A funny thing happened on the way to the extreme right: The middle started to fall away.

In his 2004 book, “What’s the matter with Kansas? How conservatives won the heart of America.” Thomas Frank used Kansas as a metaphor to examine why so many working and middle-class Americans are willing to consistently vote against their own self-interest. I never fully accepted his thesis, since I think he made a fatal flaw by defining self interest in narrow, economic terms. Using his standards, one must also wonder why liberal icons (the Vanity Fair set, if you like) such as the Kennedys and Roosevelts vote for politicians who raise taxes just as you would wonder about Kansans who vote for social conservatives who cut them.

Now, however, we are starting to see the unraveling of the Grand Old Party in the Sunflower State. In the past few weeks more and more stalwarts of the party have jumped ship to the Democratic side, including the former party chairman, Mark Parkinson, now running for Lieutenant Governor alongside popular Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

Many moderates and business/fiscal conservatives are feeling unwelcome in today’s Republican Party, dominated as it is by the cultural conservative set. Vindictive reprisals against moderate positions have become so common and so strong that many seem to see no other way out. You can read all about this latest trend in Nicholas Riccardi’s wonderful article in the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-kansas13jun13,1,6259569.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage&ctrack=1&cset=true

Here are a few quotes from the article:

“A lot of people in Kansas are feeling lost right now,” said Parkinson, 48, who was invited onto the ticket by popular Democratic incumbent Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. “I decided I’d rather spend time building great universities than wondering if Charles Darwin was right.” (in reference to the Kansas State Board of Education decision to redefine science)
< . . . >
Ron Freeman, executive director of the state GOP, says the recent defections are due to the personal ambitions of the politicians, not because of any ideological shift.

“To say it’s gone way to the right, that’s not a fair analysis,” Freeman said, noting that two of the party’s four statewide officeholders back abortion rights.

One of those officials, Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger, is opposed in the GOP primary by a candidate opposed to abortion rights. Another moderate, Secretary of State Ron Thornburg, is facing a primary challenge from a female GOP state senator who was reported in 2001 as saying family values began to erode when women got the right to vote.

Some Kansas voters say they feel shut out. “I’m absolutely fed up with the conservative Republicans,” said Richard Meidinger, a retired physician in Topeka. “All the abortion stuff, gay marriage stuff doesn’t belong in the legislative debate.”

Martin Hawver has a name for lifelong members of the GOP like Meidinger: “failed Republicans.” The editor of a respected Kansas political newsletter, Hawver’s Capitol Report, Hawver counts himself among their number, occasionally doing the unthinkable and voting Democratic.

“It used to be you could never go wrong with voting for who the Republicans nominated,” Hawver said. “But that’s changing now. People are a little uneasy.”

Cindy Neighbor is one of them. A veteran member of her local school board and a moderate, Neighbor, 57, unsuccessfully ran against a conservative for an open seat in the statehouse in 2000. She narrowly lost, but won in 2002.

Neighbor wasn’t long for Kansas Republican politics, however. She backed an education bill that could have raised taxes, and party conservatives told her there would be retaliation. She lost the next primary to the same representative she’d ousted two years earlier. Another moderate Republican who’d co-sponsored her bill — Bill Kassebaum, the son of former Kansas U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker — was ousted at the same time.

Now Neighbor’s running for her old seat — as a Democrat.

“It was, ‘If you don’t like this — goodbye,’ ” she said of her struggles to stay in the Republican Party. As a Democrat, Neighbor added, “you can still have your ideas and you’re accepted.”

Let’s hope that this trend starts to be replicated across the country, and within the national parties. I have always thought that the marriage of business/fiscal conservatives with cultural conservatives was one more of convenience than of natural shared interests. It started over a quarter century ago – when the more libertarian Goldwater Republicans were banished from the party leadership, and Reagan melded Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” with the recently emboldened “Moral Majority” to forge a new alliance.

