Rogue Columnist

The great maverick has been broken for the herd

I don't get it.

Newspapers I generally respect have spent two days having orgasms over President-elect McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. "With Pick, McCain Reclaims His Maverick Image," was the rhapsodic headline in the Washington Post. "Can You Cross Out 'Hillary and Write 'Sarah?,' the New York Times asked in its Week in Review section. This is a "game changer." This shows what an independent maverick McCain is, "bucking" the Beltway establishment.

Instead, McCain's decision shows he is both cynical and cowed into submission. Cynical, in that he thinks women will vote for him simply because he chose a vice presidential candidate with the same body parts as them. Nevermind where she stands on issues concerning women. She is, for example, opposed to measures demanding equal pay for equal work or child care. She would criminalize abortion even in cases of rape and incest. "Women," also, apparently won't care about her lack of experience (the media seem eager to equate her thin resume with Barack Obama's rather heftier accomplishments).

Cowed because Palin is the darling of the extreme right wing of his party: anti-abortion crusader, climate-change denier, fundamentalist evangelical, Bible literalist, pro-creation teaching, etc. A maverick? Hardly. McCain totally caved. Apparently the Democrats successful Denver convention scared the crap out of him, so he had to get the vaunted evangelical, social conservative base behind him. These were once denounced as 'agents of intolerance' by the great maverick.

Amid all the media glee over the cute Palin with her five children (one named Track), and the Democrats apparent wariness over dealing with her, consider this: Were she a Democrat, the social conservatives would be quick to condemn her for leaving her motherly duties for a harsh campaign schedule, particularly with a new baby born with Down syndrome. And can you imagine the GOP response if Obama had a 17-year-old unmarried daughter who got pregnant?

There is an interesting parallelism between McCain and Palin. Both are from the exurban West. Both are from states that depend heavily on federal dollars and a single industry (oil in Alaska, housing in Arizona). They don't do urban issues or complexity in general. They profit from federal dollars while condemning the federal government. So both fit squarely in the mold of today's "conservatism," which we have seen in action in all the disasters of the past eight years.

Only Frank Rich at the Times seems willing to be a real maverick against the corporate media's determination to elect McCain. They think women are stupid. They think we're all stupid. Enough of us may prove them correct.

My September trip to Phoenix

The Republic writes about my book signing in Scottsdale next month. More details to come about other signings and talks around town.

Beyond the aura of John McCain, another radical move to the right

In a word, Obama's acceptance speech was magnificent. If this didn't "close the deal" as the bubbleheads kept demanding, nothing will. That didn't stop the AP, the only national news wire, from sending out an "analysis" that was sharply at odds with the reality last night in Denver. Compare it with the analysis by the New York Times, hardly a foe of McCain. (Read the AP's heavily biased anti-Obama Ron Fournier's piece on Gov. Palin here). The media will not be Obama's friend. Nevertheless, it was a flawless convention, and Denver sparkled.

My only complaint was the constant drumbeat of speaker after speaker calling President-elect McCain "my friend" and talking about honoring his service. I suppose it's necessary. But let's remember that the Republicans never honored the service of George McGovern, who flew a remarkable 35 missions as a bomber pilot in World War II, holding a job with one of the highest casualty rates in the military. McGovern won the Distinguished Flying Cross, a step below the Medal of Honor. McGovern never tried to exploit his service. And the Republicans never thanked him for it.

Another point that must be made in the weeks ahead: Even if McCain is a maverick (he's not) and even if he wants to do something about energy and global warming (he doesn't), a McCain victory will bring a McCain administration. That will mean three things. First, the cohort of GOP operatives that has wrecked the government and subverted the Constitution stays and becomes more entrenched. Second, more plunder policies of the big corporations and oligarchy, including Big Oil, that McCain needed to win. So goodbye to real steps for new energy and steps to address climate change. Third: a far-right Supreme Court, appointed with the approval of the extensive and well-funded network of "conservative" judicial activists that want to turn the legal clock back to the 19th century.

Even if you are an independent who suspends all disbelief about McCain and buys into the maverick myth, you can't get away from those three realities. Even if McCain suffered terribly as a POW, his presidency will bring these three terrible, inevitable outcomes. Even if he seems like "one of us," he will bring us four worse years because of the unavoidable company he must keep to win. The Sarah Palin pick only reinforces this. The inexperienced Alaska governor will appeal to one base: social conservatives (she is anti-abortion -- wants to criminalize it in all cases; evangelical, mother-of-five, blah-blah-blah). I just hope the Democrats say this -- all the time.

