Helping Out

From the good folks at Comments From Left Field:

I’ve been writing here for about four years now, and over the course of those four years, we’ve asked you guys to open your wallets on several occasions. We’ve asked you to give some of your hard earned cash to politicians who have taken hard stands, and thanks to you we have raised thousands of dollars for Fisher House in honor of two brave soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq.

But we’ve never asked you to give money directly to one of our own. Many blogs out there hold fund drives to keep their sites up and running, and we haven’t even done that, Mike paying the bills out of his own pocket to keep Comments From Left Field going.

This is about to change.

Last year we brought a talented and prolific woman into our fold. Kathy, whose own blog at Liberty Street is quite excellent, has since then become one of the leading voices here at Comments From Left Field. If we could afford to pay people a salary, I’m fairly certain that Mike would agree with me in saying that she would be the first on the list to catch a paycheck. She has become one of the key driving engines to this website (and more than makes up for my somewhat manic blogging patterns).

Frankly, I wonder if CFLF would still be alive without her.

The problem is, while Kathy has toiled endlessly here and at her own blog, catching work that can actually pay the bills is a different matter entirely. You may have noticed that over the past few weeks her contributions here have gone way down–this is because she couldn’t keep up with her internet bills and they finally cut her off.

And still her dedication has her going to the library in whatever spare time she can muster to write for us. As I say, I truly wish we could cut her a paycheck.

But the fact still remains–Kathy is in dire need of financial assistance, and the best I can do is turn to you, our readers, and ask for your kindness and your generosity. I know these times are tough, I know a lot of you are scrimping and saving every dime you can, but my sincerest hope is that if you can spare some cash, any cash, it doesn’t have to be a big amount, is that you toss some of that change over Kathy’s way.

Together we can’t make all of Kathy’s dreams come true, I hold no illusions about that. What I want us to do is to come together and at least scrape enough cash up for her so that she can get her head back above water–keep the wolves at bay for at least another day, so to speak.

You don’t have to give a lot, just a dollar or two. And if you can’t do that, please help spread the word around. Write up a post on your own blog, email your friends. Kathy is one of the best voices out there on the internet, and it would be a shame if we lost that because she too became a victim of the economy.

If you write up a post, you’ll get a link from us in a gratuity post I’ll do later on, and if you aren’t on our blogroll now, doing so will buy you an instant spot on the blogroll with few questions asked (I’ve learned my lesson to unrestricted blogrolling, thank you very much!).

And to start things off I’ve already donated $50.00 to the Kathy bailout fund. Please help grow that sum by clicking the button below. Thank you!

Let me know if the button works, because I may have done it wrong. :lol: Even a dollar or two helps, as many of us know all too well. I think this is a worthwhile cause. Imagine for a minute - no more internet access. Pretty miserable, eh?

Dangerous Games

This whole Rush Limbaugh thing has been mighty entertaining, no doubt about that. Watching Republicans kow-tow to the mighty Rush speaks volumes about their herd mentality.

I must admit to some worry, however.

Highlighting Limbaugh's influence in the GOP - and then tying it to his utterly idiotic remarks, most especially his "I hope the President fails" comments but also his racism, misogyny and just plain stupidity - is definitely good politics. But it is politics nonetheless - and Obama built his supermajority of public support by NOT indulging in that murkey pool.

Let the Republicans continue to tear themselves apart, or let them come together and start getting some decent new ideas. Either way is a good outcome. But kicking them while they're down and playing politics is exactly the opposite of what got Obama elected. It's tempting for sure, but it could backfire all too easily.

Alternatives

I'll admit it - I didn't watch the speech last night (it wasn't a State of the Union address, no matter what you may read on the interwebs). Nor did I watch Bobby Jindal's response.

I've heard amazing things about Obama's speech, and awful things about Jindal's, but I'm not prepared to stand in judgement as I didn't watch either (and honestly, I feel terrible for Bobby Jindal - he had the miserable task of standing up and giving a speech right after the nation's most popular and charismatic politician, AND had to deliver Republican talking points on top of it, AND was being held up by his own party as the next great hope, which is a ton of pressure to live up to - I don't envy him the task at all).

No, I can't comment on the style of the evening. But, having read through transcripts and reviews, I can comment, at least in part, on the substance.

What really struck me about Jindal's policy prescription, in contrast to Obama's, was how predictable it was. It is literally the same policy plan they've offered for decades, with some words changed to present the illusion of modernity. The details are touched up, but the spirit remains the same - government is the problem and must be defeated so that the private sector can reach it's full glory.

Now, I understand that's the root of conservative thinking. What I don't think they realize is that in the face of Wall Street scandal, huge populist resentment, rampant bank failures as a direct result of flawed bank policies, massive CEO entitlement scams and golden parachutes galore, that criticizing the government and offering as a solution the exact fucking things that are utterly collapsing under the weight of their own greed is probably going to be a rather tough sell.

What they're doing is setting the next election cycle up as a choice between the private sector and the government, rather than trying to offer a new alternative viewpoint - and I have trouble believing that anyone is going to vote for Bernie Madoff's coworkers, even in proxy.


The only way they could make it worse would be to use that false paradigm as an excuse to shamelessly obstruct President Obama's initiatives for the next four years in an effort to score political points.

Oh, damn.

Well at least they're not making up stupid, fictional talking points that even their own supporters decry as utterly - oh, shit.


*Sigh* So long, GOP.

Something to think about

Good friend and prolific writer Matttbastard is working with blogger Sarah J on a chapter-by-chapter break down of Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine." What I've read from the two so far has been as outstanding as it has, to make the obvious but nonetheless accurate pun, shocking.

You can read for yourself what Sarah and Matt have to say, and I do recommend it.

Happy reading!

Dear Humanity

Dear Humanity;

You may want to consider re-reading that book I sent you a while back.

Remember the part where it said I wouldn't want two people to love each other and be happy together?


"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.


Me neither.


Love,
-God

The Other Half

The NYT had a great article recently about how this recession is really hitting certain people harder than others - meaning, of course, the wives and mistresses of the banking class. Take a look:

Dawn Spinner Davis, 26, a beauty writer, said the downward-trending graphs began to make sense when the man she married on Nov. 1, a 28-year-old private wealth manager, stopped playing golf, once his passion. “One of his best friends told me that my job is now to keep him calm and keep him from dying at the age of 35,” Ms. Davis said. “It’s not what I signed up for.”

Can you imagine? No golf! However will the poor dear survive?


In other, much less important news, 45 million Americans remain uninsured.

On the plus side, odds are looking pretty good that our poor Mr. Davis won't be off the links for long - at least not if he's in line for one of those fancy, publicly-funded bonuses.

In other, much less important news, 45 million Americans are completely unable to get basic fucking medical care.

The time for universal health care is now, and not a day later.

Of course, if you live in any industrialized country on the planet EXCEPT the wealthiest one in history, the time was years ago.

What are you waiting for, America?

Young love

How sweet it is!