Tag: Mario Rubio

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Opinion The Last Word

New Year’s Revolution

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The Bern

If Bernie Sanders can somehow win the Democratic nomination, and Donald Trump is chosen as the GOP presidentialApprentice reality show contestant, it will be interesting to see an election between a socialist and a fascist.

Of course, most voters don’t know the difference between a Social Democrat and a Marxist, but I give extra points to anyone who knows who Marx is, and I don’t mean Groucho. Since the term “socialism” is often associated with the Soviet Union, or those evil European countries where they just give away their health care like that, any candidate running under that label already has two strikes against them right away. Sort of like being born with a name like Barack Hussein Obama. Socialism means major industries are owned by the government rather than by corporations or individuals. Social Democrat means someone really liberal who may soon be the front-runner of a major political party that is scared guano-less to use that term.

Discerning readers know that the United States began using socialism as soon as they set up the Pony Express. All governmental functions used for the public good are socialistic, except for all that free stuff the Democrats give away at election time like Obamaphones and abortions.

I guess nothing’s ironic any longer, but on the Republican side, Marco Rubio is giving away calculators, and Jeb Bush is sending out to a “select universe of influencers, donors, and core supporters,” digital video players with a 15-minute film called, The Jeb Story. Actually, the slickly produced videos were shipped out by Bush’s Super-Pac, Right to Rise USA, which sounds more like a Cialis commercial than the name of a slush fund. But that’s not socialistic. That’s just tiny bribes to the billionaire seraphim of the GOP.

Every time I hear an update on the gangsta cowboy vigilantes up in Oregon, I’m reminded of socialism. These armed protectors of the Constitution and their nitwit anti-bird militia don’t like government? Cut the power, the water, and WiFi, so they can’t upload any more pleas for Mountain Dew, then block the access roads and wait for the next blizzard. They even have the gall to ask that snacks and underwear be sent through the U.S. mail. Let them sit there through February, and they’ll be begging for a little socialism.

Fascism is defined as an authoritarian, right-wing system of government, led by a despot, an autocracy, or a “strong man,” and characterized by racism, xenophobia, and ultra nationalism. Speaking of Donald Trump, he trotted out the Vampira of the tea party, Sarah Palin, to endorse his candidacy during a campaign rally. She gave a long, incoherent soliloquy that was so bizarre, it inspired Tina Fey to come back for an SNL encore.

After listening to 20 minutes of Palin’s brain droppings, Trump’s expression said, “Wrap that shit up, G,” but his mouth said, “She’s really a special person.” After the Vaudeville show concluded, Trump said he would “love” to put Palin in his cabinet if elected. That should disqualify him on the spot, but nothing slows the Trump Blitzkrieg — not even the shrieking witch from Wasilla. The unemployed, half-term governor is like herpes. It’s always there just under the surface, and just when you think it’s gone, it comes back with a vengeance. In this case, her vengeance was directed at the GOP “establishment” who mocked her last time around.

Trump then announced to another rabid mob that his minions were so loyal, “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose voters.” For a second, I thought this might be the equivalent of John Lennon’s “We’re more popular than Jesus” quote. It could have been worse. He might have said, “If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”

I’m having a heart vs. head dilemma this election. I agree with most of Bernie Sanders’ positions, but I know in advance that he’ll be compared to Mao Zedong. I think Hillary is electable, but I’ve come down with a severe relapse of Clinton Fatigue. I knew it when she was slipping in the polls and brought out the Clinton attack machine. Even Chelsea was schlepped out of her new $10.4 million Manhattan apartment to tell lies about Sanders’ proposals and explain how he would be horrible for the working man. Suddenly, I remembered Bob Dylan’s lyrics, “What price do you have to pay to get out of going through all these things twice?”