Now that the fiscal conservatives have gotten their tax cuts, even if they haven’t also gotten their spending restraint, they are more complacent. On the flip side, the cultural conservatives feel that they haven’t gotten enough – just a couple of Supreme Court justices – and they want more. Hence the Gay Marriage/Flag Burning nonsense in the Senate. The immigration debate may finally be the thing which forces a wedge between these two camps, only time will tell.

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg gave a commencement address to graduates at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine on May 25th, and he struck a theme which was decidedly refreshing coming from a Republican – he spoke in vigorous defense of science.

His address may be found here: http://www.nyc.gov/cgi-bin/misc/pfprinter.cgi?action=print&sitename=OM

Or you may view video of it here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/html/2006a/media/pc052506-Johns_Hopkins.asx
or here (high speed connection): http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/html/2006a/media/pc052506-Johns_Hopkins300k.asx

Here is an excerpt:

Today, we are seeing hundreds of years of scientific discovery being challenged by people who simply disregard facts that don’t happen to agree with their agendas. Some call it “pseudo-science,” others call it “faith-based science,” but when you notice where this negligence tends to take place, you might as well call it “political science.”

You can see “political science” at work when it comes to global warming. Despite near unanimity in the science community there’s now a movement – driven by ideology and short-term economics – to ignore the evidence and discredit the reality of climate change.

You can see “political science” at work with respect to stem cell research. Despite its potential, the federal government has restricted funding for creating new cell lines – putting the burden of any future research squarely on the shoulders of the private sector. Government’s most basic responsibility, however, is the health and welfare of its people, so it has a duty to encourage appropriate scientific investigations that could possibly save the lives of millions.

“Political science” knows no limits. Was there anything more inappropriate than watching political science try to override medical science in the Terry Schiavo case?

And it boggles the mind that nearly two centuries after Darwin, and 80 years after John Scopes was put on trial, this country is still debating the validity of evolution. In Kansas, Mississippi, and elsewhere, school districts are now proposing to teach “intelligent design” – which is really just creationism by another name – in science classes alongside evolution. Think about it! This not only devalues science, it cheapens theology. As well as condemning these students to an inferior education, it ultimately hurts their professional opportunities.

Hopkins’ motto is Veritas vos liberabit – “the truth shall set you free” – not that “you shall be free to set the truth!” I’ve always wondered which science those legislators who create their own truths pick when their families need life-saving medical treatment.

There’s no question: science – the very core of what you have been living and breathing these past several years – is being sorely tested. But the interesting thing is this is not the first time that graduates of the School of Medicine have faced such a challenge. When the institution was founded more than a century ago, medicine was dominated by quacks and poorly-trained physicians. In that world, Johns Hopkins and its graduates became a beacon of truth, and trust and helped to revolutionize the field.

Today, in just a few hours you will each evoke that same respect – and with it, you will each bear the same responsibility: To defend the integrity and power of science.

Many people have been buzzing about the odds of Bloomberg making a run for the Whitehouse – speculation that his office is quick to put down, but still seems to oddly encourage. It is worth noting that though he ran for mayor (twice) as a Republican, he was a registered Democrat up until that time, and many of his positions – pro-choice, gay friendly, anti-smoking, pro-healthcare, pro-gun control, pro-science – are more traditionally associated with liberals. As a billionaire, many people expect that were he to run he would do so as an independent, so as to avoid the whole primary process.

Only time will tell, of course, whether such a run is in the cards. But, one can always hope that such fresh rhetoric – unapologetic, well reasoned, straight faced – will enter the public sphere more and more in the upcoming election cycles. I’m not endorsing a Bloomberg presidency, but I do hope he can stir up the pot, and force more politicians to face up to the zealots who are driving the fanatical religious agenda which thinks that its good policy to block access to life saving solutions such as Gardasil – the vaccine for cervical cancer (which has also been shown to be effective against other cancers) http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2006/06/03/p8582 – while claiming to be “pro-life.”

