I’ve already touched upon the odd transformation of Michael Steele from when I first became aware of him as the Republican Nominee for Senate, and Great Black Hope, in Maryland in 2006 to his current role as punching bag as the “Token Black” face of the Republican Party as RNC Head.  I’m beginning to suspect something — this is a bad role for him.  I am all for Tokens — it’s the only way to move forward at all for a party that’s become hampered by a lack of diversity — but the RNC Chair is a bad position for “Token”.  Particularly right now, when he’s getting face time because of the leadership vacuum due to the level of Republican depths.   (Quick!  Name the Head of the DNC!  If your answer was Tim Kaine, it’s because you know more than the average person does.)   The problem is the position is “Party Hack”, and in the currently distilled Republican Party, it’s not a fit.

Once upon a time, Colin Powell served up a Presidential boomlet for 1996.  In part it was due to his political ambiguities.  But he eventually came out as a Republican, and was then ushered forward to a great prime-time address at the GOP Convention for Bob Dole.  He was never going to be nominated by the Republican Primary voter for President — even then, your Rush Limbaugh was gnawing his teeth at some of his social stands and his cry outs for Moderation.  So it was that when he endorsed Obama for president, I read the question in blogoland from reasonable people “Why was he a Republican in the first place?”  I can’t speak for Colin Powell, but I can pretty well guage a good answer.  He came up in Career Military Culture, which tends to align you with the Republican Party.  His particular career rise came through Republican administrations.  There isn’t any clear reason he would be a Democrat.  And, from a racial position, I’m guessing, he rejects a stance of “Victim-hood” associated with your Jesse Jacksons as being detrimental to Individual Achievement.

I won’t say that the Republican Party needs to elect a Colin Powell — he was always doomed to be too bipartisan for this particular role.  But they do need to elect a black Republican.  I’m thinking that they’d be in good stead if they somehow could get JC Watts to run for the Oklahoma Senate seat, as some polls have put into that slot in the presumed possible retirement of Tom Coburn.  Think about it for a moment:  he would be the only black Senator in the chamber — as Roland Burris gets the bum’s kick out in the upcoming Illinois Senate Primary–, and he would be a Republican.  And he would not be in the position of Michael Steele, embarrassing himself, because his job is not literally “Party Hack”.

But JC Watts has deferred any political race.  So, for this sake, the Republicans have this guy in Texas.  You heard him in non-primetime at the 2008 GOP Convention.  I do not find JC Watts embarrassing, even as it was comediac that he was the chosen Fox News commentator for a Democratic Primary Debate for 2004 co-sponsored by Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus.  (Funny, you guys at Fox).  Michael Williams, on the other hand…

But I guess he’s a better face for “Black Republican” than Alan Keyes.  Who left the Republican Party to spear-head the Obama Birth Certificate fight.

Anyway, I guess those are the GOP’s options.

Unless the so-called health-care reforms presently proposed by President Obama are prevented, all talk of civil rights were an ugly farce in the tradition of Adolf Hitler’s Tiergarten-4.

Obama = Hitler.  Why, we even have the image of Obama with the mustache to work with!  A pretty awesome turn, albeit one to a spot he was in beforehand.  But who cares what Lyndon Larouche has to say, really?  I’m more interested in reading old Communist Party, USA pamphlets showing what Earl Browder had to say about things!

First of all, the question of literature to the masses.  In the first principle of Party defense that I spoke of — going to the masses — the most important role is played by mass literature.  We have made certain definite improvements in this respect in the last six months.  During this period, we have distributed more pamphlets than in any previous year in our Party’s history.
That is an improvement.  But can we say that this measures up to the possibilities of the situation, especially in the circulation of one-cent and two-cent pamphlets?  I think that in an historical moment in which the enemy is making Coummunism and the Communist Party the central issue in the life of the Country we must admit that with better organization of our work, we can multiply the present distribution of pamphlets, especially cheap pamphlets; for these mass popular pamphlets are precisely the sharpest weapons we have for influencing the masses and through the masses, the actual course of events in the history of our country and of the world.
This emphasis upon literature should not be taken to mean neglect of mass meetings.  Mass meetings become more important than ever, although through mass meetings we can never reach as broad a