I want my country back, too — the one promised by LBJ, Martin Luther King, and the Great Society. The country that once declared war on poverty instead of drugs. I want a country that passes legislation like the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, where voting is encouraged rather than suppressed. We’re just one election and two Supreme Court Justices away, and I’m beginning to “feel the Bern.” Call him whatever you want, Sanders would be the most revolutionary president since FDR. If you really wanted to shake up our broken political system, who better than an elderly, Jewish Socialist? You could do worse.

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Editorial Opinion

Two Parties in Tennessee?

There is a general recognition that the transition of Tennessee from a state whose politics were long balanced between Democrats and Republicans into yet another Southern Republican monolith dates from 2008. That was the year when a once obscure state senator from Illinois named Barack Obama completed a zenith-like rise to power, which took him through a brief U.S. Senate career into the presidency in the space of a very few years.

That was the year, too, when the state’s established network of Democratic activists and officials had largely coalesced around the rival presidential candidacy of former First Lady and then-Senator Hillary Clinton. Though she came out ahead in Tennessee on the “Super Tuesday” primary of 2008, her loss to Obama in the final analysis may have led directly to the unraveling of the Tennessee Democratic Party, which proceeded with geometric speed, beginning with Obama’s disinclination to campaign seriously in Tennessee and continuing with the rapid attrition of Democratic officials in every subsequent statewide election.

It remains to be seen whether any help for Democrats is to be had from this year’s version of “Super Tuesday,” coming in March, and featuring in the Democratic primary both Hillary Clinton and what could well be a viable effort from the latest upstart from the grass roots, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. We welcome their effort, in any case, and hope whichever of them becomes their party’s nominee will not forsake Tennessee in the 2016 general election.

Meanwhile, the Republican primary will be attracting its share of statewide attention with several GOP candidates likely to put in appearances in our neck of the woods between now and March. All in all, the idea of a two-party system, dormant in these parts for some time, will be at least temporarily alive and well in Tennessee, and we welcome that, too — even if it just turns out to be an interlude.

Frances Hooks 

We are long past the time when the wives of prominent men were identified by the public (and even by themselves) via the prefix “Mrs.” followed by the husband’s name. That tradition, once commonplace, disappeared decades ago with the acceptance (still ongoing) of gender equality and with recognition of the obvious —and increasing — reality that women have distinguished lives and careers of their own.

Frances Hooks, who passed away last week, was a perfect bridge between the former and current ways of perceiving spousal identities. There was never any doubt that she was a continuing and invaluable pillar of support for her late husband, Dr. Benjamin Hooks, during his own meritorious lifetime as minister, lawyer, judge, federal commissioner, and NAACP national director. But she was, both during and after her husband’s lifetime, prominent in her own right as an educator, guidance counselor, church and civil rights leader, and original member of the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis. 

Beyond all that, Frances Hooks was a paragon of graciousness and a source of constant joy, encouragement, and a relief from the daily rough-and-tumble of life to all who knew her. May she rest in peace.

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Opinion The Last Word

Ask Not

After much prayer and reflection, and with the counsel of my friends, family, and rabbi, I hereby announce my candidacy for the Republican nomination for president of the United States.

And why not? Everybody else and George Bush’s brother is running, so I figure I have at least as good a chance as half the field of already declared candidates — and I’m not under federal indictment. You can’t say as much for Governors Chris Christie, Rick Perry, and Scott Walker. Federal and state prosecutors continue to investigate Christie for his role in the “Bridgegate” scandal, as rumors of an email trail that implicate the governor have surfaced.

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Perry is potentially facing 109 years for two counts of felony abuse of power after attempting to coerce a district attorney to resign. So far, Perry’s efforts to have the charges dismissed have been denied twice by Republican judges.

Wisconsin prosecutors accuse Governor Walker of being part of a “wide-ranging scheme” of illegal fund-raising.

The same accusations have recently arisen over Governor Jeb Bush’s coy “I’m not yet a candidate” scam. After Bush declares, he can no longer personally ask for money, yet he’s acting like a candidate who’s using the asinine Citizens United decision to try and purchase the presidency. There’s an obvious joke about the White House vs. the Big House in here somewhere.

