I never found much point in shouting “Bush’s War”. Maybe i take the whole Constitutional Republic thing too seriously, but i will argue until the end of time that both Afghanistan and Iraq are our wars. We elected the jackass. We reelected the jackass. And the Democratic Party never lifted a finger to stop any of his jackassery. I’ve argued publicly and in private that each and every American of voting age by Oct. 2001 should be indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. And i mean it.

Still, i could also make a reasonable argument that what was done in my name was done against my will. I didn’t vote for Bush. I didn’t vote for the vast majority of the asshats in Congress either. Now i have to accept a much more personal responsibility for every drone strike and torture coverup.
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The Scrogues – a fair percentage of them anyway – had a lively conversation recently. Though not a consensus, the “we’re fucked and it really doesn’t matter” contingent beat the (nonexistent) “the Dems will fix it if we just elect enough of them” contingent like the tortoise trounced Achilles. I know, sad. Where’d all the hope go?

I haven’t given up on voting, but it’s not because i believe in the Democrats…and i’ve never believed in the Republicans.

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The season of road trips or just rolling the windows down and burning prehistoric plant matter of the fun of it is upon us. Very few of people own vehicles with engine notes so beautiful that it’s not worth sullying the growl (or whine for those with forced induction) of the engine with music. For the rest of us, music goes with driving like jelly goes with peanut butter.

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So i was just walking down the street the other day and this guy in a trenchcoat sidled up to me and offered me some milk. Now i’ll partake in a little cabbage now and again…recreationally, of course and i disagree that it’s gateway produce because i never touch milk. On special occasions i’ll even fool around with beets, but i’m not “in the scene” or anything. Good thing too, because The Man is starting to crack down.

Now i don’t know about you, but i’m pretty sure that we have better things to spend tax dollars on than busting raw milk rings.
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We Funkateers are in mourning. Starchild (Gary Shider) has returned to the Mothership. Just 56 and unable to pay for cancer treatments, so this could be used as an opportunity to decry America’s shitty health care system. Never mind that. Glenn’s gone, Eddie’s gone, and now Gary’s gone too. The founding fathers of One Nation Under a Groove have – all too early – met the sweet chariot swinging down to take their ride. Sad, but funk is both a joyfull process and its own reward. RIP, Starchild. And for the rest of us here’s a clip of the man doing his thing.

Hit the jump for a few selections off Glenn sending Gary off…
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What, you don’t celebrate the holiday? Then you obviously have not interned at the Natuurhistorisch Museum in Rotterdam in the last 15 years. Now i know enough that when a Korean who brings a cake to a Christmas party and logically enough asks, “What do you sing when you light the candles on the Christmas cake?” (all Korean cakes come with candles) You say, “We sing Happy Birthday to Jesus!” But i’m not exactly sure how to celebrate Dead Duck Day.

Hit the jump to find out what it’s all about…
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Chances are that you’ve already seen what should have been the final out of last night’s matchup between the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Indians. It was a perfect game, though it could be argued that Miguel Cabrrera should have stayed home and let Carlos Guillen make the play. In that scenario, the umpire only has to watch for one thing: the catch. Joyce had to call both the catch and Galaragga’s foot. Joyce missed the call. Those are the vagaries of baseball.

But did you see Austin Jackson’s catch earlier in the inning? I think i’m most disappointed that the highlight reels aren’t focusing on that. On the run, a step into the warning track, in the deepest corner of one of the biggest parks in baseball: one of the best catches you’ll ever see on what would have been a home run in any other park. And it preserved Galaragga’s perfect game.

As a life long Tigers fan, i’m sorely disappointed. I’m also incredibly proud.
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Alexander Zaitchik’s Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance is on the shelves. Beck seems to dislike the book as much as i liked it, calling it “despicable, yellow journalism.” Alexander was kind enough to answer a few questions about the book and Beck. And it turns out that at times it really was like going up the river after Kurtz.

The full story of Glenn Beck is a pretty twisted tale. Did you know what you were getting into from the beginning?

