THE RACE CARD

The best comparison for yesterdays' indictment of Barry Bonds may be to Brittany Spears' evasion of jail for repeated drug use convictions etc etc...

Let's be realistic: Barry Bonds committed the crime of earning while black.  There is no doubt that not a few well-liked white athletes used (and some still use) steroids:   Gonzo, A-Rod, The Governator, everyone in Pro Wrestling and almost every college athlete in the big three sports have likely lined up at the pharmacists window. Every one of them has lied about it at some point publicly, and most will continue to do so.

This mess should have been about the war on drugs, and it should  have been a soft slow rising puff-pitch, hanging out over the smash zone for an easy grand slam.

The white millionaires who managed this as a  "bad press" event have missed every opportunity to further the "War on Drugs". They made it instead about personalities, and that made it about prejudice.  The real impact of steroids is in our high schools, where a vast sea of  trans-pubescent boys from every economic class seek the little edge that might get them into the heroic athlete game. This should have been about that. It is an enormous problem at that level. 

Racism is a bigger problem and at a higher level. Racism has seen a nasty resurgence in recent years in the Homeland.  American christianity and the white moralists in power have allowed this most unchristian value to creep back into casual acceptance. They have embraced it in many situations, such as this Bonds controversy, with the devil's tired old excuse that it is a minor and marginal occurrence. 

The truth is: We embrace prejudice at these fringe moments not because it is too hard to stand against it for such a small gain, but because it is so easy to get away with it at such a broad level. 

In related news, the courts are getting ready to free about 20,000 inmates early. They are almost entirely blacks and hispanics, who have been convicted of holding user (not dealer) quantities of crack or free base cocaine. They have all been sentenced to terms ten times as long as the white men caught with similar quantities of regular powder cocaine.

Sure, crack is much more severe than regular nose candy, (the Cowboy could tell you stories...) but there is something to the theory that we have established two justice systems in America: One to protect whites and wealthy folk from crime; and another "dark side" system to keep blacks and hispanics from rising up into the middle class. In the case of Bonds he faces the dark side not because HE deserves it, but because WE can get away with it. 

Barry's crime is being almost as unlikeable as Brittany Spears, almost as wealthy and not nearly as white. The Cowboy doesn't gamble but if he did he would take 3 years in a federal prison with half off at the end as the over and under.  Mr. Bonds will soon join the other 20% of young blacks who spend time in a white man's cage. 

Someone in white conservative America seems to have decided that institutional Prejudice is no longer a Christian Sin and an American Crime. On main street U.S.A. people have gone back to the view that it is o.k. to be a passive witness to racism up until the point boxcars, machetes and crematoriums are involved.  

As long as wealthy white partisan lawyers control the freedom of marginally criminal blacks and whites alike,  Barry Bonds will face the Dark Side system, do real time and pay maximum"fines" despite being a hero to millions of father-starved children. Meanwhile Brittany Spears will face the Light Side. She will stay free to help news editors embarrass themselves, and she will remain a dangerous, confirmed drug using menace to her children and those around her.

America, you have a lot on your plate right now. A lot to pray for in the enclaves of fervent whiteness come to be called "Post 911 America", or as  some call it, Das Homeland.

Every week Americans denigrate Jesus by praying,  nationwide, for victory in games that are spiritually meaningless compared to the struggle against true darkness. Perhaps this week some of you might find time to Pray for one of those "activist" judges, or, as much of a long-shot as it sounds, pray for a white federal prosecutor who will sacrifice his rising status in the white man's party for a chance to be a gunless hero against institutional prejudice. 

This matter is a foul, foul ball, and it will haunt us for many years to come.

Thanks for letting me try and express my concerns.

The Cowboy

The Truth Will See You Imprisoned

The following unaltered excerpts represent the bulk of the testimony prepared by the United States Centers for Disease Control and then censored from delivery to Congress and the American People this week by Dick Cheney on behalf of the "Oil Lobby". 

These censured words, in your humble Cowboy's opinion, represent the gravest and most vile conspiracy to effect a nationalistic lie upon a population since Adolf Hitler shut down the German legislature for the good of the fatherland. 

It is treason against man's journey of discovery, knowledge and scientific discourse that the White House has deemed it illegal for a specifically qualified and tasked member of the United States Government to read the first sentence below out load:

>>>>

Scientific evidence supports the view that the earth’s climate is changing.

CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern.

In the United States, climate change is likely to have a significant impact on health, through links with the following outcomes:

·      Direct effects of heat,
·      Health effects related to extreme weather events,
·      Air pollution-related health  effects,
·      Allergic diseases,
·      Water- and food-borne infectious diseases,
·      Vector-borne and zoonotic diseases,
·      Food and water scarcity at least for some populations,
·      Mental health problems,  and
·      Long-term impacts of chronic diseases and other health effects
 
Catastrophic weather events such as heat  waves and hurricanes are expected to become more frequent,  severe,  and costly…

… climate change is likely to alter the current  geographic distribution of some vector-borne and zoonotic diseases; some may become more  frequent, widespread, and outbreaks could last longer… 

One of the most likely climate change projections is an increase in frequency of hot days, hot nights,  and heat waves.

