The New Populism: Rage Without a Clue (a letter to my chum)

Hey Chuck –

Both of your recent forwards read like companion pieces. The New Yorker column shows us how nuts we’ve become, and the Houston Chronicle piece suggests a way—albeit a dangerous way– to sort us all out (I mean, Palin could win, then we’d all have to move to a commune in Norway).

Both are terrific reads.  The Surowiecki piece is terrifyingly accurate, though I think he’s a bit too forgiving of our countrymen.  “The anger is understandable,” he says, but what I find hard to understand is Americans’ refusal to invest even the least bit of intellectual effort to go past the soundbites and slogans to get a better fix on what’s really going on.  I can’t remember who said this, but his perfect answer to “I’m not really into politics ” was, “Oh yeah?  Well, politics is really into you, my friend.”

No wonder we don’t make sense; we don’t have any.  There is a long list of things pundits tend to blame for “The Dumbing Down of America”–TV, bad schools, busy schedules, blah, blah–but the real culprit here is a populace that is content to have reduced its political outlook to three categories: “Things That Save me Money,”  “Things That Piss Me Off” and “Things I Don’t Understand”–with the third category being the dominant influence on the first two. That’s why Tea Party types can call Obama a Nazi and a communist, and not get laughed out of the room.

However, there was an encouraging turn in the mid-2000s (for a discouragingly short period) when people became politicized during Bush’s reign.  He had scared the hell out of them. They began to look up terms like “fascism” and “unitary executive.” Friends who had never had a political thought in their lives began emailing me with their takes on the latest outrages of Bush and crew.  Sadly, many of these political tyros had zero grounding in modern American or world history so they were easy pickings for lunatic, politics-as-entertainment theories, like Bush planned 9/11, etc.  Their enthusiasm continued all the way up to Obama’s election, but then sort of petered out when, I suppose, the next season of American Idol began.  But other political novitiates really began to do their homework, making a real effort to wade through the crap to find out what was actually going on.  I still get email from them–sensible, thoughtful stuff.

There has always been a trace of anti-intellectualism flowing through our American veins, which I suppose began during our revolution against the sesquipedalian, be-wigged, English elite.  But, today, dumb seems to have grown into a movement, or at least an important part of what Surowiecki calls “the new populism.”

Though education does require effort, it is also naturally rewarding.  Evolution has hardwired us to fill our brains with new stuff– unless something gets in the way, like defeatism, hopelessness and good, old apathy.  A documentary called “The American Ruling Class”  suggests much of that hopelessness and defeatism felt by so many “average American Joes” is the result of a concerted effort by the American oligarchy to regain control of the nation from the grassroots movements of the 60s.  I’m not big on conspiracy theories, but so many of this film’s premises–from the successful corporate attack on organized labor in the private sector, to the continuing, destructive status of corporations-as-citizens are convincing enough to make me believe that a lot of the mess we find ourselves wallowing in is no accident.

I better go before this letter gets long.

Too late,

RB

A Message to L.A. Pot Clubs: Be Afraid, be Very Afraid

It’s dope cop Valhalla in California.  Obama sets ‘em up; the DEA locks ‘em up.

Evidently, the memo sent out by the Department of Justice reiterating Obama’s pledge to keep federal drug enforcement away from state-legal, medical marijuana growers and dispensaries didn’t make it to a number of DEA in-boxes.

According to a story at the Huffington Post , immediately after Obama’s inauguration, the DEA showed Obama what it thought of his no-bust policy with a raid in Lake Tahoe on January 22 (2 days after Obama was sworn in); 5 raids in L.A. on February 5; and1 in Fort Bragg on February 11.

When Attorney General Eric Holder got news of his underlings’ feeding frenzy he “spoke out in late February,” reminding the DEA of his boss’ policy on medical marijuana.

Apparently, Holder’s message had a 5-month sell-by date, because the DEA was back in full flower by August when agents hit a dispensary in Upper Lake, California. Then, in what must have been a spectacular display of watch synchronization and hushed “roger thats,” they helped local law enforcement take down at least 20 San Diego clubs in one day on September 9.

A story out of Colorado further demonstrates the ominous beauty of the government’s double standard on medical marijuana.

According to 9News.com, Colorado-legal pot grower Chris Bartkowicz had been a subject of a Channel 9 News story about medical marijuana cultivation in Denver’s suburbs.

Last Thursday, the station ran a tease featuring Bartkowitz. The next day—before the full story even aired—agents from the Denver branch of the DEA swooped down on Berkowitz’ operation, arresting him and seizing his inventory and growing apparatus.

It’s “good cop-bad cop” on a grand scale. The Obama administration lulled this grower into a false sense of such security that he agreed to do a TV interview about his business. All the DEA had to do was watch the local news to put Bartkowitz in handcuffs and federal, mandatory-minimum territory—a potentially life-destroying place.

