Cogitamus

Tony Hillerman, 1925-2008

The first Tony Hillerman book I read was Listening Woman.  To this day I can not only see the dirt road to Hosteen Tso's home, I can taste the dust in the air, see the shimmering heat, feel the gravel of the hill against which Listening Woman would place her head as she found answers for her fellow Navajo.

That was 20 years ago.  It shows the power of Hillerman's craft that he was so consistently able to pack so much description, so much meaning and knowledge into what were, on the surface, simple murder mysteries.  Each one of Hillerman's many mystery novels managed to be theological treatises, commentary on white American culture, an in-depth portrayal of the struggles faced by a people, and the individuals of that people, to hold their ancient beliefs while engaging the modern world, a stunning advertisement for the grandeur of New Mexico and Arizona geography - all packaged in stories light and easy enough to be beach reads.

Hillerman accomplished all of this because he didn't set out to write pretentious, overbearing tomes about weighty issues.  He set out to write stories.  His love for the American Southwest, Native American nations - Navajos in particular - and his keen insight into human nature are what transformed them into the literary treasure they are today.  If you've never read Tony Hillerman's books, do so.  They're completely worth it.  One word of advice:  the day you purchase or borrow your first Hillerman book, start saving for your inevitable trip to the Southwest. 

Tony Hillerman died yesterday of heart failure in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Traditional Navajo belief says that when a person dies, all that is good about them goes away, leaving only their chindi, something that is similar to, but not quite, a ghost.  So people would refrain from touching corpses as much as possible and from speaking the deceased's name for fear of attracting the chindi's attention.  Hillerman had precious little about him that could form a chindi in the first place, and managed to defeat that belief by leaving behind such the gift of his writing.  Rest in peace.

On the Cusp of Generational Change?

The Week in Review section of the New York Times today features a couple of different pieces that pick up a theme that I've been obsessed with over the last couple of months, to wit, the Republican Party has made a series of disastrous demographic bets, and that its reliance upon old reactionary culture war strategies has lost whatever magic it once had.  Timothy Egan writes about the degree to which the bullshit "anti-cosmopolitan, anti-elitist" rhetoric is alienating huge swaths of young, well educated people.  The likely result will be that the McCain will lose the ten most highly educated states in the election.  I know it's hard for right wingers to admit, but high levels of educational attainment generally go hand in hand with economic vibrancy.  They also tend to be incompatible with the flat-earth (old school style, not bad Friedman metaphor style), anti-empirical, and intolerant world views associated with the Palin/Huckabee wing of the Republican Party.  Aim for a base of snake handlers, tongue speakers, and home schoolers, and what do you know, that's what you'll end up with.

Frank Rich weighs in how Republicans and the media overstate the degree to which white voters this year are susceptible to racist and generally antediluvian campaign themes that have been the staple of right wing politics for the last 40 years.  Again, this is a generational change that promises the potential end of the endless re-adjudication of the Sixties and other culture war memes that have been the glue of the Republican coalition.      

David Brooks regrets the road not taken by the McCain campaign, arguing that a sort of progressive Republican campaign in the tradition of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt might have had better success.  I am struck by the incredible historical mendacity of this argument.  Brooks knows better than most, I suspect, that the Republicans long ago made a deal with the devil when they decided to incorporate the evangelical base as the heart and soul of the party.  The end result is that it is people like Brooks (an urban effete latte sipper if I've ever seen one) who are battling for legitimacy in their own party.

I don't want to count on victory before it happens.  I have long been a political pessimist by nature -- my senior thesis in college, written in 1982, was about how the election of Reagan was going to be politically transformative.  I've waited my entire adult life for the moment I believe is about to come.  But if, through dint of good timing, a truly special candidate and our own hard work, a progressive epoch emerges, I suspect that you will find the David Brookses of the world cast aside by a blindly angry right, which will convince itself that the only problem was that McCain was flawed and tepid.  I'm rather looking forward to the carnage.            

The Obama Menace!

Lee's latest.  And it's awesome, as you'd expect--enjoy and share.

Happy Sunday (and Happy Almost-Hallowe'en, and last-week-of-the-Best-Election-Season-Evah, and pre-Día de los Muertos/All Saints Day, and Nearly Guy Fawkes Day) everyone.

