The Family: An Intimate Look at Snakes Fornicating

by Pa Rock
Defender of the Wall

Those who know me well understand the importance that reading plays in my life. Some people will argue that you are what you eat, but I have always subscribed to the notion that you are nothing more than the sum total of what you allow into your mind, whether that is a lifetime of sitcoms and soap operas, a laser focus on some religious manual, or the works of the world's greatest thinkers and imaginators.

I have a book by the bed (currently 2666 by Roberto Bolano), a periodical in the car for reading before work and during lunch (the current edition of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine), and often something waiting on the couch as well (right now it is the first three volumes of the Foxfire Collection by Eliot Wiggington and his students). My sons, who drag my library around each time that I move, can attest that I have enough reading matter to keep up this pace for another century or two, whether I buy any new books or not - which I tend to invariably do!

One of my favorite genres is horror. I am well steeped in H.P. Lovecraft, and have more than a passing knowledge of Edgar Allen Poe, Stephen King, Peter Straub, and Poppy Z. Brite. Recently, however, I have finished a book that was far more sinister and frightening than anything ever imagined by those professional horror scribes. The book, The Family by Jeff Sharlet, is a well researched look at one of the most secretive and influential organizations at work in America today, a right-wing religious group whose ultimate goal is to tear down the wall that has historically separated Church and State in America, and to ensure that a fundamentalist America is preeminent on the world stage. Their adherents read like a global Who's Who of political and military leaders.

The Family was conceived by a depression era immigrant preacher in Seattle by the name of Abraham "Abram" Vereide who had an innate fear of the New Deal, the Red Menace, and unions. Abram saw America as being sorely in need leadership by men who were able to control the masses while living a life dedicated to Jesus. Abram's followers did not necessarily refer to themselves as Christians, and they were not focused on the needs of the poor. They believed that if the country was led by men whom God had obviously chosen to lead (predestination), then good itself would eventually trickle down to the masses. The early leaders of the Family were admirers of the way that Hitler had controlled Germany and Europe, and they supported murderous dictators including Suharto in Indonesia and Pinochet in Chile - for they, too, instilled order and obedience in their countries.

Abram retired in the 1960's and was replaced by a minister out of Oregon by the name of Doug Coe. Coe believed that the aims of the Family could best be accomplished if the leadership remained in the background. For years he has been one of the most powerful, yet almost unknown, political operators in America. Hillary Clinton referred to him as her religious mentor in her autobiography, and he has had complete access to the Oval Office under several Presidents. At this time Coe appears to be in the process of retiring, and his heir apparent is a Pentecostal minister named Dick Foth - who claims to have been John Ashcroft's best friend for the past 54 years. (How scary is that!)

A major tenant of the Family is referred to as "Jesus Plus Nothing," a belief in the divinity and power of Jesus without all of the New Testament social work and concern for the poor. They pray to Jesus, the man, and ask for specifically what they want, such as money, power, and influence which they can then use for the glory of God. One belief of the Family is that if a person prays to Jesus for something forty times, the prayers will be fulfilled. The group, under the direction of Doug Coe, has developed an extensive mythology of prayers that were supposedly answered and had enormous influence on the world.

The Family has traditionally operated through a system of small prayer cells that receive basic direction through the Family's leaders, but act independently of each other. (A structure eerily reminiscent of terrorist cells.) These cells are made up of Congressmen, business leaders, military officers, and others with varying degrees of influence.

The Family maintains and builds on its influence through providing connections and introductions to those in power and those who want to be players on the national and world stages. Those new to Washington, for example, quickly realize the political and economic benefits of membership in one of the Family's prayer cells. It's all about connections.

In addition to remaining staunchly anti-union over the years, the Family has also gained political power through Red-baiting and now Muslim-baiting. Members of the Family were directly responsible for Cold War political measures that mandated that the words "In God We Trust" be placed on all U.S. currency, and also maneuvered to get those words selected as the country's official national motto. Around that same time they were successful in getting the words "under God" inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance. Today we are seeing a rise in General Officers who view the conflict in the Middle East as nothing less than a righteous war against Islam.

The Family started the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC, and tried unsuccessfully to get Presidents Roosevelt and Truman to attend. Eisenhower reluctantly agreed to lend the prestige of the Presidency to this religious event, and every President since this time has been a participant.

