Balls and Walnuts
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Category Archives: Political rants
I’m the Daughter of a Traitor
Most of my family were thrown in internment camps during WWII by FDR for the “crime” of being Japanese-American. Of course, none of those internees ever committed even a slightly treasonous act but suffered the consequences of the loss of their civil rights.
On the other hand, my (now deceased) father’s story is a great deal more complicated. My great-grandfather was forced to leave Japan because he was a supporter of the old order. When the Meiji restoration occurred (the emperor seized control), he was on the losing side of the power struggle and emigrated to the U.S. where he was a successful farmer. He went back to Japan and bought real estate and lived quite comfortably. His daughter and her husband stayed in the U.S. and that was where my father was born.
He was sent to Japan at the age of seven to be educated. His parents stayed behind, so he was raised by his grandfather, a very strict but fair man. When the shit hit the fan in 1941, my great-grandfather publically stated that the Japanese government had their heads up their asses and would lose the war. The police questioned him but let him go. Actually, the Japanese government and military knew that it was a bad idea but, for extraordinarily stupid reasons, they went ahead and attacked Pearl Harbor anyway. Why would a government knowingly commit an idiotic and catastrophic mistake? (Sound familiar?)
In any case, my father, then 14, suffered beatings and abuse because he wasn’t a “patriotic Japanese citizen.” Determined to prove his loyalty, he ran away from home at 16 and found work making bombs in a Tokyo factory. I suppose he may have committed high treason for this activity. His bombmaking job didn’t last, however.
The U.S. firebombed residential sections of Toyko, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians who were NOT engaged in the war effort. People ran for the rivers but the heat was so intense, the water boiled and they were literally cooked to death. My father saw bloated bodies floating in the water with their skin peeling off their flesh. He escaped the same fate through sheer luck.
After Japan’s defeat and the subsequent economic dislocations perpetrated by Douglas MacArthur, my great-grandfather lost most of his money and had to sell his real estate holdings. My father eventually decided to go to the U.S. He was still a U.S. citizen.
When the Korean War broke out, my father was drafted by the U.S. Army. He served two years and was a model soldier. For the next 50 years, he worked hard, raised a family, and was a law-abiding, contributing member to society.
I believe that a rational person would forgive my father’s “treason.” He was young, his allegiance was to the country where he was raised, he was pressured as disloyal by his peer group, and he later served in the U.S. military (a rather ironic twist, imho).
This is my father’s odd history with bizarre twists and shifting patriotism (or lack thereof). FDR and the U.S. government are hardly the heroes in this story, but neither are the Japanese; atrocities abound for all.
So what country deserves the patriotism of its citizens? George Bush’s America? HAH! Not a goddamn one deserves my loyalty, but that’s a consequence of my family history and post Vietnam/Watergate cynicism.
A liberally dirty joke
Long O.R. day today, plus two trips to the ER, so I find myself short on energy, creativity, and time. Soon, I hope to write a post on this little feller,
the blue poison dart frog, Dendrobates azureus. Hard to believe I’ve been blogging since April and I’ve made scarcely a mention of our frogs.
Maybe later. For now, here’s a joke I heard in the O.R. today. Stop me if you’ve heard this one.
Um . . . any of you who are still in that 36%-who-still-like-George-Bush demographic might want to sit this one out. (more…)
Jews to the right of me, Jews to the left of me
New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Brooks might tick me off as an Op-Ed guy, but he writes a provocative book review. In the November 6 NYT Book Review, he looks at Jerome Karabel’s scholarly work, The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.
Karabel’s book focuses on a quiet revolution which occurred on Ivy League campuses over the course of the 20th century. In the early 1900s, non-White Anglo-Saxon Protestants didn’t bother to apply to these schools; yet “Jews, for reasons that are not clear, never got the message. They applied to Harvard, Yale and Princeton even though they weren’t really wanted. And because many were so academically qualified, they increasingly got in.” (more…)
The Political Cusack
John Cusack has written a somewhat rambling political rant over at the Huffington Post:
On Bush, the Dems, Jon Stewart, Hunter Thompson, Bill Moyers, and King (not Don)
What the essay lacks in focus it makes up for in passion. Great quotes from Thompson, Moyers, and MLK, but Cusack’s commentary on Jon Stewart puts into words something that has been bothering me for a long time:
“. . . when Republicans, who were the ones who led us into this war, and the ones whom he’s so rightly skewering every night, sit across the table from him — there is some kind of unspoken message being given that they are not part of the problem, that they can wink and laugh with Jon and the things he is making fun of. That they are not them, when in fact, they are . . .
