Seething on the Third Rock

2009-02-14 Liberalism vs. Chauvinism: Round I

Main Entry: lib·er·al

Pronunciation: \ˈli-b(ə-)rəl\

1. one who is open-minded, not bound by authoritarianism or strict in the observance of orthodox, traditional, or established forms or ways
2. a passionate advocate or adherent to individual rights and freedoms
3. one with ideals of the individual especially economic freedom, greater individual participation in government, and constitutional, political, and administrative reforms designed to secure these objectives.

Main Entry: chau·vin·ist
Pronunciation: \ˈshō-və-nist\

1. one who demonstrates excessive or blind patriotism
2. having undue partiality or attachment to a group or place to which one belongs or has belonged

ell I for one am proud of my late in life conversion to classic liberalism.  Of course these days the word 'liberal' has been hijacked by the pit bulls of the far right and redefined as something less than redeeming.  That is unfortunate as it reflects a wanton mischaracterization of the rise of western capitalism, democracy and religious freedom in general.  I suppose some would prefer a sort of aristocratic theocracy akin to Saudi Arabia instead.  One never really knows.

Frequently I am stopped and asked if I would consider returning to the U.S. now that Barack Obama (and the icons of evil for wing nuts, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid) are in control.  Sadly, I have to say, "No."  I would never consider living as a second class citizen in my own country.  The United States is still a country where the Federal government actively discriminates against homosexuals under the Defense of Marriage Act and Don't Ask, Don't Tell policies.  Several U.S. states have recently sanctioned referendums against same-sex marriage and in favor of protections for employers and private landlords who choose to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.  There is certainly nothing liberal about that.  I could never expose my family to the capricious injustice of such home grown American chauvinism.  The electoral groundswell that swept Barack Obama into office in states like California also rolled back state protections for homosexual families under Proposition 8.  The battle for liberalism in America is far from over.

In fact, I think it is fair to say that liberalism in America has really struggled over the past 20 years in the face of the once powerful coalition of country club Republicans with religious right extremists.  Before Obama, Liberals were paralyzed by their academic "soft" banners in the face of a GOP parade of pseudo-Christian populism (i.e., less than 50% of Americans believe in human evolution). Liberals are resurgent now only due to the self-destruction of the GOP as it lapsed into an ever tighter death embrace of anti-intellectualism, rejecting the arts, humanities, science and both Keynesian and Monetarist economic principles.  Republican chauvinists have literally choked on their own brand of ideological Koolaid--greed (i.e., tax cuts and welfare for the rich) laced with militarism, simplistic patriotism and cultural intolerance.  In the process they have alienated huge swaths of the American electorate as well as virtually all of our international allies.  Let's be honest.  There is literally no way you could have an African American named 'Barack Hussein Obama' as President of the United States today without the apocalypse that was 8 years of George W. Bush.

And yet I am hopeful--hopeful that Americans will once again demonstrate the optimism, innovation, civility, generosity, tolerance and indomitable human spirit that have allowed us as a people to move beyond guarantees of freedom and justice only for a narrow group of slave and property owning aristocratic white males to a broad based social economic democracy with protections for the poor, workers, ethnic and religious minorities, women, indigenous people and almost everyone who has come to call these shores "home".  Let us remember that the job is not done.  And until America is truly free, I will not rest, I will not sit down and I will not be silent.

2008-10-07 Bob Barr on Same Sex Marriage

Bob Barr on marriage from www.bobbarr2008.com

Regardless of whether one supports or opposes same sex marriage, the decision to recognize such unions ought to be made by each state rather than imposed as a one-size-fits-all mandate by the federal government. Any federal laws that prevent states from determining their own standards for marriage should be repealed; the federal government should not define marriage, whether by statute or constitutional amendment.

Well I suppose Mr. Barr would also favor letting states decide whether they should discriminate against women, minorities or the handicapped or perhaps he just thinks it's okay for states to discriminate against gays.  In any event, his philosophy would leave in place all of Federal immigration laws that discriminate against me and keep me and my family out of the country right now.  Strict constructionism of a constitution that was written 200 years ago fully supporting the enslavement of Africans and the disenfranchisement of women is either seriously disingenuous or otherwise out of touch with the progress of civil society that has occurred ever since.

