Pete Lit

Karl Malden

For me, there's no greater testament to the greatness of Karl Malden than his quietly electrifying performance in On The Waterfront, and particularly the unforgettable scene in the video above, which moves me even more than Brando's famous "I coulda been a contender" scene.

A.O. Scott has written a fine appreciation of Malden (who died this week, at age 97) which is very much worth reading as well. I might just have to rent A Streetcar Named Desire today, on this rainy holiday.

So who's the judicial activist, exactly?

The well-worn refrain is that liberal judges are activists who are bent on dictating social policy, while conservative judges respect precedent and always defer to the decisions of elected officials who are accountable to the electorate. Wrong.

On another point, the (Ricci) ruling underscored the emptiness of the “judicial activist” label that Republicans like to use in debates over nominees to the federal courts, including Judge Sotomayor. In the firefighters’ case, she actually refused to second-guess the city’s decision — an act of judicial restraint. It was the court’s conservatives, including Chief Justice John Roberts, who voted to overturn the decision of an elected government.

Liberal or conservative, all judges are activists sometimes, and status-quo conservators at other times. Sotomayor may have often been an activist in her rulings, but that's not the case here. To dismiss her as a "judicial activist" is simple-minded and just plain wrong.

No No No No No

White House drafting indefinite detention order

This is NOT the sort of thing we voted for in November. This is nothing more than a continuation of Bush's abhorrent status quo, and if the majority of voters really wanted unfettered executive power such as this, we would have voted McCain into office. If we really want to set an example for the rest of the world and show our commitment to liberty and personal freedom, giving the executive branch the unilateral power to detain terror suspects indefinitely without trial is absolutely NOT the way to do so. I don't care if the executive order can be rescinded at any time - merely enacting it sets a dangerous precedent, particularly for the next paranoid conservative to occupy the Oval Office.

Too big to fail? How about too big to exist?

Excellent essay here by Eric Dash in the NYT on financial insitutions which have been deemed "too big to fail" and thus are considered deserving of a federal bailout to protect the financial system as a whole. But if these institutions have grown so large (through predatory consolidation and the complete abdication of antitrust oversight by the government) that their failure would cause the entire system to collapse, then why allow them to continue to exist in their enormous, bloated and unwieldy form? If their sheer size is implicitly a threat to the system, shouldn't they be broken up?

Once upon a time, our government diligently enforced antitrust law, recognizing the threat to our economy and society itself of unfettered corporate power, but such oversight has been all but abandoned as our government has caved in to free-market zealotry. The free-market argument for unchecked consolidation - that it generates critical economies of scale and allows banks to compete globally - has been completely refuted by the organizational basket case that is Citigroup. And also, I suspect, Bank of America, which has experienced considerable indigestion from its swallowing of Merrill Lynch and Countrywide, two colossuses in their own right whose great size couldn't prevent their collapse.

Bailing out companies like these without breaking them up - and the recently proposed industry regulation is a nice idea, but doesn't go nearly far enough - simply ensures that they'll be back soon for another bailout. Which doesn't help anyone other than Wall Street.

Working: President, Lordstown Local, UAW

Reading Working last night, I was struck by this passage from the UAW local boss in Lordstown, Ohio, which is timely today even though it was said back in 1972. He's talking about the onset of robotic automation at General Motors, which sped up output but also resulted in extensive layoffs.

When they took the unimates on, we were building sixty an hour. When we came back to work with the unimates, we were building a hundred cars an hour. A unimate is a welding robot. It looks just like a preying mantis. It goes from spot to spot to spot. It releases that thing and it jumps back into position, ready for the next car. They go by them about 110 an hour. They never tire, they never sweat, they never complain, they never miss work. Of course, they don't buy cars. I guess General Motors doesn't understand that argument.

There's twenty two, eleven on each side of the line. They do the work of about two hundred men - so there was a reduction of men.

You always hear economists and business commentators sing the praises of "productivity", which is just a fancy way of saying "producing more with fewer workers." What they never say is that fewer workers also means layoffs, and reduced consumer spending, and lower quality of life in the towns that rely so heavily on the auto industry. Sure, robotics increase production, but at a human cost that is rarely mentioned. Or an economic cost, even to GM - as the union boss points out, robots don't buy cars. Imagine how many more cars GM could have sold all these years if they were still paying the paychecks of several hundred thousand more autoworkers whom were cast aside in the quest for "efficiency."

Heroes of Democracy, Part 1

This is wonderful: a high school kid who operates a lending library of banned books - out of his school locker.

I would be in so much trouble if I got caught, but I think it's the right thing to do because before I started, almost no kid at school but myself took an active interest in reading! Now not only are all the kids reading the banned books, but go out of their way to read anything they can get their hands on. So I'm doing a good thing, right?

A kid who loves both literature and free speech. Maybe the future of our country is in good hands after all.

(Via Boing Boing.)

Quote

"I’ll put it to you this way, you give me a water board, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I’ll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders."
- Jesse Ventura

Studs Terkel on May Day

I can think of no better way to honor May Day than with this priceless anecdote from the late Studs Terkel.

About 25 years ago, Studs Terkel was waiting for a number 146 bus alongside two well-groomed business types. "This was before the term yuppie was used," he explains. "But that was what they were. He was in Brooks Brothers and Gucci shoes and carrying the Wall Street Journal under his arm. She was a looker. I mean stunning - Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus and carrying Vanity Fair."

