Trumping the abortion debate

The Donald's fact free and policy deficient campaign have finally if inadvertently clarified an issue which has divided many Americans.   Abortion has been a contentious issue as long as there has been a patriarchal society.  In primitive agrarian society, every extra pair of hands helped keep food on the table.  Eliminating those hands via abortion was seen as a crime against the family.  However, in many cultures exposure of unwanted female or deformed male babies was perfectly permissible.  The key has always been the control of women's bodies by men.  In modern industrial societies especially in America, abortion is seen by many as an attempt by women to escape the penalties which should follow from unapproved sex.  As some have put it, if men had wombs, abortion would be a holy sacrament!  So, Trump's claim if abortion was made illegal that women should be punished carries the entire debate to its logical conclusion.  If abortion is murder, then the woman is either the murderer or an accessory to the crime.  There is no way around that argument.  When most people are confronted with this tautology,  I believe the overwhelming majority would argue abortion is not something they would criminalize.  Instead, they would use the power of the government to support womens' decisions.  The "pro life" movement knows this whole debate is a loser and Trump has exposed the soft underbelly of their argument.  This may cost him some support, no matter how he tap dances his retreat, but it shows the logical fallacy of the anti-abortion movement.

Winter continues

Looking at the long range forecast this morning is a masochistic exercise for inhabitants of the NCR.  Snow is in the forecast for the weekend with lows in the teens on Sunday.  Looking further out, the cold weather will remain with us at least through next weekend.  Any hopes I had for an early spring in the garden are definitely dashed.  Even golf  is a test of machismo as hands freeze to clubs and hot coffee is the preferred on course beverage.  We are not alone in our suffering.  Up to 2 feet of snow is falling in the Rockies and parts of the Midwest.  It would seem Mother Nature is trying to make up for what was a fairly mild winter.  I'm starting tomatoes in the basement this evening.  Hope springs eternal, even if the season does not.

Trump and the new consensus

It seems the left, the right and the media have finally reached agreement on an explanation for the rise of The Donald.  A blissfully fact free and outrageous candidate who insults the elites on both side of the aisle seems to fire up about 40% of the republican electorate.  These are the same voters who delivered the presidency to Ronald Reagan and the Bushes.  By promising economic gains using "supply side" economic policies and leavening the message with a dash of racism, Reagan followed in the footsteps Nixon blazed.  Now however, the economic thing has not panned out and the natives are getting restless.  Enter Trump, who dares to speak a kind of truth to republican foot soldiers.  Don't believe the elites he says and this time the rubes are buying into the message.  Crude nationalism and naked racism are a potent brew and The Donald is serving it with gusto.  He may not get the nomination, but the monster he has awakened will not be easily put to sleep again.

Deja vu

I don't normally make consecutive posts about the same subject, but after reading Kevin Drum's blog in Mother Jones, I feel somewhat vindicated regarding my analysis of Bernie's candidacy.  Drum responded to Matt Taibbi's blog in Rolling Stone.  Taibbi disagreed with the magazine's endorsement of Hillary and proceeded to lay out the case against her.  As Drum points out, aside from her hawkish foreign policy stance and her vote for the Iraq war, Taibbi has advanced a pretty lukewarm argument against Hillary.  Yes, she doesn't always show great judgement when it comes to optics.  No, she shouldn't have accepted over half a million dollars to make a couple of speeches to Goldman Sachs.  Yes, she should have been more aware of the potential flak from the e-mail controversy.   However, she wasn't Bill Clinton's co-president and the domestic policy initiatives he signed mostly don't have her fingerprints on them.  Meanwhile, as Drum notes, she has a reputation for helping society's forgotten and for her word being good.  Maybe those of us who have seen presidents from LBJ to Obama come and got realize it takes more than rhetoric to move consensus.  If you are a Bernie voter and believe Obama was a sell out, wait until the senator from Vermont faces a republican congress determined to undermine every initiative he brings.  Hillary may not be able to accomplish much with that level of opposition, but she is not raising unreasonable expectations.

Bernie and the Democrats

Bernie won big in several caucus states over the weekend.  Of course that spurred speculation by the usual suspects that he will overtake Hillary's lead any minute and how can Democrats not rally around the insurgent.  On closer inspection, Sanders still has a daunting task to rally his Bros' in the large state primaries coming up.  He needs to win by 60% or more in these states to really cut into Hillary's delegate lead and the polls don't back him up in that effort.  The republicans will troll the story to sow discord among democrats, but as has been pointed out, Bernie's support is largely young, white, and reasonably affluent.  They are a coveted demographic, but not a winner in a general election, unless the rest of the Dem coalition turns out in force.  Much as I would like to feel the Bern, I don't think it is likely to happen.

