DemocratsForProgress

DemocratsForProgress's Journal

December 20, 2012

Hitting Rock Bottom

RL Gardner: Hitting Rock Bottom

My father was an alcoholic. For years, the members of my family pretended it wasn’t so. We pretended that dad was just dad. He had a lot of good points about him – generous to a fault, reaching out to others who had less than he did (a lesson he and my mother instilled in me that is still alive and active to this day, long after they have both passed away). My father finally admitted he was an alcoholic, and my mother and I finally admitted we were co-dependents, and we started attending AlAnon meetings. A number of years after that, after more pain and anger and confusion and downright craziness, I admitted I still had problems, and started attending ACOA (Adult Children of Alcoholics) meetings.

One of the common themes of AA, AlAnon, and ACOA (as well as NarcAnon and other similar groups) is that at some point, we all hit rock bottom. That we realize that, as much as we have denied our problem, lied about our problem, ignored our problem, and tried to imagine our problem(s) out of existence, they are still there. And we have a choice. We can continue on that path, and continue to watch our lives fall apart while pretending they aren’t, or we can choose to wake up and we can choose to change.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, many of us are asking why. We are asking how. We are asking why and how this could have happened. And, in chorus with this, some of us are asking why now? Why didn’t the Aurora shootings, the Virginia Tech shootings, the Sikh shootings, the Columbine shootings, the Thurston High School shootings matter? Well, I think they did. But, like the alcoholic or drug addict and his/her family, we hadn’t hit bottom yet. It didn’t hurt enough yet for enough of us that we said, “Enough!” Like the family of an alcoholic or drug addict, we could excuse Aurora or Virginia Tech or the other shootings as something awful, but as “not us.” We could say, “Oh my! How horrible, what happened to those people!” Because really, it didn’t hit home.

In my own experience, we excused many of the things my father did. “It was just this time.” “It was a fluke.” “It’s not going to happen again.” Someone on the outside could say, “Hey, folks, are you kidding me?” But unless we, those directly involved, could hear that, those on the outside could just as well be whistling in the wind. We could continue to ignore it...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/12/20/hitting-rock-bottom/

December 19, 2012

Walter Rhett: Newtown: Evil May Be Its Source

Have we lost our way? I don’t think so. But we are definitely missing the point. There is a body of wisdom and mistakes that we have accumulated from past millennia that tell us about living, about love and despair. There are voices old and new outside of policy makers, practitioners, and others trained to stick to scripts of talking points and scripts that are great for looking at the components of issues but are at a loss for new ideas or how to use the wisdom of old. Those voices fall short when confronting new challenges outside of their reach and training.

In the face of fear and grief, of hurt and pain, we jump on the visible, the available. We look for single source, sensible cause and solution. I often see people blame Barney Frank for the housing bubble, blaming one man for the out-of-control practices that defined an industry printing faux money in every state, selling its junk as derivatives, backed by thousands of untraceable pieces valued at billions. I see others who ignore the global recession and Europe’s retreat into a second recession with its rise in regional unemployment, and blame President Obama even as the US leads the recovery. Especially, I see virtually no one in our public conversation who provides a sources of new ideas and facts. So we return to the sound bites of old speech (as distinct from ancient speech). Now, we are at a loss. What do we do?

The killing of innocent children breaks our hearts. We fail to understand how or why.

I think we miss a major point of explanation. The killings had to do with the most ancient of forces, evil. Not evil the adjective, the dark, angry monster of the movies and novels, not the paralyzing fear that exists in many minds, nor the ugliness assigned to its carnage; but evil the noun. The thing itself...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/12/19/newtown-evil-may-be-its-source/

December 18, 2012

Is Empathy the Antidote to Violence?

Sandy Todd: Is Empathy the Antidote to Violence?

When acts such as the Sandy Hook school shooting occur, it is natural for there to be strong reaction from across society. Even when one argues that a violent culture breeds more violence, it is easy to forget that a churlish response peppered with epithets will not be the oil that calms the seas. That is why I was so proud of my own son, Brian Todd, for putting forth some rational thoughts on a thoroughly irrational day.