I was all prepared to write a little bit about recent handicapping (as in horse race) in the Florida Gubernatorial race, when this little headline showed that Florida is well on its way to being the next Florida:
Glitch leaves some Broward residents with wrong voting ID card
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/14672866.htm

Seems that anyone in two zip codes whose name begins with A or B got someone else’s voter ID card. Ah yes, you’ve got to love government incompetence.

But, while the Florida Secretary of State’s office isn’t busy handicapping (quite literally) the state elections, several others have been doing so (in the horse race sense). As this recent story shows, it seems even His Lord has gotten into the fray:

A reverend who introduced Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist during a breakfast with other pastors Monday said the Lord came to him in a dream two years ago and told him Crist would be the state’s next governor.

“The Lord Jesus spoke to me and he said ‘There’s something I want you to know,”‘ Dozier said. “‘Charlie Crist will be the next governor of the state of Florida.”‘
Christ for Crist? posted by Mark Skoneki (AP)

On the other hand, a recent Quinnipiac University poll shows Democrat Jim Davis in the lead in the race to replace Gov. Jeb Bush:
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2006/05/survey_said.html

The latest poll, however, from Strategic Visions shows Christ is right, and the Right’s Crist is in the lead:
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2006/05/more_polling.html

It is worth noting that Strategic Visions is a recently formed Republican leaning polling organization based in Atlanta Georgia most recently known around these parts for having paid out of its own pocket for a poll showing that former Gov. Tommy “Stick it to ’em” Thompson would beat incumbent Gov. Jim Doyle by a nearly two to one margin were he to run:
http://www.strategicvision.biz/political/wisconsin_poll_050306.htm
Strategic Visions appears to be trying to drum up interest in their services by running, and paying for, polls in hotly contested and nationally observed, races. One wonders just how much money they have available to throw down this rabbit hole.

Bill Christofferson, no stranger to partisanship, wrote about the tactics of this group in a recent blog entry:
http://www.wisopinion.com/blogs/2006/05/whos-paying-for-these-polls.html

Of interest in these recent polls, both the Florida and Wisconsin ones, is that when asked “Would you like to see the United States Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade?” the answer in both cases was 36% yes and 57% no. Those are some encouraging numbers given the current state of affairs. Another interesting number was “Do you expect another terrorist attack within the next six months?” Yes 73% No 15% Undecided 12% – again the same for both polls.

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend, and remember – it’s time to get those whites out!

So I was just at the Plaza Hotel Cafe, having breakfast. You can tell the NRA is in town.

This guy sits down at the counter. Right away his legs started pumping, in that nervous, twitchy way – up down, left right, like a cyclist on a stationary cycle. They were drumming away, and this before he even got any coffee.

Then, the waitress serves him some coffee. He grabs a creamer, clutches it in his left hand. POP! With his right he came down on the creamer with the blunt point of his knife. Another creamer, POP! There is cream all over his left hand, but he manages to get some of it into his coffee.

I go back to my paper.

A couple of minutes later the waitress comes through with refills. POP! POP! he’s got his brew back in balance. At least it is, I shudder at the thought that this guy will be trying out assault weapons in just a few short minutes.

Did you all catch Sen. Feingold’s tiff with Sen. Specter yesterday?
(as per AP wire report)

“I don’t need to be lectured by you!” the chairman, Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, shouted at the Democrat, Senator Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin. “You are no more a protector of the Constitution than am I.”

What set off Mr. Specter was Mr. Feingold’s saying he opposed the amendment, cared for the Constitution and intended to leave the meeting.

“If you want to leave, good riddance,” Mr. Specter said.

Mr. Feingold said: “I’ve enjoyed your lecture, too, Mr. Chairman. See you.”

The Nation has a more complete report, including Sen. Feingold’s follow up statement:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=84876

Recent headlines bring with them some of each. First off, here is a Brian Ross (ABC News) blog entry from yesterday:

Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You’re Calling
May 15, 2006 10:33 AM

Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we (Brian Ross and Richard Esposito) call in an effort to root out confidential sources.

Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation.

