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Splinters and Splatters

Linda Hirshman, not everybody’s favorite feminist made an interesting and provocative state during an on line interview about the Democratic party in general and by inference, progressive men. The on line conversation talked essentially about the future and challenges of “feminism.”

As my young friend Jill Filipovic put it in her interview, the progressive white men who run the Democratic Party do not have to pay attention to women, because they know we always will come back to them. And we lower our value even further by adopting their causes — civil rights, the environment, etc. — as our own, whole cloth, without any trade off.

Oddly enough, I both agree and disagree with her. She welcomes ire and controversy and has established a career out of it.

I disagree that issues like civil rights and the environment are “their” issues, clearly they belong to all of us. But I do wonder about the first part of her statement.

Is that accurate? Nobody in this campaign has mentioned for example that affordable day care for families who have two working parents is rarely discussed. For good reason. Mention the words “daycare” in this country and critics on the left and the right will jump in with a haughty opinion about “who should be raising children”. Mention the pay gap that exists and pundits will blah blah on about how women leave the work force to have children and that explains it quite nicely than you. HRC is being touted as “proof” that the ceiling has cracks in it and several self described feminists have actively supported Barack Obama.

In many ways there is not an actual feminist movement in this country in the same way that a progressive movement does not actually exist. The feminist movement has largely been castigated as a group of middle class white women who have not been attuned to issues of class or race or particularly respectful to women who actively chose more traditional roles. Feminism has been blamed for making women unhappy and alienating men in much the same way that people who discuss class have been accused of fueling “class hatred and resentment.”

Meanwhile…. Next Door… a little Protest

Turns out the CAW (Canadian Auto Workers Union) are still the feisty, ornery, bunch I remember them to be from my days as a youth riding association member in the NDP.

Irked by plans to and shut down auto plants in Ontario ( just recently after a CBA was signed ) they have staged a

blockade of GM in Oshawa. The truck plant there is to be closed causing the loss of 2600 jobs.

GM reacted predictably filing a court injunction….

GM filed the injunction request Thursday, arguing the protest is keeping 900 people away from work and hampering day-to-day operations

Funny thing protest can actually work.

Now, in this case it only works temporarily as a Judge has ordered the protest to be stopped and the union members and their supporters to vacate the area by Monday.

However the Judge also had this to say….

But in his decision, Ontario Superior Court Judge David Salmers also chastised the auto giant, saying it acted deceitfully in announcing the closure of a truck plant in Oshawa by the end of 2009 just three weeks after reaching a collective bargaining agreement with the CAW

The union replied this way….

“As of 7 a.m. Monday morning, General Motors can have their building back, and not until,” Buckley said Friday after the ruling. “I’m more than satisfied with the judge’s decision.”

The Embed War Dividend

Editor and Publisher gave note to a study recently by sociologist Andrew M Lindner about the impact of how embedded reporters framed the initial invasion and ultimately provided significant positive angles for the public to consume.

The study analyzed content from articles written by both embedded reporters and other sources ( ie reporters who were independent from the process) and found this direct conclusion.

Lidner found that journalists embedded with American troops emphasized military successes more often than they covered consequences for Iraqi citizens

I would argue that this initial framework has continued to influence coverage to this day. While the struggles and horrors Iraqi citizens face do get coverage, even much of the moderate anti war sentiment in this country tends to focus on getting our troops home ( and rightly so ) and their ongoing struggles with getting appropriate health care for physical and emotional damage. We still don’t talk much about how badly we fucked up the daily lives of citizens there. Even if we packed up and left today, the humanitarian crisis would spiral for years to come, an argument often manipulated by hawks to justify staying in a military role. Instead of a Marshall Plan, we got a nice big trough for contractors. And we haven’t been very generous with offering a place for refugees.

Few western countries have accepted Iraqis. Sweden has been the most welcoming, granting asylum to almost 9,000 Iraqis in 2006, almost 20 times more than the United States and about half the total for all of Europe that year

According to the Center For American Progress there have been

More than 4 million: Estimated number of Iraqis displaced since the 2003 invasion

Many have been displaced in their own country.

Since the start of the war…. the United States has admitted

5,742: Total number of Iraqis resettled to the United States as of January 24 (2008)

Our lofty goal for 2008?

12,000: Target for Iraqi refugee admittance in 2008 fiscal year. A goal that will be impossible to meet at the current admittance levels.