2008-10-04 Republicans, the Cult of Individual Interest and the Threat to Capitalism

he events of the past year have been breathtaking.  We now have Republican John McCain swinging wildly from long held tenants of deregulation to a new found populist montra of regulation (at least in finance).  Meanwhile the capital markets and businesses large and small across the country and around the world wait anxiously to see how all of the volatility in both the financial and political marketplaces will affect them.  What is really going on here?

The now infamous Republican icon Ronald Reagan ushered in an era of deregulation and tax cuts with unrestrained government spending particularly on favored conservative welfare recipients in the defense industry and commercial agriculture.  The idea often muted was to load up the government with so much debt and such limited revenues that there would simply be no money left over to spend on society in general.  Individuals with means would somehow take care of themselves and we could ignore everyone else in good conscience as deadbeats.  This idea has now been utterly discredited by 8 years of the failed policies of the Bush administration.  But I think it would be easy to take away the wrong lessons from the experience. 

The real issue is that Republicans either don't understand or don't care to engage the complexities in the balance of incentives and disincentives in the proper functioning of capitalism.  Businesses may say that they don't like taxes or government regulations but what they really find hard to cope with is uncertainty.  It is arguable that cutting taxes aids the individual shareholder.  But if that leaves government unable to fund public education or health care in the end the same businesses and shareholders will have a hard time finding and retaining competent workers in order to grow and prosper.  Similarly deregulation is appealing up until it stimulates underpriced environmental degradation and unrestrained risk taking that not only threatens long-term earnings but even the on going viability of businesses and whole sectors as presently seen on Wall Street.

While the profit motive is an important incentive to business, the fact is that taxes and regulations are also necessary components of the societal framework for capitalism to grow and flourish.  American capital, hard work and ingenuity have proven time and time again to respond to this framework for the benefit of investors, competitors, workers and the environment alike. 

The Republican Party lost its way when it decided for short-term political advantage under the chimera of small government to take a sledge hammer to this proven framework by attempting to remove the disincentives of taxes and regulations.  We were told that by focusing purely on the needs of individual investors that somehow the markets and society would take care of themselves.  Again American capital, hard work and ingenuity responded to this policy redirection but with a plethora of unintended consequences.  The immediate result was moral hazard and an orgy of risk taking unrestrained by even the slightest fear of regulatory accountability.  In some sense the $700B bailout has even validated this belief by ultimately rescuing many of the American and global investors who were invited to the party.  And now as the Federal Reserve wrecklessly ramps up the printing presses; society, investors, workers, taxpayers and the environment alike will all suffer grievously as a direct result. 

Capitalism isn't threatened by sensible regulatory, tax and social spending policies that reflect the common stake that we all have in markets and society as a whole.  On the contrary, it is precisely the absence of these considerations in a misguided indulgence of individual self interest that has proven disastrous for all concerned.

2008-08-13 Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Gunned Down!

Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Bill Gwatney was shot and killed by a lone gunman in the Democratic Party Headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas today.  The gunman was later shot and killed by police.

See the whole story here --> http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/13/arkansas.shooting/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

I sincerely hope that this does not prove to be yet another example of the rising tide of violent fascism and right-wing pseudo-Christian extremism being nurtured by the ever more desperate lies and hate speech of the Republicans and their propaganda sewage pipe at Fox News.

2008-07-18 The Four Serious Issues Facing America: Healthcare Reform

ealth care is one of those issues that brings out idealogical and philosophical stances in the American political dialog like no other.  Whether or not you feel that access to quality health care is a basic human right that must be provided by all civilized countries there are a few basic facts about the American health care system that cannot be ignored.  First and foremost, the American health care system is the most costly and inefficient in the world.  It also has the lowest return on investment (ROI) when health care expenditure is measured as a function of average life expectancy.  (Click on the graphs to enlarge.)

The health care expenditure statistics come from the United Nations Human Development Report, 2007. The average life expectancies come from the CIA World Factbook.

