Blog PoliAnna

Alas, fond memories of a mad yet simple time. You knew where you were then. You were either bat shit or you weren’t. With us or with the machine heads. Now we sit dumbfounded like blind dingbats gazing wide mouthed at a three decade twisting of up and down, square and round, hot and cold and black and white. Where do you go now? Vegas? It’s fucking owned by GE and Viacom. You couldn’t get real adrenechrome even if you fucked the host at the Liberace museum…. But it won’t last. As the greed mongers continue to suck the last drops of blood from Xanax numbed obese Kansans vilely gorging their third prime rib at the buffet at the horseshoe, hordes of 2nd generation Mexican migrant workers are organizing right under their varicose noses. They’re organized and they’re angry. And as one ersatz palace of pure greed goes dark after another, hording masses of politically organized gangs will charge in from the ex-urbs. And this time they won’t be looking for a $4/hr pay raise. This time they’ll have pitchforks because the whole fucking house of cards will have collapsed. The pinstriped bug-eyed accountants who ejected the greasy haired pitmanagers will panic, and panic hard. No one is safe. Ether and a trunk full of hard drugs and tequila won’t be enough this time. We live in an age whose sterile firmament is about to burst. And anything can and will happen.

My advice to you is to stay heavily armed and meditate. When whoever it is, be it the national guard or HUD comes to take your bank and your town and turn them over to Mr. Burns, ramble, and ramble quickly and like you mean it. Like a southern preacher who just butt-fucked alan keyes. Ramble profusely about markets and free men. About reduced factor input costs and the opportunity to build infrastructure at efficient rates. But make sure you fire at least 7 rounds in the air to let the little bug eyed bugger know you’re serious. And check you tire pressure. It will be a long ride.

—–Original Message—–
From: Gonzo [mailto: Gonzo]
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 9:05 PM
To: David V
Subject: R. Duke

“Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in, the only cure is to load up on heinous chemicals - and then drive like a bastard from Hollywood to Las Vegas with the music at top volume and at least a pint of ether. ” Hunter S. Thompson

Rite on

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— David V
6:18 pm

Buck the Dominant Paradigm - Take 5

Frank Rich today:

He notes that while the New Deal was built from ideas developed in the Progressive Era and that the Reagan counterrevolution was the culmination of the conservative movement of the 1950s and ’60s, there is as yet “no counternarrative to replace ‘money is king.’ ” The post-crash influx of graduates into Teach for America, while laudable, may be transitory unless there’s the political vision and leadership to make altruistic values stick after our crisis has passed.

Agreed. A rising tide lifts all boats, where as trickle down Reaganomics leads to ruin. So let’s make a counter-narrative.

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— David V
5:46 pm

9/23/2008

Bloomberg reports that -

McCain Transition Head Lobbied for Freddie Mac Before Takeover

By Jonathan D. Salant and Timothy J. Burger
Enlarge Image/Details

Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — The lobbying firm of the man Republicans say John McCain has chosen to begin planning a presidential transition earned more than a quarter of a million dollars this year representing Freddie Mac, one of the companies McCain blames for the nation’s financial crisis.

Timmons & Co., whose founder and chairman emeritus is William Timmons Sr., was registered to lobby for Freddie Mac from 2000 through this month, when the federal government took over both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Newly available congressional records show Timmons’s firm received $260,000 this year before its lobbying activities were barred under terms of the government rescue of the failed mortgage giant. Timmons, 77, is listed as a lobbyist for Freddie Mac on the company’s midyear financial-disclosure form.

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— David V
12:25 am

9/17/2008

A Response to David Brooks from Laura Zam

http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2008/09/16/opinion/16brooks.html?s=2

I am a woman and I am vehemently opposed to Sarah Palin. My opposition, however, has nothing to do with feelings that Wal-Mart shoppers are below me. Most everyone in the US, I would imagine, has shopped at Wal-Mart; it is part of the fabric of our culture. As for Tuscany, isn’t the American dream that everyone can go as far as they’d like? It seems hypocritical then to fault people because they have achieved. Can we please stop this faux cultural divide?

My objection to Palin then has nothing to do with condescension. It is for the reasons Mr. Brooks sites: Palin does not have a world view that would make her an effective leader of the most powerful country in the world. Look what is happening to world markets as U.S. companies collapse? What happens in the U.S. does not stay in the U.S.

I appreciate Mr. Brooks’ courage in speaking truth in the face of pressure on the right to just go along with this V.P. choice. I would appreciate, however, if conservatives would give liberals the same benefit of the doubt regarding our judgement: When we express concern — and terror, frankly — regarding this woman as our president, it’s not because we are snobs. It’s because we understand that this is a critical time in history and we crave an intelligent, wise, experienced, compassionate, forward-thinking, brave, encouraging, skilled, and knowledgeable visionary.

Let’s bag the elitist myth, OK? The country is in crisis and we need people who know how to fix it. Unfortunately, that’s probably not just your average American citizen. Rather, I would hope, it’s people who have been studying national and international matters for many years.

