Local Politics and National Influence

It's going to be an interesting summer here in Arizona's 1st congressional district as the race to replace Mr. corruption Renzi heats up. First, I'm really frustrated with the Democratic party (America's second worst party) who seem determined to pick our candidate for us, rather than let the voters make the choice in our primary. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has decided to back Ann Kirkpatrick in the race, a poor choice in my opinion. I'm a strong supporter and volunteer for Howard Shanker (http://www.howardshankerforcongress.com/), so my opinion is somewhat biased, but my goal is to elect the best possible congressperson in the general election. The DCCC's anointed candidates lost to Renzi three times in a row in races that should have been won, so their endorsement is not a harbinger of success. Kirkpatrick seems to fit their profile of bland safe candidates, moderately conservative "blue dogs" who won't rock the boat. Shanker, on the other hand, is a real progressive with a strong agenda for change in Washington. He's taken strong stands on energy, the environment, and against the war in Iraq while Kirkpatrick's positions have been safely vague. And that's what really bothers me about the DCCC. They seem determined to select "safe" candidates who then lose in the general election, rather than candidates who offer a real potential for change. Given the mess that shrub and the republicans have created, we need more real change agents in congress. Howard Shanker should be one of those change agents.

For all of you here in Flagstaff, I'd like to invite you to a party with Howard on Saturday, June 21st:

FREE GRANDVIEW BLOCK PARTY!

Celebrate Democracy in Action

Come for the food and
music,Stay to meet and ask your questions To our next
Congressman,

Howard Shanker

Candidate in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District

Come enjoy a Saturday afternoon BBQ and Block Party and find
out why we should elect Howard Shanker for Congress.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Noon-3pm

Hosted byYour Neighbor, Andy Bessler

3405 North Grandview Drive

Flagstaff, AZ

This should be fun, and we have a very real opportunity to win this one. Making it more of a challenge, however, is the schedule. The primary is on Sept. 2nd, which doesn't leave a lot of time to gear up for November.

A Nice Pair of Boobies

Must be Friday.

State of Corruption

Arizona's congressional delegation has piled up a catalogue of corruption that few states can rival. My representative, and Republican corruption poster boy, Rick Renzi (who should be in jail) is sharing some of the investigation with our Senators St. Sleazy McCain and bloody stupid Jon Kyl:

Federal agents interviewed staffers for likely Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) as part of their corruption case against Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.).

U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Diane J. Humetewa and fellow prosecutors disclosed the interviews with aides for McCain and fellow Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl in a written response to Renzi’s attorneys, who asked for the contents of the interview to help prepare for Renzi’s upcoming trial, which is scheduled for October.

The aides were interviewed about land exchanges, according to an April letter from Humetewa filed with the U.S. District Court of Arizona late last week. The letter did not indicate when the interviews occurred.

A federal land swap critical to developing a $3 billion copper mine southeast of Phoenix is at the heart of the case against Renzi, who is facing 35 public corruption charges, including conspiracy, money-laundering, extortion and insurance fraud. Renzi is retiring at the end of this session.

Prosecutors said they would provide Renzi’s legal team with reports and transcripts of the staffer interviews. They also mentioned that they have requested documents from both Arizona senators’ offices.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/fbi-interviews-arizona-staffers-2008-05-27.html

While there is no evidence (yet) that St. Sleazy was involved in Renzi's solicitation of bribes, it does tie in with his current lobbyist problems. St. Sleazy likes to choose foxes to advise him on henhouse security:

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s national campaign general co-chair was being paid by a Swiss bank to lobby Congress about the U.S. mortgage crisis at the same time he was advising McCain about his economic policy, federal records show.

“Countdown with Keith Olbermann” reported Tuesday night that lobbying disclosure forms, filed by the giant Swiss bank UBS, list McCain’s campaign co-chair, former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, as a lobbyist dealing specifically with legislation regarding the mortgage crisis as recently as Dec. 31, 2007.

Gramm joined the bank in 2002 and had registered as a lobbyist by 2004. UBS filed paperwork deregistering Gramm on April 18 of this year. Gramm continues to serve as a UBS vice chairman.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24844889

St. Sleazy will try to distance himself from shrub and his low poll numbers, but he's still surrounded by the culture of corruption. He was closely tied to Renzi until Rick got caught. The Arizona Republican congressional delegation have a long history of sharing the spoils from their dirty deals, so I wouldn't be surprised if St. Sleazy found a way to profit from Renzi's corruption.

