MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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Going ‘Round . . .

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Martin Schilde, my friend in the Northwest, sent the following passage in an e-mail. I guess it’s making the round but I don’t know what to make of it, other than it is charming:

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her
altitude and spotted a man in a boat below on a lake. She shouted to
him, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him
an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, “You’re in a hot air
balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 1,346 feet
above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and
100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.

She rolled her eyes and said, “You must be an Obama Democrat.”

“I am,” replied the man. “How did you know?”

“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically
correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I’m
still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help to me.”

The man smiled and responded, “You must be a Republican.”

“I am,” replied the balloonist. “How did you know?”

“Well,” said the man, “you don’t know where you are or where you’re
going. You’ve risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air.
You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to
solve your problem. You’re in exactly the same position you were in
before we met, but somehow, now it’s my fault.”

March 30, 2010
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Howell Raines is Neither a ‘Liar’ Nor is He Crazy

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In this Sunday’s Washington Post Op-Ed, he asks questions that have long needed to be asked.

Take this one, his first:

Why haven’t America’s old-school news organizations blown the whistle on Roger Ailes, chief of Fox News, for using the network to conduct a propaganda campaign against the Obama administration — a campaign without precedent in our modern political history?

It is not enough to ignore Fox News anymore because, clearly some people are watching and they are forming their opinions of what is happening in the world based on what that outlet tells them. The question that Raines asks is this: In the face of silence from all known authorities, when every credible voice is silent, who will tell the people the truth?

Of course, much of Raines’ cherished media is either in dire straits and/or too compromised to do much of anything about any issue of importance facing the nation. A case in point being Raines’ old shop, the New York Times.

Why has our profession, through its general silence — or only spasmodic protest — helped Fox legitimize a style of journalism that is dishonest in its intellectual process, untrustworthy in its conclusions and biased in its gestalt? The standard answer is economics, as represented by the collapse of print newspapers and of audience share at CBS, NBC and ABC. Some prominent print journalists are now cheering Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corp. (which owns the Fox network) for his alleged commitment to print, as evidenced by his willingness to lose money on the New York Post and gamble the overall profitability of his company on the survival of the Wall Street Journal. This is like congratulating museums for preserving antique masterpieces while ignoring their predatory methods of collecting.

Why can’t American journalists steeped in the traditional values of their profession be loud and candid about the fact that Murdoch does not belong to our team? His importation of the loose rules of British tabloid journalism, including blatant political alliances, started our slide to quasi-news. His British papers famously promoted Margaret Thatcher’s political career, with the expectation that she would open the nation’s airwaves to Murdoch’s cable channels. Ed Koch once told me he could not have been elected mayor of New York without the boosterism of the New York Post.

The rest of the piece, which continues here, is just as sharp and on point, despite Bill O’Reilly’s protestations.

March 15, 2010
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Rush Limbaugh for The Progressive

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This is an illustration for an article in this month’s Progressive, Conservatives in Crisis by Ruth Conniff, about how conservatives are facing an ideological crisis after eight years of Bush and their trouncing in the election.

From the article:

“While Obama is declaring the argument between big-government liberals  and free-market-fundamentalist conservatives over, Rush Limbaugh is  keeping up the fight: ‘The battle’s never going to be over, the war is  never going to be over because battles are going to be fought  continually over and over again, because this is who these people  are,’ he says. And then he recites the rightwing bromide that FDR  ‘prolonged’ the Great Depression with his New Deal programs.”

After reading the article, I knew right off the bat that I wanted to picture Limbaugh as a human cannonball: a sham display of Big Top bravado.

March 27, 2009
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Enough, already, about Palin’s clothes!

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I’ve got no love for Sarah Palin. I think she’s awful on many levels. But I’ve about had it with stories about how much her clothes cost. The most recent revelation appears to be that the RNC spent $165,000 on three stylists to give the Alaska governor a wardrobe makeover.

So what? Yes, it sounds like a lot of money, but that is apparently what top-notch stylists cost. (Nice work if you can get it.) The Times article explains that the aggregate amount is not out of line with what a movie studio might spend on stylists for an A-list actress.

The job of Vice President is at least as important as actress. It’s also a job where appearances count — at least in a campaign. And, like it or not, women face a double standard on their looks.

Have you ever seen pictures of Palin from her pre-veep days? She would never have survived the scrutiny of a national campaign with the clothes in her closet.

In my view this was money well spent.

Cross-posted from Facebook.