The big speech the networks didn't want you to hear

It's ironic that MSNBC's convention set shows Denver's Union Station as its backdrop. President-elect McCain has repeatedly vowed to kill Amtrak and has consistently opposed funding for the kind of light rail and commuter rail that will use the station as its hub. The media, of course, never talk about this.

Aside from the view, the supposedly liberal MSNBC's coverage has been a bust. Chris and Keith take time away from important speeches to give their own analysis, which is striking in its banality. So if you watched the networks last night, you missed the best speech of the evening, even better than Bill Clinton's barn burner. It was John Kerry, who rightly feels wronged from 2004, and came out with a passion I wish we could have seen four years ago. That election might not have been so close that Ken Blackwell and Karl Rove could steal it in Ohio.

Kerry said:

The stakes could not be higher, because we do know what a McCain administration would look like: just like the past, just like George Bush. And this country can't afford a third Bush term. Just think: John McCain voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Ninety percent of George Bush is just more than we can take.

Never in modern history has an administration squandered American power so recklessly. Never has strategy been so replaced by ideology. Never has extremism so crowded out common sense and fundamental American values. Never has short-term partisan politics so depleted the strength of America's bipartisan foreign policy.

Be sure to watch it now on YouTube:

More important speeches mainstream media didn't show

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

On the convention: Will Obama be FDR or Bryan?

Let me begin my convention observations by saying: I don't trust the media. Whatever the Democrats and Obama do, it will be "the wrong thing" per the corporate media narrative. He still hasn't "sealed the deal" and "closed the sale." He "lacks specifics" -- a lie -- and if he provided more, they would be instant red meat. If 75,000 people in the stadium hear one of the great speeches of our time -- as happened in Philadelphia on the race issue -- it will be swept away by the coiffed broomheads of television pundits.

As Michelle's speech confirmed, the Obama's have done everything the "conservatives" demand of black folks -- and they're still "foreign." He's a celebrity -- that's bad. Americans "don't know who he is" -- as if they know who the hell John McCain is. He's "not one of us" -- as if that has any meaning in an America of diverse life paths, or that a former POW, longtime right-wing capo and rich consort of a beer heiress is "one of us." "One of us" is a stupid person, as the media would have it -- because, after all, education and the ability to speak in complete sentences = elitism.

The best way to watch the convention is on CSPAN, so you hear all the speeches, not merely the prime-time ones that are filtered and "interpreted" by the bubbleheads. Of course, most Americans don't do this. So they watch the prime-time spectacle as the Democrats try, again, to figure out how to beat the Republicans. Somehow eight years of misgovernment on an unprecedented scale isn't enough. Nor is the obvious failure/scam that is "conservative ideas" in action. The right has wrecked the country and yet the presidential polls, if they are to be believed, show Obama struggling to stay even.

'A clarion call for renewal'

Not carried by the networks, but well worth listening to is Republican Jim Leach's speech to the Democratic convention.

How Denver beat the odds and saved itself

As the Democratic National Convention begins in Denver, the world will see the First City of the Intermountain West. It's not Phoenix (population 1.5 million; metro 4.1 million), which sits in its desert frying pan like an overweight couch potato. It is Denver (pop. 567,000; metro 2.9 million). It's another reminder that population alone is more likely to mean problems than strength. Let me tell you about one of my adopted hometowns.

Delegates will see a sparkling downtown and central city that have made a remarkable comeback from their fading 1980s. It's genuine live-work-play. They can ride one of the best light-rail systems in the country, soon to be muscled up with commuter and light rail reaching more than 100 additional miles; the hub will be historic Union Station. Lovely old neighborhoods close to the core have been preserved and revived. Miles of bike and walking paths, including along Cherry Creek, flow seamlessly into a walkable, dense downtown. Nearby, the Cherry Creek district is a delightful walkable shopping area.

