There have been so many Menes and viral themes in this primary season to leave one spinning in a sea of bullshit. But there is one in particular that continues to be emphasized that it makes me want to vomit buckets of green monkey shit.

<p.In what was otherwise a great speech today in West Virginia, Barack made the following inconsiderate and false statement:</p>

One of the saddest episodes in our history was the degree to which returning vets from Vietnam were shunned, demonized and neglected by some because they served in an unpopular war. Too many of those who opposed the war in Vietnam chose to blame not only the leaders who ordered the mission, but the young men who simply answered their country's call. Four decades later, the sting of that injustice is a wound that has never fully healed, and one that should never be repeated.(1)

While Greg Sargent, at TPMElectioncentral suggested it was the most interesting because it underlined Obama's "larger claim that he's a conciliator and bridge-builder" (2), I do not feel we should be so generous or charitable, they are in fact false and slanderous. While many of you will instinctively object to the following remarks, I think it is important we hold the Senator to an even rigorous standard than we hold Clinton and McCain.

In the first part of this paper, which I published yesterday, I make the claim that the culture industry on "communication was to strip it of any meaningful interaction, reducing it to a condition where language becomes an advertisement for talking. Under such conditions, communicative interaction is reduced to "light [communication]... It is the social bad conscience of serious [communication]" (1). As a consequence there emerges a "striking unity of microcosm and macrocosm...the false identity of the general with the particular. Under monopoly all. ..[communication] . . .is identical...[resulting in a]. ..circle of manipulation and retroactive need in which the unity of the system grows ever stronger "(2). In the following discussion, I explore the cultural consequences of this condition.

Warning this is quite a long diary and I hope not too academic,  boring and esoteric. However as we are not in Hillary's cohort, I think it will not be too complicated.

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I presented the following Paper, which will be posted in four parts, at the 1995 International Communication Association conference in Albuquerque. I have decided to revisit it, because it touches on a number of themes that have roiled the blogosphere over the last two months. My concern in this paper was to address what I believed was the failure of Critical Communication Scholarship to attend to the influence and role of talking heads and media paid professionals in the construction and reproduction of the spectacle.

I realize we are in the heat of a political clusterfuck, but perhaps we could all take a minute to honor the memory of a man who changed the word for the better.

A couple of days ago there was a diary posted about making a two cent donation to the Clinton Campaign. This posting is a riff on that idea.

I have been thinking about Hillary's absurd claim about the road to Pennsylvania Avenue leads through Pennsylvania. I am not as clued in as many Kossacks, but if the following questions have occured to me I am sure they are playing ok the mind of some of them.

Many years ago Lenny discussed his opposition to segregation and how to convince a Klansman that segregation was against his personal interests.

So George wants another 109 billion dollars so he can play soldiers and pretend he is a Commander in Chief, well fuck him and the horse he rode in on.

I think that there should be a requirement that the moderators should have to answer a questionnaire. The first of which should be do you gave a fucking clue.

While the sweetest girl in the world has a very different take than me on Fleetwood Mac, I really hated the album Rumors and one of the least useful contribution to the storehouse of cultural bullshit given us by Bill and Hillary was getting Fleetwood Mac to reform and play Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow at the inauguration. Let us indulge in a little fantasy and imagine who, in an ideal world, you would get to hear at the inaugural ball. Likewise, if you could access their iTunes, what songs would be in their Top 25 Most Played.

I realize it may seem that people pick on Hillary quite a lot and that Hillary's supporters got upset about that. I also realize that a lot of people who come here lurk before they feel safe and confident enough to decide to throw their virtual hats into the pond. It can be quite a frightening experience to decide to make a post, especially one that the community does not like because people can get diwnright rude. BTW if anybody decides this is a troll post, there was a great recipe for black bean chile published in the Times in 1988 and if anyone knows it could they please post it here. This introduction really does not have a lot to do with the main part of the post, but I lost that damned recipe years ago and it really was a good Chile. To get serious I would like to explain why I decided to start putting in my two cents and what I think it says about the Clinton campaign.

I admit it, I am to blame and I am so sorry for causing so much human misery to everyone because I am guilty of original sin.

I just sat through the News Hour's coverage of Patraeus and Crocker's testimony before the Senate and while I am tempted to turn this into who won the struggle of ideas, HRC or BHO but that is largely irrelevant. I prefer Obama, so I am going to think he is smarter ant those who prefer Clinton will have the opposite reaction, that her questioning proves she is truly ready on day one to kick some ass. However I think it would be hard for any of us to fall into polarized bickering over how much we fucking hate Frederick Kagan and how the sections chosen by the News Hour highlighted the fact that John McCain and Joe Liebermann are a genuine threat to our stability.  

Just how much bullshit do you have to dish out before you lose your soul and is becoming President really worth the price. I have had it and I am sick of the shit that is passed off as political rhetoric from McCain and Clinton

I admit it I have an abiding and debilitating  deep streak of Anarchist angst, which historically has led to some disastrous alliances. In Spain the anarchists agreed to work with socialists, communists and trotskyists with the predictable end result. In the past I have been willing to set my ideological scruples aside to stand with the ISO and SWP, because of friendships and a shared desire to defeat injustice, stop fascists from parading through my home town and defend access to clinics. I did so in spite of being fully aware we shared little in common and groups like the ISO get involved in actons and movements to attract new members, even if it means leaving a shattered and gutted organization in their wake. But there have to be lines drawn in the sand beyond which we should refuse to be trapped by our ideological angst. The Clinton Campaign is one such moment.

If the spelling on this diary gets a little weird, I apologize but the iTouch keyboard makes hunt and peck typing into a crap shoot and my wireless connection is as iffy as it is free. I am not complaining, the iTouch really rocks its ability to lock onto open wireless networks for free can not be beat. The only drawback is the size of the screen which makes it hard to launch into a rant and keep track of what you have already written. Anyway, I thought I would spend a little time with this bizarre American obsession with non-partisanship and objectivity.

These are some thoughts, after being at the hearings for the last three days, about the event, those that criticize it and our responsibility as progressives.  The men and women who are here, testifying about what they are doing are quite remarkable. Most of them are younger than our children and they have seen and done more in their brief lives than any of us will or want to do. Up until today, I was largely inured to the emotional consequences of what they have discussed because I have been working on a computer the whole time I have ben here. Today, I watched them muster for a group photograph and I could not watch, instead I found myself crying and decided I had to write something about the event. I hope this diary is not too preachy, but it must be said this event should not have had to take place and it is up to us t make sure that it never happens again.