Third Estate Sunday Review

The Third Estate Sunday Review focuses on politics and culture. We're an online magazine. We don't play nice and we don't kiss butt. In the words of Tuesday Weld: "I do not ever want to be a huge star. Do you think I want a success? I refused "Bonnie and Clyde" because I was nursing at the time but also because deep down I knew that it was going to be a huge success. The same was true of "Bob and Carol and Fred and Sue" or whatever it was called. It reeked of success."

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Truest statement of the week

We've kind of been ostracized from the community. I left my job teaching. I had great scores, you know for the be-all-to-end-all test at the end of the year that all teachers are judged by whether we say they are or not, great scores. But I had missed a lot of work. It was my fourth year, my tenure year, and it was Loyd's first year after he was retired. We were spending a lot of time at the VA which meant I was spending a lot of time out of the classroom and the principal came to me and told me I had to choose between getting my husband better and teaching. So I left. So, no, the community does not understand.

-- Andrea Sawyer, wife of wounded Iraq War veteran Loyd Sawyer, testifying before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Thursday. For coverage of the hearing, see "Iraq snapshot," "Scott Brown asks if it is a staffing issue (Ava)," "Burr: I'd heard it before, I just hadn't heard it from you," and "The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing."

Truest statment of the week II

Well the use of military force by the president has to be authorized by Congress under the United States Constitution. That's very clear. And it's not just war, it's use of -- it's hostilities, it's really any military action anywhere in the world other than in self-defense. So we start from the premise that military actions, whether in Libya, killing people in Somolia or Yemen, etc., has to be authorized by Congress. In some cases the president claimed that the authorization to use military force passed in 2001 -- after 9/11 -- gave him authority. But in other cases, he's just asserting raw, naked power. He's claiming that because these don't amount to large wars that the Constitution doesn't apply and he doesn't have to go to Congress. Now then what happened because this is a common claim of presidents whether it's in Libya or Somolia, Congress after Vietnam built in a safety trigger. They said, "Lookit, you still need our consent to go to war, or to go into hostilities or bomb people, etc. But we're going to put in a safety trigger. If you do that, if you engage in hostilities and you don't come to us first like you're required to do under the Constitution, then you have sixty days to come back to us and get authority or within sixty days all troops have to be automatically withdrawn." So it's a safety figure because they knew the president would do exactly what Obama is doing, violate the Constitution. They put in a safety trigger that said you have sixty days to get authority, if you don't have authority then you then have 30 more days to get all the troops out, a total of 90 days. So in the case of Libya, of course, the 90 days have passed and the War Powers Resolution had required that all those troops be brought out. So we had a sort of double system.

-- Michael Ratner (Center for Constitutional Rights) addressing the Libyan War last week on Law and Disorder Radio which he co-hosts with Heidi Boghosian and Michael S. Smith

A note to our readers

Hey --

Another Sunday. We're publishing at what's becoming our usual time.

First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's K itchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

What did we come up with?

Truest statement of the week

A wife testifies to Congress that she was fired from her teacher's job for taking care of her wounded husband -- wounded in Iraq.

Truest statment of the week II

Michael Ratner provides a primer on the illegal Iraq War.

Editorial: Projection and distraction

When are Democracy Now! and all the others going to get honest with their viewers, listeners and readers that all those months and years they claimed the SOFA meant the end of the illegal war, they were lying? That is at the heart of the rejection of Panhandle Media by today's high school and college students.

TV: Visible to the naked eye?

Ava and C.I. take on the USA network, the Barack administration and more in this piece.

Movement Mama aka Moving On Up preface

This kicks off the summer edition. Leslie Cagan drawing by Isaiah. We also hoped to have a Barbara Ehrenreich piece. Maybe next time. Isaiah's using his great illustration of Babsie for his latest comic.

Words

Betty knew we needed a poem. She was right. We wrote this quickly. We spent more time on the illustration and wished we could have made a house out of empty Heineken bottles.

Aunt Tess

Horror and scary made the list of would-be stories. Ruth and Dona came up with the idea of adding "Once upon a time" to make this one a little bit different. Betty's kids worked on this illustration.