The health effects of these extreme weather events range from loss of life and acute trauma, to indirect effects such as loss of home, large- scale population displacement, damage to sanitation infrastructure (drinking water and sewage  systems), interruption of food production, damage to the health-care infrastructure, and psychological  problems  such as post traumatic stress disorder.

Future climate projections also show likely increases in the frequency of heavy rainfall events, posing an increased risk of flooding events and overwhelming of sanitation infrastructure.

Climate change can affect air quality by modifying local weather patterns and pollutant concentrations, affecting natural sources of air pollution,  and promoting the formation of secondary pollutants.  Of particular concern is the impact of increased temperature and UV radiation on ozone formation.  Some studies have shown that higher surface temperatures, especially in urban areas,  encourage the formation of ground-level ozone.  As a primary ingredient of smog, ground-level ozone is a public health concern.  Ozone can irritate the respiratory system, reduce lung function, aggravate asthma, and inflame and damage cells that line the lungs.  In addition,  it may cause permanent lung damage and aggravate chronic lung diseases.
 
Studies have shown that some plants, such as ragweed and poison ivy, grow faster and produce 
more allergens under conditions of high carbon dioxide and warm weather.  As a result,  allergic  diseases and symptoms could worsen with climate change. Climate change is predicted to alter agricultural production, both directly and indirectly.  This may lead to scarcity of some foods, increase food prices, and threaten access to food for Americans  who experience  food insecurity. The west coast of the United States is expected to
experience  significant  strains on water supplies as regional precipitation declines and mountain snowpacks  are depleted.
 
Forest fires are expected to increase in frequency,  severity,  distribution, and duration.
 
>>>>>>>>

 
 

A Bright Shining Truth

These California firestorms are a major national-scale disaster that may or may not be organized terror. The W. House is in a position where the country needs them to demonstrate that they have developed the ability to take meaningful, urgent, large scale action in exactly this kind of event.

It looks like they have.

The lion's share of the credit goes to the least partisan Governor in America, (who was at one time an illegal immigrant.) 

Somebody get Arnold a cot and a free massage before he falls down. We are gonna need him healthy for a while.

BOAC

Flora Non Gratta

The Blight That Failed

 
The Republicans have become addicted to using the Russian term for dictator – Czar - on a regular basis. Every complicated problem makes them want to empower an unelected American Czar. We have a Drug Czar, a Terror Czar, A War Czar, an Immigration Czar, etc..
 
Ever since Reagan appointed a Drug Czar, your Cowboy has thought that Democracy and Tsars go together like ice cream and dog poop. There are too many Czars in America.

The Republicans should patriot-up and embrace another Russian term. This one enjoys the same despicable un-American origins as Czar, or Tsar or however you choose to spell "tyranical despot" in your dialect.
 
The Cowboy calls for a purge.

Thanks for playing

Headlines of the Day

Most online news editors, in the U.S. anyways, decided a dogfighting millionaire athelete was more important than the embattled Attorney General's resignation. ABC wins the award for the "least effort in pretending to write their own content" award for not even adding a headline to their cut-and-past byline.

cnn.com:
"Vick's: 'Disappointed in Myself' "

msnbc.com:
"FULL RESPONSIBILITY"
Michael Vick pleads guilty, apologizes in dogfighting case."

abcnews.com:
"Angry Bush Says Gonzales Name 'Dragged Through the Mud' "
(This was the "push" quote fed to the media by the White House. It appears verbatim as the second line for almost every US published version of the story. ABC didn't even bother to check that the capitalizations were incorrect, or write their own headline they just cut, pasted and published.)

csmonitor.com
"Gonzales makes his exit
Farewell: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gave his resignation on Monday and leaves his position Sept. 17.

latimes.com
"Atty. Gen. Gonzales is stepping down
Angry Bush says Gonzales critics dragged him 'through the mud' "
(Only in L.A. would they use abbreviations in a headline.)

nytimes.com
Embattled Attorney General Resigns
Gonzales Received ‘Unfair Treatment,’ President Says"
(The Grey Lady pulls her own quotes, kind of.)

bbc.com
Bush ally Gonzales resigns post
US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, embroiled in a row over sacked prosecutors, has resigned."
(The Queen is not a push-quote whore, apparently.)

denverpost.com
Vick asks for forgiveness
Michael Vick apologized to the NFL and his Atlanta Falcons teammates today for "using bad judgment."

usatoday.com
Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigns

http://news.xinhuanet.com (China State news org.)
U.S. attorney general resigns
(Dogfighter not mentioned)

yahoonews.com
US Attorney General Gonzales resigns

washingtonpost.com
U.S. Attorney General Gonzales Resigns

bloomberg.com
Gonzales Quits After Months of Turmoil Over Firings
(byline - Bloomberg: One of the few outlets that still writes their own stories!)

Viet - Sand

People deeply concerned that America elected a man of suspect mental health and obviously  inferior management and descision making skills are overjoyed this week. 

W ( The President) has finally decided that the billion word historical legacy of Vietnam might be worth considering when making great power foreign policy descisions.

He thinks we should have stayed, even though he was so afraid of going himself (not to mention afraid of flying) that he became a drunk.

 

But it is a start.

Quote of The Day

 "We taped him up in an 'X' pattern," ..

Bobby Vigil, Describing what happened when his seat mate's mental health failed at 30,000 feet and he tried to open the doors to the airbus. 

The Boor War (I)

A little honesty would help us all feel better about America. 

