With a Wail of Sirens

An amazing post and touching read by Icarus at Peach Pundit. If there is only one link on this post you read, that should be the one.

Tip of the hat to Drifting Through the Grift.

Contrast that well thought out post to the rage you hear from others. We're going to read a lot of filth and hear a lot of bile on the radio in the coming days. The tragedy at Ft. Hood provides just another opportunity for right-wing demagouges to engage in the inferred justifications that drive their ratings and sell their advertising.

"The shooter is a Muslim therefore he is a terrorist," the meme will read. He may yet prove to be a terrorist, but his actions and motives will demonstrate that, not the religion he was born into.

In the end, I think that his psychological profile will likely demonstrate eerie similarities with such indivudals as Klebold & Harris, Cho, Zinkhan, Whitman. This killer, like so many, found some justifcation for violence in his internal dialouge, and he would have found it had he been born Protestant, Catholic, Jew or had become atheist. Ostracism, the perception of failure in the personal life, the warning signs unheeded, those who knew him looking back and wondering why they didn't say anything.

When I saw the Ft. Hood headline, I could almost write the profile down without looking. What religion or ideology do these justifications come wrapped in? How will this killer rationalize his actions? Call it "terrorism" if it helps you sleep better at night, ignoring the similarities between every other shooting spree our nation goes through year after year. What matters is the action, taking the lives of those who were going about their day a moment before, in the safety and routine of just another day.

What's worse, as soon as I heard the religion of the attacker, I could have written down the right-wing response just as quickly. Turn on almost any radio, pundit show or website, and you'll see it. You'll hear it. This broken record is skipping again. Hell, the interwebs are already drowning in sewage.

Because that's how we like to treat problems in our country - oversimplification, rationalization, and generalization followed by demonization of any who try to investigate any deeper. Heaven forfend we should ever look at something terrible, examine the circumstances and try to figure out what went wrong.

Monsters were always monsters, right?

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Provincial Education

Barrow County principal forces resignation of 24 year old, female teacher for having private Facebook page, engaging in normal adult behavior and posting about it. And he tried to do it in an underhanded way. No mention of any job-related performance issues, this is completely related to her private life.

In a just world, this principal would be have his job immediately terminated because he obviously is not focused on what actually goes on at his school, and is spending too much time stalking his employees on Facebook.

In other news, right-wing darling, victim of left-wing agenda, morally upstanding role model Carrie Prejean admits to making suggestive video for an ex-boyfriend while she was 17 years old, but adds publicly that she was not engaged in "sex" on tape.

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Stupak - Pitts & You

Liprap, Dangerblond & I have been at it today over the Stupak - Pitts Amendment to the House health care reform bill. Lots of folks think that Stupak is a huge blow to women's reproductive rights. I think it provides exactly zero change from the current status quo.

I've been directed to read several of the thousands of partisan descriptions of what damage Stupak will cause, but I don't really need to read much more into it than the text of the amendment itself to know what I need to know.

...No funds authorized or appropriated by this Act (or an amendment made by this Act) may be used to pay for any abortion or to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion, except in the case where a woman suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the woman in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself, or unless the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest.

I missed where any current federal subsidies are authorized or appropriated to cover any elective pregnancy terminations under our current way of doing things. I know for damn sure the GOP Congress didn't authorize or appropriate any such subsidy between 1994 and 2006, and I'd bet a well-appointed Texas ranch that Ol' Dubya never approved of any such thing between 2000 and 2008.

And call me crazy, but I'm sure Obama and the Dems in Congress didn't sneak something like that by us in the last 9 months.

So pardon me while I don't get too excited over an amendment that changes nary a part of the status quo. And you know why I'm really not worried about it? The amendment won't mean one damned thing in regards to women's reproductive rights. You know why? Because now, this bill will not be passed, will not be reconciled and will not be signed into law.

Bet you wish we'd signed onto that "line item veto" thing now, hunh?

The GOP and insurance comapanies should kiss the toejam of Stupak's feet, because he killed health care reform to the sound of rousing applause of the now self-destructing pro-reform party while bringing exactly zero blowback on the opposition.

I blame Nancy Pelosi, who probably won't realize the magnitude of this until she's being voted out of the Speaker's chair in late 2010.

