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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Monday, April 29, 2019</span></h2>

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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="line-height: 200%;"><span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Real Race for the Democratic Nomination<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The need to
replace the Fascist-in-Chief is so desperate that the race for the Democratic
nomination carries a sense of urgency that I cannot recall in any of the
presidential campaigns to which I&#8217;ve paid heed, basically back to 1960. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>There are presently 20 contestants running for
the nomination with the possibility of a few more who could still enter. There
are polls and pundits and prognostications, and a lot of it this far out is
utter nonsense. But what is not nonsense are the unforced errors everyone is
already making: DSA endorsing Bernie Sanders long before it was necessary
precisely to handicap the organization&#8217;s potential support for Elizabeth Warren;
Joe Biden announcing on one day and then (a) refusing to apologize to Anita
Hill for enabling a perjurer and abuser onto the Supreme Court, (b) coming down
for the prosecution of marijuana possession and (c) allowing his first
fundraiser to be hosted by a Comcast exec &#8211; a 24-hour trifecta of serious blunders;
the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) refusing to work with
any consultants who challenge incumbent Neanderthals, attempting to prevent any
more Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez type candidates from unseating the Joe Crowleys
of this world, making the Democratic party safe for Wall Street and the fossil
fuel industry. All of this bodes ill for a race that is always the incumbent&#8217;s
to lose, and an incumbent in this instance only too willing to let foreign
powers put their Hulk-weight thumb down on the scales of opinion and the
electoral college.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It would be
useful here to remember what history teaches. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">No
Democratic centrist has won the electoral college since 1996</b> &#8211; 23 years and
counting. It&#8217;s true that both Al Gore and Hillary Clinton won the popular vote
but that and $5 will get you a vente Americano at Starbucks with an extra shot
of espresso. Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton in 2008 by running to her left
as the anti-war candidate: one of several tragedies that we can grieve over
about his actual administration was that while he ran as a progressive, he
governed as a centrist. A few cases in point: (1) he ran as the anti-war
candidate to Clinton&#8217;s hawkish foreign policy, but then put her in charge of
that policy; (2) he &#8220;rescued&#8221; the economy from the Bush Recession, but did so
(a) without punishing a single banker beyond Bernie Madoff for the abuses &#8211;
crimes &#8211; of the previous decade and (b) perpetuating Goldman Sachs&#8217; hold over
US government policy; (3) he had no plan, indeed no evident interest, in
building a progressive movement in <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>the
US, leaving state and local Democratic candidates to fend on their own with
almost no support from his office or the national Democratic Party, resulting
in a red wave of state legislatures ready to use voter suppression, gerrymandering
and other &#8220;business friendly&#8221; legislation to set social policy as far back
toward the 1920s as possible. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The lesson of the past 23 years is
inescapable: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">centrism will always lose
to its alternative</b>, if there is one. The reason is that Democratic
centrism, neoliberalism if you will, is built around the central presumption that
a progressive administration can do anything so long as it does not threaten
capital (Goldman Sachs in &#8217;08, Google-Facebook-Amazon today). Unfortunately,
the world&#8217;s problems, from climate change to military conflict to social
inequality, all can be traced directly back to the fact that an economic system
predicated on the notion that &#8220;greed is good,&#8221; and that the perpetual need for growth
will always take precedence over absolute fixed limits of natural resources
(land and its mineral contents; water; sunlight), presents an impossible
conundrum that is only addressable by confronting capital head-on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;">From this I conclude that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">the one thing the Democrats must not do is
to put up a centrist</b> against Trump. The inside-the-beltway notion that
Trump is so far to the right that everything to his left is up for grabs fails
to translate into how voters actually cast ballots. The idea that the most
conservative or centrist candidate will occupy the largest portion of the
political spectrum and deny Trump victory has already been tested with Hillary
Clinton and we can see what that got<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>us.
