Violence Works

The most missed object lesson about the Shirley Sherrod business is that in this country, at this time, violence works.

Or more specifically, reactionary violence.

We have seen how the Oklahoma bombing and the suicide attack on a Texas IRS building have, in the end, been adopted as "regrettable but needed," by the reactionaries in Congress. They have been effective rallying points.

The use of borderline armed propaganda last summer during town halls, coupled with implicit and explicit threats of violence, enabled the formation of the reactionary block known as the Tea Party.

The use of, what my father used to call, verbal violence has been established, defined, and implemented as policy of elected political the right (see Newt Gingrich's 1996 GOPAC Memo ), and by the main reactionary media (Fox, Limbaugh, etc).

And it works.  There is no countervailing force from the other side.  There are no armed progressives protesting outside of reactionary political events -- "we reject violence" is the riff you are more likely to here, no militias of our own,  there is no coordinated use of language to counter attack -- hammering home the point, and the reaction to verbal or threatened violence is to 1) wring hands, and 2) duck and cover.

In general, the violence has worked to cow any official progressive leadership.  And behavior that is rewarded is reinforce, that which is not is extinguished.

This time, with Shirley Sherrod, the truth got lucky.

As luck is the residue of design, the rest of us may not be so lucky in the future.  And that being the case, a logic of deterrence and the needs of the republic may require -- at the very least politically -- that both sides are armed.

They're at it again

`I'll whisper it,' said the Messenger, putting his hands to his mouth in the shape of a trumpet, and stooping so as to get close to the King's ear. Alice was sorry for this, as she wanted to hear the news too. However, instead of whispering, he simply shouted at the top of his voice `They're at it again!' 
Chapter VII, Alice through the looking glass.

It is cheap, but it does look list a Lewis Carol world out there.

Below are just a few of the articles on the latest attempts by BP to inhibit news coverage.

• The BP/Government police state
• Louisiana official blasts restrictions on media
• BP Media Clampdown: Journalists Now Face Possibility of Fines, Prison Time

What boggles my poor little mind is: "Why does the Obama Administration let this happen?"

It looks as if Obama has completely gone to sleep about the political implications of this.  (I have a moral certainty that they have decided to ignore the ecological and economic issues.)

This would prove an opportunity for Obama to put on his Superman cape, to appear forceful and truthful and overruling these new restrictions, admonishing the various parties, and perhaps sicing the FBI on them.

This sort of thing almost make you wonder if the conspiracy loons are right, and the multinationals do actually run the world through a dark cabal, dictating the elected leaders. 

I don't really believe that, as those who run multinationals are probably too dim to actually do this.  And given the choices in  politics -- corporate Democrats and flat earth Republicans -- they don't need to.

My low opinion of Obama continues to descend, as he attempts to get along with everyone (in this case BP), seems set on reinforcing the "Democrats can't govern" impression, and laying us open to reactionaries running the government again.

The Apple

For those of us of a certain age and bent, Apple can conjure up  the image of blond wigged people walking through the mouth of a giant lizard statue.¹

Ah to have our life controlled by an all wise technology, living in primitive bliss, our simple needs always taken care of...

Of course there are other meanings of Apple today. 

Frankly, I hope that article in the Why Apple Should Fear Android in the Daily Beast, has some truth in it. 

I will admit I have never been a fan of Apple -- I don't like cuteness and smugness, nor do I have a lot of use for its industrial design. -- and don't have much use for a smart phone.  (Smart phone reminds me of the comment about Artificial Intelligence -- e.g. that it is for those who can't handle the real stuff.)

In particular, I have been disappointed in their not really challenging Microsoft in the PC world.

Now, I see this deference as professional courtesy².  They want to do to the mobile world what Microsoft did to the PC, and more.

Here's hoping for open source solutions....

¹The Apple (Star Trek: The Original Series) ² You know, the old joke about asking a lawyer how they manage to swim through a pack of ravening sharks?  He replies "Professional courtesy."

Special Committee for the Proper Deployment of Yiddishism

I don't think there is much I could add to this item in the Forward.
The Tukhis Police

Getty Images

A major issue missing from the McChrystal affair

More amazement seems to have been generated about how access was given and used (by a free-lance Rolling Stone reporter, no less) to expose the insubordinate behavior of McChrystal and his team, than surprise at what was said.

What this behavior says about the chain of command in the United States* or the intelligence of officiers seems to have been missed by major new figureheads (Matthews, Cooper, etc).

One specific item seems to have surprised them: that  a reporter might actually forgo potential future access to print a meaning full story now.

What a concept, doing the job comes first, careerism later.

As Donald Rumsfeld would say "Gosh." 

Here are two worthwhile links about the issue

• The Politico Opens the Kimono. And then Pretends it Never Happened.
  From Jay Rosen's  blog Press Think Blog
   
• John Steward/The Daily Show's McChrystal's Balls - Honorable Discharge.

*For those who think this is a "thin skinned" reaction, consider what would happen to an NCO
  talking like this about the new 2nd Lieutenant.

Post-Holocaust (Shoah) book...

I am not particularly interest in most real-life Holocaust (Shoah) stories, films, memoirs, and derived fiction.

Perhaps it is the production line quality of the works (there does seem to be an industry), that puts me off, and while many people find the personalization of events important -- I do not.  I suppose can be moved by statistics, and agree with Mary Renault in the Praise Singer, though in another context " I can picture the death ... without seeing it enacted before my eyes."

There are some works do move me -- the theme of corruption and justice in Judgment at Nuremberg, the relentlessnes of Claude Lanzmann's Shoah , the unromantic (and slightly weird) King of the Jews by Leslie Epstein.

But as a general rule, I do not rush to read or see these items.

However, I thought I would pass on a review by Jesse Kornbluth in the Huffingtonpost of a "post-Shoah" memoir called Broken Birds, The Story of My Momila.  One which I actually plan to read.

How much of what is described in this family is part of the real legacy of the Shoah, and how much is due to the immigrant experience is hard to say from the review. Some of the behavior described might fit some of my own family's 1st and 2nd generations.

However, that goes, I think the review  The Holocaust Ended? In Jeannette Katzir's 'Broken Birds', Her Mother Brings It With Her To Los Angeles  is worthwhile reading. 

Schwer zu Sein a Yid

Traditionally, one falls back on Tallyrand at times like this.

•  Israeli Actions Are Stupid, But Legal.
• Washington Post: Israeli troops raid aid flotilla headed for Gaza, killing nine
• Jerusalem Post: Analysis: The flotilla fiasco 
• Bradley Burston: The Second Gaza War: Israel Lost at Sea
• Haaretz: Mossad chief: Israel gradually becoming burden on U.S.
• And more...

Personally, I am depressed.