John Boehner Said What About Our Helping Cover BP's Costs?

Right now, I don't think that this is the time to talk about the American taxpayer helping to cover the costs of the BP spill. Remember, this is still BP's fault John Boehner. And I suppose our helping Wall Street and GM was "bad" for America, but helping an oil company, one of the richest companies on the planet, will be "good" for America. I wonder if the tea people agree?

Perhaps Now is the Time for a Graceful Exit for Helen Thomas (and Take Pat Buchanan With You, PLEASE)

I don't think that there is any doubt that journalist Helen Thomas made a terrible statement that was essentially ahistorical in content. I certainly support a two state solution in Israel, and I also think that the current leadership in the country Cheney-like in its obstinate to any suggestion that moves a peace process forward. But to say that Jews should go back to Germany, Poland and the U.S. ignores the history of the Jews in Palestine and the deadly history of Jews in Europe. Now might be time for Thomas to retire gracefully. She has had an incredible career, and has really raised the bar for women in journalism. Those are things to be proud of.

I added that Pat Buchanan should join Thomas in retiring. And I can't think of much Buchanan has said or done worth acknowledging.

UPDATE: Helen Thomas has decided to retire, according to the Washington Post.

My Summer Reading Assignment: A New Life of E. M. Forster

Every summer I try to make sure to read some new history or biography, if only to keep my mind agile. I plan to read the new biography of E.M. Forster, which got a solid review from the New York Times. The biography benefits from the release of new papers from Forster's estate, and provides us fans with a more nuanced understanding of Forster, and what motivated him to write novels, and consequently, what caused him to stop. At the close of the linked London Times article on Forster, there is a wonderful journal entry from Forster that spoke to me (though I am far from 85): "Now I am 85 how annoyed I am with society for wasting my time by making homosexuality criminal. The subterfuges and the self-consciousnesses that might have been avoided."

I think he spoke for all of us who struggled with acknowledging our sexuality, and I am glad that we have moved to a place where kids are coming out as early as middle school and demanding to be respected. I think Forster would have looked upon those young gays with awe. And I am looking forward to learning more about one of my all time favorite authors.

"Only connect!"

South Carolina on My Mind II

I am glad that I went to graduate school in South Carolina, met and became friends with conservative Republicans while I was there, and those are the only reasons that I cannot write off that state as a whole. But the GOP politicians of South Carolina continue to make a good case for wishing that these disturbed folks could stop ruining the reputation of a rather beautiful place.

From "you lie" Joe Wilson, to "it will be his Waterloo" Jim DeMint, to "don't feed the strays" Andre Bauer, to "rag heads" Jake Knotts, I wonder if that lot has truly lost its collective mind.

But again, I recognize that there remain good people there (or from there), whom I can identify, and with whom I still speak, who see the world in ways that are vastly different than I do. And I want to believe that they would renounce the things that Bauer and Knotts said, and would be better raised than to say publicly what Wilson and DeMint said (even though they likely supported it).

I doubt that I could live there at this point. I would likely spend most of my time in a state of constant anger based on the overwhelmingly conservative politics of the state (even from some of the Dems), and I don't know if enough trips to Folly Beach, or Table Rock, or Drayton Hall would help make it better. I do, however, think that it is a shame that these people are becoming seared into the national conscience as representative of South Carolina, because I think they are doing the state a grave disservice. Yet, I know that there are hundreds of thousands of South Carolinians who are cheering on even the words of say Bauer and Knotts.

Yet for every Andre Bauer or Jake Knotts, there are likely five Ty'Sheoma Betheas out there who remind me not to write off South Carolina, and I won't.

Why Not Create a Temporary Government Jobs Program to Help the Folks in the Gulf (and Make BP Pay For It)?

There are many times when Chris Matthews just works my nerves, but when he is on, man he is on. Last night was an example of that. I think that he was right to share a really great idea, one that BP should pay for.

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Matthews invoked the New Deal era CCC program, but he stopped at volunteerism. Why not really make it into a CCC-like program and pay folks to go the Gulf Coast and help out? If you look at what Rachel Maddow was talking about last night, then it becomes clear that we could create an overall short term jobs program related to helping the people of the Gulf coast, from Louisiana to Florida.

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If, as Maddow says, manpower is a problem for preventing the oil from coming ashore, then isn't it possible that Obama could propose an actual temporary jobs bill, and make sure that the tab goes to BP. The workers could do the various and sundry things needed to help the people in the areas under direct threat, from laying out boom to cleaning animals to whatever. It can be a temporary program. It can cost the American taxpayer nothing, and it's a great way to make a wayward company pay for the tons of perks that it received over the years.

Adolescent Music Flashback: U2

I think that "Gloria" was one of the first videos I saw on the fledgling MTV back in the day, and I'd heard nothing like it. The guitar riffs from The Edge and the voce of Bono Vox were all new to me (I must have been around 13), and I really liked what I heard. I also developed an immediate crush on Bono. And somehow it made sense to me that U2 was not from the U.S.



Once I found out the name of the group, I was determined to watch MTV to see if they would do any other videos, and they did not disappoint. "Two Hearts Beat as One" and "New Year's Day" sealed the deal for me (and it was also when I noticed Larry Mullen, Jr.), and I was a fan of U2. Both of those songs are classics, total classics, and "War" was the first U2 album (yes, album) that I bought.





I don't think I'd considered the idea that U2 had a political perspective of any sort until I actually listened to the songs "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," and eventually "Pride (In the Name of Love)." The latter still gives me chills when I listen to it, just incredible.





By the time "The Joshua Tree" came out, I was a freshman in college, and I totally remember a good friend of mine from one of the nearby women's colleges calling to tell me that she'd heard "With or Without You," and to prepare for the goodness. She was so money with that assessment. I loved every track on "The Joshua Tree," particularly "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," and "Bullet the Blue Sky."





U2 is still doing it after all of these years, and sometimes it is hard to believe that it's the same group that I happened to see at random all those years ago. They have definitely done Ireland proud, and they gave a black teen from Virginia some great music to remember.

What About the Lives of those in the Gulf Coast Mr. Hayward?

Sadly, I am not surprised that the CEO of BP is whining about wanting his "life back." I just wish that he'd said that in a room full of Louisiana fishermen who are on the brink of losing their livelihood for at least a generation, if the spill projections are correct. Those folks, unlike Tony Hayward, will not get their lives back once the hole is plugged and the clean up begins. As with almost any corporate CEO, Hayward will likely be more concerned with the chlorine levels in his pool than with the lives and livelihoods that his corporation destroyed throughout the Gulf coast region. I am sure that Rand Paul sympathizes primarily with Hayward, after all, "accidents happen."