In a week, we will be having another special election for U.S. Senate here in Massachusetts. This one is to replace John Kerry, who was appointed Secretary of State. Or to be more precise, to replace Mo Cowan, who was appointed as his interim replacement. If your eyes haven't glazed over yet, they soon will. Did I mention that the last televised was tonight? I watched and it was hardly worth mentioning.
Longtime Democratic Congressman Ed Markey is the favorite, if you can call someone the favorite who is generating so little interest. President Obama was in town last week to campaign for him, I think, or at least that is the rumor filtering back to those of us who didn't notice. The challenger is Republican businessman Gabriel Gomez, a private equity investor and former U.S. Navy Aviator and Navy SEAL.
Just how little interest this election has generated can be seen by comparing social media followers for Markey and Gomez, with the candidates in the 2012 U.S. Senate race, Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown:
Massachusetts has grown used to high interest U.S. Senate contests, Brown v. Coakley in 2010, Warren v. Brown in 2012. Perhaps grown tired is the better phrasing.
If you are really bored there will be a third choice on the ballot, Richard Heos running under the banner of the Twelve Visions Party. Here is his most recent tweet:
BETTER FEELING THAN SEX:
A VOTE FOR THE TVP ON JUN25th
VOTE HEOS...HE`S ALL FOR HIMSELF....
That's right, "He's all for himself." The Twelve Visions Party has this mission statement:
"The TVP has 1 Purpose: to bring about an initiatory-force-free, Protection-Only, service-based Government via the Prime Law Amendment and Protection Only Budget, Forever Ending the age old power-based government and its virulent force-backed rule of man, Forever Depoliticizing America and eventually the Entire World."
Here are the twelve visions:
1. Become the Person You Were Meant to Be.
2. Live the Life You Were Meant to Live.
3. Feel Extraordinary Every Day
4. Slow Down Aging Permanently.
5. Land the Job of Your Dreams.
6. Build the Business of Your Passions.
7. Experience the Love Of Your Life.
8. Have the Body You Always Envied.
9. Become a Genius of Society.
10. Have Everything You Ever Wanted.
11. Ride a Prosperity Wave to Riches.
12. Enjoy Nearly Perfect Health.
Be careful clicking those links as some on the internet allege Twelve Visions is a cult, ponzi scheme, or self-improvement racket - just what we need already have in Washington, DC.
My father and I went out to the Oregon Coast, and of course it rained. I actually kind of like beach days like this, with intermittent rain and stoppage.
A recumbent bicycler has himself in harness for the U.S. Highway 101 hill above Manzanita:
Fishing boats at Garibaldi:
Here was the view at Cape Lookout where it was raining:
The beach at Cape Meares:
We spent a good part of the afternoon driving around Tillamook County looking for Dutch Belt cows. There used to be a Dutch Belt herd along Netarts Highway between the Tillamook and Trask rivers. We didn't find any Dutch Belts there or, for that matter, on the beach at Cape Lookout or Cape Meares. After we gave up, we did spot one along the Wilson River Highway going back to Portland. Of course, when we got back to Portland my brother informed us that there is a Dutch Belt herd down at Pacific City.
I don't want to leave the impression we left Tillamook County empty handed. We picked up some smoked clams in Garibaldi and I got this little treat at the Tillamook Cheese Factory:.
When your friends and enemies start posting the same picture, it may be time to take notice and start doing something different. Last week it was an umbrella. The Baltimore Sun called it The most famous umbrella since Neville Chamberlain went to Munich. John E. McIntyre offered this precipitation:
"Mr. Obama became president by majority vote in two elections whose legitimacy has not been challenged, and he is entitled to the perks that we bestow to our chief magistrates. There is a good deal about his administration that does not bring a spring to my step and a song to my heart, and it would be some service to the public to focus on substantive matters rather than engage in idiotic distractions."
BuzzFeed found pictures of 10 Presidents with Umbrellas and this one of President Obama that makes him look even more ridiculous than in The Blaze:
Zimbio called it GOP Freak-Out: Sarah Palin's Criticism of Obama Over 'Umbrellagate' Hypocritical as Usual, with pictures of a Sarah Palin, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Nancy Reagan all being sheltered by umbrellas. A curious thing in these other pictures is that all the umbrellas are shown being held to shelter both the dignitary and the person holding the umbrella. President Obama's problem may have been a Marine who was too proud to stand under the umbrella. It's a Marine Corps tradition that only female Marines are authorized to carry umbrellas. Or maybe President Obama's umbrella is just too small.
Speaking of which, here's an old reference to Barack Obama's umbrella in a viral video from March 7, 2008:
March 2008 was a simpler time but not so different than 2013. The country had recovered somewhat from the last recession, everyone was disappointed with the sitting President, the long war in Iraq was about ready to be wound down, and Hillary Clinton was on her way to being elected the next President of the United States. It's five years later, substitute Afghanistan for Iraq, and we are in the same place. Or are we? Only the umbrella knows.