Now They'll Tell Us

For those of us who've been paying attention this is no surprise, but another one of shrub's pet sycophants has decided to tell the truth about the lies. Scott McClellan:

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes in a surprisingly scathing memoir to be published next week that President Bush “veered terribly off course,” was not “open and forthright on Iraq,” and took a “permanent campaign approach” to governing at the expense of candor and competence.

Among the most explosive revelations in the 341-page book, titled “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” (Public Affairs, price deleted):

• McClellan charges that Bush relied on “propaganda” to sell the war.

• He says the White House press corps was too easy on the administration during the run-up to the war.

• He admits that some of his own assertions from the briefing room podium turned out to be “badly misguided.”

• The longtime Bush loyalist also suggests that two top aides held a secret West Wing meeting to get their story straight about the CIA leak case at a time when federal prosecutors were after them — and McClellan was continuing to defend them despite mounting evidence they had not given him all the facts.

• McClellan asserts that the aides — Karl Rove, the president’s senior adviser, and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the vice president’s chief of staff — “had at best misled” him about their role in the disclosure of former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity.

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=2C2AD8E6-3048-5C12-00DD5B339097C9F9

I have no respect for people like this. He knew he was lying to us. Quite a few of shrub's liars have written their "apologia" after leaving the maladministration. If they had of possessed any honor they would have told the truth at the time, or at least refused to lie. Historians may enjoy uncovering all the deceptions as they perform the political autopsy of shrub. But we're living with it.
We deserve better.

Added: John Aravosis seems to agree with me: http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/former-bush-spokesmans-book-criticizes.html

And more:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21903753/

The Military and College

Dare I say this? St. Sleazy McCain's thinking on veteran's benefits actually has a certain logic to it. He points out that young people might prefer college to the military:

Republican Presidential candidate John McCain has made an astute point in regards to modernizing the current GI Bill - If the U.S. starts offering too much education to veterans, no one will want to be a soldier anymore. McCain envisions a new GI Bill where troops will be forced to "earn" their education dollars by serving longer and longer stints in the military.

"It is important to do that because, otherwise, we will encourage more people to leave the military after they have completed one enlistment," McCain said.

There is a certain amount of insight here. Despite the slick TV marketing, the military tends to be less fun than college. College offers a wider variety of scheduling choices, better parties, and better fashion. Also, it is generally a safer place to be.
I can only speak from my own experience on this. I was never in the military. I reached military age in the post-Vietnam era, so there wasn't any real need for me to serve. But I did go to college. I can honestly say that my time in college was the best eleven years of my life. While some professor's lectures were painful to endure, I am sure that a drill sergeant would be worse. The military (I'm told) builds "character" and "discipline", but college allows the intellectual opportunity to debate the meaning of Nietzsche and Descartes while stoned at 3:00 am.
In short, St. Sleazy is probably right that many young people would choose the option of bettering their lives over spending more time risking their lives in a pointless war. I can see why he wouldn't want them to have that option.
Added: The vets deserve the greater education benefits. That's why the rethugs are against them.

Happy Towel Day

Happy Towel Day. This universe is tough, and you've really got to know where your towel is.

Frantic Friday Boobie

Another busy Friday, another Boobie.

The Next Step

Now that St. Sleazy has "repudiated" Pastor Hagee and returned his endorsement on the heels of Obama's Rev. Wright rejection, can we please reach a logical conclusion? Can we just get religion out of politics? Please?

A Short Century

The "Project for the New American Century", or "PNAC" appears to have come to an end:

Apparently for financial reasons, the new American century has prematurely ended.

In a symbolic act, the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), run by Bill Kristol and other neocons, has lost its internet presence.

When accessing www.newamericancentury.org one now gets redirected to the webhosters 'account suspended' page.

It says:

Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible.

The website was hosted by btnaccess.com which is a subsidary of Hong Kong based PCCW Global.

PNAC is unable to pay for the new American century and the Chinese, after checking America's sinking FICO scores, are obviously not willing to finance it with further credit lines.

Signs of the times ...

