Wickersham's Conscience

Despite the wretched outcome of his wishes for 2010 and wishes for 2011, WC will once again set out his wishes for 2012. While it is tempting to moderate those wishes, WC is not inclined to lower his expectations in the hope of greater success. So here they are: WC’s wishes for 2012:

1. Overpopulation. Among the crises facing the planet is human overpopulation. During 2011, we rolled the odometer over to an estimated  7 billion. To a deplorable extent, especially in the Western world, the rate of population growth is a function of religious teachings. The Catholic church’s and the Latter Day Saints’ crazed obsession with large families would be two examples. When religious dogma have counter-survival effects, it’s past time to change them. WC calls on those latter day saints and infallible pontiffs to have a revelation: that further growth of human populations is terrible, and must be controlled, that more than two chldren is a sin by whatever definitions they use.
2. A second great crisis facing humanity is anthropocentric climate change. The way things are going, to paraphrase Pratchett and Gaiman, we are going to scourge all intelligent life from the planet, leaving nothing but dust, cockroaches and fundamentalists. The time for denying man-caused climate change is past. Can we at least shift the debate about how to deal with it? And can all the global warming-denying politicians who have sold their small, dark, crabbed souls to the fossil fuels industry have a look in the mirror and ask themselves, “Do I care about my gtandchildren?” There will come a day when fossil fuel lobbyists and the politicians they have purchased will be held in the same contempt as Congressmen who defended slavery, or claimed tobacco was harmless. Why not now?
3. The health care crisis facing facing America threatens to sink the economy of our country. The Affordable Care Act remains the only half-way comprehensive solution presented. The need for health care is not going to magically vanish if Medicare and Medicaid are repealed. Passing a reduced amount of money out as vouchers isn’t going to reduce spending or lower costs. It is absolutely clear that traditional capitalist solutions are an abject failure in controlling costs. We’ve been trying it for the last 50 years and it has gotten us where we are. The neocons have to come up with  specific, functional proposals to fix a real crisis, or shut up. Not more of the same. Real solutions.
4. Despite the Republican presidential wannabes’ lies, distortions and self-deception, President Barack Obama as a national leader is vastly superior to Mitt Romney and all the Not-Mitts. Despite the protracted and concerted efforts of the Republicans to blow up the economy rather than allow him to effect reasonable repairs, the economy has improved. He has done more to slap down Islamofacsist terrorism than his predecessor managed with two land wars in Asia, up to and including the assassination of bin Laden and the liberation of Libya. He has gotten us out of George W. Bush’s disastrous, ill-conceived and unnecessary war in Iraq. He has stopped and repudiated the use of torture as an instrument of national policy. He has enacted the first real health care reform in the United States since Medicare. He has saved the plutocrats from their own greed and folly. And he has done all this is the face of an unscrupulous U.S. House that would tear the country to shreds if it had its way. Re-elect him. And while we are at it, pitch the Teabaggers out of the U.S House.

So there you have it: four modest, sensible and practical wishes. WC cautions against holding your breath while waiting to see if they come true.

Happy New Year, everyone.

The following chart, from New York Times reporter Teresa Tritch’s editorial of July 11, 2011, is WC’s pick as Chart of the Year. It demonstrates that the deficit that Neocons whine about so incessantly is overwhelmingly a Bush issue; the Bush tax cuts, which the Republicans refuse to repeal, amounted to $1.8 billion, larger by themselves than the entire $1.4 in new deficit spending arising in the Obama administration.

Where Did the Deficit Come From?

There’s a deficit. It’s a very serious problem. But let’s not blame the wrong guy.

You say it is unfair because it compares Bush’s eight years against Obama’s four years? Okay, double Obama’s spending. Oops, it’s still just over half of Bush’s.

WC’s runner-up for Chart of the Year is the Plutarchs of Congress.

However much humankind may injure and maim the planet, we don’t control nature. Nature bats last. WC introduces a new category of year end reviews, noting instances in this calendar year when we’ve had to be reminded of that lesson once again.

One of WC’s all-time favorite books is John McPhee’s The Control of Nature (Amazon link). McPhee examines three instances of man’s interactions with nature: the massive volcanic eruption at Vestmannaeyjar, near Iceland, and the efforts to protect the harbor there from advancing lava flows; the efforts by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to keep the Mississippi River from changing its course at the Atchafalaya Channel; and the City of Los Angeles’s efforts control the massive mudflows coming down out of the San Gabriel Mountains. McPhee’s message is that mankind may have short-term successes, but can’t win in the long haul. Nature bats last.

Each year, mankind gets a fresh set of reminders that for all out vaunted science, engineering and technology, we’re here at sufferance.

The list might both begin and end with the March 11 Tohoku ML9.0 earthquake and 40-foot high tsunami, which devastated northeastern Japan and wrecked the Fukushima nuclear power plant.   The tragedy has so far resulted in 15,842 deaths, 5,890 injured, and 3,485 people missing across eighteen prefectures, as well as over 125,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. Radiation contamination has resulted in a 20km exclusion zone, likely to last for decades. The engineering that went into the reactor and safety design was woefully inadequate for a foreseeable disaster.