While doing your coffee juggling hate-radio listening, morning anti-yoga commute this week repeate the following mantra.  

(The truth will make you a better American:)

It was a Crime to go in, then.
It is a Sin to withdraw, now.

How can a compasionate American think otherwise?

A. 

Global Dumbing

Recently I watched some of "Nova" on PBS. A piece about the global, undeniable and obvious change (downward) in moisture evaporation rates; caused by solar penetration reductions near 20%; caused by atmospheric particulate pollution levels (increased).

This circumstance is an important sideshow to the overwhelming GCC trends that are being talked about these days. But it shows a simplicity, both in the hobbyist observers who documented the trend, and the proof-of-solution that brought their separate research together.

The keynote of the show was broad documentation that weather really was milder - because the skies really were markedly cleaner all over North America and the world - in the three flightless days from September 11th - 14th 2001.

The greatest proof of global climate damage is in the simplicity of the solution.

Stopping.

The solutions to the problems we face are not complicated – The great challenges such as this are often just ethical questions. The answer to ethical issues tend to be very simple. It is the perceived and known discomforts of living with the outcome of those choices that is complicated. We know what is right and we know what is easy. The two are almost never the same. Strong men choose early and deal with it.

In my college decades I took every undergrad science class at two colleges: paleoclimatology, paleogeology, palenology (pollen), oceanography, Srat/Sed (the infamous), every kind of geology, dendrochronology, I counted pine trees (poorly), I sifted bison bones in the basement. I studied reports from underwater archaeologists who discovered fire rings thirty feet below mean sea level near the arctic circle. I heard lectures about mastodons found flash frozen in the tundra. I summarized the iridium layer that proves out the asteroid impact theory.

The teachers all said pretty much the same thing - "This climate change is real and it will happen to you: We don't think this. This is not opinion based: We know.

Now you know too."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_dimming
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sun/

Loyalty Up Loyalty Down

It is a pretty good call for Bush to commute Libby's prison sentence without pardoning him. It keeps in place the tiny vestige of acknowledgment that a crime (and maybe more important for W,  a Sin) was committed.  Even a shadow of honesty carries great weight with the self righteous and the power drunk. 

That Scooter perjured himself to protect Rove  and Cheney (mostly Rove) was de riguer. That's what people do in those positions - they fall on their swords for their king.  I do wish W. had a similar inkling to show some support for Secretary Powell when he sword-dived before the UN, but I digress...

The commutation also allows Bush to split hairs in a manner that he can think of as philosophical and sophisticated.  It is undeniably, loyalty down and that should mean something for both sides of the aisle. Any action that caries even a glimmer of humility for either the President or the Vice President serves to extend our survival as a Democratic Republic for a few more ethereal hours.

So I am good with it , and I think you should be to.

The fun question is: Will Cheney or W. pay Libby's quarter of a million dollar fine from their massive (and massively under reported) portfolio of personal wealth?

Well, there's loyalty and there's money, and there's always another day to hammer on the keypad...


Thanks for playing.

A

Hidden City

CLINTON COMES TO TOWN

Gravitas Rainbow
The Light That Dimmed.

I had to pay my daughter 500 dollars to baby-sit last night so I could go se Ex POTUS Clinton give the keynote at the AZ Democratic party’s annual dinner. It was a private arrangement with her, something about an iPhone, but it did set a certain edgy tone for the night. Your devotedly non-partisan Cowboy observer offers this account of the evening.

IT WAS A BROWN TIE AFFAIR, at best. A giant bar filled the center of the reception hall, thus ensuring it appeared to be a massive crowded event. Men who wear neckties less often that your humble Cowboy, and women who wear them more, were in abundance. Mild confusion hummed through the room regarding the table assignments while young party leadership homosexuals gloated before middle-age female party patrons. The only well dressed mature men were cagey, almost afraid to be seen. Grown men openly defended their presence as “just curious what he will say”. It was like a high school re-union of geologists mashed into the largest girls night out in Arizona history. It was cool.

I did the only thing worth doing at these gigs: Hung out in the stage left wings with the obvious “Detail” guys and listened in on passing conversations of the assistant dignitaries as they rushed around with sheaves of speech notes. This is what I got out of it:

WE GIG ECONO, and it’s why the Democratic Party will never win the employed heterosexual male vote. The disorganization was not extreme but let’s face it – Republicans run a tight ship on all decks and that includes laying in extra effort at the cocktail-hour-of-the-year. Artsy brown rainbow backdrops are a fine celebration of diversity but they are very un-Potus like when the handshake photos come out.

You guys wanna win an election? Buy better tuxedos than the amnesty craving buffet staff wears and spend like horse thieves to make the event memorable. Little gifts of embossed mint boxes or engraved memorabilia place cards are the swag that donors come back for. Lastly, when a man meets an EXPOTUS of any stripe, he wants to be in a room full of other men all dressed like James Bond on casino night, not slackers who bought their only necktie at Goodwill.

HANG OUT NEAR THE “DETAIL” GUYS AND YOU GET GOOD INTEL at these gigs. (Remember, your dealing with the Blog of A COWBOY here.) It is a habit from years backstage in the concert business. Protection detail people are about the same age as your humble journalist and they tend to be the only interesting people in the room. As long as you don’t look like John Malkovich they can be very friendly. In this case I shared table space with one of the Navajo Nation Secret Service members. The first thing I got from him was confirmation that filming has secretly begun on the new Indiana Jones film up in Monument Valley Tribal Park.

