Mitt Romney is no tissue-paper man. He’s closer to being a revolutionary, a backward-world version of Che or Trotsky, with tweezed nostrils instead of a beard, a half-Windsor instead of a leather jerkin. His legendary flip-flops aren’t the lies of a bumbling opportunist – they’re the confident prevarications of a man untroubled by misleading the nonbeliever in pursuit of a single, all-consuming goal. Romney has a vision, and he’s trying for something big: We’ve just been too slow to sort out what it is, just as we’ve been slow to grasp the roots of the radical economic changes that have swept the country in the last generation.
If Wall Street finance, private equity and tales of Bain Capital give you headaches, Taibbi has the solution. In his most readable style, he lays out the story and throws gasoline on what may be the smoldering indignation that is the source of your migraines.
After meeting last week for a discussion on the Boy Scouts of America’s stance against homosexuality within its ranks, the Redlands pack plans to take a stand against the greater organization.
In a meeting Thursday, Cubmaster James Rich, who leads Redlands BSA Pack No. 24, checked in with parents to see how they felt about it.
Rich said he sent several notices informing parents about last week’s meeting, emphasizing the discussion was open to the public.
At the meeting, Rich found that several parents spoke in favor of Rich’s stance – let’s not discriminate, but let’s welcome everyone with open arms.
“I didn’t think I could continue as cubmaster until I knew our club was against (the BSA’s stance),” he said. “So I asked our pack to have a meeting to discuss openly the pros and cons. If I was in the minority, I would step down. But at the meeting, I was not in the minority. I was in the majority.
“So we decided to move forward from there,” he added.
Since July, when the Boy Scouts of America reaffirmed its stance on gays, the organization has experienced its fair share of fallout and support with the news.
Some current and former members around the nation have returned medals and badges to the organization, asking BSA officials to reconsider its stance on not granting membership to individuals who are open or avowed homosexuals.
So our new magazine piece, Greed and Debt, about Mitt Romney’s past with Bain and the use of debt to finance takeovers, is online, and already I’m getting some questions that I am anxious to answer. There’s a subtle point about the private equity business that I may not have made clear enough in the piece.
One emailer writes: “You’ve completely misunderstood what private equity does and ignored the many success stories in the industry. There is a reason why many of PE’s biggest investors are unions and pension funds . . . who have benefitted more than once from private equity deals.”
This is a valid point. It is true, many of the biggest investors in private equity deals are pension funds and workers’ unions. I think this is unfortunate, and I know for a fact that many union leaders discourage unions from investing in private equity takeovers. But it’s an undeniable fact that unions and pension funds do sometimes make money on private equity deals.
But what people need to understand about private equity firms like Bain is that they are not in the business of turning around companies and creating jobs. The unions and pension funds that invested in those deals did not do so to rescue companies.
If you invest in a Bain or a Carlyle or a KKR takeover deal, you’re not betting on the future success of whatever company they took over. You’re betting on the ability of those firms to make money on the deal, which may – or, just as importantly, may not – involve turning the target company around.
I reject the politics of fear and choose to vote for a candidate I can believe in instead of voting against a candidate touted as the boogeyman. Elect Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala…
Last evening, while studying America History, particularly the period known as The Second Great Awakening, my student asked me:
It always seems like we read about people doing crazy stuff (we were reading about Millerism and Mormonism). What do you think people a hundred years from now will think is the crazy stuff we’re doing right now?
I took a moment and replied:
I’m sure there is a lot about what we do that historians will see as crazy, but the one that comes immediately to mind is our current fights over basic human and American citizen rights for people who are not hetereosexuals.
Reading Carlos Maza’s undercover report from the 2012 It Takes A Family To Raise A Villiage conference is just one example of why restricting rights is a losing battle that Historians will consider and ask: What were they thinking?
Honestly, part of me was terrified at the idea of having to spend a whole weekend stuck at a NOM event with a group of anti-gay student activists. What if I was discovered? What if someone from NOM recognized me? If I attended, I ran the risk of being exposed – all alone – as an undercover “homosexualist” in a room full of the very people I’d been writing about for months.