Like most, if not all, right-wing fundamentalist groups, the Family sees men as being the natural leaders of families and nations. But unlike some of these fascist types of groups, they are adaptable. Favor was curried with Hillary due to her proximity to President Clinton, her position in the Senate, and the very real possibility that she could have become Commander-in-Chief. Now that she is the head of the State Department, she will be mixing with Family members and supporters both at home and abroad. And while the Family was more philosophically aligned with McCain than they were with Obama, they have already been successful in having the new President attend and speak at the National Prayer Breakfast. They realize the value in keeping every door open.

The Family has grown ridiculously wealthy over the years and today it is a big property owner in the Washington DC area. Friends of the Family, particularly friends with influence, are often given the opportunity of residing in these prime properties. Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, who is mentioned extensively in this book for his close connections with the Family, lives in one of their properties.

Jeff Sharlett, the author of The Family, went undercover to do some of his research, residing for awhile at Ivanwald, one of the Family's group homes for young men of promise in the D.C. area. He also spent a great deal of time going through their official archives at Wheaton College, an access that is no longer available to the general public. Sharlett uses nearly four hundred pages of text to outline Family connections, intrigues, and consequences. He backs his work up with forty pages of notes and sources, and over twenty pages of index.

Sharlett's work shines a light on an area that was intended to remain cloaked in darkness. He shows religious leaders shamelessly using politicians for their own ends, and politicians getting their needs met through liaisons with these men of God. The Family provides readers with a rare opportunity to observe snakes fornicating.

Senate Lite

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

The 111th Congress was sworn in today with some very notable vacancies and near vacancies in the Senate. The highest drama has centered around Barack Obama's old Senate seat. As we all know by now, vacant Senate seats from Illinois are filled by the governor until the next general election when the people will choose the replacement. The President-elect had the good manners to resign several weeks ago, which gave the governor plenty of time to name a replacement. But Governor Rob Blagojevich, an egomaniac who apparently was looking to sell or trade the seat for something of value, gummed up the works when the Feds overheard him wheeling and dealing over the appointment on a tapped telephone line.

An honorable person, caught with his pants that far down, would have probably resigned, but not the current governor of Illinois. He proclaimed his innocence and vowed to fight the charges. Blagojevich also chose to turn the affair into even more of a circus by going ahead and naming a successor to Obama despite the urging of most of the political world to leave it alone. Then, to help paint stubborn Senate Democrats into a corner, he chose a black man as the replacement. Refusing to seat a black nominee could be interpreted by some as racism. First the governor offered the job to black Illinois Congressman Danny Davis, but Davis declined to accept a tainted nomination. The governor then found a black candidate with an ego the size of his own, Roland Burris, who didn't care how tainted the nomination was - he wanted it! And so it goes...

But while the Burris nomination has been on the front burner, three other Senate seats are also in limbo.

Yesterday Democrat Al Franken was officially certified as the winner of the Minnesota Senate seat - by a paper-thin margin of 225 votes. His crybaby opponent, former Senator Norm Coleman, is headed to court and may keep the seat vacant for weeks or even months while he pulls every possible rabbit out of his huckster's hat. In the hopes of providing some assistance in the resolution of this sticky matter, here is my advice to Coleman: Give it up, Norm. First of all, you're an ass. And secondly, this is Paul Wellstone's seat and you should have never been allowed to sully it in the first place.

Now we come to Hillary's Senate seat from New York. She was sworn in again today, perhaps fearful that she might be turned down for Secretary of State at the last minute. But by hanging on until the last possible day, she is denying her replacement valuable seniority. And, of course, somebody needs to kick New York's governor in the butt and get him to name the replacement.

But the strangest political maneuvering of all, at least to me, involves the Senate seat belonging to Vice-President-elect Joe Biden from Delaware. Biden was also sworn in for another term today, although he is scheduled to become Vice-President in two weeks. It has been rumored that he was keeping the seat warm for his son, Beau Biden, who is currently serving in Iraq, but Beau has apparently said that he isn't going to accept it. So what gives, Joe? You, like Hillary, are costing your replacement seniority. It's time to move on, buddy.

If the Obama administration hopes to hit the ground running, all four of those Democratic Senate seats need to be filled. Somebody needs to be kicking some senatorial butt and taking names!

The Pulpit Initiative

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Pastor Gus Booth is a man on a mission who has very little regard for the foundation of American democracy. Pastor Gus, in his zeal to make sure his parishioners have the same narrow-minded view of the current Presidential candidates as he does, has intentionally and with malice aforethought stepped across a line, a line that was established by the Constitution of the United States over two centuries ago to keep church and state separate .

