Country first

Vietnam. Now there was a just cause.

Behold the conservative feminist

Several pieces in the business press today suggest that Sarah Palin is a feminist: indeed, a greater example of a feminist than Hillary Clinton. The reasons cited include the fact that Palin is a working mother, and, on the Hillary score, Palin got where she is today without riding the coattails of some powerful man.

What "feminism" means is never coherently explained, so subsequent arguments turn into a predictable mess, loosely smeared around the formula that women + power = feminism. This is how FT columnist Chrystia Freeland arrives at the conclusion that achieving power without a man is more feminist than the opposite.

My own understanding of feminism is that it stands in opposition to any exercise of authority which denies women the opportunity to decide for themselves on issues which primarily affect them. (This is really just a restating of the classical anarchist position toward all authority -- that power requires the consent of those affected in order to have legitimacy -- in this case as it applies to gender.) So the test of feminism is not merely whether women hold positions of authority, but whether the authority held is legitimate vis-a-vis affected women.

By this measure, it is hard to see how Sarah Palin qualifies as a feminist; certainly not by the criteria that "she works," as there is no serious systemic challenge to American women pursuing this anymore. On the other hand, whether or not women are compensated in an equivalent fashion to their male counterparts when they work is another question entirely. Where Palin falls on this practice, and what she is doing about it (e.g., speaking out, supporting legislation; or, alternatively, keeping quiet to advance her own career at the expense others), would be a much better measure of her commitment to feminism. Unfortunately, all of the efforts to paint Palin a feminist have done so by conflating a conception of "good feminism" with behavior that is in fact already socially-prescribed -- or sanctioned -- for women by others.

Sarah Palin

McCain's vice-presidential pick has vowed to pop a virtuous cap through the very glass ceiling Hillary could only swat using the hammer of popular appeal and the sickle of dirty politics. Yet the RNC's strategy certainly smacks of a Laura Croftian approach to advancing women in power: construct an oddly-proportioned female avatar attractive enough to men -- namely, one that never challenges their world view and, even better, reinforces their prejudices -- and even they can be brought round to the feminist cause!

In the early 1990's, Laura Croft shattered the glass ceiling for ample-assed video game heroines with munificent mammaries, in the title Tomb Raider. She wasn't like those cock-hating, neo-nazi militant -- probably lesbian -- feminine characters like Princess Zelda, who were forever sending one out on endless errands with little to no prospect for conjugal reward, and who worst of all, with the exception of her ears (and who cares about those), insisted on being drawn to scale. I remember reading interviews with gamers at the time who confessed they didn't mind assuming the role of woman whose default orientation towards the player was always buttock-first except in sequences where a wandering teat might block the view.

As it is with the gelatinous adolescent gamer, so it may be with the contemporary conservative male. Here is Sarah Palin, a woman after their own hearts: a former beauty contestant and pseudo-businesswoman turned politico-familywoman; a self-proclaimed Christian firearm enthusiast who eats red meat and sees patriotic petroleum as the answer to the global eco-energy catastrophe. I have to commend the Republicans for depositing some excitement into the final lap of an increasingly somnolent campaign season, even if it amounts to little more than a dolled-up version of their own erotic fantasies -- in this case featuring a live human female. Congratulations.

News Digest

Russia: In all the western coverage of the Russian-Georgian crisis, find me an analyst who argues that US missile networks in Eastern Europe are part of the problem and I will give you a person without an interview.

Denver: Bill and Hillary speak; "Can't you smell the unity!?"

BOTOX: It's all about freedom of expression... (thanks Mary Beth)

Naomi Klein on Obama

One more CEO against EFCA

Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus writes today that "America [will] become France" if a new labor bill, the Employee Free Choice Act, were ever to become law. "It would virtually guarantee that every company becomes unionized," he says in the Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Marcus' fears are reinforced by an experience he had in the 1970's, when he traveled to England only to discover "the airport workers, bus drivers and garbage collectors were all on strike." An investor in the British company he was looking to acquire remarked that "the U.K. was finished," explaining that the tax rate was 75%. This anecdote comprises the total body of evidence Marcus proffers in support of his paragraph's lead assertion that "[c]ountries other than france have suffered the consequences of bad labor laws" -- i.e., unions are susceptible to work stoppages, and employers are susceptible to hyperbole.

It's worth noting that Marcus does not explain why the EFCA is objectionable except on the above grounds that unions represent interests other than management, and that this bill could expand their base of support. As a result, he favors the current "secret-ballot" process of union certification simply because it has proven effective in achieving the opposite result: when employers have more time to respond to an organizing drive, they have more opportunities to thwart it, both legally and illegally. The EFCA would simply require majority signatures in a workplace to create a union. This can only be construed as "undemocratic" if one believes an employer should enjoy a de facto veto over the entire process.

Joe Biden: Mine eyes have seen the hoary!

Change we can deep-knee in.

Or Does It Explode?

There are few sights more pathetic than a man who so transparently hopes to wield authority over others that it frustrates his every attempt at doing so.

What is wrong with feminism today

I am about to tell you...

The beginning of Wikipedia's entry on feminism:

Feminism is a discourse...

Feminism is a discourse. Do you know what that means? Do adolescent girls? What about my mom? Or my sister?

To me, it sounds like feminism is a conversation with someone who can't say four words without becoming incomprehensible because they simply have too much graduate school debt to feel comfortable doing otherwise. But perhaps that is just me.

Alternatively, I suppose it is possible that feminism is more like a fireside chat with Tina Fey -- or perchance a drunken confession from Paris Hilton. I mean, who really knows what feminism is anyway -- and how could we ever? It is just a frilly pink mystery.

Now tell me what in world Joe Biden is going to do about it. This is a man whose track record with the Thosepeoples of the world may well have him penning a pro-woman tract entitled "What Women Get from Men: DICK; Take It Anyway You Want To"; that is if by "penning" I mean "pasting" -- which apparently I do. Yes, ladies, we may be screwed with Biden, but at least we won't be beaten.

When School Isn't About Education

Every institution has a bias that reflects the interests of its owners and management. In the case of American education, we are talking about public education in a country that is run by business. If you have ever been employed in a business, you know the prevailing concerns are that you a) show up on time, b) follow orders, and c) produce results in the manner prescribed. Compare that to your experience in the public school system. It is not a coincidence.