Not really. I knew almost nothing about Beck when I signed on. I had seen a clip of his famous “We Surround Them” monologue on Fox News, the one where he cried while mumbling about how much he loved his country, but that was about it. I was living abroad during most of the years Beck was climbing the talk radio ranks and broke into television in ’06. When he started on Fox, the day before Obama’s election, I had just returned to the States from a long stint in Mexico and was thinking about other things. He was not on my radar at all. It was only in March and April of 2009, when I did some reporting on the Tea Party scene, that I first came into contact with Beck. The fact that I didn’t know what I’d find is one of the things that made the project initially appealing.

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In November of 2000, Americans sat on the edge of their seats waiting to find out who would be the next president. Protests were held, counter protests were organized to meet the challenge and everyone had an opinion. The 2000 election remains capable of igniting passionate debate. Some look it as the time that the Supreme Court stole an election for George W. Bush. Some mark it up to Al Gore having the campaign skills and spinal fortitude of a slime mold. There are those who rue Florida’s hanging chads and aging Jewish voters for Buchanan. And not a few still point to those tense days as proof that Ralph Nader is a festering sore on the ass of the Republic.

Any or all of them could be right. But when you read Alexander Zaitchik’s new book, Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance, you’ll turn the last page with the understanding that election 2000 brought something far more sinister than Bush/Cheney down upon America. Worse, you’ll know that it ain’t over yet.
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This week saw a fine example of political gamesmanship from the Obama administration. He let down his base yet again by opening up certain portions of the U.S. coast to offshore petroleum drilling in an attempt to undercut his (supposed) foes across the aisle, and upped CAFE standards. The former has gotten a lot more press than the latter. Neither are quite what they seem.

All the opponents he hoped to undercut with the announcement are still unsatisfied, because he left some areas untouchable. That’s not going to make his environmentalist supporters feel any better, but no matter as the administration seems to believe that there is an infinite amount of room under the bus.

So to make them feel a little better, he tossed them a bone by raising CAFE standards. This man knows hollow, political gestures like he was born to make them. CAFE sucks. It’s a system designed to be gamed, and this grand announcement doesn’t change that.
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…A love story. Which is what the film is, an unsolicited review of Capitalism. If you’re expecting standard, Michael Moore agit-prop you’ll be mildly disappointed. If you’re expecting a full deconstruction of Capitalism, you’ll be disappointed. If you’re expecting a call to Socialism and all power to the proletariat, you’ll just be mildly confused. It’s a pretty good flick, partly because Moore doesn’t pull many silly stunts and spends less time than usual getting in your face. In fact, he’s downright nostalgic through the better part of the first half. It’s UAW, middle class autobiographical complete with old home movies. Now maybe it’s just that i was raised amidst the UAW middle class at the tail end of its existence, but this focus did a good job of setting me up. I know the way the story ends. His shots of abandoned neighborhood’s are depictions of my own mental imagery rather than cinematic. I’ve already got the sadness, confusion and anger that he’s hoping to build.

I’m curious if the set up works for others from a different background.

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In light of Dr. Slammy’s post earlier, and previous posts on the “giver” and “taker” status of individual states within the Union, George Kenney has a post up at Electric Politics that’s worth adding to the discussion.

Since we no longer add new districts/Members to the House (we should, but that’s another story), with each census in the modern era we reshuffle the existing 435 districts among states. If you think about it, then, those states with the greatest population of illegal immigrants gain a disproportionate advantage in representation in Congress. States with large numbers of illegal immigrants have more representatives per American citizen than states with few or no illegal immigrants.

Discuss.

(And read the rest at EP. I’d also highly recommend adding Kenney’s podcasts to your to-do list.)

A funny thing happened to me the other day. I walked into a conversation at work about the health care reform bill, and without any provocation from me i got to hear an interesting view on the matter from a thoughtful, intelligent man who’s every bit a capitalist. He attends church regularly and describes himself as a right-leaning libertarian. He’s from a staunchly Republican family. He likes Rush Limbaugh. In other words, he’s a far cry from a bleeding heart, dirty-fucking-hippie liberal as you’re likely to find. You know what this man said? He said that he’s in favor of universal coverage, but that the bill being voted on looks like hell and that he can’t see how it will fix any of our health care problems.

