Epistemic Ingemination

I’m voting against 1 and 2 and for everything else, F.W.I.W…

Chronicle’s explanations and endorsements are here.

Keith Olbermann clears things up nicely. A really remarkable video:

A very concise, good read on why we need single-payer health insurance.

Excerpt:

Currently, health care is treated as a privilege for the wealthy, those employed by the state or a large business, and for those over 65. Leaving everyone else uninsured is not just morally wrong, it is economically wrong. Over half of all bankruptcies are due to medical bills, and many of those bankrupted had insurance, but were underinsured with large deductibles or limited benefits.

I’m here to tell you that the above is a true statement.

Sen. Olympia Snowe:

“If you establish a public option at the forefront that goes head-to-head and competes with the private health insurance market … the public option will have significant price advantages”

This is the Republican argument against health care reform?

You should watch him in action.

Really.

Roger Ebert does a fine public service.

Read it all, watch the videos, follow the links. Be better.

On a mail list I belong to, we’ve been discussing a good article at the Atlantic entitled The Deficit Blame Game. It’s a scary one, and I recommend it. But I disagree strongly that it doesn’t matter who you blame. I think that it matters a great deal, and here is what I wrote in that vein.

I’m not bothered by the blame game, and feel no compulsion to appear to be even-handed in this argument. We are where we are because of Republican politics and policies. Period.

Pause and think big-picture for a moment. If the Democratic party had been in power for the last eight years, we would *not* be in this condition. Let’s put this another way: if the Republican party had not been in power for the last eight years, we would *not* be in this condition.

Two things to keep in mind: five trillion dollars of public money were effectively transferred into private hands over the last eight years. You’ve just witnessed the largest raid on a public treasury and the largest money laundering operation in history. I know that this sounds like wild-eyed conspiracy-theory hyperbole, but it’s a rationally and factually defensible statement. Follow the money and look at who benefited. Now compare that list to the donor list of the RNC.

The second point to keep in mind is that the current deficits are virtually mandated upon the current administration, due once again to the effects of previous policies of the Republican party. Virtually every credentialed economist on the planet has advised that immediate and massive deficit spending is the only way to avoid an unprecedented global economic catastrophe. There are, of course, policy questions of where and how to do this spending that are completely fair game for disagreement (and I personally disagree with much of what’s been done so far) but we really have no choice in doing it, according to the experts.

These massive deficits and accumulated debt, when combined, are truly dangerous. I think that the correct people understand this, and happily, much of the money is being pointed at infrastructure, health care, and energy efficiency upgrades that will have basic economic benefits to all, and will assist in enabling us to dig our way out in the future. One hopes. We have to start making things again, and we’ll have to live well within our means for a long, long time.

Unfortunately, if the rest of the world stops buying our bonds, then the grand experiment is over. Kaput. Gone. And that could happen this afternoon. (One trillion dollar banknotes to buy a loaf of bread? Don’t be so sure it can’t happen….) In the end, though, I am an optimist who believes that the good guys are usually the last ones standing.

I am all for even-handedness and balance in public discourse. On the other hand, we need to learn from our mistakes, and that necessitates identifying where and how those mistakes were made.

We are where we are right now because of Republican party politics. None of this would have happened if they had not been in power. Let’s remember that.

I think that Linda Sanchez is a Maroon, and I don’t like her politics.

(That’s neither Severe nor is it Repeated. But it is Hostile.)

I think that Linda Sanchez is a Maroon, and I don’t like her politics.

(That’s Hostile and Repeated.)

I think that she should be spanked.

(That’s Severe.)

I should now be fined big amounts or imprisoned not more than two years, or both, assuming that this is something that we want on the books. Heck, let’s prosecute me under Title 18, Chapter 41.875 USC while we’re at it. I could get life.

Sheesh. Where are we, fellow humans? Will you kindly make some noise about this stuff?

Original link is here.

Oh, good. Later this year, we get to observe D.C.’s most structured and formal of their various Kabuki dances — the Confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice.

We’re probably going to hear a lot about the usual Marbury vs. Madison and Plessy v. Ferguson, and Miranda vs. Arizona, Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade, Dred Scott, and even President Nixon vs. the United States & Texas v. Johnson, etc., argumentum ad nauseam.

JFTR, I’d much rather see Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad discussed. Or, rather, its presumption of the Corporation as a legal entity having the same rights as a natural person.

We could use a bit of judicial activism on that one. Just a thought.

Health care legislation will happen this year. A letter was sent today:

April 20, 2009

The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

For nearly a year, we have been working together toward the shared goal of significant reforms to our health care system. We must act swiftly, because the cost of inaction is too high for individuals, families, businesses, state and federal governments. Comprehensive health care reform legislation will responsibly contain costs, improve quality, enhance disease prevention, and provide coverage to all Americans. We are committed to working with you, and with our colleagues in Congress, to enact legislation to achieve these long-overdue reforms without delay. We are writing to you today to let you know of the schedule for committee action that we intend to follow to meet this goal.