But now I’m already a little bored of Earl Browder.  I’m having trouble with this one — was this hawked on street corners in the days of 1940?  Who would be interested in reading Earl Browder’s discussion of internal Communist Party, USA matters?  As opposed to, I suppose, his realignment on that thing which caused many a splinter in the Communist Party — The Finnish Question — which as Orwellian as this be, at least figures into actual world policy matters:

Well, we don’t need to go today into all the details of the gigantic conspiracy, this grandiose effort of the world bourgeoisie to turn its forces to the crushing of the Soviet Union.  Suffice it to say that all of these enormous efforts and these grandiose diabolical schemes come to wreck.  They come to wreck on the Bolshevik vigilance of the Soviet Worker, of their Party, and above all, of their great leader, our Lenin of today, Comrade Stalin.

As Comrade Foster mentioned in opening this meeting, the military news from Finland this morning indicates that the process of the liberation of the Finnish people from their forcibly imposed role of puppets for World Imperialism is well under way.  We can expect that it will not be long now when a free Finland will work out her own destiny in close friendship and collaboration with the Soviet Union.

Memoirs of assorted Communist members of the time tell of their befuddled confusion in accepting this tripe, a gasp of air that was not released until the line switched back to the struggle against Adolf Hitler and Fascism — where FDR was once again a hero.  But that’s neither here nor there.  Let’s ponder what’s now being pumped out of LPAC:

At this moment, the President and a selected cabal of his associates are conducting a series of meetings with such as select members of the U.S. Congress, in the attempt to ram such Hitler-like policies through as U.S. Federal statutes, before the generality of the population could be alerted to the intentional crimes against humanity being presently promoted from relevant circles inside the Obama administration.
Stop that horror while you can! Do not wait, as the German population did.

And to think, once upon a time they were using Obama campaign organizing websites for their own organizational tool.  I suppose those days are over.  AND… Can somebody do me a favor and look through the 200-some comments here and see if a “Laroucheistruth” or a (smirk) “Alexandar Hamilton” pops in for a spell?

Anyway….  It is a bit interesting that the Larouchies, as shown in their continued wikipedia edit attempts, are hanging their hat on supposed reverence found in Russia, attempting to keep in the lede a “Validator” of Stanislav Menshikov.   I suppose you’d want to know that the wikipedia editing confuberation over Stanislav_Menshikov continues apace.  Judging by the voting, it appears that this Stanislav Menshikov article will be kept, meaning not a whole awful lot for me, and only this for the Larouchian editors at wikipedia:

Here’s my two cents: The Heritage Foundation comment seems fairly representative of commentary about LaRouche in the US, while the Menshikov comment seems representative of (especially recent) commentary about LaRouche elsewhere, especially in Russia where his fans seem to have more access to media organs. —Leatherstocking (talk) 16:03, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

“Huge in Russia”, which for the LYM and Boomer faitful is what they’re going to hang their hat on to make up for not being Huge in the USA — or, I guess, for being hidden by the Dutch — Anglo Elites.  Remind me to go back to the news database, look up the “BBC Monitoring Service” for media of former Soviet countries (including Russia), and check to see if there is any mention of Larouche was not then dutifully re-reported by the LPAC clattering keyboardists.  IE:  That’s about the extent of “influence” in Russia — Menshikov, references in regards to Georgia — and most surreally, that recent LPAC release reporting on Russian Blog Coverage.
At least with Earl Browder, his movement was indeed Huge in Russia — and was indeed politically squashed in the USA. 

Incidentally, as the LYMers adjust to their new line, I need to point out how off this item is:

Avoid Lyndon LaRouche the same way you would avoid a cliche, or the plague. While the rumors that he’s a ‘fascist’ may be false, the rumors that quoting LaRouche will help you score with chicks are definitely not true.

We’ve already established that the Larouchies are an Anti-Sex Cult, so these rumors are null and void, and indeed that blog post will now be used as a Recruitment Tool.

(In other news:  I once upon a time linked to this blog, which was a new blog set up by the leader of the “Larouche Cryonics Movement.”  It appears he’s made it a Private Party.   Go figure.  I don’t know how he’s going to increase the size of his movement that way, but to each their own.)

