Who's Really Calling the Plays?

I want to say a few words on what may be a hot button issue... I'm talking here about the Israeli response to attacks by terrorists... or the U.S. response for that matter, but today the Israelis.

Most of the world got its collective knickers in a serious twist over Zidane, the French soccer player who succumbed to verbal taunts to get himself thrown out of the World Cup final. France lost the game, of course, after the best soccer player in the world took himself out of the game.

In the context of mid-east politics, I don't get that anyone in Hamas or Hezbollah seriously expects to "win" against Israel in the field. Their game is to foment mistrust and hatred of Israel and to gain sympathy, if not support, for their position. I think Israel is playing right into their hands.

I appreciate that Israel has a right to defend itself, but I seem to remember a time when Israel was able to do that with some finesse; when a move against Israel was an invitation for the Mossad to eat your lunch. Now a comparative handful of people can send a couple of rockets into Israeli territory and provoke a massive retaliation. They know they can do this, and they can do it over and over and over again.

An Israeli dies and Israel kills ten... apparently any ten will do. To what extent do you suppose this is going to improve Israel's position in the midEast?
Who is really in control?

Of course I can understand why Israel is reacting as it is... for the same reason Zitane head-butted Materzzi. Now Israel has been drawn into bombing columns of refugees while violating Lebanese sovereignty. Who thinks Israel has fewer enemies this week than two weeks ago? Who thinks they have more?

Maybe it's just me and I'm missing something important, but it seems to me that if you're a victim of a crime you call a cop. You don't call the army... especially when that's what the criminals are hoping for.

On Things They Didn't Teach in Civics Class

Joared raises the question of the extent to which apparent voter apathy can be attributed to their lack of understanding of the political process. I think that's an excellent point.
I have always thought of myself as politically involved and aware, and I enjoy exploring the social sciences as much as anyone. Yet it was not until this spring that I became aware of the roots and extent of our two-party system of government and of Presidential Signing Statements.
I don't expect anything I say to drag a single viewer away from the World Cup, but a President who enjoys the confidence of less than 40% of the electorate writes his own law and the opposition party, led by Howard Dean, is running Bob Casey for Senate... Bob Casey who is more conservative than Rick Santorum.
I would encourage readers to check out John Dean's article on Presidential Signing Statements. This guy was inside the first neo-fascist administration, and he knows how things work.
I don't know why these things aren't explored by the time one graduates from high school... although I suspect it's never been a high educational priority for either party... but, even at its best, good government demands the participation of the electorate. If everyone who found Namibia on a map or who now knows what "Suri" means in Hebrew could just take a minute to find out what their legislative representatives did last week. If you've read this and know the score of yesterday's game between Germany and Argentina, you have the time.

On a Much Lighter Note...

Friday was, of course, Take Your Dog to Work Day.
Max and I are about halfway through an obedience training course I enrolled us in because he likes to run up to people, dogs, whatever, and jump up on them in greeting. Of the seventeen people - other than myself - in the suite yesterday, two were averse to touching Max and the other fifteen all encouraged him to jump up on them rather than bending over to pet him as he sat.
To the kids in my apartment complex: I'm sorry but this is going to take a little longer than I planned.

I Have to Say A Few Words About...

the shootings in Hamdania, Haditha and Salahuddin.

I am heartsick that a Hospital Corpsman is among the accused in the Hamdania murder. I am sickened that any eight guys would engage in what was - apparently - a lynching, but for a Corpsman to be involved is a blow. I hope against hope that he, at least, will be exonerated... not an Ollie North slide on a technicality but exonerated.
There was probably a Corpsman with my great-uncle when he fell at Belleau Wood... there is a Corpsman depicted in the Marine Corps Memorial... there was a Corpsman on the roof with the Marines in Khafji in '91. I don't even want to think about a Corpsman complicit in a murder dishonoring both the Marine Corps and the Hospital Corps. I hope it ain't so.

