In case you missed the news, Herman Cain has thrown his hat in the ring, or more specifically has launched an exploratory committee for the Republican nomination.  This markst the first announced candidate, of any stature whatsoever, as against the masses who had flooded the zone at this point prior to the 2008 election, as Dave Weigel announced.  Maybe this hardly matters — everyone is bopping about in Iowa and New Hampshire anyway.

I do not know where this Herman Cain fits in the mix.  There may be something to say for scouting out presidential candidates outside the usual political venue, but then again maybe there is not.  I gather he will end up in Mike Gravel territory — he would make the debates, sure, but in a manner where everyone is rolling their eyes.  It may be that he slides in where Carol Mosley Braun fit in for the Democratic Party in 2004.  Braun was largely propped up for the purposes of directing attention away from Al Sharpton.  Herman Cain would exist to deflect some racial cultural baggage from the various Southern pols on stage– if you will, Haley Barbour.

Poke around his CEO hold of Godfather’s Pizza, and you get an ad from the 1980s with the “Black people eat a pizza like this; White people — they eat a pizza like that” schtick.  I don’t know if America is ready to watch old late 1980s early 1990s pizza commercials, and come to terms with this ugly chapter in our past.

Sure.  Tennessee.  And one dreary line in the “Culture War” that pierces the educational system.

Regarding education, the material they distributed said, “Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.”

That would include, the documents say, that “the Constitution created a Republic, not a Democracy.”

The material calls for lawmakers to amend state laws governing school curriculums, and for textbook selection criteria to say that “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.”

Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group’s lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address “an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another.

“The thing we need to focus on about the founders is that, given the social structure of their time, they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world where it hadn’t existed, to everybody — not all equally instantly — and it was their progress that we need to look at,” said Rounds, whose website identifies him as a Vietnam War veteran of the Air Force and FedEx retiree who became a lawyer in 1995.

Curiously there is surely a good contingency within this group who won’t keep this “Hero Worship” sentiment up with Abraham Lincoln.  They also likely will be bristling against Woodrow Wilson — oddly making issue with some of the same racial problems that float about the Founders, but mostly just to prop up a supposed government “Eugenics” plot, and for base partisan attack in Republicans versus Democrats.  As the case shows in Texas, they seriously would want to reconstruct the figure of Thomas Jefferson, or if they can’t manage him, would settle on emphasizing more religious founders — I guess leaving the “Tree of Liberty” quote to be taken up at the Age of Majority.

It is hereabouts that we find a serious fault line for this proposal:
Sen. Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat, thinks members of his party and Republicans should sit together — not on opposite sides of the aisle — when President Obama delivers his State of the Union message to a joint session of Congress on Jan. 25.

In a “Dear Colleague” letter reported by NPR and Politico, Udall said, “There is no rule or reason that on this night we should emphasize divided government, separated by party, instead of being seen united as a country. The choreographed standing and clapping on one side of the room — while the other side sits — is unbecoming of a serious institution.”

Customarily, Republicans sit to the right in the House of Representatives chamber — as viewed from the Speaker’s rostrum — and Democrats to the left. On the night of the State of the Union it gets crowded as senators, cabinet members, the diplomatic corps and some Supreme Court justices also squeeze in.

I guess this would keep Representative Joseph Wilson from shouting “You Lie!”  (Code Pink had been barred as a guest of a Congress-woman during the Bush Administration for fear they would do what a Congress man did.)  But… is this a proposal to dissolve the two parties and show that the bitter arguments of governance are, at the elite level, a facade?  Or is this supposed to launch a new Era of Good Feeling, the kind of which we have not seen since the Federalists threw in the towel and co-opted the James Monroe Administration?