Get Some Popcorn And A Comfy Chair - It's Going To Be A Great Show

The increasingly public war between a McCain faction and a Palin faction within the McCain/Palin campaign, let alone within the Republican party at large, should give hope to those of us who have been worrying about the effects the GOP's various voter suppression tactics may have this year.  Clearly the top levels of the Republican party - the people who would know these things - are convinced that their efforts to deny Americans their right to vote are not going to be enough to stem the tide.  They will continue to use every dirty trick at their disposal, of course, whether legal or not.  So Democrats need to continue their vigilance.  It's comforting, however, to be able to trust Democrats in general and the Obama campaign in particular to respond to this vigorously and effectively.

Side note:  This is a good time to publicly thank our own Sir Charles, who will be at the ready throughout this election to lend his considerable lawyering skills in the fight to protect Americans' right to vote.  I almost feel sorry for anyone fool enough to take him on with this issue.  Almost.

While we cannot be complacent, as Obama's newest iteration of his stump speech exhorts, we can start to have fun watching Republicans finally turn their vitriol upon each other as they wage a public civil war to determine who will be the face of the GOP after this election.

Happily there is mounting evidence that Sarah Palin really is as dumb and oblivious to reality as we've been thinking.  Speaking about the campaign's devolution into warring factions, a Palin partisan said

Her strategy was to be trustworthy and a team player during the convention and thereafter, but she felt completely mismanaged and mishandled and ill advised. . .Recently, she's gone from relying on McCain advisers who were assigned to her to relying on her own instincts.

That's USDA-inspected, Grade-A, 100% Angus delusion.  It's also proof that while the dolchstosslegende may have come to us from Weimar Germany, it's purest expression is found in contemporary right wing Americans.

Barney Frank And The 25%

This is pretty impressive stuff:

In a meeting with the editorial board of The Standard-Times, Rep. Frank, D-Mass., also called for a 25 percent cut in military spending, saying the Pentagon has to start choosing from its many weapons programs, and that upper-income taxpayers are going to see an increase in what they are asked to pay.

The military cuts also mean getting out of Iraq sooner, he said.

"The people of Iraq want us out, and we want to stay over their objection," he said. "It's extraordinary." The Maliki government in Iraq "can't sell (the withdrawal deal with the U.S.) because it sounds like we're going to stay too long."

The rule about liberals

They never actually feel what they say they do - they repress and obfuscate so that they can live in the miserable world where women have control over their bodies and it is absurd to spend more than a hundred thousand dollars on clothes in the space of two months that saw millions lost from Americans' retirement savings.

Saturday Morning Awesome*

Via the supremely hip NB, friend and fellow ex-pat.  NB's blog Life Elsewhere is a must-visit for music lovers, especially those who hail from the Seattle area, where NB's radio shows, back in the day, were the stuff of legend.

* Post title shamelessly borrowed from Bob Cesca.

Friday Kitsch Cover

Rise Against does Journey's "Any Way You Want It"

This is really sort of a waste of Rise Against, but what are you gonna do. Leave your nominations for next week's Kitch cover in the comments.

Friday Quick Hits

Once again things are happening so quickly it's hard to keep up - you know it's a wild ride when you can't keep up with stories during the time it takes to go from the start to the finish of a blog post.  So here's several stories that I, at least, find fascinating.

• Ashley Todd, the McCain campaign worker that recently told a story of being mugged, assaulted and disfigured by an apparent Obama supporter has admitted that she made the whole thing up.  Pittsburgh police have said she will face charges over this.  I think what she needs is not criminal charges but qualified and compassionate professional help.  Her actions were not indicative of a healthy emotional state, so here's hoping she gets the assistance she needs.

• Regarding Sarah Palin's (latest) crazy rantings about just what terrorism might be, the National Abortion Federation has a PDF on violence committed against abortion clinics, providers, staff and patients from 1977 through the first half of 2008.  There have been seven murders, 17 attempted murders, 175 arsons and 41 bombings, with another 175 attempts at arson and/or bombing.  They've suffered from almost 400 death threats and over 12,000 instances of hate mail and/or harassing phone calls.  In their "Violence" category, they have over 5,800 separate instances of violence either committed or attempted against those involved in women's health - not all anti-choice terrorists have sufficient intellectual heft to make distinctions between clinics that perform abortions and offices for ob/gyn doctors' groups.  It's an average of 190 violent terrorist incidents a year.  Terrorism by Americans toward Americans is not only a reality, it's common.  I actually agree with the Republicans this year:  it is unbelievable that a major political party can have terrorist sympathizers on its Presidential ticket and no one in media hold them accountable for it.  It's unconscionable that people who give moral and financial support to a terrorist movement are allowed to walk the streets of this nation free men and women. 