The architects of our Constitution, the compact that holds our nation together, clearly understood the dangers of the state trying to control or establish religion, and they were also aware of the dangers that religious excesses could have on a democratic society.

Churches have received enormous benefit from this separation over the years through having their incomes exempted from taxes. And as long as they kept their focus on religion and stayed away from politics or the business of the state, they got to keep their oh-so-sweet tax exempt status.

The problem for some churches and their pastors is that they feel an obligation to "educate" their members on the "godliness" (or lack thereof) of certain candidates. Christian fundamentalist institutions in particular seem to have an insatiable need to warn their membership of liberals or other candidates who might actually believe in and practice the Golden Rule. They have been stepping closer and closer to the Constitutional line through such subtle acts as having "voting guides" left on windshields during church services, or sprinkling sermons with code words that left those listening with little doubt as to where their pastor stood on issues or candidates.

But all of those subtleties weren't enough to scratch Pastor Gus's itch. Last May he told the congregants at his Warroad Community Church in Warroad, MN, that Christians could not support Hillary Clinton or Barrack Obama. Then he sent a press release about his sermon to the IRS to make sure that they were aware that he was pissing on the Constitution. Being a good Christian, the minister obviously hoped for an IRS reaction that would propel him into martyrdom - where the big bucks awaited!

The IRS didn't react quickly enough for the ambitious minister, so he has upped the ante. Tomorrow Pastor Gus and thirty-two other ministers from across the nation will all gleefully jump across the line separating church and state by endorsing or opposing certain candidates from the pulpit. This pile of religious compost is being referred to as "The Pulpit Initiative." These shepherds for the Lord are determined to prove that the members of their flock truly are sheep.

So, at least we now have one clear option for where that pesky $700 billion economic bailout that our country so desperately needs can come from: TAX THE CHURCH!

In Defense of Sarah Palin

by Pa Rock

Well, McBush announced his choice for running mate this morning and spent the rest of the day slapping himself on the back for being so progressive. He thinks that he's found the perfect way to pry loose the wavering Hillary voters. We'll see, Johnny boy, we'll see!

There are things about Ms. Palin that I like, including:

1. She's not Mitt Romney. The country is in dire need of a break from vacuous frat boys who were born with credentials. And isn't it refreshing to know that there are others in the Republican Party besides old white men with money!

2. She is smarter than McBush. Of course, so am I, so are you, and so was 99% of his graduating class at the U.S. Naval Academy!

3. She has been a mayor of a town of 9,000, Governor of Alaska for less than two years, and a proud member of the PTA. Being a mayor of a small town and a governor of a state where the moose population exceeds that of humans really doesn't qualify her for much, but speaking as an old school administrator, I can tell you this with a straight face: if she can navigate the intrigues and politics of a small town PTA, U.S. foreign policy should be a piece of cake!

4. And, as pointed out by a columnist earlier today on Huffington Post, she has what it takes to be the next Dick Cheney! That's high praise, indeed!

Now Ms. Palin, let me give you some heartfelt advice. If John McBush ever calls you a "cu*t" like he publicly referred to his wife, I hope you bitch-slap him into the next life. (And I hope that he wakes up in that next life as the emotionally abused wife of a blowhard!)

Also, I was glad to hear that you were able to get your Wikipedia entry cleaned up a couple of days ago. You're going to need every break that you can get as you try to drag Gramps across the finish line!

Janet!

by Pa Rock

I received the Obama email a few days ago telling me that I would be among the very first to know his running mate selection because the much anticipated announcement would be made through emails and text messages to supporters. What I would really like, however, isn't instantaneous knowledge of who the individual is, but rather some input into the selection.

I realize that a straw poll of supporters would not be practical, especially because the Hillary crowd would flex their muscle and he would be stuck with that mess. And it would hardly be fair to limit the process to just those few thousand who have been with him since before his Presidential announcement - of which I am one. So, If Senator Obama can't really find out what his people are thinking without opening a Pandora's box, I feel obliged just to come out and tell him my thoughts on the subject.

Senator, her name is Janet Napolitano and she is the governor of Arizona. Time Magazine named her one of the five best governors in the nation in 2005. When she ran for reelection in 2006 our democratic governor was so astoundingly popular that her yard signs had only one word: "Janet!" She won that election in the red state of Arizona by 16 points! She is a fireball of a politician, and the smartest and most capable governor in the United States - bar none!