I’ve avoided politics ever since high school student government associations, but last night, I had a dream in which the Archangel Gabriel whispered in my ear that it was my destiny to be president. Of course, Ted Cruz’s traveling preacher dad said that God told him the same thing about his boy, so someone is confused here.

In fact, several people are confused about the Almighty’s participation in American politics. Cruz said, “God isn’t done with America yet. That is why … I am running for president.” But Perry said, “I truly believe with all my heart that God has put me in this place at this time to do his will.” Actually, Perry said that in 2012, so you’d think he’d get the hint. Dr. Ben Carson said, “I feel [the] fingers” of God, which he interpreted as the Almighty prodding his candidacy. Walker said, “We [I] want to make sure that, not only are we [I] hearing from the people, but we [I] want to discern that this is God’s calling.” Marco Rubio attends a fundamentalist mega-church that demands employees sign a declaration stating that they’ve never been in a gay relationship, and he goes to Catholic mass on Sundays, covering all his bases. And this is to say nothing of religious zealots Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee.

Either all these people are lying or insane, or God is goofing on the Republican candidates. Say what you will about Hillary, at least she never declared the Deity’s blessing was upon her. I, however, have been blessed by the order of Christian Brothers, Reverend Tom Patton, Rabbi James Wax, a Hindu “saint” in India, and a Muslim cleric in Israel. Now, who’s best qualified?

Since a handful of billionaires now own American politics, all you need to stay in the race is to find one to back you. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is leaning toward Rubio. Santorum is backed, for the second time, by mutual-fund zillionaire Foster Friess. The Koch oil barons tipped their greasy hands to Walker long ago. And Bush is backed by Woody Johnson, heir to the Johnson & Johnson company.

This is more exciting than the Belmont Stakes. They often call politics a “horse race,” but in this case, each candidate has his own jockey. Mere millionaires are whining for access, while former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman is planning to spend between 10 and 25 million “Washingtons” on Rubio alone. I’m certain that Hillary’s war chest will overflow as well, but who have the Democrats got? Communists like George Soros or hedge-fund magnate Tom Steyer, whose tree-hugging causes fund radical-leftist politicians. If I can just convince one patriotic billionaire that I hate Obamacare but love Israel, I could take this all the way to the GOP convention.

I could also raise a lot of untraceable money along the way, which begs the question (or maybe answers it): Why are so many guaranteed losers running for president? Why are George Pataki, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich, and Donald Trump even running?

Trump is obviously a vanity candidate who does it for his ego and to promote The Apprentice, the most wonderful show that’s ever been on television. A few claim that they are in the race to promote certain views, like Santorum’s theory that America is under attack by Satan. The rest are auditioning for lucrative commentator chairs on Fox News or perhaps their own radio show or book deal. Some are jockeying for a future cabinet position in a fantasy Republican administration.

But mostly, it’s this endless funnel of dark money that bankrolls ideological figureheads for more sinister concerns. Since no one is accountable, who’s counting? Now that the mob has been chased out of Las Vegas, politics is the new skim. If a dollar is missing here or there, who’s to know?

Which is why I am unveiling my own Ultra-Conservative, Pro-Gun, God-Fearing Super-PAC: the UCPGGF. And I am asking you for pledges of just a few dollars a day to support my campaign to stop immigration, restore God to the classroom, end taxes, and return this great nation to its rightful owners, the Inuit.

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Opinion The Last Word

The Rant (May 7, 2015) …

The GOP could open a haberdashery with all the hats that have been thrown into the ring for the 2016 presidential nomination. It looks pretty much the same as the last go-round, minus Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, but plus Rand Paul and Jeb Bush. The list is still in flux, but these are the folks who are most likely to entertain us all summer with their traveling vaudeville debate theater. The reviews for the last troupe were boffo. They brought down the house in every city. So what if that house was in foreclosure? Since there are so many candidates with such wonderful things to say, I thought a guide to the Republican presidential candidates might be useful.

