Labor Day and Republicans - what a match!

Does anyone else find it funny, in a faintly nauseating way, that the GOP is starting its convention on Labor Day? The party of enriching the wealthy at the expense of the working people, using the most hallowed day for workers to launch their big party – I guess it's not so different than their last choice, in a way, of a New York convention. The audacity – not of hope – but of hubris, in selecting New York, after completely bungling (or worse, depending on who you talk to) the 9/11 attack. After it became quite clear the party in power had ignored all the warning signs of 9/11 and showed gross negligence in handling any "investigation," then afterwords told New Yorkers it was perfectly safe to venture back into an area full of asbestos and other chemical and particulate pollution, resulting in severe health problems for many – they march up there and hold their convention, as if they were some kind of heroes.

Now, they start their convention on the day that celebrates the working people and their long-lived struggles for fair and safe working conditions, a living wage, and to provide a future for their offspring – in the very year that their policies have come to their awful, predictable conclusion of an economy that is collapsing right smack on top of said workers.

Ah, but the economy is strong, says McCain. Those workers are nothing but a bunch of “whiners,” say his top economic advisers. Yes, we can add “The Party of Denial” to the many accolades they should be heaping upon themselves this coming week.

For the last few decades, Republicans in Congress and in the White House have worked feverishly to help in the massive transfer of wealth that has happened, from the working people to the very rich. Through tax cuts for the wealthy, to economic policies that benefit those on top while extracting every last drop of sweat from those at the bottom, to no-bid contracts that enrich their favored corporate buddies, as those same companies shortchange the troops on equipment and services, and endanger their lives, this party has shown they care nothing for the little guy. They’ve done their best to deny long-overdue minimum wage increases, and they’ve appointed heads to government agencies such as OSHA that refuse to enforce rules to protect workers, and in fact rewrite rules to make it easier on companies to save money at worker safety expense.

They’ve helped corporations move jobs offshore, while giving them tax breaks. When disaster strikes in a place like New Orleans, they do nothing for the workers who live in the flooded areas, but help corporations move in and take over the city. They ignore the inner cities, except for redlining them and siting polluting industries there.

I could go on and on. The point is, how brazen is this party? They should be ashamed to launch their convention on Labor Day, when they’ve done absolutely nothing for workers, and everything to bring them down to third-world levels.

Close race might actually be good for Dems

Conventional wisdom says Obama will need a big lead come election time, because as was shown in the Democratic primary polling months ago, his actual vote tallies tended to be lower than the polls predicted. The reason given for this is that some people say they plan to vote for Obama, ashamed to admit their racial bias, but actually vote the other way. This is extrapolated to the presidential election by some folks, and there may be some truth to that, to be sure.

But on the other hand, I could see it working this way come election time: If Obama has a big lead in the polls, disgruntled Clinton backers may want to register their protest by voting for McCain, figuring the Dems will get the White House anyway. In this case, the polls could be off, and the protest votes could tip the election to McCain.

But if polls show a neck-and-neck race, those same people might be more motivated by the fear of the reality of a McCain presidency. They might still tell pollsters they won't vote for Obama, but when they get in that booth, visions of Roe v Wade overturned, far-right Supreme Court justices on the bench for a generation, extended war and more of the Bush years should be enough to bring them to their senses.

The same could be true for people who normally vote Republican. Many professed Republicans are angry with their party, and rightly see that traditional conservative values are not being well-represented by the GOP of late. Therefore, many have said they will vote for Obama. There may be many more that feel this way, but don't want to be seen as disloyal to their party, and are keeping mum about it. Come election time, if the polls are close, they might secretly vote for Obama, knowing the Dems will be better for working people like themselves. However, if polls show Obama with a comfortable lead, they might feel they should vote GOP out of loyalty.

I've got no hard data to back this theory up, but hey, this is blogger-land, where everyone can spout their little predictions and possible scenarios - we don't need no stinkin' data! But seriously, I could see this effect panning out. What do you think? Leave a comment!

Mainstream media and politics - more of the same ol', same ol'

Most of the mainstream media seem to me to be pawns of the corporate behemoths, which own those same media sources, by the way. Corporate greed and control of our political process has driven our country into the deep hole it's in, both financially and morally. Greed rules. Look at NAFTA, corporate-controlled health 'care', war for private profit, and the neglect of our infrastructure and a real energy policy -- to mention the dismal state of just a few facets of our present national predicament. After eight years of sinking into the largest deficit and national debt in history, record foreclosures and unemployment, I think it's time for some big changes. The mainstream media, meanwhile, continues to whistle a mostly happy tune, everything's ok, we just need to drill off the coasts. Rising sea levels, melting polar caps and extreme weather, droughts and hurricanes be damned.

