Labor Day, 2009 WrapUp;

or, Scavenger Guy 2

You recall the subject of this previous citation sur l'OG? Luckily for us, MaxRedline took the occasion of Labor Day to reflect upon the state of the unions (ahem!) in 2009.

Even the most avowed of laborite, liberal firebrands would do well to consider this reasoned, incisive, intellectually responsible work of social-political cartography. Jeepers creepers, it is 2009.

Obama: All Owe A Debt To Unions

He should have stopped after the first three words. We all owe a huge debt - not to unions, but to the policies that Obama and his fellow Democrats (heavily supported by unions) have managed to ramrod through.

Unions had a place in American history, but their time has come and gone. The most productive states in the USA are all "right to work" states, and the unions have "prgressively" infiltrated the public sector, where they inflict far more damage than good.

Where union membership is entirely voluntary, it may well serve a good purpose: when people come together voluntarily in support of common objectives, they constitute a powerful force. But unions gave up on that approach long ago; thus their heavy push toward making "card check" national policy. Secret ballots are anathema to today's union leadership. They want to force people to "join" so that they can collect ever more "dues".

This is something that they view as "free money", to be used however leadership chooses. Today's unions are all about "organizing" - by force if need be - but not at all about representation, which was the common bond that brought unions into being.

Our armed forces don't rely upon forced conscription, because it was recognized years ago that the best and brightest come from those who choose to serve. Unions, once based upon this principle, have abandoned it in favor of conscription.

Given that it was Democrats who supported slavery, it is hardly surprising to see that their main base of support comes from union bosses today.

Jeepers creepers. We can laugh, but mainstream political "common sense" laughs back at us. On days like today, I fear that Max Redline's worldview resonates more deeply with the popular imaginary - if not the polis itself - then our own political understandings do*.

*(And yes, I realize how unduly overindulged that last bit of "syntax" was, and how microcosm-ish this zero degree 'academic emo' prosody is. And no, I won't write off that falling-short-in-writing as merely sloppy "irony.")

prisonship/_OG_ material self-inventory of things/events/places/etc.

1. courtney's dissertation defense: a blogger and a unionist and a social constructivist, courtney kicked a shitload of ass today. felicitations, hero!
2. grace is enough exhibit, Valerie Davis Haug and David Siebert, at Ditch Projects: Probably the best 'party' I've had in some many months, notwithstanding all of the earth-shifting-ly sonorous, sound and incisive drawings/paintings happening all around me. David Siebert's series of painterly canvasses came on like Leroy Nieman having his way with somebody's beach house portrait of a salty sailor or drunk harbormaster -- but blown up, as mentioned, into a way more theatrical size. Valerie Davis Haug is a charming hostess and supportive interlocutor of mine, as well as a kinda Exorcist-y, kinda Flannery O'Connor-y horror/satire terrorist who works, among other things, with markers and shit.
   
3. neil halstead, live at le Doug Fir: ahem, I was drunk at this shit, and once again reminded that I needn't ever again labor after attaining any sort of acoustic/dour thing: this guy's got it covered, and I'm a plate of goddamn yams.
   
4. springfield, OR: thank you, Springfield, for reminding me to look between the grocer and the grocery outlet; the diner and the luncheonnette; the strip club and the strip club and the strip club. thank you for anonymity and a none-too-highbrow, totally-fine-with-me township where i can spend my time of elevator-shaft-induced exile.
   
5. babylon's burning by clinton heylin (pic above.) i'd've preferred to've put the cover of the book above, but the cover suffers from its association with this book's dreadful subtitle: 'from punk to grunge' seriously? this couldn't've been the decision of Heylin, awesome author of the awesomely subtitled, awesome From the Velvets to the Voidoids: A Pre-Punk History for a Post-Punk World. this book picks up in places where its absolutely crucial, aforementioned predecessor didn't go, like pre-1977 London, and pre-pre-1977 London. apparently I really need to hear some records by, say, Dr. Feelgood, Ian Dury, Radio Birdman, the Avengers, the Ruts, etc. Maybe some of you can help me with starting out on this stuff? On the US side, I've learned lots of LA punk and lesser-known NY action. 'Only halfway through and already I'd say that this, Velvets/Voidoids and Jon Savage's England's Dreaming are the "punk books" to be assigned before anybody should go near Greil Marcus or Azerrad. As Heylin acknowledges in the acknowledgements, this book was half-written out of a desire to usurp the place taken by several famous, rather opinionated and through-a-glass-darkly books about punk. He's a god for doing us this favor. Babylon's Burning - and the accompanying cd box set, I'm sure, which I'd love somebody to, y'know, buy for me - belongs in the "'bestuv genre" genre.
   
