American people’s throats,” “Chicago-style politics” – came straight from GOP talking points rather than thoughtful analysis of current events.

If “the country is angry” as the Daily News stated, it is from the constant stream of Beckian diatribes, official GOP revisionism and death panel and birther nonsense designed to appeal to people’s fears rather than their aspirations. It is also due to President Barack Obama’s lack of vigor in standing up for his policies. Whether his energy was sapped by the health care bill debate or the pro forma Republican stonewall of opposition, Obama needs to buck up and be as motivating in the Oval Office as he was on the campaign trail.

Someone should send Obama a DVD of “The American President.” In that movie, Andrew Shepherd refused to answer allegations from his political opponents and became defined by them since, like the real-life conservative blowhards and angry tea partiers, the public only heard their voice.

Obama needs to forcefully advocate his policies so the public knows his vision, not Fox News Channel’s take on his vision. And he needs to tell the tea party movement that, in Shepherd’s words, “your 15 minutes are up.”

Bunning's Hypocracy on Paygo

Our retiring Senator Jim Bunning has made a national spectacle of himself the past few days, singlehandedly holding up an emergency extension for unemployment in the Senate, which was also tied to highway, health care, and small business loan funding. Bunning finally relented last night and allowed the stopgap bill to be debated (it passed 78-19).

Bunning's stated rationale was that the bill did not follow paygo, the principle Democrats want reinstated in spending that each spending increase will be paid for in a spending cut or tax increase. Bunning said the 30 day extension would cost $10 billion.

However, as a Senate colleague pointed out in last night's debate, Bunning was unconcerned about paygo during the Bush years when he voted for two unfunded wars and all the deficit spending that W pushed through. If the Republican party wants to avoid the label of the party that hates the poor, Bunning did them no favors.

Musicians' New Years Resolutions by David Kibler

A co-worker shared these New Year's Resolutions with me from a central Kentucky music publication memusicnews.com, resolutions specific to different types of musicians. They're so spot-on that I had to share them with my musician friends on this blog. Proper credit: these are reprinted without permission and come from the column David's Slingshot by David Kibler, who is lead minister at Catalyst Christian Church in Nicholasville KY. Thanks to David - enjoy!

Lead Singers:
1. Don't be like the lead singer who was asked to change a light bulb. He just held it and let the world revolve around him. Other people in the band are important, too.
2. If you can't hit the notes, don't blame the sound engineer or insist on Autotune. There are some things even reverb won't fix.
3. Don't sing through your nose. The Jonas Brothers don't need any competitions in that area.
4. Realistically, though, if anyone in the band disagrees with you, just can 'em and move on. The band is all about you, anyway.

Drummers:
1. Resist the urge to overplay. Most songs don't need a Neil Peart wannabe on drums.
2. Don't be like the guy who delivered me a pizza the other night. His knocking sped up, and he didn't know when to come in.
3. Get your own place to live -- pretty soon, you will have to move out of the parents' basement.
4. Cowbells are only cool if you play in Blue Oyster Cult. Other than that, leave them to the cows.
5. If you break up with the girlfriend, don't sweat it. There are plenty of homeless shelters for you to stay the night.

Bass Players:
1. This year, realize that none of the fans think you are important, and you will not be receiving any praise from them.
2. Resolve not to say the words "Hey guys, let's do some of MY material!" That is the quickest way to get kicked out of a band.
3. Find the "pocket" and stay there. Especially when the lead singer is picking up chicks.
4. Unless you are Geddy Lee, Michael Anthony, or Sting, don't try to sing. BAss players don't have any talent anyway.

Lead Guitar Players:
1. Develop good people skills. They are necessary for waiting tables and working fast food while you wait for your band to "make it big."
2. Effects DON'T cover up for sloppy technique.
3. This year, resolve to show up to practice actually knowing your part so the rest of the band doesn't have to waste time listening to you learn it.
4. This year, resolve to show up to practice beforehand, giving yourself time to set up and be ready when practice actually starts.
5. This year, resolve to show up to practice at all.

Keyboard Players:
1. This year, resolve to make peace with your bass player by staying off the left hand.

Accordion Players:
1. Get rid of the pager. No one is going to call you.

The Name Game

While reading yet another screed online where President Obama is either a socialist or trying to establish a socialist nation, I considered the disjointed reasoning behind said screed and others like it I've endured. I recognized that a large part of the efforts to derail Obama's proposals have centered on emotional symbols, especially when corroborating facts are thin. The most powerful symbolism is often the simplest: the names we use to label people.

The epithet of "socialist" has been thrown around freely by Limbaugh conservatives and the Tea Party set, like a magic tar that should stain the president and scare the rest of us back into line. The mere mention of the most vile leftist monikers -- socialist, Marxist, communist -- fans the wildfire of irrational anger and fear, and the mob mentality at so many town hall meetings on health care reform is a logical result of the baiting language that has been used.

Some folks on the left have their own f-word -- fascist -- that they throw around like a rhetorical gold MasterCard. Most use it the same way as the right use socialist, with a there-I-said-it certainty and nothing else to back it.

It's easy to push someone's buttons and motivate opposition. But what gets built this way? When we can't listen to the ideas in a proposed course of action because one or both sides are substituting inflammatory language for reasoned debate, nothing meaningful can be accomplished. With the great problems of our time, we can't settle for a grade-school playground level of discourse.

Judge: Ky. Can't Legislate Dependence on God - ABC News

It's been a week where there's been a little rolling back of old mindsets in Kentucky. Earlier in the week, a bill was prefiled to remove the 19th century section of oaths of office vowing not to engage in duels. No joke; my wife took that oath when renewing as a Notary Public. Yesterday, a circuit judge's ruling struck down 2006 law forcing the state Office of Homeland Security to propagandize (the term that best fits here) that "the safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God." The law mandated such references in training materials and on the plaque at the entrance to the state Emergency Operations Center in Frankfort. I can't make this up. A link to the ABC article follows.

Judge: Ky. Can't Legislate Dependence on God - ABC News

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