2016 oligarchy update

-- Jeb Bush goes exploring.  He announced on Facebook, where some derided the quantity of his 'likes' and 'shares'.  This is the state of our political discourse today.  I'm revolted; how about you?

A majority of Americans polled would prefer he just go straight to painting portraits and landscapes.

-- Hillary Clinton is against torture, says black lives matter. Tough positions to take, all things considered.  In Houston tomorrow you can actually greet the Ready for Hillary bus -- not the candidate, mind you, but her transportation -- and get a free poster or a bumper sticker.  Isn't this exciting?

Glenn Greenwald speaks for me.

Having someone who is the brother of one former president and the son of another run against the wife of still another former president would be sweetly illustrative of all sorts of degraded and illusory aspects of American life, from meritocracy to class mobility. That one of those two families exploited its vast wealth to obtain political power, while the other exploited its political power to obtain vast wealth, makes it more illustrative still: of the virtually complete merger between political and economic power, of the fundamentally oligarchical framework that drives American political life.

Then there are their similar constituencies: what Politico termed “money men” instantly celebrated Jeb Bush’s likely candidacy, while the same publication noted just last month how Wall Street has long been unable to contain its collective glee over a likely Hillary Clinton presidency. The two ruling families have, unsurprisingly, developed a movingly warm relationship befitting their position: the matriarch of the Bush family (former First Lady Barbara) has described the Clinton patriarch (former President Bill) as a virtual family member, noting that her son, George W., affectionately calls his predecessor “my brother by another mother.”

If this happens, the 2016 election would vividly underscore how the American political class functions: by dynasty, plutocracy, fundamental alignment of interests masquerading as deep ideological divisions, and political power translating into vast private wealth and back again. The educative value would be undeniable: somewhat like how the torture report did, it would rub everyone’s noses in exactly those truths they are most eager to avoid acknowledging.

And those first in line to save us from this are Ted Cruz and (not) Elizabeth Warren.

Exceptional!

A bit more pagan Christmas than years past

Yesterday Mrs. Diddie finally had the surgery she's been putting off for over a year: both medial and lateral menisci (yes, that's the plural of meniscus, or meniscal cartilage) repaired with some debridement of the patella.  She was originally diagnosed as having osteoarthritis and a bone spur, but that proved to be incorrect.  She had to change doctors after that one recommended knee replacement.

I have simultaneously been fighting with my diabetes meds again for about the past six to eight weeks, and that made being the primary caregiver for my wife's day surgery more difficult.  After the election and my ballot board duties were completed in early November, I went back on a class of drug comparable to Invokana (which I had used during the first three months of this year).  It similarly played havoc with the Meneire's Disease I suffer from: dizziness, nausea, sometimes severe vertigo, occasional sudden onset of these symptoms.  But the worst is the exceptionally loud tinnitus, which drowns everything else out.  So I have essentially been in 'read-only' mode for about a month.

All this pretty well wrecked our holidays, that's for sure.  So we're not joining the family for any celebrations, probably not even dining out, certainly not cooking anything, and ain't putting up no Christmas tree.  We've only done a small table-top tree in years past and exchanged small remembrance-type gifts.  As DINKs we've had Christmas every day for decades anyway.  Not feeling too sorry for ourselves, despite how pitiful the above may come off.

But you didn't click in here to read a bunch of whining so let's get to the usual stuff.

-- Charles continues his yeoman's work covering the various special elections as the Lege keeps on playing musical chairs.  He saved me having to finish my unabridged, turgid, still-in-draft-status post with this one paragraph.

Assuming Speaker Straus maintains the tradition of not voting, the magic number is fifty, as in fifty votes in the House are needed to prevent any of these travesties from making it to your 2015 ballot. There are 52 Democrats in the House, plus one officially LGBT-approved Republican, so there are three votes to spare, assuming no other Republicans can be persuaded to vote against these. We know that there are four current House Dems that voted for the anti-gay marriage amendment of 2005. One of them, Rep. Richard Raymond, has since stated his support for marriage equality. Another, Rep. Ryan Guillen, may be persuadable. The current position of the others, Reps. Joe Pickett and Tracy King, are unknown. Barring any absences or scheduling shenanigans, we can handle three defections without needing to get another R on board. This is the key.

