Romney's Election Headquarters

Fox “News” runs a morning show called “Fox and Friends.”  On Wednesday the show broadcast a four minute video entitled “Four Years of Hope and Change,” attacking Obama and his policies.  I have not seen the video, but commentators who have said it was indistinguishable from an campaign attack ad.

The video was preceded by the graphic “America’s Election Headquarters.”  This is what Fox calls its election coverage.  Next time you are in an establishment that has Fox playing on the television, ask them to change the channel.  I know I have mentioned this before, but you need to ask.  If they refuse, raise a ruckus.  Start shouting.  Embarrass everyone in the room.  

Fox has a right to broadcast anything they want to.  It’s a First Amendment right.  On the other hand, viewers need to be made aware of just what it is they are watching--extreme right-wing propaganda, not news.

Betty White, sage of the digital age

I might have some facts garbled here, and I’m too lazy to do the research, but if I remember correctly there was an electronic media campaign some time ago to have Betty White host Saturday Night Live.  

This I do remember correctly.  Ms. White was asked what she thought of Facebook and other forms of social media, and she said, “I think it’s a colossal waste of time.”

Now we get a report that children from poor families spend far more time on their phones and computers playing games, watching shows and videos, and networking then children from wealthy families.  Parents from poor families are less likely or less able to monitor their children’s use of electronic media.  

A study done by Kaiser Family Foundation discussed in today’s New York Times came to this conclusion:  “Despite the educational potential of computers, the reality is that their use for education or meaningful content creation is minuscule compared to their use for pure entertainment.”

In other words, a colossal waste of time.

Dirty Hands

In an essay entitled "Political Action:  The Problem of Dirty Hands," Harvard political philosopher Michael Walzer noted that politicians can do terrible deeds in pursuit of overriding moral goals.  Walzer was examining the old question about immoral means for moral ends.

For me the best example is the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Truman knew those bombs would kill thousands of civilians, including women and children who had nothing to do with the war.  He also knew that the battle for Okinawa had killed thousands of women and children, and Okinawa was not even a home island.  The invasion of Japan was scheduled to start in January 1946.  Up to a million American casualties were possible, to say nothing of millions of Japanese who would die, resisting even more fiercely than they had on Okinawa.

If Truman decided not to drop the A-bombs, his hands would be dirty from the invasion casualties.  If he dropped the bombs, his hands would be dirty from the American and Japanese troops and Japanese civilians killed.  No matter what he decided, he would have dirty hands.

On May 29 the New York Times published an article entitled "Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama's Principles and Will."  The article explained how the drone program targets Al Qaeda operatives, but that Obama must approve every strike.  He has decided that as president, he is ultimately responsible for U.S. policy.  He has approved strikes in which there was a reasonable expectation that civilians would be killed.

Should the U.S. use drone strikes?  I am a member of the American Civil Liberties Union.  I don't believe that American citizens should be summarily executed without arrest and trial, and I know that we have killed U.S. citizens with drones.  Had we not, it is quite possible that hundreds of Americans would have died in Al Qaeda attacks planned by those who were killed.  Either way, the president's hands are dirty.

The best we can hope for, I believe, is that we have moral leaders who consider what they are doing and weigh their actions carefully.  After reading the article, I am convinced President Obama is such a leader.   I am reassured that he signs off on every drone attack, and I am glad I don't have to make those decisions.

Memorial Day

Today is a holiday, so I wasn’t planning to post any political messages.  In the morning I slept in, visited my Aunt Eva Maria, and finished the Times crossword puzzle.  In the afternoon we took a hike on a fire road between the Wild Creek and Penn Forest Reservoirs and saw two deer, two wild turkeys, and a frog in a small pool.

But wait.  When we got home two jerks in a white jeep drove around the barrier and sped down Christman Trail in Beltzville State Park.  We also noticed about 25 cars at the Wild Creek Falls.  I’m fairly sure that most of the people who parked there were swimming, in spite of the signs prohibiting it. 

I reported the guys who drove down the trail along with their license number.  I’ve reported swimmers at Wild Creek in the past.  I’m not a mean old man, but think about this.  There are no toilets at Wild Creek Falls.  There are no litter cans.  There are no life guards.  As for Christman Trail, parents routinely hike that trail with little kids.  The last thing they expect is a drunken driver in a jeep barreling down the trail.

