Minnesota State Shutdown

File this one under "Recovery Strategies: Failed." How do you justify putting more people out of work? It can only take an ideological hatred of government that puts some anarchists to shame.

Not that I'm a big fan either, mind you, of the parliamentary form of capitalist democracy. I'm much more of a hands-on kinda guy myself.

But the hypocrisy is sickening. Why the tax-or-cut fetish? Republicans are so set on "not raising taxes (for their rich backers)" that they'll shut down the government entirely?

To prove what, exactly? That we don't need building codes approved, or children educated, or highways paved? Or perhaps just that their rich backers can be made even more wealthy by stepping into these roles themselves, and charging extravagantly for the services.

Don't piss on my back and tell me it's raining. The GOP consistently runs a strategy of deception, blame-shift, and obstruction. The DFL, on the other hand, is relatively good-natured, if still much too constrained by in-the-box thinking and totally inept at handling the sheer batshittery of the Repubs. This is their fault, and the fault of an electoral and representative system that cannot represent everyday people, but of course everyday people, who are honest and eager to "contribute to society," get fucked because that society barely even belongs to them.

Losing the Green Future

Yet another of those sacred pillars of the American Empire is evidencing some particularly ominous cracks: the auto industry. As domestic automakers were some of the biggest losers and/or crybabies of the Great Recession, the character of the industry was profoundly changed. The federal government had to quasi-nationalize General Motors, long seen as the figurative engine of the American industrial economy.

this is called a factory. we used to have these in this country.

(But of course, the industrial sector in the United States has long been in decline. Just ask Wisconsin workers.

Or, for that matter, take a look around many places in rural America. Or Northeast Minneapolis. Or the Southern California urban sprawl where I was born. You can see the hollow shells of industry everywhere like the concrete exoskeletons of shellfish behemoths. All the crunchy capital and gooey labor long since fled to friendlier - aka more oppressive - climates.)

But the problem with the automotive industry isn't strictly its finances, despite the war on United Auto Workers the last few decades. It isn't government regulations, which every industry encounters eventually (if the government knows what's good for it). The problem isn't even design. I have no patience for the arguments that Americans only want big gas-guzzling SUVs and hostile-looking mini monster trucks. Those are the fault of advertisement campaigns and the dismantling of city planning and the cancer-like spread of suburbia as much as it is any dream of the American public.

The problem is systemic. The problem is the auto industry's linkage and co-strategery with oil interests. This is an alliance that has dismantled public transit in key metro regions (especially Los Angeles, where commuters sit trapped in their cars for hours with right-wing hate radio pumped through their car speakers).

By de-socializing transit, the capitalist system in America not only placed the burden of commuting on each family, but also spun a nationalist narrative that equated freedom with machismo and geographical dominance. Goading said families into accepting this burden. Even valuing it. To the point where the car loan is right up there with the other heavy hitters in the world of modern debt slavery: medical bills, student loans, and the car loan's dialectical opposite: the sacred home loan.

As consumerism rose and real wages stagnated the last 30 years, consumer debt became one of the quiet underpinnings of the U.S. economy. Now more than ever U.S. workers are searching frantically for good deals on commodities and services to make ends meet. The more progressive elements of the working class - including college graduates, many of whom can't find the high-paying jobs they were promised - also want to do their part to help the environment.

climate change has turned my home region into a tinder-box

But government initiatives to expand green, high-speed mass transit between urban centers keeps getting cock-blocked by teabaggers hissing about budgets that have come unbalanced (because of right-wing corporate tax cuts, mostly). And the working class hasn't woken up to the reality of car ownership yet - and it will be a struggle to do so, considering our suburbs have developed along auto, not mass, transit channels. (Massive retrofitting required - but that would also bring jobs back in massive numbers, if we can figure out how to pay for it....)

So the U.S. auto industries do a little bit, as part of their green PR campaign, to capture the green progressive demographic. Problem is, they want to offset R&D and capital and production costs by marketing hybrids and electrics as luxury cars. As if the fate of the planet, and the species, is a luxury.

Not exactly doing their duty as a human institution to make their own sacrifices for the good of the planet. While we spend our own hard-earned cash on new lightbulbs, energy-saving appliances, and candles for brownouts (something we Californians are pretty used to), they generally look for every feasible way to lower their own costs, including passing off that cost to consumers and the environment. Would they ever consider operating at a loss to fund green research and low-cost, low-emission transit options?

Not in your life. So don't believe any talk of "shared sacrifice." As in so many other realms - budget cuts are one popular example right not - there is more sacrifice to business than from business.

But, as long as the environment remains fashionable - and it should, considering it's not exactly poised for a rebound anytime soon - rest assured automakers will continue their lackadaisical wandering towards cheap green transit ... eventually ... in their own good time.