(Yes, eleven votes in the Senate can also stop the madness. Unfortunately, one of those votes belongs to Eddie Lucio. I’d rather take my chances in the House.)

That nails it.  Thanks for saving me some time, Chuck!

-- There's also good stuff about the 2015 Houston mayor's race there.  Texpate as well with more council-business-related posts of late.  Here's my two cents' worth.

*When Republicans say they don't like CM Steven Costello because of the drainage fee passed a couple of years ago (the most extreme among them now call him Rain Tax Man), you should believe that animosity is real.  He won't be the guy that Democrats and Republicans in a non-partisan municipal race all get behind.  Neither will Bill King, and neither will Chris Bell.  These gentlemen will all spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising, consultants' fees, direct mail, and all of the rest only to find themselves outside the runoff looking in by the time spring blooms again.

*Dave Wilson may be able to coalesce some Rainbow Hate caucus of miserable social conservatives and pastors black, brown, and white, but that still won't be enough to get Ben Hall into the runoff.

*Adrian Garcia is going to be making a big mistake if he runs for mayor next year.  He will irritate Democrats by handing the sheriff's office over to Ed Emmett and the Republican county commissioners to name his replacement, and by virtue of his proud conservative declarations and solid support of the now-eliminated Secure Communities program, has split his pants wide open straddling the partisan fence.  This has been documented most recently in the comments to this post, and in two posts from four years ago, this one and this one. (Scroll down to the last few grafs in both.)  He's been the dictionary definition of DINO for a long time now.

I can't and won't support his candidacy for mayor, and in fact will work hard against it.  He's the lousiest kind of Blue Dog that our new political reality -- 'bipartisan compromise' is what this bitter gruel tastes like -- seems to breed.  But let me also candidly say that if he quits as sheriff and runs for mayor despite my and Sylvia Garcia's discouragement, he still probably gets into a runoff with Sylvester Turner.

Those are the two favorites as of today in my humble O, and you can probably determine which candidate I value the most.  Turner has been rock-solid as a state legislator for several years, and as best I can tell at this stage is clearly the best choice to succeed Annise Parker.

*The mayor and council are supposed to make a decision on the recycling measure known as 'One Bin For All' before the end of the year.  I oppose that measure, and courtesy the Texas Campaign for the Environment, here's why.

(Houston) received five proposals for a facility in June that would mix trash and recycling into the same bin; it would then potentially gasify or incinerate whatever cannot be recycled. Some of the biggest waste companies in the country have said the technology simply does not work, and just last week the National Recycling Coalition issued a statement against programs like the one Houston is considering:

NRC urges communities to implement best practices for the separate collection of recyclables. Recycling programs must be designed to minimize contamination in consideration of the needs of upstream users. In conjunction with source reduction, reuse, and composting, the recycling of valuable materials for their highest and best use is essential to a sustainable environmental, energy, and economic future.

Did you know that the City only collects 10% of the trash generated in Houston? The proposal currently under consideration misses the big picture –that’s why we support a plan crafted with public input from neighborhood groups, apartment dwellers, environmental justice representatives as well as recycling and compost experts. Other cities have implemented policies that make it possible to recycle at home, work and play – so can Houston. Such a plan would not only be good for the environment; increased recycling and composting would create thousands of good-paying, sustainable jobs.

Austin, Dallas, San Antonio for example are implementing strategic plans to reduce waste and increase recycling. Cities like Los Angeles have devised innovative solutions to problems posed for large, complex urban areas like Houston. No single facility will solve our waste problems. We need a plan crafted with public input to ensure we sustainably reduce waste in Houston through education, incentives and effective programs that protect the health and safety of our community.

