GEORGE MCGOVERN RIP

I can vaguely recall the presidential election of 1972.  What I can remember is my first grade teacher asking with a show of hands whom our parents supported for president.  I was only one of two kids whose parents supported George McGovern.  The rest all supported Richard Nixon.

I thought about this the other day and the genuinely sociopathic nature of American politics when I read George McGovern passed away.  I have read a number of editorials that have made the point of what he a good and decent person he was and how he was ahead of the curve on the issues of hunger and peace but unfortunately he was the type of candidate, the type of politician, no one listens to and that especially includes his own party.  In this day and age of George Bush, a draft dodger, announcing “mission accomplished” dressed in a flight suit, we are reminded that McGovern was a decorated WWII flying ace who served his country nobly.  He was the anti-chickenhawk    

McGovern is often compared to Barry Goldwater.  Goldwater won a few more states than McGovern but still suffered a serious shellacking from Lyndon Johnson in the 1964 election.  However, whereas Goldwater is seen as the spiritual forefather of the Reagan era Republican party, McGovern is seen as primer of what not to do.

And sure McGovern made plenty of mistakes.  The biggest one was not vetting his vice presidential choice, Thomas Eagleton.  This is something every campaign has done since with varying degrees of success.

McGovern may have been too liberal for his time but to me he represents the last gasp of the good and noble Democratic Party, the party of FDR and LBJ, the party of civil rights and social security.  He also represents a break between the military-industrial complex and the previous Democratic presidential administrations.  This is something the Republicans would seize upon.

George McGovern wasn’t solely responsible for scaring the Democratic party way from Progressivism (the losses of Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis helped too) but he started the sociopathy ball rolling towards Bill “The era of big government is over” Clinton. Clinton with his incremantilism, his support of NAFTA (The ultimate shafting of American workers), his sanctions on Iraq that killed children, his gutting of welfare, his backing of a “peace plan” that would have turned the Palestinians into American Indians on reservations they have very little control over, is as Michael Moore says “The most successful Republican president of all time”

I heard it said the other day that Richard Nixon by today’s standards would be too left wing to get the Democratic nomination for president much less George McGovern.  This shift rightwards by everyone in politics pushed by the Reagan era hurts working men and women and is largely responsible for the financial mess we are in now.

George McGovern was at his most eloquent when he spoke of economics, about war, about old men sending young men to die.  I’m hoping a new generation connected by the Internet and hard financial times caused by the greed of large companies and investment bankers will rediscover thorough his passing this great man’s words and policies for a more humane and just America. 

MUSIC ROUND-UP - OCTOBER 2012

John Cale – SHIFTY ADVENTURES IN NOOKIE WOOD

John Cale has always been my favorite or ex- member of the Velvet Underground.  The distance between Lou Reed and Billy Joel is not as much as you might think and Reed’s solo career has been wildly erratic.  Cale, on the other hand, went on an inspired rampage in the 70’s producing a string of great albums filled with raging, heartfelt, turbulent music - records such as FEAR, SLOW DAZZLE, HELEN OF TROY, and HONI SOIT.   Cale’s last couple decades have seen him treading water with pleasant enough records long on attitude, short on songs.  However, I’m happy to say that his most recent album is the best thing he’s done in a long time.  Restoring the mystery and the aggressive passion as well as Cale’s way with an emotional ballad, this record is a very pleasant surprise.  Great to see a man in his 70’s produce this level of music. Now when will Cale be inducted into the Rock an Roll Hall of Fame?

The Sunchymes – LET YOUR FREE FLAG FLY

The Sunchymes full embrace of 60’s psychedelic pop is not just affectation.   The record itself sounds like it was made in the 1960’s with the corresponding instruments, harmonies etc and an overall lightness of being.  This is a fabulous collection of songs that are not just gimmick (modern artists copy a prior decade’s music) but beautifully executed music.  Sunshine psychedelic pop-A most impressive debut and one of the best records released this year.  Here’s the link to listen to the whole record -  http://thesunchymes.bandcamp.com/ 

The Sugarettes – DESTROYERS OF WORLDS

Nerdrock is a cute way to describe your music but there’s nothing nerdy about the Sugarettes.  They alternate hard and fast moments of Pixies-like chaos with rolling songscapes ala Altered Images/10,000 Maniacs.  The end result is a more insular Blondie but with Blondie’s great pop instincts intact.  The vocal interplay is a plus.  Can be listened to here   http://thesugarettes.bandcamp.com/album/destroyers-of-worlds

        

JOE BIDEN'S TREMENDOUSLY SATISFYING BEATDOWN OF PAUL RYAN

Much of this presidential campaign, in fact much of the last four years, have found many rational people including myself yelling at the TV screen at what President Obama said and didn’t say when faced with the Republican lie machine.  Believing that Americans are too smart to believe nonsense is never a good strategy, ask Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, and John Kerry.