The Navajo secret service protects the Tribal President (now Joe Shirley), against all threats, and they are not kidding or just posing. This guy was a Navy demolitions expert and a ground war veteran from the first Viet-Sand. You don’t meet a lot of Navy guys who conduct their war fighting MOS on the dry sandy earth, hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean. When you do meet them, they are usually flattered that you noticed the distinction. When I suggested he obtained his explosives training at the infamous Navy SEAL BUDs course he just looked me in the eye and smirked and his head nodded very slowly one time.

The Navajo are renowned for a deeply ironic sense of humor. I wondered what kind of threats they look out for as I failed to win a staring contest with him. When Shirley's grandfather was alive, the President of the United States and the (military) Governor of Arizona sent Kit Carson and the Army cavalry to Window Rock where Mr. Carson perpetrated one of the more lethal ethnic cleansing campaigns in the history of the New World, against the Navajo people. (Navajo men and woman have a modern legacy of warrior service, almost entirely in the Navy and their Marine Corps. Lori Piestewa was a Hopi serving in the Army)

The current Arizona Governor and the recent EXPOTUS were at the head table with his protectee 30 feet away. We bantered generally about the nature of his job and the NSS relation with other similar agencies and such. I may have mentioned something about Carson's "Long Walk" affecting the Navajo view of US Presidents . A few minutes later, just before Clinton took the podium, he excused himself from the table with a private comment in my ear: “We accompany our leaders whenever they meet with yours.”


LOOK MA, NO TELEPROMPTER. Bill Clinton turned out to be a slighter, more humbled presence than he once was, but he is still the slickest man south of George Clooney. His “mojo” may be on idle and his half-in-the-bag swagger has been replaced by a green tea mellowness, but his intellectually gifted oratorical skills remain unmatched by a living politician. It doesn’t matter if you think Willie is the modern Obie Wan Ken-Obie or the Dark Lord Emperor Palpatane. The force is strong with this guy.

Wanna-be POTUS Monkeys should study the master and learn. These days The Cowboy hears many Republicans yapping up a storm about digging up a new Reagan-esque candidate. The Democrats should take the term “Clinton-esque” out for a test drive and see what the cat drags in.

EXPOTUS DECORUM mandates that Clinton cannot specifically endorse a rising current candidate. This of course plays easily into his subtle joking support for the Wife-in-Chief. Still, it was surprising how many times Bill did NOT mention Hillary. But your Humble Cowboy thought the most interesting tidbit of the evening was when Bill mentioned that he had breakfast with Steve Jobs earlier this week. He pitched the iPhone tastefully and then segued into a segment about the environment.

Why does breakfast with Steve Jobs lead into Kyoto Accord reminiscing and ten minutes on the environment? What does the iPhone have to do with the Environment? A conspiratorial observer might wonder if breakfast-with-Steve was really cover for a meeting between Bill Clinton and planet protecting Apple board member Al Gore. Maybe party Loyalty to a possible Gore campaign would make it even more important for Clinton to keep his comments about Hillary to a minimum.

The Cowboy came away with a new understanding of Bill Clinton’s role in the next election. Slick Willie is the deciding factor in who gets to be the next decider.

When he hits the campaign trail colors are brighter and air is fresher. Everyone is more confident. The next election hinges on the choice Bill Clinton offers American Voters when the curtain closes: Have the Republicans programmed enough voters to hate him like the devil incarnate so that they will vote for ANY alternative to allowing him to live in W’s House in any capacity? OR, Will people vote for Hillary in the impulsive hope that enough of Bill’s magic mojo will rub off onto her to make her tolerable as the new POTUS.

Either way, A Vote for (or against) Hillary is a Vote for (or against) Bill.

Thanks for listening.

Why Jesus Watches Fox

(Plagiarized by the Pope: Part II)

I was in the gym recently, where there are myriad televisions almost all tuned to Fox News. I turned the one in front of my excer-bike to another channel. The conservative white male business type behind me, on the tread-mill, said "Turn that back right now!" and I apologized and turned it back. He replied something along the lines of .."If you believe in Jesus and America, you watch Fox. This is a conservative health club."

Wow, well what the hell.

It is writ that we take Jesus everywhere with us, unto depravity and unto good works. I guess that means he watches television. As I watched the Jesus approved News channel. I saw a constant live-helicopter show of a famous, damaged celebrity driving herself to the LA county lock-up. I hoped the Son of Man turned the channel and I wondered; What Would Jesus Watch on TV?

The mass of POTUS Picking Christians don’t need to ask what Jesus would watch on TV because they KNOW already. They seek a lot of answers, but how their Savior would react after watching TV with them all day is rarely one of them. The religious right of America knows that FOX News provides the talking points of Jesus. Hopefully with a few judgmental code-words against the non-believers over at MacNeil Lehrer thrown in. Let’s face it, Jesus stopped watching MASH after McLean Stevenson and Larry Linville left the show and American Christianity has been on a roll ever since.