Since our committees share jurisdiction over health care reform legislation in the Senate, we have jointly laid out an aggressive schedule to accomplish our goal. Both committees plan to mark-up legislation in early June. Our intention is for that legislation to be very similar, and to reflect a shared approach to reform, so that the measures that our two committees report can be quickly merged into a single bill for consideration on the Senate floor.

The unprecedented level of funding devoted to health care reform in your budget this year leaves no doubt about your commitment to the goals of expanding coverage, reducing costs, and improving health and health care. We have a moral duty to ensure that every American can get quality health care. We must act to contain the growth of health care costs to ensure our economic stability; to help American businesses deal with the health care challenge; and to make sure that we are getting our money’s worth. With your continued leadership and commitment, and working together, we remain certain that our goal of enacting comprehensive health care reform can be accomplished with the urgency that the American people rightly demand.
Respectfully yours,

Senator Max Baucus
Chairman
Senate Finance Committee

Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Chairman
Senate HELP Committee

Absolutely beautiful political theater. And excellent political tactics.

You can expect immediate hysteria from the wingnuts, and mudslinging from the Republicans surpassing even “Fascist” and “Communist.” They’ll have two whole months to scream doomsday before they even see the bill, and by the time it’s released, the country will be tired of them and ignoring their sky-is-falling pronouncements. A nice bit of old-school LBJ-esque strategy there.

With a little luck, this’ll get McConnell & Boehner so worked up that they’ll have to retire for health reasons. Pun intended.

And he’s not afraid to say so.

An Open Letter to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Michelle Malkin

In a time like this, when tempers are riding high and many Americans are close to panic about their jobs and finances, you have a special responsibility to consider the accuracy of what you say and the consequences of inflammatory and erroneous statements. In the last few days, manifestly distorting my words and pulling them out of context, you have accused me of wanting to exclude white males from jobs generated by the stimulus package. Anyone who takes a moment to examine what I actually said and wrote knows this to be an absurd misrepresentation of my position (see this). My goal is and has always been to create as many opportunities for as wide a group as possible, and not exclude anyone from access. There is and has never been any ambiguity about this. The hate mail I have received since your broadcast suggests that the mischievous consequences of your demagoguery are potentially dangerous, in addition to being destructive of rational and constructive political discourse. I urge you to take responsibility for your words. Words and ideas have real world consequences, and you have demonstrated a cavalier disregard for both.

In answer to the question of whether we should investigate the Bush administration’s lawlessness, I think that Eddie has the right take.

Ken Starr spent $40 million investigating a guy who lied about a blowjob. Let’s see how far a special prosecutor with $40 million will take us in investigating corruption, unconstitutional abuses, politicization of the civil service, failure to faithfully execute the laws of the nation, failure to maintain government records, lying to congress, and participation in internationally banned war crimes including torture.

We can all sit down and decide whether it’s worth pursuing further once we’ve used up that initial $40 million. Fair enough?

…Not about Obama, that is. I’m very optimistic about him. I’m cautiously optimistic about us.

President-elect Barack Obama is riding a powerful wave of optimism into the White House, with Americans confident he can turn the economy around but prepared to give him years to deal with the crush of problems he faces starting Tuesday, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

[...]

79 percent were optimistic about the next four years under Mr. Obama, a level of good will for a new chief executive that exceeds that measured for any of the past five incoming presidents. And it cuts across party lines: 58 percent of the respondents who said they voted for Mr. Obama’s opponent in the general election, Senator John McCain of Arizona, said they were optimistic about the country in an Obama administration.

[...]

“It’s going to take a couple of years at least to improve the economy,” Ms. Harden added. “I think anyone who is looking for a 90-day turnaround is delusional.”

I’m not complaining at all, but when did we suddenly go from “terrorist fist bumps” on Fox to this kind of thoughtful sanity in our public discourse?

Yay, us. Keep it up, America.

One thing that I’ve not heard in the pundit-fest that we’re currently enduring is just one more cause to celebrate. Today ends the possibility of dynasties in our national politics for the foreseeable future.

I’ve spent over half of my life with either a Bush or a Clinton as VP or President. That’s more than enough, and that was my principal (and principled) discomfort with Hillary in the primaries.

We didn’t write a royal line of succession into our constitution, and for good reason. As we’ve seen over the last eight years (and as we saw with John Quincy Adams, our first stolen election), it’s human nature to come into Daddy’s Job with a sense of entitlement and a false sense of transferred osmotic wisdom. In truth, the only thing that is transferred in such a situation is the legacy political machinery, and an ability to effect political manipulations more efficiently. A “Dynasty Presidency” will almost by definition be an excessively political presidency; it will have an available tool that no other presidency has, and politicians utilize the tools at their disposal.

