FRIDAY CAT BLOGGING

Sammy



Frankie



Be sure to check out Modulator's Friday Ark for more cat blogging pics!

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STIMULUS BILL: WHAT'S ON THE LINE

From the New York Times, new Krugman:

On the Edge

A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to economic recovery. Over the last two weeks, what should have been a deadly serious debate about how to save an economy in desperate straits turned, instead, into hackneyed political theater, with Republicans spouting all the old clichés about wasteful government spending and the wonders of tax cuts.

It’s as if the dismal economic failure of the last eight years never happened — yet Democrats have, incredibly, been on the defensive. Even if a major stimulus bill does pass the Senate, there’s a real risk that important parts of the original plan, especially aid to state and local governments, will have been emasculated.

Somehow, Washington has lost any sense of what’s at stake — of the reality that we may well be falling into an economic abyss, and that if we do, it will be very hard to get out again.

It’s hard to exaggerate how much economic trouble we’re in.

More here.

Krugman then goes on to summarize exactly how bad things are. Go read the essay right now to understand Washington's utter depravity in the face of grave crisis.

I know I posted on this just yesterday, but I continue to be amazed by the sense of business-as-usual in our nation's capitol. I mean, neoliberalism, as an economic philosophy, now lies in tatters. Tax cuts don't work--if they did, things would be just dandy now because, as far as economic policy goes, that's all we've been getting for years, even before Bush. Deregulation doesn't work: just look at the mortgage and lending crisis for maddening proof, not to mention the ever downward spiral of salmonella and E. coli scares, just to make things more fun. Monetary policy, the shifting of interest rates to warm or cool the economy, no longer has any effect--as Krugman observes in his essay, we're tapped out; interest rates are effectively at zero, and the economy continues to worsen.

Republican ideas just don't work. Okay, after thirty years of Reagan America, they're Democrat ideas, too, but at least some Democrats are willing to try old school Keynesian stuff. Problem is, Democrats have also been conditioned like Pavlovian dogs to sit up and beg whenever Republicans say "tax cuts," so the "debate" about government spending continues, even though current events make such a "debate" an exercise in futility.

That is, Washington is fiddling while Rome burns. I just know they're going to fuck this up good.

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STIMULUS BILL: SO MUCH FOR THE ERA OF "POST-PARTISANSHIP"

From Hullabaloo courtesy of Eschaton:

I think the administration thought they could be mediators between the two parties rather than leaders of the Democratic party. That just won't work, particularly when the Democrats aren't very good at battling the Republicans in close combat and the Republicans can make those who stay above the fray seem lightweight and insubstantial, which is what they've managed to do. They've showed they don't respect Obama and are unimpressed with his mandate --- the administration needs to accept that and strategize with that in mind.

He said today that bipartisanship for bipartisanship's sake is not desirable. He should just drop that whole schtick. He can have the cocktail parties and the get togethers and talk to them all he wants. And if they happen to have a good idea (very doubtful) then fine. But they are going to represent their narrow interests because that's what they believe their constituents want. That's the way the system works. They aren't partners, they're political adversaries and they remain adversaries even when there is an emergency at hand. Accept that and fight it out on the merits.

Click here for more.

Right.

The Republicans in Congress are talking all kinds of bullshit about the stimulus bill. Shit like "give us more tax cuts," even though most economists are in agreement that tax cuts are usually banked rather than spent, and therefore ineffective as far as economic stimulus is concerned. Shit like "well this (or that) isn't really stimulus; it's just pork," even though pretty much all pork is indistinguishable from stimulus spending--the idea is to spend the fucking money, get it out there in the economy; building roads and bridges, aiding clinics and hospitals, revamping schools, all this shit provides paychecks and jobs that do not now exist, paychecks which would buy groceries and computers and TVs and cars and countless other items that would ideally get the economy moving again.

It's almost as though the GOP doesn't understand Keynesian economics.

But no matter. They're effectively using the now discredited rhetoric which has served them well these last thirty years or so to bog down the entire debate, confuse voters, and fuck the country. And President Obama's letting them do it.