That's where China comes in. Apparently the F3DM, while doing next to nothing to redeem the stereotype of boring communist consumer goods (more of an industrial-era thing, you know, silver is the new Fordian black), is the first mass-produced hybrid. In the world.

You heard right. Cheap hybrids for everyday folks.

they also have high-speed rail.

A little bumpy, yeah, but what working person doesn't have something that's falling apartment? Nice things are for rich people - just look at Comrade X and his coffee pot. I'm being a little facetious, yeah, but it would be nice to own something so cheap that we didn't feel trepidation when trying to open it up and customize the damn thing.

All this once again underlines the role of government in business. As if the fat profit sharing GM autoworkers are going to get didn't hammer it home well enough for you. (Remember, GM was the one that got nationalized.) For Chrissake, as if the very internets you're reading this on wasn't evidence enough that government involvement in business can be good for both business and workers.

'Course the Chinese gov't treats their workers far, far worse than we do here (uhh, right?) and that needs to be changed. But this is just further evidence of a fraying American empire, unable to meet the stringent demands of the 21st century - the very century it has played such a central role in creating.

A couple other slick readings for you: ECW's discussion of last year's holes, which includes a good rendition of oil's significance true significance, and a recent post from Mr. Thomas L. Friedman that I, frighteningly enough, almost completely agree with: use Libya as an excuse to get off oil dependency once and for all. Friedman even says "history is back," which has interesting repercussions. Slowly the amber lets go of the Middle East, coagulates around the United States....

Egypt And Tunisia: This Is How You Make A Revolution

The workers, youth, and the poor of Tunisia and Egypt are doing what average people everywhere else dream of doing: they are pushing back against corrupt and oppressive governments. And they are winning.
The tried and true tactics pioneered by progressive movements through the last two centuries are being used again with devastating effectiveness: mass protests, solidarity among working people, and the general strike. These weapons are the reason why our own corrupt and increasingly oppressive corporate government in Washington fear the progressive Left far more than the reactionary Right. It is because only the Left encourages solidarity amongst workers, all workers, while the extreme Right only makes " revolution" with support from factions in the Establishment.
The Fascists in Italy took over Rome in 1922 after a farcical march. Mussolini and his thugs would have been wiped out in five minutes if one company of Italian soldiers had stood up to them. But the officer corps, the industrialists, and the aristocracy of Italy tacitly approved of Mussolini's coup: they knew Il Duce was going to crack down hard on unions, striking workers, and socialists. They were absolutely delighted with the Blackshirt " revolution".
The Nazis took longer to get into power but once again a Right- wing populist party was granted power with the blessings of conservative politicians, capitalists, and the German officer class. Once in power, the " socialist " trappings of Hitler and his cronies were speedily discarded- Hitler even going so far as to murder his former associates in the Sturmabteilung ( a.k.a. the SA, or " Brownshirts"), partly to eliminate a potential threat to his leadership, but also very much because the SA contained genuine revolutionary elements with roots in working class organizations. Even this small amount of working class solidarity made big business nervous.
Now we come to the modern day and the Tea Party ( I can already hear the howls of outrage: " What! You dare compare the Tea Party to the Nazis?!?!" Hey, if it walks like a fascist, quacks like a fascist, and shows up at political rallies with a rifle slung over its shoulder, your goddam right I'm going to associate it with fascists). Let's be blunt- the Tea Party would have never gotten past a few crackpots meeting in someone's basement if it wasn't for support from the highest levels of the Establishment. FOX News pundits, billionaires, and the Republican Party all threw their support behind this " movement". There is nothing spontaneous or genuine about it, except its white hot anger against what Teabaggers perceive as the Other. The Tea Party, for now, exists at the pleasure of its backers.
This is exactly why a Right- Wing movement cannot be considered revolutionary. To establish a revolution, you have to overturn the class in power and make a wholly new and better way for people to live and think. Our own American Revolution did that, much to the later chagrin of many of its instigators. The idea of every citizen having political liberty and a say in the way the country was run was a startling concept in the 18th century. Similarly the idea that economic liberty, in the form of the democratization of the workplace, remains a bold idea even today. The only truly revolutionary movements of the 21st century that promise that are Progressive ones. And the only Progressive movements that have the vision, organization, and discipline to carry through that promise are Socialist ones.
So, to return to our brave friends in Egypt and Tunisia, the revolutions they are carrying out are not supported by any faction of their ruling classes. It appears these revolts were spontaneous and genuine uprisings of working people, the poor, and students. They are deploying the classic weapons of the street- fighting Left: the protest, the strike, and solidarity. I can never imagine the Tea Party, or a similar Reactionary populist movement doing the same. Instead of reaching for a sign, their first instinct is to reach for a gun. The crazies who do the violence on the behalf of their masters in the Establishment are easily controlled by law enforcement. The Tea Party is nothing more than a madly barking dog- sometimes it bites the hand that feeds it but a quick slap on its nose brings it to heel again.