You can find the full article here:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/05/federal_source_.html

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Karl Rove stumbled into a moment of truthiness yesterday, while defending the administration’s handling of the immigration issue he said, “We’re doing a heck of a job.” Oops! We all know what that means (if you need a Bush-to-English translator, check out these references:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=%22doing+a+heck+of+a+job%22&btnG=Search+News )

I particularly like Dana Milbank’s take on the comment, “First, he said the administration was doing `a heck of a lot better, uh, job of getting control of the border.’ Then he uttered the forbidden phrase, and it sent him into a syntactical tailspin: `We’re doing a heck of a job —
lot better job at getting, at getting, uh, the — the problem of catch-and-release under control.'”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/15/AR2006051501217.html

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So in the realm of the bizarre, doesn’t anyone else think it a little odd that it was USA Today who broke the NSA phone data story? In conversations over the past few days this story, and its provenance, has brought me to the conclusion that there is no actual NSA domestic spying
happening at all.

Let’s just look at the “facts” as we know them. The NSA, which had wiretap evidence of the 9-11 attacks on 9-10, but didn’t bother to translate it until 9-12, is now supposedly handling vast amounts of new data? Get real. If they are really processing the phone records of all
Americans, as the USA Today and later articles describe, then maybe we can all feel a little less safe, as it will obviously be distracting them from the translation of all of those intercepts they’re gleaning from their FISA-less wiretaps.

No, I think that this is all an elaborate ruse, a fake out. After all, as many have said before, isn’t al Queada a little too smart to be using domestic US telephone systems to communicate their plans? I think that all of these convenient “leaks” about domestic wiretaps and call record logs is merely an effort to scare all terrorists away from our easy to use telecommunications systems. If effective, this ruse would serve to severely disable the bad guys without requiring much work at all by the NSA – leaving them free to pursue more important jobs, like translating Tom Cruise missives.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

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The Boston Herald reports (http://news.bostonherald.com/localPolitics/view.bg?articleid=139204)
that the public perceives Gov. Mitt Romney, potential 2008 presidential contender, as “a pretty face but an empty suit, giving him high marks for his chiseled good looks but low grades for honesty, conviction and uniqueness” in a new poll.

I guess this bodes well for him in Karl Rove logic. Rove yesterday explained to an unimpressed audience at the American Enterprise Institute that while Bush’s approval ratings are in the basement (Harris poll clocks him at 29%) his “likeability” rating is in the 70s. This is somewhat akin to the Clinton era reckoning that while people didn’t like Bill Clinton, they had to respect that he was doing a heck of a job (oops!).

Just a quick reminder that we are hosting an open house for Donovan Riley, candidate for the Wisconsin state senate for the 7th district on Tuesday, January 31st, from 5:00 to 7:00 in the evening. We would love to see you here. You can learn more about Donovan’s candidacy at his web site here: http://www.rileyforstatesenate.org

This is an important race, and your support and vote are vital. With a tight race for the Republican nomination for Governor, the time is right for a truly progressive candidate, like Donovan, to take this senate seat back from the conservative Jeff Plale. We really all must be involved to make sure that our state senate returns to the great progressive tradition that Wisconsin is known for.

B and I had dinner with Donovan tonight, at the Three Holy Women parish spaghetti dinner, and had a nice chat with him while he also got to meet Father Tim Kitzke (our next-door neighbor) and many parishioners. We feel that Donovan has what it takes to win this campaign, and has the right ideas to represent our district in Madison.

We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!

Long time no rant! Happy New Year to all!

This is for those of you in Wisconsin, especially those of you in the Milwaukee area: We would love to have you drop in at our house, Tuesday January 31st, between 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. to meet and show support for State Senate candidate Donovan Riley. Read on for a full explanation…

An article by Louis Fortis in the Shepherd-Express caught my eye this week. In “Will the Democrats Win Control of the State Senate?” he examines the several races statewide in which the Democrats do, indeed, have a chance of unseating Republican incumbents (read the article here: http://www.shepherd-express.com/1_19_06/newsandviews.htm ). I thought that this was especially good timing, as I had just finished arranging for B and I to host a “Meet the Candidate” coffee for Donovan Riley, who is challenging incumbent Democratic State Senator Jeff Plale in November’s election for the7th district seat.