As competent and well-motivated as Hillary is, I believe that she would have fallen prey to the same issue: that of having access to political power that was not earned, and the trap of using it too easily and unwisely.

So, yes, I celebrate GWB being sent off to Dallas in disgrace, and the end of the Bush eras that have so damaged our country over the last 28 years. And I believe that Hillary will be a fine Secretary of State.

But my real satisfaction on this day is the end of the political dynasty in this country, at least for a while. I truly hope that we never fall into that trap again.

There are many things to celebrate today; this is a subtle one that I am adding to my list.

The total accumulated cost of NASA since its inception 50 years ago is $416.7 billion. You’ve given away that much in the last 60 days, to people who refuse to tell you where it’s going.

Discuss.

THE CREDIT CARD ACCOUNTABILITY RESPONSIBILITY AND DISCLOSURE ACT

Senator Dodd never got it to the floor this year. He’s reintroducing it on day one of the new session.

The short form:

Strengthens Credit Card Industry Regulation and Supervision

• Requires banking regulators to evaluate the policies and procedures of card issuers to ensure compliance with card requirements and prohibitions;

• Improves data collection related to rates, fees, and profits;

• Provides each federal financial regulator with the authority to prescribe regulations governing unfair or deceptive practices by banks and savings and loan institutions.

Prevents “any-time, any reason” Increases in Interest Rate and Terms

• Prevents credit card issuers from increasing interest rates on cardholders in good standing for reasons unrelated to the cardholder’s behavior with respect to that card (universal default ban);

• Prevents issuers from changing the terms of a credit card contract for the length of the card agreement (ban on unilateral changes to card agreements);

• Allows customers who close their accounts to pay under the terms existing at the time the account is closed;

• Requires interest rate increases to apply only to future credit card debt.

Requires Fairness in Application of Card Payments

• Requires payments to be applied first to the credit card balance with the highest rate of interest, and to minimize finance charges;

• Prohibits issuers from setting early morning deadlines for credit card payments. 

Protects the Rights of Financially Responsible Credit Card Users

• Prohibits interest charges on debt paid on time (double-cycle billing ban);

• Prohibits late fees if the card issuer delayed crediting the payment;

• Requires credit card statements to be mailed 21 days before the bill is due rather than the current 14;

• Requires that payment at local branches be credited same-day.

Prohibits Exorbitant and Unnecessary Rates and Fees

• Prohibits the charging of interest on credit card transaction fees, such as late fees and overlimit fee;

• Prohibits issuers from charging a fee to allow a credit card holder to pay a credit card debt, whether payment is by mail, telephone, electronic transfer, or otherwise;

• Prevents issuers from multiple over-limit fees for exceeding a card limit, and allows such fees only when a cardholder’s action, rather than a fee or finance charge, causes the limit to be exceeded;

• Requires issuers to offer consumers the option of operating under a fixed credit limit;

• Requires issuers to lower penalty rates that have been imposed on a cardholder after 6 months if the cardholder commits no further violations.

Provides Enhanced Disclosures of Card Terms and Conditions

• Requires cardholders to be given 45 days’ notice of any interest rate increase;

• Requires issuers to provide disclosures to consumers upon card renewal when the card terms have changed;

• Requires issuers to provide individual consumer account information and to disclose the period of time and total interest it will take to pay off the card balance if only minimum monthly payments are made;

• Requires full disclosure in billing statements of payment due dates and applicable late payment penalties. 

Ensures Adequate Safeguards for Young People

• Requires issuers soliciting to persons under the age of 21 to obtain an application that contains: the signature of a parent, guardian, or other individual who will take responsibility for the debt; proof that the applicant has an independent means of repaying any credit extended; or proof that the applicant has completed a certified financial literacy course;

• Limits prescreened offers of credit to young consumers by prohibiting consumer reporting agencies from furnishing reports in connection with firm offers of credit that are not initiated by consumers under age 21.  Allows consumers who are at least 18, but not yet 21, to choose to receive such solicitations.          

You’re going to hearing a lot of stuff in the future, as the new Attorney General nominee Eric Holder goes through confirmation, about Clinton’s pardon of Mark Rich.

Joe Conason has the full skinny, but the two points to remember are: (A) Clinton gave Rich a conditional pardon — Rich must pay tens of millions in back taxes for the pardon to become valid, which he hasn’t done; and (B) Clinton and Holder both came under enormous pressure from Israel to effect the pardon. Mark Rich was and is an informal and important back-channel envoy for Israel. Including to places like Iran.

So it wasn’t a true “full” pardon, and it was motivated by reasons of state, issued the day before the Taba summit talks began. These are nuances that are not being reported. Hopefully they’ll become clear at the confirmation hearings.

In any case, Eric Holder had no power to affect a pardon other than advisory. That is a Presidential-only prerogative instilled in the constitution.