And from Dennis King’s website:
And this first edition of Dope, Inc. in which the infamous Protocols forgery is described as the authentic minutes of a Paris “Order of Zion” meeting, is today being promoted on the website of the LaRouche Youth Movement, a cadre formation founded circa 2001 that is recruiting aggressively on college campuses throughout the United States with little opposition from Hillel or anyone else.
Hillel I never heard of until I googled just now — okay, it’s a Campus Jewish Group.  But, for what it’s worth, a Socialist Group picketed and pamphletered the recent Connecticut collge professor Norton Mezvinsky sponsored speaking engagement.  I can’t say I’m terribly impressed, but I’m not sure what to be impressed by.

This website was hacked recently, presumably in the vein of “Because it’s there” as opposed to some item of political sabotauge or other.

The effect is that a google search gets you this. 
As well depending on your computer’s settings and what Security tassles one has put up, this page is blocked or warned (as in the case of one email I received) about this site.

I’m supposing that that matter is winding its way through the system(s).  Feel free to disperse to avoid malware attaching itself to your computer, I suppose.

I have a suspicion that this page is being dropped (advertisement by the Newspaper Association of America) into large numbers of newspapers at this moment.  The very act of its publication is a refutation for the attempt to claim perfect health of the newspaper, even if some of the points are irrefutable enough.  (Point #7 is, at the moment, the crux of the matter in terms of proffering actual goodness to god news.)

But I have to wonder about the Health of the Newspaper when this is what we get for the category of  “Creative Solution”:

6. Myth: There are no creative options in newspapers.
Reality: Newspaper advertising options have exploded and now include shape and polybag ads, post-it notes, “we prints,” shingle spadeas, scented ads, taste-it ads, glow-in-the-dark, belly bands and temporary tattoos, as well as event and database marketing, behavioral targeting, e-mail blasts, e-newsletters and more.

Huh.  Let’s go down this list.
Shape and Polybag ads.  (Next thing you know they’ll be sticking AOL cds in there.)
Post it notes.  (Thank you 3M.)
Scented ads.  (Nothing smells better than perfuming newsprint.)
Taste it ads.  (Because we really want to lick newsprint.)
Glow – in – the Dark Ads.  (Pick up the newspaper at dawn, jogging ot the bus-station, in the night, and…)
Belly bands and temporary tattoos.  (Target the youth demographic, I guess?)

Not mentioned in the 3D ad and the colored glasses insert.

Okay.  John Sturm.  Can you go back to the drawing board and come up with a list of advertising options that doesn’t make me despair of many, many things.

The latest issue of the Washington Monthly features an article about Michael O’Hare’s niggling frustration at being the Zodiac Killer suspect of a lone nut.  It’s right here.  His complete denial is seen here:

I don’t want to be cute about the murders, which not only left victims and grieving relatives in their wake, but also frightened a lot of people, and frustrated California and Massachusetts law enforcement. So, for the record: I am not the Zodiac killer, had absolutely nothing to do with those (or any other) murders. As far as I know, I wasn’t even in California when any of them happened. Similarly, I had nothing to do with the death of Joan Webster, a Boston college student whose murder Penn has also tried to pin on me. A note to Zodiac hobbyists and Penn aficionados: Please don’t bother parsing the foregoing for cleverly worded nondenials and numerological incriminating clues; if you don’t like my choice of words, feel free to make up other language that you would take as a flat, comprehensive, unqualified denial, and assume I said that. What follows will tell you nothing at all about Zodiac or Webster; it’s a personal history of being struck by low-voltage lightning out of a clear blue sky.

Sounds good.  BUT…

Take out the print copy of this Washington Monthly article.  Start from the bottom, and go up.  Every sixth line, go backward from right to left and pick out the sixth letter.  Now arrange these letters in rows of sixes.  There’s nothing terribly esoteric about this pattern — it’s the typical “Mark of the Beast Six Six Six”.  Next, start from the top and do the mirror image:  sixth row, sixth letter from the left to the right, new row of sixes.