There wasn’t a State of the Union speech delivered until Wilson’s time — Jefferson had deigned toward obsequious displays of humbleness and this clashed with that.  But, you can imagine the partisanship that would televise through the years in rolling down the Senate division chart (and surely one exists for the House Chamber).  Funny thing here, though: note the 1855 session breakdown.  Interesting.  One Republican.  While he pretty well sat alongside the breaking-apart the party Whig and unsettled Northern contingency that was the “Opposition” party (amalgam of Whiggery, Republicanism, and American Know-Nothing), it is… you see… the case that at one point, there was a one member Republican Senate contingency.

So, congratulations.  Amos Nourse.  I understand he yelled at President Pierce “You Lie”, and was thus reprimanded, which strings together the eras of the Republican Party from its 1850s holding to its twenty-first century state.

Nutcases.  That’s all.

The tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona over the weekend, which left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a coma and six others dead, has been universally condemned both by Democrats and Republicans, as you would expect in any civilized society where violence and assassination with semi-automatic weaponry are considered inappropriate responses to political differences. But while even Sarah Palin — a forceful opponent of Giffords who once published an infographic targeting Giffords through gun sights — was publicly calling for “peace and justice,” at least one member of the retail comics community had a different message: “1 down, 534 to go.”

You can go to the link from the story.  There you will find two updates to offer some clarification.

UPDATE: You might be interested to read a long explanation of my thoughts on human rights, legitimate government, and when revolution is justified.
Not really. *
UPDATE: You should also read this quick flowchart to see exactly how you and I disagree politically. Despite the fact that you were drawn to this blog because of a tasteless subject line, I’ll bet that you agree with me on several big points, and perhaps all seven out of seven.
Surely he too was angry at the passage of HR 563.  Surely that absolves the entire matter.

Unfortunately I wouldn’t be all that surprised if this boosted his sales.  An annoying aspect of the news coverage of this story is seen by going over to the LA Times.  There, focused on a topic of “civility” and speech, is a photograph showing a focus on some such talk radio host you and I have never heard of, undoubtedly eating up his media attention, readying for the radio to comment profusely on his media attention.

During the interview, authorities say he acknowledged having made the calls, and said that while he had consumed alcohol before doing so, he still felt he was functional enough that at the time he could have driven his car.  And with that, I google up the McDermott story and see a talk radio guy’s website — who may or may not be the same guy but at least bears a resemblance — and his take on this story:

According to CBS News’ Political Hotsheet Habermann said he was trying to “scare” politicians “before they spent money that didn’t belong to them,” but added he had never intended to actually hurt them – particularly because he didn’t want to do anything that could jeopardize his access to a $3 million trust fund.

There was a slightly more realistic threat against Senator Cantwell.  

But the talk radio host reacted to this story thusly:

Liberal media pundits, reporters, editors and the politicians that they love all owe conservatives an apology for their gross slander of their fellow Americans in their attempt to link conservative politics with the actions of a madman. […]
All of this is why many of these same people will be ecstatic that a man has been arrested for making drunken threats against Congressman Jim McDermott.

This is that immediate defensive stance of deflection — see also the Michelle Malkin video released piecing together any and all vitrolic material from “the Left” she could find.  See too Sarah Palin and her “blood libel” comment – sure sign that Sarah Palin will never be president.  To be honest, I have no concern about her “target” map (though am annoyed by her “surveyor symbols” retraction), but any number of other items.

Anecdotally, we can thrust up some items as the “You Lie” assault weapon, which I guess is the most disturbing item in the collection of news tidbits.  To get a handle on something more concrete for this at times nebulous problem, you turn to these statistics:  This impression is bolstered statistically by reports that the Secret Service has had to deal with a 400 percent increase in threats against the president, that U.S. Marshals are facing double the number of threats against judges and prosecutors, and that Capitol Police found that threats against congressmembers tripled in the first quarter of 2010

Policy wise, there is not much direction to go with “civility”.  This is that “you are the change you have been waiting for”, which trips up due to searches for equivalencies to balance “right” and “left” in a political culture that takes on tribal characteristics.  Policy-wise, you’re backed into mental health and gun access… which will go wherever they go.