Just keeping you up to date on the opposition’s strategy and tactics…

I’ve just realized the downside of the new security team. The media is already rolling out Christopher Hitchens again, like an old unrehabilitated civil war veteran, so that we can listen to his skriking and howping about Hillary Clinton for the next eight years.

C’mon, MSM. This election is about change. If you must have a Hillary Hater on call, find yourself a fresh one, please? Hitchens has been a screeching broken-record maroon for a decade now. We’ve already heard his viewpoint. Just because his life has meaning again doesn’t obligate you to participate.

I hit the Washington Monthly’s “Political Animal” blog daily — it is one of the finer, nuanced, thoughtful liberal weblogs. But today, Sunday, 11/30/08, it is so far-ranging and succinct and informative that I just have to say:

Forget this noise that you’re looking at. Go read http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/.

Just a few notes to the right-winger talking heads on TV:

• The country is not “center right.” It never was. Unfortunately for you, the country appears to have finally become immune to fear-mongering. Kind of nullifies your playbook, doesn’t it?
• The Republican party is not conservative in any true ideological sense of the word. If anything, it’s rankly exploitative. It has also repeatedly proven that it is incapable of responsibly governing this country.
• The Democrats out-raised the Republicans this year by breathtaking margins. Obama alone, taking no Federal funds in the general election, and taking no money from lobbyists, raised over $500 million dollars, from 6.5 million donors. That’s about $79 per donor. You wanted campaign finance reform? The Dems delivered it to you. Stop complaining.
• Republican approval ratings are at 34% — an all time low.
• The Republican party has botched everything that it has touched for more than a decade now. It will take us generations to get things back on track. The American public has noticed.
• If you take the time to analyze the election results, it is apparent that the Republican Party has become the party of uneducated Southern fundamentalists. Good luck with that.

Let’s work on those talking points, shall we?

Tonight is my Super Sunday. Blood sport. Game Night.

I am… cautiously optimistic that my candidates will win. More soon.

…

7:45 – The majors call Pennsylvania for Obama. Pretty huge; this was a must-do McCain strategy cornerstone.

8:03 – Udall gets New Mexico Senatorial; 55:45 dems so far in the US Senate…

8:10 – Wisconsin and Michigan, Obama. Like kicking crutches away from an old broke-leg guy.

8:13 – Georgia goes McCain. Thought we might’ve caught that one, but not a swing state in any sense; not unexpected, no worries.

8:39 – Obama gets Ohio. That’s that. McCain needs Florida and everything else at this point.

8:51: – Obama takes New Mexico. Thanks, Bill.

9:08 – The Republican Party has now apparently lost all of its US Congressional Representatives in New England.

9:13 – Obama takes 60% in Orange County, Florida??

9:32 – Even Fox is doing a postmortem on McCain now.

We Won.

Tomorrow we shall discuss.

I understand that there’s some kind of political competition on Tuesday. Must do some research…

My friend Kristi just forwarded a link to Andrew Sullivan’s “The Top Ten Reasons Conservatives Should Vote For Obama.” I read Sullivan regularly, but hadn’t seen this one yet.

It’s very good, and is a nice piece of welcome thoughtful conservatism at a time when our non-left political discourse has devolved into right-winger’s neanderthal grunting and feces-flinging.

This proud liberal is happy to report that there are still rational conservatives in this world, and I am happy to state my opinion that this world is a better place for it.

(And, BTW, I disagree with some of this, most notably his premise that Islamic Terrorism is the greatest threat to the West. While I agree 100% that Al Queda must be taken out, and I have supported police action in Afghanistan, I believe that the greatest threat to the world is religion-based fundamentalist thought of any kind. The “boomer culture war” is nowhere near over. But that post is for another day and time.)

Enjoy this nonetheless. It is a fine piece of work, and I hope that it might serve to illustrate some of the difference between conservatism and “right wing.”

10. A body blow to racial identity politics. An end to the era of Jesse Jackson in black America.

9. Less debt. Yes, Obama will raise taxes on those earning over a quarter of a million. And he will spend on healthcare, Iraq, Afghanistan and the environment. But so will McCain. He plans more spending on health, the environment and won’t touch defense of entitlements. And his refusal to touch taxes means an extra $4 trillion in debt over the massive increase presided over by Bush. And the CBO estimates that McCain’s plans will add more to the debt over four years than Obama’s. Fiscal conservatives have a clear choice.

8. A return to realism and prudence in foreign policy. Obama has consistently cited the foreign policy of George H. W. Bush as his inspiration. McCain’s knee-jerk reaction to the Georgian conflict, his commitment to stay in Iraq indefinitely, and his brinksmanship over Iran’s nuclear ambitions make him a far riskier choice for conservatives. The choice between Obama and McCain is like the choice between George H.W. Bush’s first term and George W.’s.