Cruz and the Republican dilemma

As Paul Krugman opines in today's NYT, the GOP is mostly lining up behind Ted Cruz as the most likely candidate to snatch the party's presidential nomination from The Donald.   It's not because there is much difference between them; as Lindsay Graham infamously said it's the difference between being shot and poisoned.   Rather, Cruz, despite his misogyny and crackpot economic delusions regarding the gold standard is far closer to republican orthodoxy than Trump.  The moneymen will start shoveling shortly in an effort to put Cruz over the top.  He will probably lose the general election to either Hillary or Bernie, but he will put a slightly less crazy and more reliably GOP face at the top of voters' choices.  He will continue the transfer of wealth to the top 1% without Trump's pandering to the masses.  With a heavy heart, Ted will assure us it is hurting him more than us when he tells us the Social Security cupboard is bare and benefits will have to be cut.  Meanwhile, the rest of the safety net will be shredded and the military industrial complex can look forward to a new golden age of terrorist threat spending.  Somewhere, George Orwell is weeping...

Swimming against the tide

Despite the forecast of more winter weather today, I continue to plant in by basement germination chamber.  I started several varieties of brassicas, including cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli as well as oregano.  The tomato seeds will get their introduction to soil over the weekend, snow or not.  Outdoors, the garlic is struggling to make an appearance and the tulips are up, but not happy about it.  After a promising early March, we seem to be giving back the progress toward spring.  Meanwhile, in politics, it would seem Governor Cuomo is helping workers on one hand by pushing for a $15.00/hr. minimum wage while simultaneously making the ladder to middle class status, a college education, more difficult to obtain.  After several years of $300.00/ year tuition increases, students and their parents are falling further into debt.  Meanwhile, Cuomo is trying to lop 500 million off the state's contribution to the City University of NY.  Both SUNY and CUNY have been the ticket to a better life for many in the state.  Making noises about finding "efficiencies" in administration in order to avoid another round of increases is disingenuous at best.  The state needs to step up and keep the legacy of an affordable state university degree a reality.

Needful involvement

Three very big stories compete for attention today.  The terrorist attacks in Brussels sucked up most of the coverage yesterday and will continue today.  Presidential primaries are the ongoing story with victories  for The Donald and Hillary in Arizona and for their opponents in Utah.  The story getting the least coverage but potentially the most important of all is a report released by a climate tracking group headed by former NASA scientist, James Hansen.  It predicts possible monster changes in climate in as little as 50 years if present trends of human greenhouse gas production are not reduced at an impossible pace.  Hansen says a catastrophic breakup of the Greenland and Antarctic icecaps could make most coastal cities aquariums within the lifetimes of those born since 2000.  On top of these stories is a new study saying millennial voters are less engaged in the political process than their parents and grandparents.  We scoff at people who claim they have never voted and never intend to, saying they should never complain about the political system unless they are prepared to participate.   This has never been more important.  The next president and congress must take action to reduce our carbon emissions at a drastically increased rate or we are condemning generations unborn to a hellish existence because of our inaction.

Round up the usual suspects

The terror attack in Brussels, Belgium last night was a tragedy.  That much we know is true.  Lives were ended or forever changed by angry young men with no regard for human life, including their own.   What causes or inspires people to strap a suicide vest to their body and kill fellow humans indiscriminately.  Examining the causes of such activity would serve us all, and somewhere in academe there are probably scholars who will publish treatises in 10 years telling us what caused the mayhem last night.  In the meantime, the bleating sheep on TV and radio will tell us we must give up a few more civil rights in the name of security.  For some reason, the violent death of 26 or 30 or 3000 people cause a visceral reaction that 50,000 deaths from firearms or automobiles over the course of a year does not.  I would hazard a guess we are coarsened by the daily death toll from accidental and deliberate casualties caused by guns and cars but still shocked by death caused by ideologues.  That increases the danger we face as a society.  As we trade freedom for security our democracy dies a little at a time and it will be hard to get it back, short of using the same violence we are seemingly so afraid of.

