YoungDemCA

YoungDemCA's Journal

December 30, 2014

Steve Scalise in 1999: "I embrace many of the same conservative views as David Duke"

Back in 1999, Roll Call interviewed white supremacist leader David Duke about the possibility he would seek the House seat vacated by the resignation of Republican Rep. Bob Livingston. As part of that report, reporter John Mercurio also talked to up-and-coming Louisiana politicians, current Sen. David Vitter and current House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

1999:

“I honestly think his 15 minutes of fame have come and gone,” said state Rep. David Vitter (R), a wealthy Metairie attorney who holds Duke’s old seat in the state House and is “seriously considering” a Congressional bid. “When he’s competed in a field with real conservatives, real Republicans, Duke has not done well at all.”

Another potential candidate, state Rep. Steve Scalise (R), said he embraces many of the same “conservative” views as Duke, but is far more viable.

“The novelty of David Duke has worn off,” said Scalise. “The voters in this district are smart enough to realize that they need to get behind someone who not only believes in the issues they care about, but also can get elected. Duke has proven that he can’t get elected, and that’s the first and most important thing.”

Full report from 1999 here: http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/scalise-vitter-talked-to-roll-call-about-david-duke-in-1999/

When I read this, Lee Atwater's infamous 1981 interview on the "Southern Strategy" came to mind:

You start out in 1954 by saying, “N---er, N---er, N---er. By 1968 you can’t say “n---er”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “N---er, n---er.”

Article: http://www.thenation.com/article/170841/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy#

This where pandering to racists and neo-Confederates and Klansmen for the last several decades got the Republican Party: electing the likes of Steve Scalise to the House leadership. You reap what you sow.

Assholes.

December 22, 2014

Well, my late right-wing grandfather thought that Obama was a "far-left radical"..

Based in large part on that clip of Obama saying to "Joe the Plumber" that he wanted to "spread around the wealth."

He also believed that the head of the AFL-CIO was a Communist, that most of Obama's administration were Communists, and that "Corporations have done so much good for the world, it sickens me to hear liberals say all this negative garbage about them."

And no, my grandfather was not rich, in case you were wondering.

December 16, 2014

On "purity tests": The United States has a two-party political system

That is the reality, and it's always been this way, more or less.

If you want ideological purity in either major party, good fucking luck (I don't consider the Republicans to be ideologically "pure", either-there is really no coherent ideology there, beyond exploiting racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry in the raw pursuit of wealth and power, and always opposing and obstructing Democrats).

The Democrats have always been a "Big-Tent" party. Will Rogers himself said, "I'm not a member of any organized party-I'm a Democrat!" Additionally, the Democratic Party's voter base is far, far more diverse(in every sense of the word-demographically , ideologically, socioeconomically, age-wise, in terms of religious diversity, and very importantly, in terms of who shows up to vote and participate in the process) than that of the Republicans.

Want ideological liberal purity? Join a third party, or start your own. But you're misguided if you think that the Democratic Party is going to ever become "pure"-whatever that means!

December 10, 2014

Politics is not really driven by ideas though

Most people vote in a way that corresponds to how their friends and family have voted, and most people can be counted on to vote for their party on a consistent basis. Only a small fraction of the electorate is truly persuadable. Conviction in what the politician believes has nothing to do with it.

December 7, 2014

Sociopaths in High Places

An excerpt from an academic article (Cangemi and Pfhol, 2009).

Most people have interacted with sociopaths and rarely recognized them as such. They act smooth, very smooth, especially when in the public eye. According to Martha Stout (2005) "The condition of missing conscience is called ...sociopathy" (p.6) and those who demonstrate this behavior are termed sociopaths. They are chameleons of the first order, and often can pull the wool over the eyes of most people, no matter their experience or education level. Even psychologists and psychiatrists may succumb to their charms. They can be quite disarming, for sure. They are not easy to spot and, unfortunately, are singled out for what they really are, usually only after their damage and hurt have been done and they are merrily on their way - remorseless to repeat their venomous behavior on other unsuspecting individuals, who often are admirers.

In The Sociopath Next Door (Stout, 2005) and (Morse 2004; Babiak & Hare, 2006), it was stated about four percent of the United States population is sociopathic. Others have offered similar percentages. How accurate are these statistics? Cangemi and Pfohl, with over 70 years combined professional experience with scores of organizations in different cultures, and with exposure to thousands of leaders, staff personnel other associates and individuals-many on a confidential, one-on-one basis-believe this percentage may be higher.

These authors have observed first hand the workings of such individuals - especially their techniques, their callousness, their focused behavior, their desire to destroy a competitor, their delight in inflicting damage and pain on another, and their remorseless willingness to do whatever it takes (unethical, immoral, or illegal) to get what they want.

https://www.questia.com/article/1P3-1737653901/sociopaths-in-high-places

And a blog post from Linda Martinez-Lewi (Ph.d. and an expert in narcissistic personalities).