That is, if Obama doesn’t rip up the Constitution, declare martial law, and run for a third term.

So without further delay, the prospective contenders for the office of president are:

Ted Cruz: Texas Senator and morality crusader Philosophy: Whatever Joe McCarthy said. Famous Quote: “I intend to speak in support of defunding Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand.” Spoken prior to an empty Senate chamber recitation of Green Eggs and Ham.

Rand Paul: Senator from Kentucky Philosophy: Neo-Libertarian. “I read all of Ayn Rand’s novels when I was 17.” Famous Quote: “A free society will abide unofficial, private discrimination even when that means allowing hate-filled groups to exclude people based on the color of their skin.”

Ben Carson: Neurosurgeon and narcissist Philosophy: I’m the Bizarro Obama. Famous Quote: “Obamacare is the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.”

Jeb Bush: Former Florida Governor Philosophy: Please don’t blame me for my idiot brother torching the globe. Famous Quote: “Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families.”

Rick Perry: Texas Governor Philosophy: I got glasses this time to make me look smarter. Famous Quote: “Oops.”

Chris Christie: New Jersey Governor and bridge builder Philosophy: Sit down and shut up. Famous Quote: “Sit down and shut up.”

Scott Walker: Wisconsin Governor and union buster Philosophy: Whatever the Koch brothers tell me. Famous Quote: “Let ’em protest all they want. Sooner or later the media stops finding it interesting.”

Marco Rubio: Florida Senator and pitchman for Aquafina Philosophy: I’m really running for vice president. Famous Quote: “I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it.”

Carly Fiorina: Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Philosophy: Just because I drove HP into the ground doesn’t mean I can’t be president. Famous Quote: “If Hillary had to face me on the debate stage, at the very least she would have a hitch in her swing.” (I don’t know what it means either.)

Mike Huckabee: Former Arkansas Governor and future pitchman for reverse-loan mortgages Philosophy: Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior? Famous Quote: “Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription.”

I suppose you could call the rest fringe candidates, since their views are so radical. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said that the GOP “must stop being the stupid party.” Anti-sex advocate Rick Santorum said, “Contraception is not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.”

These are all worthy topics for future hilarious debates, but for the most eloquent statement of qualifications, you have to give it up to grifter and perennial candidate Donald Trump, who said, “The only difference between me and the other candidates is that I’m more honest and my women are more beautiful.” In this tabloid culture, what more could you want in a president?

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News News Feature

One Man, One Vote

I must admit that there are times when President Barack Obama’s willingness to spontaneously comment on everything from his NCAA basketball tournament picks to his opinion about the antics of rapper Kanye West seems to dilute the stature of the highest elected office in the land.

But, last week in another “Obama Unplugged” session, the chief executive did provide valuable food for thought in advancing the idea of instituting mandatory voting as “a solution to the influence of big money on politics.” His remarks were inspired by his emotional trip to Selma, Alabama, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the fateful march that became the catalyst for the eventual enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The president noted: “It would be transformative if everybody voted.”

As you would expect in today’s sordid political climate, reactions to his idea dutifully formed along political lines. Among the most vacuous of responses was the one from Republican presidential hopeful, Marco Rubio, who alleged that a voter’s decision to skip an election is “a form of free speech protected by the First Amendment.”

Too bad Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the country’s founding fathers aren’t around to hear Rubio’s unique interpretation of their intentions. Then again, considering the pathetic 20 percent or less voter turnouts Memphis and Shelby County have been experiencing in recent elections, maybe the Floridian has a point. There’s certainly a lot of “free speech” being exercised in these parts.

Despite Rubio’s wind-in-the-willows opinion, mandatory voting is already a reality in many countries, including Australia, Brazil, and Mexico. Why couldn’t such a system work in the land of the free and the home of the brave?

