Dear Mr. Romney....

Of course it's unlikely Mitt Romney will ever read this blog or my rather blunt "letter" to him, but here goes......

Dear Mr. Romney,

I read news reports daily about the "Sarah Palin Controversy."  It seems you or someone on your staff believes it would be unwise for Mrs. Palin to have a speaking role at the August Republican Convention in Tampa.  At this point the news is a dull roar, but it's not going away and it's getting louder daily.

I could easily make a case that snubbing Sarah Palin is a serious mistake because her supporters are so loyal and their support is so critical to your success. But I'm guessing your large and well paid staff have analyzed this factor and believe the benefits of her presence are outweighed by the liabilities, whatever those liabilities might be.

So my point today concerns another big factor in your potential success.  I'll summarize it in two parts.  Number ONE, the mainstream media really prefers President Barack Obama and their reports will be slanted against you throughout the convention.  There is nothing you can do about this, it's a fact of life in American Politics.

But, Number TWO, the media really, really loves controversy.  And snubbing Palin is just the raw meat the media craves.  I believe that, by leaving Palin on the sidelines, the convention will actually become ALL PALIN, ALL THE TIME.  She'll get massive amounts of media coverage, interviews and more.  Your messages will be drowned out by an error you can easily avoid right now.  

Invite her and give her a prominent speaking role and she'll electrify the base.  Omit her and she'll be the ghost that haunts your convention every night.

I know there are ill feelings between you and the former Governor.  She has been critical of you on more than one occasion.  But it is actually that criticism that gives her so much credibility among the base.  Embrace her and that all that credibility will flow over to you.

Sincerely,

Bob Keller,

Wizard Extraordinaire 

Religious Zealotry

These are modern times.  Religious Zealotry is no longer confined to the worship of a god or goddess.  It can be an equally blind dedication to any idol, a dedication that moves beyond admiration or even belief and into worship at the expense of all other goals, ideas, morals and principles.

While we are all familiar with the traditional religious zealotry of the far right conservative Christians and the Islamic Fundamentalists, there is equal and even more destructive zealotry on what we call the "left" or Progressive end of the political spectrum.

Because such zealotry is blind, the zealots often don't realize they are violating their very own stated principles and ideals.  Lately I've seen way too many examples of the leftist zealotry and it makes me terribly uncomfortable.

As a Liberal I strongly believe in diversity, tolerance and acceptance of all races, religions, sexual orientations, and even diverse value sets and lifestyles.  This view or principle is stated often by ALL who claim to be liberals and progressives.  You can see it and read it and discuss it on every liberal blog and progressive forum.  Tolerance and acceptance are the holy grail of Liberal beliefs.

Except........ it seems the VAST and VOCAL majority of self proclaimed liberals and progressives don't believe a damned word of it.  It seems their beliefs on any issue is actually a RELIGIOUS DOGMA that cannot and must not ever be violated.  These so-called Liberals are nothing more than the Taliban of the Left.

One need look no further than famous (and incredibly talented) actor Brad Pitt's mother to see the Taliban of the Left in action.

Jane Pitt wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper in response to another letter.  In what ought to be a liberal example of TOLERANCE she actually admonished a conservative Christian for his prejudice against the Mormon religion.  Jane Pitt urged fellow Christians to vote for the man who shared their ideals of being "pro-life" and opposing "gay marriage," even if Mr. Romney didn't share their exact Christian faith.

Now, to be certain Jane was vocal and aggressive in her opposition to President Obama attacked his positions on these same issues.

Of course I personally disagree with Jane Pitt's position on both gay marriage and abortion.  But, tragically, many of my fellow (not really) liberals and progressives took it much further.

Hollywood rose up and attacked Mrs. Pitt with vile and horrific glee.  And the Twitterverse was even worse:

“BRAD PITT’S MOM WROTE AN ANTI-GAY PRO-ROMNEY EDITORIAL. KILL THE B***H.”
“Brad Pitt’s mom, die”

“F*** you, Brad Pitt’s mom. The gay community made your kid a star, you whacko.”