So what is the significance of runaway American health care costs?  I guess there are two points.  First of all, there is no reason to believe that the American health care system is underfunded.  We don't need to spend any more money.  In fact, I would suggest that with respect to the 40 million Americans currently uninsured it is arguable that the only way to bring them into the system is to reduce the cost of access to health care.  Let me say that again.  The reason we have so many uninsured in the United States is because we spend to much money on health care in the first place.  This is easy to see.  If I open a new private clinic no one who is currently uninsured will be able to afford to pay for my cost recovery and so I will go out of business.  Why is health care in America so expensive then you may ask.

I remember seeing the following chart in the Economist that compared relative spending on information technology across different industries.  The health care sector spends less money on automation and information technology than virtually any other segment of our economy.

People fully expect that when they roam from state to state that their cellphone will continue to work and that they can go online and check the delivery status of their FedEx packages.  And yet, there is no system in place to electronically transfer your medical records or prescriptions from physician to physician or pharmacy to pharmacy.  And anyone waiting on the private sector to create its own information management and data transfer standards will be waiting a long time indeed.

This graphic is from the Gartner Worldwide IT Benchmark Service New Trends & Findings for 2007.  While there is not clear causality, sectors spending more on information technology as a percent of total operational expense are realizing higher operating profits.  It appears that IT increases economic efficiency probably through greater process automation and leverage of existing employees.

Health care is a 3-way value chain with providers (i.e., physicians and hospitals), customers (i.e., patients) and payors (i.e., employers and insurance companies).  All of these counterparties need standards to be defined for sharing financial data (e.g., bills and payments), patient data (e.g., medical records), provider data (e.g., capacity, utilization and pricing) as well as medical knowledge (e.g., drug indications, research trials, etc.)  In the financial services sector there are numerous standards to facilitate financial transactions, settlements and risk management.  In addition, heavy government accounting standards and regulations have given financial institutions greater tools to measure their own internal performance in order to better adjust to ever changing market conditions.  We need greater information innovation in health care in order to reduce costs, improve efficiency and increase access.  When will America wake up and bring the health care industry into the 21st century?

2008-07-14 Obama and FISA

s some of you may know, Sen. Barack Obama has recently voted in favor of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) compromise.  FISA is basically a set of laws, procedures and special courts to grant the government expedited authority to put individual American citizens under both physical and electronic surveillance.  The Bush Administration has continuously claimed that it didn't need to comply with FISA rules and apparently convinced most (though not all) American telephone companies to participate in warrantless domestic wiretapping with the National Security Administration (NSA) [1].  Critics have charged that this was done in violation of both the original FISA law and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution against illegal search and seizure [2].  The new FISA rules will force the Administration to comply with FISA (in theory) but also includes provisions that would grant the telephone companies immunity from prosecution for all past violations.  Bush signed H.R. 6304, FISA Amendments Act of 2008 into law on July 10th [3].

This is truly a complex issue that was unfortunately made worse by Bush's wreckless disregard for the existing FISA law.  The whole issue is a red herring for a couple of reasons. 

1. The existing FISA law granted the Administration all of the authority that it needed to obtain warrants to put anyone under surveillance for any reason at anytime. It appears that the whole issue was really based on seperation of powers--can the Executive Branch be limited in its national security endeavors by Congress?  Of course the real question was does the Executive Branch have to obey the Constitution.  Oh nevermind.
2. Long before Bush, 9/11 and FISA, the US government including both Democratic and Republican administrations have always put US citizens under surveillance without court issued warrants.  You will have to take my word on this one.  The only regard the NSA, FBI and CIA have ever had for the Fourth Amendment was whether or not evidence gathered illegally (i.e., without warrants) would be admissible in court.  Generally speaking, they are much more concerned (at least initially) in detecting wrong doing than being able to prove it.  Remember this the next time you pick up your cell phone or surf the internet.  Telephone companies are required to keep years of all such electronic traffic online just for such purposes.