Unfortunately, with Corbett administration cutbacks, Beltzville State Park is understaffed.  The upper end of the park is becoming a lawless area, full of miscreants and lowlifes.  Corbett cutbacks have effects.  Unfortunately we who live next to the park witness daily the problems that result.

Dumbing Down

Today the Allentown Morning Call reported on a study of congressional speeches done by the Sunlight Foundation.  The study found that those congress members speaking at the lowest grade level were the Tea Party Republicans.

Three of the Tea Party Republicans, near the bottom at the 8th grade level, were Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, Rob Woodall of Georgia, and Rand Paul of Kentucky.  Mulvaney was quoted as saying, "I don't think polysyllabic words--or the number of words--in a sentence as a sign of our intelligence."

The Constitution is considered to be at the 17.8 grade level.  I'm fairly sure that Mulvaney has problems understanding it.

Richard Hofstadter, the author of Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, argued back in the early 60s that politicians scored points by bragging about their ignorance.  How prescient he was.

In Memory

I have in my possession a soft cover book entitled Lehigh Valley, Pa. Deaths, Vol. 3:  1883-1885, 1896 by Robert G. Fray.  It is a reprint of deaths as reported in The Catasaqua Dispatch 1883-1885, and the Morning Call, July 1896-Dec. 1896 issues.  I don’t know the provenance--I found it in the shed two days ago.

The first thing I noticed was how many deaths were railroad-related.  The second thing I noticed was how young many of the deceased were.  Finally, this was before the days of OSHA and labor unions.  Work-related accidents were common.

Here’s a selection:

1883/01/13, Kessler, George, age 32, cause:  broke through ice, drowned.

1883/01/13, Graff, Mrs. Bernhardt,  cause:  boiler explosion at Bethlehem Steel

1883/01 13, Crade, George, cause:  boiler explosion at Bethlehem Steel

1883/01/13, Bright, Jesse, cause:  boiler explosion at Bethlehem Steel

1883/01/20, Buck, son of Henry, age 10, cause:  froze to death

1883/01/27, Humphries, Joseph, age 35, cause:  horses and carriage hit freight train

1883/02/02, Woodruff, Charles, age about 40, cause: run over by passenger train

1883/02/10, Petre, Philip, cause:  hit on head with hatchet by Alex Sebastian

1883/02/10, Warner, William, age 70, cause:  apoplexy, fell dead walking to barn

1883/02/10, Bachman, Infant child of Ammon, cause:  sleeping with father, smothered

1883/02/13, Graffin, Irene (Lee), cause:  scarlet fever after giving birth

1883/06/02, Rhoads, Samuel, cause:  cinder bank cave-in at Crane Iron Works

1883/06/23, Ginnard, John, cause:  fell from box car, head crushed by wheels

1883/06/23, Wilson, William, age 16, cause:  hit by a train playing tag on the tracks

1883/06/23, Parsons, John K, cause:  premature quarry blast, thrown 50 feet 

Each of these deaths has a story behind it.  Two boys drowning the same day in the Lehigh Canal.  Deaths from consumption.  Deaths from appendicitis.  From falling down stairs.  From mine cave-ins.  Many of those people would have lived far longer with modern medicine, but reflect on this--in the end we all are mortal.  Memorial Day is not only a day to have fun.  It is also a day to reflect and remember.

Shooting the bear

Easton police shot a yearling bear last Sunday.  It was a black bear, and according to today’s Morning Call, had not threatened anyone.  It was wandering around Easton, lost.  Police Chief Carl Scalzo said his officers had to shoot the bear to make sure it wouldn’t attack anyone. 

It was a black bear.  Not a polar bear.  Not a grizzly bear.  Not a rabid bear.  

“Public safety comes first for us,” the chief was quoted as saying.  Stupidity, evidently, is a very close second.

True the Vote

True the Vote is a part of the voter suppression movement in the U.S.  It is attempting to place poll watchers at voting locations in an effort to intimidate voters.  It supports voter ID laws pushed by ALEC and other right-wing groups, and by election day it hopes to have a million poll watchers around the country.

It urges its volunteers to establish good relations with election officials, the better to purge voters the organization targets as bogus.  Its main purpose, from what I’ve read about the group, is to keep Democrats from voting.  The group’s website is very slick, featuring an interracial group of people.  Like many right-wing groups, the ultimate agenda is never mentioned.

I signed up as a volunteer.  Think of me as a mole.  Supposedly I will get an email from the group telling me what steps I should take.  I’ll let you know what they send me.  