Sorry, but I can't buy into the same ol' same ol' -- it's just lemmings marching off a cliff. We need big, systemic changes here and around the world. Personally, I don't think the Dems have it in them to do what really needs to be done either, they also are too dependent on the big money that has been corrupting our government. But at least they're a step in the right direction, with regards to energy and perhaps health care, investment in infrastructure, and of course, ending the fiasco in the middle east that has killed, maimed and tortured so many, while only inspiring a new generation of terrorists who hate us.

If we're truly to change things deeply enough and quickly enough, we need to somehow divorce the electoral process from its addiction to big money. Until then, politicians will continue to serve their real constituency, the ones that get them elected, the deep pocketed corporations that not only fund the campaigns, but lavish hundreds of millions on the big parties that pass these days for political "conventions."

No matter who wins in November, the people need to demand real election reform.

My little music review of the "Fab Four" Beatles tribute band

Ok, this is not my usual type of post, but I saw the "Fab Four" last night at the Calif. State Fair -- and they were so fantastic, I just had to do a review. I was very impressed -- the band was much better than I expected. Great vocals & harmonies -- they sounded just like the Beatles, with excellent musicianship to boot, note-for-note renditions that will blow your socks off.

The banter in between songs was great too, their accents were impeccable, and there were lots of little jokes and asides. They started out dressed like the Ed Sullivan days and doing the early songs. In fact, they had a great Ed Sullivan impersonator introduce them, very funny -- he was an actor that had been in Pulp Fiction, but I don't remember his name. The early songs were done very well, with all the playful energy of those days. "George's" famous guitar riffs were excellent throughout the show.

Nothing is pre-recorded in the show, it's all performed live. The first set included “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “It Won’t Be Long,” “She Loves You,” “Till There Was You,” “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Eight Days a Week,” etc.

They had a break for about 15 minutes where "Ed" did his thing, and also they played a short film on the big screens about the Beatles. Ed mentioned that the Stones had visited backstage, and brought some 'brownies' ... said the lads were very excited about that! Ed said he had some too... then lost his train of thought. Finally, the "Beatles" came back out, in their Magical Mystery costumes, doing songs from that era - EXCELLENT renditions!

All three guitarists - the ones playing George, Paul and John, played keyboards at various points. The sound system was awesome. During this part of the show, they did "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" leading into “With a Little Help From My Friends,” “Yellow Submarine,” and several more hits from the “Revolver” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” including "A Day in the Life" -- another excellent rendition.

At the end of this portion, just three of them handled the last song (can't remember what it was), as "John" slipped off stage. After the song, John came back, dressed in a army kind of jacket, ala his NY days, and talked for a bit. Here, he talked about the real John, not pretending to be him at that point, yet keeping the excellent accent. He talked of his admiration for him and his revolutionary views, and the courage of his convictions. He sat at a keyboard and started playing "Imagine" as the rest of the gang slipped on stage, dressed more contemporarily, and joined in on the song. That was the only song they did which wasn't recorded originally by the whole band.

They did a bunch more songs, from the later albums, including a rockin' "Revolution." They ended with "Hey Jude" and then the short "The End," you know, the one that says, "And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make..."

All in all, as Ed would say, "a reeeally good shew!"

I highly recommed checking them out if you ever get the chance!

Finally, an honest Republican computer expert agrees, the technology cannot be trusted

Here is a very interesting video interview with a man named Stephen Spoonamore, one of the world's leading experts in cyber crime and a self-described "life-long Republican."

Although this interview is from October, 2006, it has only recently seen the light of day. It is just one more bit of testimony from yet another computer security expert, warning us that these machines are incredibly insecure.

Mr. Spoonamore is an extremely experienced computer security expert. As he says, we need to have paper ballots, marked by the voter. They can then be scanned and tabulated by computers, but the initial record of the vote must be made on paper by the voter, so that recounts can be trusted. Also, random audits must be a regular part of the process.

Please forward this interview link far and wide, and demand the following from your secretary of state, House representative, and Senators:

Ban the use of electronic voting machines!
Furthermore, demand that all elections in the United States be conducted:
1) with a hand-marked paper ballot for every vote;
2) the ballots counted publicly and transparently at each precinct;
3) citizens allowed by law to observe the ballots being counted;
4) precinct results posted publicly before being sent to the central tabulator.