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2008/05/the-new-america.html

A lot of us were called "conspiracy theorists" for citing PNAC as being behind shrub's debacle in Iraq, but it can hardly be called a "conspiracy" when the neo-cons published their plans to invade Iraq. That paper may have been among the most destructive delusions in human history, the idea that a militarily invasion would spread democracy and be greeted with "sweets and flowers." Unfortunately, these idiots were able to get into power and put their plans into action, and we'll be paying for their folly for a major chunk of the century.

PNAC owes the world a hell of a lot more than just their hosting costs.

Local Election Day

It's election day here in Flagstaff, with Mayor and 3 city council seats up for grabs. The election is held by mail, which is no where near as much fun. I really enjoyed working a polling place on local election days in the past. It was kinda fun to see who came out to vote as a way to take the community pulse. But vote by mail is cheaper and gets a higher turnout, even if it does take away an entertainment opportunity for me.

Most of the attention has gone to the Mayoral race, where a two term incumbent is facing an energetic newcomer. The incumbent, Joe Donaldson, has been exceedingly mediocre in his two terms. He hasn't really screwed anything up (which is an improvement on some previous Mayors), but he hasn't really accomplished much of anything either. A nice enough guy, but I'll be glad to see him replaced. His challenger, Sara Pressler-Hoefle (http://www.saraformayor.com/welcome), is a candidate that I've supported enthusiastically. She's a dynamic progressive who offers a strong mix of energy and ideas. I've volunteered a fair chunk of time on her campaign, and I hope that it's a "victory" party tonight. The last local poll was too close to call, but I'm optimistic.

Our city council has been split for years between the "business/growth" faction and the "environment/quality of life" faction, and this election is unlikely to change that dynamic. Three seats are up for election. There are two really good progressive candidates, one really bad business candidate, one long time "rabble-rouser", and two "who?" candidates. Al White, a really good incumbent, looks like a shoe-in, so it's really a race for two seats. Very hard to predict between Karla Brewster (really good progressive), John McCulloch (rabble-rousing former council member with a high entertainment value), and Morgan Hagaman (law and order, more cops and more business conservative), as each has a strong local core constituency but low name recognition amongst the broader general public. As with most local elections, turnout will be the deciding factor.

My ballot went in weeks ago, as did Sweaterman's, and Zymurgian turned his in yesterday. I'm sure Gandhisxmas has voted, but I'm not sure when or for whom. Tonight I'll be watching the results from Sara's (hopefully) victory party with my usual mix of optimism and cynicism. If all politics is local, then this should be entertaining.

Added: We have a new Mayor. Sara won big.

Another Casualty, Another Senseless Tragedy

It started out a fairly typical local crime story. There was a car-jacking at the Grand Canyon. Later it was learned that this was on the heels of an apparent failed suicide attempt by driving into the Canyon. Two days and a cross state police chase later two men were dead.
Then the human side of the tragedy came out. It was collateral damage from the war in Iraq. Former Marine Staff Sergeant Travis N. "T-Bo" Twiggs was one of the dead. Shaun Mullen at Kiko's House has the details:

Twiggs went AWOL from his job at a Marine Corps laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.
He and his beloved brother, Willard, 38, drove to the Grand Canyon, where their car was found hung up in a tree in what appeared to be a failed attempt to drive into the chasm.

The brothers then carjacked a vehicle. They ended up several hundred miles away at a southwestern Arizona border checkpoint on May 14 and took off when they were asked to pull into an inspection area. Eighty miles later, the car was sighted on the Tohono O'odham Native American reservation, its tires wrecked by spike strips.

As tribal police and Border Patrol agents closed in, Twiggs apparently fatally shot his brother and then killed himself.

His PTSD was diagnosed, but not effectively treated. He had even met with shrub on behalf of veterans:

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Last month, Marine Staff Sgt. Travis N. "T-Bo" Twiggs went to the White House with a group of Iraq war veterans called the Wounded Warriors Regiment and met the president.

Twiggs had been through four tours in Iraq, one in Afghanistan and months of therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder in which he said he was on up to 12 different medications.

"He said, `Sir, I've served over there many times, and I would serve for you any time,' and he grabbed the president and gave him a big hug," said Kellee Twiggs, his widow.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hD0tzsn2RZuCtbFu5SdtwUgYZevgD90NGBP81

Making the case even more tragic is that Sgt. Twiggs was trying to get treatment, but the system is inadequate.

"All this violent behavior, him killing his brother, that was not my husband. If the PTSD would have been handled in a correct manner, none of this would have happened," she said in a telephone interview from Stafford, Va.