Annoying editorial

The local excuse for a newspaper here on the NCR published an annoyingly predictable editorial on Sunday regarding the Cuomo administration's proposal to increase the minimum wage to $15.00/hr. over the next 5 years.  Naturally, the paper came out against the increase.  After all, most of the paper's advertisers are businesses liable to be impacted by the policy.  While there are a few who would favor a higher minimum wage, the overwhelming majority of businesspeople would reject any increase out of hand and bleat about the impossibility of remaining in business with the increased costs.  That was the only argument the paper had.  Since the first business transaction in history, businesses have tried to maximize their bottom line and for most small businesses, the largest expense is labor.   Regardless of the many studies which have shown negligible impacts from raising minimum wages, count on business to oppose any increase.  In this area, local, state and federal governments are actually subsidizing business by enabling many workers to accept low wages.   These subsidies include food stamps, rent subsidies and other safety net programs which were originally designed to cushion the impact of job loss for a short period.  Now workers and employers have come to depend on these crutches to make ends meet.  Maybe it's time to make business stand or fall based on their actual value and contribution to society.   If they can't pay employees a wage which enables them to live a life of dignity, they don't deserve our support.

Springing Forward

Now that spring is finally here, the weather report has devolved into an weeklong siege of rain and snow along with mostly below freezing temperatures.  The garlic is pushing its way through frozen soil and the spring flowering bulbs are as well.   Maple syrup producers on the NCR are keeping their fingers crossed we get a few more days favorable to sap flow.  So far it hasn't been the best of seasons for them.  Every year seems to start the same way.  We get a few nice days and I think this is finally the year when spring comes early and stays on course without backing into winter.  Somewhere, Lucy is also assuring Charley Brown she won't snatch the football away if he will only try to kick it one more time. 

Time for reckoning

The supposed elite of the Republican party are calling for a purge of Donald Trump or at least a "unity ticket" which excludes him.  Many of the yahoos (I'm talking about you, Erik Erikson) disavow the misogynist, racist rhetoric they have employed for many years to energize a base of increasingly grumpy old white men.   This is the same playbook The Donald has used  to steal most of this hard core base.  The only difference is Trump has abandoned the dog whistles and gone straight to outright calls for anti-immigrant, anti-black and pro-white supremacy.  Most of the people responding to this pitch have no commonality with the people who  inhabit corner offices on Wall Street or corporate America.  The social issues which have induced poor whites to abandon their own economic interests to vote for trickle down economics are becoming less compelling to them.  Trump has given them the permission to let hate be the driver in this election.  The vanishing republican moderate will soon have no home in Trump's party.  For democrats, the spectacle of a dying opposition is appealing, but like a cornered wild animal, the GOP is still a dangerous beast.  It will  not go gently into the night.

Minimal wages

The local public radio station in the North Country, NCPR, has been running a series of hand-wringing stories concerning Andrew Cuomo's plan to raise the minimum wage to $15.00/hr. over the course of the next 5 years.  Putting aside the improbability of this happening as long as republicans control the state senate, it is remarkable how one sided the coverage has become.  The latest losers in the wage game would seem to be non-profits who serve the developmentally disabled.  Without comment, the station's reporters pass on the doom scenario the directors of these programs bleat.  For some reason, they feel there is no alternative to cutting programs if they have to pay a living wage to their workers.  Unless the state steps in and increases funding to the programs, there will be cuts.  How about the fact the employees are probably accessing state relief programs like food stamps and other welfare programs because they can't make ends meet on present compensation.  I know these program heads are making the best case they can, but it's up to the reporter to ask questions leading to tough responses.  The same for farmers complaining about minimum wages.  Without the hidden subsidies which allow workers to toil for below subsistence compensation, the grinding poverty these workers endure would be that much worse.  This hidden, subsidized economy needs to be exposed and proper solutions like a living minimum wage need to be implemented.

White is really the new black

White folks took a savage beating at the hands of Kevin Williamson in the National Review.  A journal of white supremacy since its founding by William F. Buckley in the 1950s, most of its commentary has supported the notion that "those people" are somehow inferior to "us".  Forget 350 years of slavery, Jim Crow segregation and discrimination.    Somehow, blacks should use their bootstraps to pick themselves up and become pre-rape Bill Cosbys or in a more modern take, Kanye Wests.  Now, Williamson bad mouths poor whites and the post industrial wastelands many inhabit.  Referring to "hardscrabble upstate New York", he opines that these communities should just die.  I live in hardscrabble upstate New York and I have seen the poor white trash he wishes would disappear.  Heroin is rife in this area, and what passes for parenting skills for many is giving their teenagers the address of the local social services office.   Unfortunately, many of these kids will never have a chance at a middle class life because a lack of good paying jobs over decades in this area have locked them out of a virtuous cycle where the previous generation shows their children how hard work pays off.  Funny how blacks and other people of color are denigrated for the same failings.  Only in their case it is used to bleat about racial inferiority.  Now we find that whites in similar circumstances wind up with the same results; broken families, drug addiction and men in prison.  When Detroit was the automobile capital of the world, there was a fairly prosperous black working and middle class.  Remove the auto jobs and what happened?  The same is true in many industrial towns in  upstate NY.  The only difference is the color of the inhabitants.  Maybe the government policies and corporate greed which turned these areas into wastelands are the real problem.