This was my biggest fear about Mr. Change. He talked big during the campaign. "Yes we can," he said again and again. But he also said all this uplifting shit about coming together, about being "post-partisan." These two ideas, change and unity, are incompatible. There are vast concentrations of economic and political power that will and are doing everything they can to resist both change and unity. The only way to get past them is to fuck their shit up. The only thing to get this wonderful "change" President Obama's been going on about for a couple of years now is for him to roll up his sleeves and punch these motherfuckers in the nose. Repeatedly. Unity ain't doing nothing but repeating the dreadful Democratic mistakes of the past.

Unless Obama takes the lead in branding these Republican know-nothings as straight-up bad for the country, which they most decidedly are, he'll lose, big, and take the nation down with him. Fuck friendliness; the conservatives don't go that way.

Time to kick some ass.

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Obama: I ‘screwed up’ with failed Daschle bid

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Daschle said in a brief letter to Obama that he refused to “be a distraction” from the new president’s drive for health care reform. Obama said neither he nor Daschle excused the former senator’s tax errors but that he accepted his friend’s decision “with sadness and regret.”

Questions about Daschle’s failure to fully pay his taxes from 2005 through 2007 had been increasing since they came to light on Friday. Daschle overlooked taxes on income for consulting work and personal use of a car and driver, and also deducted more in charitable contributions than he should have. To resolve it, he paid $128,203 in back taxes and $11,964 in interest last month.

Daschle, chosen to lead the administration’s push for sweeping health care reform, also was facing questions about potential conflicts of interests related to speaking fees he accepted from health care interests and about the advice he provided to health insurers and hospitals through his work at a law firm.

More here.

Well, I suppose that, from the bullshit media and DC insider point of view, this is Obama's first big fuck up. It is a fuck up, but only a big deal in a sort of 90s Clinton blowjob way, void of any real significance, all things considered. That is, Obama's people didn't dig deeply enough into Daschle's background, which is forgivable given that the former Senate Majority leader's career had made him such a well known public figure, which usually gives such appointment candidates a aura of having already been vetted.

This doesn't even have much to do with Daschle, either. No, the real problem is that most of our leaders live inside a bubble of privilege and delusion.

How could the former senator from South Dakota think it was okay to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in services from a client without considering it income? Because that's how things work inside the bubble. A handshake here, a trip to golf in Scotland there, a political favor over there, a free car and driver further over there. No big deal. That's how Washington works. Daschle simply brought his warped public sector values with him into the private sector. It's no surprise that he didn't understand what most ordinary Americans see immediately: people have to pay taxes on income, and income comes in more varieties than a simple paycheck.

Keep in mind that this is how most of our leaders think. It only becomes problematic, for them, when a political rival or enemy figures out how to attack you with it--it's not a choice between right and wrong for these guys; it's all about covering your tail.

But whatever. Daschle sucks anyway. He was your typical weak Democrat, always happily bending over to accommodate increasingly huge Republican cocks. And he was a mouthpiece for the greedy and cruel health care industry once voters threw him out of office. This was the wrong guy to reform health care. Fuck him.

This tax snafu is a good thing.

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THE STAR TREK CALENDAR PICTURE OF THE MONTH IS...



...Mr. Spock!

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Banks sought foreign workers as Americans were laid off

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Major U.S. banks sought government permission to bring thousands of foreign workers into the country for high-paying jobs even as the system was melting down last year and Americans were getting laid off, according to an Associated Press review of visa applications.

The dozen banks now receiving the biggest rescue packages, totaling more than $150 billion, requested visas for more than 21,800 foreign workers over the past six years for positions that included senior vice presidents, corporate lawyers, junior investment analysts and human resources specialists. The average annual salary for those jobs was $90,721, nearly twice the median income for all American households.

As the economic collapse worsened last year — with huge numbers of bank employees laid off — the numbers of visas sought by the dozen banks in AP's analysis increased by nearly one-third, from 3,258 in the 2007 budget year to 4,163 in fiscal 2008.

And

Foreigners are attractive hires because companies have found ways to pay them less than American workers.

Companies are required to pay foreign workers a prevailing wage based on the job's description. But they can use the lower end of government wage scales even for highly skilled workers; hire younger foreigners with lower salary demands; and hire foreigners with higher levels of education or advanced degrees for jobs for which similarly educated American workers would be considered overqualified.