6. current persona-conflagration of lex dexter/pattyjoe/crazy jimmy/Rick: = cosmo from chinese bookie, ric flair, todd barry, elliot gould qua marlowe. (as quoted on twtr: "my heroes aren't actually 1970s movie-sleuths...but they're the best exemplars I've got to turn to for this kind of 'living.'")
7. gabba-on-the-go: gabba takes hardcorefornerds into the TUMBLR pile!
8. recent media appearances: a) Permanant Campaign, live on voicemail... hey, write in the comments if you happen to've gotten one of last Saturday's special song-messages! this last Sat., brown beard and i spent an r-rated, still-drunk afternoon phoning out cover classics all over the USA. it's a good thing i don't have gabba's phone number, or somebody'd've gotten a completely incoherent cover of "Washer" and overlaid with Southern-accented belching. Setlist, as I remember, included: "Remedy," "Tumbling Dice," "Head Over Heels," "Theme for an Italian Restaurant,".... what else?!?b) [pictured above, from l-r: 'PC' John Hodgman, funnyman Paul F. Tompkins, songstress Aimee Mann and Pharmacist Ted Leo, workin' it at the Best Show telethon...] two Tuesdays ago I pledged to TBSOWFMU, and had my name ("Patrick from Eugene, Oregon") read over 'dem WFMU airwaves. tom Scharpling thanked me personally, and even responded to my silly request to have the godlike Jon Glaser bring the character of 'Google' back to the airwaves. if somehow at this point you still don't get where I'm going with the worship of the TBSOWFMU, maybe you should just check out this perfect Stereogum tribute to the show, replete with a story about the self-same episode during which i made my all-important media appearance. seeing how i literally trembled while listening to the podcast of the show some two days after my call, i do not imagining ever having the courage to call in to the show, and thus will have to consider supporting it through monetary means.
   
9. twtr: seriousy, you should follow me on twitter. i don't care if you don't wanna "tweet" yrself - fuck, why would'ja? but, seriously? do you like what Lex writes, maybe? but, shucks, maybe you think I get a little 'flabby,' here and there? well guess what, tigerlilies? that's because my true chosen form may in fact be that of twitter's 140chamax milieu. seriously, just sign up and read my twtr. pick some weird pseudonym, email me, and then you'll be able to watch lex fall down a really short flight of stairs. don't worry, i really won't tell anybody that you're doing it; instead i'll just compel you to read kyle, wobs, dave3544, ted leo, hodgman and, of course, scharpling's threads. (seriously: i'm not going to hassle you to read my - wait for it - impending, actually-existing, hardbound zine when it drops. i'm just asking you to do this one thing with me.)
   

Obama to Godwin land-speed record

Behold, and you really do want to take some time with the comments on this one.

Mo' Money

Last I had heard, Prop 8 in California, which would overturn their gay marriage law and take away gay rights, was going down to easy defeat. Apparently, this not the case.

On a not entirely unrelated note, the attempt in California to pass a referendum banning same-sex marriage, and thus strip marital rights from hundreds of thousands of citizens who were granted those rights by the California Supreme Court earlier this year, is looking stronger and stronger, largely as a result of huge amounts of out-of-state money from the Mormon Church and other religious fanatical groups which realize that denying same-sex marriage rights to California citizens will set back the cause of marriage equality by years, if not decades. The campaign in opposition to that pernicious referendum is sorely in need of more funding, and those inclined to donate can do so here.

Join me in giving No on 8 some coin, won't you. If we can win California, eventually the rest of the nation will have to fall in line.

