Bermuda attacks U.S.

That's about how much sense claims of U.S. naval vessels being attacked by Iran makes. Of course it could be true, but remember that in the size department the U.S. is GOLIATH, and the Iranians are itty bitty David. Oh yes, I know, we here in the U.S. are for apple pie, motherhood, and general goodness, and the Iranians are just a bunch of jihadist monsters, but think for a nanosecond about what the Iranians risk by provoking an attack against themselves versus what the U.S. might gain by launching an attack? The U.S. could come away with control of Iran's southern oil fields, while the Iranians get what, smoking ruins? Even a knee jerk jingo who has swallowed every bit of toxic Kool-Aid about the WOT and the war in Iraq ought to see that there is something wrong with the story as it is presently being told.

New Hampshire Feels Hillary's Pain...and Rewards Her.

Tomorrow, the world, well our corner of it, will be all abuzz at Hillary Clinton's victory in New Hampshire. On the ropes after the Iowa Caucuses, where Senator Clinton lost handily to Barack Obama, she has restored herself to front runner status, if only just, by defeating Senator Obama in The Granite State. Hillary's tears may have saved her, for now, allowing her to capture that crucial sucker vote that the pollsters never seem to take. And whether Clinton's tears were real or fake seems to be the question du jour, but what ought to be investigated instead is what kind of a person allows their tear ducts to fill in full view of the voters. Crying didn't work for Ed Muskie back in the seventies, but then he actually wept, whereas Hillary just welled up. Shrewd, eh. We'll probably never know if HRC's piquant display of vulnerability was real or faked, (recall the old adage which applies equally well to both acting and politics, "if you can fake sincerity, you've got it made.") but let's face it, after Tuesday night's-what would one call it- I know, "non debate speakathon", where it was revealed to Hillary by the event's moderator that voters found Senator Clinton less likeable than either John Edwards or Obama, the temporal correlation between that moment and Clinton's public emotional display is, well, of interest.

In the meantime, the U.S. economy continues to fall apart as reflected in the orderly but savage decline in share prices. Gold is another canary in the coal mine as it slices towards $900 dollars an ounce like the proverbial hot knife though butter. Trouble is brewing big time and if something doesn't change soon, and there's no real reason it should, something besides
Hillary's tears, something far more real and meaningful, will be grabbing the headlines away from the latest primary victor.

So Much To Hate and So Little Time...

to sufficiently rant and rave about it. I seem to be on something of a tear of late with this blog, but that's the way it goes. I write when the spirit moves me, and lately I'm rather moved. I'm pretty sure it's the result of watching the economy go down the toilet, too much weather of the sort which keeps one indoors, and the political silly season, where one has to listen to so much drivel from so many fatuous twits it almost defies belief.

Today, I had the misfortune of hearing a former Senator from Oklahoma, David Boren, tell me what the American people are tired of. Personally I have no idea what they are (sick and) tired of, though I could hazard an educated guess or two. In any case, I doubt Boren knows anymore than I do about the pet peeves of the average voting citizen. Where Boren went off track by my lights was when he asserted that the citizenry are tired of the two parties spending all their time blocking each other's legislative initiatives. We Americans want Congress to work together to solve all our pressing problems or so Boren would have it. I fairly gagged when the shibboleth of bi-partisanship was hauled out. If Boren is correct and Americans operate on the premise that the problem with government is one of non co-operation, then I am afraid a reality adjustment is in serious order.

The very idea that Congress is full of obstructionists on both sides of the aisle is, not to put too fine a point on it, rubbish, and provably so. Democrat Boren should know better than to suggest that both parties have been equally obstructive if not destructive to legislating. Please know that I say that as someone who feels that the average Democratic denizen of Congress isn't worth a bucket of warm spit. But facts are facts, as The Gipper liked to point out, and the facts are that the Republicans have had, until very recently, control of the Executive and The Legislative branches of government for many years and have managed to make an absolute hash out of virtually everything they have touched. The Republicans more so than the Democrats, who certainly deserve a a strong measure of opprobrium for being feckless chumps, have had their way with government, and if Americans are fed up, the lion's share of their discontent ought to begin and end with Republican legislative malfeasance.

This is why the Democrats in the form of Barack Obama-who I now sense is going to beat Hillary like a red headed step child- will wipe the floor with whoever the Republicans put up, whether it's the slick Reagan lover Romney, or folksy Jesus freak, Mike Huckabee.

Obama and The Hick.

Well, well, well, with this evening's Iowa Caucus projections in, Hillary looks to actually have a race on her hands. Why depending on the outcome in New Hampshire, HRC could conceivably even come up short in her drive for the nomination. As for the Republicans, slickster Mitt Romney just had his counterfeit ass handed to him in Iowa by no less than Mike Hick, er Huckle... uh, Huckabee. I would just love to see Mittstake get drubbed in N.H. too (don't count on it) because, well, he sucks... big time. I was rather disappointed to see Ron Paul come in behind that pompous, fat head, Fred Thompson. If ever a candidate deserved to get not one single vote, it would have to be old Fog Horn Leg Horn from Tennessee. In general, anything from the South, other than barbecue, sucks donkey dicks. The region is a cancer on the nation, and should it ever decide to secede, the rest of the country would do well to enthusiastically let them. Besides, it's about to turn into a dust bowl anyway. But I digress.