More here.

Well of course, this is outrageous.

It's outrageous that big corporations, without genuine need, would game these rules for their own benefit at the expense of American taxpayers and workers. Really, it's outrageous even when there is a genuine need: if the workers they want don't exist in the US, these companies should fucking train them here at home, create them from the ground up if necessary. Why should we as a nation allow private corporate entities to purposely depress domestic wages and living standards without giving something back in return?

But then, that's the point, isn't it? The prevailing wisdom, even today, is that business are beholden only to their stockholders. Not to the citizens whose lives they affect. Not to any sense of "corporate citizenship," despite the fact that Supreme Court precedent long ago legally established corporations as citizens. Importing cheap labor makes good sense from an individual business' narrow point of view, but it's rotten to the core from a national perspective.

And I think it's safe to say at this point that stronger business performance, through use of cheap foreign labor, avoidance of taxes, etc., in no way necessarily translates into better economic circumstances for rank and file citizens. That is, one can no longer dismiss corporate ravaging of the nation as being okay because it improves "the economy," whatever that means these days. I mean, these guys have become fucking wizards at keeping the wealth.

On an up note, I really like the "spread the wealth around" rhetoric I've been hearing from President Obama. But is he really committed to establishing clear standards for "corporate citizenship," and to creating harsh consequences for their violation? One thing is clear. If the nation doesn't change its economic paradigm to one insisting that businesses owe the nation a great deal simply because it creates the circumstances under which business can flourish, we're doomed to continuing the slow transition from democracy to corporate rule.

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Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich thrown out of office

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich was thrown out of office Thursday without a single lawmaker coming to his defense, brought down by a government-for-sale scandal that stretched from Chicago to Capitol Hill and turned the foul-mouthed politician into a national punchline.

Blagojevich, accused of trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat, becomes the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be removed by impeachment.

After a four-day trial, the Illinois Senate voted 59-0 to convict him of abuse of power, automatically ousting the second-term Democrat. In a second, identical vote, lawmakers further barred Blagojevich from ever holding public office in the state again.

"He failed the test of character. He is beneath the dignity of the state of Illinois. He is no longer worthy to be our governor," said Sen. Matt Murphy, a Republican from suburban Chicago.

Blagojevich's troubles are not over. Federal prosecutors are drawing up an indictment against him on corruption charges.

Click here for more.

Yeah, fuck this guy. Good riddance. Throw him in jail, too. Hangin's too good for him. Seriously. Blagojevich is scum. He's made a mockery of everything we as Americans hold dear.

Of course, the story doesn't end with nailing the now former Illinois governor. It didn't start with him, either. Power attracts money, which is definitely a kind of power in and of itself, making money one of democracy's fatal flaws, a flaw our people haven't done nearly enough to safeguard against. It's easy to hate Blagojevich because he was so old school with his corruption. That is, he was so up front, so quid pro quo, so brazen about using political power to enrich himself that his bad guy status is utterly obvious. What's not so obvious is that most of our elected leaders are on the take. Sure, most of them don't hide sacks of money in the freezer, but they hand out favors all the time in return for massive campaign contributions, or lucrative jobs once they've left politics. Many of them, like former House Whip Tom DeLay, ride so close to the legal limit that they cross the line, but all of them are influenced by money in one way or another.

That is, the power of money has made our democracy a total sham. Like I said, this doesn't end with Blagojevich. It's not even the beginning of the end. Our political system is totally corrupt.

This is no time to celebrate.

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FRIDAY CAT BLOGGING
FAREWELL PHIL

Becky had Phil put to sleep Wednesday afternoon. He was eighteen, and his body simply gave out from old age. I met him when he was six, and lived with him for five years when Beck and I were married. I knew him for twelve years in total. He was quite simply one of the best cats I've ever known.

When my first and most beloved cat Giskard died, Phil went out of his way to comfort me, crawling in my lap and purring, running to me when I was crying. He was a good boy. He was a good companion to his fellow cat and lifelong friend Paz. He was mellow, usually in a good mood, and always a good sport with the wild kittens he had to endure in his winter years. He would have made a good dad. Indeed, I feel like he was something of a mentor to my cat Frankie when he was little.