So actually Obama voting in favor of the FISA amendments really doesn't change any facts on the ground regarding protections of US citizens from warrantless surveillance.   Actually, I support Obama's vote if in fact it will encourage the current Administration to obey the FISA laws.  It is important to me that there be some process and procedures in place which will at least produce a paper trail in the event that someone does need to prove harm from wreckless government surveillance and deliberately damaging leaks by intelligence agencies.

2008-06-22 The Four Serious Issues Facing America: The Economy

he Economy: Mortgage Defaults, Inflation and Unemployment

The on-going credit cruch and mortgage default crises that are buffeting our economy have a common origin in the lax monetary policies and easy credit environment fostered by the Federal Reserve and Alan Greenspan in the post-internet/telecom bubble period.  And for those who believe we have passed the crest of the flood be advised that a second tsunami is coming in all forms of retrenchment in consumer, small business and developer lending by regional banks whose stocks are now beginning to plummet.  And of course cities and states are facing their greatest financial crises in decades as their cost of borrowing continues to spiral ever higher as their bond ratings sink.  This is not a credit crisis--this is a debt crisis.  Saying this is a credit crisis is like suggesting that a crack addict could ever have a drug supply crisis.

The bottom line is that both the public and private sectors in this country have been living beyond the capacity of our economy for a long time.  This is easy to see in the exploding Federal Budget Deficit, the high US Current Account Deficit (basically the differences between inbound and outbound trade and investment) and low consumer net worth.  And we have just seen literally trillions of dollars wiped off the balance sheets of both banks and consumers in falling real estate values.  This is an enduring crisis that must be addressed by the next administration.  And let's not be mistaken, the market will not right itself.  A perfect example of the folly of a market-only solution can be seen in Japan where a similar bubble burst and a tepid government response left the nation with zero growth and periodic deflation for over 10 years.

America and Americans need 2 things.  First, we need to restructure the debts and balance sheets of both the financial services sector and individual consumers.  The overhang in unsold properties must be cleared as quickly as possible.  A perfect example of where we did this right was the Savings and Loan Crisis in the mid 90's.  The government backed Resolution Trust Corporation bought up the assets of defunct S&Ls (mostly in the form of real-estate and mortgages) and sold them off on the court house steps. 

This was certainly a painful solution in the short term but it served the purpose of clearing the overhang at prices the market would bear rebalancing the real-estate supply-demand curve giving both buyers and sellers the confidence they needed to move back into the market. Otherwise, real-estate toxic waste on bank balance sheets would continue to weigh down the rest of the economy almost indefinitely.

This time around the government has so far refused to get involved except the Federal Reserve handing money hand-over-fist to the Frat Boys in the investment banking community.  And the Bear Stearns "workout" with taxpayers now backing the give away of bank assets for pennies on the dollar to JP Morgan while opening a veritable box of pandoras in respect to risky government involvement in the sector has not and will not do anything to clear the market of excess inventory.

Furthermore I was just astounded that both Democrats and Republicans backed the  "economic stimulus" legislation that handed over $160B in deficit spending to allegedly stimulate the economy.  While any stimulus effects are debatable, the impact on the Federal Budget Deficit certainly is not.  The deficit for May reached an all-time high of $165.9B reflecting $48B in payments under the stimulus plan.  The annual deficit for 2008 is projected to reach $410B almost equal to the previous Republican "borrow and spend" record of $413B in 2004. [1] 

And for what?  If there is any stimulus affect at all it will be most evident in swelling the trade deficit as US consumers buy more expensive foreign oil and job-destroying, cheap Asian consumer goods.  If someone was as indebted as Americans, wouldn't you advise them to use any "stimulus" funds to pay down their existing debts?  Americans must pay their debts, save more and spend less.  US household savings (disposable income less expenditures) is now effectively zero and considerably lower than our OECD competitors.

Above: US vs. OECD Household Savings Rates (%).  Click on the graph to enlarge.

[Source: OECD Factbook 2008]

And we will never grow our way out of the existing debt crisis.  Expect interest rates to rise to both reprice credit risk higher and hopefully protect new savings from the rising threat of out-of-control inflation.  This is the only way to start growing our economy and creating jobs again.  The cheap money crack party is now well and truly over.  We need tax policies that encourage savings and not just high risk investment.  I hope that the candidates will start addressing these economic issues in a serious way before the November election.

