Real-Time Ruminations on George H.W. Bush

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As I channel surf today — witnessing the endless and obligatory accolades of the now-dead forty-first and to-date longest-living US President —my mind flashes back, not on his obvious numerous accomplishments, but his record of glaring shortcomings which burn searing holes in the parchment of his apotheosis. To wit:

Prescott Sheldon Bush (1895-1972) — George H.W. — one of five scions — to this industrial, banking, and political mogul — was indeed 'to-the-manor-born' — obviating nearly all of his contemporaries' need to actually prove himself to the world. As the late Texas Governor Ann Richards allowed at the 1988 DNC convention, referring to his patrician lineage and legendary poor communication skills: Poor George, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth.

Harvey LeRoy (Lee) Atwater — Having trolled the depths of Republican campaign hegemony since he helped author Nixon's 1968 Southern Strategy — which swept racist white Southern Dixiecrats disaffected with civil rights in tho the Republican mainstream — Lee signed-on to George H.W.'s 1988 campaign, where he delivered the goods in spades. In an 2005 recording published by Nation Magazine — Atwater gives his strategy to Bush: Y'all don't quote me on this. You start out in 1954 by saying Nigger, Nigger, Nigger. But [today] you can't say Nigger. Backfires. So you have to say stuff like forced bussing, states' rights, and that stuff. For that Atwater served up arguably the most racist ad in political history: WIllie Horton. That he would later issue a death-bed apology for his divisive and race-bating legacy — which George H.W. sanctimoniously rode into the White House — falls short in absolving him from his sordid political career.

Lee Atwater

Willie Horton — a black man, was a convicted murderer whose sentence was commuted by then-Massachusetts Governor and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, Michael Dukakis, under a state inmate furlough program. The broad based bill, signed into public law by previous Massachusetts Republican Governor Francis Sergeant was intended to enhance inmate rehabilitation and re-entry into society. Tragically, Horton, upon one weekend furlough, was was convicted of raping a woman and pistol whipping her fiancé. Seizing upon the opportunity to create a racist straw man, Lee Atwater, famously allowed: By the time we're finished, they're going to wonder whether Willie Horton is Dukakis' running mate. Indeed, the Willie Horton legend in Republican race-bating has played-out in spades for the party — right up through Donald Trump's deplorable birtherism and demonization of America's citizens of Latino heritage.

James Danforth (Dan) Quayle — While Republican have long been known for their lackluster vice presidential picks — including Abraham Lincoln's numbskulled and racist Andrew Johnson — in 1988 George H.W. took the veepstakes to then new lows, tapping the famously semiliterate dullard Quayle — who soon became the butt of embarrassing jokes, including his inability to spell potato. Mercifully, Quayle was absolved from ignominious history as the most ignorant veep pick in 2008 by John McCain, who gave the world Sarah Palin.

The Ozone Man (AKA Al Gore) — Years before denial of climate change was adopted as a Republican article of faith — in his 1992 campaign against Clinton-Gore — George H.W. publicly ridiculed Al Gore for his signature environmental educational initiatives — giving him the sobriquet Ozone Man — seeking to make a mockery of environmentalism.  

Casper Willard (Cap) Weinberger — Ronald Reagan's disgraced Secretary of Defense — was up to his neck in the Iran Contra affair — the then greatest scandal since Teapot Dome. For that, he was indicted on two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. Just four days before the 1992 presidential election, federal prosecutors brought an additional charge — based on a diary entry which contradicted George H.W.'s contention that he (Bush) had known nothing of the fiasco. Before Weinberger could be tried on any of the charges, on December 24, 1992, George H.W. — under the aegis of infamous (and recently recycled) Attorney General William Barr — issued him a pardon — forever silencing history on his (Bush's) unambiguous involvement in Iran Contra. Famously cited as a presidential deal-breaker: Democrats, pundits, and historians alike — ballyhoo this as a pivotal issue in H.W's 1992 defeat — relegating him to a one term President — an historical factoid that Donald Trump might want to consider. 