Join me if you like and sign the petition opposing One Bin for All and moving toward Zero Waste with an expanded Single Stream.

Something obligatory about 2016's presidential jostling and elbowing coming shortly.

The Week Before Xmas Wrangle

And for the record: No, using X in Christmas is not a secularization attempt.  The Texas Progressive Alliance has chosen to return fire in the War on Xmas this year as it brings you the best of the lefty Texas blogs from last week.

Off the Kuff says that the actual election results do not support exit polls that claim Greg Abbott received 44% of the Latino vote.

Libby Shaw, writing for Texas Kaos and Daily Kos, is not the least bit surprised to learn that two Texas oil and gas regulators got fired for doing their jobs.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is calling for Court of Appeals Justice Nora Longoria to resign.  How can she be a judge when she got very special treatment in getting her DUI dismissed?

The Bible verses that contain the words "the poor will be with you always" do not mean what Rick Perry thinks they mean, says PDiddie at Brains and Eggs.  And not what many other Christians think they mean, either.

jobsanger has the results of a Rasmussen poll that asked the question: "Is Christmas a holiday for Jesus, Santa, or neither?"

EgbertoWilles points out that conservative radio talker Laura Ingraham has arrived at the same conclusion many non-voting Americans have: that the two major parties are too much alike.  Especially when it comes to the money flooding into both of them.

Texas Leftist noted that Judge Orlando Garcia declined to lift his stay in the case prohibiting gay marriages in Texas, likely because he was concerned that the Fifth Circuit would overrule it.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Texans Together considers the way forward on campaign finance reform.

Candice Bernd feels railroaded by the Railroad Commission in Denton.

Texas Politics notes that Rick Perry has asked to give a farewell address to the Texas Legislature when it reconvenes next month.  (We'd rather he just say "Adios, MoFos" and get on down the road.)

Socratic Gadfly mocked the ACLU's executive director calling for the pardons of Bush administration officials who authorized and engaged in torture.

The TSTA Blog reminds us that education is only a priority if it is funded like one.

Natalie San Luis offers a lesson in how not to do public relations.

SciGuy laments the budget cuts that will make it that much harder for NASA to get to Mars.

The Lunch Tray explains what the "cromnibus" spending bill means for school lunches.

Concerned Citizens bemoans the process that San Antonio's city council followed in passing restrictive regulations on Uber, Lyft, and other transit network companies.

And last, the TPA congratulates the Texas Observer on its 60th anniversary.

Sunday Funnies

"The poor be with ye always"

But that's only because the Xians are greedy, condescending, lacking empathy, and generally acting like massive assholes.

I have been hearing this bastardization of  Mark 14:7 (and Matthew 26:11 and John 12:8) for years as some kind of excuse for refusing to do the proper thing about the poverty-stricken.  Rick Perry recently trotted it out, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back.  For me and for Slacktivist.

The reference there is to a story in the Bible, one repeated in three of the Gospels. Matthew and Mark both tell us the story happened in the house of Simon the Leper. John’s Gospel says it happened in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. But they all agree it happened in Bethany — in the house of the poor. 

[...]

The bit Rick Perry was attempting to quote is from verse 11 there: “For you always have the poor with you,” or, in the King James Version, “ye have the poor always with you,” or in the NIV, “The poor you will always have with you^a.”

People love to quote that bit. Christians especially love to quote that bit — Christians who claim to have read and understood their Bibles.

And, like Rick Perry, they all get it wrong.

Completely and utterly wrong. Backwards wrong. Perversely, cruelly, anti-biblically, priggishly, prickishly, sinfully, hellishly wrong.

Hearing someone say this has made me grit my teeth for years.  Literally.

Almost every time you see someone citing this passage, they’re invoking it the same way Gov. Perry is there — a shrugging acceptance that poverty is just the way it is and that there’s nothing we can do about it.

And that’s not what Jesus was saying at all.

You see that little superscripted “a” at the end of that phrase in the NIV translation? That’s a footnote. Scroll down to the bottom and you’ll see that footnote reads “See Deut. 15:11.”

