My Thoughts Exactly

It wouldn't be Monday without James Kunstler's dose of gloom:

The wishes of the "green shoots and mustard seed" crowd really hinge on
whether the various organs of the suburban economy can be jump-started back to
life -- the production home-builders, the granite countertop outfitters, the
mall and strip-mall gang, the national chain discount retailers, all the people
who make Happy Motoring possible from the factory to the showroom, and, of
course, the banks who shovel money into these
enterprises.

All these organs of our now-former economy are gravely impaired, and a
realistic appraisal of them would have to conclude that they've entered the zone
of congestive failure. The choice we face really comes down to this: do we put
our dwindling resources and "hopes" into resuscitating those dying systems, or
do we move forward to the next chapter of American life, cut our losses, and
make new arrangements more consistent with the realities on offer from the
universe? To take it a step further, can we remain one nation, a common culture,
without such a conscious re-purposing of our collective spirit?

At this point, Kunstler gives kudos to Obama on his speech:

The bizarre spectacle being played out right now by President Obama and his
team only adds layers of mystery and mystification to this big question. On the
one hand, you have Mr. Obama giving a graceful, thoughtful speech on a very
difficult issue (abortion) at a very tough venue (the country's leading Catholic
university), and presenting an excellent case for common ground. It was a bold
deed, unshirking, even brave considering what have come to be the standard modes
of pander or evasion in presidential politics. I suspect that Mr. Obama did it
as much to demonstrate his willingness to face tough questions in general as to
address abortion per se.

Only to turn around and castigate the Obama team for their handling of the economy:

All this is to say why it is so dispiriting to see Mr. Obama's White House
mount a campaign to sustain the unsustainable in the economic realm. Everything
they've done for four months involving money management and enterprise policy --
from backstopping hopeless banks, to gaming the bankruptcies of the big car
companies, to the bungled efforts to prop up artificially-high house prices --
amounts to a gigantic exercise in futility. Worse, it gives off odors of
dishonesty or stupidity, since the ominous tendings of our system are so starkly
self-evident.

Not least of the problems entailed in all this are the scary political
consequences. It's one thing for a business such as a bank to fail; its another
thing for the public to lose confidence in banking, or their own currency, or
the credibility of all the people who work in banking, or the authority of those
charged to regulate these activities, or the courts and their officers who are
supposed to adjudicate misconduct in them. When faith in all these things starts
to go, all bets are off for even larger social constructs like democracy,
justice, and the destiny of a federal republic.

The Audacity of Hope Continues

Obama's Commencement Address at Notre Dame was simply a masterpiece, that should go down in history as one of the best ever. Every American should read it. Here are the final two paragraphs:

I will not pretend that the challenges we face will be easy, or that the
answers will come quickly, or that all our differences and divisions will fade
happily away — because life is not that simple. It never has been. But as you
leave here today, remember the lessons of Cardinal Bernardin, of Father
Hesburgh, of movements for change both large and small. Remember that each of
us, endowed with the dignity possessed by all children of God, has the grace to
recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we all seek the same love
of family, the same fulfillment of a life well lived. Remember that in the end,
in some way we are all fishermen.

If nothing else, that knowledge should give us faith that through our
collective labor, and God's providence, and our willingness to shoulder each
other's burdens, America will continue on its precious journey towards that more
perfect union. Congratulations, Class of 2009. May God bless you, and may God
bless the United States of America.

'Hold Firm to Your Faith'

I heard Bishop Tutu at Carolina's graduation ceremonies, and I have to say that Obama's 'sermon' at Notre Dame was as every bit as good, if not more so:

And in this world of competing claims about what is right and what is true,
have confidence in the values with which you've been raised and educated. Be
unafraid to speak your mind when those values are at stake. Hold firm to your
faith and allow it to guide you on your journey. In other words, stand as a
lighthouse.

