There and Back and There and Back And Back There Again

Beautiful day -- mild temperatures, lots of sun. Classic early summer weather. One annoyance for me, although I was sanguine about it -- I had a flat bike tire on the way home. It hit when I was a couple of miles from home, so instead of heading back home, I walked it to the nearest bike shop, although as I did that, I recalled that I had neglected to put my wheel key in my messenger bag (those are to make it somewhat harder for thieves to steal my bike tires), so I ended up having to walk the bike to the shop, then walking back home for the keys, then walking back down to the shop, then walking back home (and I've got one more walk left, to go pick the bike back up). Anyway, that's about 5 miles of walking added to my usual bike routine. I'm just glad the bike crapped out relatively close to home, or I'd have been miffed. Had it been in the heart of downtown, I don't know where I'd have gone. Of course, walking it made the most sense, as the city was packed with beachgoers today, everybody taking advantage of the beautiful weather. There were a ton of people at the beaches, and lots of police. Despite the irritation of the bike tire, I was sanguine about it all -- what am I going to do about it, right? I just deal with the problem at hand.

So, at the moment, I'm having some leftover pizza and am washing it down with a Chinotto, knowing that I've got one stroll left to take (I was pleased that the bike shop wasn't packed -- that was my lone concern, with the weather being all good, I feared lots of people would be in there, but it was casual).

"So You Think You Can Dance" is on again; I missed the opening episode(s) which I think were on Wednesday. Ahh, Jeanine Mmmmason...

So, so yummy!

I'm actually thinking of finding a dance school for B1 -- he's got the most innate sense of rhythm I've ever seen in anyone, and sometimes he busts out some moves every now and then that are very cool. I'll see what's around town, what's reasonable and seems bullshit-free. I think he'd enjoy it, actually, because it's athletic but kind of sneaks it in with the music and the rhythm. He's actually got a real sense of movement, and I think that's something a person either has, or they don't. It's fun to watch, and if I can find a tap or jazz program or something like that which he might enjoy, I'll enroll him and see if he enjoys it. I think he will, because, as I've said, it slips out in dribs and drabs, his keen sense of rhythm.

It's funny, because B2 is the natural athlete, as I've said before -- quick, strong, competitive -- he's also a natural performer and showboat, and B1 seems clumsier than his younger brother, except in that realm of rhythm. Get some music going, and B1 kind of gets into a cool groove, and it's fun to watch. His normally shy and earnest self dissolves into this natural dancer. It's totally unexpected, and a joy to see. So, trying to be a good parent, I'm paying attention to what my kid enjoys and am giving him the opportunity to see if that's something he'd like. B2 will be a natural soccer (or, god help me, rugby) hooligan; but B1, I can see really enjoying dance. I respect dance, because it's frickin' hard, and the body awareness of dance reaps dividends in a variety of ways.

The Mendacity of Nope

I wasn't going to grouse about politics here, but as we continue to lurch along in the economic doldrums, I wonder if it's occurred to Democrats that being Republican Lite doesn't serve them particularly well (or the rest of the country, for that matter, the ~90% of the country left behind by Republican economic policies). When Obama was voted in, there was a strong mandate for change -- hell, he ran on it ("Change We Can Believe In") and on hope over fear, all of that stuff. But his term to date has really been a continuation of the Bush/Cheney Years in nearly all ways (I mean, even his demonized healthcare reform was really just a repackaged version of Mitt Romney's "Romneycare" that would have made Eisenhower proud -- that's exactly how conservative and retro it is -- a 1950s solution to a 21st century problem). Anyway, despite bucking the mandate he had and pursuing a supposedly "bipartisan" approach to the GOP (which really looked like a peace-through-appeasement tactic to me), Obama was rewarded with nonstop opposition from a unified and deeply ideological GOP. I mean, the GOP were staggered in the wake of Obama's election -- they had nothing. And they still have nothing to offer (beyond their ongoing mantras: lower taxes, more money to the top 1%, more money to the military and the police, One Nation Under God[tm], and immigrant-bashing). But the weak-kneed approach of Obama and the Democrats cost them the House -- their conciliatory efforts got them absolutely nothing, and their fealty to Wall Street over Main Street cost an economic recovery -- they listened to the wrong voices and refused to run with the mandate that they had, refused to implement a serious stimulus plan, and the economy continues to lurch and founder. This was the gift that the GOP had hoped for, and they've run with it. They're still peddling the same snake oil they always do, but the fault really lies with the Democrats, for not running with the ball when they had it. Fake Democrats don't tend to win in the long run.

Of course, now we have a fake Democrat as Mayor over here in Chicago. Rahm Emanuel is a political pit bull, we're fond of hearing, but he has always been a Fake Democrat of the first order. The now-defunct Democratic Leadership Council (whose sole accomplishment was turning the majority of Democrats into Republican Lite), they loved Emanuel. And Chicago is a genuinely Democratic city -- true blue -- not the pale blue weak tea that Fake Democrats love to peddle. And that's what it's going to be -- Emanuel will try to bust up what unions he can, will probably privatize more of the city if he gets the chance, will kiss corporate ass more assiduously than ever, and so on. That's how Fake Democrats do things. Now, Emanuel has one luxury Obama doesn't, and that's far more job security -- the GOP in Illinois has no chance of taking Chicago from Emanuel. The political calculus is turned on its head, here -- Republicans pretend to be Democrats in Illinois in order to survive (excepting the collar counties, where they let their freak fascist flags fly).

Anyway, it's frustrating. It makes me think that the whole political system is just a puppet show put on for the distraction of the masses, simply because the route the Democrats should be taking is so clear, but they never, ever do it, and, instead, tack to the Right, which qualifies as the "Left" to the Republicans, who are simply out in the reactionary wilderness, far, far to the Right these days. Seriously, if you count yourself as a moderate or a centrist (whatever that honestly means in American political discourse -- a topic for another time), that would classify you as a leftist to today's Republicans. That's how far in the ideological weeds they are. Today's Democrats are more like 80s Republicans, and it's the sad truth. Though they are labeled as "liberals" by the hidebound GOP, there is nothing actually liberal about most of them -- there is still a tiny minority of actually liberal Democrats, but they are as much of an endangered species as moderate Republicans (who appear to be extinct).

Where does all of this go? America's problems require new thinking and progressive ideas -- supply-side economic thinking is bankrupt (honestly, the data bears this out -- it has resolutely failed to deliver what it pretended to promise to deliver), our country is in an economic tailspin that just grinds on, and our future as a nation is being mortgaged for short-term political gains by parties who are completely compromised by the actual powers-that-be running things.

Obama could have been another FDR or an LBJ when he got voted in -- he had it right there in his hands; instead, he has opted for being Herbert Hoover. *golf applause* The frustrating thing is that generations of Americans are going to be paying for that political cowardice and lack of vision.