I mean, the writing was on the wall as early as September that health care reform will fail if this issue wasn't resolved.

You might notice who isn't complaining - insurance companies. One would wonder why that is.

Oh, yeah, and now Big Media breathlessly realizes this is a juicy controversy with which to sell advertising. Get ready, because the week is young and the meme is just getting started.

Big thoughts? This is why I laugh at sky-is-falling types. Right wingers went apeshit Saturday night when the House bill passed (I mean, they've been going apeshit for a while now, but the volume had kinda slacked off recently because I guess they thought they had this thing beat). It passed and the chorus of "OH NOES!11!111!! TEH SOCIALIZMZ!!1!" plastered all over my Facebook feed and radio waves. I guess they really don't understand the legislative process in the first place and the theory of the Democratic circular firing squad in the second.

Because no sooner had the cheering stopped echoing around the House on their historic "victory" than you could hear the locking and loading of intraparty strife weaponry gearing up to sink any chance at health care reform for the next generation.

Frankly, I'm surprised they made it this far. Since I get most of my news from Slate, I reckon I was more prepared for this than most. They've been talking about this for months.

For example, one resolution (floated in August) to the intraparty strife is to create a private, non-profit organization dedicated to supporting elective pregnancy terminations for women at or below, say 200% of the federal poverty level. Matter of fact, why doesn't an organization like that exist already? Women & progressive allies saying "Sinn Fein" and taking care of other women?

Kinda like progressives getting together, saying "screw the government" and starting up our own health care non-profit co-op. Getting our "pro-reform" legislators to remove roadblocks for such would be far easier than passing a 1,900 page "comprehensive health care plan" that no group of reformers can get together to pass legislatively.

But I guess if you've got to learn a lesson (like the GOP 2006 - 2008), learn it in spectacular fashion while everyone is watching.

Because get your popcorn. This is gonna be messy, public, and very, very loud.

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Generations

I grew up dreaming of nuclear winters. Books like Children of the Dust and Airship 9, movies like Red Dawn gave these dreams their images. The nighly news gave those dreams their framework.

Then, 20 years ago tonight, everything changed. It was the end of so much more than the Cold War, but the end of hostilities that first began in 1914. Events that night seemed to wash away the past and sweep me up into the dreams of a promising future. This news seemed so unreal, few people looked too hard for the "why," lest we ask questions too loudly and wreck that which had taken a life of its own.

Tonight, as old rivals and new leaders gather in Berlin to knock down symbolic dominos painted by schoolchildren, I think about the generation that has come since that night, and why it would be difficult to explain these things to them.

The lamps went out all over Eurpoe in 1914, and Edward Grey never saw them again during his lifetime. It is humbling to be a part of the generation that saw those lamps lit again.

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Storm Warnings

This is not welcome news. I knew Ida was out there in the Caribbean, but you'd think that this late in the year, weather patterns would have shredded all organization from any tropical system to have already hit land once.

Keep a weather eye on the horizon...

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Health Care Alternatives

Well, we'll see what happens in health care today in the decisions of the House of Representatives. My money would bet the under, take the status quo and the points. Reform of big industry comes hard in this country, especially when the "plans" of reform are so difficult to wrap your head around.

That being said, I ran across an interesting post by Steve2 at Alexandria (a group blog that DADvocate contributes to from time to time).

The question is: in our free market, why hasn't anyone tapped into the discontent with our current health care providers with a super-low cost health option. The author likens this to WalMart health care. The need and market is certainly there, and one of the strengths of free-market economies is the rise of entreprenuers to fill holes in the market.

As I've stated before, if there is even one dollar to be made, our culture's entreprenuers will create a business to compete for it. So why is there no movement to capitalize on the dollars that folks would spend on discount health care or insurance?

I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know one thing: if health care reform fails today in the House, liberals and progressives would do well to begin seeking non-government, market based alternatives to the health care crisis. Use the freedoms of our system to begin driving the prices down and forcing big insurance to compete for customers.