They Have Them, Too

I was reading a Dennis Prager article wherein I learned there are two Americas. (No credit to Edwards was given). It seems these two Americas occupy a "Left" and a "Right." They have competing visions for America and even different ideas of what America is, but only one of them is correct. You guess which one.

The article itself is decently neutral and I found a lot to agree with. The fun of any Prager column comes in the comments.

Apparently, the US is on the verge of becoming a socialist paradise, as we are presented the choice of electing the far-left socialist/communist America-hating Barack Obama, or the leftist socialist America-loving, but sadly deluded, John McCain. Unless the US is already a socialist country or even a full-blown Marixist state.

A good many people are ready for the coming Civil War that will surely take place when Americans wake up and realize that they have elected an America-hating socialist Muslim as the president and he comes to take their guns away and "re-educate" them. Unless we agree to divide the country and give people the choice of living in the United States of America or the Socialist States of America, except that the SSA can not survive without all the hard-working God-fearing Americans, so war is practically inevitable. Unless, of course, people refuse to believe the media's attempts to tell you the election is over. How come it always seems like the media tells us the Democrats are ahead by 25% or so, but they only win very close elections? Of course, it really doesn't matter how people vote, as ACORN has the election pre-rigged. When Obama and his people are burning down your city in celebration, just like they do after the NBA championship, I bet you won't be able to find one white person who says they voted for Obama. One that's not a committed socialist anyway.

But the Obama presidency will be good, better than a McCain presidency, because it will snap people out of it and they will wake up and realize what has happened to their great country. A McCain presidency would just allow the media to keep on portraying the GOP as "conservative," when we all know there are very few true conservatives in office any more. Yep, an Obama presidency would surely move the country to the right, so it would be a good, good thing. (Unless, of course, Sarah is really the behind-the-scenes brains behind a McCain presidency. That would be a very good thing.)

Below are my two favorite comments from the 150 or so I read (there were 550+).

Mike Location: RI
Reply # 19
Date: Oct 14, 2008 - 1:21 AM EST
Subject: "Great Article"
This is so absolutely frighteningly true!! I believe the division in our great country will increase and I for one, a decendent of Henry Adams, great great grandfather to our second president John Adams, stand as my great ancestors did before me, by the hand and teachings of God, against the tyrrany of the LEFT!! We came to America to be Free!!

A clear message to you Lefties-we don't get on the Mayflower this time, YOU DO, and I got more news, don't expect "our government" to pay for your tickets-this will be your one way trip!!


Stunned Location: NV
Reply # 77
Date: Oct 14, 2008 - 2:55 AM EST
Subject: US Census 2006 shows 80% white in USA
Now for all you lefties out there, do you really think Barak Hussian Obama is going to get the necessary 270 electoral votes this election? You really think people in OH, Penn, Mich, NY are going to vote for this muslim, African, socialist "snake oil" saleman??? Unless Acorn rigged the election.

We will still be stuck with big gov't, John McShamnisty; just as we had some real wimps in congress and even Jorge Bush. You can't both say the sky is different colors without one being right, and the other being wrong, no matter what the reason. (Even saving the planet and the children)

My fears

I've never seen a campaign like this before. I've seen presidential candidates viciously smeared and savagely attacked by partisans. But I haven't seen people yelling out "kill him," or "terrorist." I've never experienced the bestial morality of the modern presidential campaign taking aim at a person of color. I've never witnessed frightfully racialized gutter politics whipped up in the midst of a radical economic upheaval.

That only a small minority of John McCain's supporters vocally or visually express these sentiments is of little comfort to me. Others think it, and they think that those of us who are voting for Barack Obama are voting for a Muslim socialist communist terrorist Satan-worshipping traitor. In probable defeat, the McCain campaign is salting the earth, poisoning attempts to reach these people to solve common problems after the election. Whether intentional or not, I don't know. All I know is that there are going to be a not insignificant number of people who, already the victims of kleptocratic economic policies, are going to see their cultural and social values either be slowly marginalized (as with their views on same-sex marriage) or actively kicked to the curb (their racism) by a new majority. I don't know what this bodes, but I have an active and sometimes unpleasant imagination, and it does frighten me.