Sarah Palin " Writes" Another Book

So Sarah Palin has finally gotten her second book, America By Heart ( who comes up with these titles- was Stephen Colbert the ghost writer? ) out. Even now, legions of right- wing mouth breathers are digging out their hard- earned cash to give to a person that actively works against their economic interests.
Judging by Ms. Palin's last literary effort, Going Rouge ( yeah, Sarah, representing the interests of the ruling class is a real courageous act of rebellion- insert double eye roll)the sequel will be a collection of typical right- wing gibberish sprinkled with wild accusations of the unamericanism of the President and his family.
But remember the audience. These are folks who need a spellchecker whenever they write up a protest sign. And when it comes to reading, they are challenged by the instructions on a microwave dinner package.
If this tome were anymore dumbed down, there would be panels of cartoons rather than text.
Now there is a widespread belief amongst those who lean to the Left that Ms. Palin is as dumb as her followers. I disagree. You can question her knowledge on geography, history, or world affairs ( I'm still not sure if she is truly ignorant of these things or if it is an act to show the stupid she is " one of them" )but when it comes to hustling she is a master. She has that special GOP talent to convince working people of the Caucasian Persuasion that the very people fucking them in the ass are the ones representing their interests. Sarah is such a master at this that her audience even asks for a few more inches up their collective butts. No wonder she quit as governor- who wants to sit in a crappy office all day when you can print up a collection of personal anecdotes, reactionary propaganda, and other assorted drivel every couple of years and have packs of teabaggers throw their money at you. Need to rent a personal jet? Charge a $100,000.00 speaking fee. Sarah's shameless scamming is so epic that there is almost something inspiring in it. Call it The Audacity Of Knavery.
Well, now your humble muckraker must look not- really- forward to reading Sarah's latest pile of tripe in order to review it. But I am happy to inform you I won't buy it ( and handle it while wearing surgical gloves) but browse through it at the bookstore. Then I will take a page from Sarah's book and quit halfway through it.
So I can serve my country better, don'cha know?

New Low In Political Idiocy: Teabaggers Defend Puppy Mills

Teabaggers have continously lowered the bar when it comes to credulity, but a protest aimed at legislation closing down puppy mills takes the fuckin' cake. Apparently our mentally challenged countrymen have a weed up their ass because they have been fed a line about how regulating mass- dog breeding centers will make it too expensive for middle- income Americans to own dogs.
Here's an idea, genius. Take a look out your window. See all those four- legged mammals digging through the garbage? Those are dogs moron. You can take in a stray. Or better yet, go down to the local Humane Society shelter ( a socialist organization according to zany Teabagger lore ) and adopt a canine. People do it all the time.
You know, I used to be worried about the Extreme Right in this country. But if it comes to civil war, like many of these clowns earnestly hope for, a single commie soldier could wipe out a division of Teabaggers in an hour. All the comrade would have to do is point to a cliff and tell them, " Sarah Palin says jump off that."

Healthcare Reform: Greedy Insurance Parasites Stoop To A New Low

I looked out the window on September 23rd and guess what? The sky was not falling as the reactionaries in the Republican party promised me. No ominous rumbling of tank treads shaking the streets or black garbed agents rounding up unwilling citizens and herding them into FEMA camps, forcing them to get flu shots. The Teabagger Nation must be somewhat disappointed.
Of course September 23rd was the day a number of Obamacare provisions went into effect. And in the fucked- up logic that right wing assholes are famous for, the most controversial was the law that prevents bloodsucking insurance companies from turning down children with pre- existing conditions. That is such a decent thing to stand for that I figured even the most black hearted GOP corporate lickspittle could get behind it. Guess I was wrong.
The controversy began almost immediately when several insurance companies threw their collective hands up in the air and basically said, " Fuck it! We just won't insure any children!" The blame was then placed squarely on President Obama's shoulders, the human lice that own these insurance companies claiming that not being allowed to turn away a kid dying of leukemia was going to bankrupt them.
Isn't this picture as fucked up as a football bat? If the very limited health care reforms hadn't have gone through the dying child would not receive insurance coverage. But now that it has gone through, the child receives no insurance coverage. Best health care system in the world, right? Sheeeeeeit...
But that's what teabaggin' favorite Mike Huckabee still claims. His argument for turning down a kid dying from a preventable condition is a blue ribbon winner in the Bullshit Argument category. You know, where you compare two unrelated scenarios and pretend that it makes sense to apply the same solution:
" It sounds so good and it's such a warm message to say we're not gonna deny anyone from a pre- existing condition. Look, I think that sounds terrific, but I want to ask you something from a common sense perspective. Suppose we applied that principle [ to ] our property insurance. And you call your insurance agent and say, ' I'd like to buy some insurance for my house.' He'd say ' Tell me about your house.' ' Well sir, it burned down yesterday, but I'd like to insure it today.' And he'll say ' I'm sorry, but we can't insure it after it's all ready burned.' Well, no pre- existing conditions."
This nugget of " common sense" ( teabaggerese for " this is the excuse I have for being a complete and inhuman asshole " ) was spewed forth at the hugely ironically named Values Voter Conference. O.K., listen you ignorant teabaggin' assholes out there in Dumbfuckistan: if your idea of " values" is fighting like hell to force women to endure unwanted pregnancies and then do everything in your power to deny the kid basic medical treatment once it is born, you got a pretty fucked up moral compass. You need to pull your heads out of your asses and realize that someday your kid could need life saving surgery, but you aren't going to be able to afford it because of a pre- existing condition. If you vote for a corporate tool like Huckabee, Palin, or O' Donnel, you are basically voting to kill children. It is as basic as that.
That's a hell of a price to pay just for the chance to flip off the Liberal Elite.