This city that sits at the edge of the arid Great Plains (it was the Queen City of the Plains before the Mile High City) is blessed with shady streets and gorgeous parks. It's rich in culture, with a superb performing arts center and art museum, and edge, with many galleries, coffee houses and warehouse spaces. Chain stores and local stores, historic architecture and avant-garde, sit side by side along 16th Street and in lively Lower Downtown. Four pro sports teams play in downtown stadiums, which only enhanced the move to preserve historic buildings full of real businesses, and add to the downtown population. Where the old Stapleton Airport once stood is one of the nation's top New Urbanist developments.

A good beginning on detailing the McCain fortune

The weekend must read comes from the New York Times, which temporarily snapped out of its crush on John McCain to publish one of the most important stories of Campaign '08 that hasn't been written. It certainly wouldn't be touched by the Arizona media. It's about Cindy McCain's quiet and controversial wealth, inherited from her father Jim Hensley, and how it has propelled her husband's ambition. There's lots of important information, and reminders of how real power in Arizona is connected and never changes. The story notes:

Democrats have increasingly highlighted Mr. McCain’s wealth. Senator Barack Obama ridiculed him on Thursday for being unable to say how many homes he owned, saying it showed that Mr. McCain was out of touch with ordinary Americans. But with the McCains’ money in Cindy McCain’s name, as dictated by a prenuptial agreement, the senator’s finances are more difficult to assess and scrutinize than those of many other political candidates.

The husbands and wives of senators are subject to fewer disclosure requirements than their office-holding spouses. In addition, Mrs. McCain, who files separate tax returns from her husband, controls a privately held company and invests mainly through a web of limited-liability corporations and trusts that have few disclosure requirements.

And:

Mrs. McCain has not said how she would handle her business if her husband were elected president. The federal government has domain over issues important to the alcohol industry, like excise taxes, marketing to under-age drinkers and beverage labeling.

And noting how Hensley and his brother went into business with -- the let us say, controversial Arizona legend -- Kemper Marley:

In March 1948, a federal jury convicted both Hensleys of concealing sales of black-market liquor. Jim Hensley’s six month sentence was suspended. A second indictment, in 1953 for falsifying records to evade taxes, was dismissed.

The Hensleys bought a New Mexico horse track in 1952. Eugene Hensley’s role at the track led to lawsuits, tax-evasion charges and prison. In 1969, he sold out to a mob-connected company with close ties to Mr. Marley, according to published reports. (The Phoenix police named Mr. Marley as the man they believed ordered the 1976 assassination of Don Bolles, an investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic. Mr. Marley, who died in 1990, was never charged.)

As I say, it's a good beginning. We need investigative reporters with the courage of a John Dougherty to dig more.

Why the McCain house gaffe matters

President-elect McCain's inability to recall how many houses he owns fits into a larger and more troubling pattern. The problem is not just that he is an out-of-touch rich guy.

This is the candidate who repeatedly confused Shiite and Sunni -- all the while trumpeting his expertise on the Middle East. At one point, his sock puppet Joe Lieberman had to whisper the facts in his ear. He couldn't tell Sudan from Somalia. He kept talking about a nation that hasn't existed for years. Iraq and Pakistan share a border, the senator wrongly said, and the Sunni awakening happened 'after' the surge (edited out by CBS). He said he didn't know much about economics, then denied saying such a thing. He spoke of a withdrawal timetable one day, then denied saying it later. He volunteered Cindy for a topless contest. Then there was the stupendous dead space and mumbling when he was questioned about claiming Obama was playing the race card.  He claimed he walked through Baghdad without body armor or protection, etc., etc. Most of this has been captured on tape.

What's going on? Neither obvious answer is comforting. He's either going senile as he nears 72, or he's lying and unprepared on critical issues without realizing how easily this can be caught in a YouTube era. (Whether the duhs and ignos -- those 'undecided voters' and angry Clintonites -- will care, is another, depressing matter). Either one of these answers should disqualify  him for the White House, particularly because so many of his misstatements, confusions and subsequent lies come about issues where he claims superior experience and judgment.

But next consider all his flip flops, over torture, warrantless wiretapping, tax cuts, Social Security, abortion rights, engaging with Hamas, nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, offshore drilling, etc. Once the presumptive nominee, he said Social Security was "an absolute disgrace.' His chief economic adviser and likely Treasury secretary called Americans a 'nation of whiners' and said the recession was in our heads. This from a rich man who helped deregulate banking, profited from it, then profited again from the current deregulated banking crisis. Soon after McCain reversed course to support drilling, oil industry contributions poured in.