Institutions are complex, however, and there are always competing trends which may depart, sometimes significantly, from any de facto mandate. Paradoxically, this often includes participants who too rigorously advocate on behalf of the ostensible -- in fact, "official" -- purpose of a given institution: hospital staff who preference patient need over insurance company rules; journalists with a professional commitment to pursuing the truth; educators who teach critical thinking skills and endorse an impartial passion for learning, no matter where it may lead.

All of these are examples of contradictions within institutions that are either tolerated or subject to corrective action, depending on degree. Rarely, an individual case may be embraced for its usefulness to the reputation of an institution, reaffirming its "official mission" in the face of some scandal that was probably precipitated by its actual practice. Administrative discipline will frequently fail in instances where there is either adequate public exposure or where there is a widespread commitment among employees to the official mission versus a mere deference to power. Managers with the most power often know best when to yield, whether to public outcry or internal resistance, precisely because they have the most to lose.

US workers pay more from less unionization

Workers in the European Union are faring better than their American counterparts in the latest economic downturn due to higher unionization rates and job-security legislation, according to a feature in today's Wall Street Journal. Even non-union workers have benefited from union-negotiated laws linking wage-increases to inflation.

These types of measures predictably come under fire from economists who emphasize the dangers of a wage-price inflationary spiral, and naturally that would not be a good outcome. However, what we know at present is that millions of American workers are under significant economic stress in a way that their EU counterparts are not. Whether or not EU labor policies will lead to a wage-price spiral is an important question, but it is still a question, not a certainty. Given the impact that higher unemployment rates have on people's lives, one might hesitate to adopt a hawkish position on inflation in response to problems that are not yet obvious. (Albeit this is only a concern when the quality of "most people's lives" is assigned some value -- a dubious notion when we are talking about the breed of business economists who can praise "jobless recoveries," and so on.)

Dean Baker additionally points out the threat posed by US-style wage-stagnation to domestic consumption, and its potential role in hastening economic decline.

An orientation toward power

Great injustice is rarely countered by any perfect application of power. Feminism can exclude the less affluent; African-American advocacy groups can be homophobic; anti-colonialist movements substitute domestic despots for foreign ones; anti-war, pro-environment vegetarians can behave as terrorists; and almost every group either trivializes the contributions made by women or is openly hostile to them. The urgency of a good cause can too easily provide the basis for other abuses, which is why I believe Foucault once named the "strategic adversary" as being "the love of power -- in our everyday lives and behavior; the worship of the very thing that dominates and exploits us."

This is why I can only pledge fealty to the greatest dispersal of power possible -- not to parties or politicians or even "causes" in the abstract, since these are often the best vectors for the illegitimate application of power, invariably in the name of something just. All authority should be viewed impartially with great skepticism, until the guilty are proven innocent.

Musharraf resigns; Washington fields candidates for Pakistan

In the eyes the freedom-loving west, Pervez Musharraf was Pakistan's idealist strongman who merely suspended the constitution, sacked Supreme Court justices, jailed activists and imposed martial law when his authority was challenged. After all, to err is human, but to dutifully carry out Washington's will in an Islamic republic divine!

***

As Condoleeza Rice recently clarified, democracy is a "unified political-economic model" of which the United States is the preeminent example. It follows that we can export ourselves to countries that still labor under the delusion of democracy as a political process to which all public choices are subject, including economic ones. This contributes handily to US fondness for dictators -- or the Chinese Communist Party, for example -- when they impose favorable economic or security outcomes in the face of whatever their respective populations would freely choose. Remember the first western appraisal of Musharraf after his 1999 coup: "He is someone we can do business with." This speaks volumes.

The War Train: A Singing Metaphor



In this clip, government convinces the public to sing from its war hymnal until the public realizes its mistake.

The Unbearable Lightness of Jihad

Perhaps it is refreshing for statesmen and journalists of the older set to strike a Cold War pose after taking it on the chin for so long with this terrorism junk. Don't get me wrong: terrorism is great in a pinch, but will it really buy you a fleet of F-22s and an X-Box 360 for every soldier? Maybe the notion of Osama Bin Laden turning the free world into a seventh-century Islamic caliphate using horse-riders and Kalashnikovs isn't the best long-term narrative for a defense-based economy after all. China and Russia on the other hand: they can't disappear into the mountainous borders of Obscuristan; nor can they disperse their armies like swarthy, bearded spores across all continents while occupying none, scarcely sustaining a ripple in the minds of Americans for very long, especially when gas is $4 a gallon. All I know is that if I-95 is going to be propped up with sheetrock and particle board because using public money for public purposes = socialism, people would probably feel more comfortable subsidizing invisible tanks and nuclear-armed Wall-Es if they got to focus their wrath, a la competitive sporting events, on the palpable evil of existing nations.

Naomi Klein on Milton Friedman, Oil and the "Shock Doctrine"

US response to Russia makes the worst of a bad situation

Western analysis of the Russian-Georgian conflict is discounting long-standing Russian security concerns, and setting the stage for a series of provocative policy responses that will only exacerbate tensions in the region.

The greatest of these mistakes is arguably the US-sponsored "missile defense" project in eastern Europe, first billed as a requisite defense against Iran but now fast-tracked under the new pretext of Russian intransigence. Russian officials have said this single issue transcends any territorial dispute on their border -- surely comprehensible to Western observers were they to imagine "defensive" Russian missiles deployed in Mexico; or, as recent history would have it, Cuba.

American efforts to paint Russia the aggressor in order to advance military objectives in Europe are only likely to fuel the kind of siege mentality that prevailed in Moscow through its Soviet years, giving added incentive to regional expansionism. This is not a course to which any sane observer should hope to return. Regrettably, failure of Western media outlets to provide any manner of even-handed analysis of the Russian-Georgian affair, coupled with the bellicose declarations of our resident lunatics, is doing much to push us in that direction.

Wal-Mart lies to employees about new union bill

Wal-Mart may be the subject of an investigation into whether it violated federal election laws by discouraging employees from voting Democratic this fall. Video released to the Wall Street Journal depicts store managers circulating inaccurate information about the Employee Free Choice Act, and calling Democratic efforts to pass the bill "scary."

