Michael Moore's "Slacker Uprising"

Did you know that Michael Moore did a direct-to-download movie called Slacker Uprising? It's still available for free from the director and based on that price and what I've enjoyed from Moore in the past I got it a few years ago and recently got around to watching it. It took me back to those heady days of 2004 when those of us to the left thought we could make GW Bush a single-term president and it's easy to see how the "uprising" the title describes just continued to rise and eventually elect Obama in 2008.

However, events since then have served to make this film interesting self-indictment of Moore. Most of what we see of Moore in this film show him trying to raise voter participation rates among college students and the opposition he got from political opponents. Aside from that, we see a lot of his speeches at colleges where he talks about evil warmonger Bush and how we have to end these stupid wars and why we need to treat our troops right and bring them all home now. Hearing this talk in 2011, one has to wonder why Moore isn't speaking about warmonger Obama the same way as all these claims apply equally to him. A low point is reached when Moore brings Roseanne Barr on stage to make jokes about how Bush is running up the deficit. It's nice that Moore put these issues up front in his campaign but would have been nicer if he hadn't given up on them.

A response to Penn Jillette

I've grown to be an admirer of Penn Jillette in recent years. I really like the title of his new book (God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales) as it sounds like a conclusion I came to in recent times. His video blog is frequently great fun, too. However, we don't agree in the realm of politics, as I'm a socialist and he's a libertarian. His recent CNN guest column draws some parallels between his atheism and his libertarianism with arguments that have shown me just where he, and perhaps other libertarians, are making their mistakes.

"People try to argue that government isn't really force. You believe
that? Try not paying your taxes. ... Guns will be drawn. Government is
force -- literally, not figuratively."

This is an argument I've seen before and it's apparently based on the idea that NOBODY wants to take part in government. Many of us do want to take part in government, however, so it's not a matter of force when we're willingly giving up our money. I guess the libertarians could respond with something like "you can't rape the willing" but I think they underestimate the numbers of people who want social services from their government and are willing to pay taxes to provide them. If one is willing to pay for something, the force argument falls apart unless you're willing to say that all trades of money for services are force.

"I don't believe the majority always knows what's best for everyone."

That is not the guiding principle of the social contract. In fact, it's a disgusting parody of the "majority rule" principle of any democracy. And today we usually conceive it as "majority rule with minority rights".

Here's an example to show how the "majority thinks it knows best" idea is BS: you're at a party with 10 friends and 9 of them want to order pepperoni pizzas while you want veggie pizza. Nobody there would think that the majority think pepperoni is best for the group, but they probably would agree that most preferences would be satisfied by that order. What would probably happen at the party (and ideally in a democratically governed society) is they would order a couple pepperonis and 1 veggie pizza, as everybody wants everybody else to be happy in a civil and friendly situation. If you don't want everybody to be happy, you're the one keeping the situation (or society) from being civil.

"The fact that the majority thinks they have a way to get something
good does not give them the right to use force on the minority that
don't want to pay for it."

This is a tricky area; the idea that we shouldn't be forced to pay for things we don't want seems very fair on the surface, but anybody who willingly takes part in government understands that the majority rule principle means they can't always get everything they want. Going back to the pizza party example, I may think I can eat more than 1 veggie pizza but I have to accept that the others really want pepperoni and they shouldn't pay for my gluttony. But we have a right to petition for what we want and open communication means we can argue for what we want, which can potentially change majority opinion.

Framing it in the sense of "we don't want to pay for these government actions" makes one wonder what this person thinks the ideal situation would be. Should our tax returns have a page where we list off things we will and won't be willing to let our taxes go to? Should every government expenditure be a bond with a referendum? Or maybe could we keep our current system and try to elect people we think will spend the money the way we best want.

"If you have to use a gun, I don't believe you really know jack.
Democracy without respect for individual rights sucks. It's just
ganging up against the weird kid, and I'm always the weird kid."

I wonder if Penn really thinks "ganging up against the weird kid" would decrease if we changed to his ideal laissez-faire system. Is that how minorities have won their rights in our history, by letting the marketplace decide?

The continuing adventures of Liz Goldwyn

Such excitement to see Liz Goldwyn, whose work I've so admired, in my Sunday LA Times. I love how the article says Liz 'just so happens to be the granddaughter of famed Hollywood studio head Samuel Goldwyn and counts fashion-world elite as friends and collaborators' as if those are unrelated. Amazing that somebody born into such privledge would have a career in the business of high-priced fashion. Can we bring back a robust estate tax, please? It is the moral thing to do.

One way to legalize it?

Something I frequently hear my students talk about is the hope that marijuana will be legalized one day. I've tried to tell them that they have some control over this in terms of registering to vote and electing legislators who will do so. However, I'm not sure this will work as there's a social stigma about weed that needs to be lost before legalization happens.