“The politicization of this tragedy is exemplary of what we believe and what we believe in as a society. People should stop worrying about who they believe or who the believe in and start worrying about what they’re being taught or what they’re teaching someone else. People argue about how much more important their beliefs are than another’s in reaction to somebody valuing his beliefs more than the children he killed. Perhaps I’m the only one that sees the disgusting hypocrisy of this tragedy. The reaction to the tragedy just becomes fuel for the next tragedy...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/12/18/is-empathy-the-antedote-to-violence/

December 18, 2012

Nance Greggs: Fuck Huck

To: Mike Huckabee (R-Douchebag)

To say that your recent remarks in response to the tragic events that unfolded at Sandy Hook are despicable would be a vast understatement. They were in fact beneath contempt – as are you.

“We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage?”

First off, let’s be completely honest with each other, shall we? We both know you are a godless fuck who will say anything to appease the gun-toting voters who have traditionally supported your party.

Rather than risk losing that support by laying blame at the feet of those responsible, you instead choose to conjure up a vengeful God who allows the massacre of children out of sheer spite at not being prayed to in our classrooms, an arrogant God whose need to be worshipped and adored at every turn is so overwhelming, he smiles with glee as his revenge for being somehow marginalized is carried out by a gun-wielding, troubled young man – who was, given his years, not much more than a child himself...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/12/17/fuck-huck/

December 12, 2012

Walter Rhett: The Bad News Is There Is No Rock Bottom

When things are going bad, people often set out in the wrong direction. It happens all the time and it only makes things worse. The Justice Department’s decision to fine HSBC, a British bank that is Europe’s largest, $1.92 billion was enough to show how wrongheaded American policy is putting belief before truth.

If we believe as hard as we can, and say something over and over while we hide the process from the public, we can rob the country blind, dominate the Congress, and even bring shame to a wounded veteran and former Presidential candidate and Senate leader who, in a wheel chair at age 89, asked the Senate to vote to approve a UN treaty establishing a pledge to full rights for the disabled. This no-brainer only requested the US approve something it had already done; in fact, the US Disabilities Act was the model for the UN treaty. But instead of watching the Senate endorse a treaty that reflects established success in global leadership for the disabled, Bob Dole, former senator from Kansas, watched from the Senate floor as the members of his own party voted the treaty down.

The reason? The fear that the UN treaty with no enforcement or monitoring power, which calls each nation to review its progress for an annual report, would impose yet-to-be-expressed and completely unrelated standards for home schooling on American families. The treaty’s opponents claimed that US honor would obligate the country—each state, city, hamlet and home–to voluntarily submit to the treaty’s principles (whose goals have nothing to do with home schooling!) even if we disagreed. Except that we had agreed to the goals and signed the treaty, but it had not been approved by the Senate.

So an imaginary commitment was used to bring shame to a man who had served his party and his country with real commitment and honor. The imagined idea trumped the real ideals and practices firmly in place, without threat to hamlet or home. Bob Dole, a disabled veteran, watched the Senate vote use the idea of honor to bring shame to the US, before the world...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/12/12/the-bad-news-is-there-is-no-rock-bottom/

December 9, 2012

Take Five (Dave Brubeck memorial edition)

Jeff Rosenzweig: Take Five (Dave Brubeck memorial edition)

ONE: Alle Menschen werden Brüder…

Suffused with bipartisan good vibes, Republicans greeted Barack Obama’s re-election with smiles and outstretched hands… firmly withheld. Grapes actually don’t get any sourer than the ones Republicans have been angrily stomping into whine – uh, wine, since the evening of November 6. The 2012 Grand Old Vintage will long be remembered for its pronounced acidity, robust historical revisionism and almost maddeningly insistent notes of cattle droppings.

The sheer volume (in both senses of the word) of Republican angst, anger and anxiety in the wake of the election has been a challenge to keep up with, but out of many dozens of conservative tantrums I’ve read and bookmarked over the past few weeks, here are some examples I thought worth highlighting.

It was no surprise that one of the first querulous voices raised was that of tufted pink windbag Donald J. Trump. Trump took to Twitter on election night and, as he is wont to do, made an utter jackass of himself:

Trump began tweeting before the election was called that it was “a total sham and a travesty.” After news outlets projected that Obama won the election, Trump tweeted, “Well, back to the drawing board!” He posted more than 10 angry tweets, declaring “our nation is a once great nation divided” and “the world is laughing at us…”

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/12/08/take-five-dave-brubeck-memorial-edition/

December 7, 2012

Nance Greggs: TO: Rick Santorum (R-Frothy Mix)

Dear Ricky:

Well, it seems I’m still on your mailing list – the one compiled for your incredibly abysmal presidential campaign, which has now been assumed by your equally idiotic venture, “Patriot Voices.” I suppose I could unsubscribe – but where’s the fun in that? To be honest, I’d miss the laughs.