But it&#8217;s the same logic that got us two terms with George W Bush as well. Voters
have been telling us for 20 years that they get it that neoliberalism doesn&#8217;t
work. More of the same will enable Trump&#8217;s demented absence of any real policy
to be perceived as an assault on capital elites &#8211; it&#8217;s not (really) &#8211; and that
is a prescription for four more<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>years
and at least two more Supreme Court justices to perpetuate the stranglehold
over policy of white male privilege.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I look at the Democratic field
with this in mind, I see some clear enough divisions: four plausible
progressives: Sanders, Warren, Andrew Yang, and conceivably John Delaney; a lot
of Obama-esque faux progressives (run left, govern from the center) of whom
Kamala Harris and Cory Booker have the greatest name recognition at the moment;
some candidates who are trying to put themselves forward with no policy objectives
at all (e.g., Beto and Buttigieg, but check out Mary Williamson); and one
unrepentant centrist in Joe Biden. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;">From this, I come away with two
conclusions: of the 20 declared candidates, there are just a couple who (a)
could win <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> (b) could govern with
enough success to give us a fighting chance to survive the coming cataclysm
that climate change plus the resulting massive global displacement are sending
our way. There are, however, quite a few others who might be able to beat Trump
and his Apocalypse Now administration. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
only candidate who cannot beat Trump, under any circumstances, is Biden.</b>
For the rest, I think the question for the not-quite-progressives comes down to
who could be persuaded to pursue an administration that would challenge
capitalism&#8217;s catastrophic endgame with the encouragement of a lot of outside
agitation. Right<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>now that is deep weeds
speculation and I&#8217;m not ready to wade into it here. But make no mistake, the
bill on failing to rid ourselves of capitalism is coming due very rapidly. It
is not only the next administration&#8217;s job one, but in many respects its only
real job. Anything less is just Trump Lite. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;">After Super Tuesday on March 3 of next
year, this race will telescope down to no more than three real candidates: one
progressive, one &#8220;anybody but the socialist&#8221; candidate (Biden has the edge, but
10 months is a very long time for him to not self-destruct), and probably
Kamala Harris, who will win California and may well have the faux progressive
lane to herself by then. There will still be other candidates, just as there
were in 2008 when the Iowa Caucus turned the race into a Hillary versus Obama
contest, but they will be dropping like flies as their funds dry up. This means
that the first four contests, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina,
matter terribly for anyone without immediate national name recognition. If
Harris carries either South Carolina or Nevada, her position becomes far
stronger. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;">One lesson of 2008 was that Hillary
Clinton was prepared for any of the white male candidates (Edwards, Dodd, Biden)
who might emerge as the &#8220;anybody but Hillary&#8221; candidate following the Iowa
caucus, but she was caught off-guard by Obama. She could not pose her project of
neoliberalism&#8217;s third term as change or new against a candidate who better
represented the base of the party and was running to her left. My gut feel in
late April is that how it plays out in 2020 will depend on who is the third
major candidate against Sanders-or-Warren and Harris. If it&#8217;s any of the faux
progressives, then I think that the advantage goes to Bernie or Liz, while
Harris would be stronger if the third lane is occupied by Biden &#8211; it&#8217;s the one
lineup in which her own policy history might not be a weakness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bernie, like Biden, has a capacity for
a tin ear on positions that make his campaign a little like watching Charlie
Chaplin on a tightrope over a very deep ravine. Ten months is a very long time,
especially when getting there means you still have seven-plus months before the
general election. Getting the DSA endorsement early was more important than
people thus far have acknowledged in that it shuts out Warren from a major
source for volunteers right when volunteers are most needed. She has her own
blind spots to worry about, but she is much better positioned than Yang or
Delaney if Bernie makes a misstep. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;">For the baby Obamas, the faux
progressives, from former Goldman Sachs exec Cory Booker to Mayor Pete and Beto,
Tulsi, Amy and Kirsten, I seriously think their best shot comes not from
competing with Kamala Harris over a lane that she already has locked<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>up, but rather moving right to a more purely
centrist position and becoming the heir apparent the minute Biden stumbles. Inside
the beltway where most elected officials and pundits live, the idea of a
Democratic Party that challenges capitalism sounds like a prescription for
self-destruction &#8211; never mind two-plus decades of evidence to the contrary &#8211; and
