N.C. Senators Vote

see note below

Remarkably, Senator Richard Burr (R, NC) cast a seldom seen Republican vote in favor of a Democratic Party sponsored measure, the repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy instituted by a Democratic President, Bill Clinton.  Burr has not been a member of the miniscule Republican "moderate" caucus, which is mostly the two ladies from Maine having a quick bite at the cafeteria from time to time.  He was immediately vilified by many of the commenters at various right wing sites, and was immediately threatened with a primary challenge.  However, Mr. Burr has just won re-election, so really, the primary threat is rather empty.  Six years is, in these days, quite a long time.  Who would even bet a lot of money on there being an election in six years?  Perhaps he calculated that further aggrieving the "gay vote" in North Carolina was a pointless activity, and perhaps the votes were counted and this was a moment when just a smidgen of human warmth being detected from the GOP was judged to be a worthwhile PR move--if the thang was gonna pass anyways.  Or I guess it's even possible, in the metaphysical sense, that Mr. Burr actually believes that the gross injustice done to thousands of members of the military by DADT, and the exclusion from service of thousands of highly qualified potential recruits, was simply bad for our national security, and just plain un-American.  It is possible.  And there's this too--maybe, just maybe, Burr's "defection" from the concrete wall of total opposition to everything Obama which is Republican Policy One harbinges the slight chance that the Senate will next year be slightly more functional--a risk the powers-that-be in the GOP might be willing to take for PR reasons given than they now have the House in hand.

Meanwhile, our Democratic Senator, Kay Hagan, voted against the Dream Act.  What was the reasoning there, pray tell.  My guess is that whereas the gay voters, or at least a good number of them, are articulate, educated, and middle-aged, the children of undocumented people have almost no voice at the polls.  In North Carolina, the undocumented workers have become a wedge issue for the right--the Legislature has already succumbed to pressure and implemented draconian rules concerning drivers licenses which have the practical result of causing far more uninsured drivers to be present on our roads, not to mention created innumerable petty difficulties for people without proper identification as they attempt to navigate their daily lives.   The Right in NC keeps whip in hand on this issue, pushing for more and more assaults on little people brought here in the first place by American industry big and small--construction, landscaping, and around these parts, meat processing are heavily accomplished by Latino labor, much of it undocumented.  Mrs. Hagan knows all this, as of course does Mr. Burr, who unsurprisingly also voted against the Dream Act.   Mrs. Hagan comes up for reelection in four years I believe, or possibly two--sooner, anyway, than Mr. Burr.  Neither of our senators, at any rate, is particularly concerned with the obvious and blatant waste of human potential which defeat of the Dream Act continues.  Not when their seats are at stake anyways.  But Mrs. Hagan can certainly say, next election--"I voted with Mr. Burr on both DADT and the Dream Act."

It is not helpful that the White House, a day after the DADT vote, isn't sure what to do about pending cases in the military which were instituted under the DADT rules. 

Note.  Thomas J. Pearsall was an NC legislator born in Rocky Mount, NC, in 1903 (two years younger than my dad).  His name was appended to NC's "Pearsall Plan," a legislatively devised effort to thwart Brown V. Board of Education without going to the spiteful extreme of actually closing North Carolina Public Schools.  The Pearsall Plan was supported and implemented by Governor Luther Hodges, who also is credited with creating the Research Triangle Park, and who served as a Cabinet member under John F. Kennedy.  After leaving the NC Legislature, Mr. Pearsall devoted himself to the Roanoke Island Historical Association.  That is, he and the missus retired to the beach.   As the plaque indicates, there is a library in Rocky Mount now named for his family.  I'd expect that as the years roll on, both Mr. Burr and Mrs. Hagan will also end up with buildings named after them, or their families.  In any event, the Pearsall plan worked pretty well, from the point of view of them what didn't want any black people associating with white people in the public schools of North Carolina.  I graduated from high school in an all white class in 1961, six years after Brown V.,  and went to a University of North Carolina which had yet to see its first undergraduate black student, not even its first black athlete.  Another ten years or so, and things did change in NC with regard to segregated schools. Think of it.  Ten more whole years.  (Lately the Raleigh School Board has been taken over by Members determined to break down the fairly integrated quality of that fair city's school system, using the tried and true "neighborhood schools" argument.  Suits are no doubt pending.)