You have said, often, that you are looking for a Vice-President who can step into the role of President. Measured by that criteria, you could do no better than Janet. She is an amazing chief executive who has an astounding knowledge of her state and its workings. And, if you are not adverse to having a running mate with high octane campaign skills, she is a barn-burner of a campaigner. Remember when she campaigned with you last February? The crowd in Phoenix, all 18,000 of us, loved the nostalgia of getting to see Caroline Kennedy, and the inspiration that you provided on what America could and should be - but it was Janet who rocked the house!

Senator Obama, turn that tiger loose! Put Janet Napolitano on your ticket, and put Arizona in play!

Fiat Accompli!

by Pa Rock
Prodigious Political Prognosticator

The Democratic Presidential race ended tonight, and for the first time in my life I had my chips on the winner from the get-go. Barack Obama has defeated Billary, though she has yet to admit it. The hard part of the race is over, and defeating John McBush will be little more than a mop-up action.

Change is at hand, America! It's a new day!

Janet Napolitano for Vice President!

Let's Move On

by Pa Rock
Angry Democrat

The bitter remarks posted here several hours ago regarding the tacky show put on by Billary's people at the DNC Rules Panel meeting in Washington DC have been removed. Commenting on their behavior does not merit the use of available cyber space.

The "A" Word

by Pa Rock
Opinionator

Hillary Clinton is old. She is older than me and she has led a very full life. And she is tired. It should come as no surprise to anyone, therefore, when she suddenly jams both feet in her mouth as she did yesterday in Sioux Falls. She's old, and she's tired, and she has been relentlessly beating a dead horse for a very long time.

Obama supporters share a common fear. It isn't a fear that he will lose the nomination and slip quietly back into the Senate never to be heard from again. Even if he didn't already have the nomination locked up, which he does, he has brought hope back into the election system and presented us with real and meaningful challenges. He has inspired legions of young people to enter the process with the promise that their participation can mean something great for America and for the world. He has shown them that America can be a much better place, and that she can once again become a beacon of inspiration for the rest of the world. Barack Obama will continue to inspire regardless of his job title.

The fear that Obama supporters share is that he will be killed, that his dream, and ours, will be cut short by an angry fool with a gun.

I watched in near terror last Tuesday night as this young man and his beautiful wife weaved their way through a large and boisterous crowd in Des Moines just as night was falling. People were pressing in from all directions, and the two secret service agents who were in sight would have had a very hard time doing anything to stop somebody from rushing forward with a gun. It was terrifying. "Move," I thought. "Move, move, move!"

Hillary, while prattling on incessantly about sexism, has become the poster girl for the disaffected racist whites. Exit polling in Kentucky showed that two of ten Clinton voters said that they would never vote for Obama because of his race. If two of ten had the cahones to say it out loud, what was the actual percentage? Last week she highlighted her new constituency by making a statement about her supporters being "hard working Americans, white Americans." (Unfortunately for her, McCain will capture the cracker vote in November.)

But what was she thinking yesterday? Why did she think it necessary after stating that Big Bill hadn't sewn up the Democratic nomination in 1992 until the California primary in June, to add as a post script that Bobby Kennedy had not been assassinated until June? Has the wiring between her brain and her mouth been severed?

Hillary and her minions have often said and implied that anything can happen - a la Reverend Wright - that could put her back in contention. But to float an implication that her opponent could be assassinated is well beyond the pale of proper political conduct, at least in America!

I hope that wasn't what she was implying. I hope that she wasn't sending some sort of signal to the crazies that it is time to take matters into their own hands. I truly hope that it was fatigue and old age that allowed that awful word to slip out of her mouth an onto America.

And then to frost the cake, Hillary's apology (of sorts) was lame and ineffectual, and did not even express the courtesy of addressing Barack Obama directly. Poor form, indeed.

Hillary, it is time to pack it in. You are old and you are tired - and you are becoming mentally incontinent or very, very mean!

Poisonous

I submitted the following to a blog on the Anderson Cooper 360 website today:

"Billary is absolutely poisonous. Her aim isn't to take this nomination away from Senator Obama, but to ensure that he can't beat McBush in the fall. She hopes to rise from the ashes of the party that she destroyed and become the nominee in 2012. She may well do it, but it will be without my vote.

While Senator Obama stays positive and is occasionally too honest, Billary is all about lying, manipulation, and race-baiting.