I'll always love him.









Farewell, Phil. The world is a lesser place for your absence.

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Harris County youth boot camp may replace rigorous drills with therapy

From the Houston Chronicle:

Harris County may scrap rigorous physical training and rigid military-style drills at its Delta Boot Camp in favor of a program that uses therapy to attack the emotional and behavioral problems that led the young people into crime, officials said Wednesday.

The county opened a juvenile boot camp in 1994 to offer chronic young offenders one last chance to shape up before they would be shipped off to do hard time at a Texas Youth Commission facility. Officials hoped the facility’s strong emphasis on military structure, drill and discipline would help the 14- to 16-year-old residents change from trouble-making boys into responsible men.

And

Juvenile boot camps sprang up across the country in the early 1990s amid a national push to get tough on crime.

However, studies soon showed the facilities did not improve recidivsm rates for youths and in some cases were detrimental to young people who had experienced violence and abuse at home, said Gaylene Armstrong, an associate professor of criminal justice at Sam Houston State University who has studied juvenile boot camps extensively.

Treating juvenile offenders’ problems with substance abuse, mental illness and anger management, or even just offering them a basic education, was found to be more beneficial than having them run laps and do push-ups, Armstrong said.

“Even though from a public perspective, maybe some people would say, ‘These people did something bad, let’s really punish them,’ in the long term that’s not going to do much for us as a society because they’re going to end up back in the community and their problems aren’t going to be addressed,” she said.

More here.

Fucking Jesus, it's about time! What is it about American psychology that we have to collectively fuck up as badly as possible before we start using our common sense?

Boot camps were incredibly stupid from the get-go. To the best of my knowledge, there was never any hard data at all suggesting that screaming at teens, forcing them to do push ups, humiliating them, dressing them in military uniforms, and on and on, would do anything but mind fuck kids. But the whole short-sighted "tough love" movement of the 90s literally demanded boot camps for troubled youth. Suddenly, people were getting rich on this shit. Self-proclaimed "experts" peddled cruel and unusual punishment on Oprah and Maury. Companies sprang up offering a bogus and counterproductive solution to frustrated parents.

For some reason, nobody with a public voice was willing to see the boot camps for what they are: child abuse.

It now appears that local and state governments are catching up with the sociological studies. Like I said, 'bout time. But what really irks me is that this isn't rocket science. It's completely obvious that troubled kids need massive social intervention, not further abuse. You don't need an advanced degree in social work to see that.

Maybe this is the new zeitgeist, people using their brains. I sure hope so.

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PRESIDENT PRYOR
OR
"THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT"

The YouTube description for the clip I'm about to link:

From the 1977 "The Richard Pryor Show". The forerunner of "In Living Color" and "Chapelle's Show", this classic program only aired four original episodes, due to Mr. Pryor's frustration dealing with network censors. Look for Robin Williams, John Witherspoon, Marsha Warfield, Tim Reid, and Sandra Bernhard in this classic sketch .

So my dad, of all people, sent me the link to this clip. It was one of those mass emails, titled "The First Black President," sent out to like twenty people or so. I'm not sure what his point is, given that he is very conservative and definitely not an Obama supporter, but whatever. This is fucking funny.

You know, it's weird. In 1977, even though I was only in fourth grade, I already knew who Richard Pryor was, and loved him. But I only heard of the short lived show's existence a few years ago, decades after the fact. I guess that makes sense: it was on for less than a month, and opposite Happy Days, which had not yet jumped the shark at that point. I did love Fonzie and Richie. It's a shame, though. If this clip is any indication, the show was brilliant. According to Wikipedia, however, NBC had it in for Pryor from the beginning, and did everything they could to undermine its success. Typical.

Anyway, embedding is disabled, so you'll have to go check it out at YouTube. This is as good as anything you've ever seen on TV. Better, even.

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Holy Cow: Top Dems Are Serious About Investigating Bush's Criminal Acts

From AlterNet:

As President Barack Obama reverses some of ex-President George W. Bush’s most controversial “war on terror” policies, a consensus seems to be building among Democratic congressional leaders that further investigations are needed into Bush’s use of torture and other potential crimes.