Obama’s Dis-joint-ed Response

Did the DEA’s blatant disregard of the President’s policies cause Obama to hit the roof?  Did he rake Holder and DEA commanders over the coals for such blatant displays of poor management and insubordination?

Not quite.

According to Salem-News.com and Change.org, Obama has quietly nominated Bush appointee Michele Leonhart, currently Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Division, to become the next head of the DEA.

Leonhart is not just a dope cop. She is a zealot. While she was orchestrating raids on Los Angeles cannabis clubs, she also managed to find time to block top university medical researchers’ requests to determine marijuana’s medical efficacy.

In other words, Leonhart, who has been characterized by the Drug Policy Alliance as “Ashcroft’s Mini-Me,” is not just intent on enforcing federal marijuana laws, she is also dead-set against finding out why those laws may be wrong.

After all the campaign pledges and pro-medical marijuana rhetoric, Obama’s choice to head the DEA is, to say the least, confusing. But, one message is crystal clear: if you sell or grow legal medical marijuana, don’t do TV.

Health Insurers’ Premium Hikes: Just What the Doctor Ordered

Like hyenas culling an injured wildebeest from the herd, health insurers are ganging up on single policyholders—the ones without group clout or protection—and demanding premium increases large enough to cause cardiac arrest in their healthiest policyholders.

That the industry continues to gouge Americans is not news. But doing it so boldly during a time when people can barely afford to stay in their homes, let alone pay their current health insurance premiums, would seem to be playing unnecessarily with fire. It could actually stir up grass roots passions, and revive the currently moribund national health insurance debate–something I’m sure the health insurance suits would rather put off for another millennium or two.

Where’s their concern about public opinion?  WellPoint / Anthem demanding a 39% increase in Californians’ premiums after boasting record profits in 2009 should have approximately the same marketing value as Toyota choosing “Caveat Emptor” as a new advertising slogan.

This kind of behavior pisses people off, and pissed-off people are unpredictable people. They just might start thinking, “hey, if this industry is unethical enough to do this to us during one of the worst recessions in history, maybe they were lying to us about Obamacare “death panels,” socialism and National Health waiting lines in England. Maybe this Public Option thing isn’t such a bad idea after all.”

Could it be that WellPoint and the others believe they have so completely torpedoed health insurance reform with their misleading TV spots and astro-turf protests that they feel public opinion is no longer something to worry about?

I’m betting they’re wrong. Though the insurers still have plenty of legislators in their pockets, politicians do need votes. When policyholders in Maine, Oregon, Kansas and California start having to choose between eating and health insurance—they’ll want someone to blame.

These premium hikes should remind voters who the true boogeyman is in our health care crisis. Politician friends of WellPoint / Anthem and the others had better start looking for new friends — if they’d like to stay in office, that is.

For a look at the health care reform debate set to music, check out my video “All-American Suckers”

The Politics of Email: You Send it, You Own it

Bush knew about 9-11 beforehand; Obama won’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance; the Muslim religion is to blame for just about everything; and Michelle Obama is a pampered spendthrift.  How do I know?  Forwarded emails told me so.

It is astonishing that fine, upstanding folk who would never dream of lying to their friends face-to-face seem to have no reservations at all about forwarding political cyber-whoppers along to them.

Two forwarded emails I recently found in my in-box are object lessons in political fraud forwarding.

Islam Explained in Layman Terms

Sent to me by an old chum, “Islam Explained in Layman Terms” told me about the fundamental viciousness of the Muslim religion.  Originally written by one Dr. Peter Hammond, it contained a neat rundown on the bad things that happen to countries when their percentage of Muslims increases.  For example, America has minimal civic trouble because Muslims represent a mere .6% of the population, but Bosnia has a boatload of unrest because its Muslim population hovers around 40%.  The presentation appeared very scholarly and seemed to be the product of a lot of painstaking research.

But hold on a minute.  Bosnia?  Trouble with Muslims…in Bosnia?  Wasn’t that where Christian Serbs and Croats decimated their Muslim neighbors in the 80s and 90s with a sustained, official campaign of rape, slaughter and internment in concentration camps?  So Hammond was telling me that the skin-and-bone Muslims I saw pleading behind barbed wire back then are now villains?  Time to Google this Dr. Hammond guy.

The very first hit on Hammond was his organization, Frontline Fellowship, a group devoted to Christian proselytism in Africa. Its logo: a sword and bible over a silhouette of the African continent. The site also features Hammond’s views on a smorgasbord of subjects, including a lengthy defense of the Crusades and his equally remarkable assertion that “there was no apartheid in Rhodesia.” From the decadence of popes throughout history, to treatises on the “homosexual agenda” and home schooling, Hammond leaves little doubt about his religious and political views.

