Nausea and dread - Was it something I ate?

Woke up this AM feeling unwell; it was the usual time when the black paws alarm went off, but usually Mrs. Phactor turns it off (diverts its attention), but she's off to merry old England for a niece's Oxford graduation. The feeling is just a general ill feeling of foreboding and it had nothing to do with anything TPP ate or drank.  But of late just reading the newspapers or online news services provides very little good news and plenty of bad news such that TPP has totally stayed away from blogging therapy so as not to pass it along and bum out readers. The other problem is being at a rather loss for any words of wisdom or even any lofty thoughts.  
With regards to all the policing gun violence, tit for tat is always a losing strategy, and then when some moron of a mayor or chief of police or congress person says this isn't a "gun problem" you want to give them a dope slap because that is exactly why all of this is killing so many people. When everyone is carrying a gun around you can't tell who the supposed "good" guys are, and they carry guns because they're scared, and then they scare everyone else including police who are just trying to do their job, and unfortunately making too many mistakes in the process.
The nausea may well be related just to listening to news snippets and nibbling upon choice tidbits from the GnOPe convention like good old Jovial Giuliani. So much doom and gloom that only the chosen one, a great leader who has never led, can save us from. The politics of fear never does good things, ever. It is sadly disappointing that so many people fall for this line of crap.
TPP understands that people want to be better off than they are/were and they want to be safe, but fails to understand how anyone can think a narcissistic billionaire who was born on 3d base and thinks he hit a triple can help. It's the ultimate in trickle down, voodoo economics. Such people don't care about the little people.
Lastly, T-rump reminds TPP of a type of person you sometimes meet in the academic world. They have a pretty good opinion of themselves; they feel pretty smart, but they usually have a rather insular, or limited background, lacking wider experience beyond their particular expertise, which is often education administration, for example. OK in the academic world, no one is a total slow coach, but you do run into some very, very smart people to help you keep your own ego in check.  Where in a world of business where money equals power does a bully ever discover just how smart he isn't, and even if he proves to be fairly smart, it's a largely untrained, un-exercised intellect. And it shows, but it can still seem impressive to others. 
Are others out there suffering as well? Time to work out the rest by mowing some lawn. 

Budget, budget? Our state doesn't need no stinkin' budget

Lincolnland is a very poorly run state, and it has been for a long time. Presently there is no state budget, since last July, and not having a budget for the whole year is a real possibility.  Governor Rauner-round and the war lords of Madiganistan are at loggerheads. Rauner-round decided that he would hold the state budget hostage to force the war lords to pass anti-labor legislation that supposedly is pro-business, but they decided they could play chicken and have made no concessions, so the state is at an impasse. Both parties think the other party will get the blame, but there is plenty to pass around. Lots of organizations, lots of schools, lots of people are in dire straits, and it doesn't seem our politicians care, particularly the guy giving us the big Rauner-round. Turns out hostage taking is not a very good legislative strategy. This hasn't had a direct impact on yours truly, but you hate to see a poorly run state literally grind to a halt; at least the F1 was spared a layoff or cut in salary. Now add to this mixture, a lame-duck president, a native son, is visiting today to help matters out, not that he has done very well in terms of legislative action because of an inflexible majority in Congress. Perhaps the entire state should be put up for sale, scratched, dented, and bruised as it is, it still has good agricultural land. Can we let the free market forces decide?  Heck, everything else has been privatized, a solution to poor public management of everything from prisons to schools to traffic lights and other forms of gambling. So why not the state itself? Make an offer, please! Maybe you can figure out how to make things work. 

(T)Rump Roast - Recipe for disaster

So the Donald is running for POTUS. Imagine TPP's excitement. The Donald's message seems simple enough: I'm rich, I'm successful, so vote for me, and you'll have a rich, successful POTUS. So in what way is the Donald successful?  He's made a boat load of money, i.e., he's rich. OK, that was item one.  Got anything else? Any other qualities you think the POTUS should have? Or is it all just such simple ideas? For those of us with very different standards of success, the Donald seems pretty unqualified, but in comparison, candidates like Rick Sanctimonious, Mike Chucklebee, Randy Paul, and Rick "Oops" Parry begin to look better. Ted Cruise not so much. As a guide to understanding the Donald, please turn your attention of exhibit A.  Giving Lincolnland the Rauner-round is another rich, "successful" businessman, who presently thinks inundating citizens with ads blaming his inability to govern (dictate) on Dem guys. Hey, the campaign is over. You won. Now can you do anything constructive without resorting to failed GOP economic  and austerity policies as "solutions"? Can you actually govern? The answer seems obvious. And right now our rich, successful businessman has more political experience than the Donald. So much more fun awaits as states and our country continue to take on water while our successfuls drill holes to let the water out. TPP is so embarrassed that he won't be able to travel overseas anymore.    