And

The emerging consensus among top congressional Democrats for some form of investigation into Bush’s controversial policies has surprised some progressives who had written off the leadership long ago for blocking impeachment hearings and other proposals for holding Bush and his subordinates accountable.

In 2006, for instance, Pelosi famously declared that “impeachment is off the table,” and prior to Election 2008, the Democratic leadership largely acquiesced to Bush’s demands for legislation that supported his “war on terror” policies, including a compromise bill granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies that assisted in Bush’s warrantless wiretaps.

More here.

Yeah, you can add me to that group of surprised "progressives who had written off the leadership long ago." I've also, as numerous posts here at Real Art have publicly displayed for many months now, been totally outraged about it. I mean, c'mon. Torture is totally illegal, totally immoral, and totally counterproductive in the foreign policy realm for more reasons than I'm willing to go into at the moment, but it has been US policy for eight years, making our nation, in effect, a guiding light for evil in the world. Seriously. There is no debate about whether we should use torture: torture is wrong, end of discussion.

On the other hand, this appears to be playing out pretty well in terms of my best case scenario. That is, I've long realized that our new President is a centrist to conservative establishment insider, but that the national situation created by Bush has deteriorated so badly that circumstances may very well force first Congress, and then Obama, much further to the left than any of them would have ever dared imagine. I figured if that was going to happen anywhere, it would be the economy, and that is indeed what's happening. I had almost given up on the torture issue, but here we are. Democrat losers in both the House and Senate are feeling braver, now that the opposition is both weak and absurd. A new leak here. A disgruntled Bush employee there. Another seemingly unrelated investigation over there. Suddenly, it's a brand new ball game.

Is this really all coming together? What's going to happen when it becomes plain as day that torture orders came down from the very top? Will our leaders have the stomach to put a former president behind bars for crimes against humanity? Oh god, I hope so.

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On Plane to Texas, Critiques of the Speech

From the New York Times:

The Bush team had worked assiduously to make the transition smooth for the incoming President Obama and stayed out of the way as he used the postelection period to take leadership of the economy even before being sworn in. And now, as far as some of them were concerned, the new president had used his inaugural lectern to give the back of the hand to a predecessor who had been nothing but gracious to him.

“There were a few sharp elbows that really rankled and I felt were not as magnanimous as the occasion called for,” Karen Hughes, a longtime Bush confidante, said in an interview. “He really missed an opportunity to be as big as the occasion was and, frankly, as gracious as President Bush was as he left office.”

Dan Bartlett, another top adviser, used similar language. “It was a missed opportunity to bring some of the president’s loyal supporters into the fold,” he said. Marc A. Thiessen, the chief White House speechwriter until this week, added: “It was an ungracious inaugural. It was pretty clear he was taking shots.”

More here.

Wait a minute; lemme get this straight.

Bush's people spend almost the entire eight years they're in office rhetorically thrashing even the slightest opposition to their reign of terror, usually naming their targets, almost always equating criticism with, at best, "anti-Americanism," and at worst, treason. That is, they fucking called people traitors just for disagreeing with Bush--they even went after fucking war heroes like former Senator Max Cleland and 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry.

That is, Bush's people are the trashiest of the trashy. Filthy sleaze buckets of rotting semen, blood, feces, and dog urine.

And now they're upset because the new President simply rejects the politics of the Bush administration? Talk about thin-skinned pussies. I'm so glad they're back in Texas. Stupid-ass fuckers.

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QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES
Means "Who Polices the Police?"

From Feministing courtesy of my old pal Matt:

Colorado State University Police Chief:
"women want the dick, even when they say 'no.'

Colorado State University Police Chief Dexter Yarbrough was suspended on a litany of charges, like falsifying police documents - but it was this quote that stuck with me:

Yarbrough told students in a class lecture that "women want the dick, even when they say 'no.' They want the dick."

More here.

Wow. Pretty hardcore. But totally unsurprising when you click through to the original article: this guy Yarbrough comes straight out of The Bad Lieutenant. At least, that's the case if the countless allegations against him, and his non-stop boasting about his misdeeds, turn out to be true. This cop could turn out to be the worst of the worst.

