The Evening Line: ‘Selma’ meets Charlie Hebdo

As I remarked yesterday, the marches in Paris, the huge crowds, were a unified response by modernity against a direct attack on the rights we’ve spent thousands of years taking for ourselves. We’ve taken them from the priests and imams, the kings and aristocrats, the landed,…the list goes on through history, as we’ve slowly taken them for ourselves. Rights for all of us, for each of us.

And those crowds were in the face of continued threats from fundamentalist reactionaries, threats to shoot, to bomb, to kill. Just like the millions of Americans, immediately after 9/11, that crowded into…oh, right, we didn’t do that. Not then.

We did it, at least in the thousands, back when we saw the rights of modernity being attacked by fundamentalist conservatives at the Edmund Pettus  Bridge outside Selma Alabama. Attacked with tear gas and ball bats, horses and truncheons. When Americans, white Americans, already secure in their right to vote, saw other Americans being beaten and gassed for trying to exercise their right to vote, to even register to vote, well, that was literally a bridge too far.

Whether a building is blown up, or a flag is burned, we can build another building, China will stitch us lots more flags. It hurts, it may even kill, but it doesn’t stop civilization’s forward march.

But try to end free speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and a million people, of every age, ethnicity and religion, show up together to shout  ‘Je Suis Charlie’.

And try to keep people from voting, from choosing their government, from the right of self-determination, and America comes out and marches. Marches from Selma to Montgomery, marches on Washington, and marches to the ballot box.  It took a century, from the end of the Civil War, to the Civil Rights Act, 1865 to 1965, for America to be willing to enforce the rights of African-Americans.

Until 1965, it was the Democrats of the South that did the oppressing. It was liberals, in both the Republican and Democratic parties, that passed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts.

And ever since, it’s been the Republican Party, giving in to its fundamentalist reactionaries, in so many states, that has worked to roll these rights back, with ‘Show Me Your Papers’ laws for voter registration,  and the poll taxes, er, fees, for those credentials, without funding the infrastructure needed to issue those papers.

Might be better to start marching again…before someone is, again, beaten or killed for trying to vote.

I had two wonderful experiences with Western culture today.

I had two wonderful experiences with Western culture today.

First, I got up at 6am and watched a million people gather in La Place de la Republique in Paris, marching in solidarity against those who had attacked their principles, our principles, principles of freedom a speech, and freedom of religion. It was a marvelous sight.

That’s been the difference between this attack in Paris, and the one in New York on 9/11. Not the number of casualties. Both countries lost millions in WWII, and still survived. No, on 9/11, terrorists attacked a giant symbol of money and power. In Paris, they attacked part of the philosophy of Western civilization: the freedom to speak, to criticize, to investigate and inquire, to seek new and better answers, both to old questions and to the new questions that result from the better answers.

As I said, a marvelous sight.

As was the turn-out among Democrats in our Assembly district, here in LA. Yes, I know, seems a poor comparison, yet this is where Western civilization starts, in freedom of assembly, and freedom to select our leaders, to the right to elect our government. Not to be dictated to by self-appointed religious leaders, or forced to cower at gunpoint under military juntas or mo. Granted, the billionaires are trying to run the country, as distasteful as that is, but until they attack our Western rights and freedoms (and don’t you think they aren’t trying,) participating in politics, as bad a reputation as it’s been given, is your right as a Westerner.

And watching people participate just thrills me every time. And, surprising even me, sometimes brings me to tears. Even after eight hours as one of a dozen volunteers, helping 450 Democrats vote for party delegates.

And now, we have elected seven men and seven women to represent the district to the state party, a party that has been successful and strong in recent years. And hopefully, more successful in future.

Our weird little display of Western philosophy: freedom of speech, and of assembly, and to elect our representatives and our government.  

Sure beats living in the ninth century.

“Rain fallin’ down, sun never shine..."

“Rain fallin’ down, sun never shine, got a lotta things, but none of them are mine.”

That’s the opening line to a Siegel-Schwall tune out of Chicago that always rolls around in my head when it’s raining in LA, and it’s been raining all day. My cat nonetheless refused to come in all day, just crouching miserably under a table on the back deck, the only dry spot outside.

