The land of Freedumb

The United States of America is no more; until things change, we're the land of Freedumb.

We're not so much a society of civilized beings as we are packs of hyper-sensitive balls of raging self-interest when news like Friday's comes down the wire: A worker is trampled to death by a throng of angery and eager Wal-Mart shoppers as the store opens for day-after-Thanksgiving deals in New York state.

Can we please now do away with the phrase "doorbuster deals"? Some people are starting to take it literally, but such is life in the land of Freedumb.

According to the story, other workers at the Wal-Mart were also stepped upon as they attempted to rescue Jdimytai Damour, a 34-year-old from Queens. People continued shopping. One can only thank one's respective deity that there were no Tickle-Me Elmo's or other must-have gift to fight to the death over, lest the death toll rise higher in suburbia.

When the store was closed to sort everything out, people screamed and cried out against the move. In the land of Freedumb, your sacrifice of standing in line for hours in the dark and cold entitles you to great deals, whatever the circumstances. It's surprising there weren't roving death squads in the line itself, eliminating potential competition for the last few Guitar Hero games. Of course I'm exaggerating, but not much.

Kimberly Cribbs, quoted in the story, had the best one-word explanation of the people involved with this affair: "SAVAGES."

Now capitalism is great. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, it's the worst economic system devised by man, except for all the others... But have the past few months taught us nothing about the effects of uncontrolled economic action by human beings? At the top, the executives will loosen some rules and flaunt the others in the name of revenue generation. At the bottom, the people who couldn't spend about $130 for the Nintendo Wii Fit kit before Thanksgiving are more than happy to wait in line for hours and kill for the chance of putting the discounted $100 version in their shopping carts and making a mad dash to the checkout lanes. How far away are we from all-out warfare in the name of Black Friday? Maybe people would be more orderly and well-behaved if half the store was booby-trapped to dissuade the chaotic, shove-a-stranger behavior that has evolved during the past few decades.

Let this sordid tale serve as reminder that things are not as bad as they can or should be. This isn't a scene out of "The Grapes of Wrath" or some other Depression-era story of people scrapping for food and work. And Rose of Sharon need not breastfeed any starving man as 2008 comes to a close -- all the major fast-food chains are beefing up their value menus to win the business of the credit-strapped masses. Even local barbecue joint Smokey Jackson's can afford to give away free Thanksgiving dinners to all comers -- not just the homeless, jobless or hopeless, but also the gumption-less. Makes me wonder why I spent hours brining and roasting a turkey when Smokey could have done the work for me.

And so help me God, I will be inconsolable if I start hearing about foreclosures surging between January and March as a result of people getting maxed out for the holidays. I'm not suggesting everyone take Christmas off, but if that new GPS unit plays a part in your SUV being repossessed, here's hoping that it works just as well as you walk to and from the bus stop.

Welcome to the land of Freedumb, population 305 million and growing.

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Forget "Dream Ticket" -- Meet the "Dream Team"

So, Democrats: Still smarting that you didn't get an Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama ticket to run this fall? I didn't think so.
Hillary Clinton supporters: Are you still worried about the kind of people Barack Obama is surrounding himself with in and around the White House?
Not only are Dems on the cusp of getting Hillary into the administration with a possible appointment as Secretary of State, but they're get a host of Democratic heavyweights at key posts in the Obama administration.

• Attorney General Eric Holder: That's right, the guy who was working behind the scenes when Janet Reno was running the show during the Clinton administration (and I should note, the Monica/Ken Starr/Zippergate era of the second term).


• Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Daschle: A former US senator for the better part of two decades (and Senate Majority Leader for most of 2001 through 2003). He lost his Senate seat in 2004 by only 4,500 votes after the South Dakota Republicans threw everything they had at unseating him.


• Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano: While not official as of this writing, this Western governor of a border state is expected to take the reins from Michael Chertoff and the Bushies. She's been named one of the five best governors in the United States by Time magazine, and is constantly rumored to be a contender to send John McCain back to one of his seven 10 who-knows-how-many homes when his Senate seat comes up for election.


• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: This is the biggie, if it happens -- and all signs point to 'yes' at this point. I still wonder if she could swallow the fact she'd be serving at the pleasure of the man who kept her from winning the White House, but there could easily be something more complex going on than most would think. Is this the price Obama pays for Hillary not wrestling the nomination away from Obama with every trick in the book? Is the Obama administration just a third term for the Clintons? It wouldn't surprise me given the number of Clintonistas getting jobs from Obama.