Casper Weinberger

Clarence Thomas — yet the sine qua non of Poppy Bush's presidential fingerprints was the appointment of SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas — a disgraceful cynical finger-in-the-eye of his Democratic predecessor, the late iconic Thurgood Marshall, who presided over the tempestuous civil rights era with grace, dignity, and equanimity — blowing a hole in the Jim Crow laws, which — to this day — disaffects old-school cracker Republicans — the unambiguous implication that Uncle Tom Clarence would un-do at least some of Marshall's dreaded judicial activism — especially when it came to uppity Negroes who wanted special rights in the face of our slave-owning founding fathers.

That the American Bar Association gave Thomas a tepid "qualified" endorsement — as opposed the typical "well qualified" — spoke volumes of his paper-thin judicial resume — a back-door affirmative-action pass, which most legal scholars attribute to the ABA's calculated avoidance of the political blow-back of failing to endorse a conservative black man.

Thomas' confirmation hearings were a veritable side-show, showcasing his reckless prior history of workplace mediocrity and sexual predation — memorably anointing Anita Hill permanent poster-child status in the pantheon of the "Me Too" movement — and Long Dong Silvers in the Academy Awards of porn stars. But for then-Senate Judicial Committee chairman Joe Biden's suppression of other women queued-up to corroborate Hill's testimony and blow-torch Thomas' workplace behavior, many doubt he could have ever been confirmed. 

Accordingly, Clarence Thomas' entire judicial career has been one of embarrassing retrovism, typifying the publicity-seeking contrarian black man who peddles Stepin Fetchit negritude as wish fulfillment for white conservative racists, presumably for self-aggrandizement, coveted majoritarian status, and cold cash career pay-outs. For that, he certainly hit paydirt in a lifetime SCOTUS appointment. Indeed, in the 28 years Thomas has been on the bench, he has shown himself to be a cynical, shiftless, lazy, cypher of the ultra-right wing of the court — with a once-unprecedented four-year hiatus in actually opening his mouth in oral arguments — frequently just rubber-stamping the late right-wing firebrand Antonin Scalia's majority preachments.

Thomas' rare off-the-bench weigh-ins have been stupefyingly retrograde — more recently comparing abortion to eugenics under the Third Reich. Again in 2019, Thomas would opine that Oberfell v Hodges (granting marriage equality) ought to be overturned. That he would relegate gay Americans to second class citizens comes as no surprise.

The take-home message is — making a career of failing to live up to the expectations of your peers is not a crime — that is — unless you are in public service. For that, Clarence Thomas stands alone in the judicial vandalism he has visited upon the American experience, courtesy of George H.W. Bush, under the brand of the Republican party.

Famously mute SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas gets it down with spouse Virginia (Ginni) Lamp Thomas, she, known for her right-wing grifting activism, under her one-woman lobby shop, Liberty Central. Thomas failed to report Ginni's half-billion-dollar income on his financial disclosure statements for five-years running — claiming that he "didn't understand the forms" — sending Republicans running for cover, to defend his already-paper-thin legal credentials.  

RIP George H.W. Bush



Calhoun GA 12/01/18
updated 06/19/19

1st Amendment Rights v 1st Amendment Wrongs

DISCLAIMER: Shitepoke.com blog attempts to authenticate its content. Disclosure of substantive errors is solicited and will be acknowledged. Accordingly, readers are encouraged to explore and enjoy this content, in its own right, but to always obtain additional sources for historical or academic research.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been a distraction from, and for, the game of football. But when Donald Trump inserted himself into the NFL's HR Department — it became a Constitutional issue.

                            

1. Watching an NFL game would be like watching paint dry to me. I couldn't tell you the last time I did — probably when Atlanta was in the Super Bowl — whenever that was — and only because I had company in my house. So I have utterly no dog in this fight. Boredom on steroids! YAAAAWN.

2. So let talk about 1^st Amendment rights. So many get this so wrong. First of all — the 1^st Amendment guarantees that the GOVERNMENT cannot deny, censor, punish, or imprison you for your public speech. Secondly — the 1^st Amendment specifically protects UNPOPULAR speech.  After all, why would we need constitutional protection for POPULAR speech? However, the 1^st Amendment DOES NOT protect you from criminal conduct or — according to Georgia law — “terroristic threats” — wherein you threaten to harm to another. Neither does it prevent others from taking commercial retaliatory action against you for your speech — like boycotting your store — or declining to hire you (see Colin Kaepernick below).

