Many people try hard to say that racists such as Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling are an aberration. That all is ok in America now, really; after all we have the black president now, twice actually, so it must be true, racism must be dead in America. What is true is that in the last two presidential elections enough non-racist Americans of all races voted and fortunately outnumbered the racists that voted. Certainly not the same as racism is in the past. One only has to look at gerrymandering to see the current strength of racism and bigotry in America. There doesn’t seem to be much debate, republicans do have the smaller party, yet they totally dominate the House. Despite getting fewer popular votes in the last election, because of gerrymandered districts they maintained control of the House. If you contort the districts to concentrate the bigots and dilute the non-bigots in the correct proportions you can steal the prize, it’s math not democracy. Not very honorable but then honor is not the objective; power, control, and ultimately money is the objective. Regardless of district manipulations it still takes a real boat load of bigots to pull this off; a handful of left-overs from a mythical by-gone era won’t cut it. Republicans understand well the potential inherent in bigotry. They already have the rich folks but to stack the numbers they really need they cultivate these bigots like sand in oysters. And bigots are an easy mark; they are so consumed with their hate for the “others” that they can even be openly lead to vote against their own self interests. And the media really needs to stop referring to these congressional republicans as ideologues. It’s dishonest and makes them (the media) complicit in promoting the scam. Call them what they are, hard core strategists protecting their individual revenue streams for as long as they possibly can. This is classic hair on the knuckles. The country be damned, the constituents be damned, it’s business, it’s about staying flush. I get it, I wish I was flush. Now if we were to follow the logic of black president = racism dead we would have to conclude that if Hillary wins the presidency then wife/girlfriend beatings in the US will cease and desist, that girls and women will no longer be sold into sex slavery in the US, that pay for women will no longer be less than that of a man, blah, blah, blah.
Power To The People
Port Tack 
ISIS Crisis
23 AugThe US, who are we? Who do we want to be? As a nation we should finally be maturing beyond this cape crusader crap. The countries that surround ISIS (besides Iraq/Syria) are Turkey, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Given ISIS’ business plan, why aren’t these wealthy countries pounding big time on ISIS? But then why should they spend their money and resources when the ever adolescent US is always more than eager to don the saggy pants, flash some bad ink and play toughest kid on the block. The US forever trying to prove its manhood to its young self, to be the quarterback hoisted onto the adoring shoulders of the world. The world that holds us in contempt. Manhood must be singled out here as there are no women anywhere in charge of any war machines. When do we ever get to move to the boring adult table where wisdom reigns and manhood is measured by how well one cares for the family, the extended family stretching from shore to shore? All this BS about being the only country that can save the world from______________, fill in the blank, is standard teenage rationalization for continuing to play the video game. We have no savior destiny; we’re a simple mortal player like everyone else doing a stretch on the planet. And where is Switzerland, Japan, Russia, Brazil, to name a very few? Why aren’t they terrified of ISIS? They are by definition infidels too, surely they need some bloody CC, conquering and converting, why do they have no skin in this game? Could a US citizen turned ISIS commando fly on home and blow some of us up, yes. Or some cop in Missouri could blow us up, dead feels dead by any hand.
Even the evil ISIS needs a trumped up excuse to rampage, God tells them to; not too original but what are you going to do, it is a tried and true classic. Reduce temptation: we could just round up ALL the Americans in Iraq and bring them home removing one excuse that we use for ourselves. Actually what are these Americans doing in Iraq anyway? What vital function do they provide toward our general welfare? We need some cost analysis on this one. Even if you pretend that their continued presence is essential to American well-being how the hell could they get any work done under these circumstances. Is their charge in Iraq now really just to stay alive? What Iraqis are they conducting official US business with these days, the woefully inept Iraqi government? Picture that, Iraqi officials and diplomatic representatives of our congress working on anything. This refusal to extract Americans from Iraq feels very much like “you’re not the boss of me”. It’s the kind of posturing that neighborhood gangs do to act out sad fantasies of gloriously defending property that someone else owns. Think we will look weak to totally vacate Iraq? Think the Lindsey Grahams and John McCains are strategically brilliant? Face saving is a childish response to adult problems. Our crumbling infrastructure and failing transportation systems actually do make us weak. Our declining educational product makes us weak. Our unemployment crisis makes us dangerously weak. The assaults on voting rights weaken the core of our ideology. And on and on. Say no to war.
Power to the People
Tags: Congress, Cowards in Politics, Foreign Policy, hypocracy, Military, Money, Oil, Political Fortitude, politics, progressive commentary, Voter Obstructionism, War