In one debate, Joe Biden let out everything we’ve beenwanting to hear for such a long time now.  He mentioned the 47% and related it to his own working class parents.  He dismissed Romney as having multiple positions.  He talked of America not needing another war and pointed out the nonsensical nature of Republican foreign policy attempting to differentiate itself from Obama on Libya and Syria when they have no plan themselves.  He slammed the Bush Tax Cuts in direct language.  He noted the difference between his personal beliefs on abortion and his role as a public official not forcing his beliefs on other people.     

It was a masterful debate performance.  He more than made up for Obama’s weird passive response last week.  This harkened back to Biden’s time in the Senate in the 80’s where he especially distinguished himself in the senate confirmation hearings on Robert Bork as a Supreme Court justice and on divestment from South Africa.   

Now a lot of right wing commentators are already complaining about Biden’s demeanor, about his smiling and aggressively refuting Ryan’s points but what can you do when confronted with such bullshit?

Hopefully, he’s teed it up for Obama in the next debate.

Here’s an example of a great Biden answer 

These people are my mom and dad — the people I grew up with, my neighbors. They pay more effective tax than Governor Romney pays in his federal income tax. They are elderly people who in fact are living off of Social Security. They are veterans and people fighting in Afghanistan right now who are, quote, “not paying any tax.”
I’ve had it up to here with this notion that 47 percent — it’s about time they take some responsibility here. And instead of signing pledges to Grover Norquist not to ask the wealthiest among us to contribute to bring back the middle class, they should be signing a pledge saying to the middle class we’re going to level the playing field; we’re going to give you a fair shot again; we are going to not repeat the mistakes we made in the past by having a different set of rules for Wall Street and Main Street, making sure that we continue to hemorrhage these tax cuts for the super wealthy.

THE GOVERNMENT THE USA DESERVES - THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE 2012

I believe that people who live in a democracy such as the United States ultimately get the government a majority of them deserve.  It is reflective of what they believe and what they think is important as well as their communal intelligence level.   One can argue about the unfairness of the Electoral College (which I agree should be abolished) and Citizens United – money in politics but the fact remains that we are the government.

That being the case looking at the candidates for president 2012 (especially Mitt Romney) Americans don’t deserve much.  I watched the first presidential debate of 2012 and I do share the almost unanimous feeling that President Obama was not on his game, that he was tired, listless, poorly prepared , looked down when he should have been looking at Romney.  Worst of all, he didn’t bring up any of the numerous Romney crimes, gaffes etc.-the comments about the 47%, Bain Capital and Vulture capitalism, taxes, Swiss bank accounts etc.

But despite Romney’s frantic performance ( considered a win by the short attention span surface media), Many of his comments were just untrue.  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-first-debate-mitt-romneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004

The fact that Americans spend their time worrying about body language and who got in who’s face rather than what each candidate is actually saying is indicative of how superficial and dumbed down Americans have become.

Of course, a lie is only a lie in debate if you are called on it and Obama didn’t call Romney nor really attempt to engage him much at all beyond pointing out in a wonkish not very eloquent way the fact Romney’s budget/tax plans don't add up.  At this point I felt Obama was trying to channel Bill Clinton's convention speech  “arithmetic” but with far less success.

MY SCREENWRITING ADVENTURE

So I’m writing a screenplay.  This is something I’ve attempted in the past, something I’ve been interested in doing since I took a course in screenwriting when I was 21.

I’ve named my project THE POLICEMAN and it involves a mentally handicapped man who likes to pretend he’s a police officer and bother women and what happens when he stumbles on a real criminal case.

Wish me luck.  I’m not sure why I didn’t do this years ago….