Facts Matter Even Ten Years Later.

 terror, Truth, Uncategorized  Comments Off
Sep 102011
 

Ten years later the wounds are still fresh, the emotion is still high, the outrage is still visceral. As Americans we mark this anniversary with horror, fascination and dread. 9/11 tore a hole in the fabric of our national psyche that we struggle to patch even now. As we endeavor to mend the damage, are we willing acknowledge facts that we all too willingly ignored at the time? Will we face facts about what those who would terrorize us wanted? Will we spend another ten years believing comfortable but inaccurate platitudes like “they hate us for our freedoms”?

Will it make a difference?

I don’t know.

An honest acknowledgement of fact may not lead to truth but it is a damn fine place to start.

The terrorist don’t give a flying fuck about our freedoms, they don’t give a fuck about anything we do as long as we are doing it within the boundaries of our country. Remember the vitriol that spilled (mostly) from the right when the inaccurate reports surfaced that there would be a mosque built at ground zero? Many in our country were completely incensed that such a thing could possibly be allowed, tempers flared, blood boiled and it wasn’t even true… Not only that, it happened in a country FOUNDED on the concept that free expression of religion is fundamental. Osama Bin Laden objected to American military presence on soil his religion considered sacred. Imagine how simple it was for him to inflame the passions of religious people that were offended that a foreign country is interfering with their lives, in their region, and that these foreigners can easily be defined as infidels…

Cool down, I am not suggesting that there is ANY justification to the horrific acts that took place that Tuesday ten years ago today. What I am saying is that if we aren’t willing to “see” what occurred we diminish our capacity to react appropriately.

The world is NOT black and white, each time we try to distill it to the scope of a GOP talking point we reduce our nation and it’s capacity to the lowest common denominator… It wasn’t good enough then, it isn’t good enough now, it will not be good enough going forward.

An honest acknowledgement of fact may not lead to truth but it is a damn fine place to start.

It’s about time we start.

 Posted by R. Paine at 8:35 pm

We don’t need a debt ceiling we need a bullshit limit.

 debt ceiling, GOP, government, Hypocrisy, Politics, Truth  Comments Off
Jul 282011
 

The most disturbing thing (of oh, so many disturbing things) about the debate over the raising of the debt ceiling is this…

Everyone in leadership on the right acknowledges that the debt ceiling must be raised, yet claims that their “compromise” in the effort is raising it at all…

Or if you prefer (or can relate more completely)

The GOP is selling the concept that honoring the “full faith and credit” of the United States of America is somehow a “compromise”…

In either case, in any case, by any standards, the political right in this country is pushing pure shit and is willing, no, eager to decimate the American economy and the citizens of this country to push their anti-American bullshit… is there a ceiling for that?

 Posted by R. Paine at 8:26 pm

Abdication of Democracy

 debate, GOP, government, Hypocrisy, Obama, Politics, Taxes, Teaparty, Truth  1 Response »
Jul 262011
 

This is a very simple concept, and only a simple explanation will suffice… I pondered trying to write this post using only fifty unique words but I am not sufficiently talented to make “I do not like the righties plan I do not like it Sam I am” adequately detail what I mean…

Our democracy is based on co-equal branches of government, when those branches are held by different parties the government cannot enact new legislation unless the parties can reach a compromise that satisfies both sides. In such a case new legislation might not be possible, too bad, deal with it.

The problem comes when action MUST be taken by the legislative branch to continue the basic functions of the government that these disparate players are supposed to be serving. If inaction is not an option than compromise isn’t just an unpleasant reality it is an absolute necessity. The government of the United States of America cannot be shredded by the refusal of elected representatives to participate. The business of the United States requires that those who would pretend to be worthy of inclusion could put aside ego and ideology for the greater good of the nation, those unwilling to do so prove themselves unworthy of their post… period.