Terkel, who is 95, has long been a Chicago icon, every bit as accessible and integral to the cultural life of the Windy City as Susan Sontag was to New York. He had shared the bus stop with this couple for several mornings but they had always failed to acknowledge him. "It hurts my ego," he quips. "But this morning the bus was late and I thought, this is my chance." The rest of the story is his.

"I say, 'Labour Day is coming up.' Well, it was the wrong thing to say. He looks toward me with a look of such contempt it's like Noel Coward has just spotted a bug on his collar. He says, 'We despise unions.' I thought, oooooh. The bus is still late. I've got a winner here. Suddenly I'm the ancient mariner and I fix him with my glittering eye. 'How many hours a day do you work?' I ask. He says, 'Eight.' 'How comes you don't work 18 hours a day like your great-great-grandfather did? You know why? Because four guys got hanged in Chicago in 1886 fighting for the eight-hour day ... For you.'

"Well, he was scared and nervous and the bus was still late. I've got this guy pinned up against the mailbox. He couldn't get away. 'How many days a week do you work?' I went on. Well, then the bus came and I never saw them again. But I think that every workday morning she was looking from the 15th floor of their apartment block to see if that mad man was still there."

Sadly, that mad man is no longer with us, but I hope that couple never forgot the encounter.

(Via MobyLives.)

DINO attack!

All of the ballyhoo about Arlen Specter switching parties and the likelihood (assuming Al Franken is finally allowed to assume the Senate seat which is rightly his) that the Democrats will gain a filibuster-proof 60-member Senate majority obscures one critical fact: the Dems rarely vote as a unified bloc anyway, thanks to moderates and pseudo-Republicans like Joe Lieberman who lurk within the ranks. The latest example? Today, Twelve Democrats broke ranks and voted against an amendment (introduced by Illinois' Dick Durbin) which would have allowed bankruptcy judges to modify terms of homeowners' mortgages to avoid foreclosure and allow them to stay in their homes. The moderates, or Democrats In Name Only, once again caved in to the banking industry (which you might think is so disgraced these days that it wields no influence whatsoever) and gave Wall Street exactly what it wanted.

I'm not surprised that the Republicans (a/k/a the Commerce Party) voted unanimously against the amendment, but if your Senator happens to be named Baucus, Bennet, Byrd, Carper, Dorgan, Johnson, Landrieu, Lincoln, Nelson, Pryor, Specter or Tester, please feel free to send them a nastygram, thanking them for once again kowtowing to powerful business interests at the expense of the everyday people who put them in office.

“What we’re talking about here are people who don’t have any paid lobbyists,” Mr. Durbin said, speaking of homeowners in financial trouble. “What they’re counting on are people, senators in this chamber who will stand up for them. The bankers don’t want this. They hate the Durbin amendment like the devil hates holy water.”

Senators standing up to Wall Street? Thanks for tilting at windmills, Senator.

Update: Another sharp comment from Durbin, via Think Progress:

At some point the senators in this chamber will decide the bankers shouldn't write the agenda for the United States Senate. At some point the people in this chamber will decide the people we represent are not the folks working in the big banks, but the folks struggling to make a living and struggling to keep a decent home.

Again, thank you, Senator.

The old is new again

Another flashback from The Progressive, this one by Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior under FDR, from 1938:

About one-half of the wealth of this country is in corporate form, and over one-half of it is under the domination of 200 corporations, which in turn are controlled by what Ferdinand Lundberg in his recent book referred to as “America’s 60 Families.”

Eight years ago America’s 60 families had held in their hands, since the close of the World War, complete dominion over the economic and political life of the country...Out of their divinely claimed genius as managers of private enterprise the 60 families promptly led the American people into the worst peacetime catastrophe ever known...The new government bailed the 60 families out of the consequences of their own mesmeric miscalculations and their unintelligent leadership of the system of private enterprise of which they had pretended to be master managers...

Substitute "Wall Street" for "60 families", and it's obvious that things really haven't changed much during the last 71 years.

Quote

"I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1929

The Progressive is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and given our current economic doldrums the magazine rightly thought it would be appropriate to re-run a series of articles which it originally published during the Great Depression. (This happens to be quite timely for me, as I just started reading Michael Harrington's 1962 study The Other America: Poverty in the United States, in which the author argues that the welfare state created in response to the Depression mostly benefitted the middle and upper classes, and not the poor.) Here are the articles that have run so far:

Wagner Urges Unemployment Relief Action, by Senator Robert Wagner (June 14, 1930)

“Individualism” Seen in Destructive Phase, by Theodore Dreiser (January 9, 1932)

Human Wreckage: A Plea for Federal Relief, by William Green (February 20, 1932)

The Long Plan for Recovery, by Senator Huey P. Long (April 1, 1933)

Word of the day: ceilidh

Or, more accurately, the word of yesterday...

ceilidh

Main Entry: cei·lidh (pronunciation)

Variant(s): also cei·li \'kā-lē\ Function: noun Etymology: Irish céilí & Scottish Gaelic cèilidh visit, social evening, party with music and dancing, from Old Irish céilide visit, from céile servant, companion, neighbor; akin to Welsh cilydd companion, Old Breton kiled Date: 1875

Scottish & Irish : a party with music, dancing, and often storytelling

As part of my Irish reading month, right now I'm halfway Patrick McCabe's Winterwood, in which the word ceilidh comes up frequently. I was familiar with the definition (albeit from Local Hero, a Scottish film) but couldn't quite remember the pronunciation. And now I know - KAY-lee.