Gonna make this a set of short notes and links to things I thought worth pointing out in today’s papers and such:

Some kids in Hyattsville Maryland won the right to vote. At age 16. And before you scoff, I’d point out a couple of things. Voting is a family tradition. If your folks voted regularly, you probably do too. And people who don’t vote have never been encouraged to…by someone they actually know. So what’s that got to do with this? If we could vote at 16, we’d be registered, and have voted, with friends, encouraged by teachers, before we left high school. High school’s the last place America makes an effort to mold us as citizens. Maybe we ought to add voting to the mix.  Hey, Padilla, here’s a #BoostTheVote suggestion for ya.

And then there’s who they might vote for: Jeb, Huckabee, Romney…all recycled. But there was a picture in the paper NYTimes today of Jeb, with governor Rick Scott, both of whom, as governors of Florida, consistently cut Medicaid, food stamps, and WIC. And there they are, handing out food baskets before Christmas. Now, I’m not a Scrooge, but this is the kind of photo-op crap that makes me want to scrape “Random Acts Of Kindness” stickers off every bumper they're on. I mean, first, create reliable streams of kindness, and support, like food, clothing, housing and education, to mention a few…THEN do some random acts. But don’t think that handing out a few food baskets relieves you of the miserliness of every other minute of your year. (Of course, the Times didn’t put the picture on-line with the article. Typical.)

Staten Island  may not have any higher percentage of assholes than Los Angeles, but its Republican Party has been showing them off more lately.  Now-Former Congressman Michael Grimm, R-NY, decided to step down a couple weeks ago, after being convicted of tax fraud. Like Jon Stewart mentioned, probably tough to represent from prison. So guess who’s running to replace him? Daniel M Donovan, Jr., the district attorney  who was so incompetent that he couldn’t get an indictment against the policeman who choked Eric Garner to death…on camera…while Garner gasped “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe”. Yep, this is the best the GOP has to offer out on Staten Island. Kinda takes your breath away. 

And speaking of incompetent Republicans, Mittens is thinking of running for president again. Hoping third time's the harm, I guess. For you Psy fans of Korean music, here’s a little callback to the 2012 campaign, Romney-Style.

Finally, about the rain outside here in LA. Could be worse. You could live on Hawaii right now…and be an astronomer.  A foot of snow has come down on the volcano Mauna Kea, and the road to the observatories is an ice slick. It’s been below zero up there for over a week. 

Oops. Almost forgot. A long time ago, I grew up in the Midwest, largely in Ohio. And Ohio State was all there was. Football built character. Football built men. And Coach Woody Hayes was God in Ohio. Here’s God’s last game at OSU, playing Clemson in the Gator Bowl in 1978. OSU’s in white. God is wearing a maroon jacket and a black ballcap. It’s a close game, but this play’s what lost it for OSU. And for God. And that’s why I say: Go Ducks!

PS: I didn’t post yesterday. I wrote something, about a skeevy bit of op-ed writer, who’s not fit to print, and yet is, twice weekly. But responding to what he wrote yesterday would play into his hand, showing that people read him, and I hadn’t, in years, until yesterday’s,… well, until his bowel movement yesterday.  Sorry. It was that bad. It’s still in my wastebasket, and I can smell it from here.

‘Scuse me while I take out the trash.

Charlie Hebdo? Surely You Jest. (And stop calling me Shirley)

Tuesday night, Rachel Maddow had a great time making fun of Kirby DeLauter. Who?, you ask. Well, he’s a low-level elected bozo (need I mention, Republican) in Fredrick County, Maryland, who went bat-shit on facebook at a reporter for mentioning him by name in an article in the Frederick News-Post. Well, this being America, we know who’s in the wrong here, him being an elected official, and her being a journalist with (still) some First Amendment rights.

He threatened legal action, and maybe worse, if she ever used his name in an article again. So her paper’s editorial page issued a screamingly funny rebuke, titled “Kirby DeLauter, Kirby DeLauter, Kirby DeLauter”. And they went to town on his name, using it about 27 times, as well as mangling his name, so as to not use it, but make it clear who they were talking about, coming up with variations such as, and I’m quoting the editorial here,  “Shirley DeLaughter (and don’t call me Shirley)”. You gotta read it. 

But they finished by making a strong point. We have a First Amendment, and journalism, and elected officials are exactly who needs to be watched, and reported on, for the good they do, and the bad.  

At least Kirby DeLauter didn’t decide to attack the publication that he felt had injured him by driving up and opening fire on the staff.  Especially after the management made so much fun of his objections that he became a laughing-stock on a national news show.