Democracy is not unlike herding kittens, progress is never going to be simple or direct, but there are times that all hands must come together to accomplish that which must be accomplished. Refusing to acknowledge that divided government requires compromise is tantamount to abdication of the concept of Democracy. If you have no use for our government, get the hell out of the way, the citizens of this country require more. A government of, by and for the people can only be hijacked for a limited time, when that time is up the pushback will be swift and harsh.

I could not, would not, ever vote.
For taxes on a great big boat.
I will not vote to raise a tax.
balance on the seniors backs!
Not in the dark! Not in a tree!
Not in a car! You let me be!
We do not like them on the rich.
We do not like them silly bitch.
We will not raise a single tax.
Despite all of your stupid facts.
We do not like them here or there.
We do not like them ANYWHERE!

Seriously, this is the level of discourse from the right, and the country deserves better.

 Posted by R. Paine at 8:41 pm

Scorched Earth

 GOP, Politics, Truth  1 Response »
Jul 202011
 

Republicans are losing ground in the overall political narrative in this country. Republicans understand that they are losing ground, time marches on; progress is slow, painfully slow yet, in the grand scheme of things, inevitable.

Marriage equality is slowly becoming a reality in this country. The first building block in the concept that healthcare is a fundamental right for Americans haa been laid. Racism, though far from being conquered has been pushed to the point that is was possible for a man of color to be elected President of the United States.

Though Republicans may not openly admit their slow demise, everything that they do politically, judicially, legislatively points to the fact that they know it, and are willing to damage any institution to any extent to influence the country beyond the “consent of the governed”.

The fact of the matter is that for the whole of human history minorities have thwarted the will of majorities through methods ranging from force to fear to religion to deception… How much of a stretch is it to accept that democracy would be the next method by which those with power would rob those without of even the miniscule power that they had?

The GOP is better at politics because they literally are the current manifestation of power subverting the will of the people in our era, in our country, in our time.

Now it seems the GOP have recognized that the nation is rapidly moving beyond their traditional talking points and fear mongering tactics God, gays and guns will only serve them so well for so long. Those who benefit from the election and governance of Republicans in this country recognize it even more clearly and they are looking to make the shift in power to last decades longer than expected by enacting policy that not only solidifies their position and power but control the process far beyond the point that they can maintain plurality in representation.

Why else would they push for legislation that requires 2/3 majorities to increase revenues but only simple majorities to cut spending?

Why else would they push so hard for mandatory sentencing, reducing a judge’s ability to judge?

Why else would they push so hard to abolish abortion despite the Supreme Court decision that guarantees access to these services for women in this country?

Why else would they push so hard to codify the signing of pledges for all taking the Oath of Office today and those likely to take the Oath of Office in the foreseeable future?

The GOP doesn’t think they will be able to maintain majorities now they are focusing on dictating public policy until they can be over ruled by super majorities (And by super majorities, I mean ultra, super-duper majorities, these are democrats after all).

Mark my words, the GOP or at least the power behind them understands that the demographics of the country are shifting faster than they could possibly adjust for, they are looking to shackle the legislators now and for the foreseeable future to ensure that they can continue to leverage the power they already possess to the maximum advantage, it has worked so far and unless we act it will work yet again.

 Posted by R. Paine at 6:57 pm

Wood with the bark…

 Birther, GOP, Hypocrisy, Justice, Obama, Prejudice, the media, Truth  1 Response »
Apr 282011
 

I haven’t posted in a while as work and my activities with PLAN have filled practically every waking moment but this cannot pass without my small contribution to promote and amplify a superlative voice brilliantly distilling birtherism into the cold, hard, facts…

This video has some strong language, not that it isn’t warranted. Please take the time to watch… I am willing to bet that you will then be willing to share…

Thank you for your time

 Posted by R. Paine at 6:32 pm

Why Wisconsin Matters

 debate, GOP, government, Hypocrisy, Politics, Taxes, Teaparty, The Economy, Truth  1 Response »
Feb 172011
 

We see a very dangerous dynamic going on in the state of Wisconsin, and the state of Ohio, and the state of Florida and, and…

The GOP is selling the meme that hard working Americans should be outraged that hard working Americans have a tiny bit more than they do…

The Governor of Wisconsin proposes to strip all state workers the right of collective bargaining under the guise of a state budget crisis. The fact is that Wisconsin was projected to have a surplus this year before Gov. Walker cut taxes, additionally stripping workers of their bargaining rights will have little to no impact in the short term.

