What's with Hillary?

I imagine many of us are looking forward to the Democratic debate next Tuesday, but I suspect Hillary Clinton may be less enthusiastic than some others.  Just the same, she certainly seems to be getting ready.  First, she came out in opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline; then she expressed strong reservations about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, leaving herself just the tiniest bit of space to change her opinion when the full text is published.

Clearly, she'd like to enjoy the sort of approbation Bernie Sanders has been receiving from the enthusiastic crowds at his rallies, but I wonder if there's more to it than that.  I wonder if she's finally working at putting some sunlight between herself and her longtime consort and cohort, Bill; and, if so, whether it's reflective of real differences of opinion or just the usual political cupidity.

Back in 2008, I preferred Clinton to Obama, in large part because I thought he was more like Bill than she was, but also because I instinctively distrust glowing, amorphous promises like "hope and change."  True, my own political leanings are very nearly an exact match for Bernie's, but I still can't help hoping that a real liberal might burst forth from Hillary's uncharismatic husk.

Janurary the last

Stoner Bowl

It seems I am not allowed to use the actual name of the event that will take place on Sunday.  Pretty much everything I publish online is clearly marked as "public domain," because my heirs can make their own money if they are so inclined and talented.  The NFL is not so secure.

Frankly, I think football is dreadful, given that it is rehearsal for war, not to mention all that traumatic brain injury.  I'll be at my local school district's budget hearings this year, urging the assholes to abandon football (and football's enormous insurance costs) for the upcoming year.

Most likely outcome: bleeding forehead from being beaten against brick wall.  Forehead: mine.

TPP

Yes, the Trans-Pacific Partnership is NAFTA on steroids, and will do extraordinary damage to working Americans while making a shitload of money for Big Money.  Obama is looking for fast-track authority, of course, since he's in the pocket of Wall Street.  Most likely, he'll get it.

If Elizabeth Warren votes to give him that authority, so help me, I never will vote for anybody, ever again.

Turkey

Erdogan, of course, is totally corrupt.  So is everybody else, almost certainly including the opposition.  Should we pull our money out of Turkey, South Africa, Brazil and whatnot, and toss it into Germany and Austria?

That's what's happening.  Put it in the USofA.  It, too, is totally corrupt, but better protected.  Nobody is dropping the smart bombs on us now, but maybe there are some targets that deserve it.  The rest of us... well, the rest of us...

When they blow us up, maybe we'll deserve it.

The Corporatists

Did Mitt Romney actively participate in shipping American jobs overseas, or did he just profit from it?  And, really, does it matter?  After all, we know for certain that Romney will do whatever he must to continue currying favor from his fellow corporatists, especially in the finance sector.

The real shame, though, is that we can't expect a great deal more from Barack Obama.  The popular press has had practically nothing to say about the top-secret Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations currently being conducted by the administration's trade representatives — even after the leak of a section of the proposed agreement which would allow foreign corporations to sue the United States, in foreign tribunals, for "damages" they might suffer as a result of our enforcement of our own legal regulations controlling labor, health, and environmental standards.

Six hundred corporate "advisers" have access to the working texts of the agreement.  Before the leak, no members or Congress had access to any part of them — not even the proposals put forth by the United States representatives to the negotiations.  Follow the link above for more details.

I'm not saying there would be no difference between a Romney administration and an Obama administration — there probably would be significant differences for the various classes of Americans.  What I am saying, though, is that the corporate coup d'etat against what most of us once liked to think of as our form of governance has been a complete success, and that neither party will do anything to change that.

The corporations rule.