Takin' it to the streets.

"Takin' it to the Streets" was the first Doobie Brothers album and single to feature Michael McDonald. It's significance was it took the band from it's power bass trio beginnings to include more keyboards.  It was also the first step in the band's journey from arena rock to county fairs. "Takin' it to the streets" is also the 2011 theme for 99ers. Here's hoping "takin' to the streets" is more successful for the 99ers.

Takin' it to the streets is necessary for the 99ers for many reasons, of which I will list two:

The previous strategy of fax/phone/email bombardment failed to produce significant press coverage or legislative debate.  The phone/email/fax rallies with the "One Nation" rally and other regional marches helped get the solitary unproductive Senate vote for TierV Simply put, doing more of the same will produce more non-results.  This is not a reflection on the efforts, dedication, judgement or commitment of the various people and groups responsible for all the efforts for the 99ers in 2010. Unfortunately these talented dedicated advocates produced a product with no tangible results. Remember Betamax and Prodigy? It happens.

As a rather long aside, before I leave 2010 I want to send a great big wet kiss to Ed Schultz. After putting HCR front and center daily on his shows, Ed was asked to take up the cause of the 99ers.  He stuck his neck out, said yes and became our strongest media advocate. The results were unwelcome, but without his efforts I think many would have no idea what it means to be a 99er. Love you, Big Ed, keep on telling the truth. Please forgive my digression.

Logic may be a rare commodity in the 112th Congress.  For example Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) a Tea Party freshman this past Sunday on "Meet The Press". As part of a roundtable discussing the ramifications of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Labrador was asked about gun control.

MR. GREGORY:  ...a, a view about the guns, the debate here.

REP. LABRADOR:  We have to be careful of this debate a little bit. Washington, D.C., last week had seven murders, and they have some of the most--strictest gun laws in, in the United States.  So I don't know that it's the gun laws that are going to make the differences.  It's the responsibility that each individual has to, to carry guns safely.  And, and, you know, there's still a question about law enforcement.  This man was known to be deranged, and he was also known to have already said some things about certain officials in town.  So where was law enforcement?  And we need to ask those questions.

I'm not sure what Labrador's inference was about law enforcement, but it appears that in the same thought on defending the 2nd Amendment he wants to limit the 1st Amendment.  I realize consistency is not the strength of Teapublicans but shouldn't the entire Bill of Rights be equal in the same statement? It is unreasonable to think that faxes, email (logic?) etc will sway this inconsistent thought process.

It's time for 99ers to take the debate (as if) for TierV beyond the logic of the head and speak to the emotion of the heart. It's time to go beyond well intentioned but marginally successful conventional methods. It's time for takin' it to the streets.

TierV to survive.

Not by might.

On Saturday, January 8, 2011 Jared Loughner attempted to kill Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He failed but managed to kill 6 others and wound 14 including Rep. Giffords.  This act of non-random violence by a crazed individual has renewed the call for a more civil tone in the ongoing political debate about everything. This appears to be rather complex since no one has laid out a road map for decreasing the vitriol.

In unrelated news Debbie Friedman succumbed to pneumonia Sunday, January 9, 2011.  Friedman had an extraordinary voice not only in the literal sense but also in her interpretation and presentation of scriptural and liturgical themes. Her body of work spanned 50+ years. Some of her music has been incorporated into regular worship at many congregations. Her songs will still be sung for generations.

One of Debbie Friedman's earliest compositions was her adaptation of Zechariah 4:6:
 "Not by might and not by power, but by spirit alone shall we all live in peace." Imagine that.

Peace achieved via spirit, whether divinely inspired or simply the spirit of community before self. That's the recipe for peace. Too simplistic in a complex world?  The best way to attack complicated projects is to break the problems down to simple, basic components and put those pieces together to reach the goal. And the goal is simple: Turn down the heat and increase civility in the political debate. Begin with spirit, it's that simple.

Not by might and not by power but by spirit alone shall we all live in peace.

Politics means never having to say you're sorry.