The Republicans have spent 30 years engineering the largest concentration of wealth that has been experienced in this country since the 1920′s and now they want those that have been decimated, stagnated, downsized and degraded to rip each other to shreds for the scraps left over…

Think about this for just a moment.

The median weekly wage for a non union worker is $717

The median weekly wage for a union worker is $917

The median weekly income for the top 1.5% is $4,807

The median weekly income for the top .1% is $30760

So logically the GOP would like to see those at the bottom of the earnings scale angry and outraged at those barely higher on the scale… oh and while they are at it outrage at the unemployed and those crushed by the housing crisis would very effectively control the 98% of this country that is being fleeced by unmitigated greed.

Now that the GOP have come completely out into the open to blatantly advocate for only the richest and most powerful we had better be prepared to go to the mat because if we can’t beat them when they behave like this there is very little hope.

 Posted by R. Paine at 8:43 pm

Don’t You Wish?

 debate, Gun Control, Lawrence, Politics, Truth  1 Response »
Jan 202011
 

I have always been fond of saying that intellectual curiosity is the difference between fact informing opinion and opinion filtering fact. Lawrence O’Donnell exposes the effect with Rep. Trent Franks, ideology renders him incapable of responding to the actual question asked… Watch all the way to the end, it is worth it.

Is it really such a blow to freedom to have to reload after ten shots?

 Posted by R. Paine at 8:15 am

Taxing Credulity

 debate, GOP, government, Hypocrisy, Politics, Taxes, Truth  Comments Off
Dec 052010
 

The tax cut debate, er, hypocrisy, um, extortion has according to “conventional wisdom” lead to the complete capitulation of the Democratic party to the party that no longer even bothers to try to justify the gulf between what they say they stand for and what they stand for every day of the world.

First let us deal with cold, hard, facts… Small businesses, who the GOP claim are the sole reason for their vehement support for the extension of the Bush tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 do NOT BASE THEIR DECISIONS ABOUT HIRING ON TAX RATES!

Small business owners base their hiring decisions on a calculation that the profit to be realized from the employee will exceed the expense of that employee (an expense that is tax deductable). Small business that do otherwise do not survive to reap the fantasy benefit that the Republicans pretend to provide. Tax cuts will not stimulate the creation of jobs, claim if you will that rich people will spend more of their expendable income than the unemployed trying to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads, it won’t be true but at least we would be debating reality.

The tax cut debate is like everything else the Republicans have done for the last thirty years, a lie designed to enrich the few while creating the conditions to decimate the social safety net that they have always despised.

Not kidding…

 Posted by R. Paine at 7:38 pm

Don’t Shoot the Messenger Pt. 2

 debate, GOP, government, media, Politics, Truth  Comments Off
Nov 292010
 

So we have been over how the approach to messaging creates a clearer path to unity for the right than the left but beyond unity, what advantage does the right glean from their rigid adherence to doctrine? Understanding… The right has been running on a few established memes for better than three decades, it is these memes that allow them to communicate whole belief structures in few words.

First a brief discussion of memes; A meme is a postulated unit of cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena (Wikipedia definition).

Memes like;

“small government”

“the sanctity of life”

“lower taxes creates jobs”

“free markets”

“tax and spend liberals”

“right of center country”

“let you keep more of your own money”

“we trust the American people with their money”

“patriotism”

These memes have been repeated and ingrained for the better part of thirty years, there is an agreed upon definition that is built into the hearing of the audience making it possible for complete idiots to communicate to their audience even when they are barely able to communicate at all. Seriously, look at the last election and tell me without the heavy use of these memes people like Sharron Angle, Joe Miller and Christine O’Donnell could possibly make a coherent argument for their candidacy (and I realize we are only talking coherent to those who buy into the meme). So the right can field any old idiot and as long as they keep hammering the memes, their base nods in agreement and the media buys into their credibility.