Update: In the comments Suzan remarks that Hagan would have been defeated in her next election had she voted for the Dream Act.  I think Suzan might be correct on that, but although it's certainly obvious that NC is succeptible to the wedge issue of undocumented workers, the Dream Act was footed on a very defensible  sense of justice and fair play which Mrs. Hagan might have utilized to blunt the racist blather which was sure to come her way.  Hagan's tack is just the usual "Go Slow, Go Slow" (to quote our great North Carolinean, Nina Simone's anthem "Mississippi Goddam").  If the conservative trend continues up until Hagan's next election, my guess is just being a Democrat in North Carolina will be a millstone for her.  We've actually lost the Legislature to the GOP already--a shocking event that never happened during the Helms era.  I'm just more concerned with the waste to thousands of young people who have been North Carolina residents since they were tiny, who are graduates of our high schools already, who have dreams of a reasonable life in the country they live in.  Not that I don't get the practical political point Suzan makes.  But on the other hand, Pearsall had a long and successful career in NC politics, retired to the beach, got a library named for his family--and his name is historically associated forever and ever with a sly strategy which delayed Brown V. Board for a generation longer--a fact which should never be forgotten.  Mr. Pearsall had choices.  (And, hell, my argument could be made against Mr. Obama's triangulation on the tax bill too--I certainly admit that.  Talk is cheap.) 

Captain Beefheart, RIP

circa early '70s, via Rolling Stone

I'm not even a fan, but nearly every blog I read has a memorial to the artist/musician known as Captain Beefheart posted in the last couple of days (he died Friday, 12/17).  You might want to start with the excellent Wiki bio.  Tristero at Digby, Driftglass, and Doghouse all have posts.  You'll learn a lot if you just take some time and read some about him.  I'm particularly struck by the various people who say things like "the first several times I heard 'Trout,' I thought it was horrible.  Then it 'clicked,' and now it's the best album ever made."  That's pretty serious cudos in anybody's book. 

As to why it's difficult to follow your own path in this world (the greatest democracy man hath ever wrought, needless to say, and just watch our glorious Senate on C-Span if you want confirmation), see the following post from Jesus General (a guy who is probably the grandson of Guy Grand):

http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2008/09/torturing-gay-away.html

And for the consequences of actually living and working with a genius like the Captain, I give you a paragraph from the Wiki bio, written by one of his sidemen, John French:

If Van Vliet built a house like he wrote music, the methodology would go something like this... The house is sketched on the back of a Denny's placemat in such an odd fashion that when he presents it to the contractor without plans or research, the contractor says "This structure is going to be hard to build, it's going to be tough to make it safe and stable because it is so unique in design." Van Vliet then yells at the contractor and intimidates him into doing the job anyway. The contractor builds the home, figuring out all the intricacies involved in structural integrity himself because whenever he approaches Van Vliet, he finds that he seems completely unable to comprehend technical problems and just yells, "Quit asking me about this stuff and build the damned house."... When the house is finished no one gets paid, and Van Vliet has a housewarming party, invites none of the builders and tells the guests he built the whole thing himself.

While I've never been in a band containing such a genius, I will say that, a couple of times, I've been rather close.  In comparison, I was on Mars while John French was on Mercury.  For other examples of this kind of charismatic genius, see, e.g., the Pogues live concert video featuring the the lead singer who drove the rest of them crazy, Shane MacGowan.  After they "fired" him, however, they all simply became postmen with musical instruments.  A couple of details in the composite bio which jumped out at me:

1.  While recording "Trout Mask Replica," Vliet became unhappy with the progress of the recording (supervised by Frank Zappa no less) and demanded that they go into a studio and "do it right."  Once there, Vliet refused to wear headphones and synced all his vocals by listening to the faint sounds coming through a sound-proof window.  His singing, including the odd out-of-sync aspect, is often noted in reviews of the record, which Rolling Stone lists as 58 on their all-time 100 best albums.