I heard a comment a few days ago lamenting that Billary was the only woman "in the pipeline" to become President, and if she didn't do it now, it might be generations before another woman stood a chance. It sounds to me as though the pipeline in need of a good flushing! I submit that any of the following would be more electable and would make a far more honest and reliable Chief Executive for our country than the junior senator from New York: Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, Gov. Janet Napolitano, Senator Mary Landrieu, Senator Blanche Lincoln, and even Senator Barbara Boxer.

The curtain needs to fall on the Clinton drama. No third term!"

Sometimes it helps just to spew!

Redirection

Every few decades America undergoes some basic realignments, usually under the direction of a President who understands, with uncommon clarity, the importance of leading with a vision. We have had three such leaders in my lifetime:

John Kennedy challenged us to make America and the world a better place by focusing on others instead of ourselves. We weren't about greed, we were about giving. Kennedy gave us the Peace Corps, which is still a force for good in the world nearly fifty years later. He also redirected our national focus toward the stars, or at least the moon, and began a serious effort to strengthen math and science education in our schools.

Lyndon Johnson was thrust into the Presidency early in what should have been the Kennedy period. LBJ used his unparalleled power with Congress to create a massive Civil Rights program and anti-poverty agenda. It was under Johnson that many of America's most disadvantaged first began to realize that they, too, could gain entry into the system. Some of the jewel's in LBJ's crown of accomplishments include the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA - a domestic Peace Corps), Medicare, Medicaid, and Headstart - programs that radically changed America for the better.

Society is a pendulum. When Americans feel that government has gone too far to the left or to the right, they begin looking for someone who can bring the pendulum back in the other direction. There were American's in the sixties who resented what they saw as government's appropriation of their tax money for use with the people that demagogues assured them were too lazy to work. It was time for a shift, someone with a new vision.

Ronald Reagan came to the White House in 1980 with the vision of refocusing America from the "us" of Kennedy and Johnson, to the "me". Insteading of concentrating on what we could do for our country, Reagan asked us to focus on what we could do to make our own lives better, and let our poor neighbors fend for themselves.

And America has been on this "me" track now for almost thirty years. Even an eight-year democratic respite under the Clintons saw little done to enhance the lives of the poor and needy. The North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA), in fact, proved to be a critical factor in increasing unemployment and poverty in the United States during the Clinton years and throughout the presidency of George Bush.

George Bush has taken the pendulum so far to the right that it appears to be stuck. Our treasury has been sacked by Bush and Cheney's cronies, otensibly to fight a war that has drug on for five years and that we have zero (ZERO!) hope of winning. Our national prestige is in the crapper thanks to our unwillingness to negotiate or even be civil with other nations. We let bin Laden escape so that the President could rush into Iraq and prove something to his father, and then have a moment of glory prancing around the deck of an aircraft carrier. George Bush has stood, like the proud little peacock that he is, snapping orders as America digs the biggest hole in the history of the world, and he won't let us stop digging!

It is time for a change. It is time to begin redirecting our national energies in a more positive, and world-friendly direction. It is time that we begin to care about every mother's son, or daughter, and not just what is good for the stockholders of Halliburton, Blackwell, and Raytheon. It's our America, and it's time to bring it home!

There are three candidates left in the race for the presidency of the United States. John McBush, who states that he does not understand economics and is willing to stay in Iraq one hundred more years. McBush is a cranky old man (with an eye for blondes) who wants to serve out George Bush's third term. Billary Clinton wants to take us back to the good old days of the 1990's when our factory jobs went to Mexico and the assets of the wealthy went to the Caymans. She clearly wants to serve Bill's third term. Barack Obama wants to focus on people, and to provide us with a hope of regaining our stature in the world through diplomacy and good deeds rather than with bombs and braggadocio. Of the three, Obama is the only one who offers any hope for change.

Obama '08! It is time for a change!

Johns, Hookers, and Bathroom Perverts

I thought that yesterday's news story about New York Governor Eliot Spitzer frequenting a high-priced whore house was very disappointing. Spitzer had earned a reputation as a tough law enforcement official during his eight years as New York's attorney general. His unwise and illegal behavior will probably cost him his job, and it is undoubtedly having a devastating impact on his family - a wife and three teenage daughters.

I have a friend at work, a republican, who observed that if the miscreaants have their wives with them when they admit or deny the misbehavior, it is a certain tell that they are guilty: Bill and Hillary, Congressman and Mrs. Vitter (in her faux leopard skin coat), wide-stance Senator Larry Craig and his Missus, and now Governor Spitzer and spouse. When I pointed out to him that McCain brought his plastic Barbie Doll wife out when he self-righteously denied a romantic involvement with a lobbyist, my friend decided that his theory might have an occasional exception.