I do think Harris is their primary opponent at least until Super Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: .25in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 12.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: &quot;arial&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And on March 4<sup>th</sup>? That is
when the real race for 2020 will begin.</span></div>
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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Monday, March 18, 2019</span></h2>

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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NU2QLtjig6g/XI-xo9ju0jI/AAAAAAAAIuo/7JONhplHIJswYKAoR_ISf2JysIq9bryhwCLcBGAs/s1600/DSA%2Bvote.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="680" height="360" src="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/images/2.bp.blogspot.com/-NU2QLtjig6g/XI-xo9ju0jI/AAAAAAAAIuo/7JONhplHIJswYKAoR_ISf2JysIq9bryhwCLcBGAs/s640/DSA%252Bvote.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was a no vote, even though I
enthusiastically support Bernie in his campaign for the presidency in 2020. But
I also support Elizabeth Warren (and would have supported Sherrod Brown, had he
run). And &amp; and I would have supported Barbara Lee over any of them had my
former Congressperson decided to run. But I felt that the either/or choice
posed by the DSA election &#8211; Bernie<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>yes
or no &#8211; was way too simplistic, an effort really on the part of the Bernie
campaign to contain Warren&#8217;s support early in the contest. And I think
socialists have a responsibility to do things better.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There several important realities
at play here. One is that Bernie and Warren both represent the left and
represent the left well. A second one is that representation matters. One
reason that the Democrats lost in 2016 was the ticket-so-white team of Clinton
&amp; Kaine told many voters of color that their interests were not being taken
seriously. Clinton got support roughly comparable to that of Obama&#8217;s 2012
re-election campaign in terms of percentages, but the urban turnout declined
and was more than offset by a resurgent rural rightwing vote. Cisgender white
males may play well with the pundit class &#8211; which itself leans in that
direction<a href="file:///C:/Users/rsillima/Documents/Crit/Blog/2019/I%20was%20a%20no%20vote.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
&#8211; but frankly should have higher barriers to endorsement from the left. This is
true for Sanders, Biden and O&#8217;Rourke, as well as for several of the vanity
candidates for the 2020 nomination. A power play aimed primarily at precluding
DSA support for Elizabeth Warren is itself a pretty traditional male privilege
strategy, and it is depressing to think that DSA has responded without more
critical depth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Another reality is that no centrist
campaign has captured the presidency since 1996. Obama beat Clinton in 2008 by
running to her left and his tragedy will always be his failure to govern
accordingly. Now, to be honest, both Gore and Clinton did win the popular vote,
but as the Vlad the vote-counter could tell you, the electoral college was the
first gerrymander. Sadly, I think the run-left, govern center strategy is
exactly what we can anticipate from the Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gilliland and
Corey Booker campaigns, and outright centrist candidates (Biden, O&#8217;Rourke, and
most of the vanity challengers) may well adopt the same strategy once they
realize that the center-right has not held in the old Wall Street-Democratic
Leadership Conference coalition. No question, the voters who wanted a left
alternative to Clinton in 2008 are impatient &#8211; they<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>are insisting on a progressive candidate this
time who actually is progressive. There were tells, as poker players would say,
with Obama early on, Bob Casey signing up as one of his first and most ardent
supporters, but that kind of red flag will get noticed this time around.
Harris, for example, is already having to run away from her record as DA and
Attorney General. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: large;">To be honest, I would vote for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">any Democrat </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>as an alternative to Trump, and if I thought
that a centrist candidate would expand the Democratic Party vote, I would be
more open to the Beltway/Wall Street whinging about how the base will push the
party too far to the left. But that is a patently false argument &#8211; Trump and
Pence offered the most unhinged reactionary extremism a major party has ever
put up for election, got 48 percent of the vote, and still has 88 percent GOP
support even after having been exposed to be an incompetent small-potatoes
crime family with Russian Mafia support, if not outright direction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This doesn&#8217;t mean that it&#8217;s a done
deal that the Democrats are going to win in 2020. I still<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>think this race is Trump&#8217;s to lose but I see
no sign that it will be well run, even though well-funded. If Trump does
something smart, like dumps Pence for someone like Nikki Haley, who could mute
the Dem&#8217;s POC support, then it will be almost impossible to defeat him.