Now that it's raining more than ever
Know that we'll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella
You can stand under my umbrella
Tea Party groups have been wrestling with the IRS over tax exempt status for the last several years. You'd occasionally hear unsubstantiated stories about applications lost in the bureaucracy, inappropriate and invasive questions, and the like. IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman went so far as to categorically dispel such rumors by testifying before a Congressional hearing on March 22, 2012:
"There is absolutely no targeting. This is the kind of back-and-forth that happens when people apply for 501(c)(4) status."
That, it turns out a year and two months later, was a complete lie. The IRS now admits it was intentionally targeting Tea Party, Patriot, and 9/12 Project (Glenn Beck) groups. Bombshell. Glenn Beck's balls just dropped.
Make no mistake, the Tea Party has managed to embroil the IRS in a huge scandal. David may not have slain Goliath, but this scandal is going to leave a mark. It's even possible some IRS officials may have to go to jail. Given that TEA stands for "taxed enough already" and the IRS is the national tax collection agency, this is a major coup for the Tea Party.
How did they do it? At first it would appear the Tea Party has taken its tactics out of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, the left-wing radical organizing bible all the Tea Partiers ran out and bought after they heard the winning tactics of the 2008 Obama campaign were based on it. At first look, this seems to be textbook Rule 4:
4. Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.
How it went down was simple. Local Tea Party groups around the country applied to the IRS for tax exemption under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code for "civic leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare."
Now, I know what you are going to say, that these Tea Party groups are involved in politics, and what does that have to do with social welfare? I'll spare you the lesson on how civics is about government, how we as citizens relate to it and each other, and how we relate to our elected officials. We're not talking talking about public charities under 501(c)(3) to which you can make tax-deductible contributions. What do you think a civic league is?
But don't listen to me, this is what the IRS itself says the criteria are for 501(c)(4) Social Welfare Organizations (emphasis added):
"Seeking legislation germane to the organization's programs is a permissible means of attaining social welfare purposes. Thus, a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization may further its exempt purposes through lobbying as its primary activity without jeopardizing its exempt status."
"Promoting social welfare does not include direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. However, if an organization is organized exclusively to promote social welfare, it may still obtain exemption even if it participates legally in some political activity on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office. Political activities may not be the organization's primary activities, however."
That negative above in reference to political campaigns and candidates sounds discouraging but there is significant caveat:
"A section 501(c) organization can set up a separate segregated fund that will be treated as an independent political organization. The earnings and expenditures made by the separate fund will not be attributed to the section 501(c) organization."
Let's review. A 501(c)(4) can:
(A) Engage in lobbying as its primary purpose.
(B) Engage in some political activity on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office, so long as its primary purpose is lobbying.
(C) Create a separate segregated fund to function as an independent political organization.
So if your Tea Party group is going to hold meetings and rallies inviting people to hear discussion and speeches on civic affairs and public policy, engage in lobbying for your Tea Party viewpoints, and get involved in a few political campaigns, you're still eligible for a 501(c)(4) tax exemption. All the IRS had to do was review the documents and stamp them "Approved."
This is where the Tea Party pulled the Reverse Alinsky by directly contradicting Rules 2 and 3:
2. Never go outside the expertise of your people.
3. Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy.
What did these Tea Party groups know about applications for tax exempt status? Nothing. What did the IRS know? Everything.
Ben Jones has been unceremoniously disinvited from performing at an Ed Markey for U.S. Senate fundraiser tonight.
Ben has two claims to fame. The first is that he played the garage mechanic Cooter Davenport on the lovable 1979 to 1985 hit TV show The Dukes of Hazzard. That's become a lifetime occupation for Ben, who now plays country music under the name Cooter's Garage Band, organizes Dukes of Hazzard fan fairs around the country, and generally tries to make a living off his website Cooter's Place. Just a good ol' boy, never meanin' no harm.
Ben's second claim to fame is that he served 4 years in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat from Georgia from 1989 to 1993. He got squeezed out by redistricting following the 1990 census and then lost U.S. House races to Newt Gingrich in Georgia in 1994 and to Eric Cantor in Virginia in 2000. Just the sort of fellow Democrat you might have play at your political fundraiser.
Cooter got himself canceled because of the stand he took against political correctness a year ago during the NASCAR controversy over whether the 1969 Dodge Charger from the TV show would be allowed to take a lap at a Phoenix racetrack. What could be wrong with a car from an old TV show? The orange car has a Confederate Battle Flag painted on its roof. For Cooter it was personal:
"At a time when tens of millions of Americans are honoring their Union and Confederate ancestors during this Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, NASCAR has chosen to dishonor those Southerners who fought and died in that terrible conflict by caving to 'political correctness' and the uninformed concerns of corporate sponsors."