Political power must be the most powerful aphrodisiac in existence. Why else would people who have been granted such enormous public trust behave so stupidly? Certainly their families, and ours, deserve better.

Of Fear and Lizard Brains

This past Tuesday, March 4, marked the 75th anniversary of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first inauguration as President. It was at the height of the Great Depression and times were bad. But on that day in Washington D.C. all those many years ago, FDR took the reins of power from Herbert Hoover and assured the country that government would, once again, be the servant of the people. In his inaugural address, he told America that "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!"

What a difference seventy-five years makes! Now we have a President who uses fear as his prime motivator. Fear Iraqis, fear al-Quaida, fear Castro, fear Chavez, fear immigrants, fear your government, fear, fear, fear! Fortunately for the world, and America in particular, George W. Bush is quickly becoming irrelevant.

But fear works - and now Billary has picked up the banner. Seventy-five years to the day after FDR reassured us that fear was all we had to fear, Billary won the Texas primary by using her sleazy red phone commercial stressing the need for us to fear anyone but her answering the President's red phone at 3:00 a.m. Arianna Huffington of "The Huffington Post" referred to this red phone tactic as appealing to our lizard brains, the most primal part of the human brain - the one we employed when we were still in the caves - long before the advent of rational thought.

What's wrong with focusing on ideas? Why can't we be free to judge candidates on their vision for America, instead of on their ability to slime? Bill Clinton said (in 2004 while campaigning for John Kerry) that if one candidate offers you hope and the other offers you fear - go with the one offering hope. He was right. The only thing we have to fear is the politician who is trying to scare us from seeing the world as it could be.

No third term!

The Final Democratic Debate

I have been sitting at the computer quietly typing in another old Rootbound column into the new blog (www.rootboundinthehills.blogspot.com) while using tonight's debate for background noise. Tonight is debate number twenty. Can there be anything left that Billary or Obama have yet to answer? I have been especially alert all evening listening for the sound of a kitchen sink being thrown, but so far the closest thing that I have heard to a big attack came from Billary when she tore into Tim Russert for always asking her the first question. What a whiner!

Cretins of the week: Yesterday Billary's campaign sent out a photo of Barack Obama in a Somali turban in an attempt to make him look like a Muslim, or a terrorist, or simply unAmerican. Then they couldn't decide whether to take credit for the sleazy tactic or not. Today, McCain was introduced to a crowd in Cleveland by a racist radio personality who kept repeatedly referring to Barack HUSSEIN Obama. McCain distanced himself from the speaker and said that it would never happen again at one of his events - after the crowd had left.

Yes, we all know that Obama is Black and had an African father, and we all know that his middle name is Hussein and that his last name rhymes with Osama. So what? If that's your best shot Billary, and if that's your best shot McCain, it is time to get out of the way and watch the future emerge! Our kids and grandkids deserve something better than a couple of tired, old has-beens whose primary tactic is name-calling.

Say goodnight, Billary. Say goodnight, McCain.

Welcome to Arizona

My sister, Gail Macy from Fayetteville, AR, arrived today to spend the holiday weekend with me in the sunny southwest. Her first comment was that she was impressed with all of the palm trees.

The area of the West Valley that I live in is actually the Palm Valley section of Goodyear, and there are many palm trees - some that must be fifty feet tall. There are also lots of giant saguro cacti used in landscaping around this area. I asked a fellow here how landscapers managed to transplant these prickly behemoths. He said that they wrap them in blankets and then tip them onto a flatbed truck. After they are moved the landscapers tip them into the prepared hole and then remove the blankets. Some of the ones around here are twenty to twenty-five feet tall. They have a shallow root system so that they can gather as much water as possible during our infrequent rains. When it does rain, they swell with the added water and occasionally topple onto the ground - or a nearby car or house. I suppose that finding your car crushed beneath a cactus could really ruin your day!

Billary sent me another letter today begging for cash. She will get her postage-paid return envelope back in next week's mail - without a damned dime! When will she ever learn???

10 Things I Hate About Billary

1. Sense of Entitlement: Some commentators noted in 2000 that George W. Bush approached the Presidency as though it was something owed to him, a graduation gift perhaps. Billary approaches it in the same manner. She has waited patiently, caused a few potholes in New York to be fixed, and cast every Senate vote in a manner that would play well in a general election. Now, it’s her turn, and how dare anyone try to derail her destiny!