* Update: Okay.  I looked at it.  Question one is whether you would or would not kill Hitler.  No, seriously.  Off of this we can launch a flow-chart toward “1 down, 534 to go.”  ‘Cause… you see ?

The channels in the 700 range, or thereabouts, are that package of music stations — song playing underneath rotating band or artist promotional images and promotional factoids.   I was bouncing myself between the “classic rock”, “alternative rock”, and “classic alternative rock” stations.  It is interesting that they use for Talking Heads a few photographs from their “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” appearance — trailing off long after the band disbanded.  There is an interesting difference between bands or artists of long stature and flash in the pan one hit or one or two charting album groups — more images to pull from for Led Zeppelin and rotate than for (wait for it) Sponge.

It gets weirder still for the factoids that roll through the song.  A Led Zeppelin song will go through some tried and true rock history lore that exists as a stock-pile of information for toss-out use by every rock dj of the past several decades.  Then there is this band with a song from either 2009 or 2010 who appear to be destined to share a similar career trajectory of Sponge.  Factoids?  “Drummer Steve’s favorite snack food is the pickle.”  They’re either joking around or waiting for a good hotel story.  Or maybe there was no choice but to pluck inanities from facebook profiles?

The killer’s political bent is about what you would expect: deeper on the “Nuts” end of the “Nuts” / “Sane” axis than any “right” / “left” axis.  No, he is not a “Tea Party” participant — falling outside even the “Nuts / Tea Party” axis of, for instance, some guy I saw on youtube in a “Pass the Bullhorn” session going off on 9/11.  The effect of our politicized culture is that we see stammerings of misinformation — a fake facebook page to tie him in as supporting Obama or quickly and easily verified as false ties to such and such an anti-government right-wing Extremist group.  (The latter is the product of our media culture demand for immediate gratification, the former a product of political defensiveness.)

It is possible to track a lot of his “politics”, such as they are, and they lead out from points from which the Tea Party (such as it is) have drawn.  The influences are re-assembled in a mad pastiche from out of the nation’s broader protest (sure, the tone set by it as well) for a man not in control of his life and painfully aware of that.  Sure, it is political by definition — he shot a politician — and the concerns expressed to the politician were reflections of his existential crisis:

 ”He told me that she opened up the floor for questions and he asked a question. The question was, ‘What is government if words have no meaning?’”  Giffords’ answer, whatever it was, didn’t satisfy Loughner. “He said, ‘Can you believe it, they wouldn’t answer my question,’ and I told him, ‘Dude, no one’s going to answer that,’” Tierney recalls.

From here is the one that puzzles me.  A lot of his pastiche of politics are easily recognized — monetary theories spouted by Congressman Ron Paul (who is a sane man, by the way), conspiracy theories of the Fall of the Nation’s constitutional bearings coming from opponents of the 14th Amendment.  But from “What is government if words have no meaning”, we drip down into:

You don’t allow the government to control grmmar structure.

Where did this one come from?
Well, David Wayne Miller will now enjoy his 15 minutes of fame.
… Even if the young man who attempted to assassinate Gabrielle Giffords probably added his own twist (and I don’t think his proposed educational system would hold up all that well).

National Review 12-31-2010:
Thomas Acquinas College “Summer Great Books Program for High School Students”
Great Courses: Ancient Warfare lecture Series
Bose Radio
Young America’s Foundation Reagan Ranch High School Conference  “Celebrate Reagan’s 100th Birthday”
Stauer Diamonds
Jitterbug Cell Phone
H Uppman Cigars (connected with National Review Cruise)
American Silver and Gold
Union University

New Republic 12-30-2010
Association of Private Sector College and Universities
Harvard University Press
Mortgage Bankers Association (lobbying for mortage interest deduction)
CTIA Wireless Conpanies Association
NOVA David Progue “Making Stuff” 4 Part PBS Series

