NOT THAT KELSO IS MEGALOMANIACAL BUT TO QUOTE TOM WAITS: "...[KELSO'S] AWAY ON BUSINESS....", BUT NOT UNTIL MONDAY SO LOTS OF GROUND TO COVER HERE

More dedicated bloggers than Kelso is have covered the State Of The Union Address, the cloture vote, and the cowardly Democrats who voted FOR cloture and AGAINST Alito, etc. so let's don't start to waste time. OK, let's DO start to waste time.

The Constitution insists upon a State Of The Union address, and Bush The Lesser may say whatever idiocies his writers come up with. It's just an annoyance like a buzzing fly. Not worth wasting time to use logical analysis to pick it apart.

Kelso said that the only way forward for Democrats in the Alito matter was for the ultra-rich of Democratic Senate Caucus who have nothing to lose to step up and fight. To that end, 2 1-2 cheers to TK and Kerry for advocating filibuster. One cheer for Boxer, Dayton and Feinstein for voting against cloture, and DWEEB-OF-THE-WEEK nominations to Herb Kohl (WI) and especially Maria Cantwell (WA). For shame, Miss or Mrs. Cantwell -- you don't deserve the honorific "Ms."

As Mike Malloy has said on his radio program, the whole Democratic approach to Alito has put things into stark relief. The party WILL NOT AND DOES NOT DESERVE to retake the House or Senate in November's election. Not only will the Democrats NOT retake the House or Senate this fall, they will also fail to gain ground and probably lose ground. The party can expect to be in the minority for many years to come, so once again (was it ever not?) it is up to the people to lead. That means starting from scratch a la Goldwater '64. The people have to run for school board, elections board, and local office. The people have to continue to protest. The people have to organize think tanks not along the gentle, reasoned, timid, accomodationist lines of The Center For American Progress, but something akin to a mirror-image of The Federalist Society, The Heritage Foundation, and The American Enterprise Institute. Think tanks with brains and gonads that stick to a strong progressive message and fight hard and dirty. And never forget that 9/11 was Bush's Reichstag Fire and the Patriot Act his "enabling laws." Another ginned-up attack on America and "we" will bypass Fascism and go straight to Nazism. The Hillary Clintons and the Al Frankens are not the answer. Although from a purely self-interested standpoint, should Hillary Clinton be elected President, a very good friend of Kelso's will be appointed to the Court Of Appeals. From a political standpoint, Hillary Clinton, IS a Republican and must be stopped.

Ahh, self-interest. In the very minute here-and-now, Kelso refers to Bradley Vallerius's piece Kelso published in the last posting and notes with a tiny bit of relief that Boehner beat Shaddegg for House Majority Leader. Roy Blunt, being a carbon-copy of DeLay, was the best choice from Kelso's perspective because while the politics of all three are odious, DeLay was non-pareil at saying what needed to be said to the Christian Crazies about gambling while preventing the Arizona psychos' worst anti-gamlbing measures from ever seeing the light-of-day. As the Justice Department already has a hard-on for vice but not terrorism, DeLay was actually OK --corrupt, yes, but not a personal zealot. Kelso is a little more sanguine about Boehner on the vice (especially gambling) issue than Bradley Vallerius was in his IGN piece. Boehner is there to put a moderate face on things. Gambling and sex for pleasure were OVER had Shaddegg gotten the nod. And we all thank our lucky stars that Mike Pence (Indiana) didn't go for it.

Ahh, vice. In response to our new and ultra-enthusiatic poster, Lily (losenoose -- please, please, please check out her blog), Kelso offers up some historical thoughts as a posting not just a response to her in the comment section. As NWA said on their seminal album Fuck Tha Police, "...let's go back/how far we goin' back?/waaaaayyyy back..." Why is vice such a wonderful scare-tactic tool for the Right? Why is it such poison to the Democrats? And even the Left (to some exent) when there is ample scientific evidence in support of the hypothesis that vice is an essential human need, without the pressure release of which -- burdened by the knowledge of our own mortality -- we would burst out in open anarchy not in the sense of Emma Goldman but in the sense of Rwanda?

We may need our enthusiastic High-Church-Protestant and historical poster Eugah to weigh in here, but here's the Kelso opinion: The answer is in the origins of our country. The Pilgrims did not come here to escape religious persecution in Great Britain. That's American religious hogwash which is part of the brain-washing of our children in schools, public and private. The Pilgrims came here to escape all of that hideous tolerance practiced by Anglican Church, but more than that even, to escape legal sanction for the more extreme of their measures to keep the faithful in line: trial-by-ordeal, ritual stonings, and so on. The practice of vice in the Pilgrim version of faith called for such. Sure, the British Monarchy was no picnic but even by their harsh standards, the ways of the Pilgrims were excessive. And the sanction for trials-by-ordeal were not as bad a trial-by-ordeal but they weren't fun. So, the "Pilgrims" (why had Kelso spared the quotation marks to this point?) brought their insanity to these shores.