He's got questions - very angry questions

Andy McCarthy:

Now, as the night went along, did you get the impression that Obama comes from the radical Left? Did you sense that he funded Leftist causes to the tune of tens of millions of dollars? Would you have guessed that he's pals with a guy who brags about bombing the Pentagon? Would you have guessed that he helped underwrite raging anti-Semites? Would you come away thinking, "Gee, he's proposing to transfer nearly a trillion dollars of wealth to third-world dictators through the UN"?

My responses to McCarthy's questions in the order in which they were delivered:
1)No.
2)Are you confusing Obama with George Soros?
3)Are y'all really still trying to ride this Ayers thing?
4)Wha?
5)[head explodes]

Kabuki

Sarah Palin. I've heard something about her being "a maverick":

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Friday that she disagrees with the John McCain campaign’s decision to pull staff and resources out of Michigan.

“I want to get back to Michigan, and I want to try,” Palin said in an interview on Fox News. “Todd and I, we'd be happy to get to Michigan. We'd be so happy to speak to the people there in Michigan who are hurting.”

[...]

The Alaska governor first heard the news this morning and fired off a quick e-mail to campaign officials expressing her displeasure with the move.

“Oh c’mon, do we have to?” Palin said she wrote.

Which then triggered this heartfelt plea from a "Main Streeter":

From: CHUCK YOB
Date: Fri, Oct 3, 2008 at 5:34 PM
Subject: Dear Governor Palin from Chuck Yob
To: Governor Palin

Governor Palin,

I saw your comments on Fox News today and described in the Detroit Free Press article below. I wholeheartedly agree with you that the decision by the McCain campaign to pull out of Michigan was the wrong decision.

[...]

I talked to Michigan Republicans and McCain supporters on a conference call last night and they vowed to redouble their efforts. Indeed, there will still be a campaign for John McCain in Michigan whether it is sanctioned by the professionals in Washington DC or not.

Nuh-uh. I don't buy this for a second. This reeks of another campaign stunt, like they want to show that Palin's mavericky, that she's standing up for the little guy - like former Republican National Committee member Chuck Yob. I'm willing to bet money that a "grassroots campaign" spearheaded by Sarah Palin gets the McCain campaign to un-shutter their storefronts on Main Street, MI.

This just smells like so much bullshit. I really can't take these people seriously.

Moral Relativism

You all know that I am not a smart man, so help me out here.

Having sex outside of marriage is a sin, yes? But apparently, not that big of a sin.

From what I understand, abortion is murder, which is a huge sin. Big time. Not having an abortion qualifies someone to be vice president and definitely overrides the sin of having premarital sex.

But, volunteering to participate in a war of conquest and killing someone (be they combatant, or, as is more likely, innocent civilian) is not murder nor a sin.

Do I have this right? Because, if so, it seems to me that it is fair to say that the decisions one makes are influenced by a particular set of circumstances and what is "right" or "wrong" can depend on those circumstances or even a particular point of view.

Hmmm.

A Trophy Role Model, One Might Say

Comment on a post about Bristol's pregnancy on a conservative blog:

Reply 19--Posted by: LadyVet, 9/1/2008 1:34:19 PM

Let's have a wedding and get this young man into the family photograph. Why wait for the Rose Garden? Glad to see that he will grow up, man up, and step up.

P.S. May I recommend that he look to Fred Thompson as a good role model?

For reference.

[UPDATE] : Either I am reading all the wrong sites and listening to all the wrong people, but it seems to be commonly accepted that Bristol's pregnancy makes the Palins more real, because, apparently, teen pregnancy is something that happens to "every family." As best I can tell, only 4.4% of American teens become pregnant. So, how does Bristol's pregancy make the Palins more "normal?" And WHY THE FUCK ARE WE STILL ACTING LIKE HAVING A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE THAT IS A "REGULAR JOE" IS A GOOD THING???????? For fuck sake, will there again be a time in this country when brains, ideas, and (heaven for fucking bid) communicaton skills are positives? Can someone please focus their attention on Sarah Palin and whether or not anything mildly intelligent comes out of her mouth? Because so far I have yet to hear it.

