Author Howard Bloom on giving America a vision transplant now that our old one has crashed.

The Great Recession of 2008 and 2009 could be a turning point in history. It could be the event that shocks us into a new vision of ourselves, our past, our future, our mission, and our destiny. Or it could be the prelude to a long decline. Will that turning point be for better or for worse? Will it be a new beginning, a new opportunity to see what we’ve achieve with brand new eyes and to build on our foundations brilliantly? Or will it be the end? The beginning of the Chinese Century?

The answer depends on something that may sound totally irrelevant. Our perceptions. Our view of things. Without a vision a people will perish, says Proverbs. Why? Because a vision of a goal, a destination, a promised land, a view of a destiny that can uplift all of human kind, opens a vast reserve of energies. Not the energies that come from solar panels, wind farms, nuclear plants, coal, or oil. The energies of the human spirit. The energies of your spirit and mine.

Energies? Surely that’s just an idle metaphor, sloppy motivational rhetoric, fluffy feel-good poetry. Right? Wrong. The energies I’m talking about are a matter of biology.

(Howard Bloom: Giving America a Vision Implant)

(The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism)

 
Newsweek’s Daniel Stone weighs in on Sarah Palin’s potential as a presidential candidate in 2012 after this weekend’s Tea party convention speech. I certainly hope he’s right:

But business is business and politics is politics. Was tonight’s speech helpful to building her appeal as a candidate? Hundreds who adore her streamed out of the ballroom with giggles, convinced that Sarah would be their gal in 2012. But the U.S. electorate, stubborn as it is, would disagree. Elections are won and lost in the middle, not on the extremes. Palin’s fiery rebuke of Washington certainly firmed her base, but it did little to widen her appeal to moderates and independents, two groups without which she’d have a real tough time passing the threshold of electoral votes. (At one point, she even mocked the majority of voters who voted for President Obama, asking them “How’s that hopey changey thing was working for you now?”)

Which is to say that electorally speaking, tonight’s speech may have been a self-inflicted wound for Palin, offering ammo to opponents to argue that she’s simply too far right and too niche to win widespread support for national office. Speeches like this make the people who love Palin love her even more, and the people who don’t ever more certain why they don’t. In other words, Palin further polarized herself to the American public.

That may have been the point. With tonight’s speech, Palin cemented her role as the de facto head of the Tea Party movement. But in a bigger sense, as the fearless warrior leading conservatives into battle in November and beyond. That might be where she’s most effective (and undoubtedly where the pay is best). Because at this point, it’s increasingly unlikely that Palin will seek national office. Until now, the Palin guessing game has focused on whether she’s running. On her current course, she simply wouldn’t be able to win.

 
Why Sarah Palin Can’t Run for President (Newsweek)

 
Charles Johnson posted this today over at Little Green Footballs, I’m sure he won’t mind me sharing it here:

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said today that there is no difference in beliefs between the GOP and tea partiers.

“There really is no difference between what Republicans believe in and what the tea party activists believe in,” Boehner said during an appearance on the conservative Mike Gallagher’s radio show.

Boehner said his advice to Republican lawmakers going into this fall’s elections has been to “prove it to the tea party activists that we really are who we say we are.”

If you take Boehner at his word, then, here are some of the things Republicans believe in.

“I’m feeling good about America.” No, not me, those are the lyrics to the jingle in this 1976 vintage Gerald Ford TV commercial. Can you imagine a major presidential campaign doing anything even remotely like this today?

Bonus clip: Pearl Bailey tries to explain, but never quite articulates, why she thinks people should vote for Gerald Ford. In the end, she settles for she likes him, so should you:

See more political TV commercials of olde at The Living Room Candidate. Thank you Timothy Stanley!

 
Sad to hear this:

Howard Zinn, an author, teacher and political activist whose leftist “A People’s History of the United States” became a million-selling alternative to mainstream texts and a favourite of such celebrities as Bruce Springsteen and Ben Affleck, died Wednesday. He was 87.