Unconventional warfare eats at the soul. Thinking about it, it's like the Katrina of war... totally disruptive. You can do absolutely everything right and still get blown up, and it makes people nuts.
That's why the military has NCOs. When the folks start getting a little squirrely, someone is supposed to tell them to get back into their HMMWVs and carry on with the mission. The expectation is that the man in charge will be in charge, and keep his people on task. There are... to all appearances... three NCOs who were at least seriously derelict in their duties.

I don't really have a point to make here. I'm just sick that a Corpsman has been charged, and I'm ticked at the senior NCOs who failed their troops, their service and their country.

A Word About Hospitalman Zachary M. Alday

Hospitalman Zachary M. Alday, 22, of Donalsonville, Ga., died June 9 from injuries sustained earlier in the day when the vehicle in which he was riding struck a land mine. His unit was conducting combat operations against enemy forces in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq.
Doc Alday was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 7th Regimental Combat Team, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), Camp Pendleton, Calif.
With nearly all of the Corpsmen I've mentioned in here there has been an untold back story. I'm struck by the fact that Doc Alday's guestbook at Legacy already runs to five pages, and WALB, his local NBC affiliate station, did a piece on him.
The President and others say things like we can't let these deaths have been in vain. Well, they either were or they weren't, and there's nothing to be done about that now except to mark their sacrifice.
Semper Fi.

Things They DIdn't Teach Me in Civics Class

I haven't posted in awhile so I thought I might share what I've learned about the institutionalization of the two-party political system.
I personally feel that partisan politics is poison to any version of democracy. It has been my experience that at some (early) point in the life of any organization the organization will begin to put its own interests over those of their former constituents. I don't care what "club" my representatives belong to. My concern is whether or not they will represent my views in the legislature. In American politics it is all about which "club" the representative belongs to, the Republicans or the Democrats. I was particularly struck by my reading that Sen. Jim Jeffords, following his switch from Republican to "Independent" had to make the Deal to align himself with the Democrat's Senate Leader in order to retain his committee assignments. In effect, any truly independent candidate sent to Washington (or Sacramento) would also have to make the Deal if she were to have any power in the legislative process.
The two-party system was institutionalized in the Senate in the 1920s. The Majority and Minority Leader positions have existed in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1899. The rationale for these positions, which have no Constitutional basis, was that governance had become so complex that legislative leadership needed to be defined and consolidated.
It's kind of sad. In 1854 the Republican Party was formed and received more than 30% of the votes in 1856 (John Fremont was considered by many to be too soft on immigration). They elected Lincoln in 1860. That's unlikely to ever happen again.
In other modern governments... the U.K. and Israel to name two... it is not uncommon that no party wins an outright majority in the general elections and collaboration and compromise are called for to form an effective government. Here we have A or B, chocolate or vanilla, and that's effectively it.
The voters have all of the power to take control back from the Republican and Democratic Party fundraisers, but apparently have little interest in doing so. In California only 34% of registered voters cast a ballot in this month's primary election. The Party-backed candidates all won nomination. Once again potential change-agents stayed home in droves.
It's hard not to get discouraged. From now until November I'll hear why Schwarzeneger is a better or worse choice than Angelides, and neither one of them has any interest or intention whatever in representing me.

Exasperation Day

Yesterday I was talking with a co-worker who told me that she never voted in the primaries... only in the general elections... because all they do in the primary is choose who will run in November. She was serious. I tried to get through to her that this was exactly the reason the primaries were so important. The primaries are where change happens!
The institutional Democrats won again in California. The opportunity for change has passed. Angelides apparently won by less than five percentage points... Garamendi and Brown (Brown? Governor Moonbeam for Attorney General?) by wider margins.
All that's left for November is to once again choose between the lesser of two evils.
No... I need to start looking at third party slates.

My Political Rant for the Primaries

Lest I bury the lead, I want to give props to Ronni at Time Goes By for pointing me to Unity 08. Their aim - to identify, nominate and elect national leadership not on the basis of their nominal party affiliation, but on their positions with respect to issues the voters have defined - may seem like an impossible or at least unlikely dream, but I've said before that no more than 30% of voters are defined by their party affiliations which leaves 70% of us who have become enured to the prospect of choosing the lesser of two evils. It could happen.