Travis Twiggs, who enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1993 and held the combat action ribbon, wrote about his efforts to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder in the January issue of the Marine Corps Gazette.

The symptoms would disappear when he began each tour, he said, but came back stronger than ever when he came home.

He wrote that his life began to "spiral downward" after the tour in which two Marines from his platoon died.

"I cannot describe what a leader feels when he does not bring everyone home," he wrote. "To make matters even worse, I arrived at the welcome home site only to find that those two Marines' families were waiting to greet me as well. I remember thinking, 'Why are they here?'"

Weeks later, Twiggs "saw a physician's assistant who said that was the severest case of PTSD she'd seen in her life," his widow said.

He began receiving treatment, but the Marine wrote that he mixed his medications with alcohol and that his symptoms didn't go away until he started his final tour in Iraq.

When he came home, "All of my symptoms were back, and now I was in the process of destroying my family," he wrote. "My only regrets are how I let my command down after they had put so much trust in me and how I let my family down by pushing them away."

Kellee Twiggs said her husband was "very, very different, angry, agitated, isolated and so forth," upon his return. "He was just doing crazy things."

She said her husband was treated in the psychiatric ward of Bethesda Naval Medical Center and then sent to a Veterans Administration facility for four months.

Most recently, Travis Twiggs was assigned to the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory at Quantico, a job he said helped him "get my life back on track."

"Every day is a better day now," he wrote in the Marine Corps Gazette. "...Looking back, I don't believe anyone is to blame for my craziness, but I do think we can do better."

Twiggs urged others suffering from similar problems to seek help. "PTSD is not a weakness. It is a normal reaction to a very violent situation," he wrote.

Kellee Twiggs said she can't understand why her husband was not sent to a specialized PTSD clinic in New Jersey.

"They let him out. He was OK for a while and then it all started over again," she said.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hD0tzsn2RZuCtbFu5SdtwUgYZevgD90NGBP81

This is only one of many tragedies resulting from shrub's Iraq disaster, but one that is growing rapidly. We have more soldiers coming home in need of treatment, but the system is woefully unprepared to meet their needs. Shaun ends his post with a call for volunteers:

If you are not in denial and have some time to spare, there are opportunities to help
returning and troubled veterans at your local VA hospital or military base, or through church and community organizations.

These opportunities include helping fill out paperwork, finding lost forms, acting as a driver for doctors' appointments, and just visiting and listening. Connecting with the right people can be a multi-layered process, so be patient. A good start is to ask for Volunteer Services.

While I support Shaun's call for public help, I strongly believe that it is the Federal Governments responsibility to provide proper treatment to those who've served. It's going to be expensive, but Congress needs to fund PTSD treatment at an unprecedented level. Shrub's misguided war is creating new victims every day. We, as a civilized society, need to help these people in order to prevent future tragedies.

Boobie Time

Happy Friday.

Good Job, California

The California Supreme Court steps up for equal rights. Good for them:

California Supreme Court overturns ban on gay marriage

The California Supreme Court has overturned a gay marriage ban in a ruling that would make the nation’s largest state the second one to allow gay and lesbian weddings.

The justices’ 4-3 decision Thursday says domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage. Chief Justice Ron George wrote the opinion.

The city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples and gay rights groups sued in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco’s month long same-sex wedding march.

The case before the court involved a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn a voter-approved law that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Maybe I'm just an old liberal, but I've always seen the gay marriage issue in very simple terms: equal rights. Discrimination is wrong. How consenting adults define their relationships should not be restricted by laws. As with inter-racial marriage decades ago, it's good to see a win for freedom over institutional discrimination.

Do Aliens Believe in Catholics?

I sometimes find "religion", and the whole concept of "believing" perplexing. So the idea of Catholics believing in aliens is confusing me.

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.

The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.

"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."

In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VATICAN_ALIENS?SITE=FLSTU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

So, do aliens believe in Catholics?

Mountain Weather

Ah, the joys of mountain living. It's the middle of May, and it's snowing. After a string of sunny, breezy spring days, we're back in winter. That sound you're hearing is the wailing of all the local gardeners who spent last weekend planting.