But remember, too, that you can be a crossroads. Remember, too,
that the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt. It's the
belief in things not seen. It's beyond our capacity as human beings to know with
certainty what God has planned for us or what He asks of us. And those of us who
believe must trust that His wisdom is greater than our own.

And this doubt should not push us away our faith. But it should
humble us. It should temper our passions, cause us to be wary of too much
self-righteousness. It should compel us to remain open and curious and eager to
continue the spiritual and moral debate that began for so many of you within the
walls of Notre Dame. And within our vast democracy, this doubt should remind us
even as we cling to our faith to persuade through reason, through an appeal
whenever we can to universal rather than parochial principles, and most of all
through an abiding example of good works and charity and kindness and service
that moves hearts and minds.

For if there is one law that we can be most certain of, it is the law
that binds people of all faiths and no faith together. It's no coincidence that
it exists in Christianity and Judaism; in Islam and Hinduism; in Buddhism and
humanism. It is, of course, the Golden Rule — the call to treat one another as
we wish to be treated. The call to love. The call to serve. To do what we can to
make a difference in the lives of those with whom we share the same brief moment
on this Earth.

Sharing the Gospel at Notre Dame

Obama's Christian testimony at Notre Dame was pretty amazing:

Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words. It's a way of life that has
always been the Notre Dame tradition. Father Hesburgh has long spoken of this
institution as both a lighthouse and a crossroads. A lighthouse that stands
apart, shining with the wisdom of the Catholic tradition, while the crossroads
is where "differences of culture and religion and conviction can coexist with
friendship, civility, hospitality, and especially love." And I want to join him
and Father John in saying how inspired I am by the maturity and responsibility
with which this class has approached the debate surrounding today's ceremony.
You are an example of what Notre Dame is about.

This tradition of cooperation and understanding is one that I learned
in my own life many years ago — also with the help of the Catholic Church.
You see, I was not raised in a particularly religious household, but my mother
instilled in me a sense of service and empathy that eventually led me to become
a community organizer after I graduated college. And a group of Catholic
churches in Chicago helped fund an organization known as the Developing
Communities Project, and we worked to lift up South Side neighborhoods that had
been devastated when the local steel plant closed.

And it was quite an eclectic crew — Catholic and Protestant churches,
Jewish and African American organizers, working-class black, white, and Hispanic
residents — all of us with different experiences, all of us with different
beliefs. But all of us learned to work side by side because all of us saw in
these neighborhoods other human beings who needed our help — to find jobs and
improve schools. We were bound together in the service of others.

And something else happened during the time I spent in these
neighborhoods — perhaps because the church folks I worked with were so welcoming
and understanding; perhaps because they invited me to their services and sang
with me from their hymnals; perhaps because I was really broke and they fed me.
Perhaps because I witnessed all of the good works their faith inspired them to
perform, I found myself drawn not just to the work with the church; I was drawn
to be in the church. It was through this service that I was brought to Christ.

And at the time, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin was the Archbishop of
Chicago. For those of you too young to have known him or known of him, he was a
kind and good and wise man. A saintly man. I can still remember him speaking at
one of the first organizing meetings I attended on the South Side. He stood as
both a lighthouse and a crossroads — unafraid to speak his mind on moral issues
ranging from poverty and AIDS and abortion to the death penalty and nuclear war.
And yet, he was congenial and gentle in his persuasion, always trying to bring
people together, always trying to find common ground. Just before he died, a
reporter asked Cardinal Bernardin about this approach to his ministry. And he
said, "You can't really get on with preaching the Gospel until you've touched
hearts and minds."

My heart and mind were touched by him. They were touched by the words
and deeds of the men and women I worked alongside in parishes across Chicago.
And Id like to think that we touched the hearts and minds of the neighborhood
families whose lives we helped change. For this, I believe, is our highest
calling.