Carbon County Democratic Headquarters opens

The Grand Opening of the Carbon County Headquarters in downtown Lehighton today was a great success.  Five candidates attended:  Eugene DePasquale, running for state auditor; Congressional candidates Matt Cartwright and Gene Stilp, State Senate candidate Tim Seip, and State House candidate Ron Rabenold.  Bill Vinsko, who lost to Stilp in the primary, also attended in what I consider a very classy move.  Finally, Jane Slusser, the Northeast coordinator for Obama, gave her pitch.  About 60 people attended the event, including one guy who came for the free food, but did register to vote.

It was another of those times I was proud to be a Democrat.  None of the speakers were  nasty, all had positive messages, and each of them were defending the interests of the common man and woman, not the oil companies, the hedge fund managers, or the corporate bosses.

Tomorrow night the first phone bank (for volunteer recruitment) will be run out of the headquarters.  Incidentally, the HQ is handicapped accessible (try to get into the Republican Headquarters down the street if you are using a walker).   Stop by--the HQ is located at 110 S. First Street in the old Elks building.  Starting next week it will be open from 2-7 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, but those hours will expand as the election day draws nearer.

Election analysis

The Carbon County Democrats for Change meeting tonight featured the Chair of the County Party, Billy O’Gurek, analyzing the results of the recent primary.  Mr. O’Gurek first discussed the turnout figures, which were pathetic.  While three of the top five precincts were located in Summit Hill, even those were under 50% turnout.  Penn Forest precincts were near the bottom, with about one of ten eligible voters casting ballots.

O’Gurek illustrated his remarks on the Patrick Murphy-Kathleen Kane race for the office of Attorney-General with a rather dramatic map.  The only area Murphy won was Philadeplhia and a few surrounding counties.  The entire rest of the state, including Carbon, was solid Kane.

The Rabenold-Strubinger race results for the House of Representatives nomination portends problems for Heffley.  Rabenold did extremely well in areas where Heffley was strong in the past, including Franklin and Mahoning Township.  While Strubinger, who is on the Jim Thorpe Area School Board, did win a few precincts in the northern part of the county, the fact that Rabenold did so well in the rural townships means he stands a good chance of making Heffley a one-term representative.  

O’Gurek also noted that a strong vote for Obama will bring out Democratic voters in low turnout areas like Penn Forest.  That should help all of the remaining Democratic candidates.

A History of Socialism: Part III

Marxists always had a problem with reform measures.  If the revolution will occur when workers are so miserable that they have no other choice, then laws that provide for maximum hours or a minimum wage will only serve to delay the revolution.  On the other hand, if you truly represent the interests of labor, then any law which ameliorates the condition of the workers should be supported.  Tough choice.

In the late 1800s, Eduard Bernstein (1850-1936), a German Marxist in good standing, began to question the need for a revolution.  Although Bismarck outlawed the German Socialist Party and Bernstein had to flee the country, socialists continued to organize and win elections.  Bernstein advanced the idea that it might be possible to reach socialism by evolutionary rather than revolutionary means.  Bernstein “revised” Marx.

About the same time Bernstein was questioning the need for revolution, a group of British intellectuals formed the Fabian Society, which called for parliamentary action to reform working conditions, and their ideas influenced the socialist British Labour Party. 

To many of the hard-line followers of Marx, “revisionists” were worse than capitalists.  Communists like Lenin and Stalin saw democratic socialists as traitors to the cause.  

After World War II in Britain, in France, and in other European countries, conflict between Marxists (now usually called Communists) and democratic socialists was fierce.  When the socialists did come to power in Sweden, in Britain, in Australia, in Norway, and in France, they often nationalized major industries, created health care programs, opened higher education to all income levels, and ensured workers’ ability to form unions.

Here is the basic difference between Communists and Socialists.  Once Communists win an election, it will probably be the last free election in that country.  Once Socialists win an election, other elections follow.  If Socialists lose, they become the loyal opposition.

I’m not getting into why socialism failed to take root in the U.S.--that would be another three or four postings.  What we have in the U.S. is a far-right group (the Tea Party people), a right group (what remains of mainstream Republicans), and a moderate-center group (the Democrats).  The left is non-existent.