At times it truly feels like the invasion of the Borg, resistance IS futile they just keep coming, or even more apt, it feels like zombies, it’s exhausting they just keep on coming and even when you completely eviscerate them in a debate, they come back to life blurting a thirty year old meme that still manages to net them a large portion of “likely” voters. What can be done? How do you combat the stupid when it has been institutionalized?

Don’t Shoot the Messenger…

I don’t mean me, don’t shoot the messenger in this case means that you can take out candidate after candidate, you win some and you lose some but we will never achieve enough traction on the strength of facts to change the tide as long as we allow the right to play the game by their rules…

What makes the right so effective at communicating a unified message? Their memes…

Don’t shoot the messenger, dismantle the message. Trying to kill every zombie that can repeat a talking point is tedious, time consuming, expensive and ultimately futile. Only by tearing down the meme will we accomplish long term gains in political discourse in this country so desperately needs.

Don’t shoot the messenger, dismantle the message, because until we can tear down these memes and make the right run on their ideas as they relate to the real world the sheer effort to overcome the zombies will sap our strength, fracture our coalitions and damage our democracy.

Progressives, tear down these memes!

 Posted by R. Paine at 5:18 pm

Don’t Shoot the Messenger Pt. 1

 debate, Global Warming, GOP, government, Hypocrisy, Politics, Religion, Truth  1 Response »
Nov 282010
 

In politics there is what you say and there is what you do… what you do could justifiably be called policy, what you “say” about what you are doing, have done or will do, well that’s the “message”.

The” message” is the daily scorecard of politics in this country. Success or failure of the “message” wins and loses elections far more frequently than policy even though it has no actual impact and policy bears directly on our lives and livelihoods. Success of a “message” often depends on widespread adoption by the talking heads and endless repetition, even in the face of facts that clearly refute the so called “message”, and this is where we find the vast difference between the left and the right the effectiveness of their “messaging” and why we will never be able to beat them if we keep playing their game.

The main difference between the left and the right boils down to approach. It is the approach that amplifies the “message” and the fact is that the rights “message” will always be louder and more cohesive than the left and there is not one damn thing that we can do about it.

The right has a world view built around ideology. Facts that don’t fit into that ideology are discarded without a second thought while facts that fit are paraded as proof positive of their point. It is this approach that makes it possible to ignore centuries of geological science and profess a belief that the earth is six thousand years old or to find a few dubious emails proof positive that more than two thousand scientists with the IPCC are lying about climate change.  It is not difficult to understand how this approach lends itself to unified voices and consistent “messaging”, something happens that fits into the overall ideology and the whole chorus starts singing the same tune.

The left by and large have a world view that is shaped by fact, as more information becomes available we are willing to change our minds. Being able to let go of a previously held belief in the face of new facts is a natural process for those who share this world view. Not that we don’t get invested in our beliefs, far from it, we will fight tooth and nail to try to convince each other we have the right read on the facts, that we understand what it means. The “messaging” from the left therefore is nuanced, there are flavors of an overall theme, and when the information changes, the “message” shifts, amplification is lost, consistency broken, repetition impossible.

The upshot is that while the right is focused on black and white the left is painting with a thousand shades of gray, and we’ll fight about every bit of it, including how to spell grey. It is our nature, it informs our approach and though it seems at times to be the worst kind of political liability, it only truly is if we limit ourselves to playing their game with their rules.

So since “messaging” has gotten so important in politics, how are we to overcome this “messaging” Achilles heel? I shall attempt an answer to that in my next post…

 Posted by R. Paine at 3:35 pm
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