3. So make no mistake about it — when you are on somebody else's payroll — you check your 1st Amendment rights at the door. Case law is unambiguous about this. Even if your boss doesn't like your off-hours activity — he has a right to censor or fire you with broad latitude — under the rubric of "casting unfavorable aspersions as a representative of his company — whatever he deems that to be"

4. So forget about what YOU think about the 'taking a knee' protests — NFL owners would be entirely within their constitutional legal bounds to fire or suspend any player for 'taking a knee' on the field. But so far NFL owners have not ——— unless you count >>

5. Phenom quarterback Colin Kaepernick — who — correct me if I am wrong — has gone unsigned through the offseason and 2017 training camps — up until and including today. Again — forgive me for my NFL ignorance — but based on Kaepernick’s stats — and the fact his 2016 contract with the 49ers was $126 million — it seems abundantly obvious that he is being extraordinarily  — painfully — and publically — punished — by the NFL — for his speech. Can we agree to call Colin a scapegoat in all this bullshit? OK?

6. So exactly what is Kaepernick’s issue — at the expense of his career? We don’t have to speculate. I’ll quote him directly: 

"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and [police officers] getting paid leave [after] getting away with murder."

7. So — there you have it. Agree — or disagree — with Kaepernick — this is where he chose to draw a line in the sand with his speech. So let’s be really clear: this is the moral compass that guides HIS life — and is he quite literally PAYING dearly. Whatever you think about this issue — I defy anyone to denigrate his personal integrity. How many readers herein — would possess this kind of fortitude? Case closed.

8. Now comes Donald J. Trump — president of the United States — last time I checked — the highest representative of the GOVERNMENT of the United States. Notwithstanding myriad foreign and domestic enemies — Mr. Trump took it upon himself to insert himself into the NFL’s HR policy —

9. During a March 20, 2017 rally in Louisville, KY — Trump said — and allow me to quote:

 “... you know your San Francisco quarterback — I'm sure nobody ever heard of him ... NFL owners don't want to pick him up — because they don't want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump” 

Bottom line — the highest representative of the government issued an unveiled threat against a private citizen — in retaliation of his speech. I’m not a Constitutional lawyer — nor do I play one on TV — but this is an unambiguous breach of Kaepernick’s 1^st Amendment rights. If I were he — I’d file suit in Federal Court for tortious breach of my Civil Rights.

10. But it gets better — as Trump — clearly a reckless constitutional ignoramus — went on to allow on Sept 22, 2017 in his storied Huntsville, AL harangue: 

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son-of-a-bitch off the field right now — he’s fired?’ ” 

Notwithstanding Trump’s vulgar likening of Kaepernick’s mother to a female dog in heat — he doubled-down on going after his speech in the name of the government. 

11. Now comes Mike Pence. Whatever you may say about Mikey Boy — and despite his sub-rosa fundraising for a 2020 presidential run — his consummate electoral role is a lackey for Trump. We now know — thanks to the ‘fake news’ press — that Trump and Pence conspired to stage a nose-bleed expensive — taxpayer-funded — political stunt this past Sunday (10/08/17). Flying on Airforce 2 — from Las Vegas — to Indianapolis — back to California — to put in an appearance at the Colts v 49ers game — Pence spent upwards of $2.5 million to fake a 10-minute walk-out aimed at doubling-down on the government’s breach of free speech.

12. So what is the Trump-Pence gambit all about: of course, driving a social wedge between black Americans & white liberals who failed to support them — and white male racists who viscerally negatively-react to everything Colin Kaepernick stands for — that is — except the entitlement to be entertained on the NFL gridiron on Sundays by Negroes who know their place, owned by the NFL and Donald Trump.

Calhoun GA 10/09/17

Don't Delude Yourself about the Trump Presidency

Shitepoke has no pride of authorship. Accordingly when he comes on a cogent opinion — he has no problem re-blogging it verbatim.