The War Of Indepence, all that preceded it and all that followed it had absolutely nothing to do with "Pilgrim" zealotry. It had to do with the confluence of other issues perhaps the most significant being that the 50 greatest legal minds in human history were in the same place at the same time in the same time that the merchant class of the colonies had a big problem with British tax policy.

In that sense, the "American Revolution" was not a revolution at all in the sense that the French Revolution was, meaning the violent transfer of power to the class below from the class above. It was, however, the start of an excellent experiment in a new kind of representative government that all of us should be proud of.

Fair enough, Lily?

Ahh, pride. Kelso continues to be ever so proud of the Sheehan family. In Cindy and Casey, Kelso sees a way forward. The Left must never forget that they have many friends on the Right. Casey (Right) and Cindy (Left) are two heroes. The common-cause of the Centrist Democrats with the Republicans will be the death of America as we know it. A union of the ultra-Right Libertarians and the ultra-Left may well save us. The Ultra-Right knows that too much government power is malign as does the ultra-Left. They must be able to find the ability to shake hands. A starting point might be a frank discussion of the similarities of the 2nd Amendment and Roe V Wade (well, poster Harvey's reference to Blackmun's trimester system, more precisely). The 2nd Amendment DOES allow Americans to own as many guns as they like, imposed restrictions that have followed, notwithstanding. Roe V Wade DOES allow American women the right to terminate a pregnancy, imposed restrictions that have followed, notwithstanding. A leftist might elect to exercise his or her option NOT to own a gun. A right-wing woman might elect to exercise her option NOT to terminate a pregnancy. Both sides may still believe that (a) the proliferation and easy access to guns leads to the taking of many live and (b) abortion leads to the taking of many potential lives. Kelso, for one, is fine with guns and fine with abortion, though he doesn't own a gun and is not a woman!

Let's push this forward. A system in which one side wants complete government control over citizens' private lives and the other side wants complete government control over citizens' economic lives CANNOT continue indefinitely. Compromise is necessary. Kelso offers one: The Alternative Minimum Tax Must Go. All the arguments have already been made but the nutshell version is this: it has become yet another tax burden on the middle-class. Here's another one: Sarbanes/Oxley and Insider-Trading Laws Must Go. These are additional "taxes" on the middle-class although it has not been presented that way. Unless a full-bore Communist system (is the Soviet Union what anyone here wants?) is in place, the rich will get richer. Common sense. So, why have a system that prevents asset prices from reaching their "true" value quickly so the public can make its economic choices more rationally? Insiders are going to steal in our system with or without these laws. All the laws do is allow the theft to happen slowly and more completely while screwing the average investor and the average worker whose pension is tied up in all this. OK, this is a benefit for the rich, what do the poor get back? NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE, SINGLE-PAYER STYLE. FULL STOP. NO BULLSHIT. AN EXTENSION OF THE GI BILL ON EDUCATION TO EVERYONE. FULL STOP. NO BULLSHIT. How do we pay? END THE FUCKING WARS. FULL STOP. NO BULLSHIT.

And now Kelso dismounts the pulpit to present lyrics to a socially relevant song from the Irish band Stiff Little Fingers. It is a finger-in-the-eye of all this Tom Brokaw-Peter Jennings-Charlie Rose-Tim Russert "Greatest Generation" bullshit that has at least in part been a justification of all things Bush and certainly our present wars.

IS THAT WHAT YOU FOUGHT THE WAR FOR?
(Fingers/Ogilvie)

Yes, I know you did your bit back then, but what was it you won?
Take a good look around you now, whose side were you on?
And I wonder if you understand at all
And I wonder if you ever ask yourself

When everyone has an equal chance to live the life they buy
When free health care can save your life, but queue until you die
Then I wonder if you understand at all
And I wonder if you ever ask yourself

(Chorus:)
Is that what you fought the war for
Is that why you fought the war
Is that what you fought the war for
Is that why you fought the war

When still the muscles make the man, and men make women pay
when Britain's flag is a badge of hate, and just the fair can play
When still the homeless, jobless cry, when money shouts and lies
and buys off just enough to vote, pass by the other side
Then I wonder if you understand at all
And I wonder do you never ask yourself

(Chorus)

At the going down of the sun
And in the light of day
All you need remember is
We won't be taken like your generation again

(Chorus)

Dudes And Dweebs and some poker from our man from Athens, Georgia, tomorrow.

And a plea to Lily of Losenoose: Kelso has to go away on business next week and would love for you to deputize on the Nuts. If you are interested, let Kelso know how to contact you in an email way that preserves your privacy and we will arrange it. Sorry, Lily, but Kelso's on the Seahawks plus the points.

Kelso's Nuts love you.