Imagine a brave and foolish political candidate trying to campaign on the issue of trying to admit more than the target number during these tenuous economic times. Of course that would speak to our desire as a nation for accountability and we don’t want to talk about that.

Imagine what would have happened if reporters got embedded with Iraqi citizens or humanitarian organizations. How many reporters, or for that matter any of us could tolerate the conditions necessary to do that? But we couldn’t have that. Too many perspectives add complexities. Complexities could undermine victories. For whom I am not certain.  

Memories of a Mini-Series

There was an era in television prior to the expansion of cable and genre channels when many of us did not in fact even have cable. My mother to this day does not have it.

The era of the “mini-series”, and the special “network movie” some of them were bloated and silly but typically when a network ran one nobody wanted to compete and they became inevitable cultural bonding experiences.

One of my favorites was “V” an alien invasion movie. Alien invasion movies always go two ways: either they really are peaceful and humanity reacts in a bloodthirsty manner full of paranoia and suspicion and painfully holds up a mirror to itself or the aliens really do want to eat us, enslave us, or steal stuff.

So I decided I would once again watch “V” just for the heck of it. Spaceships come to earth with beings, there is initial apprehension followed by relief when the aliens look like humans and ask for help to assist their dying planet. All they want are some silly chemicals and they explain that their environmental situation is more dire than ours an interesting hat tip given that during the Reagan era people were claiming that trees caused pollution. Everybody kinda likes the aliens since they also promise to share their knowledge and they are quite polite.

Sewing Loyalty Oaths To Your Cold Dead Hands

Ever once in a while I imagine a scenario in which I go into work and we’re suddenly forced into mandatory prayer meetings or bible readings before convening our leadership group meetings. We already have Jesus on the wall in the office and a few biblical sayings meant to provide inspiration. At which point I will have to ask myself how badly I want to pay the mortgage. My colleagues in the office know that I have nothing against Jesus, and in fact when things are going badly at work I will ask them if they are still in good with that Jesus guy because I am not overly picky about who helps out. They don’t really object to loaning him out. And I don’t really care if he helps me out, just the patients and their families.

Turns out that in that radical state of California, the place those on the right love to demonize and make threats about, I imagine radical rightists telling their children, “behave or you will be sent to California”, does not have the mellow soft institutions we were all led to believe.

Recently, a professor was fired for refusing to sign a loyalty oath. The entire article can be read here.

Wendy Gonaver was hired to teach says she was not told about the loyalty oath at the hiring and discovered it during orientation. She was told she had to sign it.

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter.”

Reflections on Directions

One of the weird transformations I have noted in this last year is that both of my parents have been turning to me for advice quite a bit. On the one hand I am comfortable giving the advice, and on the other I am reminded that in my youth I was rather good at ignoring it. Especially from my parents. Naturally I wonder if what I am saying is the same half baked crap that I rolled my eyes at. I certainly feel no wiser, nor any more insightful than I was as a younger person. Nor do I see my parents as lacking in competence and intellect.

Suddenly one is middle aged and judged to be somehow stable and sensible. Being sensible is never anything I have been accused of in the past.

I have detailed in my comments and a few essays the struggles my mother has faced trying to help my grandmother retain some dignity and independence and there have been no dramatic changes. In the movies and literature there is always some defining moment or event that propels the protagonist to action. For many of us there is no grand stage upon which to declare ourselves and our intentions. Nobody is our witness. Often when we have our “aha” moments we are by ourselves doing mundane things, poking along. And then the phone rings, or the spouse and kids mutter something, and the “aha” moment eludes or shows back up again while we are brushing our teeth.

Fight For Your Right…. To Orgasm

I caught this little ditty over at the Broadsheet section at Salon.

An Ecuadorian politician recently set off a monsoon of machismo by reportedly attempting to write a woman’s right to sexual satisfaction into the state’s constitution. Maria Soledad Vela’s pro-pleasure argument was called “ridiculous” and an attempt to “decree orgasm by law” by male lawmakers. A local newspaper spoke with a man who actually likened the legislation to “life in prison.” (Surely, he’s a bunch of fun in bed.) But, all she’s asking for is required public health education that acknowledges women aren’t unfeeling breeding machines. (¡Qué horrible!) Soledad Vela says she isn’t demanding the right to an orgasm, but, as the BBC puts it, “merely the right to enjoy sex in a free, fair and more open society” — and if that means greater orgasms, which it probably does, then so be it.