The 7th Senate district includes Milwaukee’s east side, Bay View, Cudahy, St. Francis, South Milwaukee, and Oak Creek. Plale, in 2003, ran under the banner of the Democratic party to replace Richard A. Grobschmidt, defeating Joel Brennan and Edwin Thaves in the process. Since then he has voted with the Republican majority and against his own constituents on many important issues including the environment (only a 50% friendly voting record), voter ID, concealed carry, Women’s choice, stem cell research and more.

But enough about Plale, let’s talk about Donovan Riley, the challenger. “Riley is a lawyer and expert on health law. He’s a former vice president at the Medical College of Wisconsin, an associate vice chancellor for public affairs at UW-Milwaukee, budget analyst for higher education at the Wisconsin Department of Administration, and a researcher for the Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance.” as the Shepherd-Express noted in a December 29, 2005 article reporting on Riley’s entrance to the race: http://www.shepherd-express.com/12_29_05/newsandviews.htm

This is a winnable race, as these numbers suggest: http://www.eyeonwisconsin.com/blog/_archives/2006/1/10/1634387.html

What can you do to help? Please drop by our house, and meet Donovan Riley on Tuesday, January 31st, between 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. We will be hosting a little get together to help people learn more about Donovan and his candidacy. Tea and coffee, wine and cheese, snacks etc. will be available, as will the candidate who will be glad to answer your questions and discuss the issues. Of course you may show your support by making a donation to his campaign as well.

I think it is critically important that liberals, progressives, independents and like-minded moderates look to state and county races in the near future to try to correct the imbalance in Wisconsin’s state house. We have sent Democrats to the US Senate and the Governor’s mansion, voted for John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000 – heck we voted Democratic in the last 5 Presidential elections! Why then are the Republicans in control of both houses of our state legislature (and redistricting decisions)? A lot has to do with rural vs. urban, out-state vs. Milwaukee and a lot has to do with the Republican party’s embrace of the far-right, cultural conservative, “God Guns and Gays” agenda.

With the Governor’s race tightening up, it becomes even more important that we make every effort to reverse the tide and recapture the majority in the State Senate and Assembly. As WisPolitics.com recently reported:

The first independent poll of 2006 in the race for governor shows Congressman Mark Green and incumbent Governor Jim Doyle in a statistical tie. The results maintain a consistent theme of good polling news for Green’s campaign for governor.

The survey, the latest in the Zogby/Wall Street Journal tracking polls, was conducted from January 6-12. It shows Green trailing Doyle 47.7% to 45.7% — within the poll’s 3.5% margin of error. Doyle leads Green’s primary opponent 47.1% to 43.5% in the same survey.
http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=53019

If Doyle loses, the far-right agenda — anti-marriage, ubiquitous concealed weapons, anti-choice, anti-voter — will likely come to pass. Referring to incumbent Jeff Plale, Donovan Riley said “The incumbent is oddly disconnected on several major issues and he consistently votes to override the governor’s vetoes.” Without the Governor’s vetos, we would now have concealed carry and several other bad laws – so it is important not just to send more Democrats to Madison, but to send Democrats who will vote like Democrats.

But back to the Shepherd article. Fortis highlights other important races in our own back yard. Among them, Wauwatosa Alderman Jim Sullivan’s attempt to unseat far-right crackpot Tom Reynolds in the 5th Senate district. Jim has a good chance here, and could use whatever help you might be able to offer. Contact me if you want to get involved, and I will put you in touch with the right people, or check out his web site at: http://www.sullivanforsenate.com

We hope to see you here January 31st, and hope that you jump in to support the efforts of Democrats to take back Wisconsin!