1300 Miles to Mexico

Many a terrible thing's been going on lately (when doesn't it?), but the immigration debate, perhaps, bothers me the most.

Maybe it strikes close to home because I'm from California. I went to a high school where the Latino students outnumbered the whites at least 2:1. In my lifetime I saw the population of California turn to 51% "minority." (And what a stink it caused!)

It also hits close to home for me today, where "home" means the Twin Cities. Recently the tiny Minnesotan city of Lino Lakes passed a controversial resolution in its city council, to the effect of not spending city money on translating city documents into languages other than English.

Lino Lakes, however, is some dinky-ass quasi-suburb on the outskirts of the metro area. In 2000, it was at least 95% English-speaking. Even if things have changed, there seems to be no need for such a measure. There are no expenses to printing said documents, probably because the majority of Lino Lakes is as whitebread as they come.

It's a conservative test. If they can pass it somewhere, they have an example to point to when it comes time to expand their English-only movement. The stakes have been raised.

It's part of a larger battle, to oppress, exploit, tyrannize, and generally destroy the hated brown-skins. I've seen it all before. "Why do we have billboards in Spanish?" "Why can't they learn to speak English?" "They take all our jobs!" "They're all having babies on welfare!"

I'm sure most people are aware of the Arizona law SB1070 that recently went into effect (with some federal injunctions - the proverbial 3" of knife pulled out). What most people may not be aware of is that there is an arm to this law that essentially attacks day laborers, making it a crime to hire or be hired from a vehicle that is in any way impeding traffic. So, right there, you have an economic front.

It's also illegal to "conceal, harbor, or shield" an illegal immigrant, which strikes me as awfully familiar, but maybe that's only because I had a "liberal" education.

Oh, that reminds me - there are attacks, again in Arizona, on "ethnic studies" in school.

Really the point the right-wing populists are making is that it is not ok to be in America and describe yourself as anything but an American. "We only want you if you jump through our hoops, submit to our re-education, and live according to our customs."

What is it Malcom X said? “History is a people's memory, and without a memory, man is demoted to the lower animals.”

It's clear how conservatives think of Latinos. There is a refusal to treat them like equals, to allow them their own history and culture. A refusal even to allow them to scrape by through working on the fringe of society - ironic, considering this is a country wherein we are "supposed" to "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps." Supposedly our white grandfathers did everything necessary to help our families pull through, but the old Mexican man selling oranges at the side of the road doesn't count for that, he's "stealing" a job, he's ahistorical, he's inhuman, even. And shit on the kids who depend on this man for support.

Arizona is even looking to ban such children from citizenship. That hard-line right-wing that so insists on the sacred immutability of the United States Constitution is willing to look the other way so long as they can attack the enemy they so detest.

It's pathetic. I still remember the mother of an ex-girlfriend of mine, back in California, a woman so loving and willing to take me into her own home, working overnights at the Swanson packaging plant. Her husband, gruff but no less open-hearted, crippled with arthritis after a lifetime of labor. They crossed illegally, contributed their share, raised three brilliant children, all of whom are college graduated (one at least from an ivy league) or at least college-bound. These are parents who are devoted to family and to God - ostensibly the same God that the right-wing supposedly worships.

But if it were up to this right-wing - and I'm not even talking about the extreme right, now, you understand - this family would have been split up, or deported, years ago. The world would indeed be a darker place if not for this family of immigrants.

It would seem, indeed, that the border does cross us.