In the hour-and-a-half meeting, held for managers in a Southern state, the leader tells employees that their wages may be reduced to minimum wage for up to three months before a contract is negotiated, that union authorization cards violate workers' right to privacy by including their Social Security numbers on them and that if a small unit within a store votes to unionize, the entire store will be unionized.

"If you have 10 associates in a photo lab and six sign union authorization cars, now the store is unionized," the meeting leader told employees. "Six people can make a decision for 350 people," which is about the average number of workers in a Walmart supercenter.

Wal-Mart CEO, Lee Scott; the National Association of Manufacturers, and the US Chamber of Commerce are some of the biggest players to come out against passage of the EFCA. Their public strategy has been to argue against the bill on the grounds that it would harm workers by exposing them to a more viable organizing process, leaving less room for company interference. But the fact that internal discussions (in this case, within Wal-Mart) do not mirror these public concerns, and in fact contain numerous fabrications about the law, suggests that industry is not being forthright in its objection to the bill.

Wall St. outsources to India


from The New York Times

“There’s a huge amount of grunt work that has been done by $250,000-a-year Wharton M.B.A.’s,” Mr. Kessler said. “Some of that stuff, it’s natural to outsource it.”

He added, “These are middle of the office jobs, not back office, but they’re not the people on the front line.”

After research, the next wave may include more sophisticated jobs like the creation of derivative products, quantitative trading models and even sales jobs from the trading floors.

I am eager to hear the forthcoming arguments about how this practice represents "unfair trade" and puts national security at risk when it affects more than just manufacturing jobs and lower-income workers. Oh, sweet anticipation.

With little to gain, US favors Russian-Georgian ceasefire

International reaction to the conflict between Georgia and Russia has been unanimously in favor of a ceasefire, which offers the best hope for the region's affected civilian populations.

The consensus stands in contrast to other regional conflicts in recent years. In 2006, the United States backed Israel's massive bombing campaign against Lebanon, killing over a thousand Lebanese under the pretext of "existential" self-defense against rebel rocket attacks which killed 44 Israelis. The ceasefire agreement, had it arrived earlier, could have reduced both figures substantially. However, absent pressure from the US, Israel was given broad license to keep civilians on both sides in harm's way as the country's leadership tried vainly to impose a political solution by force. Capitalizing on this power advantage was called exercising "Israel's right of defense" by the American intellectuals and officials who helped prolong the bloodshed.

In the current conflict, the United States is allied with the weaker nation, making protracted hostilities much less attractive. Georgia is neither strong enough to stand up to Russia, nor perceived as valuable enough to risk igniting a wider conflict, so the US favors an end to hostilities and a return to the status quo. Fortunately, this gives the international community more leverage with Russia, who, as the stronger party in the conflict, doubtless sees an advantage in sustaining its campaign, much as the US and Israel did in 2006.

Naomi Klein on China, the Olympics and "McCommunism"

Israel expands settlements in Jerusalem; quiet "What we sees, we takes"-policy has worked before

An Israeli plan for new residential construction in Jerusalem has drawn fire from the European Union, which says the move undermines the Middle East peace process. Israel is proscribed from new settlement activity both by international law and as a condition of the US-sponsored negotiations it has officially endorsed. However, ongoing US military and political support for Israel has largely outweighed any costs associated with continued illegal behavior.

Finally! Some good news...

"The antichrist isn't going to be an American, so it can't possibly be Obama. The Bible makes it clear he will be from an obscure place, like Romania."

Defending a worker's right to be fired

George McGovern wants the Democratic party to protect a worker's right to a secret ballot in union organizing drives. That is nice. I wonder if George McGovern will protect a worker's right not to be illegally fired in the months or years it takes to actually hold a secret ballot, however, all while the employer dances circles around the law or draws plans to close the offending facility (or merely threatens to do so). Oh, yes, I forgot: the fine for illegal firings is $5, adjusted for inflation. I can understand why George McGovern's first concern -- shared by the Chamber of Commerce and Lee Scott of Wal-Mart, btw -- is to preserve a worker's right to a secret ballot. Standing on a chair in the company cafeteria and asking your co-workers if they would accept instant union status would be more secret than the high-theater farce that exists now.

Solzhenitsyn

It's distressing to me how people like Alexander Solzhenitsyn or Elie Wiesel will bear witness to the suffering of the most vulnerable only when they, or people like them, are included in this category. They don't take principled stands that preference the poor under any political context, but rather make politics a condition of their advocacy. This is all the more horrible considering that their most celebrated works -- "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and "Night," respectively -- seem explicitly aimed at the injustice of organized social violence against defenseless populations as a rule, not merely because it happened to them. Yet Wiesel is notoriously uncritical of Israeli policy towards its ghettoized Palestinian subjects, while Solzhenitsyn somehow came around to championing Putin's authoritarianism after winning the Nobel prize for ably chronicling Stalin's.

Domestic drilling will not relieve high gas prices

Congress has breached a weeks-long impasse over an energy bill ostensibly aimed at alleviating high gas prices, but which economists say will carry no benefit for American consumers at the pump. Top Democrats have resisted lifting a ban on off-shore drilling, but popular support for increased production combined with Republican efforts to cast opponents as obstructionist has made that stance politically untenable.

***

The oil industry and their allies in Congress have successfully argued that the solution to high gas prices is increased domestic production, namely in areas that have previously been off-limits (in this case for environmental reasons).

It is widely recognized that this kind of drilling will have no meaningful impact on prices, since the amount of oil projected is too small, the time frame too broad (it can take decades to establish new production), and the often misunderstood reality that oil is sold on a world market: just because it is produced here does not mean it is consumed here. Advocates, such as the Bush administration, do not deny any of this, instead claiming that the move will "send a message" to oil markets, thus relaxing prices.

The new compromise can be read as victory for oil companies, whose scope of operations will be expanded to ecologically sensitive areas, and who stand to profit most from the undertaking. Also, members of Congress will appear to be taking action on high gas prices during an election season, as opposed to doing nothing; which, apart from crafting a long-term move away from fossil fuels and supporting renewables, is about all they can do about energy costs in the short-term anyway.