Can't say I enjoyed any music or dancing last night - Julie's in bed with a nasty case of the flu - but I did have homemade corned beef and cabbage, Guinness bread (bless her heart - despite her weakened state she still cooked all of this) and a pint of Extra Stout, all of which were excellent.

Fighting Illini in the Sweet Sixteen!

The Academic Performance Tournament.

Frankly, I'd rather see my alma mater win this "tournament" than the one on the hardwood.

Turtle Wax, Bastion of Sexism

As a male who is much more likely to clean the house (and did so, in fact, as recently as this past weekend) than wax his car, I am quite offended by the sexism promoted by these Turtle Wax bottles from the 1950s. And in case you're wondering: no, I do not clean house with a frilly apron around my waist and a ribbon in my hair - nor a self-satisfied smile on my face either.

"The sound of ideologies clashing"

Wise words from one of my favorite bards, Billy Bragg:

Outside the patient millions
Who put them into power
Expect a little more back for their taxes
Like school books, beds in hospitals
And peace in our bloody time
But all they get is old men grinding axes

Far too many old men grinding far too many axes in Washington this week. For the good of the country, those patient millions, I hope those in power set aside all of the rhetoric and the posturing and get this stimulus bill passed. We need it.

Ben & Jerry & George

Gerry Canavan links to this post about Ben & Jerry's supposed (but likely fake) solicitation of a new ice cream flavor to "honor" our recently departed President. Here are a few of my suggestions:

Let Them Eat Cake
Thickheaded Brickle
My Pet Gooseberry
Plutocrunch
Cherry Tarture
The War Criminal Raisins and Sprinkles (nod to Okkervil River)
War Criminilla

Governor Quinn on the Illinois River

Our new governor in Illinois, Pat Quinn, wrote the following in a foreword to the photographic collection Life Along The Illinois River, by David Zalaznik:

Since the very beginning of our state’s history, the Illinois River has brought life to our communities, our economy, and our people....But as the nineteenth century came to a close, the river that had brought prosperity to so many began to suffer from human thoughtlessness...As the river waters grew shallower and dirtier, the river ecosystem dwindled. ‘Wash days’ in urban areas sent masses of gray phosphorous-filled suds floating downstream, while littered garbage and other wastes left the rivers and their banks odorous and unsightly.

Then the federal Clean Water Act of 1972 was passed, providing much-needed regulation of industrial pollution sources and beginning a slow but spectacular river renaissance. As water quality improved, many species of fish returned, and wetlands that had been barren welcomed renewed growth of native plants...As the remarkable photographs in this book so clearly illustrate, the Illinois River valley has enjoyed a spectacular comeback. I hope you will enjoy this book—and more important, I hope it will inspire you to come and explore the rich cultural heritage and great natural beauty of Illinois River Country.

I concur with the blogger at University of Illinois Press (where I once worked part-time, untold moons ago) in the hope that Quinn in Springfield, along with Obama in Washington, are the political equivalent of the Clean Water Act. Goodness knows there's plenty of odorous and unsightly wastes to be purged from both cities.

Heckuva job, Bushie

Yes, I know I previously said that this would be my last jab at Dubya, but unfortunately the impact of his "leadership" will continue to be felt for the indefinite future - and felt quite painfully. So ongoing commentary may be warranted.

Dressing down at the White House

As if I didn't already have enough reasons to love this guy:

President Barack Obama has brought a more relaxed style to the White House, according to Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times, among other things going suit coat-less in the Oval Office and allowing others to do the same.

Though dress shirts and ties are apparently still required in the Oval Office, I still appreciate the gesture. I'm one of only two or three male bankers in my office who never wears a tie or suit - just button-down shirts, slacks and dress shoes. (My attire raised a few eyebrows at first, but since then everyone seems to have gotten used to both that and my goatee, which appears to be even more rare in the facial-hairless banking world.) Since leaving my last job (which was jeans-casual) for the prim and stuffy world of banking, I've regularly questioned the strict adherence to the old-fashioned business dress code. It makes even less sense when you consider that most of our clients have already abandoned suits in favor of business casual, so I keep asking who it is, exactly, that we're dressing up for.

And as if I didn't already have enough reasons to despise this guy:

One of the story's most memorable anecdotes is actually not about Obama but former President George Bush and it was told by Dan Bartlett who was a senior adviser to Obama's predecessor.

"I'll never forget going to work on a Saturday morning, getting called down to the Oval Office because there was something he was mad about," said Dan Bartlett, who was counselor to Mr. Bush. "I had on khakis and a buttoned-down shirt, and I had to stand by the door and get chewed out for about 15 minutes. He wouldn't even let me cross the threshold."

Bush was really a stickler about no one, including himself, entering the Oval Office without a tie and suit coat on.

I guess if Dubya chafes at retirement - after all, there's little brush-clearing to be done in his new and snooty Dallas neighborhood - he can always come and work for my bank. He'd fit right in.