Your latest diatribe begins:

“President Obama isn’t only insisting that House Republicans raise taxes. He’s also refusing to make any major spending cuts! But I imagine you haven’t heard that on the news.”

No, actually I haven’t heard that on the news. Maybe that’s because it isn’t true. While I have little respect for the mainstream news media these days, every once in a while they actually refrain from passing utter bullshit off as the truth. Granted, it’s a more rare occurrence than it should be, but these are the times in which we live...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/12/06/to-rick-santorum-r-frothy-mix/

December 5, 2012

Walter Rhett: The Differing Prices of Freedom and Profit

Recycling is a noble goal except when it comes to politics. Unless it’s a way forward, pushing the same ideas year after year is ignoble and ignorant. But yet again, we see the return of the single note of the dead horse of the tax cut, with the Republicans grabbing the crop and flailing away, going nowhere. Soundly rejected at the polls, they keep the idea alive that tax cuts are an idea that America can ride.

Rather than prosperity, their argument is really about power. In a government the size of America’s, more important than legislative power, the power to make laws, is budget power, the power to buy and cut, to control the purse. The advantage of politicizing the balance sheet is that buying and cutting happens outside of the public’s eye. Name the builder who got the plumbing contract for your local schools; name the company that makes the cockpit canopies for jet fighters; or the manufacturer of something as common as the military’s MREs (ready to eat meals); I can’t. Through government, we spend lots of money on things we don’t know about and have no idea how much they they cost. We also spend money on services—health care, food—that impact people directly, and these programs are well known.

The Republican path to power doesn’t involve innovation or efficiency; nor is its end goal savings. Their hunger for power recycles the buzz words “tax cut” because it opens the way to changes in the balance sheet and advances the Republican drive for power on different fronts at the same time.

One of the unique properties of democracy is that rights are expanded through government. By the same authority of government, rights can be diminished. For those with intra-gender preference, the expansion of rights to marriage, open military service, survivor’s benefits, child adoption, non-discrimination and job opportunities is tied directly to the powers of government, state and federal. The contraction of rights, say in a woman’s right to choose, also results from attacks led through government, aimed at the money spent to create the opportunities of reproductive choice. State legislation barred money from being used for choice procedures and has piled on building requirements that make it almost impossible to operate a clinic; the costs of the required modifications are too high...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/12/05/the-differing-prices-of-freedom-and-profit/

December 5, 2012

Nance Greggs: Thanks in Advance

After a lifetime of being a liberal Democrat, I thought I’d take a walk on the wild side and try to embrace the right-wingitude brigade, just to see what the GOP is offering these days to its membership.

However, after perusing the brochures and other related material, I find myself with more than a few questions about the organization. Could some Republican please answer my queries? As always, spelling does count – so don’t hesitate to ask for assistance!

I’ve heard from several GOP quarters that the Republicans have always been the party of the working man. I’m trying to find a single thing that the Republicans have done for the hard-working middle-class in recent history, but keep coming up empty. Could you possibly remind me of the many, many things the GOP has accomplished on their behalf? TIA.

You seem to be promoting the same old “trickle-down” theory, along with the notion that if the wealthy “job creators” have little regulation and lower tax burdens, jobs will be plentiful. You’ve advanced this theory before – and have acted upon it. Can you tell me where all the jobs are as a result of doing things your way? TIA...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/12/04/thanks-in-advance/

November 30, 2012

Nance Greggs: For Christ’s Sake – Literally

An Open Letter to Put-Upon Christians:

As we embark on the holiday season, I am already hearing the all-too-familiar comments about The War on Christmas – which, as most intelligent people know, has never existed, doesn’t exist now, and never will exist.

It is a term coined by right-wing TV and radio personalities, whose audience share relies on convincing people like yourselves that non-Christians are waging a battle against your faith, your beliefs, and your religious principles. And it is, on its face, so ridiculous a notion, I continue to be amazed at how many of you fall for this nonsense time and again.

But let’s talk about it, shall we?

You say you want to keep Christ in Christmas. And that’s fine. Where you go wrong is your insistence that everyone keep Christ in their Christmas, even those who do not share your faith and don’t celebrate Christmas at all...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/11/29/for-christs-sake-literally/

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