A History of Socialism: Part II

Today I’ll cover Marxism, or, as it is often called, Communism, but before I get to Marx, we have look at Hegel.  G.W.F. Hegel thought that history unfolded through a clash of ideas.  First we had a thesis, an idea held by most people as true.  This eventually gave rise to opposition, called the antithesis.  (If you read it as “anti-thesis, it becomes clear.)  The clash of these two ideas produces a sort of melding, which is the synthesis.  The synthesis soon becomes the new thesis, and the whole process starts again.  This thesis, antithesis, synthesis is called the dialectic, or the Hegelian dialectic.

Karl Marx said Hegel was correct in part, but what was clashing was not ideas, but economic systems.  The existing economic order was the thesis; a new economic system would provide the antithesis.  Marx called this dialectical materialism, because it related to material goods.

Economic systems, said Marx, are what drives everything else.  Governments exist to entrench the owners, religions justify the economic system, schools teach its inevitability.  To put this in more modern terms, “follow the money.”

Marx, writing in the mid-18th century, thought that the democracy as practiced in France, England, and the U.S. was a sham.  When Marx and Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848, voting in the U.S. was limited to white males, slavery was practiced, women were little better than chattel, Indians were slaughtered, child labor was a fact of life, and mules in the mines were treated better than miners.  Unions were illegal, and both parties were run by elites.

Marx called this democracy “bourgeois democracy.”  The mass of men and women had no power and no hope of getting any.  However, things would get better.  The workers (in Marxist lingo, the proletariat) would grow, the bourgeoisie (the owners) would shrink in numbers.  Eventually a revolution would occur, and all of the workers would run the government as a dictatorship.  Note, however, that a dictatorship of 95% is more democratic than a democracy of 5% of the population.

Marx also noted that with industrialization, for the first time in history everyone would have enough material goods for happiness.  Remember that governments exist to protect the rich.  If everyone is rich, government can wither away.  

This is getting too long, but I need to add a few things.  First, Marx underestimated human greed.  Secondly, somebody still needs to run the sewage treatment plant.  Third, what Lenin and Stalin did to Marxist thought was a travesty.  Finally, suppose we took the rights guaranteed by bourgeois democracy and used them to attain power without a revolution?  Could we do that?  That brings us to Eduard Bernstein in Part III.

A History of Socialism, Part I

With all the Tea Party talk about socialism, I’ve decided to discuss what socialism really is.  I plan to write a three-part series, first examining utopian socialism, followed by “scientific” socialism, usually called Marxism or Communism.  Part III will look at 

Eduard Bernstein’s “revisionist” socialism, which is the kind of socialism practiced in France or Germany today.  Feel free to stop me at any time with questions--just raise your hand.

Utopia was written in 1516 by Thomas More to describe an ideal society.  The word has come to mean any ideal society.  The word “dystopia” is its opposite, usually an unfree and vicious society.  I haven’t seen the “Hunger Games,” but I believe that would be an example of a dystopia.  My purpose here is not to discuss dystopias, but to take a look at utopian socialism.

New Lanark in England was one of the first attempts to form a working utopian community.  Set up by Robert Owen, an early industrialist, it tried to mitigate the worst effects of wage labor.  It wasn’t a total failure, since it served as inspiration for many other attempts, such as the Amana colonies in Iowa.

Pennsylvania was a hotbed of utopian experiments, including the Ephrata Cloister and the Harmony Society.  Some utopian communities involved lots of sex, like Oneida, where older women initiated younger men into sexual activity.  Some utopian communities didn’t have any sex, like the Shakers, who depended on converts to keep the group functioning, which it did for almost 200 years.

Certain historic periods, for some reason, seem to be more favorable to utopian socialism.  The 1840s were one such period, the 1930s were another, and the 1970s saw all kinds of communal societies form and dissolve.

Three prerequisites are needed for long-term success.  Deeply shared values, often religious, is one.  Another is a simple, usually agrarian, economy.  Finally, you need a fairly small population.  Once you get into electric grids and centralized sewage, utopian socialism no longer works.  

Karl Marx himself studied utopian societies.  In his view, however, industrialization was key to a socialist economy.  But that will be discussed in Part II. 

Donna Summer, 1948-2012

I once heard Steve Allen read the lyrics to “Hot Stuff,” and it sounded ridiculous. The lyrics for “Bad Girls” aren’t much better if you read them out loud.  When Donna Summer sang those songs, however, the lyrics were transformed.  I know it is in style to denigrate disco, and much of it was bad, but Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco, transcended the genre.  