I also wasn’t keen on the idea of having to pretend to be straight in front of dozens of strangers for four days, as I didn’t expect I’d be able to attend a NOM conference as an openly gay man without raising a few eyebrows. I’d been out of the closet for over eight years, and I lived in a city where being gay is as about as common and unremarkable as wearing glasses. I’d grown pretty accustomed to not having to worry about people figuring out my sexual orientation. Having to go back in “the closet,” even just for a few days, sounded more like an unpleasant high school flashback than an exciting work opportunity.
Eventually, though, my curiosity got the better of me.
Since its founding in 2007, NOM has loudly proclaimed that its “battle is not with an orientation”; that, despite opposing gay marriage, the organization isn’t motivated by animosity towards gay and lesbian people. This distinction – “we’re not anti-gay, just anti-gay marriage” – has allowed NOM to differentiate itself from organizations that have been labeled “hate groups” for peddling known falsehoods about LGBT people.
But, I wanted to see it for myself. Attending ITAF would give me an opportunity to find out what NOM was really saying about LGBT people when it wasn’t mincing words for mainstream media outlets.
So on Thursday, July 26, armed with little more than my camera phone, a notepad, and a hastily-concocted backstory, I boarded a flight to San Diego to attend what would end up being one of the most disturbing and overtly homophobic experiences of my life.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
And herein lies the real function of the American justice system, clearly revealed time and again. It is to protect high-level actors from accountability even for the most egregious of crimes, while severely punishing those who reveal or take a stand against those crimes, thus deterring and intimidating any future opposition.
That is the mentality that has led the Obama department of justice to aggressively shield all Bush officials from any and all accountability for their torture and surveillance crimes, while launching an unprecedented persecution campaign against whistleblowers. As always in US justice, the “real” criminals are those who alert the world to high-level crimes, not those who commit them. That is why the only person to suffer any repercussions from the Bush NSA eavesdropping scandal was Thomas Tamm: the mid-level DOJ lawyer who learned of the illegal program and alerted the New York Times about it. Those who authorized those crimes have been fully shielded from any form of punishment.
To put the issue of voter suppression laws (new version of poll tax) into proper context I have a suggestion.
I believe an organization of American journalists should be recruited to carry out a project. They could form a temporary organization that would recruit foreign journalist with the task of explaining to the world American democracy now. How well does it work. Its flaws as well as its attributes.
Our news media badly need fresh eyes. Right now.
The essence of it would be to invite prominent journalists from various nations around the world to come to the United States and report extensively from an outside prospective how American democracy operates in the 2012 election.
They’d recruit from Russia, China, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and South Africa, let’s say, and other nations – especially those which have experienced repression – to provide an unpolluted vision.
They also should look at the laws and rules adopted by various states, particularly since the election of President Barack Obama. Because his election seems to have spurred desires to regulate voting in a manner not seen before. And without obvious evidence of need. It should be examined as to the just or unjust motivations by state legislators.
The new Republican voter rules need to be viewed historically, too. How reflective are they to the old discriminatory poll tax, to the history of intimidation of minorities desiring to vote. We need an outside perspective. Our view seems to be cloudy.
It would be of value also for foreign journalists to examine how campaigns are funded, particularly in light of the U. S. Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United. A decision that allows secret financing of political campaigns by wealthy sources. Whether this cripples democracy.
This is an exceptional nation, I hear politicians repeatedly claim. I’d like to know from the prospective of others whether America is exceptional and whether this reflects well on us as a people or not.
I took a walk in downtown Cleveland after an absence of more than two years. For all the talk I’ve been hearing about the resurgence of downtown the walk was more than disappointing.
I started at the Hanna Building at E. 14th Street, walking west on the south side of Euclid Ave. to Public Square. I came back up the north side of Euclid from Public Square to E. 14th. Very disappointing.
Hundreds of millions of public dollars have been spent near or along this route – from Gateway to the south of Euclid to the northwest the still rising Medical Mart and Convention Center another. Remember the $200 million Euclid Corridor (Healthline from RTA) completed in 2008 and the $400 million ($800 with interest) Medical Mart/convention center near completion with $190 million in sales taxes already paid by Cuyahoga County taxpayers.
Damned disappointing when you pass empty store front after empty store along Euclid Avenue.