This election season is shaping up to be the sort where the unexpected becomes commonplace. And who should be surprised? After all, the nation is heading into a recession, probably one so severe that it stands excellent odds of morphing into a full scale Depression. Just give it time. Between Congress and The Executive, collectively the most corrupt bunch Washington has seen in many generations, the odds are high that nothing will get done to arrest the ongoing and widespread financial and economic disintegration. In the meantime, enjoy the political games, they promise to be wild, woolly, and increasingly desperate if the front runner campaigns start to seriously falter.

Song of the South, Lament of a Nation.

For some of us there are times when the tendency to reduce complex phenomena to simple causes over rides more sophisticated analysis. With that in mind, I submit that over the last few decades the south has played an especially large role in the degradation of national politics. In making my case for the south's role in this "degradation", it might be helpful if I first establish some evidence relating to the putative scope of the south's influence on national politics. To that end, I offer that for twenty of the last twenty eight years, by my count, southerners, two from each party, have occupied the White House. From Jimmy Carter to two terms of Bill Clinton and three from The Bush family, the results have been, by common consensus, less than scintillating. In more recent times the results
have been nothing short of appalling.

I offer as some sort of disclaimer, that though I no longer live there, I too am from the south, born in the erstwhile capital of The Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia, raised there and in a small town, a village really, just west of Charlottesville, famous in some parts as the home of The University of Virginia, the proudest creation of the nation's third President, Virginian, Thomas Jefferson.

Years ago, political analyst Michael Lind wrote extensively about the south's inordinate and damaging influence on the conduct of national politics, and in the
roughly fifteen years since he made his initial observations little has changed. In fact, the trend seems to have only intensified as a plethora of mountebanks such as former White House occupant Bill Clinton, our sitting President, and presidential wannabee Mike Huckabee, a proud proponent of creationism, collectively pollute national politics with a combination of sloth, stupidity, and retrograde thought that would make an average high school history student blanche.

The demographics of the south are likely at least partly responsible for that region's overweening influence. More people have settled in the south over the last few decades than any other region in the country, and unfortunately, rather than raise the consciousness of the region regarding such issues as global warming, gun control, abortion, the place of religion in the public sphere, etc. etc., the newer citizens of the south seem to have been subsumed by the region's longstanding and infamous backwardness.

Another contributor to the south's special power may be due to the dominance of the visual medium as our primary means of mass communication. National political campaigns are determined by the vagaries of the boob tube, where complex thinking and nuance have never played well. In such an environment, it is no wonder that the sort of folksy and fatuous drivel of the sort profferred by the Clintons and Bushes, and lately Mike Hick, er Huckabee, finds a large and eager audience. This in turn influences other political players, who ought to know better, to dumb down their own message and approach to politics. This phenomenon may have something to say about why there is so little variation in thought within each of the respective political parties as compared to times past. Alternatively, if there are substantial gradations in thinking in the two parties, which I doubt, the generally dumbed down approach to politics simply stifles any forward thinking that might dare to manifest.

It would be hard to find, at least in any advanced nation, a political class that is more behind the curve than the collection of half wits who occupy the seats of power in Washington. Where in the halls of government is there even a vaguely intelligent energy policy being crafted? Once again, we must turn, in the manner of one facing the Medusa, towards the south. Our energy policy, such as it is, is spearheaded, I use that term advisedly, by a failed Texas oilman who uses armed force to attempt to control the planet's fast dwindling oil reserves. That is the essence of our nation's energy policy and no area of the country has more to say about that than Dixie.

As I write this entry I am aware that my thesis is, to some extent, flawed, and that the question of regional influences on national trends in politics is indeed quite complex. However, in the meantime, while I ponder the issue more deeply, don't be surprised if our next President possesses a bit of a draaaawl and has a special fondness for fried foods, and of course, Jaeeesus.

NIMBY REVISITED.

For those of you who read my NIMBY piece from late last summer, you might find the following of interest.

http://www.boston.com/news/health/blog/2007/11/scientific_pane.html

On Track For..."The Greater Depression."

There really isn't a whole lot to say that I haven't already commented on regarding the fast imploding U.S. economy. However, in the event that I left some things out in prior discussions, the following are what amount to proximate causes for what may one day be referred to as "The Greater Depression."

1.) The greatest housing bust since the thirties, the result of mendacity, appalling judgement, and an absolute abdication of responsibility on the part of a whole host of players from The Federal Reserve, Congress, the greater banking community, mortgage originators, home builders, and borrowers.

2.) A U.S. financial system (as represented by money center banks and Wall Street broker dealers) that is almost certainly insolvent due to capital reserves that are presently non-performing or destined to become so. The marked to myth models that have heretofore allowed financial institutions to mistate their balance sheets will not persist and can not be swept under the rug by figures like Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson via preposterous nostrums such as The Master Liquidity Enhancement Conduit.

3.) The early stages of a massive global dollar dump that will not reverse itself unless and until the monetary and governmental authorities do that which they are clearly utterly averse to, namely demand complete balance sheet transparency by financial institutions coupled with a new commitment to thoroughly responsible financial and fiscal policy. As per their Constitutional prerogative, pardon me, responsibility, Congress, ought to be playing the major role where the conduct of the money supply is concerned, but given the calibre of deliberative body they have become, that is most unlikely.

Make whatever preparations you can now for the difficult times ahead.