After MASH, Jesus mostly caught a movie here and there on weekends. There was Apocalypse Now, Star Wars, Alien and the Schwarzenegger stuff, followed by the cool breeze of Spielberg’s arrival. The Son of Man got most of his worldview from a few minutes of Jennings and Brokaw in the evening during the 80’s and 90s.

Now, after September 11th and with the Internet, America is defined by mass media interfaces that flood us with simplified bursts of content, news, action, advertising and art all mixed up on purpose. An incessant spray of overlapping shock events large and small raises our adrenaline. Once it is drawn out, our subconscious fear is then soothed, and rewarded by hypnotic punditry and the comfort of repeated background effects. An old friend we’ve never met allows us feel we have an involved relationship with issues and events around us. Fox news is masterful in their manipulation of these senses.

Don’t you Liberals get to righteous about this commentary though. Murdoch founded his empire to counter an American giant that specifically manipulates a community of belonging to create a conformity of ideology. National Public Radio has been centrally managed around a political leaning for decades. NPR is much less corrupted by the hundreds of millions of right wing campaign dollars that fuel the Fox, but they are in the same game.

The truth is that all of the Capt. Father Francis J. Mulcahys in Hollywood can’t heal America’s bi-partisan lust for polarizing media experiences in which other people are victims and other people are to blame.

I remember one exercise in a college drawing class. We covered a huge piece of drawing paper entirely with charcoal. Then we erased back down to create an image. The negative space exercise is an important way of looking at things. Good citizens, good Christians and even Ex-Cowboys have to erase down, chip away the crap and work, dammit, work to get a fair or balanced grip on reality from the media these days.

Young people should be taught to handle the media the same same way, and for God’s sake, let’s start by teaching Iowans.

Iowans get to pick the next President and all they can do right now, according to the early polls, is pick the guy with the shiniest gospel-gazing Life magazine pose and the best pro-corn, pro Jesus stump speech. You want to campaign with Jesus? Here’s a clue: Jesus has unwashed hair and wears sandals, and he takes every question, from every audience.

But, Does Jesus Watch Fox?

Jesus watches everything on TV and he does so with an erasure and a hammer. Jesus is lost to America, among a million glittering fragments of media, seeking to control our vote, manipulate or home life and teach us what kind of consumers to be. Jesus is a product and a slogan and a vital endorsement for every candidate. Jesus does watch FOX but he also listens to NPR. HE chisels away the forlorn chaff, and He sees Maggie Simpson fall and He hears Yo Yo Ma pull his bow across the strings and he says these are the things worth digging for, these are the things I could die for again.

Thanks for putting up with me again.

PLAGIARIZED BY THE POPE (intro)

The Cowboy just got plagiarized by the Pope (Actually a lower ranking Bishop in the Vatican did it) and it makes the Cowboy indulge in the sin of Pride. I feel relevant!

Yipee.

In a posting from last October called “Sin To Win” I posed the following question to the 3 or 4 Christians whom I could trick into reading my blog:

“Why don’t you DRIVE like a Christian?”

I invited a slew of news editors to critique my post, and just about anyone interesting whose public email address I could find online. I also sent unsolicited Blog Of A Cowboy invitations to a few theologians at the Vatican whose public emails were easy to find.

This week the Vatican issued: “Ten Commandments for Drivers”.

I am genuinely grateful to the frocked journeymen who handle the Big Guy’s PR. Let’s face it, The Cowboy is too afraid of appearing foolish to try and change the world, but if I can change the minds of the pink shod men who can, that’s worth a little private time with one of the seven deadlys.

I feel obliged to reach out again towards that Great Unknowable and those who know all about it. So I’ll try another hack-job session with variations on the favorite question of America’s collective conservative intellect.

What Would Jesus Do?

The Shape of Things Already Here

It is an old routine, casual, undocumented in my own self evaluations. A few times a year. Often around the changing of the seasons. It is not yoga, nor a fad diet. There is no algae or quack-job rare earth supplemental pill. Even Republicans can do it.

Go to Google news and read (for free) about the new Apple product.

Buy it. Get it. Use it.

Go to Etrade.

Buy more Apple Stock.

I am writing this because the new iTunes plus online music store is crazy-jammed with new customers.

I just bought and I am listening to the Pink Floyd song "Comfortably Numb". Again. (but in a long overdue high quality format)

I am watching my stock value increase 2%. Again. (2% of todays' value is also much "higher quality" than 2% of last years' value).

neener, neener, neener.

A.

THE GREAT RACE XLIV (Part II)

The Heart


BOAC recently outlined the list of people who want to be elected, and whose campaigns define them by their skin deep qualifications. These include, for example, being a woman; a black man; a religious zealot, a governor (preferably of a Western state); a war veteran, a charismatic bachelor, a senator, a 9/11 Hero. We are all, clearly, desperate for leaders who will place their country above their party. We want to propose some capable leaders who meet those packaging needs but who also have enough ethical, philosophical or ideological humility that 49% of the population won’t wish them dead as soon as they take the oath of office.

Here are four names that Americans would see on the ballot if we were half as American as our bumper stickers say we are. These are people who are far, far more honorable and competent than any of the current slate.

1) The Reluctant Warrior.

Four Star General, (youngest ever) Chairman of the JCS, Secretary of Sate, Moderate Republican. Black Man.