“Brad Pitt’s mother…what a brainless old b***h…”

“Brad Pitt’s Mom Slams Obama, Gays. That stand makes her a deluded, dumba** Fascist Repuke”

“I hope Brad Pitt has been supporting his mother and decides to cut her off. What a b***h.”

“Brad Pitt’s mom can choke on a (redacted).”

Jane Pitt has also received numerous death threats and the attacks are unrelenting.  The Hollywood attacks have been played out all over television. 

What disgusts me most is that (so far) Brad Pitt himself has been silent.  He can't bring himself to step up to the plate and defend his mother. In fact the only prominent Hollywood voice to defend Mrs. Pitt is Jon Voight, Brad Pitt's Father-in-Law (Angelina Jolie's father).

As usual, conservative firebrand Michelle Malkin has said it best: "Hollywood and the American left love diversity, except when it offends their “progressive” value system."

An excellent article on Jane Pitt's letter and the Hollywood backlash can be found in The Huffington Post

UPDATE 7/12/2012: Brilliant blogger B. Daniel Blatt also defends Jane Pitt over on The Gay Patriot.  This short essay is a must read confirmation of the misplaced hatred of the left in attacking Mrs. Pitt unfairly.

Genocide

The violence has become so horrific that it DEMANDS the President make a speech from the Oval Office during prime time.  Our civic leaders need to rise as one and demand the powerful United States take a stand for the sake of humanity.  A generation is being murdered.  And, worst of all, we're not talking about Darfur or Cambodia or any far off land, we're talking about the President's home town, Chicago.


Chicago is experiencing between 40 and 50 shootings every weekend.  About 9 end in fatalities.  Almost all the dead are minorities.  Almost all the shooters are minorities, too.

This year there have been 228 gun deaths in Chicago, so far. Actually, that number is a week old, so it's higher now.  While also a tragedy, there have been 144 American deaths in Afghanistan.  Unlike the 228 Chicago number, the Afghanistan number includes deaths for all reasons, accidents, and roadside bombs.   The Chicago number is gun murders only.


This isn't a new phenomena.  Sine the war in Afghanistan started, all the way back in 2001, we've lost 2,000 troops.  


But that number is dwarfed by the gun deaths in Chicago.  Since we first invaded Afghanistan, Chicagoans have murdered 5,000 other Chicagoans, nearly two and a half times more than American lives lost in Afghanistan.


Yet we hear about the war in Afghanistan nightly.  ABC, CBS and NBC have reporters stationed in Afghanistan.  We marvel at their bravery.


Congress has held literally HUNDREDS of hearings on Afghanistan.  Presidents Bush and Obama have held numerous press briefings on Afghanistan.  There have been dozens of plans, strategies, troop build-ups and plans for victory in Afghanistan.


In waging the war in Afghanistan the United States has spent between $2.3 and $2.7 TRILLION DOLLARS!!  In Chicago we've spent virtually nothing.  There are no troops. Hell, there are damned few police.  And few murders are solved, most are just chalked up to gang violence.

Why do allow this tragedy to continue?  Even worse, Chicago is just one city plagued with murders and gun violence. In all of America over 4,000 are murdered yearly.


When will President Obama give the long overdue speech from the oval office?

Gone and Pretty Well Damned Near Forgotten

As of June 10th there have been no arrests and there are no suspects in the Los Angeles gangland murder of 14 month old baby boy, Angel Mauro Cortez-Nava.  You might accidentally remember Angel since I just wrote about his murder a few days ago in the obviously forgettable post, The Black Teenage Boy in the Hoodie.


There are no suspects and no arrests in spite of the fact that the murderer rode by on a bicycle and shot into a crowd gathered on little Angel's front lawn.


There are no suspects and no arrests in spite of a $100,000.00 REWARD offered by the Los Angeles City Council and the LA Kings Hockey Team.


There are no arrests and no suspects in spite of the well known gang activity in the neighborhood, multiple previous murders and the attention of the LA Police Gang Crime Unit.


A quick review of Google News Feeds show there have been no news updates on this story for three days.


The Silence of the Lambs.