In conservative Ecuador, that’s a dangerous political platform; and that’s why, even though I realize it’s only Monday, I’m nominating Maria Soledad Vela as Broadsheet’s woman of the week

My question: why don’t American politicians ever have the innovative ideas any more?

I double dog dare a leading politician here in the land of the free to propose that kind of amendment.

Meanwhile…. Joan Walsh gives an eye rolling summary of a soon to appear Michael Wolff piece in Vanity Fair. You can read it here.

Land and Freedom

I happened to catch another viewing of Land and Freedom by Ken Loach this week.

What makes it a particularly unique movie is that it is a critique of the left from the left.

A young British communist travels to Spain to defend the the Republic and finds himself in a militia composed largely of anarchists and PUOM members ( independent Marxists ). The main character initially embraces the philosophy of collectivism and revolution now until an injury causes him to re-think his position while in convalescence. He decides to reject the cause of his lover ( an anarchist ) and join up with the better armed communist fighters. A battle between the two factions occurs and he ultimately goes back to his old militia partially no doubt to return to his lover.

There are two scenes in the movie that resonated with me. In one, workers of a local village have a forceful debate about whether to instantly collectivize a former land owner’s property. Their argument is simple: it is the only way to ensure that everybody eats. One man argues against it, essentially saying the land he works has produced because of his labor. The village wants to institute the principles of revolution immediately. Several militia members participate and one of the speakers cautions against it saying that it is wiser to fight against the forces of fascism, and worrying about the actual revolution later.

Later toward the conclusion of the movie, the militia is confronted by the communist forces and ordered to join up and put down their weapons. A verbal confrontation leads to an armed one and the results are predictable, a few defiant militia members are killed and the rest concede.

Loach’s vision is obvious: that the mainstream communist forces in Spain betrayed possible revolution and were more than willing to sacrifice the idealistic aims of the anarchists, independent Marxists, and peasants. Clearly, this is a simplistic view, neglecting the reality that the world community was reluctant to intervene save Mexico and Russia, and ultimately the Nationalist forces had an actual professional fighting army.

Americans joined the international effort in the Abe Lincoln Brigade and Canadians formed the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion. A memorial to the Abe Lincoln Brigade was dedicated in San Francisco this year.

Boston Photo Essay

“The tourist may complain of other tourists, but he would be lost without them.”

Agnes Repplier

“We are all tourists in history, and irony is what we win in wars.”

Anatole Broyard

“The worst thing about being a tourist is having other tourists recognize you as a tourist.”

Russell Baker

I had great designs on tackling the pictorial delights of Boston. I was hampered by a colleague hobbling on crutches, other colleagues who wanted to shop, and the fact that my employers expected us to actually attend the conference.

The hotel we stayed in was so modern, I did not know how to turn on the taps or find the light switch when we first arrived. Turns out I was not the only one who struggled with this, reference was made to it in the opening speech.

I had to go buy a Bosox cap ( so I did shop ) because the first morning I popped out of bed  needing coffee and there was a Starbucks in the lobby,pulled on my wrinkled clothes from the night before and realized my hair was sticking up and I was scaring the other hotel guests. They shrank away from me in the elevator. Even the Starbucks people seemed uneasy.

Oddly enough, although I have worked nights for years, early morning has never been a problem for me. I hate afternoons. Afternoons should just be eliminated as far as I am concerned.

I got up early to take these…

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Give Me Directions

I can find the United States on a map and I know I live here. But I am having a hard time actually finding it. I wonder if we have become a nation of sub Americas in which nobody knows the other exists. There used to be a Chevy commercial that crooned about being the “heart beat” of America, if you still believe that you can buy the swag to reassure yourself. Surely now, filling up that truck is just as like to give you a heart attack.

Ah, I see that 30 percent of economists think the economy will be shrinking this year.

Does that mean it will still fit when we try it on?

Great I was hoping I could fit into those smaller sized jeans I have stashed in the closet. Not likely any of us will be actually buying a new pair any time soon. Apparently an additional 70 percent of economists are pessimistic about the economy’s outlook than just three months ago. Pessimistic?

The average wage of a “corporate economist” is about 106,000 dollars. Those employed by the federal government make around on average 94,000 dollars a year. Granted, they have to go to school for a very long time, it takes a while to properly indoctrinate folks to never question the supremacy of the free market. The best young economists have the highest school debt, they have worked their asses off and are too shy to admit that just maybe they were overly optimistic about how great it is to tinker with capitalism. It is great for the people who hire the economists to do so. Come on nobody invites the servants to birthday parties.