The California primary election is this Tuesday. The partisan political process is simply mind-numbing which some pundits are saying may be by design.
Phil Angelides is the Democratic Party's choice for Governor which gives him two strikes on my card. His earliest ad began with "Sen. Feinstein, Sen. Boxer... and others you trust..." All I need to know about Dianne Feinstein is that she just voted to confirm Gen. Hayden to lead the CIA. My earliest awareness of Sen. Boxer had to do with her unwavering opposition to all things military. I don't know if Steve Westly can beat Angelides, but so far he hasn't lied so that I've caught him at it.
John Garamendi has been in Sacramento or D.C. for thirty years and wants to be Lieutenant Governor this time.
Jerry Brown (Jerry Brown? Again?) wants to be Attorney General... What?
Charles Calderon... he was in the Assembly, then he moved up to the State Senate but got term-limited, and now he wants to go back down to the Assembly.
Once again I go into the booth to vote against the least palatable alternative.
Pundits point out that the voter turnout in Anbar province was higher than it will be here on Tuesday. In Anbar province there are more than two parties. I know there are more than two parties here, too; but given our legislative structure it comes down to only two.
Maybe... maybe if we can win one... if we can vote for and elect a President in 2008... maybe then we can tackle the two-party system in the legislative branch.
That would be a hoot.

Other Points of View I Don't Get

Is there a class in liberal economics somewhere that I could take? I ask because I'm obviously missing something, and when I ask people about it they just look at me like I'm speaking Croatian.
Phil Angelides is running for the Democratic slot in November's gubernatorial election, and his platform seems to consist in large part of "making the multi-millionaires and large corporations pay their fair share." I can see why that sings to voters, but I have no idea why anyone would give it any credence.
I try to point out that corporations do not pay taxes, that corporations are not people, that consumers pay the taxes levied on corporations. I point out that the last two airliners that will ever be built in California have just been flown out to their buyers. Corporations and their multi-millionaire corporate officers and investors can live anywhere while having their product (to the extent that we still create products) manufactured anywhere. If I win the Lotto I can buy a condo in Nevada for residency purposes and still enjoy the California lifestyle.
I'm also having an issue with the people whining about the "farmland" in South L.A. Los Angeles takes 14 acres to build a trash-to-energy plant, but the environmentalists blocked that. (Way to go, guys. Still have the trash and no new energy sources, but what the hey.) The courts tell L.A. to give the owner his land back, but now there are squatters gardening there. The owner agrees to sell to them, but they can't afford to buy so now we have Joan Baez, Daryl Hannah, and a couple of tree-sitters protesting. I am mindful of last year when we were all ready to tar and feather Justice Souter for ruling against propery rights. I still believe the Supreme Court was wrong then, and that the squatters have no legal claim now.
So... what am I missing?

A Word About Sen. Lloyd Bentsen

I'm experiencing a personal sense of loss with the news of Sen. Bentsen's passing.
There are so very few remaining in national politics who engender any feeling of respect, and - for me - he was certainly one of the few. He put me in mind of Jimmy Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
Rest in peace, Senator.

A Word About HM3 Lee Hamilton Deal

Petty Officer Third Class Lee Hamilton Deal, 23, of West Monroe, La., died May 17, as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was operationally assigned to Regimental Combat Team-5, I Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), and permanently assigned to 2nd Marine Division Fleet Marine Force Atlantic, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
HM3 Deal had a life... and he might have had a good life.

Semper Fi

Too Many Alternatives

So much to talk about and so little time... There are so many offenses at so many levels and I can choose only one at a time to explore.

The President's nomination of Gen. Hayden to head the CIA is a natural for me. Mr. Bush, in clear violation of FISA and the "Patriot Act," sets the NSA on a program of domestic spying; and now he nominates his director of that program, an officer of the U.S. Air Force sworn to defend the Constitution, to head the CIA. On the other hand, the neo-fascists have done their preparation well, and more than 60% of Americans are more in fear of their "enemies" than of losing their civil liberties.

I'm leaning toward state or local stories.