Now, I will point out Team PC was fooling around with Ben Jones's livelihood. Nonetheless, Andrew Zucker, U.S Senate candidate for Massachusetts Ed Markey's spokesperson, was unequivocal:
"Ed Markey only learned about Ben Jones's comments today, he strongly disagrees with them and has asked Jones not to be part of tonight's event. Ed believes such Confederate relics are highly offensive, and should not be displayed in public settings, period."
Is the relic he's talking about the flag, the car, or the man? Only the man can be accused of racism. I'll have to side with Ben Jones on this:
"While it is true that the Confederate Battle Flag has been desecrated by bigots and racists, these groups also misuse the American Flag and the Christian cross in their shameless rituals. The vast majority of the display of the St. Andrews Cross Flag is in a benign spirit of remembrance and reverence."
Don't get me wrong. I'm from a Northern family that saw service on the Union side. I believe we should have made the surrendering Confederate officers who had previously taken the oath to support and defend the Constitution draw lots for execution as traitors at the end of the war, the traditional decimation of the ranks for mutiny. But since 260,000 of the 1,000,0000 Southern men who took up arms against their country during the conflict were killed in battle or died of decease, their ranks were decimated.
Let's take Ed Markey at his word. What about his fellow Democrat and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and her two Labradors, Jackson and Beauregard, who are named after Confederate General Stonewall Jackson and Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard? I can understand a certain ancestral remembrance from a Southerner like Ben Jones. It's all about context. But what's the excuse for an Irish-American from Massachusetts giving her dogs racist names? We'll see how fast Ed Markey denounces Martha Coakley.
George Jones passed away at age 81 yesterday. For a quarter century, from the late 1950s until the early 1980s, George was one of the biggest stars in country music. Jones specialized in songs that ripped your heart out like He Stopped Loving Her Today - here's a recording from The Ronnie Prophet Show in July, 1980:
He was country before country was cool. In truth, George Jones was never cool, but his great specialty were duets with a lot of cool country women. Here George Jones has I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool sung to him by Barbara Mandrell at the 1981 Country Awards (I remember circling the drive-in, pulling up and turning down George Jones):
For a while, 1969 to 1975, George Jones was married to country queen Tammy Wynette, and they performed a number of beautiful duets together, such as We're Gonna Hold On (something in real life they were unable to do):
Tammy should have seen it coming in her 1968 hit Stand By Your Man:
My favorite George Jones and Tammy Wynette duet is Jet Set from 1974 (No we're not the jet set, we're the old Chevrolet set. Our steak and martinis is draft beer with weenies ... But ain't we got love?):
His first big hit was White Lightning in 1959:
The original White Lightning was by the Big Bopper, Jiles Perry "J. P." Richardson, Jr., who died plowing corn in Iowa with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in February 1959. Here's the Big Bopper version of White Lightning:
As you can see by comparison, George Jones had his own square style. He personified the Nashville country sound, love it, hate it, or love to hate it. The legend, though, developed a reputation for unreliability, with too much white lighting leading to missed concert dates and the moniker No Show Jones, which of course became a a country song, performed here at Farm Aid in 1985 (the man could make fun of himself):
The George Jones Show appeared briefly on television in 1998. Here's an episode with Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Vern Gosdin:
If George Jones was the king of Nashville, his daughter with then-wife Tammy Wynette, Tamala Georgette Jones is his princess, all summed up in the tear-jerker Daddy Come Home:
The absent father also showed up some years later for a bittersweet You and Me and Time duet with Georgette:
You can see a real affection in that video. That's the nicest tribute of all. Meanwhile, I imagine the old possum is up there in heaven, trying to strike up a duet with Patsy Cline.
In honor of Monday being Earth Day, this is going to be a cynical report on a recent student protest at Harvard Diversity.
I was walking up Massachusetts Avenue and turning onto Church Street when I first heard the protest chants behind me. I wondered briefly what it might be all about as I met a fellow pedestrian coming the other direction. He hit me quick with his cynical wit:
"What are they protesting, higher taxes?"
Well, Harvard students weren't likely to be protesting higher taxes, so what pressing issue were they protesting?
(1) Impending wars with North Korea and Iran.
(2) Failure of assault weapons ban in Congress.
(3) High tuition costs and impossible loan burdens.
(4) Unfair federal budget cuts under the sequester.
(5) Unequal distribution of income and wealth to the Harvard top 1%.