I know I haven’t written a rant in a long time now – been very very busy at work. I wanted to share this excerpt from an exchange I had with my friend Mary, who is currently traveling in Europe. She starts by commenting on the news (seen from the perspective of a hotel in Florence, Italy) and my reply:

On Thu, 2005-11-17 at 03:10 -0800, MARY  wrote:

The news has been really interesting lately hasn’t it? I watch CNN in the room, a real treat for me. Bush’s popularity is what now? 36%?

It is really starting to get interesting. There is just this steady drumbeat of bad news lately. The cronyism exposed by the Katrina disaster is just the tip of the iceberg. The past few days have seen some really interesting developments:

1. Ken Tomlinson, an ardent conservative (former editor of Reader’s Digest) whom Clinton appointed to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and who Bush elevated to chairman of that group, was forced to step down from CPB two weeks ago. He had rammed through the Wall Street Journal show at a cost of $4.5 million/year and was bent on correcting what he saw as a liberal slant to PBS and NPR. He went so far as to hire a former lobbyist to watch 600 hours of PBS talk shows and score the guests as liberal or conservative (ranking such conservative die-hards as Chuck Grassley as liberal when they disagreed with Bush). Anyway, an Inspector General’s report came out this week saying that Tomlinson had broken the law as well as violated CPB guidelines when he hired lobbyists, fired people (some for not being conservatives) ran out the former president and replaced her with a Republican party fundraiser, etc. etc. More to come. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec05/kenny_11-15.html
2. David Gunn was recently fired as head of of Amtrak. This is the man who turned around the NYC subway system many years ago, and was brought in to solve Amtrak’s perennial problems – a feat he has largely achieved. He was fired by a runt Amtrak board last week because he disagreed with their (and the Bush administration’s) goal of dismantling the railway. The 7 member board, however, currently lacks quorum – there are now only four members (5 are required for quorum) and three vacancies – the situation for a few years now. Two of the current members are Bush recess appointees whom the Senate wouldn’t confirm, and their appointments will end when congress adjourns in a few weeks. It would seem, then, that this body is operating illegally, and congress is preparing to restore Gunn to his job. Investigations have begun. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/national/16amtrak.html?pagewanted=print

Taken individually, these seem like minor stories, but when combined, and with the constant trickle of news about political machinations in the Plamegate affair, the Jack Abramhof case, Tom DeLay’s indictment, Bill Frist’s stock sales, etc. etc., we start to see the “culture of corruption” (as the Democrats like to say) and an arrogance of power of startling proportions for a party which has only held the majority for a decade.

It is manifest that the party most in control of power is the most likely to get caught up in corruption scandals, but with the Republicans in control of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary we haven’t seen too many cracks in the armor up till now. With the President’s poll numbers sinking to unheard of lows, however, and the dismal performance of their party in the recent elections, the Republicans in congress are now starting to question their own.

Once the wheels start to come off of the wagon like this, it is only a matter of time.

It is often said that Bush was a keen observer of his father’s presidency and was determined not to make the same mistakes in his own. This White House has often been compared to Nixon’s in its efficiency, loyalty and secrecy. Now, perhaps, in its corruption, cronyism and criminality as well.

Keep having fun!

How did we get here? A letters column sheds some light.

I recently sat down to read the New York Times Magazine. Just as I always do, I started with the letters column. They all share something in common. Here is a sampling:

Marc E. Broid, a graduate student from Northwestern, writes in response to an article by John J. Snyder, Jr., on modern threats and promise in the workplace:

The crux of the outsourcing threat, is the fact that outsourcing doesdisplace men from jobs. He writes: “If it did not, it would make no economic sense.”

Yet his own “complete solution” to our unemployment problem is through “the creation of new markets … with a view to creating more jobs.”

The creation of new jobs is not going to bring full employment to a nation which is losing thousands of jobs weekly to outsourcing and is increasing its population at a rapid pace.
The type of solution required is some sort of plan for the gradual shift from a production-oriented economy to a knowledge-oriented economy, paralleled by a corresponding shift in school emphasis.