There is a term that describes certain kinds of individuals who are very successful in the world, have many admirers if not adorers, have access to social/business connections we might all envy whom I call bloodless sociopaths. I use this term because they are without conscience, completely lack empathy, are among the cruelest and sadistic human beings but literally don’t draw blood. They commit numerous crimes throughout their lives and don’t get caught. That’s how well they have mastered their act. Often they have a high intelligence quotient and have achieved superlative marks throughout their schooling. From the time they are very young these sociopaths know that they are superior to everyone, including their parents, that there isn’t anything they can’t do or have. The world and people in it exist to be manipulated by them.

With the narcissistic style taking over much of our world today and becoming fully acceptable—self absorption, obsession with appearance, being in the A list social circles, coldness and disdain for those outside of this magic bubble—it becomes easier for the sociopath to move in and out of business and social circles undetected as a dreadful human being. We have narcissistic sociopaths who run some of our prestigious corporations. We have some members of the branches of government who fit this definition. When you look at some of the dirty deal making that takes place, the rip-offs of those who are without power or money, and the pure greed involved you find that many in the corporate, entrepreneurial, entertainment, media and government that fit this definition. No one wants to talk about sociopaths in high places. Most people have a problem believing that a person with such prestige and power who is given the highest respect and deference and even lionized could be so predatory.

Their family members may not be aware of their levels of criminality. They have become so deluded and accustomed to leading privileged lives that they close their eyes to anything that disrupts the perfect insular world they have created. There are plenty of spouses and children of narcissistic sociopaths who will tell you horror stories about their private lives. Family members describe themselves as prisoners, unable to make their own decisions, forced to follow their parent(s) commands to the letter. They view ugly violent scenes between their parents that are re-enacted frequently and put them in a chronic state of anxiety and apprehension. Spouses who willfully stay married to these reprehensible individuals put the lives of their children in psychological and emotional jeopardy. If you are the spouse of one of these individuals and finally recognize all of the damage that has been done, wake up and prepare to sever these pathological relationships if not for yourself for your children.

Narcissism and sociopathy in its bloodless form are becoming more acceptable in the society at large. You don’t notice many high level narcissists doing perp walks or losing court cases when they are clearly guilty or going out of business because they have been defrauding their business partners and clients for years.

http://thenarcissistinyourlife.com/narcissistic-sociopaths-in-high-places-3/

Apologies for triggering any horrible memories; but this is an important topic, IMHO.

December 6, 2014

The best Christmas present I ever received (HuffPo)

Thirty-years ago, when my children were small, I dreaded the arrival of the holiday season and by the time Christmas arrived I would turn into Scrooge. I hated the holiday traffic jams, the dearth of parking spaces, department stores as crowded as a sporting event, and checkout lines longer than the ones at the DMV. I loathed going to holiday parties and making small talk with inebriated people I hardly knew, and dreaded my relatives who stayed for a week. I grumbled when my wife asked me to hang the outside lights and disliked decorating the Christmas tree with the family. The holidays seemed to be nothing but stress. The way I saw it, the holidays were a month-long mania that reached a frenetic climax on Christmas day, and then collapsed into depression when the credit card bill arrived.

Then one year, a week before Thanksgiving, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It was benign but would kill me if it wasn't removed. My doctor outlined a number of disturbing neurological problems that the delicate surgery was likely to cause and he referred me to the best neurosurgeon in the area, who couldn't schedule me until after the New Year. This meant the tumor and I would have to face the holidays together

snip:

Then one night a week or so after Thanksgiving, while staring out the window into the dark, I reached the point where I couldn't take it anymore. I asked myself, which was worse? The neurological problems that might happen to me in a few weeks, or the intense fear that was happening in me every day, all day long. The answer was clear; fear was worse. I could see that I was believing every fearful thought I was thinking, and it was painting me into a tight corner of gloom and doom. Obviously, I needed a new attitude. For the next half hour I was alert to every fearful thought my mind produced, and I practiced letting go of these thoughts simply by not believing them. Gradually, my mind grew quiet and eventually I began to feel at peace. When I looked out the window again, the cold, dark night that loomed like a black hole about to suck me in had changed. What I now saw was the glow of moonlight shining on the trees that made the night feel sacred.

I made the decision, right then and there, to work at letting go of fear whenever it raised its ugly head and to strengthen my willingness to be at peace as I faced whatever I had to face that day. I found that choosing peace wasn't as hard as I thought. Stress and fear were hard. Peace actually made the day easier, better.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-joseph-goewey-/the-best-christmas-gift-i_b_6267020.html?utm_hp_ref=good-news&ir=Good%20News

December 5, 2014

The Republican Party's top priority is to raise taxes on the poor. Literally.