• I just saw Credo Mobile advertised on Pandagon and clicked over (hey, blog advertising works!).  They use Sprint's network, though apparently not their customer service team, and seem to have fairly competitive plans.  They'll even buy out your current contract, up to $200/line for up to 3 lines.  I'm tempted to switch over, especially because they support progressive charities.  But does anyone know more about them or use them?  I don't tend to be a super-early adopter, so any info would help.

• Patrick Rogers is really something.  He's been pushing the phony voter fraud story in New Mexico for years.  As with so much else, though, his schemes have been backfiring.  We can thank him for the knowledge that there is an actual "Duran Duran" listed in the Albuquerque phone book, which knowledge helped to inspire others to investigate how many Mickey Mouses, Harry Potters and other unfortunately-named individuals there are in this country.  His latest idea is to hire a private investigator to personally harass individual voters.  Aside from his top-notch investigator's failure to determine that one of the people he was to harass was related to a law enforcement officer in the same city, there's the question of return on investment.  I'm not sure how much money Rogers has, but it's probably not enough to contact every voter individually and try to convince them to not vote.

Especially when some of them have already voted in the general election.  And not to play a race card or anything, but New Mexico is a minority-majority state.  Does Whitey McWhiterson really want to be known in New Mexico as the guy harassing Hispanic voters?

Friday Frank: Easy Meat; Paris, 1980

Things I loved hearing on this gray October Friday:

- "Miss, can I please see your ID for that wine?"

- Hey Deb, Dave of Zencomix made a comic* for you.
Cheers, Michael Hussey

- "Mama, let me know when you post this week's Friday Frank...oh, and I found your keys."

Today's Friday Frank--a long one, with lots of signature changes and a gorgeous solo--is dedicated, then, to Dave, Son Two, and the lovely (if terribly myopic) checkout guy at Publix.

Bon Weekend, everyone.

XXX
D.

* I'll post the whole strip if and when Dave gives me permission.

Sarah's Hard Rock Candy

This song, by Peg Seeger (with a little help from her friends), is definitely what you'd call a ditty, and it's great, lighthearted fun--just what the doctor ordered at the end of a stressful week, I think.

(H/T to jacqueline, with thanks)

Words mean things.

Sarah Palin doesn't know whether Americans who bomb abortion clinics to intimidate their patients and staff are terrorists.  It's not terrorism until it threatens the elites in the federal government.  Regular American women and their doctors, sure, go get 'em.  Don't you worry about going to Guantanamo. 

Real America

Dana Milibank was something of a whipping boy for misquoting a truly wretched misquote of Barack Obama, but this bit of snark about "pro-America" is good stuff.

Scott Garrett Attacks Rabbi Dennis Shulman For Wanting Negotiations With Hamas

This comes to us from a hard-fought New Jersey Congressional race. It's like criticizing a guy who lost three limbs fighting in Vietnam for being unpatriotic! But I guess Republicans had already done that, so Scott Garrett needed to push things a few steps further.

That's a mailer sent out by Garrett. Criticizing a Rabbi for being insufficiently supportive of Israel? I don't speak Yiddish, but I think that counts as chutzpah.

You can give money to Rabbi Dennis Shulman here. He's a pretty interesting candidate, in part because he's been blind since birth. He was endorsed by J Street, and I gave him $200 a couple weeks ago.

Be Relieved! The Credit Crisis Seems To Be Abating!

The most terrifying immediate possibility associated with the financial crisis was that credit markets would suddenly seize up in a way that prevented businesses and local governments from getting short-term loans. This would make it impossible for large numbers of people to get paid. But now the credit markets are easing up and it looks like that crisis is passing.