In an era that has tested military loyalty more than any time since the civil war, the most loyal soldier in America stands bloody, but unbowed on a pillar above the rest.Colin Powell is a moderate but confirmed Republican who opposed both of our military interventions into Iraq. Make no mistake; when he testified at the U.N. on February 5th 2003, Secretary Powell was impaling himself on his own sword, in loyal support of a foreign policy he detested.

Only a black soldier could have risen from Mai-Lai (that was in Vietnam kids), through Panama, Grenada, Libya and Beirut to preside over the largest combined arms combat operation in American history in the first Gulf War. His career milestones mark a path, not so much of a soldier gifted at leading warriors into combat, but as a warrior destined to lead politicians out of it. They broke it and Colin can fix it.

On his first day Powell would be the most accomplished foreign policy practitioner to ever sit in the White House. He would be one of the only Presidents to have previously served in more than one un-elected position in the chain of command. But that’s not even close to the main reason he should be at the top of every wish list to be the next Republican candidate for President of the United States.

America is long overdue for a President who is not a white male. Colin Powell would ensure that the first African American President would both merit and win an undeniable electoral majority. Unless he were to run against Barack Obama, in which case he would probably win the largest landslide in history.

2) Southern Man

Almost everyone finally understands that runaway industrial pollution can, and is causing Global Climate Change (for the worse). However, if you are still a global warming denier try this home test: Sit in your Chevy Suburban or F-250 truck, in the garage with the windows down and your thumped-up bible in your lap. Turn on the car, close the garage doors and then pray for the souls of us fools who think cars can pollute enough to damage our quality of life. In the morning you can ask God for His opinion. Directly.

In 50 years it will be history’s pronouncement that George Bush destroyed America’s respect in the world, and Al Gore won it back and saved much, but not all, of the planet for human habitation. The downside to Al running would be that he will only win by a few percent more votes than he won last time. The upside is that he would embarrass the Democrat's field by raising more money on the day he announced than Hillary has raised in her past ten years of pre-campaigning.

The Blog only has one question about Al: Since he has already won a presidential election could he run for a second term?


3) The Woman is Smarter

Without question the very best way to get elected to the Presidency, in our generation, is to be a conservative two-term, western, red state governor. The best Republican man for the job may be a female Democrat. Arizona is a staunchly Republican, heavily Mormon state. Republicans have always taken the state for granite. They have an overwhelming conservative majority, a significant (to say the least) population of Mormon voters, very few non-white voters and carefully gerrymandered pro Republican districting.

Arizona also made history in each of the last two gubernatorial elections. They became the first state in history to elect a woman governor to replace a sitting woman governor. Then without bating an eye, Arizona voters re-elected her in a landslide against an established Mormon Republican. A former attorney general, she is at the head of the class for intelligence, competence and honesty. She is one of the only governors in America who is uniformly respected by her opposing party.

Governor Napolitano is everything Hillary is not. Including electable.

4) The Ethical Conservative

We go straight to the source to find an honest, open Conservative.

In our hearts, we know the Republicans are going to steal the next election, somehow. The BOAC thought long and hard about this problem and tried to come up with one respectable Republican who can save American Conservatism (and America) from the bizzaro-world party of Godless Christianity that the Republican side has become.

Behind door number 4 we have the chairman for the 2006-07 year of the Pulitzer Prize Board. He is also the chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based nonprofit organization founded in 1981 to promote press freedom by working for the rights of journalists’ worldwide. He was honored with the "Decade of Excellence" award from the World Leadership Forum in 2005. The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA honored him with the 2002 Gerald Loeb Award for lifetime achievement. Also in 2002, he was awarded the highest honor awarded by the Columbia University School of Journalism. He was named a 2001-2002 Poynter Fellow by Yale University. The National Press Foundation awarded him the 2001 George Beveridge Editor of the Year Award for qualities that produce excellence in media. In March 1999, he was elected to the Pulitzer Prize Board. He personally won three Gerald Loeb Awards and two John Hancock awards for his economics and business coverage.

Please give a warm “49% and a prayer” welcome to managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, vice president of Dow Jones & Company and the next President of the United States of America: Paul E. Steiger.

Virgina Tech Media Day

Boy is it strange when The Cowboy finds that Fox News is the voice of reason about something.

But The Cowboy praises where praise is due.

After the recent murder spree in Virginia, every major national and, most minor local media outlets broadcast the insane self-glorifying media kit prepared by the lunatic Cho. Except one. Fox News limited their re-broadcast of these sick you-tube memoirs from the first moments and FoxNews.com is the ONLY major internet player that shielded them further by placing them behind a second tier of links and headlines.

The aftermath of the V.A. tech massacre has been a train wreck for America's vaunted free-press and high-tech information society. The same quasi-editorial powers who refused to re-broadcast or even re-print transcripts of Don Imus' recent offensive rant, sprayed this psycho’s you-tube clip across the frontal lobes of America with orgasmic delight. The media, our media, was thrilled to the bone to have details of his weapons and pictures of his PST inducing video.

Cho was insane, but not stupid. He knew the American Press would grant him his posthumous fifteen minutes of fame. Just like all terrorists know they will win glorifying assistance from American news hawkers. Cho knew he was right about the media culture of America. He knew it would inspire more killing. He knew ABC News would lead the charge and make HIM more of an icon than his victims ever will be. He knew the American press would give his act meaning and, in his mind, that was all the justification he needed.