How quickly Mr. Snyder forgets the nature of the economic disease which he himself characterizes so well. Why will new industries and markets be impervious to outsourcing? If full employment is the only kind of solution imaginable, then outsourcing, by its very nature as a job-displacer, must necessarily be our permanent headache.

H. Fields, of Cambridge, MA, wrote regarding a recent piece about Rwanda:

Horror and outrage must have been the reaction of all sensitive men, in reading the account of the massacre of the Tutsi tribe by the Hutu, in Rwanda. Yet no government saw fit to speak up forcefully on this matter, nor was the subject been brought up in the U. N. for urgent consideration.

Perhaps it would be too much to expect such action from the “Christian” temporal and religious powers of the West, or the “Socialist” powers of the East, in view of their dismal record of years ago regarding German genocide of the Jews. It is, however, incredible that the independent African nations, who rightfully took every occasion to denounce apartheid in South Africa, should put the immoral mantle of non-interference on, when the grossest of crimes was being committed by an African Commonwealth.

Will this generation, witness to one genocide, remain inhumanly silent and inactive again?

Robert Primack addresses modern thinking on reform of social programs:

I have but one serious criticism of Prof. Andrew Hacker’s excellent article… He appears to assume that opponents of the social programs are open to persuasion by an method of intelligent argument; that they will reconsider their position if presented with an appeal on the basis of the probable consequences to the innocent children now being harmed by our lack of national concern.

Unfortunately, most of those who oppose a reasonable form of distributive justice with respect to the needy are themselves frequently mentally and emotionally immobilized by their prejudices, traditions, and their greed. Only the most graphic demonstrations — or more commonly, only the alteration of their own circumstances for the worse — provide them with a measure of sympathy and understanding for the victims of our society.

Walter Benjamin laments a modern day scourge:

Theodore Irwin… did not mention one terrible aspect of the buying and selling of personal information.

Some years ago my wife became pregnant and was registered by her physician at a local hospital. In the fourth month she suffered a miscarriage and was taken to the same hospital for treatment. As I sat by her bedside, trying to console her, a woman came into the room and tried to sell us diaper service.

For the next several months we continued to receive “baby” mail. Almost every morning brought us some fresh reminder of the baby that would have been born. When the ninth month passed, the diaper services let up, but were replaced by baby photographers and food companies.

There ought to be a law.

Joel E. Kahan of New York writes about Sen. Russell’s defense against elimination of the filibuster:

As a conservative it is difficult for me to reconcile with the views of Senator Richard Russell, but as an interested citizen I find much value in the democratic principles of government which he espouses.

Although unprogressive and undemocratic in certain key areas, Senator Russell and his colleagues do play a vital role in fostering American liberty. In practice, a Senate filibuster is staged to hinder democratic progress; nevertheless, the theory of unlimited debate serves as a safeguard for the democratic process. The right of every Senator to express his views on any issue protects us against the enactment of legislation which might encroach upon our basic constitutional liberties.

Today, the filibuster may be used for temporarily blocking judicial nominees; but tomorrow it may be the means of thwarting totalitarian power. That the stalling of judicial nominees for a short while will destroy our democracy is doubtful; that a limitation on the freedom of speech and expression will end our much cherished system is certain.

What do these letters, all addressing topics very much in the news and on our minds, share in common? Have you guessed? I will admit that I did alter each letter a little bit. In addition to some minor adjustments to phrasing:

• I replaced “automation” with “outsourcing,” in the letter about jobs,
• In the second letter I replaced “Watusi” with “Tutsi” and “Banhutu” with “Hutu,”
• “Social programs” replaced “welfare state” in the broadside against opponents thereof,
• Letter four was written about “unwanted mail,” not “buying and selling of personal information,”
• In letter number five? “Judicial nominees” replaced “civil rights legislation” and the writer was a liberal, not a conservative.

You see, the issue of the New York Times Magazine I was reading was dated April 5, 1964.