One might wonder how such a man could rise to the rank of university chief of police.

Of course, I, personally, would not be that one wondering. Police departments throughout the land have a collective organizational culture that actually encourages such behavior. Cop hypermasculinity, authoritarianism, us-versus-them attitudes, and intense solidarity in the face of corruption probes make police misbehavior all but inevitable.

As far as I can tell, there are thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of Dexter Yarbroughs out there. And their cop brothers who aren't so evil are willing to go to bat for them just because they're cops. This will never end until we stop looking at these Yarbroughs as "bad apples" and start changing the culture that inspires them.

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The true history of the Bush years

From Making Light courtesy of Modulator:

There will be histories written about the Bush administration. They’ll be privy to information we don’t have yet, because the future is like that. On the other hand, we have our own privileged knowledge: We know how the story looked like to people who didn’t know how it was going to come out.

Now, in this moment before a changing world overwrites our memories of the era, let us pause to salute our constant companion of those years: The Onion. Other histories of the Bush years will doubtless be more factual, but none will ever be truer.

More here.

Okay, so what this links to is a page that has compiled links to every story the Onion has done about Bush from late January of 2000 to mid January of this year. That's nine years worth of stories. To be fair, I've only read a few of them. Indeed, my favorite, published around the time of his first inauguration, has become legendary:

Bush: ‘Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over’.

Of course, this recent one made me laugh pretty loudly for a moment or two:

Spider Eggs Hatch In Bush’s Brain.

Anyway, I'm sure the vast majority of these stories will, at the very least, make you smile for a moment or two, and at most will have you rolling on the floor. The Onion definitely understands the maxim "it's funny because it's true." Go check 'em out.

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FRIDAY CAT BLOGGING

Sammy and Frankie



Be sure to check out Modulator's Friday Ark for more cat blogging pics!

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MMMMM...SALMONELLA PEANUT BUTTER

From Newsday courtesy of Crooks and Liars:

Possible FDA head: More staff needed to inspect food

The Food and Drug Administration is not staffed to handle the growing complexity of food inspection, especially now that a significant amount comes from abroad and is never inspected, a leading candidate to head the embattled agency said yesterday.

Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic - and reported to be on President Barack Obama's short list to become FDA chief - said food inspection is swamped by the FDA's other responsibilities: the approval of medications and medical devices.

The result is an overworked and understaffed agency continually hit by sweeping food scares that sicken scores of people and sometimes result in death.

"The truth be told, the FDA is a failed agency ... the main problem is that it is terribly underfunded," Nissen said. "It needs to do more inspections, especially of foods brought in internationally. We are all very vulnerable. This has to be fixed and fixed quickly."

More here.

President Obama certainly has a full plate in front of him. So to speak.

This latest tainted food scandal is yet another in-your-face reminder that our nation has been ravaged by fifteen years of Republican "government-is-the-problem" dominance: the GOP controlled Congress, which ended only two years ago, has deeply slashed funding for regulatory agencies across the board, while eight years of White House conservatism have changed these agencies' role from consumer protection to the enabling of consumer exploitation. That is, the salmonella peanut butter scare, like other recent salmonella and E. coli scares before it, is a designed crisis. I mean, what possible result can one expect from heavy deregulation of consumer protection agencies but this one?

Thank god there's a new sheriff in town. Like I keep saying, I don't see eye to eye with President Obama on numerous issues, but this isn't one of them. I'm expecting great change in this area soon. I'm fully anticipating extraordinarily loud squeals of indignation from America's capitalist pig class.

It's going to sound good.

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GUEST BLOGGER
BLACKFACE II

(After writing the "BLACKFACE" post a few days ago, I immediately contacted my buddy Reuben for his reaction--Reuben and I had countless discussions on such issues and many others while we were studying acting in grad school. His response was, as usual, both thought-provoking and cool. I miss hanging out with him.

Anyway, I'm posting his email as a guest blog. Check it out.)

Well...

Not having seen the show, I can't say for sure.

But judging by that picture...

it don't look good.