In recent years, partisan voter-suppression laws have been instituted in various states under the guise of alleged voter fraud, few of which have ever been substantiated. While the majority of the general public agrees with requiring state photo voter IDs, younger and minority voters argue it’s a selective tool for discrimination. For older, mostly African-American voters, photo IDs are seen as an effort to turn back the clock to Jim Crow restrictions, such as those in Alabama, where potential black voters were once rejected at the polls because they failed to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar or the number of bubbles on a wet bar of soap.

Why not rid ourselves of all these often racist practices to deter minority voters by using taxpayer rolls. Older citizens who don’t have photo IDs would be able to vote based on the taxes they’ve paid. Those who’ve served in the military should be automatic qualifiers. Restrictions on ex-felons who served their time for crimes not related to voter infractions should also be loosened. If you have the desire to cast a ballot, it should be made as easy as possible to do so.

The alternative path is what we’re on right now: High-powered financial interests and lobbyists are dictating how our elections are decided. Those same factions are influencing the make up of state legislative bodies. Without having to identify themselves, they spend millions of dollars in campaign ads for their chosen candidates.

We’ll continue to watch voter interest fade. Local election commissions will continue to be forced to spend taxpayer money to stage elections with miniscule turnouts. Racial polarization will only grow as the vital tenets of the once celebrated Voting Rights Act are eroded by the United States Supreme Court, which recently overturned a 2013 decision favorable to previously unconstitutional voter ID practices in Texas.

We are on the precipice of losing our democracy and what was gained through blood and tears in places like Selma. Too many of us remain passive as our country slowly drifts away from the inspired concept of one man, one vote. Voting, historically the most transformative tool for change in America, must be protected.

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Letter From The Editor Opinion

“I’m Not a Scientist … ”

I was reading a story the other day about the Senate race in Kentucky. That’s the one where Rhodes College grad Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Democrat, is taking on incumbent Republican, Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader.

In an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer, McConnell was asked his views on climate change, and specifically whether he agreed with the overwhelming scientific consensus that it’s real. McConnell went straight to the standard line from the GOP playbook on this issue: “I’m not a scientist,” he said, deflecting the question.

Well, duh. That’s why we have scientists: to tell us the scientific evidence for one thing or another. McConnell is well aware that global climate change is happening. Only a fool could read the hundreds of articles about warmer temperatures world-wide, the loss of our polar ice caps, the rise of sea levels, the increasing power of storms, long-lived droughts, and massive floods, and not conclude that the scientists might be on to something.

But McConnell knows that to admit that he believes in the scientific consensus will lose him votes among know-nothing voters who still see global climate change as a plot for scientists to get grant money. In this Limbaugh-esque worldview, scientists are like welfare queens, gaming the system for profit. McConnell knows that if a large part of your base is ignorant, you’ve got to act ignorant, too, or risk chasing them off. He also needs to keep his big-oil donors happy.

Though I’m not a huge fan of Senator Lamar Alexander, he is at least on record as being sensible on this issue: “Eleven academies in industrialized countries say that climate change is real; humans have caused most of the recent warming,” Alexander said in 2012, adding: “If fire chiefs of the same reputation told me my house was about to burn down, I’d buy some fire insurance.”

Sadly, Alexander is an exception among GOP leaders. Florida’s Governor Rick Scott and Senator Marco Rubio both have repeatedly used the “I’m not a scientist” dodge, as has Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, whose state has already lost 2,000 square miles to rising ocean water. House Majority Leader John Boehner is also “not a scientist.”

The weird thing is that by using this line, these GOP leaders are admitting that scientists know more about, well, science, than they do, but that they’ve decided to ignore the scientific consensus. Imagine extending this “logic” to other areas. It would mean you could have no opinion on anything in which you were not an accredited expert. The economy? Sorry, I’ll leave that to the economists. War in the Middle East? I’m not a general, so I can’t have an opinion. Ebola? I’m no doctor. It’s beyond absurd.

I have a suggestion: The next time you hear one of these clowns use the “I’m not a scientist” line, mentally insert the word “rocket” in front of “scientist.” It makes total sense that way.