December 6, 2008
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Editorials: President Barack Obama

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The New York Times:

This is one of those moments in history when it is worth pausing and reflecting on the basic facts:

An American with the name Barack Hussein Obama, the son of a white woman and a black man he barely knew, raised by his grandparents far outside the stream of American power and wealth, has been elected the 44th president of the United States.

Showing extraordinary focus and quiet certainty, Mr. Obama defeated first Hillary Clinton, who wanted to be president so badly that she lost her bearings, and then John McCain, who forsook his principles for a campaign built on anger and fear.

Mr. Obama won the election because he saw what is wrong with this country: the utter failure of government to protect its citizens. He promised to lead a government that does not try to solve every problem but will do those things beyond the power of individual citizens: to regulate the economy fairly, keep the air clean and the food safe, ensure that the sick have access to health care, and educate children to compete in a globalized world.

Continue . . .

A new direction in challenging times, a new dawn in the nation’s long struggle to bridge its racial divide.

BARACK OBAMA, 44th president of the United States: Like so many millions of Americans, we savor the phrase, and congratulate the winner, and celebrate the momentousness of the occasion. It is momentous for the generational change it heralds, the geographic realignment it reflects and the racial progress it both acknowledges and promises. Most of all, Mr. Obama’s victory is momentous for the opportunity it presents to put the country on a new and better path.

No one can minimize the challenges Mr. Obama will face, including that of reaching out to the Americans who voted for his opponent. He owes his victories in previously red states such as Ohio and Virginia — which last voted for a Democrat for president 44 years ago — in part to the nation’s deep unhappiness with George W. Bush and its anxiety about the economy. But his victories in states in every region of the country also demonstrate voters’ willingness to give the new president a chance to put into practice a more responsible economic program than that practiced by Mr. Bush or preached by John McCain. The excitement that Mr. Obama generated among his supporters suggests a capacity to inspire and reassure a worried and divided nation. His efficient, disciplined and, at times, ruthless campaign suggests a capacity to manage a government beset by problems of unimaginable complexity. And his combination of intelligence and eloquence, along with his evident instincts for consensus, offers hope that he can provide the leadership the nation so badly needs.

Continue . . .

November 4, 2008
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Strength of our faiths

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Among the photographs taken by the photog Platon of hundreds of men and women who volunteered to serve in the military and were sent to Iraq or Afghanistan was this striking one of Elsheba Khan at the grave of her son, Specialist Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. Gen. Colin Powell mentioned the photograph in denouncing the religious bias of people who were accusing Sen. Barack Obama of being a muslim.

This issue has bothered me all year long and everyone has acted disgracefully on the subject, even my candidate, Sen. Barack Obama.

“He’s a muslim,” people have said about him.

Obama, who has taken on all questions and issues with elan, somehow could not figure out how to handle this issue.

His response has basically been: “Who are you calling a muslim? I am a christian!”

The accusation of course rests on the premise that all muslims are terrorists, which is a disgraceful lie unbecoming of our great nation.

Americans who use someone’s supposed religion as a wedge issue should be ashamed of themselves. This is what I expected to hear from Obama. He has handled all other questions that have come his way this election season so expertly that I was mystified why the answer to this one eluded him, why he could not find the grace to not only beat back this slander but welcome muslims into his ever widening tent.

Leave it to Gen. Colin Powell in his endorsement statement to restore my faith in our nation. Gen. Powell found just the right words. First, he saidhe was troubled that Republicans (and some Democrats) have been spreading rumors that Obama is a Muslim.

Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists.”

This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards—Purple Heart, Bronze Star—showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life.

Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I’m troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.

It was a tremendously clarifying statement and an affirmation of our diverse and pluralistic society, which has been the envy of the world. We largely don’t engage in ethnic cleansing despite our multitudes of peoples. We strive to build a tolerant society. Gen. Powell told us that even, especially, in the pursuit of the highest office in the land, we must remember the nation that we aspire to be.

October 22, 2008
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NYT Editorial-The Acorn Story

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In Wednesday night’s debate, John McCain warned that a group called Acorn is “on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history” and “may be destroying the fabric of democracy.” Viewers may have been wondering what Mr. McCain was talking about. So were we.

Acorn is a nonprofit group that advocates for low- and moderate-income people and has mounted a major voter-registration drive this year. Acorn says that it has paid more than 8,000 canvassers who have registered about 1.3 million new voters, many of them poor people and members of racial minorities.