Operation Scheduled Departure

The Bush administration has launched a new initiative in its war on NAFTA refugees by inviting them to deport themselves at their own expense. Surrendering would incur no penalty other than to return to one's home country, where the same conditions that encourage border-crossing -- landlessness, joblessness and hunger -- remain.

The move may be seen as a last-ditch effort for the White House to expel as many "illegal people" before the end of the Bush term. The administration's prior strategy -- raiding private homes with tactical assault teams in order to "capture" illegal suspects -- proved less popular with local communities.

***

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) opened Mexican markets to subsidized US agro-exports -- like corn -- which undercut local farmers. It also eliminated Mexican subsidies for small and mid-sized farming, displacing many peasant communities, and consolidated land-holdings under multinational conglomerates. This had the anticipated effect of pushing Mexican peasants either into domestic manufacturing or, in many cases, over the border and into the US.

Mustafa Barghouti: Palestinians have already compromised a compromise

FT

"In one case, an experienced terrorism prosecutor who was considered by some in the DoJ as 'head and shoulders' above other ­candidates was denied a counter-terrorism job by Ms Goodling because his wife was active in Democratic politics. The post was later filled by a registered Republican candidate who did not meet the basic experience-­related qualifications of the job."

That's What She Said

"When you have a systemic challenge like the war in Darfur, it requires more than a few mercenaries, even very well equipped and very well trained," he said.

[UN chief of peacekeeping Jean-Marie] Guehenno was responding to a question about an editorial in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal titled "Mercenaries for Darfur."

What Batman and Bush Have in Common

from the Wall Street Journal

There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war.

This is the best piece of political satire not to appear in The Onion in a very long time.

Murdoch's Journal

The Wall Street Journal has sponsored a poll asking American voters whether they better identify with the "background and values" of a white POW on one hand, or a non-white, multi-ethnic, Ivy league-educated man who was raised by a single parent in Indonesia and whose middle name is "Hussein," on the other.

The responses form the basis of a front-page feature in today's paper -- so dense with intrigue one gets the impression it was applied by trowel with Mr. Murdoch's own quaking hands.

Petrol-funded US thinktank says 100% green energy possible in 10 yrs

from the FT

Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington thinktank, said: "Mr Gore has moved a long way from the solutions recommended in An Inconvenient Truth : replace your light bulbs with compact fluorescents, buy a hybrid car, and telecommute from home.

"We couldn't come close to [his] goal of producing all our electricity from solar, wind, and geothermal energy in 10 years without coercive, even authoritarian government."

It's not always easy getting the "other side" of a story, journalistically speaking. Especially when one side is Al Gore speaking about global warming. Invariably, protesters will either be energy companies or -- as in this case -- the organizations funded by them.

This is a good example of how even high-end reporting can be undermined by the twin perils of time-constraint and a lack of willing takers.

The paradox in this case is that Mr. Ebell is right: confronting global warming will require governmental "coercion" of the interests he represents, as prescribed by an overwhelming majority of Americans -- in other words, a fairly straightforward democratic process. That he has chosen to label this authoritarian is more than likely because the outcome does not benefit his employers.

Alterman on Obama



Listen to Boromir talk about all the good he would do for Gondor if only he could have the ring of power!

"If you want to be effective in this country, you have to operate from within the consensus." Alterman does not elaborate on whose views make "the consensus," but what he is talking about is elite consensus, not popular consensus.

Elite consensus on Israel, for example, has been to back its most reactionary elements, whereas popular consensus (in the US but also worldwide) has favored a negotiated two-state settlement with the Palestinians. But since popular concerns do not count, our elected leaders must "get things done" by deftly balancing the demands of various elite groups.

Suggesting that democracy might be a welcome ALTERnative to one or another group "doing some good" on everybody else is nothing more than a romantic recipe for electoral loss. That may be true, but how much do we gain by winning, and is it enough?

Whites satisfied with racial progress

from the Financial Times

According to a survey by the University of Chicago, 79 per cent of the US's blacks believe either that they will not achieve racial equality in their lifetime, or that it will never be attained. In contrast, almost two-thirds of whites believe it has already been achieved.

I can't fail to reference William Kristol's op-ed following Obama's Philadelphia speech on race in March, when he wrote, "Over the last several decades, we’ve done pretty well in overcoming racial barriers and prejudice."

Now, if you had to choose between America's two favorite races -- aka "white" and "black" -- which would you guess William Kristol belongs to?

Martin Luther King, Jr. just loved the limelight

It should be clear to everyone of respectable opinion that Martin Luther King, Jr.'s role in the civil rights movement was largely inspired by his insatiable love for attention, and that his assassination stemmed mainly from his jealously of younger upstarts like Malcom X taking the bullets first.

Michael Eric Dyson, sociology professor at Georgetown University and Baptist preacher has this to say about Jeremiahgate:

If YouTube were around when Martin Luther King Jr. preached to black churches, I'm afraid he would be as viciously condemned as Jeremiah Wright, for he said the following to black congregations: "America was founded on genocide, and a nation that is founded on genocide is destructive."

It's worth remembering that King was widely condemned for his opposition to the Vietnam war and his "Poor People's Campaign" for economic justice by the very Northern establishment types who loved him so for exposing the myriad sins of the South. It is very important when you are endorsed by power never to step outside the role you are assigned to.

Change We Can Upheave In

from the New York Times

This country needs a healthy and open discussion of race. Mr. Obama's repudiation of Mr. Wright is part of that.

Are you a person of color who would like to be praised for initiating a much-needed national discussion on race? Easy! Just find another person of color who is already talking about race and denounce them. Then keep quiet. This time-honored trick will earn you many a friend in high places.

NYT: Black preacher too charismatic

Yesterday the New York Times ran what was for all practical purposes an editorial on Jeremiah Wright disguised as a news story. Among the insights to be gained was this gem:

[I]t turns out that Mr. Wright doesn’t hate America, he loves the sound of his own voice.

It's hard to know what particular tool the author thought an African-American pastor would use to ply his trade if speaking was too much in bad taste.

Wright is accused of enjoying himself too much, speaking excitedly -- and on topics ranging from the bible to world affairs to black history! He is also indicted for making the very forum that developed in response to the media's portrayal of him as "anti-American" too much about himself and not enough about Obama. In conclusion, Jeremiah Wright is simply too much the black preacher, and too little the campaign asset to be useful to anyone of importance at the Times or within the Democratic party.