7. An ability to understand the difference between listening to generals and delegating foreign policy to them.

6. Temperament. Obama has the coolest, calmest demeanor of any president since Eisenhower. Conservatism values that kind of constancy, especially compared with the hot-headed, irrational impulsiveness of McCain.

5. Faith. Obama’s fusion of Christianity and reason, his non-fundamentalist faith, is a critical bridge between the new atheism and the new Christianism.

4. A truce in the culture war. Obama takes us past the debilitating boomer warfare that has raged since the 1960s. Nothing has distorted our politics so gravely; nothing has made a rational politics more elusive.

3. Two words: President Palin.

2. Conservative reform. Until conservatism can get a distance from the big-spending, privacy-busting, debt-ridden, crony-laden, fundamentalist, intolerant, incompetent and arrogant faux conservatism of the Bush-Cheney years, it will never regain a coherent message to actually govern this country again. The survival of conservatism requires a temporary eclipse of today’s Republicanism. Losing would be the best thing to happen to conservatism since 1964. Back then, conservatives lost in a landslide for the right reasons. Now, Republicans are losing in a landslide for the wrong reasons.

1. The War Against Islamist terror. The strategy deployed by Bush and Cheney has failed. It has failed to destroy al Qaeda, except in a country, Iraq, where their presence was minimal before the US invasion. It has failed to bring any of the terrorists to justice, instead creating the excrescence of Gitmo, torture, secret sites, and the collapse of America’s reputation abroad. It has empowered Iran, allowed al Qaeda to regroup in Pakistan, made the next vast generation of Muslims loathe America, and imperiled our alliances. We need smarter leadership of the war: balancing force with diplomacy, hard power with better p.r., deploying strategy rather than mere tactics, and self-confidence rather than a bunker mentality.

Those conservatives who remain convinced, as I do, that Islamist terror remains the greatest threat to the West cannot risk a perpetuation of the failed Manichean worldview of the past eight years, and cannot risk the possibility of McCain making rash decisions in the middle of a potentially catastrophic global conflict. If you are serious about the war on terror and believe it is a war we have to win, the only serious candidate is Barack Obama.

This is just… stupefying. An example of everything that I’ve been writing about recently. The right wing of this country is truly, completely off their rocker. Behold a local Orlando TV station:

No long lines, got right in at the Shriner Hall across from Sun Harvest in North Austin. A steady stream of early voters, probably one every two or three minutes. Obama bumper stickers outnumbered McCain stickers in the parking lot 14 to 3.

Since I would’ve had an Obama sticker too if I weren’t in a rental car, and based upon this obviously random statistical sample, I am prepared to make a Rigorous Unassailable Big Science Prediction that Obama wins this thing with 83.3% of the vote. You heard it here first. Heh.

(Actually, based upon early numbers, the Travis County Clerk is predicting up to an 80% voter turnout for this election. That is astounding. Good for Us!)

This is a really interesting time, a time for national reassessment. Atrios linked a Village Voice link to a post last night from a fellow in New England at the Wake Up America blog. His name is Roger W. Gardner. I know nothing about him, other than that he is a talented writer and has quite different political philosophies than I do.

It’s a beautiful description of an autumn New England day. But. Then it starts to devolve into a “don’t they know we’re on the eve of destruction” motif. Then Mr. Gardner pens a moment that really strikes me as telling:

Then I see another little sign, tacked up on a telephone pole. An innocuous little sign, weather beaten and torn at the edges — it’s been up there for quite a while now. “No room in this town for hate” it reads. And I shudder to myself. This is the sign that advertises our vulnerabilities and our weaknesses. This is what makes this beautiful little town of mine so friendly and pleasant and so blind to the steady encroachment of that other less friendly reality. We have no room here for hate.

That these words could be legitimately put forth by an obviously intelligent, articulate and concerned citizen of this country speaks volumes about our political discourse. And I think that it illustrates our “here and now” quite nicely. Here we have a citizen who espouses that it is a necessity, for the preservation of our society, to be able to hate.

I think that our right-wing has now constructed a complete information ecosystem for themselves in which they can be comfortable in their fear while they nourish themselves with a positive-feedback loop of their hatred for Otherness. As I wrote below: “You sat in your Barcalounger, and watched Fox News, and cursed liberals, and voted Republican, and ignored any real-world information that conflicted with the world-view narrative that you were being fed.”

This is what we are seeing at the moment; the fruits of this mindset. From “Obama Bucks” to the McCain campaign’s talking points, to sitting US Representatives calling for an investigative panel to find out who in Congress is “Pro-America” or not. They’ve been so isolated from different points of view, and for such a long time, that it has become impossible to entertain a competing idea without this whole worldview crashing down upon itself. There can be no longer be any preaching at all if it’s not preaching to the choir.