2008-06-07 The Four Serious Issues Facing America: National Security

ell it is finally here--the general election campaign.  Already we are hearing meaningless mealy-mouth mumbo jumbo about who is the real agent of change, who has the most experience, who is the most liberal, who is the most green, etc., etc.  It is time for the candidates to step up and start addressing the serious issues and challenges facing our country.  As I see it there are four primary issues that are interrelated in any potential resolutions as they all pose significant implications for the Federal Budget and the economy. 

1. National Security: The Iraq War and the War on Terror
2. The Economy: Mortgage Defaults, Inflation and Unemployment
3. Healthcare: Spiraling Costs, Medicare Insolvency and the Uninsured
4. The Environment: Global Warming and Climate Change

Addressing any of these challenges in a meaningful way will certainly require significant funding, policy changes and sacrifice from multiple vested interest groups.  I hereby challenge both Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama to drop the platitudes about change and give the American electorate what they deserve--clear and unambiguous policy positions regarding these critical national issues.  In this series of posts I will discuss each of the issues and the facts influencing any future policy directions of the next administration.

Any policy undertaken by the next administration to seriously address these challenges will have serious implications for all.  Furthermore, their interconnectedness implies that choices made in any one area will necessarily determine to a large extent the policy choices remaining in any other--there is only so much pie.  And mostly Republican happy talk about growing the economic pie through tax cuts intended to stimulate economic activity was proven over the last eight years to be so much Keynesian Kool-Aid in an environment of ever increasing public and private sector debt.  We simply can no longer afford such simplistic platitudes to what are intrinsically complex problems.  Let's get serious.  The US Current Account Deficit (determined primarily by the differences between inbound and outbound trade and investment) has hovered around 5% of GDP for some time now. [1]  This has always proven unsustainable throughout history.  A super cycle is beginning to unwind whereby interest rates that have been kept artificially low (actually they have been negative after subtracting inflation) due to our trading partners willingness to "invest" their enormous trade surpluses buying our public and private sector debt (such as US Treasury Notes and Mortgage Backed Securities) thereby supporting the dollar.  Now that this super cycle is coming to an end, the dollar will continue to fall forcing up inflation thereby forcing the Federal Reserve to reverse monetary policy and raise interest rates further depressing an already weak economy. 

1. National Security: The Iraq War and the War on Terror

Some of you may be aware that our government is currently negotiating a US-Iraq Security Agreement (the current UN Security Council mandate for the US presence in Iraq expires at the end of this year).  A new agreement would essentially spell out the conditions for a long-term US military presence in Iraq.  In the last week,  a majority of Iraqi Shiite and Sunni lawmakers sent a letter to the US Congress stating that they intend to reject any such agreement that "is not linked to clear mechanisms" obligating U.S. troops to leave "with a declared timetable and without leaving behind any military bases, soldiers or hired fighters." [2]

Folks the war is over. There is no possibility of a long-term American military presence in Iraq regardless of what Senator McCain says.  In fact the Iraqi government's own compromise agreement would require that US troops be confined to military bases after the end of the year.  This is what I refer to as the "Sitting Ducks Compromise".  As far as I am concerned we should declare victory right now and start bringing the troops home with a declared timetable that allows Iraqi politicians to continue their process of reconciliation and securing their own country.  And protests from the loony war mongers on the right about ceding progress on the ground are largely irrelevant.  It is not the responsibility of the US to settle all of the centuries old grudges between Kurds, Sunni and Shiites there.  In fact, I think we have done more than enough already frankly.  It is too bad that this Administration saw fit to oust an unreligious tyrant (Saddam Hussein) and replace him with al-Qaeda and the Iranians.   

A US withdrawal also will finally end the war-related hemorrhaging in the US Federal Budget.  The Iraq war is costing US tax payers over $720 million per day consisting of $280 million in Iraq war supplementary funding bills passed by Congress and another $440 million in unpaid costs such as veterans long-term health care and assistance.  This is enough money to buy health care for 423,529 American children or outfit 1.27 American million homes with renewable electricity.  We also need to redirect some of these funds to beef up US military operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  The next administration will not have any funds to address any national challenges without a quick cessation of military activity and expense in Iraq.