Ides thoughts

Actually, the primaries were on March 16th, but for Marco Rubio it was definitely a Caesarian moment.  Florida repudiated its supposed favorite son and instead chose The Donald in its winner take all primary.  The Marcobot ended his run and will probably retire to a wingnut welfare position at Faux News where he can snipe at Trump until the convention.  John Kasich is spinning his win in Ohio as a game changer.   Since his only win so far is in his home state, it seems unlikely he will be going anywhere else with any momentum.  The biggest winner last night was Hillary who likely ended Bernie's chances at the nomination.  He vowed to fight on if for no other reason than to consolidate the left of the party as a force to counterbalance Clinton's reliance on corporate and wall street money.  While there is still plenty that can happen between now and the party conventions it is increasingly looking like a Clinton vs. Trump fall campaign.  Two flawed candidates who could entice a third party candidate to come out.  It will be interesting, to say the least.

Feelng Berned

By the numbers, many young voters and some minorities are feeling the Bern and supporting a Sanders' candidacy.  One poll showed college age students going for Sanders by 84%, compared to 16% for Hillary.  Of course much of this support has to do with Bernie's program for free public college tuition.   Who wouldn't be in favor of lifting the crushing debt burden faced by college students today.  As a college freshman, I faced tuition, room and board and other fees totaling about $4,000./year.  While not easy in an era of $1.65/hr. minimum wage, with a scholarship and part time jobs, I was able to pay for most of my education before graduation.  The same college now costs in the neighborhood of $45,000/year and the New York State Regents scholarship which covered tuition is no longer available.  Baby boomers who complain about Millenials and their profligate ways need to see the other side for a moment.  Sanders has tapped a well of support among those who feel their needs are being ignored.  Unfortunately, as with most of his policies and programs, Bernie is depending on a "revolution" of the disenfranchised who will demand politicians recognize them.  With majorities in the House and Senate, Obama was barely able to pass the Rube Goldberg mess known as Obamacare.  Bernie would probably face a hostile House and a bare Dem majority in the Senate.  How likely is it his policies would be enacted?  Bernie has raised many issues which need to be addressed, but his supporters need to take off the rose colored glasses and read the fine print in his policy papers.

Back to the past

Arriving in the NCR last Saturday after a week in Mexican paradise was disconcerting to say the least.  Fortunately, the weather was mild with temps in the upper 50s thanks to El Nino and climate change.  We made it home Saturday night and I was in the garden on Sunday morning.  Although the ground is still frozen about nine inches down, the upper layers were dry enough to get the first planting of spinach done.  I also started some onions, leeks and shallots in the cold frame.  A good beginning, although the long range forecast is calling for rain and snow during the next 10 days.  That will give me time to catch up with the latest political news.  I'm sure it will be depressing for the most part...

Blogging in paradise

It's hard to blog in paradise.  The Divine Mrs. M and I have been in Playa del Carmen for 3 full days and the desire to be outside in the sun is overwhelming.  The weather has co-operated for the most part, but afternoon thundershowers have put a damp on things at times.  The ability to block out the rest of the world for a few days is another reason we like the Yucatan in Mexico.  Unless you choose to engage, the world is like an opaque window.  We'll be back soon enough and I'm sure the political campaigns will refocus me, but for the moment, I'm heading out to check out the beach!

A glimpse of a dark future

Listening to Terry Gross's  "Fresh Air" yesterday was another wake up call regarding the reality of government under republican control.  She interviewed two historians regarding the poisoning of America by the lead industry from the 1880's through the 1960s.  Both men agreed health care professionals had diagnosed lead poisoning among children as being the result of lead paint inside houses as well as lead painted toys, cribs, etc.  Lead pipes supplying water to cities built during this time period contributed as well and the coup de grace was the introduction of tetraethyl lead into gasoline by DuPont and GM so they could sell more powerful engines and larger cars.  Lead in the environment poisoned an entire generation of inner city children, black and white alike.  The lead industry was sued after lobbying against regulation for years.  Just as the cigarette industry later would and the Koch fueled climate change denial today, the lead industry bought off legislators and egregiously argued there was not enough proof of lead poisoning.  The idea of a GOP controlled Congress and Executive rolling back decades of justified regulations is deeply depressing and a call to elect men and women who will protect us from rapacious corporations whose only motive is profit.