2. Manipulation: The National Democratic Party decided to boycott Michigan and Florida for their insistence on having primaries before Super Tuesday. Obama and Edwards had their names removed from the Michigan primary ballot in support of the national party. Billary did not, and, not surprisingly, “won” that primary because she was the only big name left on the ballot. Then she used that “victory” for bragging rights. As soon as Billary lost in South Carolina, Big Bill started talking about the next primary and how she would redeem herself there. The next primary was Florida, where all Democratic candidates had agreed not to campaign and where, like Michigan, no delegates were to be awarded. Billary had two fundraisers in Florida immediately preceding the election, and announced she would fly to Florida when the polls closed to thank her supporters. The whole circus was framed as a victory party. Now she is whining about the unfairness of not counting the Michigan and Florida delegates. Puh…leese!

3. Lobbyists: While Barack Obama and John Edwards were able to honestly claim that they did not accept contributions from lobbyists, Billary pointed out that “lobbyists are people, too.” She has single-handedly accepted more money from lobbyists than any other candidate from either party. What kind of health care plan can we expect from someone who is owned by the pharmaceutical and medical industries? K Street whores should ply their trade in the streets like their working class counterparts – not in the Oval Office.

4. Experience: Billary loves to rattle on about her thirty-five years of experience. She does have a lot of experience, but it is certainly not all laudable. How about her experience in the White Water land shenanigans? Or her experience in the White House with Travel Gate? Maybe she would like to spotlight her experience in maiming the working class as a Wal-Mart Corporate Board Member. And let’s not forget her experience in the 1993 health care fiasco. A big part of Billary’s “experience” can be more accurately looked at as “baggage.”

5. Race-Baiting: Billary's main political tactic in the South Carolina Primary seemed to be reminding everyone that Obama is black. Unfortunately for her, she offended a big part of what should have been her natural constituency. This is America in the 21st century, not Arkansas in the 1980’s. Billary should be ashamed, and Big Bill should be caned!

6. Truthfulness: Billary met Sir Edmund Hillary in Nepal several years ago. She told him that her mother had named her after him in order to inspire greatness in her daughter. Big Bill even recounted the meeting and that statement in his autobiography. The problem with that story is that Sir Edmund Hillary was a virtual unknown before he climbed Mt. Everest in 1953. Billary was born in 1947. Whoops! When that inconsistency was pointed out to her, Billary blamed the whole mix-up on her poor, old mother. What a piece of work!

7. Dramatic Ability: A few tears and a breaking voice bought her New Hampshire. Will the same tactic work at a heated conference with world leaders? Will it make a crisis go away?

8. Testosterone Level: In an effort to prove that she has cajones the size of coconuts, Billary voted to allow Bush to use force against Iraq for its involvement in 9/11, or its on-going manufacturing of weapons of mass destruction, or any other fiction that caught the President’s fancy. General election voters needed to know that she was as tough (and as dumb) as any man!

9. Refusal to Admit Mistakes: Billary moans and groans about the awfulness of the war in Iraq, but she just can’t bring herself to admit that her vote enabling the President to take our troops into this foolish misadventure was a mistake.

10. Tendency to Polarize: Rightly or wrongly, Billary is a lightening rod. People love her or hate her – there is no middle ground. She is the one person capable of coalescing this year’s Republican mess into an effective political organization. They all hate Billary!

No Third Term!

While it may be sometime before the dust settles in either party's race to the White House, Bill Clinton is already emerging as perhaps the most significant loser of this election cycle. The once God-like icon of the disadvantaged and down-trodden has left Olympus and returned to his Arkansas persona of Bubba the ruthless campaigner. No matter what the candidates may be doing or saying, it's Bill who's soaking up the spotlight with his whining, blustering, and thundering threats. Hillary may or not make it to the White House, but this much is certain - Bubba's legacy is heading for the crapper!

Can America possibly get it's collective head around eight more years of Bill and Hillary? Are we ready to crawl out from under the Bush administration and back into the Clinton drama? Michael Bloomberg is starting to look better and better!

I got a nice letter from Hillary today asking for a contribution. I will be sending her postage-paid envelope back, without a donation, and with these words neatly penned on the outside: "No Third Term!"

Of course, politicians have no pride. She'll write again!

Presidential Primary Reform

Last night I was too depressed, and too tired, to write about the New Hampshire primary. Now it’s a new day, and the tiredness has passed.