From The Note at ABC News:

On Sunday, the Washington Post’s Marc Fisher profiled Maya Keyes, the daughter of former Senate and presidential candidate Alan Keyes, writing that she will make her debut as a gay political activist today, as we Noted above. She told Fisher she plans to talk about what it was like to grow up gay in a very conservative household, and that her parents have kicked her out of the house, cut off her college funding, let her go from a job with her father’s political organization, and have stopped speaking to her.

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The race is on to succeed Sen. Mark Dayton, (D-Minn.), and the Republicans already have their first contestant announced, US Rep. Mark Kennedy.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/10881270.htm

Of course folks are already lining up to take Kennedy’s soon to be empty seat:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5236127.html

Here is what my friend Dick from Stillwater, Minnesota had to say about Dayton’s decision not to run again:

Yeah I was bummed to see him announce that, of course much to the delight of the Republicans here. I’m surprised after he worked so hard and spent so much money to get there that he decided to bow out so quickly. Not sure what the real reasons are for his withdrawal… there are PLENTY of candidates lined up already slobbering at the mouth for the seat – Rod Grams (ick) already announced. I like Al Franken but I am not sure he’s electable. Same with Bill Luther, my old REP from Stillwater. Alan Page would be an intriguing choice of he decided to run. Its winnable but it will be another close race no matter who runs. Minn is really struggling right now with its traditional identity as a progressive state (bummer)…

Here’s hoping that our old progressive neighbor to the west will find its soul and stay blue.
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Fueling further rumors about his intentions, Russ Feingold is holding a fund raiser for Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) coming up soon. Meanwhile the press stays interested in what he’s up to:
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/news/archive/local_19773935.shtml

Seeing as how the conservatives have decided that current Gov. Pawlenty (R-Minn.) just might be their man for 2008,
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=484788&page=1

maybe we could be facing an Upper Midwest face-off a couple years from now. That is, if Russ did well on his recent golf outing…
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/12/21/alabama/index.html

But that’s just me…
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Also, the most recent Scientific American had an article about the most recent US Census and the somewhat counter intuitive findings that shows that the highest concentrations of gay couples is in rural areas, and the lightest are in the upper Midwest.
http://www.sciamdigital.com/browse.cfm?ITEMIDCHAR=F9334FD1-2B35-221B-617C9516F54759A4&methodnameCHAR=&interfacenameCHAR=browse.cfm&ISSUEID_CHAR=F9214CAB-2B35-221B-641728E52ACE63F4&ArticleTypeSubInclude_BIT=0&sequencenameCHAR=itemP

I wonder how this contrasts/compares with the story from yesterday’s NY Times about the distribution of suicides, which heavily favors red states?
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/13/health/13rural.html
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I am glad to see that Dr./Gov. Dean is settling in to his new digs at the DNC. I think that all of the hand wringing over this by the “New Democrat” wing of the party (Al From et al) is really just a little too much. I like this tongue-in-cheek comment from The Note:

Rumors that all the doors were going to be removed and replaced with beaded curtains have proved false — possibly because the shag carpet installation is taking longer than expected.

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Maybe its time for Democrats to start to throw some red meat around in answer to the congressional Republicans. I am a little tired of hearing the right wing radicals accuse the Democrats of “hating America.” I want to hear the Dems ask why the Republicans hate Americans? The newest budget outlined by the White House is so pro-business and anti-people that this seems like an easy tack to me. Let’s define them, and frame the debate, before they do.
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Speaking of framing debates, I would love to see Milwaukee progressives run ads in out-state media markets encouraging people to support Scott Walker in his bid for the Republican nod for Governor. I envision an ad like this: A mother and daughter are in a kitchen, they address the
camera, “Scott Walker has been nothing but trouble for the people of Milwaukee County, proposing to privitize our parks, cutting important programs, giving sweetheart deals to his fund-raising buddies. He even wanted to borrow a hundred million dollars to gamble with to pay for pensions. Please vote for Scott Walker for Governor, Milwaukee County just can’t afford him any more.”

Just an idea…