Immigration reform isn't enough. We need an immigration revolution - we need a solution that shows just how obsolete the idea of national borders has become. Continues to become. This is going to be a turbulent becoming, because it will at the same time destroy what we see as the stability of our status quo. The immigration debate is a part of that, a part that proves how quick we are to blame people whose circumstances are forced on them. Forced by our lawmakers, who have pushed a one-sided agenda of globalization and free-market slavery. "Illegal" immigrants are victims of the same bureaucracy that entangles us all, strangles our livelihoods, keeps us from good jobs, and destroys our potential. A little equalization - scholarships for the children of immigrants, for example - can go a long way, but for every single gain the right-wing hollers and howls and tries to drag in average-joe workers.

It works. Why? Because we want some solution to the economic crisis (created, may I remind you, by our politicians and businessmen). We want jobs, we want less crime, we want a stable and dependable society.

Racism, however, is not the solution we seek.

Ivan, Get Your Gun

Are you armed? If you're a Red, a RUDE RED, then you should be.
" Whoa, easy X!",our loyal readership of tens of people respond. " Chill out! You want the Eff Bee Eye crawling up your ass with a stethoscope? Get put on the Terror watch list? Sing the I'm In Gitmo Blues?"
I don't want any of those things, of course. Let's get things nice and sparkling clear. I do not advocate the overthrow of our political system ( I just want workers to run it- there is nothing written in stone that says a constitutional republic is the exclusive realm of the capitalists ). Nor do I advocate harming officeholders. Threatening elected officials is cowardly, stupid, and a felony. Committing cowardly, stupid felonies is a speciality of the Right. Us Reds are smarter than that. One mass, non- violent action, such as a general strike, is more effective than a million bullets.
So then why am I so gung- ho on the whole gun issue? Here are some reasons:
1) Self- defense. The most touted reason by the NRA ( whom I DO NOT endorse)and gun- nuts everywhere. And you know what? They are absolutely goddamn right . America is an insanely violent society full of some of the most incredibly stupid people found on the planet. Guns, legal in some cases, illegal in most others, are used to carjack SUVs, obtain the latest style of sneakers, and to settle the question of who pays for a case of beer. Now throw contemporary teabagger politics in the mix. There are armed people out there who are convinced that socialists are the spawn of Satan. Literally.
2) Guns are cool. Blasting the hell out of paper, clay pigeons, or a side of beef is awesome fun. Just remember to play safe, comrades. Guns can also get you food, like venison or duck.
3) Owning a gun is one of my rights. Yeah, some smart ass who is terrified of the idea of the grotty little proles being armed will point out that the second amendment refers to organizing a militia. I can argue the flaws in that logic for the next two weeks but instead I will give the standard answer when a self- proclaimed constitutional scholar gets in my face: "Fuck you, you aren't a god damned time- traveling mind- reader who went back to 1791 and scanned the brain waves of the framers of the fucking constitution ( I yell this at teabaggers a lot )." I know what the 2nd amendment means to most Americans now and the right for the average citizen in the street to own a firearm is a fine interpretation to me.
Now, let's move on to the fun part- guns that cash-strapped Reds can afford.
Yeah, I know, being a Red means you probably don't spend a lot of time poring over your stock portfolio. But you want to send some lead downrange or want something more substantial than a butter knife to defend yourself. Rest easy- affordable shooting is an obsessions of gun- nuts like myself. Here's a few super affordable firearms:
1) Military surplus bolt- action rifles. Recently, Eastern European armies cleaned out their arsenals and sent their old rifles to the states by the boat- load. Russian Mosin- Nagants are the cheapest, running between $80.00 to $200.00. The cheaper ones are a crap- shoot: some work surprisingly well for a 70 year old rifle, others show their age. There are some cool little Mosin- Nagant carbines out there, too, if you don't mind the mule- kick recoil. Calibre is 7.62x 54R, and ammunition cheap and plentiful.
A step up in price and quality are the Mauser rifles coming out of Serbia. You can get the Pre- World War Two M 24 or the Post- War M48. They run between $150.00 to $300.00. Both fire the 8mm Mauser cartridge, which is not too common in the U.S. and therefore is fairly expensive.
These are the two most common, with Lee- Enfields running a distant third. Bolt- action rifles are great fun to shoot, make excellent hunting weapons, but the drawback is they are not so good for defending yourself unless you are on a battlefield.