Unconscionable

Economic stimulus plan passes the U.S. House, despite not a single Republican voting for it. You read that right - the GOP voted 178-0 against this critically-needed legislation.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a swift victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House approved a historically huge $819 billion stimulus bill Wednesday night with spending increases and tax cuts at the heart of the young administration's plan to revive a badly ailing economy. The vote was 244-188, with Republicans unanimous in opposition despite Obama's frequent pleas for bipartisan support.

Is it really possible that not a single Republican congressman thought the stimulus plan was a good idea? I doubt it. The GOP, for all their America-first, flag-waving patriotism, don't care nearly as much about America and its citizens as they do about playing nice within their little party sandbox. The American economy is collapsing, and they all vote the party line instead of doing what's right. Shame on them.

Amen

Kudos to U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman, for ruling that Illinois' "moment of silence" law - a thinly-veiled attempt toward easing prayer into public schools - is unconstitutional.

As passed by the Illinois General Assembly, the law allows students to reflect on the day's activities rather than pray if that is their choice and defenders have said it therefore doesn't force religion on anyone.

But Gettleman backed critics such as the American Civil Liberties Union, who say the law is a thinly disguised effort to bring religion into the schools.

The "teacher is required to instruct her pupils, especially in the lower grades, about prayer and its meaning as well as the limitations on their 'reflection,'" Gettleman ruled.

"The plain language of the statute, therefore, suggests and intent to force the introduction of the concept of prayer into the schools," he said.

I was opposed to the law from the start, and am glad to see that at least one member of our federal judiciary has more common sense than the Illinois state legislature.

Barack Obama, and Why My Dad Was Wrong

Today represents a monumental turning point in America's history. Our country was founded on the ideals of freedom and equality, two principles which for the better part of two centuries remained mere ideals and were never fully put into practice. Political and economic power became concentrated, in Washington and on Wall Street, while the vast majority of everyday citizens simply had to make do and scratch out the best existence that they could. While Wall Street could be excused for its actions - it has always unapologetically been a money-making venture and nothing but, and by its very definition is motivated entirely by profit and greed - Washington could not. Despite being the seat of our national government and the birthplace of democracy - government of the people - Washington increasingly became an exclusive club, a self-perpetuating establishment of incumbent politicians, lobbyists and cronies who ran our country however they pleased. For most of its existence, our government has excluded women and racial minorities, as well as the voices of everyday citizens, belying the oft-repeated claim of America's greatness as a bastion of freedom and equal opportunity.

The inauguration of Barack Obama as our 44th President is the first step towards true democracy. Obama truly represents the American Dream - the son of a mixed-raced marriage, of an immigrant father and Heartland mother, who grew up in a struggling but loving single-parent household, who struggled with his identity before ultimately embracing his roots, who rose from his humble and peripatetic beginnings to an Ivy League education and the national political stage while never losing sight of and compassion for the common man. By a wide margin, American voters have elected a man who is not only African-American but also has a middle name which is Muslim in origin, and looked beyond both superficialities to the man within or, in the words of Martin Luther King, "the content of his character." America chose compassion and optimism and change over the petty, small-minded status quo. With Barack Obama, America has taken the first step toward fulfilling the democratic promise on which the country was founded more than two hundred years ago.

Four years ago, after Obama was elected to the United States Senate, I was talking to my father, a loving man but lifelong political conservative who would pass away from cancer a few months after the election. I asked him what he thought of our new senator, and he replied that Obama seemed like a good man but that he'd never rise any higher than the Senate "with a name like that." My father was no bigot, or at least no more bigoted than other men of his era who grew up mostly apart from minorities. I don't think he meant Obama any ill will or thought any less of him because of his skin color or name, but instead meant that he didn't think America was tolerant enough to elect such a man, or openminded enough to look beyond superficialities and truly consider the content of his character.

I am quite pleased to say that my dad was utterly and completely wrong. We are that tolerant and openminded, and because of that we have elected a good man who will help all of us, together, work toward true equality and opportunity for everyone. Liberty and justice for all.

The Official George W. Bush Presidential Librarium

Rightly questioning the merits of a Presidential library which honors a man of limited intellectual curiosity and an even more limited grasp of objective truth, the good folks behind Goodnight Bush present an alternative: the George W. Bush Presidential Librarium. Some of the highlights for me are Rummy's Believe Me or Not, Church & Skate ("the half-pipe where we erase the separation between wicked and awesome!") and Wet N' Wild Waterboarding ("It should be a crime to have this much fun...somehow, it isn't").

Yes, I'm indulging in one last dig at the Fratboy In Chief before sanity is restored on Tuesday. Or actually second-to-last: my final disrespectful act will be, of course, the ceremonial flush.

On Blagojevich

Okay, I admit it. I made a mistake, a huge mistake. I not only voted for Rod Blagojevich twice, but very publicly supported him here. (For a complete confession of my Blago blog sins, see links below.) The shady dealings in the governor's office started surfacing during his first term, but I mostly ignored them. Part of that was due to my cynical belief that it was just another case of business as usual in Illinois politics, but mostly because I believed in his progressive causes - universal health care, environmental protection, government-funded stem cell research, etc. I thought he was trying to do the right thing for the people of Illinois, and figured that if the price of that sort of progress was some political chicanery, then so be it.

