Bad Penny
I've met many of you. I've conversed by
e-mail with several more. Some folks in BartCop Land have become
dear friends.
A warm winter's embrace to each of you.
Many others are aware of my writings since the
first attempted coup - the impeachment of Bill Clinton. You've probably
been
wondering where I've been. Rumors of my
being "disappeared" have been greatly exaggerated. It's true that
I haven't written
for any web site in some time. But I'm
like you. I don't get paid to spin. Unlike the mainstream punditocracy,
I work for a living
just as you do, and occasionally that work is
all consuming.
But now I've made a commitment to BartCop that
I will have something to say on a weekly basis. I hope to maintain
that commitment,
yet it is always possible that my job, that thing
that provides nourishment for myself and the people and things that I love,
will draw me
temporarily away. But like the bad penny,
I will always come back.
In this column, I will write mostly of politics,
but not always. Most of my life I have considered myself fairly centrist
in my political
beliefs, until I was identified as a radical
leftist by the neocons during the Reagan years. Believing myself
to be a moral and decent
man, the neocons can label me as they wish.
I will spend my time branding them for what they are.
I will call this weekly column "The Port Tack."
It is a sailing term indicating that the wind that allows our travel blows
across the bow
from the left. Those who know me know one
of my passions is sailing the San Francisco Bay. For those who don't
know me at all,
allow me this brief introduction.
I've lived most all of my life in California,
either in the San Francisco Bay area or in the Los Angeles area.
For those on the east coast,
that's kind of like saying that I've lived my
life primarily between New York and Atlanta. The change in terrain,
climate, and politics is
relative to both cases. I've spent some
time in most of the fifty states, as well as five other countries, so I've
had opportunity to travel.
For those of you who plan exit strategies in
case the Y2K coup becomes permanent, I've discovered a lovely little town
that overlooks
Loch Ness in Scotland.
I have three college degrees, one in theatre arts
and two in law. I've spent time as an actor and a stage director,
and now I work in
litigation defending patents. Financially
I've experienced the fear of threatened homelessness, and the sufficient
comfort of being able
to enjoy the wind and tricky tides on the San
Francisco Bay. And while I prefer the latter, it is important that
I appreciate the former.
I believe that my life, a half a century thus
far, imbues me with a unique perspective. The details of my life,
you may, or may not,
discover over time.
All of that said, I would like to make a few comments
on the campaign for the presidency. To begin, I'd like to thank Democratic
voters
for heeding the wisdom of Harry Truman, that
when a Republican runs against a Republican, a Republican will win every
time.
Thank you Democratic voters for refusing to give
momentum to Joementum.
I'd like to apologize to Dennis Kucinich.
I'm sorry that we are in a time when a corporate monopoly in media will
allow no voice to
reasonable thinking. I hope you understand
that it is because you make the most sense that you are the most silenced.
I do not hold to
the belief that your thinking is too radical
for America. I do not believe that so called "electability" should
be of any consideration during
the primary season. If everyone who agrees
with your positions voted for you in the primaries, we'd likely truly find
out just how
electable you are. "Electability" is an
invention of the corporate press for the specific purpose of muting your
message.
And thank you, Howard Dean! Dean discovered
first that the voice of the base of the Democratic party, while denied
any useful or
consistent access in the mainstream press, was
alive and well on the internet. Dean listened to our anger and gave
national voice to it.
Without his efforts Kerry and Edwards might still
be saying that they support the Bush/Cheney oil lust in Iraq, but would
merely like to
tweak his economic policy a bit. I don't
believe that Kerry and Edwards preferred that message, but they were imprisoned
by the
corporate media newspeak until Howard Dean showed
them that there was traction to be found elsewhere.
As to the two remaining front runners, I believe
both Kerry and Edwards are good men. Kerry will likely be the nominee,
and I think
that Edwards should accept the offer to run as
Vice President if, or when, it comes. I thank both Kerry and Edwards
for running
positive campaigns in an effort to show America
that the sentient will be united come November.
Allow me to say at this moment that I do not believe
that because Kerry went to Yale, and was a member of Skull & Bones,
that this
proves he is implicated with George W. Bush in
a conspiracy to enslave Americans. Yes, it is true that Kerry grew
up among the rich
and powerful. But so did Robert F. Kennedy.
So did Franklin D. Roosevelt. Both could see beyond their circumstances,
just as
Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King could see
beyond theirs. For a taste of Kerry's character read David Corn's
article HERE.
Corn is not a fan of Kerry, but he gives him a
fair review. For a taste of what kind of lies will be perpetrated
against Kerry in the
national campaign, read Ion Mihai Pacepa's February
26, 2004 column at www.nationalreview.com, entitled "Kerry's Soviet Rhetoric."
You may feel that Kerry might be too conservative
for you, but the emotionally and intellectually challenged neocons will
attempt to
paint him as a Communist and a terrorist sympathizer.
They will attempt to do to John Kerry exactly what they did to Max Cleland.
I'll leave you, this week, with a couple of predictions.
1) At a convenient moment Osama will be pulled
from a hole in the ground, just as Sadam was. Neither will face a
public trial
because of the potential revelations of Bush
family crimes.
2) Deibold voting systems are sufficiently in
place to steal a few key electoral votes for Bush. State legislatures
have not responded
to this threat in time to save the November elections.
Kerry will not win unless he wins by a landslide. It is, therefore,
up to each of us
to attempt to drive that landslide in order to
save American democracy.
Until next week, then, keep the wind at 45 degrees
off your bow, and may the currents always be from your stern.
Fair sailing.