2.  On the Dave Letterman show, Vliet said that he lived in a trailer in the desert.  "Do you like that?" Letterman asked.  "I hate it," Vliet replied.  "Why do you live there then?"  "For the tension."

Vliet left music in the early '80s and became a successful painter.  He had been painting since he was a child. Of two of his records, discs which aimed for more "listenability" and were released in the mid-'70s, he said "they were horrible.  People should return them to the record store and ask for their money back."   (Been there too, in a different way.)

The story of how the stage persona "Captain Beefheart" came into being is pretty funny.

Update (Lud us sing goddam):

Digby reports the following, after congratulating the Congress and President Obama for getting the repeal of DADT to a vote, at long long long last:

Predictably, America was unable to take a step toward equality without sullying ourselves with a blatant act of cruelty and bigotry to balance it out. I guess there's only so much decency allowed at one time. They filibustered the DREAM Act, which would have given a path to citizenship to people who'd been illegally brought to the US as children. Surely the empire would have fallen if young people who've been here their whole lives were allowed to work and contribute to our country.

Oh and by the way, several Democrats helped them do it. When they are losing their next elections to some right wing racist I wonder if it will occur to them that they are going to spend time in hell for no good reason.

Perhaps the Democrats who signed on to this bit of viciousness will offer, as a response, that they "like the tension"?  Of course America has been fine with collateral damage upon the utterly innocent for quite some time.  To the GOP such practices are actually evidence of moral strength, so why wouldn't Red State Dems figure that some moral toughness here will pay off later, in votes.  Not that it won't be child's play for the professional Hard Men to paint these pretenders into the wussy corner.  Probably all they'll need is to say, over and over, that "My opponent is a member of the Democrat Party."    

Ignorance Isn't Bliss

Hieronymus Bosch, Ship of Fools

1.  I feel like following up on the last assertion I made in my previous post--namely, that keeping the public in the dark is a mistaken strategy for the Democrats, because such an unenlightened public is part of the fundamental character of the Republican base--the Tea Partiers as it were.  The unenlightened public is prey to fear.  Fearful people are drawn to fearful analyses--the sine qua non of the Glenn Beck cult, which takes up four hours of air time each and every day. (With the Beck cult I also suspect a perverse pleasure may be at work--people can certainly learn to love the feeling you get when you lean over the abyss, and Beck in that aspect becomes a mental roller coaster ride for the enraptured attendees of his daily seminars in paranoia.)  Toss in Limbaugh and the loathsome Hannity, who plays the jerk down at the end of the sticky-floored neighborhood bar every afternoon, and a Tea Party is born.  When the Obama Administration colludes in the situation by continuing to feed the forces of suppression and fear, the Obama Administration is just building up the Tea Party that much more. 

2.  I happened to watch C-Span's coverage of the Senate doings yesterday morning, for a while.  I was shocked at the disconnect between real life America and these people who are supposed to be "deliberating" on what to do next.  Some one, or more than one, has noted that one of the problems with our elected government is, these people imagine that they are the middle class.  I think so, yes.  But George Voinavitch doesn't have a clue.  Tom Coburn doesn't have a clue.  Mitch McConnell doesn't have a clue.  And the same is true for many of the Democrats.  What can they be thinking?   And how stupid do they think we are, to assert that since there is a deficit problem, the thing to do is to keep taxes low on people making millions and billions of dollars.

3.  After a dose of this, I went to work.  At work, a young man came in who wanted to buy a scrapped wood stove, which had been sitting out near the fence for several weeks in the hope that someone might want to buy it (rather than simply smashing it flat and sending it on to the shredder).  The young feller is a regular customer of ours.  He scrounges up scrap metal and brings us a pick-up load probably at least once a week--been coming for at least two years.  The boss said to him, "we're just going to give you that stove."  I think the boss's thought was, he was a good customer, it was near Christmas, he deserved a little reward.  The boss is a good guy.  So the kid says, "Thanks very very much.  My mom just left my dad, dad's out of work, I'm out of work except for scrounging, my wife's the only person in our family working right now, and our stove broke."  This wasn't a sob story.  He already had the stove.  This was just real life.  He's a young man, probably between 20 and 25, probably graduated from high school, probably knows car engines and how to cut a straight line on a board.  He's obviously a hard worker--scrappin' is hard work.