Now tell me that this bill is the best we can hope for, and do it without blaming what we’re getting on evil conservatives. This bill is not the best we can get, but it is exactly what Obama and the DLC types wanted…because they’re not on your side.
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I live in a pleasant little place. Forgotten or unknown, perhaps…after all, the rest of you have a nasty habit of leaving us off the map…but as pleasant as you’ll ever find. In many ways, i’m ok with being left off the map if it means things like Walgreen’s not finding us until last year. So i never imagined that my little corner of the world would be a topic of national, political conversation. But there it is and here we are. All because my Democratic Representative has made a name for himself after just 18 years in Congress. So now many of you have decided that it’s in our best interest that you involve yourself in our local politics. What, did you follow Walgreen’s?

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There are some walls that you wish could talk, and others that make you want to gouge your own eyes out with a rusty spoon you found in a puddle of some unknown, viscous substance underneath a dumpster. But at least we know why Rush Limbaugh feels the need to get his nod on. Only opiates could make the condo he’s listing for $13,950,000 tolerable. Way to go conservative America, your listening has produced a drug addled misanthrope with a Louis XVI fetish.

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GOP Sen. Kyl: Unemployment Benefits Make People Not Want To Get A Job

You can always count on the HuffPo for a sensational headline, whether the actual story backs it up or not. But in this case they have quotes: “In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work,” said Sen. Kyl after stumbling across the obvious by noting that unemployment insurance doesn’t create new jobs. Genius. No wonder this guy makes at least $174,000/year with pension and benefits. It’s not as if Sen. Kyl’s honorable [sic] colleagues on the other side of the aisle are actually interested in earning their $174,000/year working for the benefit of the public either. And the worst part is that all across America people are reading that headline and shaking their head in the affirmative. The lazy and degenerate moochers sucking the hard workers dry.

Look out, bitches, you don’t know what the bottom looks like because you believe that if you don’t open you’re eyes it isn’t there. But you’ll find out…
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After the poetic rhetoric in Prague, it was tempting to think that Obama might be headed in the right direction on at least one issue. I’d be willing to forgive just about all of his sins were he to get significant movement in reducing America’s nuclear arsenal. START has been technically defunct since December and negotiations between the US and Russia are ongoing. But the same stupidity that derailed the last great attempt at nuclear disarmament has returned. Gibbs says that Medvedev didn’t mention a problem last time he and Obama talked. An anonymous source involved in the process adds that, “Gibbs also had a friend of Obama’s who’s in the same gym class as Medvedev’s best friend ask about it, and apparently the note that Obama’s friend got later in math class didn’t say anything about it either.” So maybe it’s, like, ok.

But that’s not what Chief of Staff Generals and Deputy Prime Ministers in Russa are saying.

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With two questions already asked, we might as well get to some answers. And both questions are good ones. But before we do, we’ll start with the unavoidable fact that gardening is always experimental. The variables from year-to-year and even yard-to-yard are great enough that there’s no such thing as a guarantee. That might turn some people off, but it’s the greatest attraction for me. What could be better than a field wherein a lifetime of learning only scratches the surface and there’s always more to know and try?

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Those of you living in the South may already be at full speed in putting your garden out, but with D.C. predicting 20 inches of snow (which apparently requires apocalypse level preparation) and the still non-robotic groundhog predicting six more weeks of winter, most of us are in the seed catalog browsing stage of gardening. Soon enough – we hope – the ground will be workable; the sun will start turning necks red; and photosynthetic life will spring forth to please and nourish gardeners.

We here at Scholars and Rogues would like to know what plans you have, and we are offering a new service. Send us gardening questions and we’ll answer them.

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Oh god, if this is what The Economist is going to pass off as informed debate then letting my subscription lapse was an incredibly wise financial and emotional decision. I have to wonder if people like Boaz and Kamarck get their jobs because of or in spite of inane, ideological drivel? Obama is a failure – and he’s a huge failure – because he’s working within the frame established by asshats like these two.
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