I actually have a Crosley record player here in my office.  Tonight I’m playing Donna Summer and feeling very very old.

The Supreme Court and the election

A front page article in today’s New York Times details how a SuperPAC organized by Joe Ricketts, the billionaire owner of TD Ameritrade, is about to dump $10 million dollars into an ad campaign to defeat “Barack Hussein Obama.”  The ads feature the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, and they will be vicious.

The whole election process is being corrupted by SuperPACs.  I’m worried that the legitimacy of the election is being undermined by voter suppression tactics along with unregulated expenditures.  A democracy depends on the losing side accepting the winners.  In this election, that whole idea is in question.

How did we get into this position?

You can thank the U.S. Supreme Court.  The latest issue of the New Yorker has an article by Jeffrey Toobin explaining just what the Court did in the “Citizens United” decision.  Five justices basically made law, and made it to benefit the Republican Party.  If you think I’m just being partisan, let me quote from the dissent from Justice Stevens.

     The Framers thus took it as a given that corporations could be comprehensively regulated in the service of the public welfare.  Unlike our colleagues [the conservative majority on the Court], they had little trouble distinguishing corporations from human beings, and when they constitutionalized the right to free speech in the First Amendment, it was the free speech of individual Americans that they had in mind.

     At bottom, the court’s opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self-government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt.  It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense.  While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.

Stevens’ dissent was 90 pages long--the longest of his career.  Of course, it is just a dissent.  The important thing is that five justices decided to wreck American elections and American democracy in the service of partisan goals. 

Wislawa Szymborska, 1923-2012

I had never heard of Ms. Szymborska before I read a tribute by Katha Pollitt in the March 5 issue of The Nation. Ms. Szymborska lived through Hitler’s occupation of Poland and another 40 years of Russian rule.  She won a Nobel Prize in 1996 for her poetry.  

Pollitt quotes from four of her poems.  Here is a portion of “The End and the Beginning.”

After every war

someone has to tidy up.

Things won’t pick 

themselves up, after all.

Someone has to shove

the rubble to the roadsides

so the carts loaded with corpses 

can get by.

Here’s a link to another, called “Could Have.”  <http://www.english.upenn.edu/~traister/szymborska.html>.

Emily Dickinson said that good poetry “takes the top of your head off.”  These do.

Same sex marriage poll

A new poll discussed in today’s New York Times finds that 67% of the respondents believe that Obama favored same-sex marriage for political reasons.  Only 24% thought he did it because it was the right thing to do.

A follow-up question found that 16% thought Obama’s position would make them more likely to vote for him, but 26% thought they would be less likely to vote for him.  

Do you see an inconsistency?  People thought Obama made his announcement for political reasons, but it made them less likely to vote for him.  If a candidate does something for “political reasons,” shouldn’t that make voters more likely to vote for that candidate?

I know why he did it.  Because it was the right thing to do.  What a contrast to that weasel Romney, pandering as usual.

Rupert Murdoch and Fox

In Britain an official parliamentary report said that Rupert Murdoch was unfit to run a major corporation.  Hundreds of British citizens had their phones hacked by Murdoch’s employees.  Over a dozen law enforcement officers were bribed.  Murdoch employees have been arrested for their illegal activities.

None of this seems to affect Fox “News” in the U.S.  If you ask the average person who Rupert Murdoch is, he or she will have no idea.

In fact, I believe most viewers of Fox think they are getting straight news.  They assume that “fair and balanced” is just that, and they don’t understand that they are watching a constant stream of right-wing propaganda.  

Just down from the soon-to-be-opened Democratic Headquarters in Lehighton is a very good pizza restaurant.  The television is turned to Fox News.  I don’t think the owners are necessarily trying to influence their customers, but there it is--slanted features, biased reporting, outright lies, 24 hours a day.  I don’t know what to do.  Do I tell them I won’t eat there until they turn on CNN?  Do I try to explain what is wrong with Fox?  Do I say nothing and simply not go in?  

I’d appreciate some advice on this.

Husbands and wives

Mitt Romney received a standing ovation from a group of evangelicals on Saturday when he said “marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman.”

His great grandfather, Miles Park Romney, by the way, moved to Mexico so he could have plural wives--five in all.  Sweet.

I’m not sure when the Romneys all moved back to the U.S.  I do hope they had their papers when they crossed the border.