4.  I'm hoping he doesn't find the Beck/Limbaugh line of hate and blame attractive, as he rides around looking for some rusting metal or discarded aluminum cans in this early pre-winter winter we're experiencing here in central NC.  This morning there's snow on the ground and freezing drizzle in the air--probably I won't get to work today because of the roads.  But I do have a job anyways.  Obama's argument for passing the Obama/McConnell "compromise" tax bill is that a rise in taxes would hurt the middle class; McConnell asserts with a straight face that millionaires need to keep making every dollar they're making right now because that way they'll create jobs--the ones they're not creating right now.

5.  The kid with the stove most likely has no Federal Income Tax to pay.  He pays the regressive sales tax, of course, like the rest of us.  He pays his county tax on his 1985 Ford Pickup with the primer gray coat and the bad muffler.  That would be probably about $3.27.  (I have a truck pretty much like that, featured in my song "SOB in the Carvel Truck" at an earlier stage in its career, so I know about the county taxes.)  As Tom Coburn expresses for the umteenth time his great concern about the deficit, which according to Senator Doctor Tom requires the Federal Government to cut back on social expenditures before China causes our dollar to be worth less (or even worthless), the wood stove in question is being fixed up a bit (broken door), and installed.  Maybe while the kid's beating on that stove door he's listening to Hannity, who's telling him that there's a Kenyan Marxist in the Presidency. And yes, his wife might have to pay a little bit more in Federal Income Tax when she files in 2012, assuming things go along as they are now. 

6.  Down at the Texaco, the faux conservative intellectual with the DeKalb hat, the one I used to argue with before I gave it up as a waste of breath, has decided that empathy itself is a phony liberal construct aimed at fooling the American people into outright Marxism.  This was one of the reasons I gave up on him.  Mr. Gingrich argues in his many guest appearances on the various right-wing pundit shows, that the Democratic Party is the "party of losers."  It's a perfect circle.  You can probably find it in Dante, actually.   I think Bosch was an avid Dante reader.  Waited with baited breath for each new installment to come out in the Dutch translation, or possibly even read the Italian.

For further reading: 
http://lancemannion.typepad.com/lance_mannion/2010/12/theres-always-tomorrow-for-dreams-to-come-trueunless-youre-a-conservative-then-all-dreams-will-come-true-yesterday.html

Seems like Mr. Mannion was thinking somewhat along the same lines this morning.  A tip of the Hatlo Hat to ya sir.

See That Man On the Corner..... No, the One Over There....

Sam Ervin, 1974

This article has so much information in it I can only give you the link and hope that you read it several times:

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/12/10/hatfill-and-wen-ho-lee-and-plame-and-al-awlaki-and-assange/

Emptywheel is the most serious part of the Firedoglake conglomeration (well, if you don't count the bassets).  It's hard to read, and I don't, except when I do.  But in most cases, there's something there which is packed with information.  Marcy Wheeler covered the Scooter Libby trial, and the Plame "outing," more in depth, and with more seriousness, than anyone in the mainstream media, or even in the general blogisphere, for that matter.  When things come to trial, we tend to go to sleep, Watergate being possibly the only exception.  But in the case of Watergate we happened to have N.C.'s own Sam Ervin, an old-style Senator who kept things interesting.  When Iran/Contra came around, twelve years or so later, the most riveting character was Ollie North, at which point the truth went quite off the rails. 

With the topsy-turvy world of Bush II politics, the public is now swept along from one thing to the next, with almost no comprehension of what underlying themes are of serious note.  It's just this crisis, that crisis, the next crisis.  Meanwhile, there is a flow of real events.  Marcy Wheeler's article reminds us of that.  Underlying much of where we stand today is a mountain of propaganda.  And apparently the Obama Administration is more concerned with keeping the lid on, than with actually educating the public on what has happened. 

For a Democratic Administration to collaborate in deceit is, it seems to me, a very fundamental mistake of policy.  After all, the Republicans are the ones who have mastered deceit.  For the Democrats to continue keeping the public in the dark is to, basically, enhance the Republican base.