And they are getting a free pass to sit next to someone who speaks truth to power. They get reflected hipness just by sitting across the table from him, and the irony is that they share a laugh over the same things that he rails against. As an example, look at the jokey appearances by Bill Kristol, or David Frum. These are not dutiful soldiers standing by their president (which would be bad enough), these are the intellectual architects of the the invasion. Bill Kristol, the editor of the neocon house organ The Weekly Standard, came on and could barely keep a straight face when he said that Bush was a good president. And as anyone knows, reflected hipness on these types of men is a truly ugly thing. I would suggest each Republican must face a press conference, or a gauntlet perhaps, of Daily Show correspondents…or at least Lewis Black.”
I suspect Stewart would counter, “But this is comedy, people,” but surely he understands the responsibility of his position? As Cusack points out a bit earlier in the essay, Stewart is all we have — one of the few people with an audience AND the clout to get these guys to show up on his program. I suspect if he didn’t give these guys a walk, they’d stop making appearances.
What to do, what to do . . .
D.
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A prayer for Pat Robertson
LORD,
Given that one of thy most precious qualities is MERCY;
And that thou hast forgiven Pat Robertson for saying 9/11 was YOUR punishment for gays, abortion, and anal bleachings;
And that thou hast forgiven him for calling for the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez;
And that thou hast forgiven him for calling all feminists “child killers”;
And that thou hast forgiven him for a lifetime of hubris, in claiming to know YOUR will;
Respectfully, LORD, I request THOU DROPPEST THE MERCY CRAP and remember one of thy other divine qualities, namely, JUSTICE,
And when thou, in thy divine wisdom, weighest the merits of Robertson’s recent call for a natural disaster to plague all of the men, women, and children of Pennsylvania, sinners and innocents alike, thou shouldest remember the Pharoah of Egypt: for you hardened your heart (sorry, LORD, but those thous and thys have become quite taxing of my puny mortal patience) and punished Pharoah for his sins, oh, how you punished Pharoah — that was truly righteous, LORD, good one! — but can we please, oh please, oh please, have some of that JUSTICE now?
When an ass clown calls for death and hardship for thousands of your faithful, and claims to do it in YOUR NAME, does that get your attention, LORD?
I’m sure you will choose a worthy and just punishment for PAT ROBERTSON (common name, LORD, so I gave you a photo above to help you find the right PAT ROBERTSON), but in case you’re busy and need some help, might I suggest you revive an old favorite — the ten plagues of Egypt? For extra zest, you might add “in his ass” to each of these plagues:
BLOOD in his ass.
FROGS in his ass. Come to think of it, hold off on that one. I like frogs too much.
LICE in his ass.
FLIES in his ass.
A HERD OF DISEASED CATTLE in his ass.
BOILS in his ass. LORD, you could do that one in your sleep.
A HAILSTORM in his ass.
LOCUSTS in his ass.
DARKNESS in his ass. Huh?
DEATH OF THE FIRSTBORN — no, you can stop there, LORD. I always thought you went a wee bit too far on that one. Instead, might I suggest
A GOOD-SIZED, YET NON-LETHAL EXPLOSION in his ass.
Amen.
D.
Technorati tags (thanks to Rob for doing the work for me):
Politics
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Religious Right
Liars
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Pat Robertson
Judith Miller’s Top 10 new job opportunities
Ms. Miller, 57, said in an interview that she was “very satisfied” with the agreement and described herself as a “free woman,” free from what she called the “convent of The New York Times, a convent with its own theology and its own catechism.”
She said that in the few hours since her departure had been made public, she had received several offers “of all kinds” for future employment, which she declined to specify.