The above is not a disjointed laundry list. When we combine it with McCain's obvious mental fatigue, the really disturbing picture comes clear.

A familiar problem still haunts downtown Phoenix

I saw a curious headline recently in the Arizona Republic: "Event Center could add life to downtown." Curious, because downtown is brimming with "event centers," from the convention center to hotel ballrooms to (I guess) what's left of the star-crossed and badly located Bentley Projects. The story was actually sad and illustrative.

If I read it correctly (and one never knows, now that editors have become graphics clerks), the owners of relatively historic buildings at Madison and Fifth Avenue lost the business leasing their space. Now, they "are working to make the Fifth Avenue and Madison Event Center one of downtown Phoenix's premier spots." (Editors used to prevent reporters from using embarrassing hyperbole; also, is the address in the story correct?). The "center" can be used for "weddings, bar mitzvahs, business corporate outings..." Surely, the next McCormick Place.

At least the owners aren't tearing the buildings down, an act of city-encouraged vandalism that has devastated downtown Phoenix. But here's a small but telling example of what holds back the center city: lack of private investment. I hate to sun on ASU's parade of finishing one dorm tower -- heavy lifting in an education-hating state, to be sure. But until a simple older set of buildings such as these on Madison are used by businesses doing daily commerce, downtown will remain an underachiever.

The night the lights went out on Georgia

I've heard several stories about John McCain's "tough stance" over the Russian-Georgian conflict on NPR, how it helps burnish his "national security credentials." Similar stories appear elsewhere in the supposedly liberal media. Rarely in the same story do we hear or read that McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann is also a well-paid lobbyist for the nation of Georgia. The "liberal" New York Times snuck this fact into an inside story under the innocuous ("don't bother to read me") headline: "In Split Role, McCain Adviser is Sometimes a Lobbyist."

Were the situations reversed, this would be a scandal of the first magnitude for Barack Obama. But, as I have noted before, the corporate media and corporate rulers of America have to take him out. So here is one more way to do it. Forgive me for being cynical -- after two stolen presidential elections, the serial scandals of the Bush years, secret energy task force, etc. -- but are we seeing a new cold war ginned up to benefit McCain?

Where is our 'liberal' mainstream media on reports of Karl Rove meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, soon after the Georgian leader met with Condoleezza Rice in July. Hello?...Any curiosity? The White House has denied that Rice gave a green light to the impulsive Georgian president. Ah, but I remember all those color-coded "threat" warnings being raised and "high profile" terror arrests that went nowhere during the 2004 campaign. They succeeded in scaring enough people to make it a close enough election to steal.

McCain could win just because enough voters won't cast a ballot for a black man, but the oligarchy apparently isn't taking any chances. As usual, the national interests of the United States are cast aside.

American theocracy

In his book, American Theocracy, Kevin Phillips wrote about the new phenomenon of fundamentalist religion in driving American policy, including U.S. military adventures in "the Middle Eastern Bible lands." He goes on: "The rapture, end-times, and Armageddon hucksters in the United States rank with any Shiite ayatollahs, and the last two presidential elections mark the transformation of the GOP into the first religious party in U.S. history."

That this remains true was clear from President-elect McCain's kissing of Rick Warren's ring at the suburban megachurch over the weekend, to the rapturous applause of the Orange County "conservative" congregation. The "maverick," in his desperate effort to get elected, mouthed all the Republican culture war theocratic platitudes. "Paris is worth a mass," as Henry of Navarre said. Now it comes out that McCain may have violated the "cone of silence" and known in advance the questions to be asked. That Obama went into this hostile environment at all is to be commended, I suppose. That he gave thoughtful answers will not help him at all with the anti-intellectual, know-nothing "Southernized" (to use Phillips' word) American electorate.

I write "I suppose" about Obama because of those stubborn words in Article VI of the Constitution: "...no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
 

Today's must read: Hiding the real McCain

Sunday's New York Times was rough going -- the respectful piece on 'The McCain Doctrine' and the recycled RNC-and-Hillary talking points that Obama must have 'specifics,' not just hope. We can take those issues on later, but the edition was redeemed by Frank Rich's excellent column headlined, "The Candidate We Still Don't Know." We're talking about McCain here. Of the media, he writes,

They routinely salute his “independence,” his “maverick image” and his “renegade reputation” — as the hackneyed script was reiterated by Karl Rove in a Wall Street Journal op-ed column last week. At Talking Points Memo, the essential blog vigilantly pursuing the McCain revelations often ignored elsewhere, Josh Marshall accurately observes that the Republican candidate is “graded on a curve.”