From the Hanna you first hit the 1990s Renaissance building, setback at Star Center. It has been TIFed (property taxes diverted as subsidies for the next door Wyndham Hotel). When that deal went through the subsidies added up to about Continue Reading »
Republican nightmare Monday: Tropical storm Isaac heads into Gulf, gathering hurricane winds. Reminds people (and the media) of Hurricane Katrina, which reminds them of George W. Bush — the last Republican to occupy the White House.
But George W. is the last person Romney and Ryan want America to remember, because he brought on the Great Recession, turned a $5 billion surplus into a $6 trillion deficit, told America there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and didn’t respond to Katrina for weeks.
Romney never speaks George W’s name. Bush won’t even appear at the GOP convention. But Hurricane Isaac may bring him back nonetheless.
The United Way of the Capital Region’s Board of Directors today voted not to renew its partnership agreement with Boy Scouts of America’s local chapter New Birth of Freedom Council based on the Boy Scout’s policy of exclusion of openly gay scouts and leaders.
The decision was made because the Boy Scout’s reaffirmed position on homosexuality wars with the United Way chapter’s policy on non-discrimination, according to President and CEO Joseph Capita.
With an operating budget of close to 3 million dollars, it requires the support from the United Way, Business Interests, Community Organizations, and Scouting Families.
This naturally enough, leads me to ask the question: Have other Eagles in North Eastern Ohio returned their medals and what can we do together?
Update No. 1 @ 0519: As I’m searching, I’m not finding links for both the United Way of Greater Cleveland and The Boy Scouts of America. It may be that the UWGC is way ahead of me and may have already disassociated itself from the Greater Cleveland Council of the Boy Scouts. I’ll let you know more in further updates.]
(On a more personal note, I’m also contacting checking on United Way of Washington County, the United Way that, in part, provided funding for my Cub Scout Pack 211 and Boy Scout Troop 216 in which I rose to become an Eagle.)
“I realized that there is a part of covering Congress, if you’re doing daily coverage, that is actually sort of colluding with the politicians themselves because so much of what I was doing was actually recording and playing what they say or repeating what they say,” Seabrook told POLITICO. “And I feel like the real story of Congress right now is very much removed from any of that, from the sort of theater of the policy debate in Congress, and it has become such a complete theater that none of it is real. … I feel like I am, as a reporter in the Capitol, lied to every day, all day. There is so little genuine discussion going on with the reporters. … To me, as a reporter, everything is spin.
Increasingly I find that the my best sources for news and information about my country come from journalist who live and work outside our borders. That is sad, very sad; sad enough to make our third president weep.
I’ve added Seabrook’s DecodeDC posts to my Bloglist.
Like Fox in its Bush-cheering heyday, the vast bulk of MSNBC’s programming is devoted to one core message: American politics is understood as a Manichean battle between Good and Evil; the Republicans are the Evil, and the Obama-led Democrats are the Good. One is very hard-pressed outside of the few exceptions I noted to find any deviation from this painfully simplistic, partisan apparatchik script. It’s a virtually non-stop outlet for DNC talking points. Like rightwing viewers of Fox, loyal Obama supporters and Democrats know one thing for certain: when they tune into MSNBC for most hours of the day, they will have their political beliefs flattered and will be made to feel good and noble about their partisan allegiance.
The real writer is one who really writes. Talent is an invention like phlogiston after the fact of fire. Work is its own cure. You have to like it better than being loved. —Marge Piercy, For the young who want to in The Moon Is Always Female
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At day’s first light, have in readiness, against disinclination to leave your bed, the thought that “I am rising for the work of man.” Must I grumble at setting out to do what I was born for and for the sake of which I have been brought into the world? Is this the purpose of my creation, to lie here under my blankets and keep myself warm? “Ah, but it is a great deal more pleasant!” Was it for pleasure, then, that you were born and not for work? —Marcus Aurelius
Let me respectfully remind you, life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. Each of us should strive to awaken-- Awaken! This night your days will be diminished by one. Take heed. Do not squander your life. —Zen Evening Gatha
Take an ax to the prison wall. Escape. Walk out like someone suddenly born into color. Do it now. —Rumi, Quietness