The drought in the southwestern United States continued. From 2010-11, Texas experienced its driest August–July (12-month) period on record. Wildfires, crop failures and animal deaths are the worst since the Dust Bowl. Droughts also afflicted places as far flung as China, East Africa and Tuvalu, Micronesia. To some extent, they are probably the result of the extended La Niña in the Pacific Ocean, but the devastation, particularly in East Africa, is horrific.

In Joplin, Missouri. a devastating EF5 multiple-vortex tornado struck late in the afternoon of Sunday, May 22, 2011:

May 2011 Path of Tornado Through Joplin

There’s an estimated $3 billion in damage, and 161 people were killed.

Hurricane Irene caused 56 deaths and $7 billion in damages, with the worst of the damage from flooding in Vermont, which experienced its worst flooding in centuries. A fairly modest Category 1 hurricane when it came ashore in the northeast, it carried enough water and was moving slowly enough that it caused catastrophic problems. We think of hurricanes as a disaster afflicting the southeastern states; we’re wrong.

Earthquakes, particularly big quakes, are consequence of living on a geologically active planet. But there’s increasing evidence that some quakes are man-made, with fracking -– hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas – as a primary cause. The near-unprecedented weather extremes in 2011 – flood, drought, heat waves, tropical storms – may be the result of anthropogenic climate change. Warmer air carries more water, contains more energy and could generate more violent weather.

Death rates and property damage levels aren’t a particularly good analysis tool. There are more people and more improvements to land every year. But if you measure weather by the number of hurricanes, the energy level of hurricanes, the number of tornadoes and the intensity of tornadoes, then it does appear that nature is batting last.

As WC did in 2009 and 2010, WC will undertake a brief review of religion in 2011 before we mercifully leave the poor, maimed calendar year behind.

Reverend Harold Camping predicted the world would end on May 21, 2011. Oops. Oh, a math mistake. Reverend Camping predicted the world would end October 16, 2011. Oops again. Is it fair to ask why these folks are so eager to have their End Times?

God and Hate - Westboro Baptist Church members picket outside the Oscars (Photo by SnapShot Boy, used with permission)

The Westboro Baptist Church – which seems to be mostly members of Fred Phelps’ extended family – in its desperate attempts to gain public exposure, continues to act out hate speech at funerals for slain service members, celebrity events and any other occasion where they can show their hate. The U.S. Supreme Court conlcuded in 2011 that their activities were protected speech. Hateful speech, but protected.

Over 250,000 good Christians signed a petition to boycott “Homo Depot” stores. Of course, Home Depot wasn’t exactly singled out. The same group had pledged to boycott 7-Eleven, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Airlines, American Girl, Blockbuster Video, Burger King, Calvin Klein, Carl’s Jr., Clorox, Comcast, Crest, Ford, Hallmark Cards, Kmart, Kraft Foods, S. C. Johnson & Son, Movie Gallery, Microsoft, MTV, Mary Kay, NutriSystem, Old Navy, IKEA, Pampers, Procter & Gamble, Target, Tide, Walt Disney Company and PepsiCo.

A Gallup Poll conducted May 5-8, 2011 revealed that 30% of Americans interpret the Bible literally, saying it is the actual word of God. The good news (note the lower case) is that the numbers are actually down from the last decade. The bad news is that leaves nearly a third of Americans denying evolution, physics, geology and astronomy.

Muslims killed Christians. Christians killed Muslims. Muslims killed Hindus. Hindus killed Muslims. Catholics killed Protestants. Protestants killed Catholics. It’s a special kind of ecumenicalism, WC supposes. Oddly, all of these religions forbid killing.

WC is making his slow way through the first volume of Mark Twain’s autobiography – it’s not as much fun as you might expect – but came across this quote, which will serve as a coda for this post:

So much blood has been shed by the Church because of an omission from the Gospel: “Ye shall be indifferent as to what your neighbor’s religion is.” Not merely tolerant of it, but indifferent to it. Divinity is claimed for many religions; but no religion is great enough or divine enough to add that new law to its code.

Amen.

As WC did in 2009 and 2010, WC will undertake a brief review of politics in 2011 before we mercifully leave the poor, maimed calendar year behind.

Politics this year involved less “hiking on the Appalachian Trail” and more Republican presidential wannabes. But it was depressingly the same as the last few years. Some low points:

• The Teabaggers controlling the House of Representatives demonstrated there is nothing – absolutely nothing – they won’t do in their efforts to defeat President Obama.
• Kill the economy so it can be blamed on the President? Check.
• Accuse the President of treason? Check.
• Refuse to tax the super rich who have bought their small, miserable dark souls? Check.
• Refuse to extend tax cuts to the middle class? Check.
• Refuse economic recovery bills because of the deficit? Check.
• Refuse to compromise in an effort to reduce the deficit? Check.
• The candidates for the Republican nomination have done themselves more injury than their avowed opponent ever could as they cycle through the Not-Mitts.
• Michelle “Crazy Eyes” Bachman clings to ignorance as a virtue, and by her claim that vaccinations cause mental retardation has made the single most irresponsible statement by a candidate for national office of 2011. After a brief stint as the not-Mitt of the Month, she fades to a footnote.
• Serial sexual harrasser and motivational speaker Herman Cain tries to substitute one-liners for knowledge. After a brief stint as non-Mitt of the Month, he “suspends” his campaign and withdraws in disgrace.
• Governor Rick “I’m from Texas” Perry briefly dons the Non-Mitt of the Month mantle, before demonstrating that ignorance combined with abject debating skills are too much even for Teabaggers.
• Serial adulterer, ethically challenged and Eye of Newt Gingrich dons the Not-Mitt Mantle, but fades as his congenital foot-in-mouth disease and voters’ memories trip him up. Shame on whoever it was that lifted up a rock and let this thing crawl out.
• The Republican situation is so grim that libertarian and Ayn Rand worshipper Ron Paul begins to look attractive, despite offensive racist newsletters and worse cluttering his past. WC supposes he is a Not-Not-Mitt, at least by his calculation.
• Then there’s Not-Mitt Romney himself, who dons and removes the mantle as it serves his convenience and the wishes of his current audience. This candidate’s only scruple is his belief he should be elected. Every other principle – no exceptions – is sacrificed to that Prime Directive.
• Because the Republican Party and the conservative movement generally has been entirely captured by Teabaggers and Christianist theocrats, the very characteristics that will get a Republican candidate the nomination will lead to that candidate’s defeat in the general election. Barry Goldwater redux.
• Congress is so far out of touch with the American public that Congress is at an all time low in public opinion polls.
• Democrats – progressives generally – are so politically inept that they cannot take advantage of the situation.

All of this, and there hasn’t been an actual, you know, primary election yet.

And five-sixths of 2012 will be given over the the 2012 elections. Shudder. And you know, you can be certain, that no matter who wins the presidential election, before 2012 is over someone will declare themselves a candidate for president in 2016.

So, yes, 2011 was politics as usual.

As WC did in 2009 and 2010, WC will undertake a brief review of sports in 2011 before we mercifully leave the poor, maimed calendar year behind.

The Chicago Cubs finished 25 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central, in next-to-last place. Nine games worse than last year. Sigh. Bless the Houston Astros. The Cubs were truly awful. One hundred three years and counting. Some other National League team from the Central Division ended up winning the World Series. The American League continued to play some other game where the pitcher doesn’t bat. And yet another MLB star – this one the National League MVP – was outed as a user of performance enhancing drugs. On the brighter side, Major League Baseball survived another year with Bud Selig at the helm.

Ron Santo was selected to the Hall of Fame – the year after he had died. The Hall of Fame and its bastard selection process are despicable, as WC has argued before. But belated recognition of a great baseball player is fractionally better than a continuing exclusion.

Apparently there are other sports besides baseball?

American football, at all levels, was revealed to be a cumulative long term hazard to the health of the players. Repeated concussions, even symptom-free concussions, can cause very severe brain damage. Amazingly, this continues to be news to the National Football League.

Hockey, at all levels, was revealed to be a cumulative long term hazard to the health of the players. Repeated concussions, even symptom-free concussions, can cause very severe brain damage. Amazingly, this came as news to the National Hockey League. “I went to a hockey game and watched brain trauma occur.”

The National Basketball Association players and owners demonstrated that, no matter how many billions are available, it’s not so much that you can’t fight over it, killing the first third of the regular season. But it’s all right, pro basketball fans, playoffs once again will last into mid-summer. Presumably, some folks watched in 2011 and will watch in 2012 to see who won. WC didn’t and won’t.

Apparently auto racing, and specifically NASCAR, remains the most popular sport in the U.S. WC has never understood sitting in stands for hours, damaging your hearing and watching internal combustion engines waste fuel. Is this a southern thing? Is it a white thing? WC still doesn’t get it.

ESPN, the Eastern Sports Network, continues to believe there are no college football teams worth noticing west of the Rockies except Southern California. The Oregon Ducks didn’t help by choking in the BCS Championship Game. Boise State finally lost a game and, in sharp contrast to other 10-1 teams, was relegated to something called the MAACO Bowl, administering an object lesson to Arizona State. Yet EPSN continues to pretend the west doesn’t exist.

And despite the buckets of ink, petabytes of digital content and the passionate beliefs of a depressing high percentage of Americans, including WC when the Cubs are involved, none of it really matters. It’s entertainment. Sometimes farcical. In the case of the Cubs, almost always farcical. But passion is unrelated to importance in the real world. Despite what LSU fans may think.

As WC gets older, he finds death is claiming more and more of those he respects and admires. As we head in to a new year, WC wants to pause and note the loss of those who in one way or another, enriched WC’s life. In no particular order:

Ronnie Gaubert, Self-Portrait	Ronnie Gaubert: WC posted earlier on Ronnie’s work and life. A remarkable artist and man, and a model for us all. WC misses him.
Vàclev Havel, 1936-2011	Vàclev Havel: WC studied one of Havel’s plays, The Garden Party, when WC was an undergraduate student. It was a brilliant send-up of Soviet society, sort of Mikhail Bulgakov meets Albert Camus. The play earned Havel his first prison term.Havel emerged as an unlikely non-violent political leader in the Velvet Revolution that overthrew the communist rule in Czechoslovakia, and in 1989 became the president of the country.
Cover of Steve Jobs Bio	Steve Jobs: WC has posted earlier on Steve. But will repeat here Steve’s words on death: Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
U.S. Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, 1935-2011	Geraldine Ferraro, U.S. Representative and first woman to be a candidate for Vice President of the United States for a major political party. She was also a successful prosecutor, tireless advocate for the protection of women and children and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. If Sarah Palin had an exact opposite, it was Ferraro.
Christopher Hitchens Lecturing	Christopher Hitchens: WC has posted on Hitch. Twice. Once on his death and against focusing on his Ten Commandments. An extraordinary man, and extraordinary life and an extraordinary body of work.
Jerry Lieber, 1933-2011	Jerry Lieber, the lyrics half the the songwriting duo, Lieber and Stoller. His songs included “There Goes My Baby,” Stand By Me” and “Hound Dog.” A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1987), his lyrics and Mike Stoller’s melodies got in your head and stayed there. If the sky that we look upon Should tumble and fall And the mountains should crumble to the sea I won’t cry, I won’t cry, no I won’t shed a tear Just as long as you stand, stand by me
Clarence "Big Man" Clemons, 1942-2011	Clarence “Big Man” Clemons, tenor saxophonist in the E Street Band, and the heart of Bruce Springsteen’s band. His tearing sax solos helped define Bruce Springsteen’s music. Born to be wild, indeed.
Angie Ertter, 1924-2011	Angela Ertter, German war bride, godmother to Mrs. WC, mean harmonica player (she’s playing the harp in that photo) and unrepentant singer of German folksongs. Her family was everyone Oma could hug. And her love could fill a big room.

Others WC might name include James Arness,  whose television show “Gunsmoke” was one of the few televisions shows WC could stand when WC was a pup; and Gerrie Rafferty, whose “Baker Street” would be on WC’s list of all-time top ten rock and roll songs.

Correction: 26 Dec 11 – As reader Paul Eaglin points out, Geraldine Ferraro was a member of the U.S. House, not the Senate. Corrected.

The late Carl Sagan created this, which captures pretty well WC’s view on such matters. It seems especially appropriate for December 25.

A tip of the hat to Gryphen at Immoral Minority for the idea.

Happy Holidays

All the best in 2012 from Wickersham’s Conscience

Once again, WC opened the year with wishes for the upcoming months. And once again, WC’s hopes were mostly dashed. But with just a week or so left in 2011, let’s look at the specifics:

1. WC wishes that the Republican House and the Democratic Senate recognize that health care reform isn’t a political football, or a springboard to electoral success in 2012, but the best solution so far to the looming health care crisis facing our nation. 

NOT. If the Republican presidential wannabes are any indication, the hate is actually higher now than when the bill was signed into law. Not that any of them have a better idea. Representative idea: Ron Paul would abolish Medicare and Medicaid. If the patient has a fever, put him in the freezer. That’ll fix him, youbetcha.

2. The Department of Defense today is the largest single part of the federal budget. If the budget is to be balanced, it must be reduced. Unlike social security, which is funded, defense spending is a direct drain on taxes and the biggest contribution to the deficit. WC wishes Congress would recognize and address the problem.

MAYBE. A by-product of Congress’s shameful failure to deal with the deficit itself, either directly or through the not-so-Super Committee, is a pending, significant across-the-board reduction in the defense budget. The predictable pissing and moaning is already under way, and there are strong indications Congress will recant. But as of year end, an accidental modest success.

3. WC wishes that the Gods imagined by shepherds, nomads and farmers could see fit to adapt their edicts to a world with finite resources, doomsday weapons and horrific overcrowding. And that those Gods’ followers would then listen.

NOT. You need look no further than the sorry horde of Republican presidential wannabes, all of whom compete to be more zealous than the others in clinging to a pastoralist religion in a post-industrial society. Worse, they insist, on threat of citizenship, that the entire country give its unqualified embrace to doctrine that has the sun circling the earth. Iran remains a theocracy. And, with the death of Christopher Hitchens, our culture has lost one of its remaining voices of reason in this circle of absurdity.

(The next wish requires discussion of former half-term governor, Sarah Palin. Wickersham’s Conscience is a Palin-free zone. But to address those January 1 issues, WC has to make an exception. WC promises to be brief.)

4. Her ambition will force her to run for president, even though she doesn’t want either responsibility or the accountability that would come with the job. WC wishes that Palin would develop enough self-awareness, sufficient insight, to recognize Machiavelli is right.

MAYBE. Palin announced she was not a candidate for president in 2012. The world breathed a collective sigh of relief. Comediennes and a few Palinbots blinked back tears. WC suspects she still harbors dreams of deadlock at the Republican convention, and that she is somehow begged to step in. But, as of the year end, that nightmare scenario hasn’t occurred. Self-awareness and insight? Not so much.

So it’s another disappointing year. None of WC’s wishes came completely true, but as of year end perhaps two are partially so. Two failed completely. Better than 2010, but still a disappointment to WC. Maybe next year.

Despite the wretched outcome of his wishes for 2010, WC will once again set out his wishes for 2011. While it is tempting to moderate his wishes, WC is not inclined to lower his expectations in the hope of greater success. But to offer some additional inspiration, WC will frame his wishes for 2011 in the great words of others.

If by a “Liberal” they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal,” then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.”

- John F. Kennedy, 1960

WC wishes that the Republican House and the Democratic Senate recognize that health care reform isn’t a political football, or a springboard to electoral success in 2012, but the best solution so far to the looming health care crisis facing our nation. An imperfect solution, but the best Congress has been able to enact to date. Tearing it down will not solve the crisis.

Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.

- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961

If the political power of the military-industrial complex was a problem in 1961, it is a nightmare today.

U.S. Federal Spending - 2011 Budget

The Department of Defense today is the largest single part of the federal budget. If the budget is to be balanced, it must be reduced. Unlike social security, which is funded, defense spending is a direct drain on taxes and the biggest contribution to the deficit. WC wishes Congress would recognize and address the problem. Sure, some defense-related industry in Congresssman Bushmat’s district will take a hit, but the alternatives are worse.

In some respects, science has far surpassed religion in delivering awe. How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed”? Instead they say, “No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.”

- Carl Sagan, 1994

The ongoing horrors committed in the name of God and what He has Told us are surely one of the greatest problems facing the world. Whether it’s a Muslim deciding his God has ordered him to kill innocents, a Catholic Pope inveighing against birth control or a fundamentalist Christian calling for superstitions to be taught in the public schools; the list of religious offenses against the world is endless. WC wishes that the Gods imagined by shepherds, nomads and farmers could see fit to adapt their edicts to a world with finite resources, doomsday weapons and horrific overcrowding. And that those Gods’ followers would listen.

For whenever men are not obliged to fight from necessity, they fight from ambition; which is so powerful in human breasts, that it never leaves them no matter to what rank they rise. The reason is that nature has so created men that they are able to desire everything but are not able to attain everything: so that the desire being always greater than the acquisition, there results discontent with the possession and little satisfaction to themselves from it.

- Niccolo Machiavelli, 1517

Sarah Palin, Alaska’s very own half-term governor, is no longer obligated to fight from necessity; she has enough money and enough fame to be comfortable the rest of her life. As Machiavelli points out, she is now motivated solely by ambition. But Palin cannot see that she doesn’t want responsibility or accountability; it’s largely the reason she quit as governor. Her ambition will force her to run for president, even though she doesn’t want either responsibility or the accountability that would come with the job. WC wishes that Palin would develop enough self-awareness, sufficient insight, to recognize Machiavelli is right.

None of this is likely to happen, but it’s a new year, the occasion for hope. Happy New Year, everyone.

Certain nattering nabobs of negativism[1] have pointed out that The Quitter actually won her Big Lie Award WC described in late 2009.

But WC is happy to report that even as late as December 22, 2010, our ex-governor was proving she still had what it takes to draw the derision of her intellectual superiors.[2] Mario Almonte, writing in The Huffington Post, awarded Sister Sarah Hubris of the Year Award for 2010. At one level, the ex-gov’s shocking, breathtaking arrogance kept it from being much of a contest. At another, there are an amazing number of arrogant politicians running loose right now, and some of the Tea Baggers among them could have made this a contest. Nor is Palin’s attitude hubris, exactly, although the flavor is definitely present.

Here are some quotes, with WC’s comments, from the citation that went with this award:

Last year, Palin’s assertion that President Obama’s health care reform plan would create government-sponsored “death panels” that could kill her down-syndrome baby helped fan the flames of opposition to the complex bill. She actually knew nothing about the bill – it is doubtful she had ever even read a single passage from it; yet, even while a barrage of experts came forward to systematically disprove the claim, she continued to proudly stand by her comment.

The point is not whether the bill was a good one or not – but that she maliciously promoted a blatant lie for the simple fact that she enjoyed the attention she got. She did not care to find out if the firestorm of controversy she caused was a positive or negative thing to the people the bill would supposedly impact.

WC would regard this as being as much utter selfishness as hubris. It was undeniably outrageous, and like most pathological liars, Palin probably believes what she was saying, even if it was patently false. In another sense, it comes down to that arrogant, invincible ignorance that she flaunts.

Successfully pandering to that fan base, she is now, increasingly, portrayed as a viable presidential candidate. Yet, rather than feeling the humility of such a possibility and being humbled by the enormous weight of responsibility the job entails, she has become emboldened and more ambitious, more crafty and strategic in her words and action. We’ve had other equally calculating and unqualified people in the White House before, but what makes her dangerous is that she does not seek the highest power in the land to change the world for the better, but to wield the power and to even scores.

That’s an exact and precise explanation of Caribou Barbie’s motives, but, again, it’s not classic hubris. Vengefulness is not a quality WC looks for in a president (think Dick Nixon here). It makes The Quitter exactly the wrong person to choose as President.

Still, it’s not WC’s award to give. And apart from possibly mischaracterizing arrogant ignorance and selfishness as hubris, Mr. Almonte’s description of her conduct and her motives is exactly right.

So congratulation, Madam Ex. The awards and trophies just keep coming in.

Notes:
[1] Vice President Spiro Agnew, vice William Safire.
[2] WC thanks one of his readers for bringing this tidbit to WC’s attention.

Back in January, WC made a few simple wishes for 2010. It’s time to review those optimistic hopes, and see how it went.

1. Alaskans would stop whining about taxes. Alaska has the lowest combined state and local tax rate of any state in the nation. It has enjoyed that status for more than 25 years. It’s an historical aberration, linked to taxes on the oil industry, but it’s indisputable. So stop whining about it.