But the red flags really went up this past summer, when the state government ground to a complete halt during a budget impasse, as Blago kept insisting that his social programs be passed even though the economic downturn meant there was no way to pay for them as long as he held fast to his campaign pledge of no personal income tax increases. While I admire him trying to keep his campaign promises, I admire even more a politician who can face political reality - there's no way his political initiatives would ever make it through the legislature without a major tax increase. But he arrogantly stuck to his guns, scrapping his early call for a huge business tax increase (which had absolutely no chance of ever passing) and feebly insisting that his programs could be paid for by expanding casino gambling in the state. He did all of this while showing absolutely no interest in negotiating with the legislature - it would be his way or no way at all. And "no way" is what it became. Today the state owes billions in Medicare and Medicaid payments to dozens of hospitals throughout the state, still has seriously unfunded the state employee pension plan, and needs even more billions in infrastructure spending, none of which it can possibly pay for. All of this showed me he was incapable of governing, and my support for him quickly faded.

And now it clearly appears that he wasn't at all interested in doing the right thing for the people of Illinois - he only wanted the right thing for himself. It's obvious that every state function under his control - filling a vacant U.S. Senate seat, awarding state contracts - was for sale to the highest bidder, with the proceeds and perks all going directly to him. All of which is appalling in itself, but even more appalling is the outrageous arrogance he has publicly displayed ever since his indictment, refusing to resign and saying he will be vindicated by the legal system. He keeps saying he wants what's best for the people of Illinois, even as he has made the state into a national laughingstock, brought the state government to a standstill, and even bogged down the U.S. Senate, where our elected representatives are supposed to be focused on getting us out of our economic morass but instead have to deal with the political circus of the Roland Burris appointment which Blago went right ahead and made, in defiance of both the Springfield legislature and the Democratic Party leadership in Washington.

Yes, Blago will have his day in court. But no matter whether he's guilty or not - and the feds' wiretaps seem almost inarguably damning - he has completely lost his ability to lead the state. And that, regardless of his legal guilt or innocence, means he should resign immediately - for the good of people of Illinois, whom he keeps insisting that he cares so much about. If he truly cares about us, he would leave office right now.


Blago Mea Culpa:
On drug reimportation
On requiring pharmacists to offer birth control
On state-funded stem-cell research
On children's health insurance
On environmental protection

Festivus for the rest of us

Oh man, I love this.

Capitol Festivus pole goes up, and gripes begin
Festivus display at Illinois Capitol

Christian guy: "Festivus is nothing — it means nothing, it represents nothing...At least the atheist sign had a viewpoint...I think (the Festivus pole is) a mockery."

Atheist gal: "If the state's going to create a forum for religion at this time of year, which we do not approve of, this is what's going to happen,"

Festivus guy: "I'm halfway thinking about complaining about the location."

AP writer: "Festivus was, after all, a holiday built around the airing of grievances."

Religious displays have no place on any government property. Even if our country was founded as a Christian nation - and that's highly debatable - the Constitution prohibits the establishment of an official religion, and to my mind allowing nativity scenes or menorahs or whatever on public property is an officially sanctioned promotion of religious beliefs, one which has no place in our multicultural society. If you really want a nativity scene, just slap one on your front lawn between the plastic reindeer and the inflatable Frosty the Snowman, just like all my suburban neighbors do. Now that's the true American way.

"This is a farewell kiss, you dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

This is, hands down, the video clip of the year, one which perfectly encapsulates the wrongness of Bush's misguided mission in Iraq and the illegitimacy of our military presence there. Not to mention his almost-flippant, "What me worry?" attitude.

McClelland on Blago

Chicago writer Ted McClelland (whose book Horseplayers I read and enjoyed last year) offers up an excellent backgrounder on Rod Blagojevich at Salon.

Here's a short quiz. Which of the following is statistically more likely to land a Chicagoan in jail: a) joining the Gangster Disciples, b) selling crack on a West Side street corner, or c) becoming governor. The answer is c, of course, which makes me wonder. If governing Illinois is such an at-risk occupation, why don't we just abolish the job and replace it with a board of directors or a court-appointed supervisor?

Like most embarrassed and/or bemused Illinoisans this week - especially those of us who elected him twice - I have plenty of thoughts on Blagojevich, and will be sharing them here soon.

Alistair Cooke

Lovely piece from the BBC on Alistair Cooke, who would have turned 100 years old this week. As the story discusses, Cooke spent much of his life trying to understand and explain America to the rest of the world. This quote, as related here by his daughter, is particularly remarkable:

Perhaps in every period of affluence and self-indulgence, America needs a national crisis, a depression, a collapse of the money market, to throw up a benevolent leader - he had better be benevolent if the system is to hold - who mobilizes the best of America instead of the worst.

Remarkable, especially considering he said this in 1998, years before the rise of Barack Obama to the national stage. I doubt if many Americans even recognized its self-indulgence and the illusory nature of its affluence during the past few years, which have abruptly brought us to the crisis we're in right now. (And I certainly hope and trust that Obama is just such a benevolent leader.) Seems like Cooke knew us better than we know ourselves.

Words to live by

I saw this somewhere over the weekend, but don't remember where or even the exact words, so I'll just paraphrase without attribution:

"In this economic climate, love the job you're with."

I'm taking these words to heart. I'm not at all enamored with my current job situation, but after being briefly unemployed last year (under considerably better economic conditions and while collecting full severance pay and having health insurance) I will readily admit that my employment sure beats the alternative. So I'm grinning and bearing, but also keeping an eager eye on the next step.

R.E.M. believes...