Hmm. I can imagine the offers rolling in . . . (more…)
Why I love Harper’s: Full text of new Iraq story
I’ve long been a fan of Harper’s Magazine, the last bastion of unapologetic liberalism. For their November 7 issue, they’ve posted full text of Sam Smith’s story, Revision Thing, A history of the Iraq war told in lies. This story is faithful to its name:
It was absolutely clear that the number-one threat facing America was from Saddam Hussein. We know that Iraq and Al Qaeda had high-level contacts that went back a decade. We learned that Iraq had trained Al Qaeda members in bomb making and deadly gases. The regime had long-standing and continuing ties to terrorist organizations. . . . You couldn’t distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam when you talked about the war on terror.
The story is a chilling reminder of our government’s mendacity. The sheer weight of all of these lies lumped together in one place would sway even those furthest right on the political balance beam. Ah, if only they were reading. That’s one of Harper’s problems: preaching to the converted.
Smith concludes:
There’s no doubt in my mind when it’s all said and done, the facts will show the world the truth. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind.
D.
The buck stops where?
Or, to be more specific: will Dick Cheney fall on the sword for George W. Bush? Consider:
- In his October 19 speech to the New America Foundation, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to then Secretary of State Colin Powell, fingered Cheney and Rumsfeld: “What I saw was a cabal between the vice president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made.”
In the Q&A after the speech, Harlan Ullman commented, “I also think that the cabal really has a leader and the leader is George W. Bush, and I think that it’s the president who’s driving the ship of state.” In his response, Wilkerson made no mention of the president. Search the transcript for mentions of Bush 43, and you’ll find precious few.
- This last Thursday, on National Public Radio, Col. Wilkerson went even further by blaming Abu Ghraib and all other prisoner abuse on Dick Cheney. Read Steven Clemons’s (The Washington Note) story here. From the Editor and Publisher story: Wilkerson said he had some hard evidence: a trail of memos and directives authorizing questionable detention practices up through Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s office directly to Cheney’s staff. The directives, he said, contradicted a 2002 order by President Bush for the military to abide by the Geneva Convention rules against torture.
To my eyes, Wilkerson seems eager not only to pin the blame on Cheney but also to exonerate George W. Bush.
- Elsewhere on the web, John Dean gives us his thoughts on the likely outcome of Special Prosecutor Pat Fitzgerald’s investigation. From Dean’s analysis of the Scooter Libby indictment, he concludes, “it appears Libby’s saga may be only Act Two in a three-act play. And in my view, the person who should be tossing and turning at night, in anticipation of the last act, is the Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney.”
Again, no mention of President Bush. Dean thinks the whole point of the Libby indictment is to get Libby to flip on his boss, Dick Cheney. Another snip: “Will Libby flip? Unlikely. Neither Cheney nor Libby (I believe) will be so foolish as to crack a deal. And Libby probably (and no doubt correctly) assumes that Cheney – a former boss with whom he has a close relationship — will (at the right time and place) help Libby out, either with a pardon or financially, if necessary. Libby’s goal, meanwhile, will be to stall going to trial as long as possible, so as not to hurt Republicans’ showing in the 2006 elections.”
I think Dean’s analysis falls down at this point. A protracted legal battle does nothing to help the Republicans. On the other hand, if Libby and Cheney fall on their swords hard and soon, Bush could say, “Show’s over, folks, time for the country to heal,” put a popular and clean Republican in the #2 slot, and try to patch up his tattered presidency in time for the ’06 congressional elections. As it stands, dubya is more a liability than an asset to the Republican candidates.
D.
Technorati tags: Dick Cheney, George Bush, Dean, Rumsfeld, cabal, Fitzgerald.
Behind the NYT Select firewall
Today’s New York Times Op-Ed lineup features Nicholas Kristof, Frank Rich, and David Brooks. In brief: Kristof calls for Dick Cheney’s resignation, Rich charts the Cheney-Bush Administration’s far-reaching deception and manipulation of the American public, and David Brooks calls us lefties a bunch of paranoid wackos.