For a while I thought that it was only a matter of time before all the collegiate pot-heads would become respectable citizens who would hold office. When that happened, they would naturally legalize drugs because it was something that didn't have a bad effect upon them. I've come to realize, however, that the roadblock to this is the image of the tree-burner: the slacker, the dope-head, the fool who laughs at paint drying. This is not a good wage-earner or tax-payer, this is someone that our American Puritan work ethic always frowns upon. Alcohol, on the other hand, is seen as something that you earn with hard work ("It's Miller Time!"). So what the hippie lettuce lovers need is a "I'm a pot-achiever!" campaign. They need to prove they won't just waste away on their couches if they have a chance to smoke all they want.

Can this happen? I don't know; my own experiences w/ people smoking MJ are more along the lines of Cheech and Chong but I respect that people can use but not abuse. One way that the pro-chronic crowd can get their foot in the door may be thru selective legalization. Recent studies that it helps fight Alzheimer's could be seized upon to allow seniors to use it. This could have appeal to the American public: who deserves to light up more than those who have contributed so much to our nation? And while I have no data on this, I get a sense that the the plea to let the dying to have a toke is the argument most appealing to John and Jane Q Public, especially when those dying with great pain are brought up. Perhaps the folks at NORML should talk less about the drug war and more about grandma's suffering.

My Nation-ality

What's Your Nation-ality?

Sylvia Plath

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Election 2008

On my morning drives to work I've been hearing stupid commercials for Yes on Proposition 8 for about a month. They claim that if Prop 8 is voted down, it will force everybody to accept gay marriage and 'people could be jailed for their beliefs'. Only in the past week have I heard reasonable rebuttals in the form of No on 8 commercials. Nice to see the school super getting in the mix, too. It'd be nicer if we could get a yard sign to counter the numerous Yes on 8 signs in our neighborhood.

Also in the 'nice to see but did it have to come so late' category are the mailers from congressional candidate Tim Prince. Sad to see he's using a Prodigy email address but I like that he nabbed a good domain to talk about the incumbent, Jerry Lewis: www.yourcorruptcongressman.com.

Bob Grant

Back when I lived in New Jersey I spent a great deal of my car-time listening to talk radio. WABC provided a good deal of entertainment for me, with lots of dopey conservatives shouting all day long. One guy who was on in the evening was Bob Grant, who sounded like the stereotypical 'angry old man' whose views of the world were a little behind the times, to say the least. It was always fun when folks would call in to disagree with him and he'd just respond with an angry 'Get - off - of - my - phone!!!'

This week, I had the chance to get reacquainted with him as the poor old fool didn't recognize the flag of Ohio when it was behind Obama. In his defense, however, I will note that when one looks at all the US State flags together (as I did once at Philadelphia's Independence Hall), the Ohio flag does look a little silly next to the others with its non-rectangular shape.

A coincidence?

On page A18 of yesterday's Los Angeles Times (Inland Empire edition) there were only 4 articles. The first three obviously all go together: GOP ticket split over condom use, Palin stays true to her moose roots, and GOP viewership a new record. The 4th article: Straying mate? His genes may be to blame. It's certainly convenient that the only space left on a page of articles about Republican matters was just the right size for an article about unfaithful husbands.

Obama's future

I was sorry to hear that some fool made a remark about killing Obama should he be elected president and a little bit disturbed to find that such a topic was a popular search term and even predicted by a major cultural figure. What bothers me the most is that in the past several months I've heard 3 different African American students on 3 different occasions say that they expect Obama to not survive his first term. These students should be proud that someone is coming so close to such an office but instead they are expecting his doom. Such is the legacy of slavery, at least according to one historian.

George Carlin, RIP

It's been a busy past month with travel and such but I wanted to say something about George Carlin's passing. He was one of the first comedians I could name as I used to hear Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television on Dr. Demento back in the late 70s and found it hilarious despite all the words in question being bleeped out. I later memorized his more radio-friendly bits IceBox Man and A Place for My Stuff, again despite half the material being over my head at the time. Around the late 80s I began to resent his more political humor, probably because it made me confront some truths I had trouble accepting. I came around to see that he was seeing things quite clearly, however, as can be seen in most of his recent work, like Consumer Capitalism. It's too bad to see him go but nice to see so much of his work is available online.

Will somebody think of the ocelots?

All the hubbub over the border and immigration and people forget that there are some nice cats caught in the middle. If only somebody would send a letter for them... and their friends the burrow owls.

Sick or ignorant?

A few years ago I was stuck in a waiting room somewhere and began to read a commentary by George Will about the economy. I knew he was conservative but his column made a dopey remark about how great it was that 'more people are working while on vacation now than ever before'. It's great, you see, because it means more work's getting done and that's good for the economy. Forget about why people go on vacation or even what the word means, now they're not losing work hours, hooray!