The editorial also rebukes another councilman who defended DeLauter by calling journalists “cowards”. Said the Editorial, “Cowards? Tell that to the families of the 60 journalists killed in 2014 or the 70 in 2013, or the 74 who died in 2012, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.”  Or the 12 killed to start off 2015, in Paris yesterday, at the offices of Charlie Hebdo .

Charlie Hebdo looked at the same objections over being written about, from similarly small minds, and continued to poke fun at them. At Catholics, Muslims, nationalists, homophobes, any self-important boobs who made themselves the center of the world and who called everyone else sinners or infidels or unfaithful to the nation.

I’m glad I live under the US Constitution, and its Bill of Rights, which let me write these small thoughts and send them out into the world.

But the same folks that shot up Charlie Hebdo live here. They blow up women’s health clinics, kill doctors and firebomb churches. They set off bombs at NAACP offices and shoot officials at rallies. They blow up government buildings, and shoot forest rangers, and threaten to shoot anyone enforcing range-land regulations.

Some talking head on the news last night said, “they can’t shoot everyone who disagrees with them.” And I did some quick math on America. 320 million people,  about 300 million guns, each gun with at least half-a-dozen loads.

Yep, they can shoot everyone that disagrees with them. And from what I’ve seen, they may just try.

But Charlie Hebdo is planning on publishing next Wednesday, and they’ve ordered a million-copy run. That’s sixteen times the usual run. Because these terrorists, instead of causing fear, created solidarity and determination.  And I’ll buy a copy, just to show I’m for free speech, our First Amendment, and the future. Because #JeSuisCharlie. I am Charlie Hebdo.

Nibbling away at us, one percent, house, street, or rung at a time

1/6/2015 5:07 PM

I want to start off by remembering my sister, Julia Magnolia Epiphany Willis, on this, her birthday, Epiphany Day, the 12^th Day of Christmas.  She passed away ten years ago, but created two beautiful girls who do her proud, do us all proud, every day. ‘Nuff said there. On to today’s entertainment.

Congress opened today, and the Republicans went right to it: Keystone hearings tomorrow and a vote on Thursday.  Trying to pack the CBO with GOP followers of Voodoo economics, aka ‘dynamic scoring’, which means ‘tax cuts for the rich don’t cause deficits.’ No, really, that’s what it means. And changing the meaning of ‘full-time work’ in the context of employer-mandated health insurance. So only if you work 40 hrs/week would they have to provide insurance, instead of 30 hrs, like now. That way, they can cut your hours to 39 and a half, and you don’t get health insurance.

Meanwhile, over at the SEC, GOP Commissioner Gallagher stopped Nobel-prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz from being placed on an advisory (as in ‘gives advice, doesn’t make policy’) panel to the SEC that SEC Chair Mart Jo White is trying to set up, on the subject of high-speed, high-frequency trading and other ways that Wall Street swindles investors.  Cause Republicans are all about letting markets be free to play the game with marked cards. 

The GOP really hates reality, and the economics that go with it.

Don’t  you love Republicans?

Meanwhile, today’s paper had a few things of note, especially if you’re a city dweller.

The fractional economy, where no one can afford a real hotel room, or a real car, so we AirBnB or Uber, continues to ruin neighborhoods. Today, it’s the GPS-guided traffic apps, which redirect drivers to zoom downyour residential street when that big main artery over there is jammed.  Instead of unknown people in the house or apartment next door, for a day or week at a time, now it’s cars going from nowhere to nowhere else, using your street as a dragstrip.

Meanwhile, here in LA, developers continue to prove whycorporations aren’t people, or even good citizens. No matter what promises they make to get a building built, they have their fingers crossed behind their backs, and know that while the neighbors will catch them at it, the City won’t do sh*t. 

I live in Venice, and whether it’s residential or commercial development, the only objective is get the money and run. I could mention a restaurant: Gjood food, lousy neighbor. But I won’t.  No, not me.

I want to finish with the closing line of ContinuingTitanic Captain John Boehner’s speech to open the House today:

“May the fruits of our labors be ladders our children can use to climb the stairs to the stars.”

Sorry, Mr. Speaker, you and yours have shipped most of the rungs of those ladders to the cheapest-labor countries on earth.  If there is any justice, you name will be remembered for that.

1/6/2015 5:44 PM