Obama at Notre Dame

In addressing the graduating class of Notre Dame, President Obama spoke, as usual, with eloquence and grace:

You, however, are not getting off that easy. You have a different deal.
Your class has come of age at a moment of great consequence for our nation and
for the world — a rare inflection point in history where the size and scope of
the challenges before us require that we remake our world to renew its promise;
that we align our deepest values and commitments to the demands of a new age.
It's a privilege and a responsibility afforded to few generations — and a task
that you're now called
to fulfill.

This generation, your generation is the one that must find a path back
to prosperity and decide how we respond to a global economy that left millions
behind even before the most recent crisis hit — an economy where greed and
short-term thinking were too often rewarded at the expense of fairness, and
diligence, and an honest day's work.

Your generation must decide how to save God's creation from a changing
climate that threatens to destroy it. Your generation must seek peace at a time
when there are those who will stop at nothing to do us harm, and when weapons in
the hands of a few can destroy the many. And we must find a way to reconcile our
ever-shrinking world with its ever-growing diversity — diversity of thought,
diversity of culture, and diversity of belief.

In short, we must find a way to live together as one human
family.

Not an FDR But a Clinton

Unfortunately, I'm coming to believe that Obama is too much like Bill Clinton. David Michael Green caustically writes about this here:

If that Clinton style sounds harrowingly familiar, it’s because it
is. My sense is that Obama is a lot like a Clinton, though he can be – and
is – mistaken for an FDR for the reasons given above. There is in fact a
difference between Barack and Bill, I’m pretty sure, but not necessarily such a
significant one. Where I think Clinton was in it exclusively for Clinton,
as only a quintessential Baby Boomer could fully be, and thus given to precise
calculations of exquisitely refined political safety at every turn, I think
Obama is more public-spirited. But, crucially, the nothing-burger
tendencies he shares with Clinton seem nevertheless fully present. I
suspect they are driven by his “can’t we all just get along” personality, as
opposed to Bill’s manic attention-craving disorder, but so what? They
still amount to a lot of nothing, delivered way too late.

Whatever the motivation, what I think is hard to deny is that, while
Obama appears to be a real go-getter, he is in fact a mere incrementalist in a
time of real crisis. Despite the fact that George W. Bush’s disastrous and
regressive presidency can make Obama look bold and progressive in contrast, he
is in fact hurling Band-Aid after Band-Aid at national hemorrhage after gaping
wound. And that’s just his best stuff. As soon as you get to what
really matters to the predatory regressive right – the money, of course – Obama
is almost indistinguishable from George “Enron” Bush, or Dick “This is our due”
Cheney.

I’d have a problem with that under normal circumstances. There is
always plenty of work to be done in this very imperfect world, and the last
thing we need is another Clinton who wasted eight years of a presidency avoiding
risk at all costs and accomplishing nothing. I’d also obviously have a
problem with that under ‘normal’ post-Bush circumstances, where so much wreckage
so desperately needs to be undone. But I really object to this
embarrassingly centrist, ultra-cautious pussyfooting when there are so many
critical conditions in crisis mode, screaming out for attention.

I cannot believe I live in a world massively threatened by
environmental catastrophe, and my government is barely even talking about
half-measures, let alone moving heaven and earth with fierce urgency to save the
planet. And the oil guys aren’t even in the White House anymore.
I
cannot believe I live in a world where the economy is imploding and the guy in
charge of the country where the recession is rooted has hired agents of the very
criminal crowd responsible for the problem to produce a solution, and that,
shockingly, the ‘solution’ once again benefits wealthy elites while doing little
for the rest of us.

I cannot believe that I live in a country with a crumbling healthcare
system, and the solution being offered by the “change” candidate-now-president –
to the extent we will see one at all – will forego the obvious model of
universal coverage adopted by all other developed countries in the world, and
will instead slap Scotch Tape on the train wreck of the existing for-profit
healthcare disaster, in an attempt to hold it together a little longer.