Mom's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all (I'm not a rethug, so I support MD). I talked with my sainted mother this morning (not that that's unusual; we talk most every Sunday), and she's doing well enough. Mom's had some minor health problems lately (nothing serious), and she's none too happy about it. Her main frustration stems from a surgery to remove rectal polyps, which has precluded her from riding her Harley this spring. At 74 years old, Mom is used to doing what she wants when she wants and physical limitations are not a part of her agenda. Her doc told her she'd have to wait another 4-6 weeks before jumping on the bike, to which she said "that's not acceptable", which is a good general reflection of my mother's attitude toward aging. She intends to behave as if she were still 21, and she expects her body to cooperate. Have I mentioned how much I love my mom? From the Dead shows when I was 9 years old to the Harley today, mom has always rocked. Happy Mother's Day!

(and mom, if you happen to read this, go easy on your poor doctor. He's doing the best he can.)

Even Better Than the Boobie

The title of the article is worth the click:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7390109.stm

Getting Out the Boobie

I know that I haven't posted much lately, but I do get the Friday Boobie out.

Emotional Politics

I haven't been posting much lately, and part of the reason is my level of frustration with the current political discourse. I know that a lot of political success is based on emotion, and passion can be a good thing, but lately it's been getting vicious. The divide amongst liberal political blogs between Obama and Clinton is striking, and to my mind petty. I can say this objectively, as I'll support either one but am enthusiastic about neither. Both are too conservative for my taste, but either would be better than any republican. For the record, I voted for Obama in the primary because my preferred candidates had already dropped out.

The media love emotional divides. They draw eyeballs, so any "gotcha" issues become a media obsession. In depth policy discussions don't sell advertising. With a close race, the media looks for the soap opera emotional drama. It sells.

Amongst the most divisive emotional appeals in the current race is the "identity" politics. We get to see the breakdown by "black", "female", "white", "college educated", and "working class" voters analyzed and parsed, as if each demographic group is a monolithic block without any other identity (I'm not sure that I really fit the "middle-aged white guy" profile) and will vote a certain way based on that identity. The republicans love to encourage these divisions, and I fear that in some cases it may be working. I've been told by an avid Clinton supporter that I'm a chauvinist, and by an equally avid Obama supporter that I'm a racist, because I'm not enthusiastically for either.

Sadly, this is the state of politics in America today. Appeal to the emotion at the expense of the intellect. But derision and division are a poor substitute for substantive policy.

A Nation Shamed

Here's the latest evidence of the moral degradation brought about by shrub's embrace of torture. I suppose that the fact that Sami al-Hajj has been freed is a positive. But the condition of the al-Jazeera photographer upon his return to Sudan speaks volumes about the cruel inhumanity of Guantanamo:

Sami al-Hajj had been in US custody for more than six years. He was detained in Afghanistan in 2001. He arrived in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on a US military plane in the early hours of Friday morning.

After a 16-month hunger strike, Mr Hajj grimaced as he was carried off the plane by US military personnel.

"I have been so overwhelmed with happiness that I've been in tears," he said shortly after his arrival.

"I have every right to cry after I've survived these seven horrid years of humiliation, repression and injustice for no fault on my part apart from being a Muslim."

Al-Jazeera showed footage of Mr Hajj being carried into the hospital on a stretcher, looking frail but smiling and surrounded by well-wishers.

"We are concerned about the way the Americans dealt with Sami, and we are concerned about the way they could deal with others as well," said Wadah Khanfar, managing director of al-Jazeera's Arabic service.

"His detention for six years, without the most basic due process, is a grave injustice and represents a threat to all journalists working in conflict areas," said Joel Simon, executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Mr Hajj was working as a cameraman for al-Jazeera when he was arrested by Pakistani troops near the Afghan border in December 2001 and later handed over to the US military.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7378828.stm

I'm outraged. I'm outraged that my country would treat someone this way in violation of international law. I'm outraged that America would hold a journalist for more than six years without evidence. I'm outraged that an innocent man was tortured and abused.

But as much as all of these, I'm outraged that this story will only be noticed by the rest of the world. The American media will ignore the story of a fellow journalist unjustly incarcerated in favor of the latest celebrity scandal or political horse race sound byte. And they wonder why we're losing respect internationally.

Our current president has brought shame and disgrace upon our nation. For this crime, and countless others, he should stand before an international tribunal and face the consequences determined. I know that will only happen after Satan takes up driving a Zamboni, but it would be the only way to restore America's honor.