Most Americans still don’t know, as Marshall writes, that on the campaign trail “McCain frequently forgets key elements of policies, gets countries’ names wrong, forgets things he’s said only hours or days before and is frequently just confused.” Most Americans still don’t know it is precisely for this reason that the McCain campaign has now shut down the press’s previously unfettered access to the candidate on the Straight Talk Express.

And:

To appreciate the discrepancy in what we know about McCain and Obama, merely look at the coverage of the potential first ladies. We have heard too much indeed about Michelle Obama’s Princeton thesis, her pay raises at the University of Chicago hospital, her statement about being “proud” of her country and the false rumor of a video of her ranting about “whitey.” But we still haven’t been inside Cindy McCain’s tax returns, all her multiple homes or private plane. The Los Angeles Times reported in June that Hensley & Company, the enormous beer distributorship she controls, “lobbies regulatory agencies on alcohol issues that involve public health and safety,” in opposition to groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The McCain campaign told The Times that Mrs. McCain’s future role in her beer empire won’t be revealed before the election.

What's really driving Phoenix's odd courtship of Dubai

Am I the only one who finds it strange that Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon appears to be putting so much energy into forging some kind of "economic development" agreement with Dubai? The Republic reports:

Phoenix leaders want to go global, and they're banking on Dubai to help secure the city's place on the international stage. America's fifth-largest city wants to partner with one of the world's fastest-growing urban areas to attract investment, research, transportation opportunities and more.

The pairing, Phoenix leaders hope, could bring everything from sprawling new real-estate developments to collaborations on solar power to a direct flight between Phoenix and Dubai, a wealthy desert city-state between Saudi Arabia and Oman on the Persian Gulf.

It's not that there's no merit to the general principle. The Real Estate Industrial Complex, through its greed, monomania and, in come cases, outright corruption, has run Arizona into its worst recession in years. The state desperately needs to diversify its economy and gain foreign direct investment. And cities and metropolitan areas are the key competitive units in the global economy.

But Dubai?

As Georgia continues to burn...

You've got to think that the Army commanders trying to tamp down insurgency in Iraq, and not a few grunts, would rather be getting it on with the Russians in Georgia. It was the mission they trained for their entire careers, and I suspect those long columns of Russian armor we've seen would be easy pickings for M1A1 tanks and Apache gunships. Alas, there's that danger of nuclear escalation that would make the hysteria about Osama look like kindergarten.

McCain has been frighteningly bellicose and one of his top advisers makes quite a bundle as a lobbyist for Georgia. Don't look for much of this to come out, even on such "liberal" outlets as NPR. Obama has been more measured and realistic, without sounding weak. It's a sad commentary on how far American prestige has fallen that France is left to broker a peace. De Gaulle must be looking down and smiling knowingly.

The revived and revanchist Russia's strength is its energy, and don't look for Moscow to cut off gas to major countries in Europe. That's the cash cow. Yet it will have its way with Georgia and what can we do? Back home, we live in child-like thrall that drilling "everywhere" will somehow produce "energy independence." The Seattle P-I's David Horsey perfectly captured the American mindset. Has a country ever been as rich and clueless, so bereft of its former virtues and strengths? Rome comes to mind...

Apparently the road to perdition won't be widened

I shed no tears if the TIME initiative doesn't make the November ballot in Arizona. This misbegotten transportation measure, backed by Gov. Janet Napolitano and the "business leaders" somehow couldn't competently amass enough legitimate signatures on petitions to make it through the secretary of state's office.

The measure promised $42.6 billion in transportation "improvements" over the next 30 years, paid for by a one-cent hike in the sales tax. It's difficult to find specifics; I could find no Web site by the supposedly "powerful" coalition backing TIME (Transportation & Infrastructure Moving AZ's Economy). In newspaper articles, the measure promised rail service between Phoenix and Tucson, but apparently only 18 percent of the monies to be raised would have gone to rail and transit.

In other words, this would have been more roads and freeways to empower sprawl.