Angel will be forgotten, except by his family. Even I will undoubtedly stop blogging about this story eventually.  Based on the overwhelming outpouring of comments so far, no one actually cares.

Oh, and for those who care about that "other" murder, you know the one where the black teenage boy wearing a hoodie was killed in a scuffle in a "gated community" by a neighborhood watch patrol member.  That suspect, George Zimmerman, is still in jail, awaiting trail for the murder.  That trial will receive maximum 24 hour news coverage.

UPDATE: (6/29/2012) A fifteen year old boy, Donald Ray Dokins, has been arrested for the murder of Angel Cortez. The Los Angeles District Attorney has said he will be charged as an adult and faces life in prison.  Donald is suspected in other murders.

The Black Teenage Boy in the Hoodie

Back on April 2nd I wrote that the Trayvon Martin murder got so much press because it was so exceedingly rare.  Indeed, people are almost never murdered in gated communities by Neighborhood Watch patrols.  And blacks are rarely killed by whites in any communities. I don't mean to minimize Trayvon Martin's murder. Trayvon Martin deserves justice.


But, as I mentioned in that earlier article, similar murders in poor, urban communities are tragically common, so common almost no one outside of the affected families ever bothers to notice.  Not the media, most certainly. But not even the black leaders like Jessie Jackson or Al Sharpton, who dominated the media during the Trayvon Martin investigation.


There are thousands of such murders every year, ignored and quickly forgotten.  And one more occured two days ago.  Like the Travon Martin murder this also involved and black teen in a hoodie and a 24 year old Latino male.  But this one happened in the Watts area of Los Angeles.

But this time the victim was a tiny one year old baby boy, Angel Mauro Cortez-Nava, and the murderer was the black teenage boy in the hoodie.  Today police are still searching for the murderer, who shot and killed the baby and wounded the father in their own front year.  The teen shot the two as he rode by on his bicycle.


The murder was probably part of a wave of gang killings between the rival black gang, Fudgetown and the Latino gang, the Hispanic Barrio Grape Street Gang. Little Angels father was wearing a purple sweatshirt at the time of the shooting, but his friends and family claim he had no gang affiliation.


The police say this is just one of a half dozen killings in the neighborhood in the last year.


Maria Trujillo, a family friend and neighbor spoke for the entire community when she was interviewed by the media, "With these shootings going on, you don't feel safe in your own front yard,"


"I have seen plenty of people pass away here. For a child to go, this has to stop immediately," neighbor Marcus Williams said. "When a child, a child, a baby, this kid didn't have a chance at life. It really hurt. I'm afraid to let my kids play in the yard now. This is right across the street." 


If only we could generate national press and outrage over this killing.  If only community leaders and national leaders like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton would get involved in these acts of violence, perhaps we could begin to put this epidemic of violence to an end.


What if President Obama stood at a press conference and said little Angel Cortez looked like one of  his children?

Federal Stimulus Doesn't Help the Economy

Friday's economic reports were nothing short of disastrous.  Unemployment is back up to 8.2%, new jobs created last month were 50% below forecasts, auto sales dipped to low levels (after earlier improvements), and the stock market dropped to the lowest levels in 2012.


And many think it's going to get much worse.  Could we be looking at a double dip recession? A genuine world wide depression? I certainly hope not.


My point this morning is not to spread doom and gloom, but instead to point out that President Obama's policies of massive government spending and expanded welfare programs just haven't worked.  Washington policies and political party posturing have only made things much, much worse than they needed to be.

I've enlarged the chart beyond the normal size of my blog to insure it is readable.

The chart above, prepared by the non-partisan Comeback America Initiative shows President Obama has stimulated us more that any president in modern history.  Sadly it's mostly through out of control Federal Spending.


Federal spending was close to 20 percent of GDP during the Carter administration, dropped to 18 percent under Clinton, and is currently at an incredible 24 percent of GDP according to the Congressional Budget Office.  And now the economy is slip-sliding backwards.

If government spending worked, it would already be working.  It's difficult to spend more than the 24% of GDP Obama is spending today.  Especially since a great deal of it is borrowed money.