Official anthem of the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999

The Rub: Wright is Right, but not quite White

Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, has a knack for saying things that are broadly incomprehensible to people in high places.

Here is one example:

Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” You cannot do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you. Those are biblical principles...

Now, to be sure, one can debate the extent to which the United States has done "terrorism on other people," particularly if one was raised within its borders, and especially if one has, with hard work, ascended to some position of importance within either its media or university system, or other avenue of influence.

But here is a useful rule of thumb: people who aren't in the line of fire can do lots of things that the people who are can't. When you are hiding your family from US produced ordnance, or from the "security services" of your US-backed dictatorship, you need not debate with loved ones over the "quality" of the experience being provided courtesy of the American tax-payer. And in the event that you lose a loved one, you need not debate internally whether or not it was "worth it" -- human life being a finite resource, it probably wasn't.

Do such circumstances come about as a result of US policy? It is the kind of question that is best posed to a Nicaraguan farmer or a Saudi Arabian woman -- people who live in close proximity to the effects of our policies -- rather than, say, our highly-educated friends at Harvard or NBC; or at the editorial pages of the New York Times -- people who hear the kinds of things Jeremiah Wright says and faint. Not that there is anything wrong with them -- they just don't see very far beyond their own experiences, nor are they paid to do so.

Carter bitch-slaps Bush on Middle East

It is not a good sign when the business of a nation must be carried out on a volunteer basis by ex-statesmen who have not held office in over a quarter century. Nevertheless, Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas leaders in Syria this week was the most constructive development in the Mideast "peace process" since the Bush administration adopted the crisis as its pet cause.

In talks with Carter, Hamas consented to respect any agreement negotiated between rival faction leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israel, provided such an agreement was ratified by Palestinians in a referendum.

The Bush administration reacted with wrath at Carter's initiative, as it undermined the ongoing US/Israeli narrative that "there is no partner" for negotiations in Gaza, a popular justification for the ongoing military and economic embargo there. Mideast scholar Juan Cole writes that up to a million Palestinians now face starvation as the UN has been prevented from distributing food aid by the blockade.

Employers unite against the Employee Free Choice Act

Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart, is desperate to protect worker's rights against a Democrat-backed labor reform bill likely to pass under the next administration, according to Thurday's Financial Times(1,2). Wal-Mart joins a growing coalition of business groups -- including the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Retail Federation, and the US Chamber of Commerce -- dedicated to lobbying against the bill.

"Our members believe this legislation is really detrimental to democracy and freedom of choice," said Jeri Gillespie of the National Association of Manufacturers.

The Employee Free Choice Act would change the way unions gain recognition from employers and the government by requiring majority signatures on membership cards in a workplace. According to organizers, this practice, standard in Canada and Western Europe, would make it harder for employers to disrupt their activity through intimidation and illegal firings.

Under current law, employers can recognize a union if a majority of employees sign a statement of support. However, employers also have the right to request a secret ballot, administered by the National Labor Relations Board. The new law would eliminate this prerogative, which includes "captive audience" meetings with employees to argue against union representation. Employers often hire "union avoidance consultants" to help undermine organizing efforts throughout the ballot process, and utilize the legal system to postpone or reverse the outcomes.

Lee Scott, however, chooses to frame the issue as a profound loss for workers: "It is terribly unfortunate that people are not talking about the fact that you are giving up your right to a secret ballot," he said. In his view, this opens up grave possibilities, such as employees being "subjected to the individual pressure of people calling you and knowing where you stand."

For most workers, the prospect of being fired by their employer for suspected union activity might weigh heavier on their minds than the non-binding judgment of their peers. According to Bruce Raynor of the Unite Here union, "Currently it almost behooves an employer to dismiss union supporters and break the law, because the penalties are so slight."

Nevertheless, the Wal-Mart chief bemoans what he see as the pernicious influence of powerful minority interests in the American workforce: "I think it's just unfortunate that it has become something that has been driven by a small group of people that have just extraordinary political influence."

But according to Rob Green, a lobbyist for the National Retail Federation, there is hope that the combined power of America's largest business lobbies might defeat a bill sponsored by a cabal of working people's organizations, bankrolled by the bottomless pockets of their mostly blue collar members.

"We're looking ahead to 2009. What we're trying to do this year is to educate legislators and the public at large about the details. We think the more the public learns, the less they like it."

Observations on the Klein/Scahill Guardian article

from The Guardian

While Clinton and Obama denounce the war with great passion, they both have detailed plans to continue it. Both say they intend to maintain the massive green zone, including the monstrous US embassy, and to retain US control of Baghdad airport.

Many liberals are committed to the idea that simply having a Democratic president will reverse the course of destruction that Bush has set, but I think this view is dangerously shortsighted. This is particularly true with foreign policy, which has always been shaped much more by large economic lobbies (multinational business and defense contractors, namely) than the general public, who tend to pay greater attention to the domestic issues that directly affect them. This is why if you look at historical trends in US foreign policy over time, they often remain constant through administrations of either party, because the economic actors who sponsor them operate largely unchallenged.

In other words, if Clinton and Obama can get you to endorse them without making a real commitment to withdrawal we cannot rule out the following sequence:

1. Obama/Clinton gets elected.

2. Liberals go home, leaving the important work of running the country up to someone who is preferable to Bush, in keeping with the theory that the Democrats will set the country straight.

3. The energy industry, defense contractors, etc. show up at the White House and on Capitol Hill everyday, flush with cash and other support for the incumbents, making very persuasive arguments to aides and think tanks and Council on Foreign Relations members as to why it is not in America's strategic interest to "abandon" Iraq.

4. Liberals are at home watching Jon Stewart or playing Xbox -- at any rate, not placing pressure on the administration or Congress to accomplish what they want.

5. Al-qaeda-type groups continue to capitalize on the presence of the world's largest superpower occupying an Arab country.

