The horse race has begun

It boggles the mind to contemplate, but the 2008 presidential race has officially begun. Well, at least that’s what this morning’s clip on MSNBC informed me. Not surprisingly, the media has already begun running its polls and is already handicapping the race and anointing front-runners. None of this bodes well for anyone remotely concerned about representative government, of, by, and for, the people.

The Field

Just like in 2004, and 2000, and before that, 1996, and before that, 1992…(get the point?), the participants are merely figureheads for those pulling the strings behind the scenes. The talking heads and political pundits will all make sure that we are all given several reasons why we must participate in this exercise in futility. There will be a semblance of intrigue and the show that all is being run legitimately. In the end, the average citizen will once again be the biggest loser.

Here is the up-to-the moment cast of characters that will be revving up their own version of the political dog and pony show. They’ll begin criss-crossing the country and stopping off in places like Iowa and New Hampshire. A few will become buzzworthy and possibly even become the early “upstart” and possible “spoiler."

Republicrats—

John McCain
Rudolph Guiliani
Rick Santorum
Mitt Romney
Bill Frist

Demicans—

Hillary Clinton
John Kerry
Al Gore
John Edwards
Joe Biden
Evan Bayh
Tom Vilsack
Barack Obama

Knighting the front-runners

The pre-emptive front-runners appear to be Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Senator Clinton, has been seen of late, talking tough on foreign policy and doing her damndest to appear presidential, despite the fact that no woman has ever been elected president and despite the fact that this is the 21st century, I wouldn’t wager any money you wouldn’t want to lose on the fairer sex, at least for president. Of course, the Republicans have been yammering about a run by Condelezza Rice, also.

Then, there is John McCain. Everyone’s favorite maverick, despite the fact that he’s never done anything to warrant that label. Even so, pundits and pollsters are already getting hard-ons about McCain’s ability reach the voters who are neither Republican, nor Democrat, but known merely as Independents.

Since it doesn’t matter that McCain isn’t really a maverick, or the anti-candidate, just that the perception is of such things, McCain will be given a free pass to wear the “outsider” mantle for most of the next two years.

The Rest of Us

While it’s probably a bit early for most Americans to give two shits about the 2008 presidential race, there are a couple of things worth taking away from this. First, any real hope for change in the way business is conducted in the corridors of power, is merely fantasy. The U.S., for all of its posturing and lip service paid to the “D-word,” is actually a fascist oligarchy and voting merely gives some legitimacy to the sham foisted upon us every four years.

In defining fascism, Noam Chomsky accurately describes our present system that we are told is democracy. As he writes, “That's what a fascist system traditionally was. It can vary in the way it works, but the ideal state that it aims at is absolutist -- top-down control with the public essentially following orders. Fascism is a term from the political domain, so it doesn't apply strictly to corporations, but if you look at them, power goes strictly top-down, from the board of directors to managers to lower managers and ultimately to the people on the shop floor, typists, etc. There's no flow of power or planning from the bottomup. Ultimate power resides in the hands of investors, owners, banks, etc.

People can disrupt, make suggestions, but the same is true of a slave society. People who aren't owners and investors have nothing much to say about it. They can choose to rent their labor to the corporation, or to purchase the commodities or services that it produces, or to find a place in the chain of command, but that's it. That's the totality of their control over the corporation." (Secrets, Lies, and Democracy by Noam Chomsky; Odonian Press, 1994)

For the first time in my life, I’m not going to take part this time. I’m not going to get all caught up in an exercise that disenfranchises the wishes of the majority of the U.S. citizenry. If voting really mattered, then I’m sure that someone would pass a law making it illegal.

When you look at the field being offered at this early stage, there isn’t one person in the lot who could make a difference. Any truly “maverick” or independent candidate would end up eventually excluded from the debates that are orchestrated to give the appearance that real issues are being debated.

Without there being any hope for a truly independent, third party, one that represented the agenda for working-class Americans, the election of 2008 will once more represent politics as usual here in Oceania, I mean, the United States of America.

The solution in Iraq--get out!!

The age-old schism between Sunnis and the Shia majority in Iraq has suddenly found the catalyst needed to cause it to flareup--U.S. occupation of Iraq. Over the past week, tensions have erupted and led to outbreaks of violence and a ramping-up of sectarian concerns.

Raed Jarrar, who blogs at Raed in the Middle, has an excellent post on the looming civil war in Iraq. As he writes at his blog, "the current sectarian tension was handled very efficiently by the Iraqi religious and social leaders working with their elected national government, and that the occupation troops and authorities didn't take any part in "protecting Iraqis from each other", which is the bush administration's number one excuse for keeping the troops in Iraq."