Not. It actually got worse. It remains WC’s fond hope that there is a special place in the Christian Hell for Donna Gilbert and the Interior Taxpayers Association.

2. TSA would stop punishing the passengers when TSA screws up and lets a terrorist on a flight. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab came pretty close to blowing up an Northwest Airlines jet on final approach at Detroit. Scary. The passengers on that flight helped save the day. He was on board because of a failure of intelligence (he’d been busted by his own father, but allowed to board) and a failure of screening. But instead of fixing what’s broken, all passengers will be punished: more intrusive screening, forced to sit the last hour of any flight, nothing in our laps but our hands. So that the suicide nut cases will make their attempts earlier in the flight? I don’t need to post a screed against this folly; Christopher Hitchens has written a fine one.

Not. Of course, this wish never had a chance. While TSA has backed off of the idle hands approach, the groping of a physical pat down is worse than ever. WC has a few metal parts that intermittently set off metal detectors. In some cases, it appears to be his fillings. Other, more serious threats remain unaddressed. TSA is mostly badly acted street theater.

3. Sarah Palin would just shut up. Incredibly divisive, dishonest, narcissistic and ignorant, she represents everything reprehensible about about politics in general and the Republican Party in particular.

Not. Everything she did in 2010 was at or even below WC’s very, very low expectations. She won Politifact’s Lie of the Year Award. Kind of says it all.

4. George W. Bush would announce, “I was wrong. Global warming is real. It’s a terrible threat to America and requires immediate action. I was wrong to try to suppress the research showing it was a threat. The Republican Party needs to join with the Democrats and develop a serious, drastic response now, even if the U.S. has to go it alone.”

Not. While Dubya published a biography (WC cannot bring himself to call it an autobiography), tainted with allegations of plagiarism, climate change is only mentioned once, in passing (p. 347). Kind of says it all. Tampering with results the scientific research isn’t mentioned at all.

5. Just a single member of Congress who is willing to say, “The issues facing the country are too important for partisanship. I’m working across the aisle to serve America, not my personal interests or the interests of the party.” We know it’s not Joe Lieberman. Anyone?

Yes. WC will score Senator Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) near-filibuster on the Senate floor as a rise above partisanship and recognition of the real economic issues facing America. Kudos to Senator Sanders.

6. A year without a single Alaska elected official being indicted.

Kind of. At least the scofflaws were limited to municipal officials this year. No legislator was indicted, although some were spanked for “ethical lapses.”

So call it 1.5 out of 6.0 wishes coming true. Given the very modest expectations WC brought to his wishlist, that’s probably not too bad.

The Chicago Cubs finished 16 games behind the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Central, in next-to-last place. Sigh. They were pretty awful. One hundred two years and counting. Some National League team from the west coast ended up winning the World Series. The American League continued to play some other game where the pitcher doesn’t bat. And yet another MLB star was outed as a user of performance enhancing drugs. On the brighter side, Major League Baseball survived another year with Bud Selig at the helm.

There are other, less important sports than baseball. Let’s see. WC will think of one in a moment. Oh, golf. In 2009 Tiger Woods crashed his Cadillac Escalante, his reputation, his integrity and possibly his marriage. In the words of The Capitol Steps, he couldn’t keep his bowsers truckled. In 2010, he did the same thing with his golf game. WC can be corrected on this (the subject isn’t baseball), but Woods, for the first time as a pro, went the year without winning a tournament.

American football, at all levels, was revealed to be a cumulative long term hazard to the health of the players. Repeated concussions, even symptom-free concussions, can cause very severe brain damage. Amazingly, this came as news to the National Football League.

The National Basketball Association playoffs once again lasted into mid-summer. Presumably, some folks watched to see who won. WC didn’t.

Apparently auto racing, and specifically NASCAR, remains the most popular sport in the U.S. WC has never understood sitting in stands for hours, damaging your hearing and watching internal combustion engines waste fuel. Is this a southern thing? Is it a white thing? WC doesn’t get it.

ESPN, the Eastern Sports Network, continues to believe there are no college football teams worth noticing west of the Rockies except Southern California. Despite a series of humiliations and five losses, post-season ineligibility and finishing tied for third in the Pac 10, USC remained the darling of ESPN. Five Pac 10 teams were ranked in the BCS. Seven teams are in post-season bowl games. Boise State finally lost a game and, in sharp contrast to other 10-1 teams, was relegated to something called the MAACO Bowl, administering an object lesson to Utah. Yet EPSN pretends the west doesn’t exist.

And despite the buckets of ink, petabytes of digital content and the passionate beliefs of a depressing high percentage of Americans, none of it really matters. It’s entertainment. Usually farcical. In the case of the Cubs, almost always farcical. But passion is unrelated to importance in the real world. Despite what Auburn fans may think.

Even for WC’s low expectations, 2010 was a low point for organized religion. Consider the following items:

Alleged Christian Rev. Terry Jones, minister to a church of perhaps 50 people, proposed burning a few hundred Qu’rans on 9/11 to commemorate the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. A long-time Islamaphobe, he backed down only when General David Petraeus warned Jones’ bigoted plan would certainly endanger the lives of countless American soldiers.

Jesus rifles. Sigh.