Fortunately, betting on Trump to do anything smart is a longshot at best. But
articles that his campaign is as well organized as his clown car administration
is not frankly scare me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The pro-Bernie DSA argument is
pretty straightforward. Sanders has been willing to use the S word going back
to at least his days as the mayor of Burlington. Warren still talks around the
question. AOC she is not. And Warren<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>has
not always been as far to the progressive side as she has evolved into over the
past 15 years. But Bernie has never played well with others and is still
technically an independent, and up until the past few weeks he has been tone
deaf on issues impacting people of color. Cultural politics has never been his
thing, to the degree that it has become part of the brand, the charm of the
Grumpy Grandpa persona. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But but but &#8211; we are over 18 months
from election day and you &amp; I both<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;
</span>know that whoever is the front runner in this campaign is going to be
hammered long and hard, with the full electoral arsenal of corporate capital <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and </i>the Kremlin. In ought 8, Clinton,
Obama &amp; everyone else knew that coming out of Iowa the race was going to
telescope down into Hillary and the Anyone-but-Hillary candidate. Clinton was
ready to shine against any white male she might find herself up against. There
was only one problem with that strategy &#8211; against Obama she no longer looked
like change, like the promise of new politics. Indeed, she looked like round 3
of a very problematic center-right Democratic administration. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This time around, I think we&#8217;re in
for a long bruising series of elimination bouts. I think that Kamala Harris has
some serious advantages in the faux-progressive lane, an intelligent, well-spoken
woman who is both Asian and black <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and a
former prosecutor. </i>California will give her a big victory on Super Tuesday
in March. And if the race should telescope down to just two candidates, she&#8217;s a
more reliable bet to be one of them than is Sanders. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Which is why I want Elizabeth
Warren still in the race all the way. And having the largest socialist
organization in the past half-century double down on Bernie doesn&#8217;t advance his
own campaign very much except insofar as it hurts hers. And that hurts us all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We do need to keep the S word up
front and center in 2020. There is no better or quicker method for spelling out
the dramatic changes this country must have if it is going to turn this Titanic
state away from several potential disasters before it becomes too late. It&#8217;s
not that socialism is going to happen overnight, or even in under half a
century, but its unrelenting critique of capital is the one widely available
diagnosis not only as to what is wrong with the world, but as to which
principles need to be put forward to change the rapidly worsening status quo.
EVERY &#8211; repeat EVERY &#8211; major social problem of our time can in one way or
another be tracked back to its roots in an economic model that privileges power
and competition, demands ever expanding markets in the face of fixed natural
resources and fundamentally divides one group of humans from others in order to
accomplish its goals. That all has to change, and to change now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The entire purpose of walls is to prevent
any distribution of resources from becoming equal. The invention of race &#8211; a
sociohistorical reality rather than a biological one &#8211; has everything to do
keeping the conditions between groups different. As with white privilege, so
too with male privilege, straight t privilege, Christian privilege, etc, etc. A
pseudo-liberal Democratic party that &#8220;plays nice&#8221; with Wall Street and the tech
billionaires &#8211; Clinton&#8217;s neoliberal sellout &#8211; does so at the expense of the
lives of the vast majority of citizens. Even when a billionaire gives away the
bulk of his wealth &#8211; Bill Gates is a case in point &#8211; doing so through
philanthropy removes that altruism from the clear light of review and
prioritization. Obama may well have reduced the number of troops engaged in
Bush&#8217;s wars abroad, but he failed to initiate the national discussion we need
to have about how to walk away from global imperialism before the rest of the
world pulls us under out of its own self-defense. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Every empire fails </i>&#8211; it is what they do, and usually they
impoverish the very nations that to enrich themselves by casting their nets of
power to the far corners of the globe. It&#8217;s a lesson China will be learning
down the road, but we have to act far sooner. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/18/ending-climate-change-end-capitalism"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">Thus we have to talk about capitalism</span></a></span></i><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">, </span></b><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">wh</span>at it has done to this world, what it is still
doing. And the best, surest, quickest way to connect ALL the dots from Putin&#8217;s
kleptocracy to that of Wells Fargo and Mark Zuckerberg, from the suppression of
Islamic tribes in western China to the sale of slots at Ivy League academies,
from the cost of healthcare to the immiseration of the Palestinian people, is
to throw the S word in everyone&#8217;s face. Further, as I think Representative
Ocasio-Cortez has demonstrated repeatedly, I think we are ready for it. A
centrist will lose to Trump. A socialist will ultimately have a far better
chance. Therefore I want Bernie AND Elizabeth Warren to lead the debate toward
2020, not to have the race collapse in a simple Biden vs. Bernie vs. Kamala
Harris three-way King of the Mountain. Because that I think sets Bernie up to
