As usual, Morning Joe is on in the background as I work this morning. The big subject this morning is the shameful attack on capitalism aka vulture capitalism is a good thing. Over and over, Scarborough has trotted out the Republican mantra — Bain Capital was just practicing capitalism and hey, you’ve gotta break a few eggs to make a cake and sometimes the recipe just doesn’t turn out right anyway. That is — Bain Capital wasn’t a bad guy. They were just practicing good business when they bought failing companies and tried to turn them around. Everyone around the table just kept nodding sagely to each of his pronouncements and essentially accepting his characterization of what Bain Capital does. Oh, and the new term for Bain Capital is “private equity company” — which is the broad category under which the business model fits, but there are private equity companies that boost and bolster companies, and there are private equity companies who make their money through leveraged buyouts, loading companies down with debt (starting with the money they used to purchase the company, often borrowed using the company they’re buying as collateral for the loan) and lowballing every other stakeholder in the equation.

Actually, to be fair, a few people did weakly raise the other point of view about how Bain Capital makes its money — and by extension, how Mitt Romney made his money — and were subjected to Joe’s standard poo-pooing of their comments with his usual attitude of “you just don’t understand how business works.” The narrative easily shifted from “creative destruction” to a discussion of the benefits of private equity companies in general — which is a whole other subject.

That is, until Joe asked Richard Trumka about Bain Capital and the importance of private equity. Trumka, best known as the evil union thug, responded with a very knowledgeable, cogent response that turned the whole discussion back around. You’ll never see it. It won’t make the rounds of Youtube because there were no fireworks, no screaming and no zingers. He simply described, in basic words, what companies like Bain Capital does and pointed out how that has nothing to do with repairing and rebuilding companies and everything to do with extracting everything of value from the company and leaving it to collapse under the weight of the debt they’ve piled onto it. It was obvious that Trumka knew exactly what he was talking about.

And Joe’s response — priceless. None of his usual bombast and swagger. Not even a response to Trumka’s observations. Without responding or arguing at all, he simply moved on to another subject. That’s it. Apparently, when he can’t intimidate, bully or belittle someone who’s secure in the facts, he just… changes the subject. Union thuggery at its absolute best.

I listened to Mittens’s victory lap after the primaries last night and tried to put my finger on what was wrong about it. I could feel it in my bones, but couldn’t put my finger on it until this morning. Now I’m listening to Joe Scarborough going on and on about “the politics of resentment” — another phrase I just haven’t been able to quite get my head around and it CLICKS.

Dear Mittens, when people call you a vulture capitalist, it has nothing to do with resenting your wealth.

That’s like saying people hate a bully because he’s stronger than them. No. If that were true, they’d dislike bodybuilders in general. They don’t. They dislike people that hurt them. And that’s the issue with people who made their money like you did — and who thinks that it should be a model for the country. There are thousands of wealthy people who engaged in free enterprise and lifted everyone around them up with it. True venture capitalists do that — they find someone with an idea and they fund it, and if it does well EVERYONE makes money. Venture capitalists do not come into an existing company, break it down, tear it apart and walk away with the lion’s share of the money while everyone else licks their wounds, and if they’re lucky, thanks the gods that they were left with the little bit they were able to cling to.

There are not always winners and losers in business. In the best business models, everyone wins — some may win bigger than others, but everyone walks away feeling like they gained something. Or, more to the point, everyone stays because they believe there is something to gain. That’s not the business model by which you made your money. And that’s not the country in which most of us want to live.

Donald Trump Thumps MSNBC Hosts on Obama’s Birth Certificate 3/31/2011

Lots of conversation this week about Trump’s idiocy, cynicism and disingenuousness in demanding to see the President’s “real” birth certificate — as opposed, I suppose, to the one that’s officially issued by the state and serves as proof that he was born in the state of Hawaii. A big part of the conversation is about the effect Trump’s BS has and will have on the political conversation, and on whether or not it makes him a viable candidate for the presidency. They’re missing the real point here… it’s not about whether it makes Trump crazy or crafty — it’s about how it makes other Republican candidates look.In fact, while the issue of the President’s birth certificate has been pushing further and further into the national discussion, Trump’s high-profile championing of the cause as a “presidential candidate” — those are air quotes, y’all — does one thing that no one seems to be recognizing. By pushing the crazy as publicly as he does, he makes candidates like Pawlenty — whose got his own crazy going — look downright sane by comparison. It’s a whole lot easier to vote for a Pawlenty or a Daniels or a Romney — all of whom have some pretty radical ideas for the country — if you can point at The Donald and say, “At least they’re not like him.”

Q: If both the U.S. national anthem and the national anthem of a foreign country were being played at an event (in the United States), which one would be played first?

A: Traditionally, as a courtesy, the foreign anthem is played first.

Just figured I’d get that out of the way.

IMG C. bmendez68

Little girl waving flag at a rally

Last night, in his speech at the Tucson memorial, President Obama called on us to live up to the image of democracy held by 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green.  This morning, Sam Stein had this to say at Huffpo:

Challenging an audience to live up to a child’s expectation would seem noteworthy only for the low setting of the bar.

I wonder if Sam Stein has ever known a 9-year-old. I have, and I can tell you that living up to your 9-year-old’s expectations is not a feat for the faint-hearted.

Christina Taylor Green was 9 years old. She had campaigned for and won a seat on her school’s student council. She was excited at the prospect of meeting her representative in the United States Congress. Her parents report that she volunteered to help with a charity that serves children. She was a little girl who still believed that she, personally, could make a difference in this world — that her actions and her words could help shape her class, her school, her country, her world.