6. Something gets blown up, again, here at home.

The Scoop on Social Security

from the Financial Times:

Politicians understand that, with the Social Security Trust Fund surplus declining, they will no longer be able to borrow from them under the table while announcing fictitiously smaller deficits to justify continued expenditures and tax cuts. And they will have to generate funds from other sources of revenue to redeem the bonds after 2017. Rather than admit too much was borrowed recently, and must now be repaid, they want to reduce Social Security benefits. This puts much of the burden on the middle class, who created most of the surplus that has been used to hide the real size of the deficits.

Fundamentally, the Social Security issue is not one of "entitlements" but of the obligation of our government to honour its debt and not reduce Social Security benefits.

People my age talk about the impermanence of Social Security like it is a law of nature, but like any other public initiative, it merely requires adequate funding to exist. The postal system would be "in crisis" too if they never changed the postage rate or otherwise secured funding from the government, after all.

Social Security will exist as long as the public recognizes its importance and does not allow it to be dismantled by interests who stand to gain from its dismantling.

Really though, my view is that even if the government somehow "got rid of" social security, they would have to reinstate it again immediately, because leaving people no guarantee of income does not exactly lead to a "harmonious society," as the Chinese like to say. This is why even under the Bush privatization plan, Americans would have been highly restricted in how they invested "their" retirement funds: Uncle Sam knows whose door gets knocked on when large numbers of people lose everything in an economic downturn. Wiser observers in the government and corporate world already understand this: it is not good for business to have a national riot. This is why an article like this will appear in The Financial Times.

A Note on Working with Others in Impoverished Times

Since my co-workers and I do not garner "ample" wages from the highly-profitable activity we undertake on behalf of our employer, I try to lift their spirits by talking up the advantages to having a squeaky clean bank account, purged of "that evil money." This can have a tremendous effect on people who struggle in a perpetual state of barely making ends meet, and who never before considered the spiritual contribution their employer was making in their lives.

Clinton/Obama: "More insidious" on Iraq

Samantha Power Can't Possibly Be a Real Name

So Samantha Power resigns as foreign policy advisor to the Obama campaign because she actually had something to say -- not that it had anything to do with foreign policy -- for the first time. Well, it's one less reason to avoid voting for Obama. I will miss the many "ums" and "ahs" that she contributed to her NPR interviews, after boldly asserting that there are "profound" differences between Clinton and Obama on foreign policy. Maybe she won't have to worry herself over that Secretary of State job that she humbly wasn't considering until the NPR host twisted her arm. She can go back to Havard and write another best-seller on war crimes that other countries commit, ignoring the carnage Harvard's churned out over the years. Even her name sounds like an invention. Obama has truly granted my greatest wish.

9/11 Conspiracies (cont.)

Now take the example of 9/11.

In order to believe that the Bush administration orchestrated the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and presumably the White House, one has to explain why people in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the White House would attack their own institutions in order to accomplish any policy objective, foreign or domestic (the WTC representing Wall Street, who largely staff the executive branch). It stands to reason that if the Pentagon wanted to invade Iraq and Afghanistan, Donald Rumsfeld would have found some other means to do it besides flying a plane -- or firing a rocket, depending on what conspiracy theory you like -- into his own offices.

Secondly, one has to believe that multiple officials in multiple agencies thought that attacking themselves was a good idea, and that the murder of American civilians and personnel was worth whatever objective they sought to achieve.

Thirdly, not one of them had second thoughts -- or first thoughts, for that matter -- that this was fucked up when it was proposed to them, nor took the obvious hero's route at exposed it all to the press, making it the biggest story of all time. Nor did they expose it afterwards -- not even when the lucrative 9/11 conspiracy industry was born. This alone would have been worth an appearance on Oprah or Larry King.

Nor did any of the 9/11 conspirators reflect on the fact that they might get caught anyway -- hence the end of the Republican party -- or that the planes might not hit their intended targets, or that huge, high-risk projects of these kinds tend to be unpredictable, with too many variables to be easily controlled -- so why not stick to what has always worked in the past?

Finally, you would have to discount over a decade of Islamic fundamentalist rhetoric and action targeting the US for its military presence in Saudi Arabia and for supporting corrupt regimes throughout the Middle East -- in other words, that the same groups who tried to blow up the World Trade Center and large portions of New York City in the mid-90's were also part of this conspiracy, and by extension the Clinton administration as well.

As much as large institutions like the government deserve to be questioned, they should not be credited with a level of competency in their classified actions that can not be similarly observed in any of their public affairs. It is inexplicable to me that the same people who have failed so miserably in every undertaking they have conceived since 9/11 -- again, failing by their own standards -- can somehow be plausibly held up as masterminding a project far more risky and complicated than even the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, which have not exactly yielded the desired outcomes.

9/11 Conspiracies

At a time when so much is going wrong with the US comprehensively, it's hard to bear the amount of energy that is being devoted to saying that 9/11 was an inside job. 9/11 was not an inside job. I mean, maybe it was an inside job. It was as much an inside job as George Bush and his cabinet are the most competent criminal masterminds in the history of our species. In reality, they are merely criminal. We know this from the things they take credit for -- torture, wiretapping, and taking more time to pacify Iraq and Afghanistan than it took Hitler to conquer all of Europe. These people are not masterminds, just brazenly and belligerently self-serving, and not particularly capable even by that standard.

Governments often benefit from external threats, real or perceived. And it often happens that they generate them when such threats are in short supply, as a pretext for whatever actions they hope to pursue. But this usually amounts to provoking a small scale incident which can then be fed to the media as an act of war. For instance, this month the US press reported that Iranian speedboats acted "aggressively" towards large, heavily armed American naval vessels in waters outside of Iran. The original story was that the speedboats approached the Naval fleet at high-speeds, with radio-communication of a voice saying, "You will explode in a few minutes." They dumped "boxes" in the water -- who knows what they were, nobody asked, including the US media -- and sped away. The Pentagon later released video of the incident, boxes not included, in which they admit to having combined the audio and video after the fact, leading to charges of fabrication by the Iranians, who said the encounter was a routine ID check, and subsequently released a video confirming this. The Navy now claims it doesn't know where the source of original transmission came from. Hilarious and incompetent, as high-stakes propaganda attempts often are, though obviously dire for the people put at risk by such stunts.