A few takeaways from this. First, it's yet another reminder that Republicans don't care about the national debt. Conservative carping about the debt is 100 percent of the time a rhetorical cudgel deployed with utter cynicism against programs they dislike for other reasons. When the topic is food stamps or unemployment insurance, they demand offsets to pay for them. (Because "we're broke," as Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) put it in a similar context.) But when it comes to dropping planeloads of money on corporations and rich people, Republicans will casually blow a half-trillion hole in the 10-year budget without blinking.

We can safely assume that should Republicans win in 2016, they'll take all the reduction in the budget deficit accomplished over the Obama years (at great cost and for no benefit, but that's another story) and do the same thing that George W. Bush did: hand it immediately to the rich.

That's not all, though. Unlike Bush, who gave his eye-wateringly regressive tax cuts a patina of democratic legitimacy by cutting the non-rich in on a small fraction of the spoils, Republicans are now firmly committed to the idea that poor people don't pay enough in taxes. The Earned Income Tax Credit was originally a conservative alternative to the welfare state, but increasingly only Democrats support it. Republicans are convinced that the EITC is riddled with fraud, and that voting for it means giving welfare to unauthorized immigrants. (In reality, the EITC results in quite a lot of technically improper payments, but mostly as a result of unnecessary complexity.)

Massive transfers of money to the rich are one half of the Republican economic policy agenda; massive transfers of money away from poor are the other half. And the cuts would be cruel indeed:

For example, a single mother with two children working full time in a nursing home for the minimum wage and earning
$14,500 would lose her entire Child Tax Credit of $1,725 if the CTC provision expires.

-CBPP

Apparently, cutting the income of a poor working single mother by 12 percent is good and proper conservative policymaking in 2014. Because immigration.

http://theweek.com/article/index/272922/the-republican-partys-top-priority-is-to-raise-taxes-on-the-poor-literally

They get off on their cruelty. Being the anti-Robin Hood is enjoyable for them.

Why are these people in power again?

December 2, 2014

I don't think comparing ethnic immigrant urban enclaves to white middle-class suburbia...

..is right.

For one thing, the two didn't develop the same way. It was state policy, not self-segregation, that created the middle-class white suburbs. And it was local policies like racially restrictive housing covenants that maintained the white middle-class homogeneity of the suburbs for a long time.

Another thing-"white American" is not actually an ethnic group in the same way that "Italian-American" or "Chinese-American" is (or was). Race is not the same as ethnicity, even if the two are somewhat related.

To put it bluntly: the "white" race was socially constructed to exclude people of color-which literally, meant people of black or brown skin. And the inclusion of ethnic immigrant groups like the Italians, the Greeks, the Poles, the Irish, etc. was predicated on the exclusion of people-whether they be immigrants or native-born citizens-of color.

I hope this helps.

December 1, 2014

The paradox of America's economic recovery....

On the one hand , you have this:

The US economy keeps beating expectations.

The first revision to third quarter GDP showed the US economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.9% during the quarter.

Expectations were for the headline GDP number to fall slightly, to 3.3% from the initial 3.5% reading.

That initial reading also topped Wall Street estimates.

According to the latest release from the BEA, “With the second estimate for the third quarter, private inventory investment decreased less than previously estimated, and both personal consumption expenditures (PCE) and nonresidential fixed investment increased more. In contrast, exports increased less than previously estimated.”

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/q3-gdp-first-revision-november-25-2014-11

On the other hand, you have this....

Seven million Americans are stuck in part-time jobs.

They are unable to get full-time work and the benefits and stability that come with it. It's a constant struggle for these families and a worrying sign for America's recovery.

Overall U.S. unemployment has fallen steeply in the past year (from 7.2% in October 2013 to 5.8% in October 2014), but too many people can only find part-time positions.

The number of people working part-time involuntarily is more than 50% higher than when the recession began.

snip:

Hidden Unemployment: Like Stevenson, many part-timers go through periods without a job. Almost 30% of involuntary part-time workers are unemployed for three months or longer in a year, according to Glauber.

While these people are often glad to have a job, the reality is that involuntary part-time is "hidden unemployment," says Chris Tilly, a professor at UCLA. For instance, if a person works 20 hours a week, but wants 40 hours, that unfulfilled time is spent unemployed.

Along with no benefits/less job security, lower wages, etc.
.
http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/20/news/economy/america-part-time-jobs-poverty/

November 20, 2014

The median income for an individual in the US was just over $28k in 2013.

Two decades ago, it was about 15k. Adjusted for inflation, $15k in 1993 is almost equivalent to $28k in 2013. That means that wages have barely risen (if at all) over the past two decades.

http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=1993
http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2013
http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

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Gender: Male
Hometown: CA
Home country: USA
Member since: Wed Jan 18, 2012, 11:29 PM
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