US politics

Lieberman was no mistake

Democratic (in)action, US politics
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Lieberman has always been a childish, spoilt asshole of course, as apt to work against his own party as to support the liberal causes supposedly near to his heart, but ever since his defeat in the 2006 Democratic primaries and subsequent re-election as an independent — fully supported by the Democratic leadership btw — he has gone on a permanent sulk. Lieberman has rewarded the loyalty of the Democrats by becoming a Republican in all but name. Robert Farley examines how this could happen but draws the wrong conclusion:

The institutional failure, I think, was that the Democratic Party didn’t fully understand that it needed to put Joe Lieberman’s political career in the dirt in 2006. I think they believed that the choice was essentially between two Democrats, rather than between a Democrat and a guy who was going to be elected by Republicans and was going to loathe the party’s progressive base.

The wrong conclusion, because he blames the party for being naive about the true nature of Lieberman, rather than for making a deliberate choice to support the opponent of the candidate its base put forward. Supporting Lieberman in the 2006 primaries and election wasn’t done out of a misguided sense of personal loyalty on the part of the party’s elite, but out of a desire to squash a rebellious base. Ned Lamont was an outsider, a candidate of the base who ran against the interests of the party’s leadership and they’d rather see an obstructist rightwinger elected than lose control; had Lamont won, we might have seen more of these sort of leftwing challenges.

Where is the US left?

Activism, Unions, US politics
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The American left doesn’t understand political power as anything other than that held by the state:

This confused me when I first moved to the US; looking for the left in the Bay Area it seems at first like there’s no there there. The general left-wing sentiment in the area doesn’t seem to be matched by the existence of left-wing organizations. It turns out that that’s not quite right; it’s just that these organizations aren’t political organizations but are, rather, community organizations and non-profits. Some of these have radical rhetoric and a revolutionary pedigree, but they all share the weakness of the Alinskian (non-)understanding of power, where power is not conceived of as something that could be appropriated collectively and used creatively to common ends, but where power is something someone else (the state) has, and the limit of collective action is to force concessions from those who do hold power.

Richard of The Existence Machine says, went even further:

But even that’s a bit strong–we don’t force concessions, we ask, we beg, we beseech. Witness the spectacle of liberals, prominent or otherwise, writing open letters, or blog posts, addressed to Obama–please close Guantanamo, please end the occupation of Iraq, please take time to consider single payer healthcare, please keep your promises, please fulfill our hopes and dreams, please please listen to us!

Part of that –conscious or unconscious– rejection of power and its attending responsibility probably has to do with the peculiar history of the American left, the socialist part of which was always much smaller than in other countries, — and whatever you can say about socialists and communists, they always have a keen grasp of power (if not how to get it or use it). And then this weak communitarian tradition was thoroughly rejected by the sixties New Left as well, making its influence even weaker.

But there’s more going on, I think. I think part of this difficulty with the concept of power as something that can be used by people themselves, directly, as opposed through putting pressure on the state, lies in the influence libertarianism has had on political debate in the States. This after all is a philosophy that in its vulgar form — in which it had has its most influence– denies the existence of any form of power other than that wielded by the state. It may be marginal in its direct influence, but libertarian concepts have seeped through the entire political spectrum in the past three-four decades and with it this ignorance of non-state power.

Which is of course very convenient to the powers that be, as a left that voluntarily rejects its own ability to organise alternative centres of powers, is much easier to control. Interestingly, if there’s one group that still (or again) understands the need to depend on itself, rather than on the benevolence of the political classes, it might just be the teabaggers, attempting to reshape the Republican Party into their own image.

Grand Old Paedophilia Party – Polanski remix

Sexuality, Slebs, US politics, Wingnuts
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Since the wingnuts are doing their best to make “the left own up” to Roman Polanski, I think It’s no more than fair to once again run that list of respectable Republicans caught molesting minors:

cartoonRepublican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd was arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex with an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.

Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.
Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.

Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls.

Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.

Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.
Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls.

Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.

Republican Committeeman John R. Curtain was charged with molesting a teenage boy and unlawful sexual contact with a minor.

Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.

Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered.

Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.

Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.

Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.

Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.

Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.

Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was charged with molesting his 9-year old step-daughter after including her in an anti-Gore television commercial.

Republican activist Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

Republican Congressman Donald “Buz” Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.

Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.

Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.

Republican activist Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child.

Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.

Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.

Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline was placed under house arrest for child molestation and possession of child pornography.

Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.

Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.

Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. “Republican Marty”), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.

Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.

Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.

Republican anti-gay activist Earl “Butch” Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.

Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.

Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.

Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

Republican politician Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).

Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl.

Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.

Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.

Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.

Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.

Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.

Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.

Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.

Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.

Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.

Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a “good military man” and “church goer,” was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.

Republican director of the “Young Republican Federation” Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Republican president of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Russell Harding pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer.

Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.

Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency.

Full story and links here.

who “owns” “what” now?

Tracking with closeups (2): Michael Moore

liberalism, Life under Capitalism, US politics
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Louis Proyect reviews Capitalism: a Love Story:

Despite its formulaic quality and despite some very dubious politics, I have no problem recommending Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: a Love Story”. Since there are so few movies (or television shows) that reveal the human side of the largest economic crisis since the 1930s, we must be grateful to Michael Moore for his steadfast dedication to the underdog. Except for Andrew and Leslie Cockburn’s American Casino, a documentary that covers pretty much the same terrain as Moore but without his impish humor, there’s nothing out of Hollywood that would give you the slightest inkling of the scale of human suffering.

Not quite a fullblooded recommendation, but note that it’s a critical review coming from the left of Moore, rather than the more usual puritian out of hand rejection of Moore and his movies by supposedly serious liberals. The Exile is on their case, as per usual.

Meanwhile some annoying rightwinger or other finds it interesting that Moore was financied with Goldman Sachs money in the kind of tedious gotcha aimed at any critic of capitalism. If you’re rich and succesful, you’re a hypocrite; if you’re not, you’re just jealous.

Much more examples of rightwing froth at Google’s blogsearch.

This is what I think Moore does best and seemed to have achieved again with Capitalism: a Love Story: breaking open the accepted limits of political debate. He shocks both liberals and rightwingers into defensiveness because he touches a nerve. He reminds both groups that the system they’ve both invested in is fatally flawed and has been for a long time, that there is a world outside the Beltway that can’t be captured in statistics and dry information.

Laugh at the wingnuts, but do not be too smug

US politics, Wingnuts
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Max Blumenthal takes a tour of the Teabaggers protests. Lots of douchebags and idiots. But see also:

So while it is true that your average Joe Teabagger suffers from hilarious white-trash racial myopia, and that is something that we can all laugh about, for there is nothing more hilarious and mockable on this good green earth than the incoherent whiteguy rage that has for so long propagated within our unacknowledged middling orders, the notion that these people are uniquely blinkered and hypocritical in their protest is perfectly false.