Learning Curve

The voter registration drive in Palmerton today was--how can I put this diplomatically--a bust.  We had two teams at tables in downtown stores and four teams going door-to-door in the East ward.  The door-to-door teams had a list of all registered voters and stopped at  the houses that weren’t on the list.  We assumed that if an address was NOT on the list, unregistered voters lived there.

We did this before in Palmerton Middle and registered twelve Democrats and one Republican.  Today, not so good.  We ended up with one Democrat, one Republican, and one Independent.  We did leave notes with registration information at homes where no one answered, so we may get a few more that way.  The teams at the stores also passed out some forms, so that may net a few more.  

We also learned some lessons:

1.  We need to list the houses that are for sale or are obviously vacant.  One team was clever enough to do this.  If we have a list of those houses, we can go back in October and register the new residents.

2.  Concentrate on areas where people are not registered.  Sandra and I did two blocks of Lafayette Avenue, and we were amazed at the number of people who were registered.  We covered the 600 block, even side, and every house but two had registrants.  I know from previous door-to-door campaigning that we would have had more luck along Mauch Chunk Avenue in the West ward.

3.  Even failures are fun.  It was a beautiful morning, people were polite, and we enjoyed a lunch at Bert’s after the walk.  Nice people.

We’ll do better next time.

How Republicans Behave

According to John Nichols in the latest issue of the New Republic (May 21, 2012) over 200,000 voters signed a petition to force a referendum on a Michigan “emergency manager law” that allows unelected “managers” to bypass collective bargaining and restructure union contracts in public schools.

In April the Republicans on the Board of State Canvassers blocked the petition.  They said the font size on the petition was too small.

Check out the First Amendment on petitioning the government.  You won’t find a single word about font size.  I looked.

Testimony at the Election Board

After the Carbon County Board of Commissioners holds its regular meeting, it may then reconstitute itself as the Carbon County Election Board.  Edie Lukasevich, Linda, and I attended the meeting of the Election Board this morning and discussed some issues that surfaced recently.

In my testimony, I noted how difficult it is to find volunteers for a job that starts at 6 a.m. and runs to 8:30 p.m.  I also mentioned that I have had personal experience with  screwups that can arise when working as a polling place official.  I was in charge of a polling place in San Anselmo when we put a space heater too close to the secure box that held the ballots.  We burned a hole in it, exposing the ballots.  Luckily, none of them caught fire.

I then noted some of the problems that cropped up at the recent primary.  In Penn Forest, one worker asked voters if they were smart.  When voters responded with bewilderment, she then asked if they were Republican or Democrat.  If the voter said Democrat, she said, “I guess you’re not too smart.”  In Nesquehoning a candidate was inside the polling place, but not to vote.  In Mahoning a worker was downright rude to people who did not have ID.  

I noted that the Registrar Lisa Dart and her assistant Jane Krebs did an amazing job.  It is a two-person office responsible for the entire county.  I explained that I was not criticizing their work.  My suggestions were for clear rules, increased recruitment efforts, better training of workers, and election day monitoring.

Edie Lukasevich then discussed the way the absentees were handled.  The Registrar mailed them out in alphabetical order by municipality.  If you were in Beaver Meadows or Banks, the absentees were mailed early.  If you were in Towamensing or Weissport, some absentee voters received their ballots too late to return them.  The Board said that would not happen again.

Linda Christman asked the Board it the County photographic unit could be transported to assisted living facilities to ensure that those residents would have IDs.  She was told that the equipment was too big to transport, but that the Board would look into ways to ensure that residents of assisted living facilities could get IDs.

I was quite pleased with the Board.  They listened attentively, discussed the issues, and thanked us for bringing the problems to their attention.  They know that the upcoming election will not be easy, and I’m hoping they will take steps to see that the process runs as smoothly as it can.

Doonesbury and the Morning Call

Just in case the Morning Call doesn't print my letter, at least you will have read it.  Here's what I sent in:
Dear Editor,
     In an effort to achieve "balance," newspapers and television networks often present opposing viewpoints on political issues.  They try to give "equal time" or "pro-con" even when it is not justified.
     If a scientist presents findings that the climate is warming, some crackpot must be unearthed to refute that.  If some commentator notes that life expectancy in Cuba is longer than in the U.S., someone will be found to explain that the Cuban government must be lying.  If someone points out that unemployment under Obama has increased every month for the past 24 months, some economist will be called upon to explain that the increase is small and bound to tank soon.  
     As part of this trend I see where the Morning Call feels the need to "balance" Doonesbury with a "conservative" cartoon. Doonesbury is funny, inventive, occasionally biting, and always interesting.  I have seen the Fillmore cartoon in other papers--it is puerile and vapid. Drop it.