Kucinich

Because the policies of Biden, Richardson and Dodd do not diverge significantly from those of their higher-profile peers, I'll jump ahead to Kucinich, who I believe is responsible for pushing Edwards into what was previously an upper-tier vacuum on the left. Had Edwards failed to make this move, it would have invited the rise of an alternative candidate from below, all while exposing him to continued losses to Hillary on terrain that she dominates. Richardson is apparently the establishment preference in this regard, with his party connections and energy sector ties. But, like so many candidates, Richardson cannot meaningfully distinguish himself on policy grounds; thus, he is forced to wait in the wings for the colossal misstep of his first-tier opponents which might lend relevancy to his campaign. In contrast, Kucinich's legitimacy is drawn from popular social movements -- the anti-war, environmental, civil rights, and social justice causes, for example -- which doubtless alienate significant portions of the owning classes, thereby precluding the kind of financing which becoming president in this country necessarily requires, but nonetheless resonate deeply with large swaths of the public.

News Digest from the Financial Times

Sick of it all

"Bellicose comments" from the White House on Iran are "not particularly helpful" according to Central Command chief, Admiral William Fallon, who stated that military action against the country "is not in the offing."

"None of this is helped by the stories that just keep going around and around that any day now there will be another war," he said.

"It astounds me that so many pundits and others are spending so much time yakking on this subject," to which the admiral might have added, "and by that I don't mean throwing up." Alas, it would seem one does not inherit the helm of Central Command with the deployment of double-entendre alone.

Hard for Dick

Meanwhile, Patrick Clawson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy has outlined the obstacles hawks face within the administration while pressing for another war: "The national intelligence director is saying we have time before the Iranians get the bomb, the secretary of state is saying diplomacy still has a chance, the secretary of defence is saying the military is at breaking point and the political advisers are saying another war would probably not be a good idea." So suck on that, Dick!

Bush's little helper

In case you missed out on the spectacle, Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman last week accused the Democratic party of being dominated by a "hyper-partisan, politically paranoid" liberal base who "are inclined to see international problems as a result of America's engagement with the world" -- or, as less-demented observers still call it: "Iraq."

Edwards

To John Edwards' credit, he has moved closer to popular concerns as his campaign has been superseded by Clinton and Obama, adopting positions that would otherwise be the domain of Kucinich alone. Edwards has accepted public financing and has made "a New Deal-style suite of programs" the centerpiece of his campaign, including free schooling from pre-kindergarten to college. Significantly, he was the first of the front-runners to lay out a coherent universal healthcare plan, long before his two leading opponents; and to the extent that his plan does not invite insurance or pharmaceutical lobbyists "to the table," it is superior to the later offerings.

It is unlikely that Edwards' positioning on these issues derives from any deeply-held principles, but, as with his late acceptance of public financing (he accepted it after he was out-financed anyway), is instead a calibrated response to political realities "on the ground." In effect, everyone is being outplayed by Clinton on the right, and with the Clinton/Obama amalgam firmly entrenched in the center, Edward's best chance has been to move left in a populist bid to appeal to voters on economic issues that typically alienate the US aristocracy. Edwards was not getting enough money from the possessing classes to compete with Clinton and Obama, anyway; subsequently, he was left with little incentive to run a campaign tailored to their concerns. If Edwards is to win the nomination, he will have to create the kind of upset in Iowa and Ohio that he has clearly committed himself to in the second half of his campaign. The fact that he is polling comparably to Clinton in these states is an indication of the kind of audiences he has there, and a testament to the logic of the strategy he has adopted.

Obama

One can't be blamed for hardly knowing where to begin with Barack Obama, since one hardly knows where he stands on anything. This is not entirely his fault, as it is apparent the national media give much more coverage to Clinton. However, Obama has not done himself any long-term favor by running his campaign on persona, even if it has gotten him this far. At least the negative attention which coalesces around Clinton can be tied to her policy proposals, which after all presupposes that she has some, thus rendering them positive in comparison to someone's that are not known. What does Obama have of his own besides "hope" and a desire to "change the tone" in Washington? And anyway, how is this accomplished -- or, even better, why is it desirable? Washington needs to be strung up, not coached on diction. This is just the kind of empty rhetoric which adds nothing to the debate.

Of course, Obama has policies -- good policies -- but one only learns of them by visiting his website. That is not a good thing, since he should be running on them, and making sure people know about them. For whatever reason, that is not happening. The media doubtless play their part, but so does reducing oneself to a "brand" in a presidential campaign.

Some reflections as the air turns cold

Perhaps the time has come to make some mention of our presidential hopefuls, painful though it may be for my fingers to tap the accursed keys. By way of an introduction, I will only say that my observations here should reflect many hours of shielding myself from most of what passes for "campaign coverage" -- or, the tallying of that quickly depreciating entity, someday to be remembered fondly as the American dollar, as it is deposited into the respective "war chests" (or, in the case of Kucinich, "sanity's tip jar.") However, as it is virtually impossible to talk "politics" without being pulled into the same vortex of refined inanity that accompanies celebrity concerns of any occasion -- sport, film or whathaveyou -- I am resigned to offer some elementary observations.

Clinton

Hillary Clinton is as terrible a place to begin as any; so, for our purposes, she should prove satisfactory. What is the best thing that can be said her? Indisputably, she is a woman; clearly, this holds monumental symbolic value in a nation that preferences men. As president, she would truly be the first of her kind. Unfortunately, so was Margaret Thatcher, which only underscores the reality of how dangerous the conquest for power really is. It is the reason why Frodo threw the One Ring into the fire, rather than adorn it for the feminist cause or for any cause: because power becomes an end in itself -- invariably so in its concentrated forms. To paraphrase Foucault, it is hardly a service to the woman's cause to bow at the altar of the very god which dominates and exploits them -- not sexist attitudes, per se, but the infrastructure of power which amplifies their effects until they prove harmful. Of course, passage of an Equal Rights Amendment under Clinton is a real possibility; on the other hand, it is virtually assured that many innocent people will pay the price for her presidency with their lives in whatever foreign theaters she hopes to act out her "executive resolve." The value of human gain must always be weighed with the human costs which accompany them; this is the balance which power always strives to conceal.

Naturally, Clinton cannot be singled-out in the conquest for power, since this is what pursuing the presidency currently means. But it is worth underscoring the inevitable violence of power, especially so in instances where we perceive some likely benefit to ourselves -- in this case, having a woman as president. We do ourselves a disservice to ignore the full spectrum of probable outcomes of a Clinton presidency, whatever conclusions we finally draw from them.