The Catholic Church, faced with yet another series of child molestation scandals, decided to blame homosexuals for the sins of its priests. WC can’t make this stuff up. While Pope Benedict called for the Catholic Church to do penance, no one seemed to be suggesting the church address the problem of predatory, pedophile priests. The pope’s personal preacher went as far as to compare the abuse scandal to anti-Semitism.

A proposed Islamic Cultural Center in lower Manhattan provoked a firestorm of controversy among the religious right-wingers and Alaska’s very own Caribou Barbie. It’s difficult to decide which is worse: the inability to recognize what America stands for, or the cynical appeal to jingoism.

The Mayor of Lancaster, California, a community with which WC has some connections, announced that ”We are a growing Christian community and don’t let anybody shy away from that. I need Lancaster residents standing up and saying we are a Christian community and we’re proud of it.” Lancaster has a substantial Jewish population. It has a substantial Muslim population. It also has some of the highest crime rates in California. WC will refrain from stating the obvious.

WC will conclude his dismal assessment of religion at the end of the decade with a tale from Mark Twain, who makes a distinction between “Higher Animals” and “Reasoning Animals”:

In truth, man is incurably foolish.  Simple things which the other animals easily learn, he is incapable of learning.  Among my experiments was this.  In an hour I taught a cat and a dog to be friends.  I put them in a cage.  In another hour I taught them to be friends with a rabbit.  In the course of two days I was able to add a fox, a goose, a squirrel and some doves.  Finally a monkey.  They lived together in peace; even affectionately.

Next, in another cage I confined an Irish Catholic from Tipperary, and as soon as he seemed tame I added a Scotch Presbyterian from Aberdeen.  Next a Turk from Constantinople; a Greek Christian from Crete; an Armenian; a Methodist from the wilds of Arkansas; a Buddhist from China; a Brahman from Benares. Finally, a Salvation Army Colonel from Wapping.  Then I stayed away two whole days.  When I came back to note results, the cage of Higher Animals was all right, but in the other there was but a chaos of gory odds and ends of turbans and fezzes and plaids and bones and flesh, not a specimen left alive.  These Reasoning Animals had disagreed on a theological detail and carried the matter to a Higher Court.

One hundred years later, nothing has changed.

There were perhaps fewer high-profile sex scandals in 2010 – fewer American politicians were caught “hiking the Appalachian Trail.” But it was still pretty much scandal politics as usual.

U.S. Senate candidate, tea bag darling and recovering witch Christine O’Donnell probably set the low mark, by demonstrating that you don’t have to have a brain to be a witch. Unfortunately, the ding-dong witch is back, still spouting inanities after being crushed in the general election.

Former U.S.  Senator and presidential candidate John Edwards finally admitted to his extramarital affair and to fathering a two year old daughter. His timing was awkward: the admissi0n came as his for wife, Elizabeth Edwards, was dying of breast cancer.

U.S. Senator David Vitter’s prostitution scandal has clearly made him more forgiving of the sins of others. He kept as an aide a man who assaulted his girlfriend with a knife, and paid the travel expenses so the aide could go back to Louisiana twice to attend hearing on his DWI case.

Activist and filmaker James O’Keefe – the man whose heavily edited videos took ACORN down – was arrested for tampering with the telephones of Senator Mary Landrieu. He and two colleagues – including the son of a U.S. Attorney – dressed as telephone company employees and tried to wiretap the senator’s phones.

But some kind of prize has to go to Washington State Representative State Matt Shea, who introduced a state sovereignty bill to keep the federal government at bay. After all, he claims there’s a conspiracy afoot by the White House to impose martial law, he says. The climate-change movement is a government plan to take control of Americans, he also thinks, and he suspects FEMA is using the same tactic Hitler used to recruit church pastors to quiet opponents. Then there’s that planned takeover of America by a secret Obama army, says the first-term Spokane Valley Republican and attorney. Eastern Washington voters must be very proud.

Finally, in the Justice Delayed category, after years of stalling former Republican powerbroker and House Majority Leader Tom Delay went to trial and was convicted of money laundering.

Somewhat unusually in an election year, the scandals involved more money than sex. But the pattern is distressingly similar to 2009. Your public position need not, ahem, be the same as your private one.

As he did in 2009, WC will devote some year-end posts to recapping the past year, checking how his wishes for 2010 played out, and making his wishes for 2011. None of this is going to be pretty, but WC proposes to revisit the ugliest part first: the 2010 Palin Family Roadshow, Circus and Horror Story.

The rock star treatment for speaking engagements, the rifle crosshairs on “targeted candidates,” the relentless self-aggrandizement, the abyssmal, bottomless ignorance and, above all, the shrill hypocrisy of this person; it provokes a fingernails-on-a-chalkboard reaction in WC.

It’s not just that she is a terrible public speaker, although that’s certainly true. She’s seemingly incapable of logical thinking. Her reaction is never reflective, or considered. Consider, for example, her response to the Nuclear Posture Review and when exposed as an idiot, her ad hominem attack on President Obama. Or her abysmal ignorance of the First Amendment, whether the provisions on separation of church and state or freedom of speech.

And the quality of character? Missing in action. Timothy Egan referred to “[T]he dubious character trifecta of the Palin brand: bone-headed, defiant and willfully ignorant.” He omitted that she is also a control freak, as witnessed by her complete over-reaction to her temporary neighbor, Joe McGinnis this past summer. McGinnis has her number, and a demonstrated ability to punch her buttons. McGinnis in turn pointed to Mark Twain’s sardonic observation “All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.” Dead on.

