It’s sooo hard to avoid American politics right now. Our government is totally corrupt; companies basically buy policy, to the benefit of the powerful, at the detriment of the average Joe (or Jane). Rush Limbaugh arrested again for drug-related problems. Six conservative politicians got caught trading votes for sex (by a group providing them with prostitues and limo service…remind me again of why the conservatives hated Clinton?). Oil prices. Fundamentalist religious values infecting and corrupting science. The administration’s efforts to squash alternative energy (and literally altering the text of scientific reports…when the administration’s “editor” got caught, he quickly resigned and went to work for a petrochem company…I mean, fucking hello…). Wiretapping civilians. Secret prisons. Torture. Iraq. Global warming (yes, it’s real…). Darfur. Sudan. Rumsfeld undermining the military (in ways that are routinely disasterous for our troops). Unanswered questions about 9/11. Karl Rove, architect of misinformation. Right-wing politicians moving back and forth between petrochem companies and government offices (in critical places like the FDA…conflict of interest?). The conservatives weakening “expensive” programs for the people (FEMA, Medicare, et al), then pointing to them as failures and asking to dismantle them (…who does this benefit? Who does it hurt? Follow the money…). Tom Delay and a thousand other paid-for-politicians. Agent Valerie Plame being outed by the Republicans for political gain (to support a lie). The totally Orwellian information coming from Washington (…spelled out by the just-released annual report, a massive increase in terror attacks equals, somehow, that the world is safer from terror…that’s their response to the report? Really? Examples of the Orwellian language abound…a bill introduced that allows companies to put more mercury into the air we breath is called Clear Skies, WTF?). Secrets. Lies. Etc.

I am going to get some exercise today, run some errands, hang out with my g/f and play some Oblivion (I hope).

Howard Zinn, at it again. I’m embarassed to admit that I learned about Zinn and read A People’s History of the US after seeing the movie Good Will Hunting.

Howard Zinn on Truthout.org

I just got back. This year’s walk was fun and cool…bright and sunny, moving through the blocked-off streets downtown.

The band played a Pogues cover, which rocked.

I think the event continues for a while, if you’re interested (and in Austin).

Safe Place Walk

A random pug in a stroller…

Reposting here, since my bulletins got buried under an avalanche of insanity.

This first article blows my mind. The perspectives of historians are interesting, focusing on analysis of presidential successes and failures (on the left and right). It’s long, but mind blowing; much of this you probably know, but seeing it together, organized as the criteria against which leaders are judged, is amazing.

Truthout Article

This second link is a book review, but it sounds fascinating:

Salon Book Review