Don't you like the "puerile and vapid" line?  (It's also true.)

Voter self-suppression

A major topic of discussion at the Palmerton Area Democratic Club meeting tonight was the Republican-passed Voter ID bill, also known as the Vote Suppression Act.  Members discussed how we could help older voters obtain copies of their birth certificates, needed to get the ID card at PennDot centers.  We talked about how to educate voters on the new requirement, and noted how elderly voters in urban areas who never drove now have to go through the hassle of obtaining a picture ID.

Near the end of the meeting, however, my friend Bernie pointed out a very important fact.  We did not have the voter ID requirement in the primary, and fewer than 28% of the eligible voters cast ballots in Carbon County.  That is eligible voters.  Probably about half of the potential voters are registered in this county, so the actual turnout may have been closer to 12 or 13%.  A few weeks ago I visited five houses on Pohopoco Drive, and I couldn’t find a single person who wanted to register.  Voter ID was not an issue.

I know why the Republicans passed the ID requirement.  I also know that if we could somehow convince unregistered Democrats to register and vote, we’d win every election in spite of the ID requirement.

P.S.  I just heard that North Carolina voters amended the state constitution to forbid gay marriage.  Given the level of bigotry, religious fanaticism, and just plain meanness in the U.S. in 2012, I am not surprised.

A Real Socialist

France held a presidential election this weekend.  It was a democratic election with a higher turnout than U.S. elections.  The French did not engage in voter suppression.  By all accounts, the election was run fairly and the count was accurate.

A Socialist was elected.  A real live Socialist, Mr. Hollande, beat the incumbent Mr. Sarkozy.  I initially thought this might create cognitive dissonance among the Tea Party whackjobs who call Obama a socialist, but I don't think so.  I doubt if they could locate France on a map and are probably unaware that France even had an election.

The good news is that France may abandon the austerity program pushed by Chancellor Merkel that is driving Europe deeper and deeper into recession.  About time.

The N.R.A.--no friend of hunters

A recent op-ed piece in the New York Times (April 25), quoted Mitt Romney’s speech to the N.R.A.   Romney said we need a president “who will stand up for the rights of hunters, sportsmen and those seeking to protect their homes and their families.”

The N.R.A. does not care one whit about hunters.  When it ranks members of congress, the ranking is based on such criteria as support for assault rifles or opposition to waiting periods for the purchase of handguns.  Votes on habitat protection are not counted.  Where a congress member stands on global warming, which is already affecting wildlife, is not counted.  Programs to mitigate “wasting disease” in whitetail deer are not considered.  On the other hand, a member who votes to ban “cop-killer” weaponry will be marked for defeat.

The N.R.A. is subsidized in part by gun manufacturers and governed by conspiracy theorists who believe--or pretend to believe--that the government is about to seize their weaponry.  It’s a good strategy for raking in dues.

If you want to join an organization that ultimately helps hunters, join the Sierra Club.  If you want to ally yourself with the gun nuts, the N.R.A. is just what you are looking for.

Working moms

A few weeks ago Hilary Rosen created a kerfuffle by noting that Ann Romney had never worked a day in her life.  Immediately Fox News and other Romney minions jumped on the comment, pointing out that Ann Romney had raised five boys, and that was work.  

Evidently the definition of raising children as work depends on the amount of money you have.  If you are rich, like Ann Romney, it counts as work.  If you are receiving welfare, it does not count as work and you had better get a “real” job.  

Here is what Mitt Romney said on MSNBC in January.  “While I was governor, 85 percent of the people on a form of welfare assistance in my state had no work requirement.  I said, for instance, that even if you have a child 2 years of age, you need to go to work.  And people said,  ‘Well that’s heartless,’ and I said, ‘No, no, I’m willing to spend more giving daycare to allow those parents to go back to work.  It’ll cost the state more providing that daycare, but I want the individuals to have the dignity of work.’”  

Do you understand.  When Ann Romney raises her boys, that’s “work.”  When a woman on public assistance raises a child, she needs to get a “real” job.  She needs to learn the dignity of “work.”

The rich really are different from you and me.

My thanks to Katha Pollitt for the quote.  Her column, entitled “Ann Romney, Working Woman?” appeared in the May 7, 2012, issue of The Nation.