This chart shows the TED spread over the last three months. The TED spread is the interest rate on interbank loans minus the interest rate on 3-month Treasury bills. When it's high, that means that people are so worried about credit risk that banks are getting nervous about lending to each other and demanding high interest rates. The all-time high was October 10, when it hit 4.65. That had a bunch of economists freaking out. (Historically, it's been around 0.30.) Thanks largely to government intervention, it's now declining. Let's hope it keeps going down.

This doesn't mean that people's massive stock market losses are about to come back, or that we're going to avoid a recession. What it does mean is that a whole bunch of people's jobs aren't going to suddenly vanish tomorrow because somebody couldn't get a loan.

Chuck, You Dumbass

Turnout

• As of the second day of early voting in 2004, 4.3% of the electorate in Texas's 15 most populous counties had voted.
• As of the second day of early voting in 2008, 7.2% of the electorate has already voted.

I have absolutely no idea what to make of this figure. So far turnout is up the most in Houston, San Antonio, Fort Bend, and suburban Austin. There appears to be modest correlation (r = .57) between the size of the increase in early voting and Barack Obama's performance in the Texas primary. This is mixed news for Rick Noriega, who probably needs a bigger turnout from the border counties than what he's getting, but who is at least getting a big boost in Houston.

Tax Cut Bamboozlement: The Fuzzy Math of the John McCain Campaign

Here's a fairly common bit of sleight of hand:

He said Mr. Obama’s promises to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans would amount to “just another government giveaway” for lower income Americans who pay little or no income taxes. Mr. McCain said he would reduce taxes on businesses and capital gains and increase the child tax credit.

Can you spot it?

The Great Halloween Lantern Parade, Baltimore

This is why I love Charm City.  Parade is happening this weekend, Saturday night, if you can make it:      

Unrest

Shorter The Hill: If Obama loses, his supporters will riot because they're angry. If Obama wins, his supporters will riot because they're happy.

No mention of the risk that, say, every pawn shop in "pro-American" parts of the country suddenly runs out of guns and ammo, or domestic terrorism already attempting to intimidate Obama supporters (yes, I know there's a certain amount of this going in the other direction).

Can We?

Voting for the 2008 election has already started.  American citizens all over the world have sent in ballots through the mail, have already started standing in lines to make their choices known.  Despite our many flaws, we can vote for our leaders, we can choose different ones.  We have been able to peacefully transfer executive power in our cities, states and nation over and over again.  All of us, as we participate in the democratic process, should feel proud of this.

But there are citizens of this nation who view voting as a privilege to be guarded and handed out according to strict rules, as a reward for good behavior.  They are afraid when the citizens of this nation participate in democracy, when they exercise their rights.  The Republican party doesn't want you to vote, and it will use any means at its disposal to keep you disenfranchised.

They will file lawsuits, write federal legislation, intimidate you at the polls, send out intentionally deceptive voter information, illegally purge names from voter rolls.  They will plot ever-new and more complex identification rules, deadlines and processes.  The Republican Party doesn't want you to vote, because they don't think you're a real American.  They don't think you matter, that you deserve the benefits this society can confer, that you should be allowed to express your opinion.

Even with all these forces arrayed against us, can we win this Presidential election?

Yes we can.

Even with all the dirty campaigning going on, can we strengthen our majorities in Congress? Can we win against those who would lie about our candidates, who would accuse them of hating America, of a desire to undermine what it means to be American?  Can we win against those who would divide us with bigotry and fear?

Yes we can.

Have you ever stopped to consider just what a tremendous accomplishment Social Security was?  Medicare?  Do you ever think about how hopeless it must have been for abolitionists in the first half of the 19th century?  150 years ago African Americans were slaves.  The United States military was integrated only 60 years ago.  Our schools were integrated six years after that.  The Civil Rights Act wasn't signed until 10 years later.  American women weren't allowed to vote until 1920, and they didn't receive even the partial autonomy over their own bodies they enjoy today until 1973.

Were their circumstances less dire than our own?  Were the forces against change less powerful, less determined, less willing to engage in unethical, illegal and violent behavior?  Were the corporate opponents of unionization less able to fight workers' attempts to organize 100 years ago than they are today?  Of course not. 

We have the tools - better tools, more tools - at our disposal to meet these challenges.  Can we send a powerful statement this November 4th to all those who would hold the USA back from the change it needs?