The "tell" about TIME came earlier this year, when Napolitano was accused of making a secret deal with the (genuinely) powerful Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, agreeing not to tax development in exchange for the association's "support" of the measure. More sprawl, and paid for disproportionately by lower-income Arizonans.

Looking on while the world takes the lead

The Olympics have provided a showcase for China's real leap forward, from the edgy Bird's Nest stadium to the huge new terminal at the Beijing airport, which is twice the size of the Pentagon and claims to be the largest building in the world. But you don't have to look to a giant nation that has scarily fused capitalism and authoritarianism to see nations moving ahead. Dubai is building a  subway and Vancouver is working on an ambitious expansion of its SkyTrain.

And where is America? Our airlines are collapsing -- have you read about the CEOs cutting back on fuel to save money, raising safety concerns, or United pilots worrying about maintenance standards? Amtrak is seeing a record demand due to higher gasoline prices and the sheer awfulness of flying -- but years of underfunding are causing it to struggle. Cities face huge roadblocks and long timelines to build transit systems they should have had years ago. America, which once led the world in accomplishments, seems tired, decadent, gridlocked -- especially in the face of new global realities.

This was especially brought home when I saw an article in Trains magazine about the two-year-old Central Station in Berlin. It's an architectural landmark of the kind of modernism I find tedious, but never mind that. Built under difficult conditions, with budget fights and NIMBYs, it was nevertheless built. It serves 300,000 passengers and 1,100 trains a day. It also has 80 stores, travelers lounges and office towers. On display is a 21st century transportation network that can handle global warming and Peak Oil.

Meanwhile, we talk -- talk -- about repairing "our roads and bridges" in our 1965 transportation system. Our elected leaders include Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who said Democrats "want Americans to take transit and move to the inner cities. They want Americans to move to the urban core, live in tenements, [and] take light rail to their government jobs. That's their vision for America."

Why America slept, 2008 edition

Even a cursory knowledge of 20th century history tells us that little countries spark world wars. Thus, we had Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia in World War I and Czechoslovakia in World War II. But that's not quite right. Trouble in a little country must be combined with foreign policy blunders by great powers. Thus, if Britain had made its intentions more clearly known to the Kaiser in 1914; if Britain and France had marched on Hitler the moment he remilitarized the Rhineland (German generals issued orders to retreat if the Allies acted; some hoped it would give them cause to topple the Fuhrer).

Let's not take the analogies too far with the fast-moving events involving Georgia and Russia. But it was chilling in the U.N. Sunday when the Russian ambassador responded to U.S. complaints that Moscow was seeking "regime change" in pro-Western Georgia. "Regime change," he said, "is purely an American invention."

The consequences of eight years of disastrous Bush policies are growing. There's no nice, non-partisan way to put it. This is the bunch that has been in charge -- commandingly so. As the Soviet, er, Russian ambassador made clear, the American departure from our nation's historic policies into the preemptive war and "regime change" beloved of neo-cons is the nightmarish gift that keeps on giving. Pots are calling kettles black.

Blame and consequences for Obama's coming defeat

Pardon me if I don't give a damn about John Edwards' affair. Imagine the press back in the 1930s and 1940s obsessing about FDR's sex life -- and he set a saucy inspiration for all disabled people. What Great Depression? What New Deal? What Second World War? Let's write about Lucy, Daisy and Missy! All I'll say about Edwards is that as a political leader he never wanted to regulate our sex lives or put in place a puritanical theocracy -- that separates him from the Vitters, Craigs, Gingriches, etc. on the right. Meanwhile, it's yet another media-driven distraction from lies that matter.

As we confront real challenges as great at this nation has ever faced, it's becoming an open question whether the Democratic Party can gain the power to address them. We already know the Republicans won't -- these problems are too profitable for the corporate oligarchy that has come to power over the past few decades. So what are we to make of the rumblings about Hillary's continued snit? Word that her surrogates are trying to put her name in nomination in Denver. Her failure to be aggressively campaigning for Obama. And Bill Clinton, asked if Obama was qualified to be president. He replied to the reporter: "The Constitution sets qualifications for the president, and then the people decide who they think would be the better president. I think we have two choices. I think he [Obama] should win, and I think he will win." A tepid endorsement if there ever was one.

