There's an excellent article in last Saturday's Washington Post by John Barry, the acclaimed author of Rising Tide, about the connections between the Gulf Coast and the rest of America, particularly the heartland, the connections between past actions put in place to benefit all of America at the cost of this coast and the possible consequences of future actions, or the lack thereof, for all of America. It's short and to the point, what everyone needs to know. (h/t Adrastos)
I had a lovely weekend, with baseball on Saturday and a delightful Mother's Day dinner out that was also our celebration of The Oldest's birthday. Last year we had his college graduation on his birthday, his Birthdaytion, the day before Mother's Day, so I got to spend my day at the beach. I also watched Real Time with Bill Maher three times last weekend. I had to. The first airing was Friday at 11:00. I'm old, y'all. I was nodding off by the end and missed a bunch. Saturday at midnight was worse because, aside from being sleepy, I was flipping back and forth to SNL. I missed the daytime Saturday airing 'cause I was at the ballpark, where we won a close one (we're 6-2, not my usual uneven start, which has me nervous). I finally got to see the whole thing Sunday afternoon. With Republican spinmeister wordsmith Frank Luntz as a guest, the general focus of the show was about perception as much as reality and I couldn't help but think of the way our dear friend, The Capt. so clearly illuminates the farce that is Bush's "War on Terror [sic]"™ (the "[sic]" is The Capt.'s and I added the ™ on his behalf 'cause I think that needs to be a t-shirt). Luntz did a great job of exampling what I've been saying for a long time, that the Republicans deliver their message utilizing many of the time-proven tools of the verbal abuser, not the least of which is projection. He accused the Democrats of being overly critical, just as he was saying that John Kerry lost because he "looks just like the tree that threw apples at Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz." Luntz also kept suggesting that the Democrats were angry and harbored hatred towards the poor besieged "conservatives". Of course, this is a technique that the wrongly-called "conservatives" (there is very little classically conservative about today's Republicans) perfected, while virtually spitting the word "liberal" as if it was somehow foul and unclean, for decades, until the invective they injected became for so many impressionables, part of it's meaning. It is these Republican spinmeisters, led by their icon Karl Rove (the college drop out that I could swear I heard Luntz refer to as "Dr. Rove") who perfected the art of groupspeak "divert and attack" (a/k/a "stay on the offense") so that whenever a thoughtful critic might dare to point out a glaring flaw in a policy (for instance, no WMDs, no weapons-grade nuclear material, no supporting connection to Al Qaeda in Iraq before the U.S. assault; or perhaps even their rampant and blatant fiscal irresponsibility), the Republican response would be to, rather than defend their indefensible position, turn, change the subject and attack, usually personally. Joe Wilson & Valerie Plame are only the most glaring example of this. Today's generation of Republican political strategists took the political dialogue in this country to new lows when we didn't think such a thing was possible. They insulted the people's ability to see through the abusive tactics and they won doing it. The good news is that it is not sustainable over time, neither in personal relationships nor in political ones. The truth has a way of finding the light.
Finally, there's a post over at EdStrong about Chris Jordan's pictures of garbage, "large scale color photographs (that) portray the detritus of American consumption...Jordan photographs the refuse of consumer culture (e.g., diodes, cell phone chargers, cigarette butts, circuit boards) on an immense scale." They are startling photographs. Jordan's site also includes a selection of his photos "In Katrina's Wake: Portraits of Loss from an Unnatural Disaster":
I consider myself a patriotic American, socially liberal and fiscally conservative in the manner of our forefathers, my ancestors. I am the daughter of a WWII OSS combat veteran. The Husband... served this country fighting in the jungles of Vietnam, and was forever changed. I've already given, and I know it's my patriotic duty to speak up when I see this country stuck in the muck. I believe in living with integrity, having appearances match reality as much as possible, not living a lie, and my personal integrity is governed by a deep and abiding spiritual faith. It hurts me, personally, to see my country governed by so many who don't hold our flag in such high regard as I do, who tarnish it almost casually, paying lip service to to both their country and their faith, saying one set of things while doing another, without upholding either their religious or their patriotic claims with honorable actions.
Peace, out, y'all.
Update: For some real scary stuff, head on over to Fix the Pumps to read Matt McBride's overall assessment of New Orleans' flood protection (or the lack thereof) as we embark on another hurricane season. (h/t Scout Prime at First Draft) *sigh*
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