Candidate Romney's prescription for the government is significantly better than President Obama's.  Most importantly, Romney will cut back the amount of Federal interference in the economy.  I fear President's Obama's solution of ever increasing spending will destroy the nation and bring on a world wide depression.


In a future blog entry I'll explain why the "hot button" social issues like abortion or gun control should NOT affect your decision on a President.

Political Parties are NOT Your Friends

The primary GOAL and perhaps the only goal of both the Republicans and the Democrats is to increase their power.  That means getting more members into positions of power and responsibility.  It might be by getting members elected to office or it might be by getting members appointed or even hired into key positions of power.  


The GOAL of parties IS NOT to improve your life, improve the economy, increase our security or help you out.  Those are occasionally means to an end! And the END GAME is to increase their power and control.

If the Republicans REALLY WANTED to accomplish any of their stated objectives they would stop their relentless pattern of obstructionism and seek common ground with the Democrats.  Likewise, if President Obama REALLY wanted to reach his goals he would cease his relentless campaigning and compromise with Republicans.


Why doesn't this happen? Because the GOAL is to get more members elected.  President Obama is considerably more interested in getting reelected than in helping Americans.  So he very falsely claims Republicans stand in the way of issue "A" or proposition "B" because he wants the issues to aid his reelection.


Occasionally politicians actually speak the truth.  Republican Senator Mitch McConnell made that mistake when he honestly said his main goal was to "defeat President Obama,"  His Number One Priority wasn't reviving the economy or putting people back to work, it was to defeat the President four years in the future!!

My advice to my fellow Liberals (and to Conservatives, too), is to relentlessly work to achieve your goals.  Look for pathways to success.  That will OFTEN lead you to support, work with and even elect a member of the opposite party.  More often it will lead you to look for solutions outside of government.

Think outside the box.  Be driven by your principles and not guided by the false promises of one candidate or another.

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue: Gay Marriage Ban is “Bad for Business”

It seems to me that North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue is framing the Gay Marriage issue in terms that most Republicans and most conservatives will understand. Such a ban is "Bad for Business."  It will hurt North Carolina's image and hurt tourism.  It "hurts our brand."

As I noted in my previous blog entry, "Call Me Maybe," the public, especially the younger generation, is accepting of gays, lesbians and the alternative lifestyles involved. But our political elders still want to exploit the issue for political gain. In this case the foolish North Carolina Legislature is using an unnecessary Constitutional Amendment as a wedge issue. I;m hoing the voters in North Carolina are wise enough to reject this amendment. 


Please read the entire POLITICO Story here: N.C. Gov: Gay marriage ban ’hurts our brand’


As I pass out "Kudos" I would be remiss not to congratulate Vice President Joe Biden for being unusually candid and remarkably brave in facing the gay marriage issue head on.  It's a path both President Barack Obama and Republican Candidate Mitt Romney are afraid to take.  Both are constantly waffling on the issues of gay rights.


If you read the POLITICO story above you'll note even Governor Perdue is waffling a bit.  I think she would find her approval rating would actually go up f she were clear on the issue.


Also read B. Daniel Blatt's excellent essay on the North Carolina Amendment from a GAY CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN'S perspective: The conservative case against North Carolina’s Amendment One 

Call Me Maybe

National Public Radio's Morning Edition made an interesting observation this morning, an observation that I think is quite correct.  If you read (or listen to) the entire, rather lengthy, essay the bottom line is that most of the younger generation is really OK with the fact that Gay and Lesbian peers inhabit their world.  Far from fear and loathing, there is acceptance, humor and genuine affection.

While Ann Powers, the author of the essay Dudes Act Like A Lady: 'Call Me Maybe' Takes Over YouTube doesn't take the observation a step further, but I will.  The biggest obsticle standing in the way of acceptance of gay marriage or at least full recognized rights for gays, lesbians and transgender people is grandstanding politcians in search of polarizing issues and emotional votes.

I urge you to follow the link above and read the entire essay.  And for starters in your education into the younger generation, just watch the wonderful video below.  At over 50 million views, it's one of the most popular videos out there today.