If Obama loses in November -- after all the nation has been put through for eight years, and what McCain promises to continue -- what will it mean? Will it mean that enough of America couldn't vote for a black man with a funny name -- better he be white and named Barry O'Bama? Could enough Americans really be so bigoted and stupid -- especially choosing a candidate as flawed and dangerous as John McCain (see Amy Silverman's excellent piece to your left, and The McCain File)? Or that the Clintons, in their megalomania, wrecked the party?

But again, consider the crimes, incompetence and utter bankruptcy of "conservatism." If the Democrats can't win against that, maybe the party should die there. Major American political parties do: the federalists, the whigs. If Hillary imagines she will rescue the country, finally, in 2012, she should think again. She will be a pariah, and her husband's legacy will be little better than that of James Buchanan.

Dazed and confused...

See the video of the "experienced...maverick...man known by Americans" who will be our next president.

The Gateway to fresh folly in Phoenix

Here we go again.

According to the East Valley Tribune, DMB Associates has made public the plans for its part of the old GM Proving Grounds near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. But wait,

Dense, urban spaces, narrow pedestrian pathways to a nearby coffee shop or bookstore, a short drive to work. That's the kind of urbanism southeast Mesa can expect in the future, if things go as planned by the developer of 3,200 acres of property.

My friend Grady Gammage, the land-use lawyer, adds: "We're hoping to hit the sweet spot where we embrace the 21st-century dynamic nature with something significantly urban." But then comes the story's money shot:

To embrace its moniker of "21st-century desert urbanism," DMB would like a flexible framework to work with, one that develops as the market dictates over the years. Under this new type of planned district, which Mesa approved last September, a developer gets to create a zoning ordinance for a property and is able to get some flexibility in future development.

What's wrong with this? Almost everything.

Only Anglos need apply?

Too good to pass up is mentioning an ad I saw online for the Border Patrol. One screen says, "Who we are" and shows three Anglo-looking men in paramilitary gear. Then we see, "Who we protect," followed by a photo of a man and woman kissing a baby -- all very pale Anglos. A new America, ready to elect an African-American president?

Case closed -- they want to believe

Constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com has been trying to push back against the media meme that the FBI has solved the anthrax case with the suicide of scientist Bruce Ivins. The government released its heavily redacted evidence today. It's unclear whether it will answer questions raised by one of the few skeptical stories to appear, in the New York Times. Or the AP report of the high-pressure tactics the Feds used on Ivins and his family.

Let's put this into context. We now know that the Bush administration fabricated intelligence to capitalize on the national trauma of 9/11 and to gain a pretext for war with Iraq. Even more evidence comes from a new book by Ron Suskind, who has been spot-on in reporting the inside intrigues of this White House. The head of Iraqi intelligence was working for the CIA and reported that Saddam had no WMDs. He was paid $5 million of your tax dollars to disappear before the invasion. Later, the CIA was pressured by the White House to fabricate a memo from the Iraqi spook saying that 9/11 terrorist Mohammad Atta had trained in Iraq (he hadn't) and that Saddam was buying yellow-cake uranium in Niger (he wasn't).

The Bush administration, with its unprecedented secrecy, power grabs, torture and rendition, had created a cottage industry of conspiracy theorists, notably about 9/11. Unfortunately, as facts keep emerging it's clear that the skeptics aren't all kooks. Skepticism should be mainstream. Do you believe we know all the facts behind 9/11? And why did the administration oppose creating an independent commission to study the attacks -- then carefully steer it and ignore it?

Oil prices falling -- will IQs follow?

Gasoline at $5, $6, $10 a gallon over the next two years would have been a severe mercy for the United States. It would have forced changes that will eventually be essential: more transit and rail passenger service, a return to our core cities, an urgency to raise fuel economy standards and develop alternatives. At last suburban and exurban living would be properly priced and costly, and the enterprise to retrofit savable suburbia to transit could begin. Foot-dragging on reducing greenhouse gases would have been similarly eliminated.

I don't think it will go down that way. Oil prices have been dropping in recent days, as I long predicted they would. The decline is because the nation that uses a quarter of the world's petroleum is seen heading into a nasty recession, which will cut world demand. So prices will drop, and soon we can expect some to start saying the worst is over and we can get back to driving SUVs and other self-destructive behavior.

(I think of a story in today's Arizona Republic about Lake Powell "recovering," and the 'Zonies thinking "happy days are here again!" even though their water crisis is unabated -- although a State Secret).