...and so do I. From last Tuesday night's show in Santiago, Chile. (Via Stereogum.)

Yes we can...

...and yes we will. Now the really hard work begins.

(Photo credit: Shannon Stapleton, via Reuters)

VOTE!

Whether Democrat, Republican, Green, Independent, Socialist, Libertarian or what have you, get out there and vote today. The country really doesn't ask that much of its citizens, but one of our most critical responsibilities is voting and participating in the (small-d) democratic process. And if nothing else, voting today earns you the right to bitch for the next four years.

Barack Obama for President

Anybody who's read this blog, emailed me or talked to me in person during the last four years knows exactly whom I'm voting for tomorrow.

Barack Obama first grabbed my attention with his stirring speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and I've been a strong supporter of his ever since. I think he is the finest presidential candidate we've had in decades, a transformational leader who has the potential to be one of the greatest presidents in our country's history. Right now our country needs him - to restore America's tarnished reputation in the international community, to bridge the bipartisan divide that has our government in gridlock, to bring about equality and opportunity to all of our citizens, to move toward energy independence and finally get serious about fighting the global warming that threatens to destroy the planet, to dialogue and negotiate with hostile regimes and come to a peaceful diplomatic consensus without recklessly waging war, to bring about much-needed change and give us the hope that future generations will live lives even better than our own, and to calmly and thoughtfully develop solutions to the most pressing problems we face today. I am extremely confident that he will do all of those things and be exactly the leader we need.

I'm voting for Barack Obama tomorrow, and I urge you to do so as well.

Song of the Week: Lee Dorsey

Lee Dorsey: Yes We Can

I won't say much about this song, as it pretty much speaks for itself. Regardless of Tuesday's decision, we all have to come together, find common ground, provide equality and opportunity for all of our citizens, and move this country forward. Yes we can.

Okay, a bit about the song. Lee Dorsey was a great New Orleans soul singer, best known for "Sneaking Sally Through the Alley", "Workin' in a Coal Mine" and "Ya Ya", and worked closely with the legendary Allen Touissant, who wrote the lyrics to "Yes We Can" and so many other Cresecent City classics. Here are the lyrics...please remember them as you vote this week.

Now is the time for all good men
To get together with one another
Iron out their problems
And iron out their quarrels
And try to live as brothers
And try to find the peace within
Without stepping on one another
And do respect the women of the world
Just remember we all have mothers

Make this land a better land
Than the world in which we live
And help each man be a better man
With the kindness that you give

I know we can make it
I know darn well we can work it out
Oh yes we can, I know we can
Yes we can, why can't we if we wanna
I know we can make it work
I know we can make it if we try

Take care of the children
The children of the world
They're our strongest hope for the future
The little bitty boys and girls

Make this land a better land
Than the world in which we live

Get together, get together now

As if I needed any more convincing!

Obama secures the coveted endorsement of...Opie/Richie, Sheriff Taylor and the Fonz. Surely nobody would dare call the Fonz elitist! Heeeeeey! Let's rumble!

Steinbeck

John Steinbeck:

When I wrote “The Grapes of Wrath,” I was filled, naturally, with certain angers—certain angers at people who were doing injustices to other people, or so I thought. I realize now that everyone was caught in the same trap. If you remember, we had a depression at that time. The Depression caught us without the ability to take care of it. It took a long time for us to develop the agencies to take care of such economic difficulties. When the dust came up, people were starving; they had no place to go. Naturally, they went in a direction where they would not suffer from cold: they went toward California. They came in the thousands to California.

And what did they meet—they met people who were terrified, number one, of the Depression, and were horrified at the idea that great numbers of indigent people were being poured on them to be taken care of. They could only be taken care of by taxation. Taxes were already high, and there wasn’t much money about. They reacted perfectly normally—they became angry. And when you become angry, you fight what you’re angry at. They were angry at these newcomers.

Gradually, through government agency, through the work of private citizens, agencies were set up to take care of these situations, and only then did the anger begin to decrease. And when anger decreased, these two sides, these two groups, were able to get to know each other, and they found they didn’t dislike each other at all.

Those government agencies were those of the New Deal which saved our country from utter ruin, and whose modern-day counterparts are conveniently ignored by conservatives who insist that government is inherently bad and has no business being involved in peoples' everyday lives. How utterly wrong they are.

Muslim in America

Thank you, General Powell. This really needed to be said.

I'm also troubled by not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said: such things as "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is "He is not a Muslim; he's a Christian." He's always been a Christian.

But the really right answer is "What if he is?" Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion: "He's a Muslim and he might be associated [with] terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

(Via Orange Crate Art.)

"The real America"

The quote:

"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation."

The conclusion: whiter and wealthier.

Hell has frozen over...

...pigs are flying, the Cubs have won...okay, the Cubs didn't win the World Series, but this is still quite monumental:

Tribune endorsement: Barack Obama for president

Of course, the cynic in me wonders if Obama wasn't from Illinois - or even if he was from as nearby as Indiana, Wisconsin or Iowa - if he still would have gotten the endorsement.

That faint whirring sound you hear is Colonel McCormick spinning in his grave.

So who's to blame?

John McCain has been blaming the economic mess on lax mortgage lending standards at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and by extension to the Democrats in Congress who supposedly pushed for expanded lending at the two government-chartered institutions. Were Fannie and Freddie responsible for the mortgage mess? No, says a current Zacks Investment Research report.

