Midcan5's Blog

I have been converted, years of common sense conservative and republican thought have won me over. I am saved. But I will need help as I transition a mind lost so long in liberalism. So please correct any lingering liberal ideas as I reform myself. I now believe: Freedom is all you need and government should leave us alone. The Federal deficit started in 2009. Unions and teachers are the fault of our educational woes. Fannie and Freddie all by themselves caused the financial meltdown. The unemployed are not looking for jobs and are lazy to boot. Taxes are bad bad bad. Corporations are the best and really honest people. Global warming is a fraud made up by tree huggers. Our founding principles were perfect, Ms Bachmann showed me the way. Slavery was really kinda nice. Social Security, Medicare, and Healthcare are socialism. Minimum wage is too high and outsourcing is a just great. Joe McCarthy was just one super guy. And Sarah, Glenn, and Michelle Bachmann are super patriots who reall...

In the end it is meaningful jobs that matter, having lived a long time I am always amazed at the unreality of reality. We make it up as we go along, we possess filters and compartments in our heads, and we neatly place reality in one so reality becomes comfortable. And then when I watch the news or TV or most anything, I am always mindful of the myths and memes that drive our thoughts. I read the NYT piece noted in the OP below and thought, huh, and what and where and who and how - but thankfully someone took some time and addressed my bemusement. "Against this background, the ballyhooed “restoration” of culture to poverty discourse can only be one thing: an evasion of the persistent racial and economic inequalities that are a blot on American democracy." 'Culture still doesn’t explain poverty' by Stephen Steinberg "Notwithstanding the election of Barack Obama, the last 40 years have been a period of racial backlash. The three pillars of anti-racist public...

If one thing is clear from the Arizona shooting, it is the inability of those on the right side of the political spectrum in America to face the reality that their words have power. The barrage of excuses and finger pointing is the consistent reaction of a political ideology that dominates much of the air waves today. One would need to believe that Jared Loughner's anger materialized out of thin air and his selection of victim had nothing to do with the political climate in America. This is just another example of an inability of most on the right to face the real world with eyes open. Today there is a bustling business in revising history, and there is conservative money to recreate the past in any number of ways. Examine only the conservative and corporate sponsored think tanks, bloggers, or the so called grass root movements that get lots of press but are corporate sponsored. To be clear, it is money that comes from ideologues who have done well under American capitalism, but ...

For all the apologists, can you tell us why this nut didn't shoot a florist? "The main hypothesis concerning group-think is this: the more amiability and espirt de corps among the members of an in-group of policymakers the greater the danger that independent critical thinking will be replaced by groupthink, which is likely to result in irrational and the dehumanizing actions directed at out-groups." Irving L. Janis 'Sanctions for Evil' Can anyone name a democrat who claims second amendment political solutions? Or putting politicians in the crosshairs of a gun? Extreme rhetoric sets the climate for the nuts: Clinton elected January 20, 1993 / Oklahoma City April 19, 1995 and Obama elected January 20, 2009 / Arizona shooting January 8, 2011. Is this a pattern, how about the holocaust shooter or the plane into the government building. This is an American killing Americans, it is internal terrorism and it does not materialize out of thin air. "The rhetoric ...

'TNR asks prominent intellectuals where they stand on the president.' by TNR Staff This is an interesting bit of information as it sums up the liberal frustration with the Obama administration. While conservatives and republicans claim the administration has gone too far left - this is simply rhetoric - the thinkers out there examine the reality of realpolitik. Two comments - see all at link below. "I recognize that, in domestic matters, the opportunity has been lost for reforms on a grander scale than Obama has already achieved. (Still, I applaud the achievements. Hillary Clinton’s health care proposal may have been grander yet, but the existing one is good enough. Not for nothing do I endorse Barack Obama for president.) But now that people no longer mutter in their soup about George W. Bush, hasn’t the time arrived to speak up audibly about human rights? And about mad ideologies and their influence in several parts of the world? An Obama administration might even ...

by Simon Johnson "Some people expected Paul Ryan, a rising star within the Republican Party who will become Chairman of the House budget committee in the next Congress, to provide a fiscally responsible anchor to the next round of the deficit debate in the US. Writing in The Financial Times in early November, Ryan suggested, “America is eager for an adult conversation on the threat of debt.” But all indications are that he is just as childishly reckless on fiscal policy as most of his Republican colleagues since Ronald Reagan. Unfortunately, there is no sign yet that the Democratic leadership is ready for a mature conversation about fiscal consolidation, either. Both parties’ leaders will get there – but only when dragged, kicking and screaming, by the financial markets." Read article here. "In 1977, the top 10% of the American population had an income 30 times that of the bottom tenth; the top 1% of the nation owned 33% of the wealth. The richest 5% owned 83% o...