So who else gets a shot at being a Washington insider? Based upon what we've seen thus far, here are a few of my guesses:

• Secretary of Defense: I have to think there are two big names for this post who would sail through confirmation hearing: (1) Retired Gen. and former presidential candidate Wesley Clark, and (2) US Senator Chuck Hagel, who likely could land somewhere else on the Cabinet as a big-name Republican in a Democratic-controlled Washington. Also in the mix is retired Gen. Anthony Zinni should Clark or Hagel not want/be offered the job.


• Secretary of Energy: I'm sure there are plenty of people here in Colorado who will be quick to suggest Gov. Bill Ritter because he can't finish a sentence without using the phrase "new energy economy." These people should shut their mouths and start practicing their best "Ahhnold" accents, because it's not crazy to think outgoing Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could lend his star power to an already star-studded Obama Cabinet. Don't expect New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to be able to swallow his pride enough to do the same job he had in the Clinton administration after being snubbed for Vice President (and Secretary of State, most likely).


• Secretary of Veterans Affairs: A man who is eminently qualified (he's done the job before) and not currently working in Washington is former US Senator Max Cleland. A darkhouse candidate would be US Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, a Truman Democrat who has been representing Missouri's 4th District quite capably for the past 31 years. But I doubt there's any reason for him to leave his chairmanship of the House Committee on Armed Services.


• Secretary of the Treasury: William Ayers.... JUST KIDDING! I don't buy the talk of Warren Buffett for this post for one minute, as eye-catching as those headlines would be. I think the safest pick Obama could make would be former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker. Don't rule out former Harvard President Larry Summers, who's already on the inside as part of Obama's transition team dealing with economics.

So who gets left out? Probably Colin Powell, who looks like he's going to be edged out for another possible go as Secretary of State thanks to Hillary and Richardson. Add John Edwards to this list, for obvious reasons. Unless some super-special post covering climate change is created, expect Al Gore to continue with his current day job(s).

Who's left who needs/deserves a job but no logical choices come to mind?

• US Sen. Claire McCaskill was a vocal supporter of Obama, and a newly elected Democrat governor in Missouri could replace her with another solid Dem (like Robin Carnahan, daughter of Jean and the late Mel Carnahan) should McCaskill get a federal job. I've heard some people say she's in line to replace Howard Dean as party chair for the Democrats, but I don't buy it. But anything's possible; I'll say Secretary of Transportation given her Senate Commerce subcommittee experience.
  
  
• Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has somehow managed to win over enough moderate Republicans to be in office as long as she has, but she worked as hard as anyone to get Barack Obama elected (even though John McCain won her state with a double-digit margin). Maybe she ends up heading the Secretary of Education?


• "Sweet" Caroline Kennedy helped deliver Joe Biden to the vice presidency; does she, then, get a nice government post delivered to her? Is her next job the stepping stone to eventually replacing her uncle in the US Senate from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts?
  

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WWLD?

I've seen one too many articles, electoral cartoons and other noise this morning about how Abraham Lincoln would be heartened by the election of Barack Obama. I won't go as far as to say that Lincoln didn't care about black people, but the ideal of him as the Great Emancipator is not one earned by his intentions. Take note of this Lincoln quotation:

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not to either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also so that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause."

Just like John McCain, Lincoln was more concerned with winning a war than losing a political victory (i.e. the emanicipation of the slaves). And don't make me go into detailing just how much good the Emanicipation Proclamation did for those in bondage throughout the Confederacy (Hint: Not much).

I'll expound on this at some later date, but for now I will try to drown out the Obama-Lincoln talk with this cartoon from Pat Bagley of the Salt Lake Tribune of Obama fist-bumping Uncle Sam:

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Thanks to be given

For all the name-calling, smearing, race-baiting and ageism the 2008 presidential campaign has produced on behalf of the major-party candidates, there is one bit of truth I read today in an Associated Press story by Ted Anthony that just astounds me:

"In a country accustomed to low voter turnout, apathy has not been a problem this year."

Until now, I had not known an election year where there was a shortage of pundits decrying the lack of interest in the election, on any level, by any group of people (usually young adults).

My only worry is that the historic nature of this presidential campaign is the motivating force for this increased interest, and that future campaigns will not live up to this level of political engagement for the average American. But if there is one thing I am hopeful for in this electoral season, it is that I am mistaken in this regard — that the metaphoric wave of a surge we've seen, in the everyman's desire to be informed and active in the political process, will not break on the shores of Nov. 5, but rather continue on for days, weeks, months and years to come.

So to everyone who voted early and took their civic duty seriously, thank you.
To everyone who will be making to the polls on Nov. 4 to exercise their rights, irrespective of their political leanings, thank you

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