The Children are our Future

I know this has already gone VIRAL and therefore you've already seen it.  Let's face it, when MSN Trending Now posts it you're too late.


But I'm so impressed with Frans Hofmeester's work here (and his beautiful daughter), that I felt I had to post it.  I hope you'll watch it again.  Turn the volume up, too.  The background music is beautiful.


 


As I watched it here I realized that, without saying a single word, it is a stunning political statement. And the beauty of this video is that it make a compelling statement for most any cause, left or right.


Of course we need to save the planet for our children.  And every child deserve love, food, family and warmth.


And who could watch this video and not see it make a strong "pro-life" statement, as well.


I don't want to hijack Frans Hofmeester's video or his daughter.  It possesses many universal truths.  


The children are our future.

After All These Years, Hilary Rosen is Still a Tone Deaf Hack

My history with today's top name in the news:

I need to rebuild and restore the links to the original THE WIZARD, FKAP website archives. My original webpage collection was started long before the term blog ever existed, but included a regular essay under the title The Existential Blues.  All the essays and files still exist and are still on-line.  I'll get the links restored and embedded in the right hand column as soon as possible.


When those link appear, you'll find I've written to and about Hilary Rosen since the early 1990's.  As the head of the Recording Industry Artists of America (RIAA) she is the subject of many of my earliest essays.  She has always been a tone deaf hack and in her official RIAA position, she almost single-handedly destroyed the entire music industry.  She fought legal digital downloads with a single-minded (closed minded) zeal that was breath-taking to behold.  If you wanted to sue Grandma for an illegal download, Hilary was your gal!


She seems incapable of independent thought, and functions mostly as an agent who does the bidding of her masters, currently the Democratic Party National Committee (DNC).


That Hilary Rosen is currently employed by CNN is an embarrassment to journalism.


Today, Hilary Rosen is in the headlines through her foolish comment about Ann Romney.  Here is a summary of the latest Rosen disaster from the AP Newswires:


The multimedia furor erupted Wednesday night when Rosen said on CNN that Ann Romney, whose husband is worth millions, never had to work to pay the bills and should not be her husband's surrogate on women and the economy. "His wife has actually never worked a day in her life," Rosen said. "She's never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of women in this country are facing." 


The backlash was brutal and swift. 


David Axelrod, Obama's top campaign strategist, tweeted that Rosen's comments were "inappropriate and offensive." The president's campaign manager, Jim Messina, said Rosen should apologize. And the Democratic National Committee downplayed any connection to Rosen or her firm.


Although I've written in these spaces that the Republican "war on women" doesn't actually exist, Democrats and President Obama had successfully used this fabricated issue and had gained a virtually insurmountable lean among women voters.  


Hilary Rosen single-handedly turned the tide and gave the issue back to the Republicans on a silver platter.  That she then tripled down on her ill advised statement, assuring that the public forgot, if not forgave, Rush Limbaugh, was stunning to behold.


Republican comments were unnecessary.  We are watching a train wreck in progress.


Her apologies, two so far, were ever worse.  Hilary Rosen doesn't understand the public or the issues involved.  The Democrats need to drop her like the hot potato she has become.  So does CNN.

We Care About Trayvon Martin's Murder Because It's So Rare

We're still looking for justice for Trayvon Martin.  As well we should.  His death is at once both tragic and horrific.


And exceedingly rare.


If you watch television you might think there is an absolute epidemic of whites murdering blacks without so much as a single arrest and even a passing glance from law enforcement.  


Alas, there is a greater and more horrific truth.  There is an epidemic of young teen and early twenty year old black men being murdered in cold blood!  About 4,000 were murdered in the last 12 months!  It's a real and horrific epidemic.


The problem is almost all die at the hands of other black teen and twenty something year old men.  


Young black men comprise only about seven percent of the population, yet account for a whopping 50 percent of the murder victims.


Without "Googling" can you name a single one of them other than Trayvon Martin?  No cheating.  You have 4,000 from which to chose. Name one.


Now tell me we don't have a serious problem here in the United States than NO ONE IS WILLING TO ADDRESS.