In recent weeks, the McCain campaign has accused the group of perpetrating voter fraud by intentionally submitting invalid registration forms, including some with fictional names like Mickey Mouse and others for voters who are already registered.

Based on the information that has come to light so far, the charges appear to be wildly overblown — and intended to hobble Acorn’s efforts.

Continue . . .

October 17, 2008
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‘Joe the Liar’

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(Photo: Jim Young/Reuters) Wurzelbacher speaking to Sen. Barack Obama about taxes while the candidate campaigned near Toledo, Ohio, last week.

And so “Joe the Plumber” dies a swift, ignominious death.

In so doing, he enters the pantheon of fictitious Republican agitprop–such as Reagan’s apocryphal Cadillac-driving welfare queens–that have no basis in reality.

“Joe the Plumber,” you will remember, is the close-minded gentleman who stopped Sen. Barack Obama on the campaign trail in Ohio last week to ask about his taxes.

“I am getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year,” ‘Joe the Plumber’ asked. “Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?”

The candidate patiently explained his tax plan. But it did not stop newspaper headline writers from  demonizing Sen. Obama. And John McCain, the Republican nominee, then made sure Joe the Plumber would live on in infamy by bringing up the encounter during Wednesday night’s final presidential debate.

He flogged Mr. Obama with the plumber with some success, about the only argument with which he gained some traction all night.

But that was yesterday. This is today. The New York Times followed up and, it turns out, “Joe the Plumber” is not all he claimed to be:

Turns out that ‘Joe the Plumber,’ as he became nationally known when Senator John McCain made him a theme at Wednesday night’s third and final presidential debate, may run a plumbing business but he is not a licensed plumber. His full name is Samuel J. Wurzelbacher. And he owes a bit in back taxes.

The premise of his question to Mr. Obama about taxes may also be flawed, according to tax analysts.

The local plumber’s union said Mr. Wurzelbacher does not hold a license either as a plumber or as a contractor.

“He’s basically playing games with the world,” Thomas Joseph, the local’s business manager, told the Times in an interview on Thursday.

Wurzelbacher was interviewed on the Fox News Channel and conservative groups. They seized on these set of words by Mr. Obama:

“I think that when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

McCain came alive during the debate, taunting Obama repeatedly with wanting to take Wurzelbacher’s money and spread it around. After the debate, CBS anchor Katie Couric came calling. She even laughed when Wurzelbacher compared Sen. Obama with the entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., encouraging him to see a job with “Meet the Press.”

“You know, I’ve always wanted to ask one of these guys a question and really corner them and get them to answer a question,” Wurzelbacher told Ms. Couric, “for once instead of tap dancing around it, and unfortunately I asked the question, but I still got a tap dance . . .  almost as good as Sammy Davis Jr.”

Wurzelbacher was nowhere to be found when the New York Times came calling on Thursday. He did not answer messages left on his home phone and there was no answer at his plumbing business.

“All contractors are licensed, and he does not have a license, either as a contractor or a plumber,” Mr. Joseph, the union official, told the Times, citing a search of government records. “I can’t find that he’s ever even applied for any kind of apprenticeship, and he has never belonged to local 189 in Columbus, which is what he claims on his Facebook page.”

According to public records, Mr. Wurzelbacher has been subject to two liens, each over $1,000, one of which –a personal tax lien–is still outstanding.

And his question to Mr. Obama about paying taxes? According to some tax analysts, if Mr. Wurzelbacher’s gross receipts from his business is $250,000–and not his taxable income–then he would not have to pay higher taxes under Mr. Obama’s plan, and probably would be eligible for a tax cut.

The only thing I came away with from watching his encounter with Mr. Obama was how patiently the candidate answer his questions and how close-minded Wurzelbacher seemed. Meanwhile, someone ought to tell Mr. McCain that his poster boy is not what he seems because, as the Times reports, he’s still banging that drum loudly on the campaign trail.

October 16, 2008
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A liberal in the U.S. Senate

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The Agonist is one of my favorite stops when I’m inclined to read other blogs. It is simply one of the best out there. I stopped reading for a while because I felt their vociferous support of Senator John Edwards blinded them to the good points of other candidates.

In any case, I stayed away too long. For instance, Bob Geiger has a piece that greatly interests me that I might have missed when I was not actively reading the site. The point is that when Republicans hurl the liberal epithet at Sen. Barack Obama, his votes are very much in the mainstream supporting things that most Americans support.

Please check out the piece and the Agonist.

October 6, 2008
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