2) AK and SKS. The ultimate People's Rifles. The SKS is a semi- automatic carbine firing the 7.62x 39mm cartridge ( aka as 7.62mm Soviet). This cartridge is known in military circles as " intermediate"- that is it is somewhere in between a pistol and full- sized rifle cartridge in power. This makes the SKS pleasant to shoot, though it is heavy. The AK was also originally chambered for this cartridge but now are available in other calibres, with 5.45x 39mm ( the successor to the 7.62mm Soviet) and 5.56x 45mm ( the standard rifle calibre of NATO) being the most popular.
Not too long ago even previously owned AKs were financially out of bounds to cash- strapped shooters. Right- wing knuckledraggers, duped by reactionary media into thinking that the Obama administration was going to make disarming the public priority one, rushed out and bought every damn " assault" rifle they could get their hands on. The result was an excellent example of supply- and- demand: the price of even cheap rifles like AKs skyrocketed. Speculators tried to cash in on the bonanza and bought up even more AKs. I bet the owners of gun stores everywhere were secretly very pleased that " socialist" Barack Obama was elected.
Well, if you are in the market to buy a Kalashnikov rifle these days you are in luck. Because after binge buying for a year right- wing morons across the country woke up one day to find that their living room floors were buried under AKs. Desperate, they have been putting them back on the glutted market at rock- bottom prices. A Romanian or Polish AK that sold for over $500.00 last year now can be had for about $300.00, if you do some bargain hunting.
3) Hi- Point. This company took the Kalashnikov concept- make it cheap, make it solid, make it work - and ran with it. Their firearms are butt ugly and heavy. But you can count on them to send lead downrange consistently and accurately. And working class people can easily afford them. Most of their handguns sell for around $150.00.
Their carbines are extremely popular and are beloved by the sub- class of gun- nut who shows up at the range and out- shoots the gun snobs with their pimped out $1, 500.00 AR- 15s ( civilian version of the M- 16) with a rifle that costs under $300.00. Available in 9mm Parabellum or .40 S&W ( very common pistol calibres used by the police and military)these carbines are hugely affordable to own and shoot.
4) Kel- Tec. A step up in cost from Hi- Point, Kel- Tec also makes pistol calibre carbines. For an increase of about $100.00 you get a carbine that looks more aesthetically pleasing and is a little lighter. The cool thing is that they fold- which makes them easy to transport and clean. Kel- Tec also makes the cheapest carbine you will find chambered for .223 Remington, a real rifle calibre and a very common type of ammunition.
5) The Makarov. The 9x 18mm ( not the same as 9mm Parabellum) Makarov was the Red Army's standard pistol during the Cold War. Many were imported, and continue to be imported, into the U.S.A. after the Soviet Union fell apart and the Mafia Republik was set- up in its place. It retails in the U.S.A. for about $250.00- $300.00.
The Makarov comes in for its share of shit from NRA Queens who curl their lip at the little commie gun while they polish their $1,000.00 Kimber .45s but truth is that in the right hands ( mine) the little mass produced gun will easily out shoot the thoroughbreds. The Makarov's short barrel points naturally at the target- don't bother with the sights. It is ultra reliable. I have fired hundreds of rounds through mine and the sucker has never malfunctioned. Not once. It is also built like a brick shit house. It ain't gonna break.
This is currently my favorite " cheap" gun. However, there is a major downside. The Mak isn't built with a lot of safety features like a Western handgun. Drop a Glock on the floor and it will not go off. Drop a Mak and it might. So don't drop it.
So there's a small selection of cheap guns for working class folks. If you can afford it, by all means get a Glock ( they aren't much more expensive than the $300.00 limit I imposed in this article) or an AR-15. Just remember, if you get a gun, the expenses are just beginning. You have assumed a huge responsibility to yourself, family, and the rest of us to operate your gun in a safe manner. You need to practice- that means range time ( at least once a month) and ammunition. You should take a basic firearms safety course, and if you plan to carry a weapon on your person you have to get a Concealed Carry license. All of this means money.
But if you do want to be a gun- owning Red, don't be intimidated by the above. Get your gun, get your ammo, and hit the range.
P.S. Nothing is more fun about being a gun- toting Leftist than confounding Right- Wing stereotypes. There are a lot more of us than you think. Check these guys out.