She hadn’t yet reached the adolescent stage of cynicism and disillusionment where children lose that belief in their own ability to effect change. They stop believing in Santa Claus, they learn that their parents have clay feet and they lose that shiny certainty that yes, one person can have an impact on the world. They become a part of the apathetic crowd that doesn’t try because no matter what, the world will never change.

If I were to hazard a guess, I would guess that Christina still believed that her mother could protect her from anything, her father could overcome any adversity and that if someone, somehow, came up with a cure for cancer, the profit motives of the medical-pharmaceutical industry would not stand in the way of making it available to every person who needs it in this world. I suspect she had not yet learned to sort ideas and solutions into right and left, Republican and Democrat, Progressive and Independent.

Given the choice, I want to live in Christina’s world. Given the opportunity, I want to help move us toward becoming Christina’s country. Given the chance — which we all have as long as we are alive — I want to live up to Christina’s expectations, too.

photo credit: hoyasmeg

Because, you know, they posted the birth certificate with no prompting and for no reason whatsoever, and if they hadn’t posted it, there would be no question about Obama’s birth. Like.. what?? I had to look twice to make sure that the talking head was not a Republican shill. Nope. The TH in question is a proud bearer of the Progressive banner, and his contention — supported by Keith O’s stand-in for the evening — is that the Obama campaign essentially created the birther controversy by responding to it. Circular reasoning, anyone?

I’m not looking to start a gender war here — just found myself musing as I researched a short article this morning. If doing the laundry had been men’s work lo those many centuries past, would we have had washing machines before we had a printing press?

Consider this. Before washing machines, doing the laundry was a two-day task. Women started soaking the clothes to be washed the night before. In the morning, the clothes were dragged out of the water, beaten with sticks, scrubbed on washboards, stirred in pots of water simmering over a fire, wrung out by feeding them through a wringer or be twisting them with the help of another person — then put through at least two more rinses, each of which had to be dragged from the pump, the stream or the faucet. The whole process took the better part of the day — and that was before the ironing.

The end result was clean clothes, aching muscles, irritated hands and irritated lungs — a lot of the chemicals used in doing laundry were unpleasant — to say the least. With all that work, it’s amazing that the first mechanical washing machines — not electric, now, just mechanical — didn’t appear on the scene till the mid-1800s. There were other tools, to be sure — washboards, wash paddles, wash tubs with plugs so they didn’t have to be tipped, even a wringer — but the actual washing was done by brute female — and usually lower class female — muscle power.

Contrast that with the work of painstakingly copying out books by hand, a task generally undertaken by monks and scribes — generally middle class and upper class males. Can’t help wondering if they were the ones doing the laundry, would we have had washing machines sooner?

photo credit © Nesster

I’ll even give you a few hints. He’s a frequent guest on Morning Joe, one of the few men I believe deserves the title of elder statesman, and the person in the world that I would most like to have lunch with other than my mother and daughter.

Answer after the fold….
and the answer is… Zbigniew Brzezinski, father of Morning Mika and bane of Joe’s existence. I still treasure the morning that he took Joe down a few dozen pegs with his “stunningly superficial” comment.

photo credit: Robynlou8

Buy local for Christmas

Want to make an impact with your Christmas spending this year? Skip the national chains and buy local goods. Whether you’re planning to spend $10 or $10,000, your Christmas dollars can help make next year a better year for your entire community when you put it into the pockets of your neighbors. Here’s 5 buy-local gifts to help you make a real impact on your local community this Christmas – with specific suggestions for fellow Worcesterites.

1. Support local artisans. Annette Powers at Worcester’s “The Prints and the Potter” is representative of the kind local gallery owner who is enthusiastic about supporting local artisans and crafters. The store features handmade pieces of all sorts from framed art to hand-knit mittens, many of them made by Massachusetts artisans. For budget shoppers, Powers suggests a handmade bag, hat or pair of mittens from Rennie and Rose, a textile firm based in the Berkshires who feature 100% American-made goods. Powers also suggests checking out The Futon Company, a Highland St. neighbor that features beautiful furnishings and home accessories.
2. Buy dinner for a friend. Gift certificates to a locally-owned restaurant help support a job creator in your neighborhood — and the neighbors she employs. Worcester’s got a plethora of dining options, and nearly all of them offer gift certificates.  You can buy a Dining Gift Card good at three of the area’s finest restaurants — The Sole, the One Eleven or VIA.
3. Give the gift of learning. The Worcester Center for Crafts is enrolling for the winter 2011 session. For as little as $80, you can give your beer-loving hubby the experience of making his own beer stein in the glassblowing workshop or introduce your darling daughter to the art of the potter’s wheel for $45.
4. Pamper the total package. When you think “luxury spa,” chances are that Worcester is not the first city that springs to mind. Surprise! Worcester features a few full service spas. Hit the gift certificate page at Paul Conzo Day Spa for special spa packages designed for men, moms-to-be and teens. Gift packages at Tu Moda start at $128 for an hour and a half Executive Escape that includes massage, manicure, scalp massage, shampoo and blow dry. St. Cyr Salon on Park Ave is a Worcester mainstay, in business since 1965. Their Famous Makeover includes a designer haircut and style and make up application, and is still only $50. $350 will get your loved one a full day of tip-to-toe luxury.
5. Say it with flowers. Flowers, centerpieces and plants are always a welcome gift. You can call 1-800-Flowers and they’ll route your order through a local FTD florist, but why not eliminate the middleman and create a relationship with a neighbor? Sprout Flowers is a little local florist with a big local impact. Proprietor Cathy Walsh designs fun, funky, elegant and, most importantly, gorgeous arrangements for any occasion. Call her at 508-757-5300 to place your Christmas or holiday orders.

photo credit: Myrone