Greil Marcus is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a broader framework of culture and politics than is customary in pop music journalism. He is a regular columnist for The Village Voice, New York's storied alternative news weekly. He is also a regular contributor to Rolling Stone.

The following re-blog is from the popular "Ask Greil Marcus" feature of his website.

Would you rather Donald Trump be impeached, or have his Presidency play out for a single term with as little damage done to the country as possible (and then crush him at the ballot box in 2020)?– Terry — 08/25/17

I’d rather see him out of office as soon as possible by any means at all. He is doing enormous and possibly permanent damage to our Constitution, our idea of government, to all the underpinnings of democratic society, in his serious quest to replace public government with private government, the rule of companies and corporations over every aspect of public and private life. 

People who say, like Paul Krugman today, that Trump has no “agenda,” that he only cares about “winning” so he can feel powerful, are fooling themselves. 

Trumpism is a serious project. The ultimate burdensome regulation that stifles his attempt to remake the country is the Constitution itself, its limits on executive power by means of checks and balances between three (in practical, historical reality) unequal branches of government. 

Mike Pence understands this and does not take the very fact of our government, our public life, as a personal affront. Despite his own right-wing politics he would be an infinitely better person to have as president, even if he would be a formidable and likely winning candidate in 2020. 

But don’t kid yourself that Trump will be “crushed” in 2020. As of today, against any of the people mentioned as Democratic candidates, he would be the favorite. He is already campaigning, raising huge amounts of money, consolidating the real Republican party, which consists of the Koch network and the Mercers. 

Most of the people who voted for him will not only vote for him again, but do so with desperate, enormous, complete enthusiasm, and the very force of their belief will make it hard for actual arguments about actual things to sound real. 

Voter suppression will be advanced and substantial, and it will make a difference in states that might otherwise be up for grabs. 

You have to realize that everything that looks bad, horrible, unthinkable to MSNBC, the New York Times, maybe you, certainly me, looks absolutely great to a very large and vital part of the country and the electorate. His people will vote to the last man and woman in the 2018 [midterm] elections, and the people who voted for Hillary will not.

Trump will not be impeached, because impeachment is not a self-starting machine, it has to be done by actual people, and Republicans will not impeach him, both because he is, in the main, doing exactly what Republicans want—in all of the departments of government and in the courts—and because he would have them defeated in primaries and replaced by his people if they tried. 

He will not be indicted, because Mueller can’t indict anyone and the Justice Department [headed by Jeff Sessions] will not. 

Trump is not, as some people fantasize, “tired of the job,” not someone to, in even more demented fantasies, “declare victory and leave.” 

It is conceivable, though I don’t see the path, that his family and his business facing legal jeopardy could cause him to cut a deal and leave—nothing is more important to Trump than what he calls his company—but someone else would have to explain how real jeopardy could attach itself to Kushner, Ivanka, his sons, etc. without the Justice Department making it happen.

Calhoun Georgia 09/03/17

Upon the 153rd Anniversary of the Battle of Resaca

DISCLAIMER: Shitepoke.com blog attempts to authenticate its content. Disclosure of substantive errors is solicited and will be acknowledged. Accordingly, readers are encouraged to explore and enjoy this content, in its own right, but to always obtain additional sources for historical or academic research.

My grandmother was Mary Esther Nance Nations (1900-1986). She grew up at Nance’s Spring, barely over the county line in Whitfield County — one of nine children of Charles Robert (Grandaddy) Nance [1856-1934] — and Bertie Stroud (Mig Mama) Nance [1878-1964].

Charles Robert — or Bob as everybody called him — grew up in Whitfield County. His father James Nance (1825-1904), had been deployed by the Confederate army in the Civil War and sent into battle a half dozen times, each time being sent home to recover from bouts of chronic asthma. His wife Matilda Clemie Hayes Nance (1824-1886), barely a year older, was also a local girl.

When Sherman marched through Whitfield County en route to Resaca, James was once again away with his company in Alabama, leaving his wife Clemie alone with their six children.

Eight-year-old Bob’s memory of the Civil War, at the age of eight, was sufficiently lucid that the epithet Blue Belly — given to the brutal Federal Troops dressed in blue uniforms — was annealed in his mind as the Waffen-SS Troops were to Ann Frank.