McCain can’t construct a clear argument to ask for your vote because his campaign can’t understand that there is an entire world outside of Fox News and the Free Republic hall of mirrors. They frantically argue ‘otherness,’ and ’socialism,’ and ‘consorting with domestic terrrists,’ and ‘redistribution of wealth,’ and ‘cultural decay,’ and ‘Obama might be a Muslim,’ and being in ‘Real America.’ On and on and on — and it drives the right-wingers bat-shit rabid with political red-meat glee, internally reinforcing the idea that they are on some kind of valid message.

(My absolute favorite tagline of the moment is the whole “redistribution of wealth” meme. It is a fine illustration of how out of touch these folks really are. I’d wager that three quarters of the country thinks that some “redistribution of the wealth” is a pretty darned good idea right about now. Keep punching that one hard, guys.)

None of this stuff gains traction out here in the real world, because all of it is divisive nonsense. The overwhelming theme of America is (and has always been) diversity. E Pluribus Unum. “Out of many, One.” It is very telling (and quite beautiful) that the two most measured and sane voices of the moment, Barack Obama and Colin Powell, are each a genetically diverse, multicultural son of immigrants.

People out here in the Real America value religious diversity. They value cultural diversity. They eat Japanese cuisine and listen to Jamaican music and wear Indian clothing and study epic Middle-Eastern poetry in high school. Real Americans have their Kosher morning bagel with lox, drinking their coffee made through Turkish brewing techniques, while wearing their Mexican vaquero “cowboy” boots as they listen to “country” clawhammer banjo music that echos directly from the African banza. The Real Americans see the peaceful call of Christianity, and of the Jewish faith, and of Islam and Hinduism and Sufism, and of the Buddha and the Tao, and of the other “isms of Faith” — and they notice that each the other all counsel against hate, above all else.

The Real Americans value a marketplace in ideas. They believe that education is how you improve this world, and that the free flow of factual information is critical to the process of good and informed citizenship.

Our right-wingers are so far gone into their mirror ball of jingoistic tribalism that they’ve lost their bearings in the Real America. Hate? It clouds judgment. It wastes energy. It closes your mind to useful information. It is a strategic dead-end and a tactical catastrophe. It exposes your vulnerabilities and teaches your adversary about your motivations. And, incidentally, it reveals your fears and makes you controllable.

It’s how Bin Laden has been making you dance like a puppet. He has accomplished his goals beyond his fondest dreams.

That’s how we got here, to this state of our nation. The propaganda apparatus of the Republican party stoking the fires of fear and hatred, and innuendo and guilt-by-association, and all of the other teapot tempests, solely in service of gaining political power.

Here is a bit of news for the Roger W. Gardners of the world: If you reject fear, it is impossible to hate. As a result, you may have a chance to make rational decisions based upon facts. Your rallying cause is called “terrorism” for a reason, and you’ve bought into it hook, line, and sinker. It can’t exist without your participation. Terrorism without the “terror” becomes criminal behavior, and is approached much more successfully as a law enforcement issue.

The most impressive thing about Barack Obama is that all of these attacks are water off a duck’s back. No effect at all upon his eye-on-the-prize steadiness. The Real Americans see his calm response and his intelligent, measured ability to make sense of what really matters. It is clearly illustrated to them that the right-wing mindset is both false and divisive, and that it is detrimental to our nation.

That is true leadership. Obama is reminding our country that we love diversity, and moreover, he is teaching us, as a nation, how to deal with the right-wing mindset. It is a wonderful thing to behold.

Let McCain continue. Let the attack dogs have one good last run. Let them be so consumed by their fear and their hatred that they end up shattering their twisted worldview against a wall of reality. Let the right-wingers teach “Real Americans” more about themselves. It is their moment in the spotlight, and I hope that they feel the impetus to show us their whole toolkit.

I think that sports metaphors are pretty stupid — so let’s use one. My right-wing friends, you’re up to bat. Try to hit one out of the park against this pitcher.

Real Americans will be watching, and we’ll study, taking notes from Barack Obama, Ph.D., professor of constitutional law, as he illustrates to the World Classroom how to dismantle your insanity and evaporate your power.

And a beaut it is:

I’m not much of a fan of Colin Powell; I once was, but he obliterated all of his political capital with me on February 6th, 2003 at the United Nations. He gambled his credibility on lies, and he lost it with me on major foreign policy issues of the future. As I said at the time, I had better intelligence sources than he did — a newspaper. You don’t give people a do-over when their lapse in judgment is such that it costs trillions of dollars and results in millions of lives lost, with families destroyed for generations.

I can’t let bygones be bygones on that one.

This said, I think that the above video documents one of the more remarkable moments in our political history. Powell’s extraordinary endorsement isn’t going to change anyone’s mind on the far right of the political spectrum in this climate. But is it a powerful, centrist call for some sanity and some common sense in a sea of slime and lunacy from the far right and John McCain, a man that Powell has worked with for a quarter century.