Harvard locked the gates on the students during the last big protests, the occupy movement in the fall of 2011. I turned around to see if the gates were still open and, seeing that they were, I wandered over to see what was going on. Here's the speech I heard:
If it's still not clear, the protest was about climate change and the students want Harvard to divest from the top 200 publicly traded fossil fuel companies. That means they want Harvard to sell the stock it owns in those 200 companies and use the money to buy stock in the other 14,800 companies that merely use fossil fuel. Because, let's face it, directly or indirectly we all use fossil fuel.
Divest Harvard student leader Ben Franta sees this as a profound moral issue:
"When we think about breaking our dependence on fossil fuels, the choices we make in our lifetime are going to affect the human race profoundly for thousands of years, and that's not hyperbolic. We’re faced not just with an environmental challenge, it’s not just an economic challenge, it is a moral challenge."
But don't feel guilty that it's individuals fault for using fossil fuels, that's covered in the position paper:
"There are things that all of us can do to reduce our energy consumption and we should do these things, but it is not our fault for using fossil fuels because we have no alternative. And that is the fossil fuel industries' fault."
But it's not like these Harvard students have to use fossil fuels to heat their dorm rooms, Harvard was perfectly happy to let them sleep outdoors for several months back in 2011, and they can all walk to class. I thought maybe that's where they were going with their rousing chant:
"One, we are the movement. Two, we want divestment. Three, we will not stop, we have the power!"
But, no, they only wanted to deliver a petition to Drew Faust, President of Harvard University. You see, Students for a Just and Stable Future, who are organizing the Divest Harvard campaign, do not sleep on the ground. Been there, done that, got too cold, I'm guessing.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't like to give those fossil fuel companies any more money than I absolutely have to. I left my Jeep parked for 3 months this winter. Didn't drive it a mile. OK, couldn't drive it a mile until I got the battery drain fixed. I wonder if the flashlight under the blanket effect of CO2 emissions might be causing my sleep problems.
My self-directed retirement plan had some stock in BP, and I divested the small odd lot at $44.58 per share after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. I bought an even fewer number of shares in Google at $608.95 per share. BP now trades at around $41.60 and Google at $807.90 so that was a good trade. I would be happy to go over what the 199 other companies have each done wrong and consider further divestment if my retirement plan owns stock in any of them, but neither Divest Harvard nor Students for a Just and Stable Society have even so much as a list of the 200 companies they want Harvard to divest on their websites.
I did go to one of those websites that let you calculate your carbon footprint and found I use 15.24 metric tons of CO2 per year. I also found there that I could offset my carbon footprint by donating $229.51 for reforestation in Kenya or $306.01 including 20% VAT to plant tress in the United Kingdom. By all means, let's include the 20% value added tax.
Divest Harvard claims that 200 people attended their rally on April 11. You'll have trouble finding that many people in my video or in their pictures. But let's take them at their word. At the $58,000 tuition and board for next year, those 200 students represent $46.4 million to Harvard over 4 years of college. Did you notice how polite the Harvard Police in the video were? The Harvard endowment is even hiring a Vice President for Sustainable Investing.
You see, I know from their inflated crowd number that they are liars and exaggerators, their sympathizers at the Harvard Crimson only counted a still very generous 100, but here is what they want me to believe:
(1) Global warming and CO2 levels are problems that need solving now.
(2) There are cost-effective solutions that will work.
(3) The proposed solutions won't create even greater problems.
(4) Europeans didn't invent this to hamstring the American economy.
(5) It's not a trick to export industrial jobs to developing nations.
(6) Marxists aren't using this to introduce a global command economy.
(7) It's not a hedge fund scheme to scoop up energy stocks on the cheap.
(8) A better technological solution won't come along if we wait for it.
(9) It's not already too late.
Call me Ishmael, but I'm not ready to go back to hunting whales to light my evening reading. I've been watching Revolution on my HDTV. I'm a little curious what's under those polar ice caps, aren't you? The Iraq War could have been solved a few years later with two or three drone strikes. Now, if you want to replace the income tax and payroll tax with a carbon tax, we can talk.
OK, that's a bit of hyperbole but Ben Franta couldn't resist either:
We have the opportunity today, and the privilege, of fighting, not just for our future, but also for our past. For our future, we are called to fight for the great, great grandchildren that we will never meet. And for our past, we are fighting for our long history on this planet – all of the art, all of the music, all of the values and societies that we have ever created on earth, and all of our experience in 200,000 years of history on earth and everything that represents.
I can't help asking, in light of all that has happened in greater Boston in the last 10 days, is that hyperbolic rhetoric or fanaticism? I don't want to fight for all of the "all of the values and societies that we have ever created on earth." I can think of quite a few values and societies that I would like to fight against. For a just and stable future, maybe we should divest a few Harvard students. It's the dropouts like Gates and Zuckerberg that really make good.