If the Talking Heads Get You Down

Have a larf on Phyllis Schlafly. Apparently Title IX is the reason the US sucks at the Olympics. Well, at least in the "macho" sports like men's gymnastics and freestyle wrestling.

Please don't pass up the comments because they contain gems like this:

Once a country or a culture accepts false premises, it starts to decline.
False ideas:
1) Men and women are equal in all aspects.
2) All cultures are equally good.
3) All religions are equally valid or moral.
4) Morals evolve with the ideas required or desired by society.
5) Science must find results consistent with the politics of those in charge of awarding money. Example: Evolution must be accepted as a valid physical science even though it is just an unproven fantasy and not based on any scientific evidence.
6) Women have an assumed right to privacy of their body when they are pregnant and want an abortion; even though the baby is not their own body.
7) People are free when the government takes about 50% of their money by taxation (confiscation).
8) The practice of religion cannot be in public places.
9) The government must control education and health care.
10) Foreigners can immigrate to the US in any numbers that the foreigners want.
11) Foreigners can speak their languages instead of English, and must be accommodated by the government.

In a Nutshell

Politico has a post wherein Obama and McCain are asked who controls the remote.

McCain: Sometimes I win the arm wrestling contest, but foolishly she continues to try to assert her control over the remote...

Obama: If I tell her, ''Sweetie, we've got game 5 of the NBA finals on,'' she's willing to give me a little slack. Most of the time, though, the TV is on HGTV, and I suffer that silently.

The comments section is largely a back and forth about whether McCain is a controlling asshole or whether he was joking. Then there was this comment which I found hilarious, disturbing, and probably a decent summation of the presidential race as portrayed in the American media:

The 'who controls the remote' question and answers from the candidates shouldn't surprise anyone. You have a man's man like John McCain who put his life on the line for his country hundreds of times and hangs out with real men in the military, at NASCAR rallies, Biker events and with working class guys. And you have an effeminate 95 lb. girlyman like Barack Obama who hangs out with liberal pansy's in academia, homosexual rallies, femenist-uber-alles events, immature students who worship him like the Germans worshipped Hitler, and liberal San Francisco America and American Military--haters who look down their collective noses at the white working class people of America as if they were do-do on their shoes.

Posted By: madhatter | August 07, 2008 at 02:31 PM

There you have it.

Sequoia On My Mind

I was driving behind an SUV (Toyota Sequoia to be exact) full of kids on my way home from the store. It was sporting a bumper sticker that looked like this:




My response?

Fuck. You.

How many thousands of children had to die in Iraq so you could keep driving your death machine? Many thousands of children have had to die to get you to the top of the economic pyramid so you can have your eight kids, your 6000 sq ft. house, your air conditioning, your vacations? How many thousands of children are exploited each day so you can wear your designer fashions, your shoes, your everything that exists in your world? I can't imagine you shed too many fucking tears for them now do you. So Fuck. Fucking. You.

And on my way to the store I was behind an SUV (Jeep) sporting McCain and Smith bumper stickers. I came up with this:

Toby Keith: American Idiot

I was watching Colbert last night, which I know I shouldn't do, and Toby Keith was his guest. After some chit chat about his up-coming movie, Colbert expressed concern:

Here's my worry Toby...you're going to go all Hollywood, hanging out with Sean Penn, chaining yourself to whales...

After chuckling and assuring Stephen that no such thing would happen, Keith gets real for a moment:

You'd be surprised how many people in Hollywood actually come up -- there's a lot of Hollywood people in this movie -- but when I'm in Hollywood and stuff, you'd be surprised how many people come up to me and say 'Hey, we support the troops, it's nothing political about supporting the troops.'

Toby Keith is surprised that people in Hollywood "support the troops"? And he thinks Stephen Colbert or Colbert's audience might be surprised that "Hollywood people" support the troops? Christ on a shingle, this guy actually believes the right-wing talking points about "Hollywood" people and, I'm guessing, "liberals."