Into the Wild

Chris McCandless left society in the early 1990's, ostensibly in protest of its modern dimensions. The resonance of his story, now over a decade old, persists because while many people identify in contemporary society a broad range of deficiencies, few modify their lives boldly enough to register the full depth of their objections. That McCandless was successful in this regard is doubtless a significant part of what has drawn audiences -- including those that documented his life -- into a sympathetic reading of his account.

McCandless's grievances with modern society were never articulated coherently so much as communicated through his lifestyle. To the extent that he employed a principled critique, he mostly derived it from naturalist writings of the 19th century, or moral philosophers from the same period, such as Tolstoy. Many of these writers extolled simple living in pastoral settings as a means of preserving independence against the dominant institutions of their time -- organized religion and the state, namely. These entities were viewed as unduly coercive at best, actively immoral at worst. The solution prescribed by these writers involved disengagement from mainstream society for the moral health of the individual and clearer discernment of "truth," though usually as a precondition for some alternate, sustainable kind of engagement with the world (as opposed to permanent seclusion).

It is possible to imagine a different outcome for McCandless had his rebellion been informed by different, or at least more varied, intellectual traditions. In one respect, this has to do with intrinsic limitations of 19th century naturalism as applied to late 20th century US society. Opportunities to "live off the land" are not what they may have been in Thoreau's day, when small farming was still a viable enterprise, and land, especially in remote regions, could be had for cheap (at least for those permitted to own it). This is why McCandless was more likely to wind up wandering a state park than anything else: they offer the greatest space for the least commitment, and are less prohibitive than private lands. However, that they also attract people invariably contributed to greater risk-taking in the pursuit of a "genuine" exchange with nature. Such risks would have been less necessary in the 1800's, when "the wild" could not yet be classified as a commodity, and therefore required no exotic undertaking to experience it.

Another consideration when evaluating the role naturalism played in the ultimate fate of McCandless is what drew him to it in the first place. While it is possible he was predisposed to a heightened appreciation for nature, the evidence suggests that McCandless's break with convention drew greater inspiration from his anger at forms of authority which were inducing distress in his personal life. Salient among these was his parents' unsolicited overtures to help administrate his post-graduate development, coupled with the homogenized, materialistic values that such an arrangement implied. McCandless responded to these pressures mainly through evasion, his flight from his family and their lifestyle probably being one of the most destructive options available to him, at least judged by its consequences for others -- arguably for himself, as well.

It is plausible that the fundamental reconciliation which McCandless sought in his wanderings had more to do with knowing how to engage with authority satisfactorily than objecting to modern life per se. Never living past his early 20's, he had not learned how to creatively respond to that which aggrieved him in a way that might also reinforce the relationships he valued. There is no clearer example of this than the equal treatment he dispensed toward his parents, whom he discounted, and his sister, whom he adored. Arguing that this was a necessity is only true under the assumption that McCandless couldn't have stood up to his parents openly, and then proceeded with his plans accordingly. But his reading of nature as a viable alternative to the problems inherent in human relationships created a disincentive to learn how to constructively address them. A different exposure might have led him to become a union organizer or poverty campaigner, civil rights activist and so on -- i.e., someone who confronts social ills without boycotting society. He also might have challenged his parents' presumptions about the kind of person he was meant to become. It will remain an open question what the outcome of such an approach could have been.

White House champions progressive taxation

While the Bush veto on expanded children's healthcare continues to stand unscathed, it is interesting to learn of the underlying motivations behind the White House position. I'm not referring here to the philosophical uneasiness among modern-day conservatives in using public money for public purposes -- what our president in this case calls "socialized medicine" -- though this reason is well known. It appears there may be some "compassionate conservatism" at play as well: The White House has opposed the means of funding the proposal, which would involve higher taxes on tobacco. Their reasoning? The taxation would be regressive, because poor people smoke in greater numbers than the affluent; as such, it would be an unfair burden for them to bear. Doubtless this is good news for poor smokers everywhere -- just so long as they don't smoke those cigs beneath any of our nation's bridges.

Ahmadinejad in NY

Iran's president spoke at Columbia University today, opening a sluice chute of supposed "controversy" over whether the event should be allowed to happen. My own feeling is that it is better to be speaking than bombing or shooting at each other; perhaps this is why the neo-conservatives who favor war with Iran are so upset with the event, as it does not directly further their cause. It is why they try so hard to generate controversy around the mere fact that he has come here to speak, since he is a figure they want to demonize.

An awful lot of the accusations employed against Ahmadinejad as a justification for war have little substance behind them. For one thing, the president is the highest elected official in the Iranian system, with powers that are limited to some domestic areas, not international affairs. He does not have control over the Iranian military, for example. This calls into question the relevance of what Ahmadinejad has to say about international concerns, Israel included, since he has no real authority on the subject; it also leaves accusations of "dictatorship" open to question, since Iran's president is at least directly elected (unlike the religious clerics who make the central decisions affecting the country) . These are things the neo-cons and other right-wingers invariably omit when they beat their drums for war.

It's also interesting to learn that Ahmadinejad was denied a visit to ground zero when Iran (along with many other countries) expressed sympathy with the US after 9/11, and the Iranian people held candlelight vigils for the victims.

Here is a transcript of the Columbia talk.

Nationalism and Culture

Just as "the will of God" has always been the will of the priests who transmitted it and interpreted it to the people, so "the will of the nation" could only be the will of those who happened to have the reigns of public power in their hands and were, consequently, in a position to transmit and interpret "the common will" in their own way. This phenomenon need not necessarily be traced to inherent hypocrisy. Much more reasonably can we in this instance speak of "deceived deceivers"; for the more deeply the enunciators of the national will are convinced of the sacredness of their mission, the more disastrous are the results springing from their inherent honesty. There is deep significance in Sorel's remark: "Robespierre took his part seriously, but his part was an artificial one."

-- Rudolf Rocker

On Politics

What's interesting about people's attitudes towards politics is that the same people who love things like The Matrix will take the blue pill when it comes to the "matrix" that surrounds them daily.