Yes we can.

Can we move forward from this election, using the staggering organizing power of the internet to band together in order to hold our elected officials accountable to us?  Can we train Democratic politicians to avoid their own worst impulses, teach them the meaning of courage and conviction, demand of them that they respond to us and govern us according to our wishes?

Yes we can.

I have been at war with myself over this election.  I am of at least two minds, secure in the the belief that nothing will truly be accomplished while holding fast to the faith that we are at the beginning of a new era for the United States of America.

My hope comes from the person of Obama himself, and the utterly brilliant people he's gathered to advise him.  Whatever happens on November 4th, Obama and his team have not been surprised.  They were not surprised at anything McCain has done.  They were not surprised that bogus voter fraud charges have become the centerpiece of the detestable Republicans' strategy.  They have lawyers at the ready.  They have fought back hard against the false charges leveled by the Republican party's legions of crooks and cheats, people for whome ethics are an anathema.

Of course, Barack Obama is just a man, a flawed human being like the rest of us.  His advisors and staff are not infallible.  They are not free of the corrupting influence of power, of the temptations that will come at them fast and strong the moment they win the election.  But what this election and all the promise it holds - restoring our reputation and standing in the world, ending the Iraq War, reforming healthcare the right way, reasserting a progressive tax code, investing in sustainable energy, in our students and GIs, in our infrastructure - really hinges upon is you, and me.  Can we hold President Obama accountable to his promises?  Can we grow as a movement, learn to organize better, bring the fight to our opponents at all fronts and all times?  Can we take the destiny of the United States of America in our own hands and direct this nation in the directions it needs to go?

Yes we can.

Yes we can, dammit.

Yes you can, yes I can. 

And we will.

The Northern Virginia Juggernaut

Here's the fivethirtyeight.com guys on Obama's northern Virginia operation that I've been giving you a look at from the perspective of the humble canvasser.  Yes, we have found this communist land ripe for our leftist manipulations. 

We really had the elitist machinery cranked up the other day while canvassing.  Four people in the car and I was the only one without an Ivy League degree.  Naturally I had to drive.  But I refused to wear the chauffeur's hat. 

Funniest moment of the day for me -- I went to the house of an elderly black couple.  The man of the house grumbled while looking at me -- "she said there was a cop at the door."  (I was in jeans and a black leather jacket and what my wife affectionately refers to as my "asshole sunglasses.")  "No sir," I replied, "just a volunteer for Obama" -- although all of us beefy Irish guys do look alike.

Favorite moment -- we went by a house with a couple of McCain signs in the yard and a young woman, probably 19 or 20 years old ran up to us and said "don't worry about the signs, I'm going to cancel out my mother's vote."  We explained early in-person absentee voting to her, which she was deeply interested in.  "I'm going to go out next week and make sure that I cancel out her vote."  We encouraged her to try and change her mom's mind.

Mark my words --- Obama is going to take Virginia and people are going to study for decades to come what his campaign has done there (and elsewhere) in this campaign. 

Saxby Chambliss Should've Registered saxby-chambliss.com

Instead, I got there first.

With enemies like these...

Some Republicans think that McCain's campaign "suspension" can work on a higher level than being a cheap trick, and are trying to paint Obama as a careless partier for having carried on his campaign instead of heading back to Washington to join the headless chickens trying to pass a doomed financial fix.  Oh no, please please please do not throw Obama in that briar patch!  If it's so important to bring your leadership to Washington, Sen. McCain, why not keep working to get yourself elected?  If anyone is to believe that you're as scared of the prospect of an Obama presidency as your ads say you are, they're going to need some sign that you're not just going through the motions because President is the next logical step in your life story.

Keith Olbermann on (Un-)Real Americans

I missed this exceptional Special Comment last night, so I'm thrilled to find it in my In box today, courtesy of Truthout.

But first, a small Special Comment of my own:

Thank you, Mr. Olbermann, for once again bringing out your famous angry edge: when one is attacking the three-headed monster--say hello to racism, fearmongering, and new-millennium-McCarthyism!--that is the current incarnation of the McCain campaign,  only the very sharpest weapons will suffice.

Cheers,
Deborah

[Transcript in full after the jump.]