I will, however, say this. If someone wants to put an image as absurd and ridiculous as blackface in a play, he/she better fill the play with as many OTHER applicably absurd images as he/she can to create a context in which the blackface loses it's ability to offend.

Or...

If someone wants to cast a white person in a role that was written to be played by a black person, then he/she should just cast that person and be done with it. No blackface is needed. All that actor needs to do is study the language and the circumstances and COMMIT to them. No tricks, no gimmicks. If I'm cast in a role that was written to be played by a white person, I don't think, "Oh shit, let me grab the pasty-white make-up!" or "How can I blacken this person up a bit?" I just learn the language, the circumstances, the culture, etc. and work.

Let me tell you a story. I was in a play a couple of months ago and there were two white actors that were cast in roles that were originally written to be played by people of color, one black and one Latino. The actor that was cast in the "black" role seemed to struggle for much of the rehearsal. The idea of the character was of a middle aged black man who, judging by his speech, had obviously been really affected by the seventies. Eventually he tried to find his way into it by imposing this weird Texas tycoon thing onto it, like he was in the show Dallas or something. He sounded and felt so strange. Sometimes it worked, I guess, but most of the time it sounded like a country-ass Texan making fun of the way black people talk. The actor playing the "Latin" role was even more clueless. It was as if she was completely oblivious to the reality of her character. The person she was playing used very specific and descriptive street slang that, with a little research, could have given an actor a really good idea of who this person is and the things that have influenced her life. But this actor chose not to do that, and ended up sounding like a mockery of Latin speech and culture and not a representation of it.

If these actors would have just approached these roles in they way they would approach Blanche DuBois or George from Virginia Woolf there would be no cause for concern. It's not like they were asked to play animals or aliens. They were asked to play human beings that are part of human culture. All they need to do is study the humanity, which is what I thought theatre was supposed to be.

One of these days, I'm gonna direct an all white version on Raisin in the Sun just to fuck with people. That way, no one in the cast will be able to hide behind the "trying to find my way into it" excuse. I'll call you when I need a Walter Lee.

(I told Reuben that I would fucking love to be in his all white Raisin in the Sun. How could I not fucking love to do that?)

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INSTANT CLASSIC: OBAMA'S INAUGURATION ADDRESS

As Real Art readers know, I have numerous political differences with President Obama, but one thing about him I cannot possibly criticize is his ability to give a damned fine speech. Today was no exception. Indeed, several key points he made, as well as major themes and overall tone, made this liberal's bleeding heart melt. Screw Reagan, dottering "Great Communicator" that he was; Obama is one of the great orators of our era.

And, unlike the Gipper, he's not simply acting like a president: he is the President.

Check it out.

part one:



part two:



Here's the transcript, courtesy of the New York Times:

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you.

CROWD: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!

PRESIDENT OBAMA: My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.

I thank President Bush for his service to our nation...

(APPLAUSE)

... as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.

The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.

Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this America: They will be met.

(APPLAUSE)

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

(APPLAUSE)

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less.

It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.

Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West, endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died in places Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed.

Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

(APPLAUSE)

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.

The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth.

We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.

We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality...

(APPLAUSE)

... and lower its costs.

We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.

All this we can do. All this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply.

MR. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.

Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.

And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched.

But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

(APPLAUSE)

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.

Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations.

Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.

And so, to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.

(APPLAUSE)

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.

They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy, guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort, even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We'll begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard- earned peace in Afghanistan.

With old friends and former foes, we'll work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat and roll back the specter of a warming planet.

We will not apologize for our way of life nor will we waver in its defense.

And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that, "Our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

(APPLAUSE)

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.

We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.

And because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

To those...

(APPLAUSE)

To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

(APPLAUSE)

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.

And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.

We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service: a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.

And yet, at this moment, a moment that will define a generation, it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.

It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.

It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old.

These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.

What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence: the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall. And why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

(APPLAUSE)

So let us mark this day in remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled.

In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by nine campfires on the shores of an icy river.

The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood.

At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you.

(APPLAUSE)

And God bless the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

Long post, I know, but this thing's going to be studied for decades to come, like JFK's inaugural speech, or the Gettysburg Address, or MLK's speech at the march on Washington. This is instantly great American literature.