That’s important. Jesus was quoting from the Torah. And you can’t understand what he said – or what his disciples heard him saying — unless you understand what it is he was quoting.

So let’s do that. Let’s “see Deut. 15:11.” Here it is:

Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”

Already you can see that Jesus’ statement can’t be made to mean what Rick Perry et. al. are trying to twist it into meaning. The passage Jesus was quoting is not a complacent description, but an if … then statement. “Since … therefore …” Deuteronomy 15:11 says. Jesus only quotes the “since” part because he didn’t need to quote the “therefore” — he knew that his disciples knew the rest of that verse: “I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’”

That is what “The poor will always be with you” means in the Bible. In Deuteronomy and in Matthew, Mark and John. It means, therefore, we are commanded to open our hands to the poor and needy.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to cease quietly and nicely putting up with bullshit.  I'm getting an early start on keeping fast to that.

And that’s the same message Jesus is delivering to his disciples in all three versions of that Gospel story.

But that’s the exact opposite of what ignorant Christians misquoting Jesus are trying to say when they babble about “the poor will always be with you.” Those Christians are perverting that verse in order to deny all culpability and responsibility for or to the poor.

That’s wrong. That is, according to Moses and to Jesus, evil.

Maybe it's all the Christians who have gone Old Testament on torture lately.  Or who like to blame the unarmed young black victim for being gunned down by police, who consistently avoid being held to account for their crimes.  The Prince of Peace just doesn't seem to be having the greatest influence on his followers lately.

Whether he knows it or not (and he clearly doesn’t know it), this is what Rick Perry is accidentally affirming when he tries to quote that passage from the Gospels. All of this.

Whenever you say “the poor will always be with you,” you are also saying “At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.”

Whenever you say “the poor will always be with you,” you are also saying “do not be hardhearted or tightfisted.”

Whenever you say “the poor will always be with you,” you are also saying “be careful not to harbor this wicked thought.”

Whenever you say “the poor will always be with you,” you are also saying “do not show ill will toward the needy.”

Whenever you say “the poor will always be with you,” you are also saying “give generously and do so without a grudging heart.”

Whenever you say “the poor will always be with you,” you are also saying “be openhanded toward the poor and needy.”

And if — like Rick Perry or countless other lapdogs for the rich and powerful — you try to say “the poor will always be with you” without also saying all of that, then be warned. Because the poor may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.

It sure is a fucked-up world we live in when the atheists have to remind the Christianists how they are supposed to fucking live their lives.

The architects of the US torture program

So here's the deal.

There are at least these five things Barack Obama can do to address the national disgrace that the Senate Intelligence Committee's executive summary of the CIA's torture program has revealed.

If he does only the first one -- appoint a special prosecutor -- then that will be a good start.




'With justice for all', it says somewhere.  No one is above the law.

Torture is a war crime under Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, and there are no exceptions.  There are specific penalties for those who torture, and for those who conspire to commit torture.

There must be accountability, or else there will certainly be more protests -- and worse -- against those placed in authority for abusing their power, and for those who let the criminals walk free.

The rule of law, or the rule of the lawless.

How much angrier can pro-torture Republicans and conservatives get, after all?  Are they going to march in the streets and protest in favor of hypothermia and forcing people to stand on broken legs?  Carry signs that say "I support rectal feeding"?  Are they going to openly carry their guns to their protests while the police -- not dressed in riot gear, mind you -- look on and grin?

Are they actually going to do anything except what they already do -- screech loudly?

Honestly, maybe we should find out if they will or they won't.  Perhaps a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the allegations of war crimes by George W Bush and Dick Cheney is exactly the thing this country needs at this time.  And then let the chips fall where they may.

If torture has -- astoundingly, I might add -- now become a partisan issue, then take it out of the hands of the partisans and have a non-partisan special prosecutor decide whether crimes should be prosecuted.