On Tuesday morning, May 10, 1864, Clemie, aware of the progress of the Federal army, under the command of William Tecumseh Sherman, awoke to the distinct cracks of artillery fire to the north. Within an hour, mounted Federal reconnaissance troops had made their way past the Nance’s meager farmstead, heartbreakingly bearing the flag of the United States — until mere months ago their very own symbol of unity and security.

Indeed being attacked by your own government was an experience writ so extravagantly large in the minds of the rank and file Southerner, that it canonized the mistrust of authority — all authority — a visceral vein of conservatism shot through the political mindset to this very day, much to the chagrin of pluralists who fancy ceding the levers of power to an all-benevolent state.

Clemie gathered the children, bade them dress quickly, flung the windows and doors of their house wide open, caught and harnessed their pair of mules and hitched them to a plow, untied the docile milk cow and threw rocks at her in an attempt to shoo her out of sight into the woods.

She solemnly ushered the whole lot into the steamy dew-drenched field where they feigned the routine of working the early summer cotton crop, an attempt to signal their defiance — that home and personal effects (indeed nations and governments) were utterly disposable — that only life and land spoke truth to power.

When the first dusty wave of cavalry came into focus, Clemie and the kids stoically watched as troops dismounted and bounded up the steps to the front porch of their shotgun house, so-called owing to the unobstructed central hall that bisected the structure, front door to back door —figuratively allowing a shotgun to be fired straight through without hitting a thing.

They watched as precious kitchen provisions were hauled out, as bed linens and blankets were stuffed into toe sacks, as the precious few yardbirds were picked off with minié balls and strung up by the feet for provisions. As the troops surveyed their loot, the milk cow, her udder painfully swelled from want of her morning milking, ambled out of the underbrush in hopes of relief. She was ruthlessly felled, bled, and quartered.

Clemie silently prayed that the ransacking bunch of war criminals would not set fire to the house. With that, the constabulary head paused for long moments and surveyed the pitiful Nance family who stood paralyzed in sheer terror, the stunning silence broken only by the sweaty mules pawing, snorting, and swishing the horseflies with their brushy tails.

Whether by some atavistic compunction or by sardonic depravity, he gallantly tipped his hat to the Nance tableau and signaled his charges to mount and depart.

Young Bob snubbed wet tears of fear as phalanx after phalanx of Federal infantrymen marched by, the final company passing well into the afternoon. Only under cover of darkness did Clemie and the kids return to the defiled house, praising sweet Jesus, if only for their very lives and an intact roof.

On Friday — May 13, 1864 — the 98,000 Union troops of the selfsame General Sherman that had defiled Clemie Nance's meager homestead would square off — 5-miles' south —with 60,000 Confederate troops under the command of Joseph E. Johnson — in the the historic Battle of Resaca. The lopsided carnage lasted the better part of three days. 

When Sherman's troops crossed the Oostanaula River,  Johnson's troops were forced to withdraw — ceding victory to the Union — clearing the way for Sherman's advance to Adairsville — and ultimately to the storied incineration Atlanta.

At the last, some 5,000 combatants lay wounded — untold many of whom would ultimately die from mortal systemic infections — with utterly no medical attention — and some some 3,000 American fathers, sons, and nephews lay dead — mutilated and dismembered in the red clay dirt of North Georgia. 

Witnesses say that Camp Creek (today just west of I-75 Exit 320) ran quite literally red with human blood — only yards before the swiftly flowing Oostanaula River diluted its life-draining fluids into history.

This weekend — untold hundreds of people will participate in — or witness — the re-enactment and re-creation of the Battle of Resaca — trivializing the human carnage — and romanticizing the atrocity, death and destruction of war. They will dress-up in period regalia — buy cheesy souvenirs — and down sugary funnel cakes and Co-Colas. They will bring their children — and inculcate the legacy of commemorating the Confederacy as their honorable and godly birthright.

Most will not tell their children what the Confederacy stood for: the establishment of a fascist state —  promoting the buying and selling of human beings like livestock. 

I instinctively wonder what my great-great- grandmother Clemie Nance would think about this.

Calhoun GA 05/21/2017