North Korea's secret weapon

Betty's kids and Isaiah worked on this illustration. This was a last minute one because three stories we'd worked forever on didn't work at all. Dona said, "You have 15 minutes to write something." Isaiah's rough sketch of Michelle Obama was laying out and Betty's kids thought she looked like a robot, hence the story.

Summer

Again, horror stories were what made the board for suggestions. Ava and C.I. had a suggestion we didn't pursue and looking at the mix now, I (Jim) wish we had just to have a different type of piece. Maybe next summer.

The point of the summer edition is not to pretend to be great writers but to encourage the do-it-yourself approach.

ETAN on West Papua

ETAN.

The Libyan War

Workers World repost.

Highlights

Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them for it.

Peace.

-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

Editorial: Projection and distraction

Peter Hart wrote a ridiculous piece for FAIR last week on the Iraq War where he argued with . . . The Washington Post. He felt the newspaper was dishonest about the Iraq War. Don't expect FAIR to ever call out the press for refusing to address reality about Barack because FAIR is a firm practioner of denial.

The same FAIR that has repeatedly ignored the Iraq War since Barack Obama became president. The same FAIR that has never told its audience, "Woops, we got it wrong! Remember when we said the SOFA ends the Iraq War? Turns out we're not just lazy and we're not just idiots, we're also dumb asses."

A lot of people better start figuring out what they're going to say if the US does extend the stay in Iraq. That's because they spent the last three years ignoring the wars and then whining because the emerging Tea Party was getting press. 'The anti-war movement doesn't get that!'

What anti-war movement?

Where is the rage against Barack Obama the War Mongerer?

Where is Leslie Cagan's fiery speech denouncing the wars?

No where to be found.

And the most some 'anti-war' types can do is whine that, come November 2012, they'll be voting for Barack reluctantly. Reluctantly! That'll teach him.

The right has an anti-war movement that's remained consistently opposed to the Iraq War but, on the left, you'd be really hard pressed to find some one-time leader who will call it out today. And when someone on the left shows a tiny bit of bravery, be sure to contrast their statements on Barack's wars with those on Bush's. You'll see just how weak left leaders have become.

Barbara Ehrenreich wants you to listen to her on matters of war and protest. Until last month, her daughter served in Barack's administration -- in the Pentagon. Something that, with all the words and words she wastes, she always forgets to own up to. In other words, Barbara Ehrenreich needs to shut her damn lying mouth and it's a sign of how pathetic the left has become that Babsie thinks she can speak publicly on these issues.

Her daughter works for the Pentagon. Does it get any worse?

Until the left leaders can get serious, they better get used to being laughed.

Their stock has already fallen across the country -- as we've long documented here -- and that's really too bad for them because next year is an election year and they were hoping to whore their positions of trust one more time.

Do they still not get it?

No one takes them seriously because of their past whoring which they've still not taken accountability for. You know, the exact same behavior that FAIR likes to accuse others of.

TV: Visible to the naked eye?

"USA, characters wanted" could just as easily be the cable network's motto. For every promising Suits, there are the paint-by-number stick figures of Covert Affairs and White Collar. Burn Notice represents the lucky of USA, a show that blows chunks one season and pulls it together the next and will end its series run with a passing grade which is far more than most USA shows can ever hope for. The one crown jewel isn't the overly praised and thankfully gone Monk which thought a quirk could pass for characterization. The crown jewel is In Plain Sight.

The series, now in season four, stars Mary McCormack and Fred Weller as US Marshals Mary and Marshall who work in Federal Witness Security Program. It airs Sunday nights on USA in the final hour of prime time (and streams at the USA website and at Hulu). Weller did strong work in the films The Shape of Things and The Business of Strangers whereas McCormack seemed to make a career out of being miscast with the exception of Mystery, Alaska. In Plain Sight provides Weller with a strong acting partner that allows him to go deeper than he has in any other role. The show provides McCormack with a dream role that allows her to demonstrate just how talented she is -- and she is incredibly talented.