Besides, this is well worth revisiting, again and again, just for the repudiation of thirty years of dominant right-wing rhetoric. I'm happy today.

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World Court: U.S. defied order in Texas death row case

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

The judgment ended a five-year cascade of proceedings in the wake of a 2004 decision by the same court that the U.S. had violated an international treaty by failing to advise 51 Mexicans of their consular rights. The court required that each case be reviewed to determine whether the lack of diplomatic access could have affected the outcome of their cases.

The U.S. had argued to the tribunal, also known as the World Court, that the federal government had done all it could, but that it had no authority to tell the state courts what to do.

Mexico argued, however, that U.S. obligations to abide by international law also applied to its state governments.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that President George W. Bush had exceeded his authority when he issued a directive in 2005 to the states to comply with the demand by the U.N. court for a judicial review of all cases.

Following that ruling, Mexico hurriedly petitioned the World Court to stop the impending executions of five of its citizens. The court issued an emergency injunction last July, but three weeks later Texas prison authorities gave a lethal injection to Jose Medellin, convicted of the rape and murder of two teenage girls in Houston.

The 12 U.N. judges unanimously ruled the U.S. “has breached the obligation incumbent upon it” in the Medellin case.

Bellinger said that ruling was “not a rebuke or a reprimand. It was simply a finding.”

Human Rights Watch urged the incoming administration of Barack Obama to heed the court’s ruling and “to show the world that it will respect the rule of law, even when it’s politically unpopular at home.”

The World Court is the U.N. body that adjudicates disputes among states. Its judgments are binding and cannot be appealed, but it has no enforcement powers.

More here.

So I've already put in my two cents on this a while back, but I'm still left with a very perplexing question: if American hostility toward the World Court and the UN in general is so strong, why the hell does the US continue to be a signatory to the treaties establishing these bodies? I mean, like I said last July, ratified treaties, according to the Constitution, are "the law of the land." Like it or not, the World Court does indeed have jurisdiction in America, despite US Supreme Court rulings to the contrary--okay, I understand that Supreme Court decisions are also "the law of the land," but this one striking down the World Court Medellin decision is a really bad call, destined to be reversed one day when Roberts, Alito, Thomas et al. are being eaten by worms.

But that's beside the point. It is rabidly clear that the US establishment so disrespects the UN and the World Court that it is willing to violate the Constitution in order to undermine their foreign influence. Why not just get the hell out? It is maddening to sit on the sidelines year after year watching our leaders laud the UN when it does what they want while damning the organization when it doesn't. What's the point? If we really hate the UN then fuck 'em. Get out. If not, then shut the fuck up.

We really do deal with the world as though we were a drunken tyrannical asshole father.

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Salon Radio: Jay Rosen on the media's control of political debates

Salon's liberal blogger Glenn Greenwald:

Rosen begins by citing a chart from the 1986 book, The Uncensored War, by Daniel Hallin, which defined the three categories of arguments that the media employed during the Vietnam War: (1) those within the "Sphere of Consensus" (ideas deemed so plainly true that they required no debate or examination); (2) those within the "Sphere of Legitimate Controversy" (ideas deemed reasonable enough to be debated and disputed within mainstream discussion); and (3) those within the "Sphere of Deviance" (ideas so plainly wrong, radical and fringe that they deserved no hearing at all):

According to Rosen, the diagram depicting these three spheres is "easily the most useful diagram [] found for understanding the practice of journalism in the United States, and the hidden politics of that practice." Rosen argues -- quite persuasively -- that American journalists, usually unthinkingly (i.e., without even realizing that they do it), control and restrict political discussions by using these categories for virtually every political issue of any significance. No theory regarding how the media controls political debate is complete without reference to Manufacturing Consent, but Rosen's explanation is quite compatible with it and, standing alone, has great value.

Click here to listen to the interview--be sure to scroll down a bit to find the listening device.

Right. Manufacturing Consent is indeed the Bible as far as understanding how the mainstream news media have pro-corporate and pro-government bias deeply embedded within its organizational structure, and I've hit on MC's ideas myself on more than one occasion here at Real Art, but it's always good to hear from some other people on the subject. It's a good interview. Go check it out.

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