2007-11-11 The US, Pakistan and Totalitarianism--No Suprise Here

nce again the US finds itself standing on the wrong side of history supporting a totalitarian regime "temporarily" in pursuit of some greater strategic national interest.  No one should find this surprising.  The United States has often supported undemocratic, totalitarian regimes to it's own eventual detriment.  The most recent example of our glaring duplicity is the Bush Administration waxing lyrically about it's global "War on Terror" and support for "democracy" and "freedom" while simultaneously providing an unelected military dictatorship in Pakistan with billions of dollars for weapons that it uses against it's own people. 

There are precisely two outcomes to this latest folly in policy by the Bush Administration.  The most likely scenario is that, as was the case with the Iranian Revolution that overthrew the Shah, General Musharraf will avoid free and fair elections indefinitely and be overthrown leaving Pakistan, a nuclear armed nation, in the hands of a radical, Islamic regime.  The best case scenario is that elections will in fact be held and Musharraf will lose to the opposition and as is the case with the governments in Iran and the Gaza strip, the US will simply ignore such regimes not to its liking.  This situation reminds me of a quote by Brent Scocroft, National Security Adviser to the former President George H.W. Bush:

...if the current [Bush] administration isn't willing to let Islamists, even radical Islamists, win votes in a fair election, then Bush officials should stop talking so much about democracy and go back to supporting the old dictatorships.

The bottom line is that Musharraf is at this very moment using weapons paid for by the American tax payer to attack and arrest thousands of lawyers--those very middle class elements that any future "moderate" Islamic regime would need to turn Pakistan into a pro-western democracy.  And of course you can't have "free and fair" elections in Pakistan under a state of emergency.  Needless to say, the loony right has already come out with a raft of rationalizations for this latest avalanche of American hypocrisy.  The most often regurgitated, intellectual mumbo jumbo excuses Musharraf as a critical ally in Bush's "War on Terror" implying that Pakistan is somehow different from the other totalitarian dictatorships that we support in the Middle East.  These include those very sponsors of Wahabi extremism responsible for 9/11, the unelected House of Saud in Saudi Arabia.

The Arab street knows very well that America is much more interested in their oil than their freedom and don't buy our lies for a minute.  I predict we will once again pay a very dear price for the incompetence, lies and hypocrisy of this Administration.

2007-09-09 Because They are Greedy, Hypocritical, Lying Cowards

am tired of the debate.  We are reaching the precipice now and the time for everyone to take sides has truly passed.  I could never call myself a Republican again--and I could never vote for any politician who associates themselves with the Republican Party because they are all 1) greedy, 2) hypocritical, 3) lying 4) cowards.

Greedy

At the end of the day, the true ideological driver of the Republican Party has always been nothing other than pure greed.  There is no better illustration of how greed has permeated the thinking of this Administration than was exposed in The Price of Loyalty (and a 60 Minutes interview) with Paul O'Neill who was fired from his job as George Bush's Treasury Secretary for disagreeing with the president's policy on tax cuts.

The president, having promised to cut taxes pushed over a trillion dollars of tax cuts through Congress in his first 6 months in office.  Then despite the widening budget deficit, Bush proposed additional tax cuts after 9/11.  O'Neil recalls a poignant comment by Vice President Dick Cheney:

“‘You know, Paul, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. We won the mid-term elections, this is our due.’ … O'Neill is speechless.”

What about Social Security, the uninsured, education and border security you may ask?  Well as Tony Soprano would say, "Forget about it."

Hypocritical

At this point it would seem unnecessary to expound upon the pervasive hypocrisy of the rabid, Judeo-Christian fascists in the Republican Party--both their turgid holy rollers waddling through the halls of Congress and their crusading mega-preachers with their rancid liturgies of hate for select minorities.