Each week, a guest star -- or guest stars -- are either introduced to the witness relocation program or are having problems in the witness relocation program and Mary and Marshall have to be beat cop, investigator, bodyguard, psychologist and much more. The characters they help have been played by some strong actors such as Martin Landau, Matthew Davis, Fred Ward; however, we think the strongest performance was delivered last season by Laura San Giacomo in the episode "Death Becomes Her." Rita Moreno and others who have played family members of series characters have done a strong job as well but we're referring to the ones playing relocated witnesses.

And how easy is it to hide "in plain sight"? Yes, in real life it does take place. But it's not something most people obsess over or even think about until someone like Henry Hill comes along. Hill was a minor league mobster who entered the witness relocation program to avoid returning to prison and snitched out his fellow mobsters. He and his wife Karen (and their two kids) were relocated to a variety of places -- all under assumed names -- including Omaha and Seattle. It was in Seattle that he got busted for drugs and it was his never-ending problems with the law that led to both him and Karen being kicked out of the program. Some of his story was told in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas and Hill attending premieres of the film and seeking publicity is also said to have played into his forced departure from the witness relocation program.

But, really, how easy is it to hide "in plain sight"?

Apparently not all that difficult. For example, currently there's outrage as Barack Obama floats the notion of gutting Social Security. 'How could that be? Where did this idea come from? It's not Barack!!!!' From the January 16, 2009 "Iraq snapshot:"

Turning to US politics, President-elect Barack Obama met with the Washington Post editorial board yesterday. Here for Michael D Shear's text article, here for the sixty-one minute audio. Warning for those listening to the audio, Barack's speaking abilities have not magically improved. Sample: "Uh, obviously military service is uh something we uh honor as a country [. . .] That's going to be something that we uh uh . . ." And four minutes, for those wondering, he takes his first swipe at African-American fathers. Yes, it's Barack singing all his well known tunes. And mixing in a few new ones such as, "It's not something I've said publicly . . . but spending money wisely is not easy." Mostly, the interview will be remembered as the one where Barack declared War on Social Security. Barack's replied to questions and made vague statements. But, his Love Cult insists, that's just the Nice Guy Barry trying to make nice and get along. He doesn't want to say, "Stupid crooks, Social Security is not going to be chipped away!" Well, actually he does want to say that and he did say that.

[On This Week with George Stephanopoulos (ABC -- video and text), Barack had declared, "Everybody is going to have to give. Everybody is going to have to have some skin in the game.]

Barack was asked about it above. With the Washington Post, he brought it up on his own -- and referenced George Steph's "grand bargain" -- so hopefully even his Love Cult can start to see a few realities. He begins talking about his big "Fiscal Responsibility Summit" that will be held in February and include a motley crew that will "talk about waste." He then segues into Social Security during this response (at approximately 16:14) and states the following:

"We're also going to have a discussion about entitlements and how we get a grasp on those. Uh and uh, you know, like I think everybody here is familiar enough with the budget problems to know that as bad as these deficits that we're running up over the next -- that have already been run up -- have been and despite the cost of both TARP and the stimulus, the real problem in our long term deficit actually has to do with our entitlement obligation and the fact that historically uh if our revenues ranged between 18 and 20% of GDP they're now at 16. It's just not sustainable so we're going to have to uh craft a uh what George Stephanopoulos called a grand bargain and I-I try not to use the word grand in anything that I say but uh but we're going to have to shape a bargain. This, by the way, is where there are going to be some very difficult choices and issues of sacrifices and responsibility and duty are going to come in because what we have done is kick this can down the road. We're now at the end of the road and uh we are not in a position to kick it any further."

Those are right-wing talking points and only the most historically ignorant of Barack's Love Cult will fail to grasp the declaration of war.

Yet here we are, in July of 2011, and people are angry and surprised. The angry we understand. The surprised?

4 US soldiers have died in the Iraq War this month alone. Counting June as well, that's 19 dead in the Iraq War. 'But Barack promised he would end the Iraq War!!!!!' Well he managed to rename it Operation New Dawn August 31, 2010. Before Friday's death was announced, the number of US military personnel who had died in Iraq since Barack declared the end of 'combat operations' and the start of Operation New Dawn was 54. So 55 US military personnel have died in the Iraq War since August 31st and yet some fools still think Barck's either ended or is ending the Iraq War.