Yet the fundamentals haven't changed. World oil production has either reached peak or will do so in a few years. That means half of this one-time resource will have been extracted and burned off -- and it was the easy half, the cheap half. So the remainder will be more costly, and getting it will be more geopolitically destabilizing. So oil will fall a little, then rise more the next time; retreat a bit again and resume its upward climb. The major oil companies and oil exporting nations (which control most of the oil) know this. Most Americans still don't.

Can Americans be swayed by real issues?

Air America's Tom Hartmann had a fascinating take on the McCain-Rove attack commercials, especially the ad that calls Obama "the One." While critics like David Gergen say they are code for uppity, designed to get out the racist vote, Hartmann said "the One" ad is code for end-time evangelicals.

A small group? They bought 68 million copies of the Left Behind series. The code of the highly misleading ads is that Obama is the Antichrist. These "communities of interest" are big enough to tip an election -- or make it close enough to steal -- especially when the corporate media continue to give McCain a free ride on the issues.

Obama may be running a very smart campaign: refusing to get in the gutter, showing a willingness to compromise on drilling if it also wins support for alternative energy and accountability for the oil companies. But enough Americans may be too addled, too addicted to promises of instant gratification, too ignorant to pay attention. Does that mean it's foolish to hammer McCain on the issues? Not at all.

Here's a partial list of what Obama and Democrats should be relentlessly pushing:   

New feature: Weekend reading

I'll call your attention to The Front Page list at the left. Usually it's dedicated to the top news of the day, especially the substantive stories that get beyond the usual bubble-headed distractions. On weekends, I'm also adding more in-depth reports and essays that might be worth your while. For example, check out the link on "Battle for the country's soul," where Jane Mayer gives a taste of her must-read book, The Dark Side. Enjoy.

Also, remember The City Desk, a report on the issues, successes and best practices of American cities, and the ever-essential McCain File, where we chronicle all the reasons Americans should vote against the candidate of the duhs, ignos, corporate chieftains and desert fascists.

Today's must read: What we lost

Steve Smith of the Spokesman Review in Spokane has written the best elegy I've found so far to my dying calling. Some of the blog comments that follow are clueless and boneheaded. But Smith's essay is important and beautifully done. Among his passages:

Newspapermen worked hard and played hard. The bartender at the dive across the street knew how many beers each reporter could consume between editions. And after the last edition went to press, the bar lights would be turned up just enough to let the newspapermen read those papers pulled fresh from the press.

The newspaperman was respected in the community. There was a mystique, a glamor that really didn't exist but which the newspaperman happily cultivated. In the movies, the editors were Cary Grant. Or Clark Gable. Or Jack Webb. Or Humphrey Bogart, the greatest of all.

The young newspaperman wanted to be Bogie, standing in the press room, screaming into the phone, "That's the sound of the press, baby." The young newspaperman aspired to challenge authority, defend the defenseless and right wrongs. If he was a Don Quixote with a pen, his windmills were politicians, bureaucrats, crooks and thugs. He thought of his job as a calling and truth was his holy grail.

Today's cubicle proles, plugged into the Matrix, must wonder if this life ever existed. It did. I am just old enough to have lived the last of it, when the best compliment a journalist of either gender could receive was, "You're a good newspaperman." No wonder being a "mojo" typing school lunch menus (with video!) just doesn't hold any appeal.

Phoenix broiling: Apocalypse now, or later

The Republic devoted a magisterial nine sentences today to the fact that Phoenix is on track to meet or exceed last year's record 32 days of 110 degrees or above.

Not that anybody living there now cares, but as late as the 1960s, the Salt River Valley had hard frosts in the winter (thus, far fewer mosquitoes, no West Nile virus). We went back to school in September, in un-air conditioned classrooms, because it was cooling down enough to open the windows. Night-time cooling in summer was significant, and the summers were not as hot, nor did they last as long, as now. The idea of more than a month of 110-and-above would have seemed frighteningly absurd.

Contrary to the mantra of "it's a desert, shut up about the heat!," these man-made changes in the Phoenix weather are a Big Deal. So far, they are mostly a local event, caused by the massive loss of agriculture and gargantuan increase in paved sprawl. Global warming's consequences haven't really started to kick in.

What happens then?