Socialism is the ism dismalest of all

If you don't recognize the title phrase, it's because it's from a Chad Mitchell Trio song from the 60s called "The John Birch Society".  This morning TPP received a very important telephone call from some American Super-Patriot Think Tank (something like that), which means it's funded by some super-PAC and accountable to no one, sort of, not really. They excitedly wanted to tell me about the dangers of socialism as a threat to our 'Mercan way of life and that means Bernie Sanders is running for president. After politely listening for a few moments, TPP asked if this all meant capitalism was at risk?  Yes, yes, most certainly it is. TPP suggested that having seen how badly capitalism was treating this country, its people, and its environment, some change sounds good. BTW they are meeting at the courthouse at 8 o'clock tonight. 

She's back, again, again, again!

Yes, folks, unless you are living in a cave and bereft of news you know that Sarah Palindrone^TM is back in political news with hints of running for POTUS. Expectedly the news she made was for giving a totally disjointed, nonsensical word salad of a speech, where according to John Stewart the "nouns kept running away from the verbs". TPP coined the term Palindrone for exactly her type of speaking, something that sounds just a dumb backwards as forwards. Now perhaps you would like to think that Sarah doesn't really stand a chance; she is the dumbest of the lot by a lot, maybe with the exception of former Texas governor Perry, but at least he sticks with good-old-boy whiz bang jingoisms he can handle. The problem for this correspondent is wondering if there are really people out there that think our country would be better off if this woman became POTUS?  Really? Why? Is her speech some form of divine political glossolalia (speaking in tongues) that is to be revered? TPP still hasn't gotten over the frightening thought of having her as VP to a geriatric POTUS. So just when you think the bar cannot possibly set lower, along comes Sarah to challenge that notion. As H. L. Mencken said, "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents more and more closely the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

PHLOX news tells it like it isn't

PHLOX news tells it like it isn't because conservatives prefer to hear conservative ideology and rhetoric rather than facts, and as a result the political debate is getting more polarized because the other end of the political spectrum prefers more factual reporting of the news. Too bad this means conservatives are ignoring reality, living in their own Reaganland, itself a fantasy construct. Perhaps you suspected this, or else you think this another conspiracy by the left-wing media elite, but Pew research has the data, which interestingly enough will only be believed by half of the political spectrum. Dang, but this is why the election season is so gloomy. As an example, our local political Rauner-round is telling people it's class warfare to attack him for having made millions of dollars and being very rich. That's the rhetoric. Here's the reality. What this very rich guy doesn't get is that he is totally, completely, magnificently out of touch with ordinary people, let alone the very poor. The only surprise so far is that he hasn't said, "Let them eat cake." 

What's the Anti-party for?

Tom Tomorrow is also Tom Terrific (Anyone out there old enough to remember that?) when it comes to summing up the way things are here in the USA.  In a few short frames TT shows what the Anti-party is for, or against, and for all these reasons, it's the GnOPe (NOPE - if the G is silent) in TPP's parlance.  What a sad, miserable, and ultimately empty perspective on human nature this cartoon portrays. How is it they get any votes at all?  Oh, there's a lot of sad, miserable, and ultimately empty people out there. 

How dumb is too dumb? We still don't know!

A very excited out-of-work sports caster called TPP on the phone last night.  “Now’s the time!”  And after reeling off the current set of anti-Obama sound bites asked me to sign a petition in support of Sarah Palindrone (someone who sounds just as dumb forward as backward) running for the Senate from Alaska.  Oh, yes, and a little donation to the effort would be nice too.  However the response that TPP wanted to leave was not an option.  

Now this raises quite an interesting question about politics that this recording could not answer.  How dumb is too dumb in ‘Mercan politics?  TPP figured that we’d bottomed out and people would come to their senses after electing Reagan.  This shows TPP's political acumen.  And then along comes W who made Ron sound and look like a Rhodes Scholar.  In the next election cycle, the afore mentioned Palindrone was given way more attention than anyone with so little to say and so little reason to say it and who will then say it anyways with so much dumbth should ever be given.  And she hasn’t improved.  Perhaps it was Gov. Perry of Taxes who so lowered the bar that Ms. Palindrone’s IQ rose in comparison because now some near breathless people want her in the Senate. 