I have regretted not saving that mind-boggler until recently, when a US Representative says she's proud people have to work two jobs and longer hours. Maybe she thinks idle hands are the devil's playthings; I wonder if she would be disappointed if her constituents became able to support themselves on one job. But it's not as bad as attacking people who are losing their homes or the spirit behind many conservatives' lucky ducky-style arguments (beautifully satirized by Ruben Bolling).

But it could just be ignorance; surely the President isn't the only one living inside a bubble.

(Bush's remark about not being able to buy his worms anymore reminds me of Reagan's brief obsession with not being able to go look at the magazines: see the last 5 quotes here).

Bass leadership

Last Sunday I read an idiotic op-ed in the LA Times about Mike Huckabee that claimed Huckabee's being a bass player shows he may not be a good leader of the nation because bassists are really just frustrated guitar players. Maybe it was written as a joke but it got some great letters in yesterday's Times (that they didn't publish online) that summed up my thoughts well:

1) lots of bassists can 'lead from the bottom' (one letter simply said 'Willie Dixon') and one could even write a similar opinion that said Huckabee's instrument gives him insight into what a functioning musical unit (and therefore a functioning political unit) requires.

2) the op-ed obviously reflects on the author more than bassists. Joe Queenan is the frustrated guitar player while most of us have embraced our role as essential parts that support the guitarists and sax players who are desperate for attention.

His remark about John Entwistle being a 'nonentity' is strong evidence for this article being a joke which makes me wonder why they couldn't find an op-ed that deals with Huckabee's desire to change the constitution instead. I don't think I'm hypersensitive about this topic; I can laugh well at the many good jokes that are told about bassists but this was just dopey.

A day late...

Imagine Peace; would have been more appropriate yesterday.

Theocracy Now!

Max Blumenthal, the fellow who made the great video of his visit to a Conservative convention earlier this year, is at it again. He visited the Value Voters Summit, a gathering of very serious Christians and made another great video. I love the way these people are exposed as wackos for just showing us what they honestly think.

Kucinich getting hosed

While he is my favorite of the Democratic candidates, I don't really think that Dennis Kucinich has much of a chance to win the presidency in 2008. He's sort of short, has a higher-than-normal voice, and a wife taller than himself, all bad things in today's dopey political culture. But even worse, his politics are easily labeled 'liberal', which is still a bad word in America despite the fact that in a blind test, most Americans agree with his views. Now it turns out that ABC doesn't want to give him publicity; or maybe somebody else knows he's not electable and wants a Democrat to win. Seriously, if his policies were coming out of the mouth of Wes Clark, the election would already be over.

What's the Matter With Kansas?

Last month I enjoyed going thru What's the Matter With Kansas? by Thomas Frank. While I found it to be very interesting in terms of the history of Kansas politics and the modern conservative movement, it lost a bit of its narrative steam towards the end and turned into some distantly related articles on religious sects in Kansas. The book came to mind during our recent drive through Texas and Louisiana (which I need to post about): I saw a few small towns that only had a Wal-Mart and no other grocers, as well as lots of antique shops, something he says has happened all across the deserted small towns of Kansas.

Frank brings up the wide socialistic swing that populism took back in the early 1900s and repeatedly points out that citizens back then would not put up with recent Republican leadership. He casts the shift back towards conservativism as being a well-masterminded backlash movement but I couldn't help but wonder if maybe the less-educated are just easily swayed during different times (he even points out how the movement filled with the great unwashed). While times are certainly bad now maybe times were worse back in the late 1800s and that inspired the liberal swing, rather than people just being smarter back then. It seems pretty simple: when times are tough enough, the masses listen to the liberal bumpersticker slogans; when times aren't so tough, they listen to the conservative ones (and are more vulnerable to divisive tactics like race-baiting).

Goin' solar

If all works out ok, in the next few weeks we could be producing solar power for ourselves and (when we're not using enough) the rest of California. It's been a lot of paperwork, waiting, red tape, waiting, and a little bit of equipment to be installed but it looks like it's going to happen. It really shouldn't be so much of a hassle, should it? Why isn't the process getting more support from the government, like in Germany (where we'd be making lots of cash given their subsidized sell-back rates). Will signing something like a petition help? Give it a try, won'tcha?

Spicing up C-SPAN

Catching up on some things I saved a while back, I really enjoyed watching Barney Frank make for some of the most exciting C-SPAN viewing I've ever seen as he schools a colleague on parliamentary procedure and calls out some Republican whiners. If we had more like him, our legislative body might be as fun as British Parliament.

Colbert has my shirt!

I have mixed feelings about this... I always enjoyed having the very unique Feminist Chicks Dig Me shirt from Northern Sun but now it's been shown on cable to a nationwide audience. Author Jessica Valenti gave Stephen Colbert one of the shirts at the top of her appearance on his show. We'll see if Colbert has the nerve to wear his shirt while walking around two different women's colleges, like I did.