be roped off and contained. And I don&#8217;t think we can wait until 2024 or 2028 to
have the serious discussion we need. Otherwise we won&#8217;t be discussing who lost
Afghanistan or Iraq in those later races, but rather who lost Manhattan and
Miami Beach. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/rsillima/Documents/Crit/Blog/2019/I%20was%20a%20no%20vote.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot; , &quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Consider that MSNBC floods the final seven hours of its news day with six white
men and Rachel Maddow. And while Chris Hays and Lawrence O&#8217;Donnell are among
the finest commentators on television, Ari Melber&#8217;s faux hipness, Chuck Todd&#8217;s
fawning incorporation of rightwing commentators posed as &#8220;balance,&#8221; Chris
Matthews&#8217; interruption of every single answer to any question he ever poses,
and Brian Williams&#8217; servile superlatives toward any guest willing to stay up
long enough to still be wearing clothes during his time spot, is not precisely
a ringing endorsement of available talent. And that&#8217;s just MSNBC. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Friday, January 04, 2019</span></h2>

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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">China has to know by now that it
can seize Taiwan any time it wants and that Trump has so ravaged the US&#8217;
ability to mount a </span><span style="color: #0d0d0d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">coalition in opposition to <i>anything </i>it would be a done deal. The Taiwanese have to know this
also. Remember the second Kennedy-Nixon debate when Nixon accused JFK of being
unwilling to use nuclear weapons to defend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Taiwan_Strait_Crisis"><span style="color: #0d0d0d; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: &quot;lumm=95000 lumo=5000&quot;; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1; mso-themecolor: text1; mso-themetint: 242;">Quemoy
&amp; Matsu</span></a>? Do you think Trump has even <i>heard </i>of these islands?</span><br />
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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Thursday, December 03, 2015</span></h2>

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<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Ryan Costello, the GOP
congressman from our district in Chester County, PA, looks like one of those farm
implement or panty-hose execs used to comic effect in so many episodes of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Men. </i>But when he&#8217;s not channeling
the late 1950s-early &#8216;60s fashion sense of mainstreet Midwest, he&#8217;s an active
puppet for the NRA, having received $9,900 thus far from the folks who brought
you Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, Virginia Tech and literally hundreds of other
nightly news horror shows. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Some pols got a lot more &#8211;
by US electoral standards, Costello&#8217;s a cheap example of the world&#8217;s oldest
profession &#8211; and quite a few have gotten less. But he&#8217;s what you get when Dems
don&#8217;t turn out in off-year elections. And he&#8217;s precisely the kind of pol who
convinces people that government is hopeless, useless and corrupt. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 200%;">But the biggest con of all
here is not all the little congressmen who do the bidding of the gun lobby, but
the NRA itself. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The idea that the NRA
represents gun owners is a total fabrication</b>. It represents gun and
ammunition <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">manufacturers</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i>Plenty
of polls have shown that NRA members support rational constraints on gun sales
and ownership. They don&#8217;t benefit from mass murders and the 30,000+ Americans
who die by gun violence every year. The only folks who do are the
manufacturers. They are the problem. Time to focus on them. </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.nracongress.com/all-nra-recipients.html"><span style="color: red;">Which pols got what from the NRA</span></a>.</span></b></div>
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<a class='timestamp-link' href='https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2015/12/14.html' rel='bookmark' title='permanent link'><abbr class='published' itemprop='datePublished' title='2015-12-03T13:23:00-05:00'>Thursday, December 03, 2015</abbr></a>
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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Monday, March 23, 2015</span></h2>

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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been using this blog somewhat differently this year, and suspect that I will continue to do so going forward. Rather than constructing unwieldy link lists, for example, I&#8217;ve been sharing those same sorts of links (along with some others, especially related to my sense of self as a citizen) on my Facebook page. There are limits to that approach, as there are to doing it here, but it has the advantage of being both more timely and &#8211; from my perspective, at least &#8211; far less labor intensive. One limitation is that I can have &#8220;only&#8221; 5,000 Facebook &#8220;friends,&#8221; an arbitrary (and ridiculously low) number that I manage to keep open, to the extent that I do, by culling those who have quit Facebook.&#185; Twitter has no such limitations, but as a platform is far more limited &amp; limiting even than Facebook. The reality is that every attempt at an online commons is deeply compromised, both technologically and as a free public square, piazza or zocalo. It is easy enough to hold up an ideal, such as the book as a technological platform, but frankly the difference between the limitations of the book and the limitations of online mostly has to do with the transparent failings of the latter, and the more easily hidden or obscured failings of the former, failings that don&#8217;t seem &#8220;obvious&#8221; mostly because we grew up with the form.  </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There has been &#8211; is &#8211; a lot of bile online of late, which is to be expected in any situation of scarcity. When you have 40,000 publishing poets in the English language in North America alone, roughly 4,000 books per year, job lists that remain well below 100 per year, and ever fewer outlets for the distribution for physical wares, people are going to resent anyone who  seems to receive undue attention, especially if they come by that mostly by making a comic spectacle of themselves and the process to which the other 39,999 folks feel some commitment. Historically, satire has had an angle of intent, puncturing those who have an advantage on behalf of a larger portion of humanity that does not. As the ratios between those two categories has gotten ever further out of whack, anyone tone deaf enough to appear to have his or her jousting steed turned in the wrong direction is making themselves one big target.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Beyond this, however, I think there is a malaise that underlies much of the bad blood that is going around. At the heart of it is a sense of depression that the world is coming to a very bad tipping point quite soon &#8211; may in fact already be on the wrong side of it &#8211; and that there are no effective mechanisms for braking the out-of-control vehicle that is the Anthropocene before we all hit the wall. It is not just that there now appears to be some absolute deadline &#8211; fifty years at the most &#8211; for the workers of this world to unite in order to simply halt the accelerating damage of capitalism, and that the notion that we might get there by occupying a handful of pocket parks, or even rolling out an &#8220;Arab Spring&#8221; one region at a time, suggests the scale of the problem. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Underneath this conundrum is a further layer of ill-feeling, literal dis-ease, that the traditional politics of power are simply too corrupt to be rescued. The failure of the Obama administration has a lot to do with this sense. Obama ran in 2008 to the left of Hilary Clinton, but he has governed entirely as though he were her, giving Wall Street largely what it wanted (the ability to continue to plunder at will) while eviscerating the most basic rights to privacy and governmental accountability, continuing the ongoing disaster that is the US military interventionism throughout the world. Every single problem with the Affordable Care Act, his one positive achievement, has been the result of a compromise with the anarcho-capitalists who run the Republican party. In choosing to crack down on whistle blowers who call for accountability in government while failing to prosecute the gang of thugs who lied to Congress and the American people in order to start an &#8220;unnecessary war&#8221; &#8211; <i>unpack that term!</i> &#8211; has not only meant that the GOP was free for the first six years of his term to play offense when they should have been playing defense, but has set up an electoral confrontation in 2016 between Apocalypse Now and Apocalypse a Little Later. Only the likes of Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush could render a Wall Street foreign policy hawk like Hillary Clinton the &#8220;progressive alternative.&#8221; </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One might imagine all of this worldwide discontent as some kind of rerun of the 1950s &#8211;<i> just wait until the next John Lennon or Martin Luther King shows up</i> &#8211; but on a planet where there are only enough natural resources to deliver a first-world lifestyle to 2.5 billion people, it matters that we passed that population threshold circa 1950. And the effects of &#8220;things getting worse&#8221; are visible for all to see. The very same ensemble of technological disruptions that have created this commons on-line enable us today to photograph police doing what they really do in communities of color as well as to use drones to blow desert weddings to smithereens if somebody has &#8220;bad intelligence,&#8221; or to put Oklahoma into its techno-earthquake zone as we suck the last dregs of old fuels out of the planet&#8217;s soil. And now the very same contractors who ensure that 57% of the federal budget goes to military defense are clamoring for the right to sell drones to pretty much just anybody. What could go wrong? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of which makes me want to say, lighten up a little, folks. Take a deep breath. Some tone deaf poet is not your enemy any more than <i>Charlie Hebdo</i> was anybody&#8217;s enemy.  The English Department is not your enemy. The police are not your enemy &#8211; tho it would sure help if they were demilitarized, properly trained and representative of the communities they &#8220;serve.&#8221; Now the CEO of Nestlé who argues that the idea of drinkable water as a human right is nonsense, he just might be worth looking at as a significant opponent. And as somebody who controls disproportionate amount of resources on this planet, it matters that he says that. But if you think your problem is that somebody put the contradictions of discourse into high contrast in a way that made you cringe, might I suggest that you have not noticed that your house is on fire. </span><br />
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There is an interesting study to be done of people who have tried and abandoned
Facebook, a group that I suspect is quite a bit different from those who have
never tried it at all.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 250%;">being force fed<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 250%;">under standard <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: &quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 250%;">(warning: extremely
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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Sunday, November 20, 2011</span></h2>

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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%'>The ammo may differ but it&#8217;s the thought that <span class=GramE>counts</span><br> </span><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-size:8.0pt; line-height:115%'>(with thanks to Steve Vincent)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Wednesday, October 26, 2011</span></h2>