Let the corporate bidding begin!

The most active sector of society has shifted to the right. And I'm not talking about the Teabaggers.

I'm talking about this report from the Washington Post re: corporate donations to the Grand Ole Party. So we're pretty much assured a shift to the right come November.

Don't get me wrong: it looks like it's going to be close at this stage. Obama's victory is still a perceived landmark for the little-f-left, despite the fact that the man and his administration have left ample space in every issue for criticism among every stripe of supporter. A lot of people still believe in what he fundamentally stands for - hope, change, all that jazz. And he's still African-American, although he's a Kenyan-American, basically, and doesn't exactly come from the tradition of "black America." He's just very much a hand-holding liberal politician, which makes him a corporate puppet when all is said and done.

The economic crisis and the mandate of a new President, however, has put a little bit of fight back in the left's diverse forces. (Just a little bit.) The future seems grim indeed, but there are other sectors of the left getting ready to fight back against the attacks on their standards of living - the nurses who care for us when we are ill (the battle in Minnesota has been foreshadowed by the struggle in Philadelphia), and the teachers whose responsibility it is to groom our generations despite lack of funding and backwards legislation.

These are the two places where struggle is very likely to break out in the near future. We aren't done reclaiming our country from the grip of the last administration's mistakes. (Boy howdy, there were a lot ... have we even gotten started yet?)

Unfortunately, the unions will continue to throw money at the Democrats with the misguided hope that they can possibly compete with corporations like the finance industry, like big oil and big weapons industries that basically ensure they get their man.

They tossed a black man on top of the bureaucracy heap and called it "socialism." Without further explanation, and with tiny reforms that could have taken place under anyone, right or left, the media and political system has again villainized left ideas and government oversight and allowed the rabid right to appear credible and heroic.

So come November we will indeed see some fucking nutty Republicans, maybe even some far-right independents where the Republicans can't accomodate the clueless constituents. We will see Democrats continue to crumple spinelessly. Hopefully the mountains of cash from corporate America doesn't tip the scales entirely, but the real catalyst for change rests as usual on the shoulders of the American working class.

Armed And Dimwitted

One thing you should know about commies- a lot of us own guns. Despite the stereotype of granola- crunching, sandle- wearing, pacifistic leftists propagated by the blowhards on The Man's News network most of us are just ordinary workin' folk- some of whom enjoy hunting, skeet, or blasting the hell out of tin cans with a semi- automatic rifle as much as any conservative.
There are a growing number of us Lefty shooters organizing at the grassroots level to counter the uber right and corrupt political activities of the National Rifle Association. Firearm ownership has been described by that same organization as an " awesome responsibilty" yet its membership seems determined to act in a awesomely stupid and irresponsible manner.Just look at the recent gathering of openly armed,overweight white dudes in northern VA. They claimed to be defending their 2nd Amendment rights. Yeah, sure guys. What you really wanted to do was parade around in public with a rifle slung over your shoulder and intimidate people you see in your myopic world view as " un- American".
Its that kind of crap, which the NRA remains silent on or even endorses, which is spurring the growth of alternative gunowner organizations who believe that it's not cool for a maniac to walk into a gun show and purchase any damn thing he wants. Or believe that walking around in public trying to scare the shit out of people is kind of an asshole thing to do.
But then again, could you imagine the pants- shitting FOX & Friends would do if a hundred Reds marched through a park with AR- 15s and AKs on their shoulders? Hmmmmm... May Day is coming up.

Glenn Beck's A Feeble History Of The United States

The spectacle of the elites of a civilization desperately trying to maintain their status by dwelling on the glorious, morally upright, and largely mythical past is well known to historians. Whether it was the Roman Senator Cato The Younger's fashion to ape his ancient ancestors by going " commando" under his toga, or a Russian nationalist depiction of the Romanov dynasty as a period of enlightenment and prosperity , the attempts of various rulers to restore their lost prestige and power usually end up at the very least being ludicrous and at worst horribly destructive.
This is what we are witnessing among America's ruling class right now. Despite all evidence to the contrary, the conservative movement still believes without question that unregulated capitalism will save their empire. They look back upon the Gilded Age as the model of economic efficiency and freedom.
And that was all too apparent in Glenn Beck's latest train- wreck of a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in which in a crazy stream of ( un )conciousness way he weaves a alternate history of the Progressive Movement in the U.S.A. According to Beck, Theodore Roosevelt was practically a communist, Herbert Hoover was a progressive ( !), and the Progressive Movement was responsible for the Great Depression.
Typically of today's reactionary propagandists, Beck cherry picks a few facts and phrases from a shallow reading of a history book, and pulls a historical fantasy out of his ass. Forget details like how the word " progressive" meant a very different thing to the anti- union, pro- imperialist Theodore Roosevelt than it did to socialists like Eugene Debs. Or that the segregationist Woodrow Wilson was reviled by the American Left.Or that Herbert Hoover sat on his thumbs and waited for the all- knowing capitalists to pull the economy together for the rest of his term. No, in the Beckian world of mutable oversimplification, progressives have to be one monolithic movement, with Republicans identifying themselves as the least bit reformist being cast out of GOP history to join evildoers like Karl Marx and John Lennon.
Its all part of the struggle to re- make the GOP into the ubercapitalist party. Rather than make reformist gestures to keep the workers from waking up and demanding revolution, like Theodore Roosevelt did, the radical Christian, laissez- faire Republicans of today placate their proletarian base by re- writing history. They portray the Robber Baron phase of capitalism as a paradise, where every American had a house with a white picket fence, was amply rewarded for an honest day's work, and would be a millionaire if he had drive and talent. No mention of 16- hour days for a wage that could not cover the basic needs of life, the destruction of the family as husband, wife, and child all slaved away in the mines, factories, and mills of the bosses, or the rampant racism that terrorized and humiliated people of color throughout the country.
Beck and his followers also seem to be unwilling or unable to notice that the very politicians they support are the very ones who lobby incescently on the behalf of transnational corporations to send American jobs overseas, drive down the wages of the the jobs that remain, pollute their local environments, etc., etc. Through do- it- yourself history, the Robber Barons of old become the heroes and the workers who fought for the rights that many of their descendants enjoy are the villans.
Which suits the Global Robber Barons of today just fine.