Let’s review a little bit of history: Fannie dates from 1938, Freddie from 1968, and the CRA was passed in 1977. The worst of the bad mortgages were made from 2003 through the first half of 2007. It sure seems like a very long lead time for Fannie, Freddie or the CRA to be the culprit.

It was the growth of private-label mortgage-backed securities, largely built on mortgages originated by mortgage brokers, not banks, and funded by non-bank financial institutions such as New Century, Ameriquest and Countrywide (late in its life, Countrywide did get a thrift subsidiary) that created the worst paper.

The mortgages that started in these channels were packaged up by Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and the rest of the big investment banks and sold bypassing Fannie and Freddie.

New Century, Ameriquest, Countrywide...all high-flying (some would say "fly by night") mortgage lenders who would lend to anyone and everyone, but have since crashed. Bear Stearns, Lehman...the Wall Street geniuses who bought practically every mortgage that the lenders sent their way, not because the underlying mortgages were sound but because the Wall Streeters figured they could always sell off the securities to some other sucker. Those "suckers" finally said no, and Wall Street has been pummelled ever since.

Hurrah for the kids!

This certainly gives me hope for the next generation: Obama Wins Scholastic News Election Poll.

The Scholastic Presidential Election Poll results are in: Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama won with 57 percent of the vote, to 39 percent for Republican nominee Senator John McCain.

The poll was open to kids from grades 1 to 12 in Scholastic News and Junior Scholastic magazines. Almost 250,000 (a quarter of a million) kids voted by paper ballot or online at www.scholastic.com/news. The poll closed on October 10.

Since 1940, the results of the student vote have mirrored the outcome of the general election all but twice.

Of course, I've heard the well-worn argument that everybody's a liberal until they "grow up and start paying taxes." Actually, I've gotten more liberal as I've gotten older, and wouldn't mind paying more taxes if they're spent on the right things. (Social programs, education, economic development: yes. Overseas military conflicts, shady defense contractors, tax breaks for people and corporations who are already swimming in cash: no.) So I find this encouraging.

(Via Orange Crate Art.)

So who's the naive and dangerous one?

John McCain has repeatedly disparaged Barack Obama's foreign policy beliefs, calling him "naive" and "dangerous" for insisting that we need to first use diplomacy and direct talks in dealing with hostile enemies such as Iran and the Taliban. McCain also regularly cites his admiration for General David Petraeus' judgment and capabilities. Which made me quite delighted to read this item, as noted by Think Progress:

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS -- GEN. PETRAEUS SAYS 'YOU HAVE TO TALK TO ENEMIES': The Bush administration has long scorned talking to geopolitical enemies, notoriously referring to such diplomatic engagement as "appeasement." But speaking yesterday at the Heritage Foundation, CentCom chief Gen. David Petraeus, encouraged diplomacy. Citing his Iraq experience, Petraeus said, "You have to talk to enemies." "He added that it was necessary to have a particular goal for discussion and to perform advance work to understand the motivations of his interlocutors," according to the Washington Independent. A draft version of the new National Intelligence Estimate concludes that Afghanistan is in a "downward spiral" and casts serious doubt on the ability of the Afghan government to stem the rise in the Taliban's influence there. Petraeus encouraged diplomacy to tackle the violence. "Negotiations with some members of the Taliban could provide a way to reduce violence in sections of Afghanistan gripped by an intensifying insurgency," he said. He noted how Britain had helped reduce violence in Iraq through negotiations, stating, "They've sat down with thugs throughout their history, including us in our early days."

So even though his hero Petraeus thinks diplomacy comes first, I highly doubt McCain will change his hardline rhetoric.

Writers & Cartoonists for Obama

I'm more than happy to pass along the announcement of this very worthy event, on behalf of its host Sandi Wisenberg. My "Suburban Dad" status and the fact that this will taken place on a Wednesday night will probably prevent me from attending, but I encourage all of you footloose, fancy-free, city-dwelling, lit- and comics-loving creatures to check it out if you can.

Writers & Cartoonists for Obama FUNdraiser, Oct. 15

You are cordially invited to Writers & Cartoonists for Obama, a fundraiser, Wednesday, Oct. 15, Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St., Chicago. A flock of local writers will read work that is very fun, very interesting, very political (in the broadest sense) and very very brief. Readers include: Sara Paretsky, Stuart Dybek, Haki Madhubuti, Rosellen Brown, James McManus, Jonathan Messinger, Kristiana Rae Colón, Kevin Coval, Quraysh Ali Lansana, Michelle Goldberg, Tom Geoghegan, Marcus Sakey, Libby Hellman, Carlos Cumpian and Cris Mazza. I'm the MC. (I am S.L. Wisenberg.)

The format of the evening:

5:30 pm-Reception and silent auction of signed books (by the above as well as Rick Perlstein, Ayun Halliday, Paula Kamen and Reginald Gibbons).

6:30 pm--Very very brief readings by the writers mentioned at top

8 pm--Group viewing of the final Obama-McCain debate

Cost is $60/person at the door, and $50 in advance, on line. People who are 25 and under can pay their ages. You can pay by donating on this site. CLICK ON THE "DONATE" BUTTON UNDER THE THERMOMETER. Ticket sales go to Obama for America. Cartoon sales go to pay for buses that will take Chicagoans to Iowa to canvass voters for Obama.