A Bay-area judge has suspended the California high school exit exam because it discriminates against... well, basically kids who can't pass it. His points are well-taken, that English-learners and the poor have a harder time passing the test. In my opinion, it is this kind of thinking that has made a high school diploma worthless. The exit exam tests English and math competency at the ninth grade level, and if a "graduate" can't pass that then how on Earth can I give him a job? How does he break out of the cycle of poverty?

The California Governor contest exemplifies why I stopped working on campaigns. Steve Westly appears to be a fiscal conservative who sings to a majority of voters in the polls, but Angelides is getting the Democratic Party endorsement apparently because... in the tradition of Gray Davis and Cruz Bustamente... he's next in line, works well for or with public employee union leaders, and has a ton of money from his real estate developer connections.

Meanwhile, Arnold, whose only virtue was that "his heart is in the right place," has also suddenly found a ton of money for next year's budget to pay off/pay back the money he "borrowed" from public programs during the first two years of his administration. The poorest and most disadvantaged? Well, they need better connections, don't they?

Both parties are stumping for the ultimate election-year lie: the $37 Billion building program with "no new taxes!" Why is California's bond rating right down there with Louisiana's? Could it be because Californians... as many Americans... don't recognize that debt must eventually be repaid? "Win-Win" my ass. It's at least 30 years of debt-service (interest), and hopefully an eternity of refinancing so you never have to repay the principal.

P.S. I didn't mention that the levee repairs at New Orleans won't be ready by June 1st after all.
When you see people such as Secretary Rumsfeld complaining that criticism of the Administration is damaging the U.S. position overseas you just want to scream: "Then stop lying! You are accountable to us! We're supposed to challenge you! That we catch you at it is your fault!"

Where to start...

Speaking of Really Bad Ideas...

I know that I need to work on not just wildly ranting here if I care at all about anyone ever reading this, but in 2006 with not one but two dumb-ass wars going on, massive Reagan-esque deficits, and millions of Americans reduced to planning their lives around oil company profits I learn that Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) wants to usurp a national park to open a recreational killing field for military personnel.
I lived in Mr. Hunter's gerrymandered district for a number of years. He does have a distinguished military record, but every once in awhile you see him in the Alec Baldwin role in Mercury Rising.
I don't presume to speak for all veterans... or for any veterans other than myself... but it strikes me as a little... more than a little... sick to expropriate one of the beautiful Channel Islands from the National Park system, transport populations of non-native deer and elk onto it, and then to invite people... even military people who arguably deserve recreational opportunities... to kill those populations just for the hell of it.
Geez, Duncan, call the animal shelter in El Cajon and maybe they'll let you gas some puppies or something. Better still, get some help.

Things That Made Me Go Hmmm

Yesterday my boss and I had a rare conversation that didn't involve work, and we got to talking about the immigration demonstrations taking place. I can't say that I was completely surprised by her attitude because she did vote for Bush-Cheney twice and for Arnold, but still...

Her position on illegal immigration was that life could be hard and that was a shame, but that Mexican economic issues were Vicente Fox' problem and not ours. I pointed out that there did seem to be some degree of bias in the emphasis on the southern border, and she said she didn't really have a problem with that. I asked her if she had any thoughts on the proposal to make illegal immigration a felony and she just dismissed that out of hand saying, "It'll never pass." Then it got a little surreal...

I asked how she could maintain such unsympathetic views given that her first language was Spanish. She responded that these migrants were different, not like her grandparents when they came across in 1940. These migrants, in her view, weren't committed to the U.S., but to providing for their families in Mexico and returning to Mexico at the earliest opportunity. Why, they don't even have established businesses and phone numbers. They only have cell phones, and can't be found from one year to the next if she wants them to do more work around her home.

She also mentioned that migrant families received more services for her tax dollars than she did, especially because she had to pay all those taxes for schools and her daughter goes to a private school. She acknowledged that this was generally true of all poor people though and not just migrant families. You've got to feel for those Republicans.

Okay, I admit that I have issues with the flags. Display the American flag right side up, and don't display the flags of other countries at all. I'm a huge fan of the freedom of speech, but I get this visceral response to disrespect of our flag.

Other than that I personally think we're overdue for recognition that the migrants are here, they've always been here, and we don't really and truly want them to go away. Deal with it.