Followers of The Cowboy know that we find no joy in critiquing the loss of deep ethos in American "journalism". However if the editors of America have lost their collective reason (and credibility guys, if that maters) we want to help them get it back. The Cowboy helpfully suggests that there is only one question Ed Murrow would want to answer about this madman and his weapons of choice:

"Play Station; X-box; or Wii".

It is unlikely any of the 2.5 readers of Blog of A Cowboy are V.A. Tech Survivors, but if you are one, we offer our condolences - knowing full-well it makes no difference for your loss.

The Great Race XLIV

Part I: Meet the New Boss

Thanks for nothing grand-pa Brokaw.

As a member of “The Greatest Living American Marketing Demographic Database ” I want to share my early thoughts on the next field of Presidential candidates bequeathed upon us by “The Greatest Living American Generation”. In part two I’ll suggest a few alternative, noble and qualified leaders from Left and Right to replace them.

Early campaign donation reports are on the front page this week and so the next round of “American Idyll” is underway. The rumbling you hear is the media, firing a live-loaded starter’s pistol for the next presidential race – straight into the crowd. The only reportable fact of note is that most Americans from the left and right, would prefer to see ANY OTHER CANDIDATES than the ones now in the hunt to be the next POTUS. None of them are worth a damn. A leader with, well, leadership skills, would be a breath of fresh air in the “49% and a prayer” partisan fart-sack we call a Democracy these days.

The media’s job is to hypnotize us (with a brick) into accepting the less dangerous option of two campaigns. They lead us all, left and right alike, as vanquished champions, down to a sunless sea. 49% of America hates (and I mean watch-them-die-in-the-desert hatred) the other 49% of Americans, and vis-a-versa. That leaves me among the lonely 2% of freak-flag waiving cowboys. Left to watch the soul of American Democracy sail off into the polluted sunset, somewhere over towards China.

After W. the GOP faces a new bar for maturity or humanity that is higher than Abe Lincoln’s top hat. Not even The Ghost of Ronald Reagan can re-warm the chilled heart of American Conservatives. How anyone can still pretend it is even remotely ethical to belong to Karl Rove's Republican Party is beyond me.

There is only one scenario in which the Republicans' “Party of Hate” should even be allowed by honest, pitch-fork wielding Americans to field a serious candidate for the next election: The Democrats would have to vainly assume that the recent election’s mandate to get the Republicans out of power was the same thing as a mandate to put Democrats in.

Oops.

… Same as the Olde Boss

McCain was destroyed beyond ethics, worse than any Democrat ever has been or ever will be, by the Rove/Cheney/Bush Juggernaut of his own team. The modern Republican Party treated John McCain less honorably than the Viet Cong did. He took it, and that is his problem. The Senator’s failing health, wounded pride and (understandably) nasty temper have alienated everyone in both parties. He has exactly a 2% percent chance of regaining the stolen independent affection and credibility of statesmanship, that he spent his lifetime earning. Straight Talk for McCain can only begin with an admission that Republican Party did more damage to America after 9/11 than the illiterate savages did on 9/11.

Hillary was once the dancing Goldwater Girl who invented “fixing health care” but she spent the past 8 years re-making herself as a steel grimaced, uber-woman, talking-points candidate for the new left (circa 1975). In the process she showed a willingness to sacrifice reason, leadership, and dignity to become the most frighteningly narcissistic candidate on the slate. Her draw as a punching bag for McCain and Giuliani puts her high in the polls; but as a human heart called to carry forward the arts and letters legacy of American leadership during times of peril, she ties with McCain for desperately fighting the next (campaign) war using the failed strategies and momentum of the last one.


Obama has all of the polished upward gazing promise of a life magazine cover. Life magazine is closing this year. Those of us who curse like sailors when we smash our hangover-trembling fingers with a hammer, while trying to squeeze a Starbucks lifestyle out of a Wal-Mart economy won’t notice the absence of either one. The Senator raises a lot of Hollywood anti-Hillary cash, but don’t be fooled by it. It is politically incorect to publically criticize a person of such distinguished minority diversity, too bad for the wunder-kind that voting booths have privacy curtains. His electrifying presence as a Non-White, Non-Woman, Non-Black, Non-Hispanic, Non-Male, Non-southern, Non-Eastern, Non-Gay, Non-Straight, Non-Western, Non-Catholic, Non-Jewish, Non-Muslim, Melting Pot poster child only ensures he will carry a majority of Non-Voters.

Guliani, ( That’s “Mr. Nine-Eleven, SIR” to you) said his wife will attend cabinet meetings, defended his lifelong partnership with an alleged mob-style criminal and appeared to suggest that The Fed would pay for abortions in the future. And that was just this week. It would be unprecedented for a President’s wife to have that kind of access. It would be even more unprecedented if his third marriage lasts long enough for it to be possible. His life-long friend, Bernard Kerik embarrassed the W. House when R.G. tried to force him down their gullet as senior law enforcer, Director of Homeland Security. Turned out Rudy's Rove is into homeland organized crime. Rudolph’s greatest asset is, of course, his public presence on 9/11; too bad he hosed the NYFD so bad politically that they won’t even invite him to speak at the memorial rallies.