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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight: normal'><span style='font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%;color:red'><a href="http://occupytheurl.com/?url=www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/OPD/index.htm"><span style='color:red'>Oakland</span></a></span></b><span class=GramE><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span style='font-size:20.0pt;line-height: 115%'>:</span></b></span><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span style='font-size:20.0pt;line-height:115%'><br> The Whole World is Watching!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>   
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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Saturday, October 08, 2011</span></h2>

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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1; mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><a href="http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Bernstein.html"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Charles</span></a> <a href="http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/bernstein/"><span style='color:#0D0D0D; mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Bernstein</span></a><br> live from Wall Street<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6180/6221602491_0cf6a81469_o.jpg"><span style='color:windowtext;mso-no-proof:yes;text-decoration:none;text-underline: none'><img border="0" height="442" src="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/images/lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/mOXXvXTgqe1S0gqlsX3lORT4-kEhd8ZAazFhlS-jjFSgAvE4VHkWB8IflaG5_0QoDTE5o7GRQtFtvqVzhxqdd7Ipm9e_jxWLBhK8JB41mGDf7fU%3Ds0-d" width="662"></span></a></p>
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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Monday, October 03, 2011</span></h2>

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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><a href="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6160/6201690507_a92c156c0d_b.jpg"><span style="color:windowtext;mso-no-proof:yes;text-decoration:none;text-underline: none"><img border="0" height="417" src="https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/mirrors/ronsilliman.blogspot.com/images/lh4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/M6OBCPBeG9-66bksipH824oovSWYwnlHRYqoKFszZ2dHx2Md1SG1nTkwndvF7e-hNP9eKYGfoazAqy4H0zQERzZ4zb2xv0iUVa-QRVHLbGRwHoU%3Ds0-d" width="624"></span></a><br> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;line-height: 115%;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:&quot;lumm=95000 lumo=5000&quot;">Photo </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;line-height: 115%;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: &quot;lumm=95000 lumo=5000&quot;">&#169;</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;line-height:115%;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1; mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: &quot;lumm=95000 lumo=5000&quot;"> by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pavementpieces/"><span style="color:#0D0D0D; mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:&quot;lumm=95000 lumo=5000&quot;">Pavement Pieces</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:1.0in"><span class="GramE"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:&quot;lumm=95000 lumo=5000&quot;">by</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:&quot;lumm=95000 lumo=5000&quot;"> <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/233"><span style="color:#0D0D0D; mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:&quot;lumm=95000 lumo=5000&quot;">Hart Crane</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Saturday, July 09, 2011</span></h2>

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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Saturday, May 14, 2011</span></h2>

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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><a href="http://dc.broadwayworld.com/article/The-White-House-Welcomes-an-Evening-of-Poetry-511-20110504"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Live at the White House</span></a>, <span class=GramE>it&#8217;s</span><br> </span><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1; mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Elizabeth Alexander, Billy Collins, Common, <br> Rita Dove, Kenneth Goldsmith, Alison Knowles, <br> Aimee Mann &amp; Jill Scott<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/09/burn-a-bush-michelle-obama-invites-rapper-common-to-a-poetry-reading/"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Kenny&#8217;s not the controversial one</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><a href="http://wwwwsonneteighteencom.blogspot.com/2011/05/re-penns-kenneth-goldsmith-to-perform.html"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Linh Dinh</span></a> has a different take<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><a href="http://wwwwsonneteighteencom.blogspot.com/2011/05/al-filreis-email-to-me-regarding-kenny.html"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Al Filreis</span></a> responds to Linh Dinh<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Should <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2011/0511/Rapper-Common-Should-he-be-disinvited-from-Obama-poetry-event"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Common</span></a> be censored?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Obama welcomes<br> Common to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/rapper-common-performs-at-white-house-amid-media-controversy/2011/05/11/AFQHgcuG_story.html"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>the White House</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Are <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/click-track/post/lists-are-the-lyrics-from-commons-five-biggest-hits-really-all-that-vile/2011/05/11/AF607urG_blog.html"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Common&#8217;s lyrics</span></a><br> really so bad, <a href="http://nation.foxnews.com/oreilly-factor/2011/05/11/factor-preview-nj-state-police-slam-insenstive-and-stupid-wh-cop-killer-ra"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Sarah Palin</span></a>?