"The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself." Ralph Waldo Emerson offered that observation in 1837, but his words echo with painful prescience in today's very different United States (from an old WashPo article).  What would Ralph think now about our virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism, ideology, and low expectations?  There are smart capable people in the USA, but almost none of them are electable in this era of you-can’t-be-too-dumb politics.

Understanding governmental action - fiscal cliff edition

To understand things, you must at times look to sources of wisdom and insight.  For politics in general, there seem to be only two such sources, both comedies.  What does this tell us?  So with respect to the situation in DC (DaCapital), turn to Yes Minister, which dummies in the USA will think is a religious source.  "Politicians must be allowed to panic. They need activity. It is their substitute for achievement."  Our government either makes you laugh or cry, but crying is so depressing, so better to make fun of the fools we have elected.  The other source is of course the Daily Show, the finest in phony news. 

USA Exceptionalism

The Phactor likes the USA as much as anyone, it has come good qualities and some good opportunities, some in education, but you try not to let that feeling blind you to its obvious faults and even the decline of some of these good things, like education.  As this recent election demonstrated, anyone who doesn't fervently believe "This is the greatest country on Earth!" doesn't deserve to even be a citizen let alone a candidate for office.  This doesn't leave much room for dealing with reality.  When you've traveled a lot, and not as part of some "coddle the tourist" tour, but when you've lived in a place for awhile and had the opportunity to view your country through the eyes of others, you find our that view is not very pretty.  The simple fact is that most of the people who live in one of those awful socialist countries wouldn't trade their health care, or education, or sick leave benefits for those in the USA.  And you also realize that virtually every European country has much better public transport that the USA who put everything into cars, a road system, and planes, and now even our interstate road system is crumbling and over burdened with vehicles.  The big problem is that our politicians are living in bubble that insulates them from reality.  So when a real critique of the USA gets published, the usual response is to dismiss it.  Get real people.

Warning: Liberal within!

The GnOPe of Lincolnland wants my vote; not for anyone in particular, not for any particular issue or agenda, just in general, more or less for everything.  In fact the missive sent to me only features one word in bold, red letters: LIBERAL.  Yes, vote against anything liberal; vote against the liberal agenda; vote against Washington liberals (if only we really had some!); meaning vote for the GnOPe.  Personally TPP is insulted.  The GnOPe seems to think that the word LIBERAL will affect me the way SQUIRREL affects dogs in the movie UP.  Well, TPP has stopped associating with the GnOPe since they became the party of stupid.  Since TPP is not alone, quite likely this message resonates quite well with their party's present main base, but liberal doesn't mean what they think it means.  TPP has long embraced a liberal philosophy of equality and justice supporting free and fair elections, freedom of speech, religion, and press, a right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. If the GnOPe is serious about opposing a liberal agenda, then they should be more specific about which of these rights and freedoms they wish to limit or take away.  Oh, yes, in a manner of speaking all of them, for one group or another.  The GnOPe doesn't want minorities or people who vote against the "conservative" agenda to vote.  The GnOPe doesn't want women to have any rights at all.  And freedom of religion is OK as long as it's the right one, and now even this is pretty confusing for the them trying to convince the religious right that Obama is the wrong kind of Christian while at the same time sort of side stepping the issue that Mittens isn't any kind of Christian at all by their own standards.  Ironic isn't it?  The original tea party was protesting the lack of representative government, and now the Tea Party embodies the biggest threat to our constitutional rights in the history of our republic.  Before receiving this missive, TPP was considering voting for at least one GnOPe candidate for state office, by all accounts a reasonable fellow, but how can he be reasonable and still be part of a stupid party?  Recalculating, recalculating.

Dipping a toe into the polluted waters of politics

TPP generally stays away from politics because this topic is just too depressing for an intellectual, science-minded, educator who supports social justice and real equality.  Still a few thoughts occur to me.  First, nothing said during a campaign should be given any credence at all.  Truth is always a casualty.  Right now so many pants are on fire that the heat will contribute to global warming.  Second, so how do you know what a politician will do if you can't believe anything they say?  You see how they behave, how they treat others, and their own.  With that in mind, we have the GnOPe party leadership, which knows Mittens has the nomination all sewn up, screwing over Ron Paul delegates so that no dissent would be heard whatsoever.  Now think about it.  If this is how they treat their own party members, delegates chosen by their own people, at their own convention, imaging what they could do, what they will do, to you if they gain control of Congress and the administration?  The GnOPe will not govern, they will rule as if they had divine right.  All hail Mittens the monarch and his empress of white, wealthy America. 
Oh, TPP feels much better now.  Still depressed, but not so stressed about it. 