For a year now I’ve wondered what Obama would turn out to be – a Bill
Clinton or an FDR. I think we have a pretty good answer at this
point. Indeed, ironically, Obama now seems to be out-Clintoning
Clinton. He not only has the very national crisis that Wild Bill craved,
he’s got about six of them. But always the response seems to be incredibly
tepid and conventional and, well, conservative – as the above examples
show.

This is classic Barackoism: Let’s move real slow. Let’s not
offend anyone. Let’s find the most half-way possible measure, and then cut
it in half again, just to be sure. Maybe we can bring the Republicans
along, even though we don’t need to. Is Wall Street okay with this?

Obama has all the conditions necessary to be a bold and historic
president. He came to office at a time of great and multiple crises.
He promised change and the people gave him a mandate for precisely that
purpose. The opposition is in complete disarray, and is rightly blamed by
the public for the mess Obama has inherited. People are frightened and
hurting, and looking for relief. And, for the first time in a long time,
they’re overtly looking to government for that relief.

The biggest irony may just be this: That Barack Obama’s instinct for
the capillary could be the one thing that has the capability of reaching deep
down into the toilet bowl, down through the pipes and into the sewer system, and
dragging the shit-encrusted Republican Party back to the surface, miraculously
offering it a magical elixir of renewed viability despite its own immensely
successful attempt at party suicide.

Forgive me, Caretaker, but I'm afraid I agree with much of the above.

Without a Mall, where will we walk?

Malls are dying across America. People just don't like shopping at them anymore. This is one of the happier consequences of the recession in my opinion, but this paragraph sums up everything that is wrong with our society:

“One of the biggest consequences of mall closings is the loss of a sense of community,” says David Birnbrey of The Shopping Center Group, “a place where people gather and socialize.” And exercise. Retirees Dick and Anne Saplata work out by walking around the largely empty halls of the Metcalf South Mall in Leawood, Kan. It’s likely to close soon, and there’s talk that a developer will raze the place. If the mall goes under, Dick Saplata asks, “where are we going to walk?”

Ummm, how about outside? I mean its not like Kansas is frickin Alaska. The weather ain't that bad.

We've come to depend on shopping malls for community and exercise. Man, we've got a long way to go to fix this country.

A Cynic's View

Paul Craig Robert's take on why we are ramping up the fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan:

Why is the US making itself impotent fighting wars that have nothing
whatsoever to do with is security, wars that are, in fact, threatening its
security?

The answer is that the military/security lobby, the financial
gangsters, and AIPAC rule. The American people be damned.

The Roman Solution to Piracy (the GOP wouldn't like it)

Via Balloon Juice:

By the early 60s BC, pirates had become such a menace to Mediterranean shipping that in 67 Rome gave Pompey a "special command" and vast resources to try to get rid of them. It was great opportunity for this general 'on the make' to demonstrate his military genius. So he divided the sea into separate operational regions and, using loyal subordinate officers, he swept the pirates off the waters in just a few months.

But Pompey was smart enough to realise that, unless they were given some other form of livelihood, they would soon be back. (This is basically the Afghanistan problem: if they don't make their money out of the poppy crop how ARE they going to survive.) So in a wonderful, early 'resettlement of offenders' initiative he offered the pirates small-holdings near the coast, where they could make an honest living for themselves.

I totally agree with DougJ's analysis as well:

I’m not saying that something like this is the right solution to the current pirate problem, but can you imagine what would happen if an American president did attempt this approach? President sends pirates candy and flowers. We are all pirate ransomees now. This is Munich all over again. A Churchillian never would have done this.

I’ve always been struck by the pragmatism of ancient Rome. I have to believe that a practical approach to governing (do whatever you want as long as you pay your taxes) may have been part of what allowed the empire to last as long as it did. I don’t think they would have lasted as long if they’d adopted a Freedom Agenda or tried to convert conquered peoples to some crackpot religion.

Picture Worth a Thousand Words

2007 Defense Spending. Any questions?