Birthday parties are new and exciting opportunities for social anxiety. That is what great about this country: we keep finding more means by which to both feel inadequate and spend a few more bucks trying to vanquish it.

Bootleg Raw: Of Souls and Sorrows

Since returning from Boston, I have received every morning a harried phone call from Mom documenting my Grandmother’s decline. She has another infection, she has fallen, she has blacked out and isn’t certain what transpired. Each time the conversation ends, this morning I gave Mom some half assed advice that she treated like a sliver of brilliance because she too is stressed out, I think that there are countless other middle aged Americans getting these same phone calls. After all we are a nation of traveling and middle class aspiring wanderers and consumers dancing the ultimate unicorn shuffle thinking that we matter as individuals that we should be out achieving and growing and living in districts with good schools in suburbs with no trees or working OT to send the kiddies to private school and telling ourselves the money is worth it so somebody will recognize our offspring in their specialness and all of this is often done hours away from our parents who live in a small towns with no jobs/declining post industrial city with no jobs/NAFTAized regions with no jobs and the only people we know who stayed behind have no jobs or low paying jobs with no benefits who are dully caring for their parents while trying to talk their own kids out joining the service because their own options are limited. And really. They can go to college and become teachers and scientists and get plowed under by debt and live in a studio apartment after graduation with six other roommates because they pay more in rent than Mom and Dad do for the mortgage.

This is America. We have choices. We can just amble on down the road of personal responsibility and free market solutions and buy lottery tickets or hope to hit the big one at the local casino where everybody says: that buffet is really great. Really, I know somebody who won 80,000 or my neighbor’s cousin’s aunt does.

And each time I get the phone call I try to remember how much vacation time I have. Not much. Because I took a vacation this year. Stayed in America because Europe was too pricey and I am not keen on those charming third world countries where they put you on a compound to create the illusion of an  local economy. Then I berate myself for even taking a vacation, who can even afford to take one now? Who even gets paid vacation? That search is starting to take on Holy Grail like proportions for the average working American. Yeah. We will give you a job and the best that you can hope for is that we won’t humiliate you too too often and we will let you train your replacement. Deal?

My girlfriend who has been at her job in Canada two years gets twice as much paid vacation as I, at my job almost ten. But those Canadians pay high taxes. I hear they all want to come here but they won’t work cheap like those other immigrants…. you know the nice ones who enjoy and value hard work for slavery wages.

McCain Mumbles

I wish I could have figured out how to embed this video properly, as it happens you will have to click a link.

I realize asking anybody to listen to John McCain speak for nine minutes is a stretch for patriotism and patience. You won’t get this nine minutes back from your life. I can’t give a time refund but I can buy you a drink some time.

I have some thoughts on the speech that I would like to offer and am hoping to get feedback/analysis from you as well. Click the link, you might need toothpicks to keep your eyelids propped open.

John McCain mumbles and makes me hopeful we will have a Dem president. Watch the speech if you aren’t suffering from a stomach virus. My apologies in advance. There is a much more abbreviated version on you tube that simply fails to catch the essence of dullness, lifelessness, lack of conviction, blatant discomfort, and lack of sincerity this one offers.

McCain wouldn’t last three seconds in a parliamentary system where delivery, wit, and tone count as much as content.

He manages a feat I thought impossible, a speech about one of the greatest men who ever graced this country that lacks passion. A boring speech about MLK. How on earth did he accomplish this? That requires conviction.

My take is that the crowd is tolerant at best and vaguely restless.

I am also astounded that McCain manages to stumble and drift through a speech about Dr.King without once ever mentioning the word racism. He dances slowly around it mentioning “unfairness” and “justice”. He never uses the words “black” and “white” just once, pretty impressive. He certainly doesn’t suggest that “black” Americans were purposefully oppressed by “white” Americans. I am not sure he even mentioned that Dr.King was black himself.

He pays lip service to Darfur and Tibet and lumps them in with Iran. Does this mean he wants to invade all of them?

McCain, clothes his words in Christianity and faith, and almost completely avoids placing the civil rights movements in political context. As if it had no political context. None. Not that his faith based argument worked, there isn’t one “praise Jesus” or “hallelujah” from the crowd. You’ve completely missed your mark in the south if you make a personal/political speech your weaving your faith through it and nobody answers you.

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