Zinn died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California, daughter Myla Kabat-Zinn said. The historian was a resident of Auburndale, Massachusetts.

Howard Zinn, author of ‘People’s History’ and left-wing historian, dies at 87 in California

 
Fairly reported article on the brief history of the so-called Tea Party movement, from the New Yorker:

Consider our peculiar political situation at the end of this first decade of the new century. An African-American Democrat is elected President, following the collapse of the two great symbols of postwar prosperity, Detroit and Wall Street. Seizing on the erosion of public trust in ?ɬ

Right on the back of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s brilliant plan to outsource California’s inmates to Mexico comes this field poll demonstrating that California’s citizens consider him a failure as a governor. Don’t worry, Arnold, history will remember you for your film work. Like that star turn as Mr. Freeze.

Nearly six in ten statewide voters believes Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will leave the state in worse shape than when he first took office in 2003, according to the latest Field Poll. Given the Golden State’s robust unemployment and intractable budget politics, the results aren’t all that surprising.

But taken in light of Schwarzenegger’s brash, braggart campaign against then Gov. Gray Davis, the numbers comprise a huge “fail” for a man who once said he would settle the state’s debt and stop it’s deficit spending. In his first “state of the state” address, Schwarzenegger said, “Never again will government be allowed to spend money it doesn’t have. Never again will the state be allowed to borrow money to pay for its operating expenses.”

After six successive years of deficit spending much greater than that under Davis’ watch, California is facing another $20 billion budget gap for 2010, with $72 billion in debt that has has inspired the lowest credit rating of any state.

Of course, it’s not all Schwarzenegger’s fault. A Democratically controlled legislature with more sacred-cows than exist in India hasn’t really helped much. But more than that, California’s initiative process has tied the hands of leadership when it comes to huge chunks of state spending while limiting property taxes via Prop. 13. The housing crash has exacerbated the state’s cash flow problems.

At the same time, while once calling state Democrats “girly men” and pointing to the ineffectiveness of Davis, Schwarzenegger has repeatedly promised to change all that—and he has repeatedly failed.

And so, the Field Poll revealed over the weekend that the governor is enjoying a 27 percent approval rating, a tie with his previous low. At the same time, 72 percent of voters disapprove of the legislature’s performance, too.

(LA Weekly: The Schwarzenegger Experience)

 
Calling yesterday’s Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized the corporate bribery of politicians its most irresponsible since Dred Scott, Florida Representative Alan Grayson vented yesterday with Keith Olbermann (see below).

President Obama’s response was no less critical, calling it ?

This is good stuff. A trial in the full light of day would have shown the world their bigoted faces, but this is the next best thing. Kudos to John Ireland and team, what a brilliant idea! These people are heroes for doing this.

Patrick Range McDonald writes on the LA Weekly blog, Queer Town,

The U.S. Supreme Court probably never saw this coming.
?

 
It was a noble experiment, giving us talent like Rachel Maddow and Al Franken, but now progressive/liberal radio talker Air America has gone kaput:

It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.

The very difficult economic environment has had a significant impact on Air America’s business. This past year has seen a “perfect storm” in the media industry generally. National and local advertising revenues have fallen drastically, causing many media companies nationwide to fold or seek bankruptcy protection. From large to small, recent bankruptcies like Citadel Broadcasting and closures like that of the industry’s long-time trade publication Radio and Records have signaled that these are very difficult and rapidly changing times.

Those companies that remain are facing audience fragmentation as a result of new media technologies, are often saddled with crushing debt, and have generally found it difficult to obtain operating or investment capital from traditional sources of funding. In this climate, our painstaking search for new investors has come close several times right up into this week, but ultimately fell short of success.

With radio industry ad revenues down for 10 consecutive quarters, and reportedly off 21% in 2009, signs of improvement have consisted of hoping things will be less bad. And though Internet/new media revenues are projected to grow, our expanding online efforts face the same monetization and profitability challenges in the short term confronting the Web operations of most media companies