Although it occurs to me that wherein most people say "support the troops" to mean "care for then men and women who serve the US and hope they all come home safe and secure," Toby is probably interpreting "support the troops" to mean "want them to kill as many terrorists as possible and bring glory and honor to the US." Otherwise, you'd have to be as dumb as a post to actually believe that anyone in the US wants our troops put in harm's way or doesn't "support" them in the sense of wanting them to come home alive. For fuck's sake, I can't believe we're still five years into this thing and anyone not screaming "America, Fuck Yeah!" is viewed with suspicion until slipping Toby the appropriate code words.

We truly live in George Bush's America.

We jam econo

So when, exactly, do I become a member of this coastal cultural elite that I hear so sneeringly derided? I don't think that I'm a member, although I'll readily admit to wanting to be an "elite..." something or other. But although that vilified segment of the population sounds a lot like me, I have a hard time thinking of myself as any sort of elite.

I mean, I like lattes, but at $3.50 a pop, it's not a taste I can regularly indulge.

We like to do Big Cultural Things, but our access to that relies on T.'s practiced eye for must-sees and good deals rather than being able to just randomly decide we'd like to try that opera thing.

I'm sure the mythical Martian sociologist would classify us as culturally as "creative class," but we're definitely on the lower edge of that spectrum.

I'll cop to being a snob when it comes to some things, but elite? C'mon. I don't even know the secret handshake.

Woodstock My Ass

My lovely wife and I went to see the Hancock last night. I have to take her to all the Will Smith summer blockbusters, as she's made it clear to me that she loves the Fresh Prince more than me. Taking her to see the movies is my way of showing that I'm cool with that.

Anyway, Hancock was a fine film. You should go see it. Seriously, I'll wait.

Back? Okay, there was one thing that bothered me about the film [insert clip from the movie Clue of Martin Mull saying, "One thing!?" Classic.] Jason Bateman's character, as you know, just having watched the film, is a bleeding heart liberal and so is his smoking hot wife, whom he managed to score despite having a young kid and no visible source of income, but that's not what bothers me, as I, too, have a smoking hot wife whom I landed while working at Taco Time. So what bothered me is the Woodstock poster they have on their bedroom wall. I know this is hard for people over the age of fifty to understand, but those of us in our mid-thirties who have hearts that bleed for the suffering in the world, do not look to the 1960s for inspiration. Well, maybe a little, but we do not hang framed Woodstock posters in our bedrooms. There would have been hundreds of other ways for set decorator Rosemary Brandenburg to emphasize the fundamental nature of these characters without resorting to Woodstock. Woodstock was the defining event of the previous generation.

Alright, let's get our Independence Day freak on!

My Morals Should Be Your Morals

Rev. Jim Wallis who is an friend/adviser/defender of Obama's has apparently been recommending that the Dems reach out to the young evangelicals by dialing back the support for abortion and making "reducing abortion" a central plank in the party platform. He's been taken to task at TAPPED for missing the fact that this is already pretty much the mainstream Dem position on abortion, and Scott at LGM wonders what might happen to the support from women who have had abortions if the Dems were to start publicly questioning their morals.

I take issue with Wallis from a slightly different angle. Here's his quote:

“Taking abortion seriously as a moral issue would help Democrats a great deal with a constituency that is already leaning in their direction on poverty and the environment,” said Wallis. “There are literally millions of votes at stake.”

He seems to presuppose that Dems, because they support abortion rights, aren't taking it "seriously" (alarm! alarm!) as a moral issue. Yes, because the only "moral" position to take is in line with a conservative Christian definition of morality. There is no morality in the argument that the state has no business telling a woman what she can do with her body. There's no morality in keeping the state out of medical decisions. There's no morality in trying to keep a legal medical procedure viable for poor women. There's no morality in protecting young pregnant women who don't feel safe discussing the issue with their parents. Nope, this is all just wacky liberal anti-morality for the sake of being shocking and anti-Christian.

Thanks Rev. Wallis, but I think we'd do best to keep our slopes as non-slippery as possible on this one.

Won't Somebody Please Think of the Children?

Even I think this is inappropriate.