What you want to do now is pick out the letters diagonally downward from left to right, zig-zagging your wayback right to left than left to right to the bottom.  Now, do the same with the mirror image — diagonally zig-zagging your way from the bottom, right to left, left to right, and etc.

Next, go to the third row of letters, and go downward, picking out every third letter.  And then, from the fouth row (or, third row from the right), go upward, every third letter again.

What you will find is a Zorastrian Myth — numerous misspellings for reasons that are unclear at this time — perhaps the encrypted code was hastily written.  It’s also a little unclear if it’s the fifth item on this list or the sixth — applying new vowels and cutting off some constanants to this message is a little bit random.  But nonetheless the message would appear to contradict the flat out denial, or at least open up the suggestion that he knows something, or… something.

In a statement released by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea said it no longer felt bound by the Korean War armistice .

You know, I’ve long since tired of that Truce, and have wanted to see a resumption of the tv program MASH, and to resolve these matters once and for all.  IT … IS … ON… KIM JONG IL.

I demand our government to start pumping out the propaganda en route to the resumption of the Korean War.  It should use language more colorful than theirs:

The DPRK has single-minded unity more powerful than nuclear weapons and invincible military capability unfathomable in its range and depth.
The U.S. moves to mount a pre-emptive attack on the DPRK are as foolish an attempt as taking oil to extinguish the fire.
The U.S. would be well advised to halt at once its dangerous military moves against the DPRK if it wants to escape the lot of a tiger moth, bearing deep in mind that any attempt to make a pre-emptive attack on the DPRK is little short of inviting a disaster itself.

It should be noted that the Korean News Service is not all about blasting underground Nagasakis in preparation for the approaching American Imperialists, but also features such uplifting news items as:

He went round a number of construction sites through the sightseeing road built by soldiers and spread before them a far-reaching blueprint to turn the mountain into a splendid resort of cultural recreation for the people.
The sun of May Day began to sink unnoticed.
Out of the ardent desire to provide him a happy time, if but for a moment, officials earnestly asked him to have a picture taken with them against the background of the picturesque scenery of the mountain.
He smiled a generous smile of understanding and said that was not a good idea when the resort was in the thick of construction and he would come again after the completion of the project and have a souvenir picture taken.
The officials were choked with emotion at his words full of warm love for the toiling soldier builders whom he thought before anyone else.
The story about the souvenir picture which was not taken will go down long to the posterity as a legend of the leader’s love for the KPA soldiers along with Mt. Kuwol, a famous mountain of the people.

The conventional unconventional wisdom is something to the effect of a giant shrug.  There is some internal combombulations within the Hermit Kingdom, and so to bring his reign of power in the aging Swedish Porn Enthusiast and Last Remaining Stalinist is stomping his feet demanding to be heard.  It’s mostly just all kind of unpleasant.

#1:  “Well, it happened before I was born,” the 19-year-old said, looking down at his sneakered feet as the crowd shuffled out of the vast expanse of concrete on a balmy evening. “In any case, it’s history. Why should we dwell on the past?”

#2:  “Well, it happened before I was born. In any case, it’s history. Why should we dwell on the past?”

#3:  “If there is too much freedom, all sorts of false rumors can spread on the Internet.  It’s not easy to control such a big and diverse country as China.”

#4:  “They call us the post-1980s youth, the April youth, the Olympic torch generation or the ‘Bird’s Nest’ generation.  Our patriotism springs from a heartfelt love for the motherland, a belief in Chinese traditional culture, pride in being Chinese and confidence in China’s future.”

Hm.

Cynics would say that we have the same sort of thing going on in American politics right now.  But those would be cynics.

I saw on the back-pack of someone who looks a bit steorotypical of a type of Obama supporter that Obama icon and something needs to be stated:

I sense an edging disillusionment in Obama, inevitable I’d think due to variances that were inevitable.  (Very Establishmentarian he has always been.)  I remind you all that you’ve been carrying around an icon with the word “Hope” underneath it, meaning you got what you asked for — a Hope.  To remember the problem with John Edward’s phrase “Hope is on the way” — and the statement that that sentence makes no sense in relation to the definition of the word.