Doyle Heffley, Hero of Carbon County

Before I go any further, I should note that I am a member of the National Sarcasm Society.  

Representative Heffley announced that he had voted against the final reapportionment plan proposed by the legislature.  According to an article in yesterday’s Times News, Mr. Heffley didn’t like the fact that Summit Hill was taken out of his district, and said, “Although I would have preferred to continue to represent the entire county, that was not possible according to the rules governing the redistricting process.”

Let me explain how this works.  If you are the majority leader in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, you know exactly how many votes you need to pass a bill.  Let’s say you have five more than you need.  One of your caucus members has been accused of blindly following the party line, and he needs to show some independence.  You have votes to spare, so you permit him to vote no.  

This is done both at the national and state levels.  If the reapportionment bill needed Heffley’s vote, he would have followed orders.  If you want to see a courageous vote, look for one where a legislator bucks his party’s position, votes no, and defeats the bill.  That takes some cajones.

The Carbon County Democratic Party Executive Board

In The Logic of Collective Action, Mancur Olson said people joined groups for material, solidary, or purposive reasons.  You might join a labor union because it provides you with higher wages or better benefits.  Those would be material reasons.  You might join a bowling league because your friends are bowling, and you want to be with them.  That would be for “solidary” reasons, basically another word for “friendship.” 

By “purposive” Olson meant what I would call “ideological” reasons.  You might join the Democratic Party, for example, because you like its stand on women’s rights and its support for increased taxation for the top 1%.

Olson believed that over time solidary reasons might not be sufficient, which is why almost every group provides its members with some material benefits.  For example, I belong to the Sierra Club because I am an environmentalist, but I get discounts on hiking boots, offers for eco-vacations, and a subscription to a slick and informative magazine.  

Olson also noted that people might join a group for its ideology, but remain in the group because of friendships formed with other members.  

I thought about Olson’s theories tonight at the Carbon County Democratic Executive Board.  I am in the Democratic Party for many reasons.  I believe the Republican Party’s stands on the economy, on immigrants, on gays, on the environment, on women, on the unemployed, on labor unions, on global warming, on voting rights--all are abysmal.  (I could add to the list, but you get the idea.)  I have been a member of the County Democratic  Party Executive Board for the past five months.  

I often disagree with my fellow board members, argue with them, and even get angry with them, but as I was sitting there tonight I realized--these people are my friends.  I like them.  I would lend them money.  I would have a beer with them.  

I have no idea if the Republican Party Executive Board is similar to ours.  From what I know of Republicans, I doubt it

Torture

In a pathetic attempt to justify torture, some Bush administration officials have claimed that Bin Laden would not have been found if Americans had not used torture, a.k.a. “enhanced interrogation techniques.”

In the New York Times yesterday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, and Sen. Carl Levin, Chair of the Armed Services Committee, both said the claim that torture led to Bin Laden’s death was “misguided and misinformed.”

What they ought to have said as a followup is this:  Torture would be wrong even if it had led to Bin Laden’s death.  Torture is something done by Nazis or the KGB or North Korea, and has no place in American policy--ever.

At this point some reader will probably say, “But suppose you caught a terrorist who was going to blow up the Superbowl, but he wouldn’t tell you where the bomb was hidden?”  I have two responses.  First, I actually think that is unlikely.  Second, if somehow such a scenario did occur, torture would still be wrong.  Torture cannot be morally justified.

Gene Stilp, Congressional Candidate

Bill Vinsko, Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress, visited Carbon County a number of times.  I met Mr. Vinsko and found him to be intelligent, progressive, and handsome enough to play a politician in a movie.  About two weeks before the election I found out he had opposition from a guy named Gene Stilp, a candidate who drove around in a bus with a pig on the front.

I assumed,without knowing anything about Stilp, that Vinsko would win with about 75% of the vote.  Imagine my surprise on election night, when Stilp overwhelmed Vinsko almost two to one.

Since the election I’ve learned more about this man I had written off.  Our county party chair forwarded me a detailed article on the campaign, and I’ve looked at a number of relevant websites. 

Bottom line:  Stilp has been a political reformer who, on a shoestring budget, easily won the Democratic nomination to defeat Lou Barletta.  Once again I am humbled by how little I know.

I do have advice for Barletta.  Don’t worry about Stilp.  He has no money.  You can win easily.  You don’t even need to campaign.