If anyone has standing to make that argument here and now, Colin Powell does, and it is one of the most significant endorsements in the history of this country. I suspect that it will move many a voter to Obama’s column.

The sheer sane eloquence and power of his words do much to rehabilitate Colin Powell, former loyal Secretary of State to the most corrupt and malevolent administration in our history.

[Addendum]: Powell interviewed, a few minutes later outside the studio:

Not wholly unexpected, but it is amazing that these misanthropes think that they can hide in this day and age.

[In] the October newsletter by the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated says if Obama is elected his image will appear on food stamps — instead of dollar bills like other presidents. The statement is followed by an illustration of “Obama Bucks” — a phony $10 bill featuring Obama’s face on a donkey’s body, labeled “United States Food Stamps.”

It’s got everything you could ask for — Donkey ears, watermelon, ribs, fried chicken, Kool-Aid, food stamps.

This came from Ronald Reagan Territory — Chaffee, Ca., about 60 miles up the road from the Great Communicator’s home in Bel Air.

I wonder if our right-wingers are proud of the improvements that they’ve made to this country in their quarter century of culture war and pillage?

Okay gang. If you get all of your information from the Faux News Network, you no doubt think that there is massive voter fraud taking place in this election. There may be. But not the kind they’re telling you, and not by ACORN. Here is some factual information for you.

• ACORN is a community organizer that primary does advocacy for poor and middle-income families. Some of that is voter registration work.
• ACORN sometimes pays people to register voters by the registration, and many organizations of this type do, across the political spectrum.
• Some of those hired people are dishonest and make up false registrations to get paid more.
• ACORN is required by law to turn in ALL of the registrations that it receives, even the ones that have “Bullwinkle J. Moose” as the registrant. If they didn’t, they would be guilty of election manipulation. They flag registrations that they think are suspect, but they still must turn in every one of them.

There is no “voter fraud” happening here. There may be an occasional fictional registration that manages to pass inspection by both ACORN and the county clerk’s office. But Bullwinkle J. Moose isn’t going to be showing up to vote on election day. No vote fraud exists. Registration fraud exists.

Seen?

Now, why is this bogus nonsense such a big deal? Because it allows Republican operatives a talking point as they attempt to purge real voters from the rolls, like they did in Florida in 2000, and in Ohio in 2004. This was the whole issue behind the firings of US attorneys that took Alberto Gonzales down. The White House wanted the ACORNs of the world prosecuted for “Voter Fraud.” No such crime existed, and the ACORNs of the world were not even guilty of the registration fraud; they were required by law to turn in every one that they received.

Even now, though, it continues. Purging legitimate voters in close battleground states has won the Republicans two national elections now. It is a proven tool in their toolkit — they’re not about to stop.

Make sure that your registration is valid before election day. If you’ve been purged, get it fixed before election day.

CNN is replaying the debate in about 25 minutes. Since I haven’t seen it yet, I’m going to do an experiment and blog as I watch it. If I turn out to be really lame at it, I can always delete it, and we’ll pretend you never saw this, okay? Oh – and I am going to do it in chronological order, not reverse order like everyone else who does this. Harrumph.

I will say one thing up front. I saw a few moments of the debate last night on a Hi-Def television at Threadgill’s. McCain’s makeup was not only visible, it was obvious that his eyebrows had been slightly darkened and his eyes were pretty well pancaked. I’ve read that Hi-Def is killing the retail pornography industry, which I think is hilarious. I understand why now.

9:00 – Heh. McCain really doesn’t like Obama. The handshake was as stiff as a board and the smile as false as a snake’s.

9:03: McCain: Fanny & “Freddy Mae?” McCain wants to buy bad mortgages and renegotiate ‘em. Yeh! That’s it! Let’s use the money to eliminate bad decisions. Great.

9:05: Obama’s natural cadence is kind of start-and-stop. You’re going to hear eight years of impersonators taking this to the bank…

9:07: Nice zing by Obama. “We both want to cut taxes. The difference is who we want to cut taxes for.” McCain’s answer? Obama wants to “spread the wealth around.” Socialism!

9:11: McCain: 35% business tax rates! He neglects to mention that the number of deductions brings it down to right around the average world tax rate.

9:15: At least we have two candidates who can pronounce “nuclear.” (Of course, Palin says “nukular.”)

9:17: McCain wants a line-item veto. Obama doesn’t jump on it, and should.
Obama addresses the “earmarks” bugaboo. 1/2 of one percent of the budget. Good perspective.

9:19: Oooo. John-boy gets Snippy. “I am not president Bush. If you wanted to run against Bush, you should’ve run four years ago.” This oughta be good. Obama: If I mistake your policies for George Bush, it’s because you’ve supported them.

Man. McCain is getting mad. He’s blinking two or three times a second and has a pasted on grimace that’s supposed to be a smile…

9:24: McCain still won’t tell Obama anything to his face, even when invited to do so. “We will run a truthful campaign.” Yeah, right.
Obama: (looking McCain in the eye) “100% of your ads have been negative. 100%.” Nice jujitsu. McCain has steam coming out of his ears.