Weekly Standard 1-3-11
Creat Courses Lecture Series: Lifelong Health
Obama Stress Head (1/2 page)
Nationwide Coin and Bunyon Reserve
US Chamber of Commerce (1/2 page, “Open Letter”)
HQ Global Education “One of China’s Fastest Growing Vocational Vocational Training Schools”
(1/2 page)
HQ Global Education “One of China’s Fastest Growing Vocational Vocational Training Schools”
(1/2 page, same ad again)
Weekly Standard Cruise pull-out back-cover

American Spectator Dec/Jan 2010 / 2011
Valentine One Radar Detector
Benedict XVI subject book “Light of the World” Ignatius Books
LifeLock
Stauer Diamonds
1/2 page Saving Leonardo book “On destructive impact of Secularism”
Jitterbug Cell Phone
FLAME “Facts and Logic About Middle East”
Stauer Diamonds
AlphaPub
Neutronic Ear hearing aid
Sarkes Tarzian television (logo only)
Stauer Diamonds

Reason February 2011
Great Courses:  Churchill
Oxford Reference Book Series
CATO (drug legalization related books)
FreedomFest 2011
Siteworks fireplaces (1/3 page)
2 page: Reason Cruise
AlphaPub
National Interest Magazine
Fantagraphics Peter Bagge cartoon collection
Atari Terminator 3: The Redemption video game
Reason.tv dvd Drew Carey “Saves Cleveland”
Institute for Justice 1st Amendment litigation “I Am IJ”

Observations:
There is a bit of a lull for the number of ads in National Review and New Republic, end of year I suspect.  Curiously, despite its usual trend — with corporate groups feeling the need to cover both of these bases, there is no overlap between the two magazines.   National Review is notable in having two different places for high school students to go this summer to get their movement conservative tips — one celebrating Reagan’s 100th birthday. 
The Weekly Standard’s “US Chamber of Commerce” ad was predictable, but what am I to make of One of China’s Fastest Growing Vocational Vocational Training Schools” — and twice?
FLAME usually makes the rounds in New Republic and National Review, but for whatever reason it only tapped the American Spectator.  I do not know what prompted Sarkes Tarzian to pay for a full page logo. 
The American Spectator and Reason share an “AlphaPub” ad, which discourses on the need for God to be firmly placed in any Libertarian or Conservative governance, all while not saying the word “God” or “Jesus”.  I imagine Reason readers less likely than National Review or American Spectator readers to have no use for a physical collection of reference books — in the same way that it is the only magazine here that could run an ad for a Terminator 3 video game. 
Make of it what you will how the Great Courses lecture series divvies up its subjects — at random, perhaps?

There is symbolic significance to this ceremonial choice.
I certainly wasn’t the the only one to notice how big John Boehner’s gavel was. Even Nancy Pelosi, who became minority leader, made a quip when she handed the gavel to the newly minted speaker of the house.

She said: “I now pass this gavel — which is larger than most gavels here, but the gavel of choice of Mr… speaker Boehner. I now pass this gavel and the sacred trust that goes with it to the new speaker.”

It is the gavel that John Beohner insisted on.  The obvious significance is to suggest a lot of power, and as this npr article goes on to note Pelosi used a big prop gavel with respect to Health Care Reform.  Significant here, possibly, is that the first item on the new House Republican Majority agenda was a Health Care Reform Repeal Act — the prop nature of which is told in the name given to it — the Republicans look to insert the phrase “job killing” wherever they can, and thus this measure was the “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act”.

The need for the gavel is shown, perhaps, in this conversation with Brian Williams:

BRIAN WILLIAMS: When you go home next, is there a sidewalk, a place, a person that’s kind of a talisman to grab onto? Again, talkin’ about strength and the new job?
JOHN BOEHNER: Well, I get strength every day just uh, going to my Facebook site.

Facebook, really?  Is it just for building strength and getting that well of emotional support?  Did he neglect to use it to alert Representative Sessions to the Swearing in Ceremony.