If they can't pass wholesale health reform with their current political capital, we have to look for other ways to get at this problem. Liberals and progresives should find a way to make health insurance co-ops easier to start. They should start finding a way to lower the costs of becoming nurses and doctors, and progressive activists should start looking to actually become nurses and doctors (as the right wing decided to do years ago in response to Roe vs. Wade). Tax breaks and development grants could encourage the creation of non-profit community clinics so doctors and nurses could still make money without serving corporate interests.

Thoughts?

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Non-Profits & Property Taxes

Don't non-profits already pay property taxes?

Churches own property, do they pay property taxes? What about private schools? What about charter schools? What about state universities that keep buying up land? What about thrift stores?

And how big a hit would paying property taxes be to non-profit organizaitons that owned property? How do you assess the property value of a non-profit organization?

A Georgia State Court of Appeals ruling now forces me to ask these questions that I never really examined much before.

The long and short of the case is that an Athens non-profit, Nuci's Space, collects money by renting out music practice spaces, instruments, recording time, event space for parties and concerts, and selling beverages to patrons during events. A new county ordinance labels this as "commercial activity," despite the fact that providing below-cost services is both a part of their mission, and any significant money they make from those transactions support the other part of their mission of service -providing mental health counseling to local musicians who have no means of acquiring health care. (Yes, I am a huge Nuci's Space fan, and wish we had anything similar to this in New Orleans) Most of their income arrives from donations and grants, but they do own the Downtown Athens property in which they are housed.

So, of course, the county wants to put the screws to this organization that helps fuel and support one of Athens' more dynamic city brands (that as a music scene).

But what of my questions? If a church isn't already paying property taxes, but they make money renting out their facility for these things called "weddings," can they now have their property taxed becasue they "engage in commercial activity?" What if they engage in bake sales or car washes, even if the purpose of those events is to raise money for church trips or mission work?

Looking down the road, how will this affect major donations and grants that non-profits seek, now that funding organizations know part of their award will have to go to the county? Especially if the funding organizaiton is a state or federal source?

Lot of worms comin' out of this can. Stay tuned.

HT: JMac at Beyond the Trestle.

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Blogging 101 Next Thursday!!

Call to RSVP or email editor-at-thechicory-dot-com.

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Everything Looks Tougher in "Oktoberfest Germanic"

Blogging from Island City in preparation for the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party (not actually going to the game, but watching from St. Simons Island surrounded by family and friends is always a treat), I came across this brutal Georgia/Florida comparison on EDSBS.

You don't have to know a thing about football to enjoy that link, I promise.

Furthermore, and on a strange Halloween/Emergency Preparedness Note, that post reminded me to share the fact that the University of Florida may be the only major state university in the country to have an emergency preparedness plan in the event of zombie infestation. Which may be the only good thing there is to say about the University of Florida.

(HT: MSNBC)

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The Trainwreck "Specter"cle

I just saw some polling for Arlen Specter's reelection and thought it worth posting since I've made some rather strong predictions on the subject. I wonder if he can see the train coming. I'm not sure it would make a difference but does he see his own marginalization? Sestak is gaining tons of ground without even getting his hands dirty. To me the most interesting numbers are the general election comparisons. Against Sestak, Toomey gets 28%. Against Specter, he gets 31%. That means that out of the undecided voters, 3% sure as hell aren't voting Specter. That number has nowhere to go but up unless something drastic happens. And nothing drastic will happen.

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Band Aids as Infrastructure

What all has to happen for this country to start taking infrastructure seriously?

Though the Bay Bridge from San Francisco to Oakland is closed indefinitely, at least it didn't straight up collapse (like some levees or other bridges you may have heard about recently).

The telling quote is this one: "The rod that fell Tuesday was erected last month during an emergency repair job. It was holding in place a saddle-like cap that had been installed over a cracked link discovered over the Labor Day weekend."

Glad to know this problem was caused by trying to quick-fix another problem.

Is this how we do things now? Risk a "5,000 lb piece steel falling out of the sky" during the evening commute becasue we don't have the stones to properly maintain and fix things when problems arise? Doesn't anyone remember the "stich in time" saying?

You know why the decision was made for a quick fix in the first place. A REAL fix would cost a lot of money, and cause significant inconvenience. Government spending money is bad. Inconveniencing commuters is also poltically unpopular.

How's that working out for you now, folks?

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