The next hit on Hammond was a revealing story in IOL News, a Cape Town, South  Africa daily. According to the story, Dr. Hammond and his son were in court answering charges of assaulting trick-or-treaters in their neighborhood with paintball guns. Hammond’s stated reason for the 2006 shooting spree: “Halloween is a celebration of the occult.”

Wow.

So this is the Dr. Peter Hammond whose emailed views on Islam have been read, forwarded and cited by millions as gospel, even though it takes a grand total of one minute to discover that Dr. Hammond is the last person you’d ask for objective information on anything religious or political…or on raising sons, for that matter.

Painfully obvious in “Islam Explained in Layman Terms” is Hammond’s complete avoidance of reality in Indonesia, the country with the highest number of Muslims in the world.  According to The New York Times: “The overwhelming majority of Indonesians are moderate Muslims who reject violence.” Wall Street Journal: “Thankfully, the majority of Indonesians are moderate and perceive the real threat FPI [terrorists] presents to their way of life and precious civil liberties.” And this from Reuters Africa in an interview with Faisal Rahman, one of hundreds of protesters in Jakarta demanding harsher treatment of Muslim extremists: “Islam and the Prophet’s teachings show that all religions should be treated equally,” said Rahman. “This is not an Islamic nation. People should be able to worship freely.”

Like Muslim extremists and wild-eyed fanatics of every philosophical stripe, Dr. Hammond ignores truths that don’t reinforce his belief system. To him, the only proper religion for everyone is his brand of fundamentalist Christianity, so he has manipulated some statistics, ignored others and created a phony data set to convince you that Islam–the world’s second largest religion–is evil.

Evidently, “Thou shalt not bear false witness…” is not Hammond’s favorite commandment.

Queen Michelle

The next email, ‘Queen Obama,’ exposed the unusually large number of staffers hired for Michelle Obama by her husband’s administration ‘to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession.’  Originally published in Canada Free Press, the copy/pasted email goes on to explain that no first lady in history has ever spent anywhere near so much taxpayer money on such an army of ‘servants.’

According to the email, predecessor Laura Bush had one staffer, and Hillary Clinton only three. The conclusion: America is being victimized by the unbounded profligacy of Michelle Obama with her twenty-two full timers.

Again, it took virtually no effort to find the Canada Free Press website, where it proudly characterizes itself as a ‘conservative online publication.’  My next stop was FactCheck.com, a site equally loathed by the left and right, or whoever happens to be playing fast and loose with the truth at any given moment.  This is what FactCheck told me about staffers for recent first ladies:

‘Hillary Clinton had at least a staff of 13 as of October 1993; 18 as of April 1997; and 19 as of March 2000.’  As for Laura Bush: ‘We were able to verify at least 18 staffers for Laura Bush as of June 30, 2008, via the 2008 White House staff list published in The Washington Post’s ‘White House Watch’ column. The combined annual salaries for the 22 staffers we can specifically identify as working for Michelle Obama come to $1.6 million. For the 18 we could identify as working for Laura Bush in 2008, the total is $1.4 million.’  In addition to the Washington Post, FactCheck’s sources included the archivist for the Clinton Presidential Library and the 2009 Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff.

Critical Thinking in Critical Condition

To believe anything about Islam written by a Crusades apologist with an itchy paintball trigger-finger makes about as much sense as accepting at face value a Michelle Obama exposé published by an outfit that calls itself conservative.  Though both reports might have been objective and accurate, the chance of them being so was extremely low.

Yet both of these e-frauds and countless others continue to be circulated by individuals who either/and:

1. Believe everything they find in their in-boxes
2. Believe anything authored by a person with ‘Dr.’ in front of his or her name
3. Believe anything that supports their political views, and want you to believe it too

They seem to forget that their return email addresses, names, and added ‘kinda makes you think’ messages are their own personal endorsements of lies.  Circulating these things without checking them out—especially when it’s so incredibly easy to do—undermines their reputations as straight shooters.

Of course, many forwarders don’t care about being straight shooters.  For them, the message is all that counts; truth is just an annoying distraction. Forwarding “Islam Explained in Layman Terms” to a fellow Muslim hater is fun and reinforcing.  And, sending ‘Queen Michelle’ to a Tea Party-er is a great way to paint Barak Obama as (sing along) an evil overlord who is trying to run America like his own personal fiefdom, and will eventually lead us to a dark, socialistic, third-world existence.

There are only so many fraudulent emails a person can stand.  That’s why God blessed us with the spam filter.  If truth means anything to the forwarder — and he wants his emails to be considered anything more than a nuisance — he ought to consider doing a little fact checking before hitting “send.”

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