9:29: What is it with Joe the plumber again? If Joe the plumber wants to buy a business, of course he’s going to be exposed to more taxes. He also gets a wheelbarrow full of deductions. Every business owner does. He also gets a chance to make a buttload of money. Let it go, for cripes sake.

9:30: Obama looks at McCain and says “People are saying ‘terrorist’ and ‘kill him’ about me at your running-mates rallies.” Very, very good. McCain completely goes off the tracks, spewing about patriotic veterans at his rallies and how they are being impugned. Obama wisely lets it lay there like the merde that it is and takes it back to issues.

9:35: Obama laughs out loud at McCain’s characterization of ACORN as “voter fraud.” Good. Points out that it is voter registration fraud perpetrated upon ACORN. McCain still pushes it. Bad move. Obama wins this one hands down. McCain: “My campaign is about getting this economy back on track.” Obama laughs again. Seems to work, even if it’s a but disrespectful.

9:42: “Why would your running mate make a better president than your opponents?” This oughta be good. Obama lists Biden’s CV quite nicely.
McCain: “Americans have gotten to know Sarah Palin: she’s a model for the women of America. A reformer through and through.” And she has a kid who has Special Needs. Puhl-eeze.

Heh. Sweet and subtle moment. Schieffer calls time on McCain, but Obama indicates that McCain should be allowed to keep talking. Let him keep on digging deeper, please Bob.

9:50: McCain: 45 New Nuclear Plants will save the country! Drill baby drill! Obama: we have 4% of the reserves and we use 25% of the oil. Gut check. McCain: Drill drill drill. Free trade with Columbia! Obama: labor leaders are being assassinated in Columbia. Let’s stop that first.

9:57: Obama: retool auto plants for fuel efficient vehicles, and help auto makers do that. McCain: Obama doesn’t want free trade with Columbia and wants to kiss Hugo Chavez and North Korea and Iran and everybody bad everywhere….

Man. Every time CNN does a split screen, looking at McCain is like looking at Ilie Năstase play tennis in the old days. You wonder when he’s going to blow. McCain is, quite simply, a schoolyard bully. I feel that I know exactly what this guy is about; that’s the only thing that I see here.

10:02: McCain: Joe the plumber again. Obama: Joe the Plumber — here’s what it costs you: Zero. Nada. Nit. McNăstase blinks at a rate of four times a second. Obama: McCain taxes your health care for the first time, ever. “This is your plan, John.”

BlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlink. McCain says “spread the wealth” again. Right-wing code talking for socialism, I presume. John: a hint — you’re not talking just to the wingnuts here, and ’spreading the wealth’ around looks pretty damned good to the rest of the country right about now.

10:11: Roe v Wade. Obama: personal decision, and the constitution has a right to privacy, not subject to state legislation. Ballsy, and very good. McCain: we have to change the culture of America. Another hint for ya, John-boy: No, you need to join the culture of America.

10:15: McCain: Obama voted “present” on abortion in Illinois. Not a bad little hit. Obama: There was already a law on the books, and many republicans and democrats voted against or “present” on that one. I support a ban on late term abortions, except where the mother’s life is endangered and that was the sticking point. That’s why I voted “present.” McCain: I adopted kids.

10:19: Education. Obama: invest in early education. A pennies on the dollar investment. We need an army of new math and science teachers. McCain: BlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlink. McCain: education is the “civil rights issue of the 21st century.” Wow. I agree 100%. Good for him. McCain: vouchers vouchers vouchers. Let ex military people teach in our schools without having to be certified. (What?!?)

10:23: Obama: “No child left behind is a start, but unfortunately they left the money behind.” Nice little zinger there. If teachers can’t hack it, get rid of ‘em. “Youth are not an interest group. They are our future.” Nice. McCain: D.C. parents want vouchers! Reform Head Start! My running mate will fund autism! Obama: McCain wants to increase vouchers in D.C. by 2000. There are fifty other states.

10:29: Closing statements. McCain: America needs a new direction. (Doesn’t he realize that this is an absurd thing to come out of his mouth?) Can you trust Obama? I’ve spent my entire life in public service.

Obama: We have to invest in the people of this country. We all have to come together to tackle this. I ask for your vote. I’ll work on your behalf.

McCain: BlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlink
BlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlink

…

This was fun; I doubt that I’ll ever do it again. I think Obama not only won; Obama mopped the floor with McCain. I think McCain proved beyond a doubt to more people than me that he does not have the temperament to be President. He is a very angry man.

…

Final thought: Anyone who is an “undecided voter” at this point is an unserious person who should be ignored as unworthy; they certainly don’t deserve any attention whatsoever from the engaged citizens of this nation.