I ask you: Do you think Sarah Palin has the wisdom and abilities of an F.D.R. or a Churchill? If not, then she should not be anywhere near top leadership at this time in our history.

- Laura Zam, Washington, DC

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— David V
5:11 pm

9/13/2008

September Suprise

While the chattering classes and political junkies are all pre-occupied arguing about the relative importance of Sarah Palin’s grasp of the Bush Doctrine, the good folks in Cheney’s bunker are working their little horns off to produce an October surprise in Pakistan. Several news media outlets are reporting that recent cross border raids are part of a US program to beef up efforts against Al Qaeda.

NPR is reporting that:

the raid by helicopter-borne U.S. Special Operations forces in Pakistan last week was not an isolated incident but part of a three-phase plan, approved by President Bush, to strike at Osama bin Laden and top al-Qaida leadership.

The plan calls for a much more aggressive military campaign, said one source, familiar with the presidential order, which gives the green light for the military to take part in the operations. The plan represents an 11th-hour effort to hammer al-Qaida until the Bush administration leaves office, two government officials told NPR

The timing is rather completely obvious and transparent. Perhaps the press will actually focus on that this time.

It’s also ironic to watch the Bush Administration come around to implement Barack Obama’s foreign policy perscriptions. Remember that Obama called for an Iraq withdrawal timeline well before Maliki, and advocated hunting down Al Qaeda in Pakistan while the Cheney crew were still coddling Musharraf. Now the McCain Rovians will undoubtedly distort and exploit this 9th inning gamble. It’s up to the Obama campaign to ask why this is being done now, and not, as opposed to let’s say March of 2003.

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— David V
5:51 pm

7/20/2008

“How I Got Rich in a Year”

Yesterday, I went to see a movie and a play. The film was this summer’s mega blockbuster The “Dark Knight”, and the play, a one woman performance put on by my friend and writing collaborator, Laura Zam.

One had a budget of about 18 billion dollars, the other’s probably capped out at $140 (that’s $140, not $140 million or billion). One could have been great but got mired down in its own contrivances and the other, sublime.

Laura Zam’s “HOW I GOT RICH IN A YEAR, USING THAT SECRET: A PLAY FOR BELIEVERS, SKEPTICS AND SLOBS” is an amazing, witty, sardonic, and uplifting deconstruction of modern life, new age enlightenment, self help manifestos, the scurrilous purveyors of both hope and despair amidst the inevitable outrageous slings and arrows of existence.

I’ve know Laura for many years, and she is co-writing a screenplay with me about New York City in the early 1980s. I was flattered when she boasted of our collaboration at an MPAA screening of my film, “The First Basket”. After seeing her solo tour-de-force, I was both giddy that I had chosen such a profound writer, and nervous that she will soon become too busy becoming a famous author to bother with the likes of my little NY story. Laura has just been signed by a top NY literary agency to write a book based on the play, and “HOW I GOT RICH..” is certainly the stuff of the great American post modern novel.

As we set out writing our little movie (tentatively titled A Million in Prizes), Laura made me read Robert McKee’s “Story”, on film narrative structure. I had sought Laura out exactly because I knew her to be dramaturge, and I wanted the screenplay to be structurally sound. McKee is the screen writing seminar guru in the film “Adaption” (hilariously portrayed by Brian Cox), and his book emphasizes very serious structural theoretics in order to express the great universal truths inherent in one’s story.

Well Laura has done McKee proud. “HOW I GOT RICH…” is overflowing with great universal truths about the human condition. It’s also captivating, entertaining, and Laura’s no holds barred personal revelations are variously incredibly moving and funnier than Gilda Radner on nitrous. In the show she labels herself a performance artist, which she later rejects in favor of “writer and performer”. She is also a superb comedic and dramatic actress, whose stage presence is only topped by her incredible writing. “HOW I GOT RICH…” is everything that theater (including performance art) should be and a much welcome alternative to even the best of this summer’s billion dollar blockbusters.

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— David V
5:25 pm

6/6/2008

Brooks on Lincoln?

Interesting Op-Ed in today’s NYT, but who is he referring to today?

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— David V
10:20 am

5/28/2008

Webbmania or phobia?

With Jim Webb’s name floating high as a possible Obama running mate, there has been a left wing ecstasy reminiscent of Michael Moore’s dreamy eyed endorsement of Wesley Clark in 04. Wow, we finally have actual General to throw at them, so now who’s really tougher?

Like Clark, Webb isn’t all guns and roses. Much concern has be expressed about his fitness and potential vulnerabilities. Kathy G stated the case against Webb well yesterday on the Yglesias blog. It’s not just his brashness on the campaign trail, or that taking him out of a Red State Senate seat would be strategically stupid, but it’s also his “wingnutty” Republican recent past.

The Senate coalition argument strikes me as the strongest. However brash he may be, veeps and running mates play the roll of attach dog (think Cheney and Agnew) in the modern presidential beauty contest, and Webb does this very well. And in a related matter, he gets major points for standing up for our troops while sticking it to McCain, Bush and Co. on the GI Bill.