Sixth grade follies

If it wasn't so depressing, the developing republican slugfest would be popcorn worthy.  However, when it is one of the two political parties in America losing its mind on national television, it is mildly depressing.  Comparing genital sizes, accusing candidates of wetting their pants, etc. would be hilarious on the playground among a group of sixth graders, but when engaged in by Trump, Cruz and Rubio on Faux News last night, it looks more like the end of political discourse as we have known it.  As Paul Krugman puts it in his column this morning, it is rich for Cruz, Rubio and the republican establishment to accuse The Donald of being a con artist when their proposed budgets are more of the same voodoo economics without even Trumps' vow he will protect what's left of the social safety net.  The same with foreign policy where there doesn't seem to be a dime's worth of difference among the blustering neocon bellicosity all three candidates project.  I omit John Kasich, since he seems an afterthought on the stage;  the voice of the 1980's republican party of the rich, by the rich for the rich with the added "virtue" of a conservative patriarchal view of the world. 

Trumping decency

Commentators on both the left and the right are horrified by the spectacle of Donald Trumps' rise to the brink of capturing the republican nomination for president, although for wildly different reasons.  The republican "establishment thinks only of the havoc a Trump presidency will play with their program of tax cuts for the rich, preference for the military industrial complex and business as usual for the 1%.  The mixed signals he sends terrifies these people who are used to candidates who mouth the dog whistles about race and misogyny in order to get elected by the rubes who make up the base of the party.  Once in office, the Reagan, or Bush has for the most part done the bidding of the donor class.  So far, Trump has not taken their money and he shouts out loud the racism and sexism the base so obviously wants to hear.  Should he win the presidency, he is the wild card no one can control.  On the left, the hand wringing involves the passions Trump is unleashing and the divisions he has utilized to build support.  Most of us know the racist, patriarchy is held in check by societal norms and laws which nominally hold back the worst behavior.  The hate and fear is channeled into "2nd amendment solutions"  which encourage gun ownership for self defense against imagined government overreach.    Now we have a mob of well armed vigilantes with allegiance to no one and looking for a cause.  A President who complains to the citizenry he can't enact his program due to obstructionists could well spark the revolution Bernie Sanders advocates, but not quite as he envisioned it.  Instead of a well informed public voting for social democracy, it will be a well armed mob of fascist thugs backing an authoritarian regime.  This vision terrifies me.

Missing the storm

Thankfully the weather forecasters were once again confounded.  Instead of a late winter snow dump, we got a dusting of frozen precipitation and much warmer temperatures.  Meanwhile, the voters spoke, sort of, on Super Tuesday.  Trump and Clinton won enough to be the clear front runners, but not enough to put away their rivals for the nominations.  It looks like all five remaining republicans will continue, even Ben Carson.  Although in Carson's case if he sells out the latest printing of his book he may well retire after an extremely well paid grift.  John Kasich couldn't even win Vermont, but will continue to slog until Ohio votes, most likely for Trump.  The Marcobot has until Florida votes before his ignominious retirement to 4 years of wingnut welfare waiting for the 2020 elections.  Ted Cruz on the other hand made the case for his continued candidacy with wins in three states.  I think his appeal is very limited outside of the south, but the clown car will continue to circle for a few more weeks.  On the Dem side, Hillary looks very strong among voters who hate The Donald, but is still weak among young white millenials and older white professionals who believe Bernie is the best vehicle to change the corrupt system of campaign funding.  Sanders will keep running until he loses some of the larger states like New York, and then hopefully will retire and run the DNC in a 50 state charge for 2018.   That's my take.

Stupor Tuesday

As a part time political junkie, I will follow the returns of the various primaries tonight, but I already feel burnt out by the process.   I can only imagine the feelings of the various candidates as they slog through appearances in state after state.  The winners of the republican and democratic nominations can look forward to eight more months of relentless campaigning for a 24/7 job which will prematurely age them.  At 74, Bernie Sanders is looking every bit of his age and the convention is still months from now.  The Donald's hair even looks tired!  As they jockey for position today, the insults are flying thick and fast.  Many commenters are calling it a schoolyard slap fight, but that may understate the case.  It will only get worse in the general election where it looks more and more like a Clinton vs. Trump catfight.