Tempest in a Teapot

My international network of Marxist socialists informs me of two protests at the Washington State Capitol yesterday, superficially for or against "raising taxes." In a nutshell: the first group were Teabaggers, those beloved right-populists who draw on the stock imagery of the Revolutionary War to make their stand against unfair taxation. The character of this group, which is getting national media coverage disproportionate to their numbers (as can be seen in the above article), appears to be mostly nationalists, conservatives from the working class, and supporters of small business. It's a movement backed, essentially, by politicians and the wealthy.

The second group in Olympia was a coalition of education workers, rank-and-file AFSCME (representing state, county, and municipal workers), and dozens of other unions and progressive organizations. While this group didn't have a strong slogan - something like "no more cuts" doesn't really challenge the "no more tax" slogan that strikes a reactionary chord in the red-white-and-blue heart - there were numerous signs showing a more piercing solution: "Tax the rich," "Money for jobs, not war."

Straining to move its money-oiled muscles, the Republican populists drummed up 3,000 people. Then AFSCME and other unions just peek up their head and the grass-roots progressive come out with minimum summons: over 5,000 strong. Chances are good that if a broader coalition of labor came out with a more progressive stance - pressuring the Democrats to raise taxes on the rich, for example - even more supports would fall in and join their voice to the movement. The Teabaggers are so bankrupt in ideology that they must round out their strength with cold hard cash. They rely on their novelty, their patriotism, their big names and their batshit crazy eccentricity to bag them media coverage. If CNN ignored them for two months, they and their numbskull mouthpieces would have gone the way of "the Macarena" after last April's Tea Party hissy-fits.

Speaking of Sarah Palin, her address to the "National Tea Party" this month seems like a good direction to take this analysis. What she said there in Nashville deserves to live on in history, because history will make sure she lives to regret her big fat mouth.

"America is ready for another revolution and you are a part of it."

When I saw that she said that, that those actual words came out of her actual face, I couldn't believe it. Revolution. That is a rather large word for Palin - and a dangerous one at that. The ruling class of politicians - Republican or Democrat, right or center right - doesn't want the working class waving signs in the streets unless it can be very carefully controlled. Olympia's progressives were given just enough media coverage that they could feel warm and fuzzy about their part in the political protest but they were by no means lauded in the newspaper. It isn't policy to encourage that sort of pro-active behavior. (Imagine if Democrat politicians had called for national strikes and walk-outs in favor of the President's public option - 'nuff said ... for now.) If you must have a march, you are given a permit and a police escort, a blurb and a pat on the back, and then sent right back into work, missy, and don't you worry, Washington has you covered.

The establishment doesn't want the masses out on the streets. It wants to keep public discourse wrapped up in bureaucratic channels so that policy in pursuit of profit can be very delicately managed. To them, a protest is a barometer. It's maybe a step above getting letters in the mail. Note where Washington state governor Gregoire says, "Let's have a good discussion, let's be respectful of each other." Using this parliamentary language with either side is an exercise in futility. Calling the people into the street is asking the djinn out of the bottle: something is going to be done. The cards are down. It is a measure of power, not the high school debate team. (During a labor strike it is yet more so a measure of power, but that is a discussion for another time.)

And that is, perhaps, the ironic thing about Palin's speech ... that is, perhaps, the ironic thing about the Teabagger movement in general. It isn't significant when a politician or a corprocrat comes to a rally. They have ulterior motives; they are playing the fame game, a popularity contest. And what a dangerous line it is to walk, because calling the people into the streets gives them a taste of agency. The working class by nature is revolutionary - nothing in this nation or any other runs, flies, ships, drives, or rolls off an assembly line without the hands and heads of the working class. I do not mean by this that every working class movement is a progressive movement, merely that if workers are called to the street and get a taste of power, they make or break a political movement.

Palin and her peers would be well served to remember this. Actual revolutions are not a sentimental thing. No true movement would think twice about throwing her to the wayside to realize its own character. And she, and her movement, are practical bereft of any but the most sentimental demands. In the coming months and years we will see how this plays out - and how, presumably, the Republicans will sell out what few confused grass-roots supporters they have.