Yesterday's post was written to be non-partisan. I hope I succeeded. Today, not so non-partisan.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik criticized vitriolic political rhetoric during a press conference about the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He in turn was criticized by Sen. Jon Kyl and vitriolic right wing bloggers for having the temerity to suggest that perhaps the tone of  political conversation might have contributed to the attack. Some have even called Sheriff Dupnik's comments an attack on the 1st Amendment.

Have you ever walked into a room full of children to find family heirloom in pieces on the floor and ask "What happened?" The 1st one that says "I didn't do it" is the culprit. Perhaps if the Sheriff's criticism didn't hit the target, the response wouldn't be as vociferous? More importantly, in Brandenberg v. Ohio the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously found that speech likely to incite imminent lawless action is not protected by the 1st Amendment.  I believe an attempt to kill a U.S. Representative qualifies as imminent lawless action. Also, Sheriff Dupnik never suggested abridging anyone's 1st Amendment rights. He merely suggested exercising restraint in rhetoric,a nuance obviously lost to right wing hate mongers. Finally, Sheriff Dupnik did not ascribe the counterproductive caustic rhetoric to either (any) political philosophy. The offense taken by the right wing blogosphere proclaims "the lady doth protest too much, methink."

Instead I suggest the offended angry right go learn the lesson of Sue Lowden.  Ms. Lowden was the front runner for Nevada Republican nomination to challenge Harry Reid for Senate. Polls showed Lowden way ahead of Reid in a general election. (Un)fortunately Ms. Lowden, while attempting to criticize Pres. Obama's health care reform initiative, made a remark about bartering chickens for health care. When asked about her non-21st century approach to affordable health care, Lowden chose to reiterate rather than retract the statement. Both Harry Reid and Sharron Engle capitalized on this gaffe. Engle won the Republican nomination and Harry Reid won the Senate race. A simple "I chose my words poorly" and Sue Lowden would likely be Senator Lowden and the Republicans might control the Senate. That's the power of "I'm sorry."

The responsibility for the high volume discord pervasive in today's political climate does not rest solely with any party. Still if one (either) party is unwilling to consider they're portion of the mess jointly created, the mess can't be cleaned, not even for the memory of a nine year old girl.

The day before

My Rabbi taught: "Say the Shema the day before you die". " Rabbi, How will I know when it's the day before I die?" "It's best to say the Shema every day, just to be sure", he replied.

Over the last 36 hours everyone seems intent on releasing a statement about the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The county dog catcher just released a statement decrying the random act of violence of a single cuckoo.

Note to all those well intentioned (and even those myopic, cover my ass, not so well intentioned): Next time try and make the statements before it's a day late and six dead short.

Silence isn't golden.

There was a shooting yesterday in Tucson, AZ.  There were shootings in other cities in the world, too. The target  in Tucson was Representative Gabrielle Giffords. The shooter killed six and wounded nineteen. The shooting took place at a scheduled public event for Representative Giffords. Speculation is that the shooting was politically motivated. I don't think the victims families care about the shooter's reasons.

In October I posted about thuggery during the last weeks of the 2010 midterm election. I cited cases of intimidation on behalf of Republican candidates and the milquetoast (if any) response of the candidates. To be clear, scare tactics are non-partisan.  To further clarify, Sen. Rand Paul, Rep. Eric Cantor or any other politician are not responsible for the shooting in Tucson yesterday.  The responsibility for the shooting rest solely with the assassin and any accomplices, no one else. I apologize that the only examples I cite involve Republicans; both sides have quietly benefited from bullying. The incidents I selected were readily available to me.

The Pima County Sheriff expressed his displeasure at the vitriolic tenor of political discourse in this country.  I agree with him but the approach is too simplistic. Although violence (as was in this case) is calculated the results of violence are random.  3 senior citizens, a nine year old and a judge are among the collateral damage of yesterday's shooting of Rep. Giffords. Now that it's timely to say something, it's also too late. You can't wait until people are dead to decry violence and it's causes. If you want to lead from the Capitol or the Statehouse, from in front of a camera or at a microphone you need to call this stuff out before the word "victim" is used. Every day violence must condemned. It isn't newsworthy when you talk about it everyday. That's the point.