Her frenetic campaigning for her Tea Party favorites, her daughter’s embarrassing over-exposure on reality television, her incessant injection of her ill-informed opinions into national issues; it would gag a maggot.

WC believes he may have been the first to link Palin, Palinstas and the Dunning-Kruger Effect. It explains a lot about the Refudiator’s thrashing around, about how often and how badly she gets it wrong. And why, despite continually humiliating herself, her followers continue to support her. The Dunning-Kruger Effect, unfortunately, describes the problem but doesn’t offer a solution; indeed, it implies there isn’t a solution. Which means more of the Palin Horror Show in 2011. WC can hardly wait.

My simple wishes for 2010:

1. Alaskans would stop whining about taxes. Alaska has the lowest combined state and local tax rate of any state in the nation. It has enjoyed that status for more than 25 years. It’s an historical aberration, linked to taxes on the oil industry, but it’s indisputable. So stop whining about it.

2. TSA would stop punishing the passengers when TSA screws up and lets a terrorist on a flight. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab came pretty close to blowing up an Northwest Airlines jet on final approach at Detroit. Scary. The passengers on that flight helped save the day. He was on board because of a failure of intelligence (he’d been busted by his own father, but allowed to board) and a failure of screening. But instead of fixing what’s broken, all passengers will be punished: more intrusive screening, forced to sit the last hour of any flight, nothing in our laps but our hands. So that the suicide nut cases will make their attempts earlier in the flight? I don’t need to post a screed against this folly; Christopher Hitchens has written a fine one.

3. Sarah Palin would just shut up. Incredibly divisive, dishonest, narcissistic and ignorant, she represents everything reprehensible about about politics in general and the Republican Party in particular.

4. George W. Bush would announce, “I was wrong. Global warming is real. It’s a terrible threat to America and requires immediate action. I was wrong to try to suppress the research showing it was a threat. The Republican Party needs to join with the Democrats and develop a serious, drastic response now, even if the U.S. has to go it alone.”

5. Just a single member of Congress who is willing to say, “The issues facing the country are too important for partisanship. I’m working across the aisle to serve America, not my personal interests or the interests of the party.” We know it’s not Joe Lieberman. Anyone?

6. A year without a single Alaska elected official being indicted.

Bad odds on all of them, I’m afraid. But it’s a New Year. It’s okay to hope. All the best in 2010, everyone.

I can summarize the year in religion by setting out, in full, a January 29, 2007 letter to editor of the Kenai Peninsula Times, from an alleged human being named Alice Shannon, of Soldotna, Alaska.

It’s time to stomp out atheists in America. The majority of Americans would love to see atheists kicked out of America. If you don’t believe in God, then get out of this country.

The United States is based on having freedom of religion, speech, etc. which means you can believe in God any way you want (Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, etc.), but you must believe.

I don’t recall freedom of religion meaning no religion. Our currency even says, “In God We Trust.” So, to all the atheists in America: Get off of our country.

Atheists have been the ruin of this great nation by taking prayer out of our schools and being able to practice what can only be called evil. I don’t care if they have never committed a crime, atheists are the reason crime is rampant.

/s/ Alice Shannon, Soldotna

Nothing I could possibly write could better describe the state of religion in the United States in 2009: entrenched ignorance, intolerance and illogic.

The Chicago Cubs finished 7.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central. One hundred one years and counting. Some team from the east coast ended up winning the World Series. The American League continued to play some other game where the pitcher doesn’t bat. And yet another MLB star was outed as a user of performance enhancing drugs. On the brighter side, Major League Baseball survived another year with Bud Selig at the helm.

There are other, less important sports than baseball. Let’s see. Another sports hero bit the dust when Tiger Woods crashed his Cadillac Escalante, his reputation, his integrity and possibly his marriage. In the words of The Capitol Steps, he couldn’t keep his bowsers truckled.

American football, at all levels, was revealed to be a cumulative long term hazard to the health of the players. Repeated concussions, even symptom-free concussions, can cause very severe brain damage. Amazingly, this came as news to the National Football League.

The National Basketball Association playoffs lasted into mid-summer. Presumably, some folks watched to see who won. I didn’t.

Apparently auto racing, and specifically NASCAR, is now the most popular sport in the U.S. I’ve never understood sitting in stands for hours, watching internal combustion engines waste fuel. Is this a southern thing? Is it a white thing? I don’t get it.

ESPN, the Eastern Sports Network, continues to believe there are no college football teams worth noticing west of the Rockies except Southern California. Despite two humiliations (Oregon, California) and four losses, finishing fifth in the Pac 10, USC remained ranked in the top 25 and defeated Boston College, which finished second in the ACC. That’s more a criticism of Boston College and the ACC than anything flattering about USC. Five Pac 10 teams were ranked in the BCS. Seven teams are in post-season bowl games. Boise State was again undefeated. Yet EPSN pretends the west doesn’t exist.

And despite the buckets of ink, petabytes of digital content and the passionate beliefs of a depressing high percentage of Americans, none of it really matters. It’s entertainment. Usually farcical. In the case of the Cubs, almost always farcical.