We need to stop vacillating on this issue. We need to bring our troops home now! If we don't we'll be responsible for even greater chaos in a country that we've done nothing but FTU in, from the beginning.

Fake it til' you make it

Once more, music has been a way for me to crawl out from under the "darkness" of winter that I so often feel, this time of the year. Despite a period when reality has whomped me upside my head, I sense a fertile creative period might be lurking around the corner.

I've spent some productive time hammering out some ideas that I hope will be the foundation for my own contribution to Pine Trees, Potato Fields and Lobster Traps, RiverVision's upcoming anthology of Maine non-fiction.

My soundtrack for my Saturday night writing exercise into the wee hours, was Barsuk (Bar-Sook, with the emphasis on the second syllable) Radio. My favorite tracks were Rocky Votolato's "Portland Is Leaving" and Nada Surf's "Always Love".

I even found time to pull out my guitar case, dust it off, and lovingly coax a few tentative chords from my trusty old Yamaha acoustic.

slow demands come around squeeze the air and keep the rest out it helps to write it down even when you then cross it out

but always love hate will get you every time always love even when you want to fight

(Nada Surf "Always Love")

Gimme indie rock

At least gimme' some music that's more original than the usual offerings circulating the commercial dial.

My winter doldrums have been chronicled and I'll not comment any more about them other than to say, I've been seriously lacking in the music department of late and I aim to remedy that immediately. It amazes me how quickly one's mood can improve by cutting of the the flow of cathode rays from the idiot box, and mixing in some music and some good reading material, or any reading material, for that matter.

It occurred to me, yesterday, how little music I've been listening to. One of my favorite times to spin some tunes has always been dinner time. Last night, up to my elbows in pasta and mixing salad greens, I dug out my copy of For A While, It Was Funny, from indie rock gods, the Karl Hendricks Trio. Hot Damn! I forgot how good wallowing in one's misery felt. This '96 release, on Merge, had been sitting, sadly forgotten, gathering dust on my CD shelves. I dug it out and cranked up the volume and my funk immediately dissipated!

Hell, I feel my productivity level just ramped up several notches with that one spin of a disc. Speaking of discs, check out Mark Schwaber's new CD, The Killing Card on the best little indie label there is, Pigeon Records. Schwaber has four songs up on MySpace for a preview. I've met Schwaber through my buddy, Jose Ayerve, of Spouse, as Mark plays bass for the band. An obviously talented songwriter in his own right, the new disc also showcases his guitar playing and skills at songcrafting.

Just like the book world, where many fine local, independent releases get ignored and bypassed by the latest formulaic offerings from the major publishing houses, indie rock, also, suffers from a similar climate. I recognize that Maine is part of a very fertile New England music scene, often obscured by the semi-talented poseurs pushed on us by major publications like Spin, Rolling Stone and others, bankrolled by the smoke and mirrors of unlimited marketing rolling down from deep-pocketed major labels.

In addition to Schwaber's new release, longtime Portland musician, Doug Cowan, has a new release out with the amazing Bullyclub. If you like well-written, intelligent songs, infused with a pop sensibility, with a bit of guitar crunch thrown in, then you can't go wrong with the Pigeon catalog and acts like Spouse, Bullyclub and Mark Schwaber.

Corporatizing another asset

There has been no shortage of commentary about the Bush administration's decision to turn over port security to a corporation, based in the Arab world. There has been a great deal of blather about the security risks this poses, and critics of the plan have been just as boisterous on the right, as on the left.

With any issue, I always find that what is being talked about away from the din and cacophony is worth paying attention to. John Nichols' blog at The Nation is a case in point. Rather than focusing merely on the security issues, Nichols looks at the issue of turning another one of our national assets over to a corporation and the consequences associated with this. As Nichols notes, the privitization angle has been sadly lacking in any of the MSM's coverage of this news story.

As Nichols writes, "The private firms that control so many of the nation's ports have not begun to set up a solid system for waterfront security in the more than four years since the September 11, 2001 attacks. And shifting control of the ports of New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia -- along with control over the movement of military equipment on behalf of the U.S. Army through the ports at Beaumont and Corpus Christi -- from a British firm, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., to Dubai Ports World, is not going to improve the situation."

I would have to agree with his points concerning this transfer of control of a vital aspect of our national infrastructure. There is more to this story than we are getting and Nichols gives us a solid starting for a deeper look into the matter.