Hardly a week can go by now without another closeted, self-hating, "I am not gay" Republican Congressman or Minister of Hate being caught with their pants down in a men's toilet or gay bordello.  And virtually all of these individuals have been leaders in the right wing culture war including (but not limited to):

• Rep. Mark Foley, R-Florida, once known as a crusader against child abuse and exploitation who resigned from Congress in September 2006 after allegations surfaced that he had sent suggestive emails and sexually explicit instant messages to teenage male congressional pages.  Quote of the Day: “Get a ruler and measure it for me.”
• Ted Haggard resigned in November 2006 as head of the conservative 14,000-member New Life Church and as president of the National Association of Evangelicals after being accused of having a sexual affair with a male prostitute and snorting crystal meth.  Quote of the Day: “I did not have a homosexual relationship with a man in Denver.”
• Rep. Bob Allen, a Republican Congressman representing Florida's 32nd district was arrested on the afternoon of July 11, 2007 at Veterans Memorial Park in Titusville, Florida for offering an undercover cop $20 to allow Allen to blow him in a men’s room.  Quote of the Day: After being arrested, Allen tried to explain that he only offered to blow the cop because the cop was a “burly black man” and he “didn’t want to become a statistic.”
• Glenn Murphy Jr., resigned in August 2007 as National Chairman of the Young Republicans and Chairman of the Clark County, Indiana Republican Party after being caught orally assaulting the penis of a drunk, passed out fellow Young Republican. Murphy was a well-paid political consultant who advised Republican candidates to use "gay marriage" as a wedge issue to paint Democrats as out of touch with traditional values.  Quote of the Day: “I was in the Sound of Music in High School…don’t ask”
• Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho announced this month that he will resign at the end of the month after pleading guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct for lewd conduct in a men's bathroom in a Minneapolis airport on June 11, 2007.  Quote of the Day #1: Speaking on NBC's Meet The Press in 1999 regarding Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski, Craig told Tim Russert: “The American people already know that Bill Clinton is a bad boy - a naughty boy. I’m going to speak out for the citizens of my state, who in the majority think that Bill Clinton is probably even a nasty, bad, naughty boy.”  Quote of the Day #2: “I am not gay, I don’t do these kinds of things.”

Meanwhile the case evolving around Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), and the murder/"suicide" of ex-Marine Jason Drake and Republican consultant Ralph Gonzalez and his "roommate" David Abrami grows stranger by the day [1].

Lying

In this space I have previously accused George Bush of being a pathological liar [2], [3], [4].  Actually, mythomania (i.e., pathological lying) is a condition involving compulsive lying for no obvious motivation.  This is a misdiagnosis in the case of George Bush and his sycophants.  A more careful examination reveals that these people have a culture that condones all lies as justifiable means for virtually any end.  And the fish rots from the head down.  From questionable trading while on the board at Harken Energy [5] to the missing WMDs in Iraq, George Bush has been a lying, silver-spoon-in-his-mouth underachiever for his entire life.  And let's be clear, the reason that Scooter Libby resigned as Chief of Staff to Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales resigned as Attorney General is because they were both caught telling bare-faced lies.

Cowards

It goes without saying that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Paul Wolfowitz, Bill O'Reilly, Joe Scarborough, John Bolton, Richard Perle, Jeb Bush, Tom DeLay and Dennis Hastert and so many other neocolonialist, "other-people's-oil-grabbing" Republican militarists have successfully avoided personal military service themselves. I remind you that In May of 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, Bush received what many consider to be preferential admission to the Texas National Guard thereby avoiding any actual combat.  And in 1974 he was honorably discharged despite having failed to satisfy his military commitment in order to attend Harvard Business School.

Young college Republicans also appear to be lacking in military aspirations. Merely one member of the board of the College Republican National Committee has any military experience or plans to acquire any. [6]  And out of the 535 members of Congress, I have only been able to identify 5 (less than 1%) that have any children serving in Iraq: four Republicans and 1 Democrat: Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Missouri, Rep. Todd Akin, R-Missouri, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, and Sen. Tim Johnson, D-South Dakota.  It is so easy to advocate a global war on Muslims and using our military as mercenaries for American oil companies when you yourself are unwilling to "fight the good fight".  But in the end, it is their war.  I only ask, "Why they aren't fighting it?"