More info: Oct15Obama@gmail.com

Authors and cartoonists: If you'd like to donate books or cartoons, please e-mail Oct15Obama@gmail.com, also.

Directions to the Chopin Theatre:

Train - Blue Line, Division stop or Red Line, Clark/Division stop then #70 Division bus west. Other buses - #8 Ashland, #70 Division, #56 Milwaukee. Cab - 5 minute ride from downtown Chicago. Car - Interstate 90/94, Division exit then go 1 block west. Parking - Free, 1/2 block west of 90/94 Division exit at Division. Paid, at Division/Bosworth, across the street (at a diagonal) from the theater.

Extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds

Charles Mackay proves prescient once again: "Forget Logic; Fear Appears to Have Edge".

"Selling first, and asking questions later", indeed. Call me contrarian, or just reluctant to take action, but I'm holding onto all of my investments right now - and might even drop some spare cash on the market which appears to be approaching its bottom. The market will rebound eventually, and we all just need to grit our teeth and get through the next year or so of financial pain. Meanwhile I'll be counting on President Obama to fix the unfair income tax code and introduce long-needed regulation to the financial system.

So freaking (and belatedly) proud

During dinner with my mom this weekend, she released a skeleton from the family closet - but a good skeleton. As it turns out, my grandmother was a lifelong Democrat. This may not sound like a big deal, given the liberal tone I maintain here, but it's somewhat shocking given that my parents and siblings are quite conservative and I've generally been the political black sheep of the family ever since I voted for Clinton in 1992. But my grandmother voted for FDR every time he ran, even incurring her brother's sharp criticism in the process, and all Democrat presidential candidates after that. So I've got liberal in my blood.

Something that needed to be said

Thank you, Joe Biden.

Look, the maverick -- let's talk about the maverick John McCain is. And, again, I love him. He's been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people's lives.

He voted four out of five times for George Bush's budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he's got there.

He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against -- he voted (against) including another 3.6 million children in coverage of the existing health care plan, when he voted in the United States Senate.

He's not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college.

He's not been a maverick on the war. He's not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table.

Can we send -- can we get Mom's MRI? Can we send Mary back to school next semester? We can't -- we can't make it. How are we going to heat the -- heat the house this winter?

He voted against even providing for what they call LIHEAP, for assistance to people, with oil prices going through the roof in the winter.

So maverick he is not on the important, critical issues that affect people at that kitchen table.

Straight Talk Express veers off the rails

If she was really the honest straight-talker she claims to be, last night she would have answered, on any number of occasions, with: "Gwen, I have no idea what you're talking about, so instead of addressing the issue I'll just respond with vague but folksy generalities."

Now that's what I call leadership

Our local (and blessedly departing) U.S. Representative made quite a distinction for himself - the only member of the House to be absent for Monday's monumental vote on the banking bailout.

U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller's spokesman said the congressman won't miss the next vote that could save the nation's economy.

But if Weller misses that vote, as he did Monday, it probably won't come as a shock to local political and community leaders who have seen much less of Weller since he decided not to run for re-election.

Weller, R-Morris, was the only member of the House of Representatives in the United States to miss the Monday vote on the $700 billion bailout plan, which is considered by many to be the most drastic economic measure attempted by the federal government since the Great Depression.

That's 433 House members taking a vote that could become the stuff historians study when looking back on a turning point in the nation's economy.

Weller was absent as the House turned down the bailout plan.

But Weller has been absent a lot. He's missed 284 votes in this congressional session.

And, he has not been seen much in his 11th District, which runs from the Indiana border past Starved Rock State Park at Utica and includes most of Will and all of Grundy counties.

As far as I'm concerned, this yahoo should do all of his constituents a big favor and stay away for the rest of his term. Start your retirement early, Jerry, and step aside for somebody who will actually do some good. Who, by the way, is Debbie Halvorson.

Addendum: And two days before he skipped the bailout vote, Weller also blew off a vote related to the Canadian National Railway's pending acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern railway, which would result in a dramatic and damaging increase in freight traffic in Weller's district.

U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Morris, has received a lot of attention for being the one member of the U.S. House to miss Monday's vote on the $700 billion bailout plan. But he also missed a vote Saturday on one of the most controversial issues in his 11th District.

The House failed to pass a bill Saturday that would have forced railroad regulators to give the interest of local communities greater weight when deciding whether to approve Canadian National Railway's bid to buy the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway.

The Canadian National deal is the biggest regional issue in Weller's district as a number of suburban communities try to block what would be a huge increase in rail traffic crossing area roads.

Hmmm, for some reason the lyrics to "Call Me Irresponsible" ("call me irresponsible/call me unreliable/throw in undependable too") are running through my head.

Across the aisle

Watching John McCain in Friday night's debate, I didn't see an open-minded, cooperative bipartisan, but instead an arrogant, condescending, grudge-bearing man who is so convinced of the righteousness of his beliefs that he bristles at and refuses to hear conflicting views. (Hmmm, why does that sound so familiar?) He rarely addressed Obama directly, never looked him in the eye, and refused to acknowledge their points of agreement despite Obama's repeated willingness to do so. I find it very hard to believe that a President McCain would courteously smile, show respect to and compromise with the likes of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to get any meaningful legislation enacted.

Reach across the aisle? Hell, the guy won't even look across the aisle.