Even a broken clock . . .

  I once said about David Brooks, that saying stupid things in a reasonable way, is still saying stupid things but I have to give credit where credit is due as in the miasma of the end of the Republican Convention Brooks  makes an insightful and thoughtful point about the Republican Party's fundamental worldview. I recommend reading the entire editorial over at the NYTimes but two lines stand out for me.
  "[at the convention] There was certainly no conservatism as Edmund Burke understood it, in which individuals are embedded in webs of customs, traditions, habits and governing institutions." Brooks does something that few liberal, moderate or (certainly not) conservatives commentators are doing, questioning the "Conservatism" of the modern Republican Party. If at heart the "conservatism" initiated by Burke, is based in respect for authority, tradition, custom, individual rights and gradual policy measures, than the GOP has become the anitheses of that as it seeks to root and branch disrupt what have become, civil traditions of an inclusive democratic society, the hard earned rights to individual expression and the concern for popular welfare and stability. These politicians and policy makers are seeking to establish an Ayn Randian Fascism, where the capitalist and the corporation become the sum total of society's strivings mixed with a deeply delusional crypto-white supremacist religiosity which would seek to take us back to 19th century ethno-civic-cultural relations and Bronze Age gender perspectives. In the face of the gradual expansion of rights, liberties and opportunities that have been the defining positive feature of the United States, the GOP's program is down right repealingly revolutionary.
  The second point Brooks makes must be taken seriously and speaks to the first.
"They celebrate the race to success but don’t know how to give everyone access to that race." In the light of the abuses of the Reign of Terror the political left came to be identified as wild eyed savage utopians, unable to embrace the conditions of civic life as they were, too irrational to commit to the gradualism of mature governance and too bloody to respect those institutions upon which society is constructed. Yet in its inability, nay unwillingness, to give everyone access to that race or admit that, "our destinies are shaped by social forces" not just individual motivation, the GOP turns reasonable critics of a system that works against those not born with keys to the club (whichever private club that may be) into wild eyed revolutionaries, class warriors, man haters, atheists and/or sodomites who are out of touch with the mythical land (ca. 1950) many GOPers believe the "real" America to be.  I have always argued that the kamikaze (or Ben Tre depending on the speaker) like nature of the modern GOP is a true tragedy as the nation needs as many reasoanble, sober and invested political voices as it can stand. A two party system has limits enough, but one wherein one party is stark raving mad, does not well serve the country at such a desperate moment in its life. If Brooks' article circulates widely, if it draws attention and generates conversation, if it stimulates serious debate among Republican and conservative voters, than he will have offered a parachute to a party that has committed to crashing itself and the nation upon the rocks of history.

Y'all Need to Be Ashamed, Vol. I

It would seem that the full blown Southern Strategy is in effect. Speaker of the House John of Orange (see above) in line with the acknowledgement that they can't win the states they need to win except through re-instituting Jim Crow has spoken what we all know, they are thinking. Not even having the dignity to whisper it, Mr. Speaker throws shame to the wind and confesses that he "Hopes Blacks and Latinos won't show up to vote." If magical thinking can not describe this degree of delusion nor can the banality of (Republican) ignorance explain Boehner's comments, then we are left with a shameless appeal to the baser angels of American character. For those that believe voters of color are too stupid to clearly understand policy differences, those that earnestly believe that you can convince us that the wholesale looting of the US Treasury will solve our economic woes and those that seek to run the same plays from the 1968 (fear of a black city nee country) playbook I grant you you the duly tsked, tsked, "Y'all Need to Be Ashamed" Award (08/27/12)! Congratulations you ignorant amoralistas, no doubt one of your colleagues will overshadow your achievement!

Today's best under-reported story: the Non-Aligned Movement summit

The Non-Aligned Movement is meeting in Iran from 26 August to 31 August. Big US media reports this, when its members report it, as an Iran story, as in 'Iran uses the NAM to criticize the US,' or as another chapter in the unfolding story of Iran-Israel-US tensions. But if one takes seriously what the NAM was and might be, there's more to it than that. As this Al-Jazeera column makes clear, Iran's role here is bitterly ironic in light of the autocratic nature of the current regime. And Iran's role overshadows - and threatens - the important shift in geopolitical framing that comes with the move to what one might think of as an alternative, non-NATO/US-led UN, as noted here.

Today's links (8-24-12)

What sovereignty neo-liberalism looks like: Is it just me, or should a sovereign nation not need NGO help to rebuild its national palace or run its @&*#% courts?

The black quarterback thing just won't go away, but at least the people talking about it are smarter now (the authors of this piece from racialicious, not Skip Bayless' ignorant a**).

The Romney of the Ancient Mariner

With ship hands like this, the Republican Party more and more looks like a cursed ship drifting in the currents of specious waters. Romney himself standing at the mast urging his crew onward toward the white whale of white working class bitterness,  waving his maul like a titan possessed by the  realization of his doom, and promising a Spanish doubloon to any man able to capture the fabled beast of  past GOP victories.

This Week's Travesty in Black Life #1

To prove Wanda Sykes right, Hampton University just went here. So I guess it's time to bring back, the white gloves, brown bags and Madam C.J. Walker's entire product line. But I'll let Ms. Sykes say it better.

Brought to you by This Week's Travesty in Black Life.