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Common Sense eludes <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/common-sense-eludes-sarah-palin/2011/03/04/AFJHFH1G_blog.html"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Sarah Palin</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><a href="http://rapfix.mtv.com/2011/05/12/sarah-palin-criticizes-common-says-shes-not-anti-rap/"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Palin</span></a>: I&#8217;m not anti-rap<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><a href="//www.youtube.com/user/theyoungturks?blend=1&amp;ob=4#p/u/0/e2BzHCteJnQ"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Fox News</span></a> <br> provides its <span class=GramE>perspective</span><br> </span><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-size:8.0pt; line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>(with some helpful context from The Young Turks)</span></i><i style='mso-bidi-font-style: normal'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1; mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Is <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2011/05/13/2872158/commentary-common-controversy.html"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>this</span></a> <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/common-performs-obamas-white-house-poetry-event/story?id=13584645"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>overblown</span></a>?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/05/12/fox-host-on-common-at-white-house-nows-not-time-to-rhyme"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Gerri Willis</span></a><br> is just against <span class=GramE>poetry</span></span><span style='font-size: 8.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><br> <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>(and can prove it)<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/05/13/136269938/new-republic-backing-common-at-the-white-house"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Backing Common</span></a> @ the White House<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><a href="http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/05/12/watch-jon-stewart-mocks-fox-news-in-his-own-poetry-jam/"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Jon Stewart&#8217;s</span></a> commentary<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>What <a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/05/common-performs-at-the-white-house-obama-makes-no-mention-of-controversy.html#tp"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Common</span></a> actually read<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>One attempt to <br> <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/red-eye/transcript/gutfeld-common-just-cliche"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>trash Common</span></a> while<br> staying &#8220;above the fray&#8221;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>For <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/news/columnists/121760089.html"><span class=SpellE><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Smerconish</span></span></a><span class=GramE>,</span><br> it all comes down<br> to <span class=SpellE>Mumia</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Is <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/white-house-poetry-night-whats-your-favorite-poem/2011/05/11/AFmpVUqG_blog.html"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Common controversy</span></a><br> raising the profile of poetry<br> at the White House?<br> </span><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-size:8.0pt; line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>(<span class=GramE>with</span> videos of readings by<br> Elizabeth Alexander &amp; Kenny G)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>The <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/common-the-white-house-poetry-night-and-the-danger-of-metaphors/2011/05/11/AFhD68qG_blog.html"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>dangers of metaphor</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-al-sharpton/the-politics-of-distraction-sharpton_b_861800.html"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>The Politics of Distraction</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint: 242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color:#0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha:100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: "lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-discusses-power-of-poetry/2011/05/11/AFfOOQtG_video.html"><span style='color:#0D0D0D;mso-themecolor:text1;mso-themetint:242;mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #0D0D0D;mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor:text1;mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms:"lumm=95000 lumo=5000"'>Barack Obama</span></a> on the power of poetry<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<br /><img alt="" src="file%3A///Users/Lynn/Desktop/silliman2a.jpg" / /><img alt="" src="file%3A///Users/Lynn/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/moz-screenshot.png" / /><span style="color: #990000; font-weight: bold;">RON SILLIMAN</span> has written and edited 40 books, and had his poetry and criticism translated into 16 languages. Silliman was a 2012 Kelly Writers House Fellow, the 2010 recipient of the Levinson Prize from the Poetry Foundation, a 2003 Literary Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts, a 2002 Fellow of the Pennsylvania Arts Council, and a 1998 Pew Fellow in the Arts. Silliman has a plaque in the walk dedicated to poetry in his home town of Berkeley and a sculpture in the Transit Center of Bury, Lancaster, a part of the Irwell Sculpture Trail. He lives in Chester County, Pennsylvania and teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />(c) 2002-2019 by Ron Silliman.
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