Wind power is horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad energy

If there is one thing that conservative politicians in this country are not about, it's conservation, a rather funny and tragic inconsistency.  Here in central Lincolnland wind farms have been springing up all over the place because if there is anything in excess around here, it's wind.  So, quite rationally, and for the good of the country, if the president is for wind power, conservatives are forced to think it the worst thing ever, dirty, rotten, renewable, safe energy.  So go fly a kite!  That being said the following will be no surprise at all and the simple-shallow-thinkers (SSTs) will once again be organized and led around by super-big-money interests that regularly hose these people economically.  So much for a grassroots movement.  Here's the super, double-secret plan as reported at the Guardian.  HT to Greg Laden.

Fun and Games with super PAC, man!

You've got to love those guys, Steven Colbert & John Stewart; they may be the best political comedians ever, and nothing shows the ridiculous, the absurdities, better than satirical humor. How better to show people how super PACs abuse the democratic process than to have one and use it to steal the show. But rather than George trying to interview Colbert as a serious candidate (As Colbert says, "Good luck with that.") why isn't he asking about the real issue, the misuse, the abuse, of super PACs? Colbert says is plainly, it's about free speech, and the money, because the more money you have the more speech you can buy. Why aren't people outraged when they can see how sleasy the whole business is when someone is right up front about it? Hand over the fund to a buddy, who does your dirty work, while the candidate disavows all knowledge, all connections, and all responsibility for the attack ads. Why is it taking a couple of comedians to bring up serious issues that threaten our democratic process? At least the USA isn't so far gone that it resorts to censoring such political satire, and this is the best since Pat Paulsen sort of ran for president with his flag-lined suit. And Paulsen might be the only person as hard to interview as Colbert.

So You Think You Can Govern? Reality Show.

GOP Dumps Presidential Candidates, Launches So You Think You Can Govern? Reality Show. Story here. You know this just might work better than anyone could think.

The war on science continues

Molly Ivins once said, "Let me say for the umpteenth time, George W. is not a stupid man. The IQ of his gut, however, is open to debate. In Texas, his gut led him to believe the death penalty has a deterrent effect, even though he acknowledged there was no evidence to support his gut's feeling. When his gut, or something, causes him to announce that he does not believe in global warming -- as though it were a theological proposition -- we once again find his gut ruling that evidence is irrelevant." Well, there can be no question that Rick Perry is cut from the same bolt of cloth. A scientific report on the state of Galveston Bay was so heavily redacted by political officials of Texas, all of the scientist-authors protested and had their names removed from the report. Even basic facts were removed when inconvenient like the level of the bay is rising. Oh, that nasty sciency thing of using data rather than just acting upon your gut instincts, and the terrible burden of having to fit reality into your political Procrustean bed. So this pretty much tells you how Perry will act as president, policies will be based on the ideology of his gut; facts be darned. So this is how it goes in political circles these day because facts are bloody hard things to argue with; so much easier to deny we know anything than to explain a lack of policy. As a nation don't we deserve better? HT to PZ. Good job Mother Jones.

Why plants and rainforest stuff, not politics?

A reader asks why the Phactor has made no comments about recent political events and instead rambles on about his tomatoes and rainforest organisms? Well, it’s fairly simple. The Phactor is so disgusted, so annoyed, so angry, so outraged that he will go ballistic if he starts thinking and writing about this topic at all. After all when you’ve been accosted, however nicely, by an upset shopkeeper in a small butcher shop in a beach community of far northern Queensland who’s worried about the impact of the USA’s stupid politics will have on global economics, well, you know there is a lesson to be learned and it’s pretty simple: rigid ideology of any sort is no way to govern. The butcher had decided that while his business was doing well, he wasn't going to risk a good thing by buying and opening another shop in a 2nd location until the world economy of which the USA is a lynch pin settles down. If a butcher thinks like this half way around the world, why is anyone surprised that the economy and the job picture have not improved. Our politicians, and therefore, the USA are not instilling confidence because of how they behave. The common good does not matter at all, either on a national or international level, just ideological purity. Fundamentalism either in politics or religion does not lead to thinking about consequences. Yours truly hopes that everything does not have to implode for people to learn that electing political ideologues is not a good thing, ever, of any persuasion. To all you good people of the world, let me apologize for our actions, for the stupidity of the electorate and the elected. Oops, blood pressure monitor, that bulging vein on my temple, says this is not good for my wa. Even a tomato-thieving varmint has a calming influence in comparison.