The irony of New Hampshire lies in the fine art of crying. Forty years ago Ed Muskie was driven from the race after shedding some tears in public over the way his wife had been ravaged by William Loeb, the extremist publisher of New Hampshire’s largest newspaper. Crying was a sign of weakness, an unacceptable quality for a man who wanted to be the leader of the free world. Jump to the present: when Hillary’s eyes welled up with water it demonstrated her compassion and humanity. While an argument could be made that this favorable public view of crying politicians is nothing but sexism wearing a new coat of paint, I would like to think that we, as a nation, have finally matured to the point where we can allow our political leaders a modicum of emotional release. The tale will be told when a contemporary male politician produces some eye leakage in a public setting. Will he get the Muskie heave-ho or the Hillary bounce?

The plus from last night’s New Hampshire election returns, for both parties, is that it virtually insures that the suspense will continue at least through Tsunami Tuesday on February 5th. Millions more of us will have some actual input in selecting our party’s candidates, rather than just voting to ratify (or not) the de facto pre-selected party candidates. The race goes on!

The primary process is more democratic this year than ever before, but it still has some serious flaws. Why, for instance, are Iowa and New Hampshire still allowed to be first every election year, enabling them to garner so much candidate face time and campaign cash? Why should those two states always have so much impact on who is ultimately selected to head each ticket? One argument is that they are so representative of America, but that is just silly on its face. How does the average voter of Iowa equate with the average voter of Alabama, or Alaska? What do voters of New Hampshire have in common with the voters in California or Hawaii?

Unfortunately, the presidential primaries are the bastard children of the political parties and the state legislatures. The parties could, in theory, establish a rotating primary system that would be fairer than the mess that now exists. One sensible solution would be to set up three regional primaries, and every four years change the order in which those regional primaries are held. That would allow candidates to focus on one area of the country at a time, and marshal their energies (and money) to meet three deadlines instead of twenty or so.

But sensibility doesn’t play well in many state legislatures. Those who have always been first (Iowa and New Hampshire) want to retain the glory and cash that the process brings to their states. And other aggressive states (Wyoming, Michigan, Nevada, South Carolina, and Florida) want in on the act. Tsunami Tuesday is a big step in the right direction, but by the time it arrives, some candidates will have already been beaten into a penniless pulp by the early primaries.

What will it take to fix this mess and give all Americans an opportunity to have real input into the presidential nominating process? Apparently, as evidenced by the circus this year, it is beyond the ability of the national parties to fix the situation, and the states are understandably self-centered as they push to get ahead of each other on the calendar. Maybe it will require a Constitutional Amendment to rectify the situation, or, at the very least, a strong stance by Congress – of course, a strong stance by Congress is also silly on its face!

Oh, and my reaction to the New Hampshire results? I made another donation to Barack. There is nothing “free” about democracy!

Obama, Oh My!

I am enjoying the Obama victory in Iowa this evening. Barack Obama, a son of Kenya and Kansas, is on his way to the White House! It is truly the dawn of a new day in America!

Other observations:

 Hillary’s concession speech was more gracious than the one given by Edwards.
 Fred Thompson did better than I thought he would. I hope that somebody woke him up and told him that he is still in the race!
 The Democratic turnout was tremendous – which portends very well for November.
 Chuck Norris’s teeth are unnaturally white!
 Ron Paul’s people have been deluding themselves.
 Bill Clinton is looking really old!
 Mike Huckabee may be a gasbag, but he has a good sense of humor.
 Joe Biden is a class act.
 Barack Obama is the most powerful public speaker in America!

On to New Hampshire!

The Political Season

I heard on the news tonight that John F. Kennedy announced on January 2, 1960, that he would be a candidate for President in November of 1960. Imagine how nice it would be to have the entire presidential election circus take place in a single year!

Most of this year’s presidential candidates announced months ago and have been in the campaign trenches ever since, and the first significant electoral process, the Iowa caucuses, will finally take place tomorrow. So now we are taking nearly two years to elect a president!

And then there is the subject of money. One estimate that came out today is that the candidates have spent over $30 million in Iowa alone. Those poor Iowa residents have had to endure over 50,000 television commercials for and against the various candidates in the last few months.

It is truly becoming the best democracy that money can buy!

My Iowa Predictions:

Democrats: 1. Barack Obama 2. John Edwards 3. Hillary Clinton 4. Bill Richardson
Likely dropouts: Joe Biden and Chris Dodd.

Republicans: 1. Mike Huckabee 2. Mitt Romney 3. John McCain 4. Ron Paul
Likely dropouts: Duncan Hunter and Fred Thompson

Now, on to New Hampshire!