Romney stands at the fore of America’s fastest growing Church, the Mormons. They should own the only un-flooded spit of moral high ground left in America. Sadly, for Romney, his brethren also own the un-prosecuted child sexing polygamist cults of Arizona City, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona. Two LDS towns named specifically to confuse federal law enforcement agencies and tax collectors. Mit, (or Mitch or, whatever) has taken flip-floppery to a new level with his family-values pandering in previous campaigns. Don’t assume Mit will even carry the home temple vote: The not-so-greatest living generation at BYU just voted to un-invite Dick Cheney as their featured graduation speaker because he fails to live up to LDS ethical dogma (and he started too many wars for oil). Still, Elder Mit could be the first American President from a religion founded by a snake-oil salesman who spoke to GOD via a magic bean he kept in his hat.

……

End Part I

Think Tank vs Gas Tank

Open Letter
Drew Johnson
President
Tennessee Center for Policy Research

RE: Al Gore Abuse of Power Exposed

Dear Drew,

Commendations on your national press today regarding the Gore's Abuse of Power.

Your attack presence in the political campaign cycle is a breath of fresh air for those of us who seek relief from the almost daily show of sophisticated, compassionate and philosophical discourse that has come to threaten America's public policy community. The simple efficiency and pride with which you have joined into a public policy debate, outside of your stated core mission, set just the kind of example I seek in raising conservative, intellectually disciplined children of faith. You have helped assure that a proud and honorable tradition of anti-intellectual, verbal scapegoat terrorism continues for another great American election cycle.

You were additionally helpful for me in evaluating your foundation's place as an American political entity, (as opposed to a philosophical birth place for inconvenient questions about the human journey of faith, truth and humility). The organizational acumen you implemented by plowing through a prominent American's trash was only superseded by the media savvy you demonstrated in passing someone else's utility bill off as a unique entry into the USA-led discourse of ideas on this monumental issue.

You are sure to enter the proud roll call as a blessed little "Point of Light" in our new American Century.

As a minor philanthropist I also apreciate your assistance in helping me see a worthy cause for this coming year. I do try and help those who have been bumped off the moral path return to a life of faith. I will be donating a significant carbon offset to the Gore facility you exposed, and if it is not a problem I will make sure they are aware of the source of my inspiration (to help them see the error of their ways.)

Thank you again for the brave stand you have taken on your little soapbox.


Sincerely,

Blog of A Cowboy

N.B.Gay.

(This was written in October, 2006)

Tonight I had a rare night free from household obligations. Since I am a life-long fan of basketball, and of my hometown Phoenix Suns, I thought it would be fun to go see a basketball game in person. Upon review it was a Bad Call.

I came away wondering when the NBA became a Gay Night Club.

I don't hate gays or anything like that. It's just that I paid to see some old school roundball up close, and maybe sip a cold american beer. Instead I endured a hammering, flashing, distracting dance club experience. With the constant flow of "hawkers" I would have seen the game better at an old Scottsdale bar with a dusty TV up in the corner.

I sat a few rows behind a locally famous retired player. I won’t name him, because he still works for the team, but everyone knows him. Knowing ----- ----- is right after knowing what a Ladmo Bag is on the list of things that allows one to claim status as a native Phoenician. He is one of those Colangello era, clean cut players. Conservatively dressed, always polite and never emotional.

He seems very representative of most of the fans in Phoenix. We are modest but involved. Our kids are quiet during home free throws and our grandmothers lean forward during the nuanced moments of the contest. I watched ---- off and on throughout the game. He looked like a frog that just realized the water is about to boil. Everyone did. Where was basketball amid the red blinding lights, thum-a-thumpa music and screaming junk sellers?

Loud vendors made more view-blocking trips down the aisle in the critical third quarter than the players made up and down the court all night. It might not have been so maddening if someone wanted those oversized “treats” they offered while blocking my view of the game. Besides, Isn’t that what half-time is for? Indeed, fans were able to replenish their mini-kegs of beer and their brick-sized rice cereal treats well before the third period honked open. ----, (who still looks like he could step out onto the hardwood and work inside with Steve Nash for a few minutes if needed) did not indulge in the giant sugar bars.

Every minute or two the lights dimmed randomly and a liver thumping dance beat echoed through the venue. Blinding graphics pulled my eyes repeatedly to giant electro banners which covered every flat wall of the facility. During game-breaks the dancers and the Gorilla tried fruitlessly to get our attention back down onto the court, but it was a lost cause. Short of full-blown porno escapades between the mascots and dance team members, nothing could keep our eyes from the intentional distractions of the interstitial advertisements. Our focus, as a crowd, was battle-hounded in all directions by loud music, blinking graphics and flashing lights. The Game of Basketball had nothing to do with my game night.

Very few fans looked happy and none danced to the throbbing beat. Even the players were regularly distracted by the disco gimmicks of this new NBA experience. The Suns are earning rights as one the most fun teams to watch in the history of the game. They are a team of internationally sophisticated players lead by a humble Canadian point guard and a Midwestern coach. Our most decorated and renowned fan is not a hard-partying mega star, she is a 60+ year old catholic Nun.

This season it is the playoffs every night in Phoenix. These Suns could sell 15,000 tickets three nights a week if they played outside at the Window Rock Navajo High School. So why do they make fans attend a gay dance party in order to watch a sublime Basketball game?

I (used to) love this game.


A.