Just like Watergate.  Just like Iran-Contra.  And just like the Clinton-Lewinsky matter.

Now would be a great time to clear up this issue once and for all.  Weigh the legal interpretations of John Yoo and David Addington against the international and US laws specifically written to address circumstances like these.  Do it, do it now, and then -- if necessary -- move on to the trial at The Hague, the verdict, and the punishment.

History is judging the United States of America either way.

Update: Juan Cole, and why the Founding Fathers thought that banning torture was fundamental to the US Constitution.  And Antonin Scalia, demonstrating that his "expertise" in interpreting the Constitution is a myth.

It's not Republicans vs. Democrats

Still trying my best to ignore jockeying for 2016, but a few items earned comment.

-- Elizabeth Warren says no, again, to White House draft petitions.  This is just MoveOn.org wasting their time and ours once more.  Their biggest 'get' looks like it's going to be Democracy for America hopping on their bandwagon.  I would simply note that you can find little to no mention of the progressive option who is more serious about (possibly) running, Bernie Sanders, by either MoveOn or DFA.  Obviously they don't think he has a chance, or else they don't like him because he's too old or too socialist.

Speaking of geriatrics, both of these organizations are too old, too tired, and not all that progressive enough any longer to be taken seriously.  Do yourself a favor and stop signing their petitions.  I have unsubscribed myself.

Update III: They are also much too white to be relevant.

-- Rick Perry, on the other hand, doesn't have tens of thousands of signatures beseeching him to run for president, but will of course do so anyway.  Because people expect him to.

"People think we're going to run, and that's not necessarily a bad thing," Perry said in an interview with The Associated Press...

-- Joe Biden "honestly doesn't know yet".

Vice President Biden said Tuesday he’ll make up his mind about whether to run for president “at the end of the spring or early summer.”

"I honest to God haven't made up my mind,” Biden said at a ‘Women Rule’ event hosted by Politico. “I'm confident I'd be in a position to be competitive."

"The one thing that moves me — I think that I have the ability to bring the sides together,” he added.

Biden’s daughter Ashley appeared on stage with him at the event, and called his potential presidential aspirations a “family decision.”

-- Update II: For all you pro-torture Republicans out there, Marco Rubio is your guy.

“We need to have the ability to interrogate people outside the realm of what you do in a criminal justice system,” he says.

Finally, your Oligarch Update from the NYT.

Dozens of the Republican Party’s leading presidential donors and fund-raisers have begun privately discussing how to clear the field for a single establishment candidate to carry the party’s banner in 2016, fearing that a prolonged primary would bolster Hillary Rodham Clinton, the likely Democratic candidate.

The conversations, described in interviews with a variety of the Republican Party’s most sought-after donors, are centered on the three potential candidates who have the largest existing base of major contributors and overlapping ties to the top tier of those who are uncommitted: Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and Mitt Romney.

All three are believed to be capable of raising the roughly $80 million in candidate and “super PAC” money that many Republican strategists and donors now believe will be required to win their party’s nomination.

But the reality of all three candidates vying for support has dismayed the party’s top donors and “bundlers,” the volunteers who solicit checks from networks of friends and business associates. They fear being split into competing camps and raising hundreds of millions of dollars for a bloody primary that would injure the party’s eventual nominee — or pave the way for a second-tier candidate without enough mainstream appeal to win the general election.

What's wrong with this picture?  A lot, but it's really bad news for the way-too-early frontrunner, Ted Cruz, who already lost the Sheldon Primary.

Robert Reich has the last word.  If the ruling party and the minority party ever snap to being played for suckers, we might make some progress in this nation.  I'm not counting on it.

The biggest political divide in America now and in years to come isn't between the Republican and Democratic parties. It’s between the establishment and the anti-establishment -- between a rich minority of top corporate executives, denizens of Wall Street, and billionaire moguls, all of whom have been fixing the economic and political game for their own benefit, and the vast majority of Americans who, as a result, are in a fix.

Update: Chuck Todd via Egberto Willies explains this as well.