Doing What's Right

Someone... okay, it was Joared... asked if I had any thoughts on the stories about Wellpoint's Blue Cross of California and Blue Shield denying coverage to beneficiaries.
This item in the April 26 L.A. Times (registration required) presents information given by Blue Cross employees during depositions. This second item in the April 28 L.A. Times reveals that Blue Shield has also been named as a defendant in three similar suits.
Let me just say at the outset that... to me... this stinks. Maybe it's just that no one has ever loved me as much as Mr. Shernoff, the attorney making his living from these cases and similar cases over the years, apparently loves his clients. Maybe it's that I deal with temptation pretty regularly since I now have a history of cancer that makes applying for life insurance... problematic.
The plaintiffs, bless their hearts, have purchased individual coverage policies all of which require a detailed medical history and most of which offer limited coverage for pre-existing conditions. Mr. Norris, one of the plaintiffs, would have the reader believe that he had no idea that disclosure of his son's history of ear aches and speech problems was important for the application, and is aghast that Blue Cross has denied coverage for the $15,000 surgery to remove the child's adenoids.
Listen I know why people do it... and I know why insurance companies have become suspicious when chronic disease suddenly and acutely rears its ugly head immediately after the insurance coverage kicks in. The plaintiffs probably aren't bad people... they are people in need. The insurance companies may very well be run by bad people, but they aren't in business to lose money; and if they don't catch fraudulent (or "oops" or whatever) applications at the front end then they have to raise all of our premiums to cover the losses. Consumer needs versus corporate fiduciary duty... or greed.
What we need is Universal Health Coverage. Until we get that these stories are going to go on and on.
Oh, and I'm happy that Mr. Shernoff and Mr. Flanagan got their names in the paper. Way to go, guys!

Woman, 82, Get Ticket for Slow Crossing

I saw this story on the news last night...
I live where I live and I can't speak to how things are elsewhere, but there is something fundamentally wrong with a society that is in such a damn hurry that it can't wait for a person to cross the damn street.
Yeah,, they picked the lady with the unusual attire and walking staff to headline and interview on camera, but she's not the only one to get a ticket and I'm not sure I could have sprinted across Foothill Blvd. up in the Valley even before I broke my leg a year ago last Sunday. Five lanes in under ten seconds? Even less after you wait for the red-light runners to clear the intersection.
Some of us have some explaining to do when we come to judgment for the way we treat people.

A Few Words Regarding HM3 Marcques Nettles

Update: Petty Officer Nettle's body was recovered last Sunday, April 16.
It may seem a little thing to some that his body has been found... that now he can be properly laid to rest.... but it is important. He died in the line of duty, and he deserved better than a DUSTWUN designation. He deserved, at least, to come home.
Semper Fi

Getting killed has to suck. A catastrophic injury might suck even worse. On April 2 a bunch of Marines and Doc Nettles in a 7-ton truck got swept off the road in a flash flood in Iraq. Six Marines were killed and their bodies recovered. Doc Nettles and one of his Marines haven't been found yet... "Duty Status - Whereabouts Unknown." That just might take the prize.
I keep thinking if Buford was over there... missing eight days... knowing that can't be a good thing... lost in the muck in some crap stream bed in Iraq... and my heart goes out to the families of Petty Officer Nettles and the missing Marine, and to all who care(d) about them.

Happy Birthday, Ronni!

There were two blogs that pushed me to start mine, and Time Goes By was one of them.
If you haven't already, please pop in on Ronni and wish her a well-deserved Happy Birthday!

A Shameful Moment of Pettiness

Okay, listening to this story as I type this...
is anyone else wondering who really asked for all of that data from Google and what they wanted to use it for?

In Memory of Hospitalman Geovani Padilla-Aleman

Hospitalman Geovani Padilla-Aleman, 20, of South Gate, Calif., died Apr. 2 as a result of enemy action in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.
He was permanently assigned to Bethesda Naval Hospital, USNS Comfort Detachment and operationally assigned to Third Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment, 2/28 Brigade Combat Team.
Semper Fi