This despite the fact that the White House is engaged in negotiations with Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister and chief thug of Iraq, to extend the US military presence in Iraq -- despite the fact that Jay Carney's lying denials were reality checked publicly by the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen.

And despite that, there are people who just can't see it.

Why?

Because they don't want to look for it.

And maybe that's the key to witness relocation?

The key to In Plain Sight is McCormack and Weller. There are no bad episodes of In Plain Sight because Mary and Marshall's relationship is key to the show. For example, when Mary's shot, after knowing whether or not she'll survive, your primary interest is in how Marshall's going to react. That's not a slam against any of the other actors -- including Lesley Ann Warren who is excellent as Mary's mother -- it's just that they are the key to the show. At that point, season two, Mary was engaged to Raph (Christian de la Feunte) and even his reaction didn't mean as much.

Mary and Marshall matter so much because, to be honest, they were both pricks at the start of the show. Possibly the reason Mary is so strong is because of the huge chip on her shoulder? And Marshall's show boated in the most pompous way that you started to believe Mary's jokes about him being a virgin were actually foreshadowing of a future revelation.

Then why give a damn? Because Mary and Marshall are each others oyster and each others sand and, together, their friendship is the pearl. And as they've bumped up against one another, irritated one another, raged against one another and comforted one another, they've ended up with one of the deepest friendships TV's seen in some time.

And it's a friendship. In the latest plot development this season, Mary's pregnant (as opposed to use big hats and large plants to hide McCormack's real life pregnancy). And some wish it was by Marshall. As far as we know, the father is Mary's first husband Mark. We keep waiting for the twist where it turns out that Mary and Raph hooked up off camera. But what is known is that Marshall's not the father. In fact, he's involved with police officer Abigail (Rachel Boston who brings a whole new energy to the show).

And that's how it should be. At least currently. The two have pushed each other into becoming better people. At some point in the future, they might push themselves into being lovers. But currently, they work best as friends.

"Brandi, single mothers are heroes but I don't want to be one." What we also know currently is that Mary's planning on giving the baby up for adoption. Her mother and her sister Brandi (Nichole Hiltz) were hesitant but now appear on board with the decision. How it ends, you never know because as much as you know Mary or Marshall, they never lose their ability to surprise. And that's probably why In Plain Sight remains the real USA success story.

Movement Mama aka Moving On Up preface

When Knopf asked me to write my life story, I quickly dashed off a book about how Barack's the best thing that ever happened to me. Knopf was not pleased. "Where is the struggle?" they asked. "Where is the sense of reality?" they wondered. And most of all, "Why do you think this fan clipping collection on Barack Obama would pass for an autobiography."

I wanted to please Knopf because, well, I wanted their money. Mama's not getting any younger and either she starts feathering that nest or her chick's gonna flee. You feel me, fellas? Even so it pained me to have to write anything that in any way put responsiblity on Barack Obama.

He is the President of the United States, not God. (Not that I believe in God, but still.) He is not responsible for the nuclear meltdown in Japan. Or for whether it floods in parts of the US. Or for the economy. Or the Libyan War or the Iraq War or the Afghanistan War or . . .

Well, you get the idea. And I love Barack so much that I closed shop on United for Pathetic Injustice in order to ensure that no one could say "the country's largest peace organization called out Barack today."

But again, Mama needs some bread. So I tried and tried. I allowed that maybe he should start buttoning his jackets and maybe his smile was a little too gummy. I really couldn't manage much more than that.

So it wasn't a complete surprise when Knopf called to tell me they were shelving the book. Besides, they'd wanted me to also do an audio book version and I kept blowing the sound board as I took these deep, emphysema breaths after every six words or so -- whether I was at the end of a sentence or not.

Not having any luck with Knopf, I decided to self-publish and focus on the really important moments in life. For example, what to do when your 'friend' Alice Walker puts a photo of you in one of her books and mispells your last name K-a-g-a-n instead of "Cagan." I've got eighty whole pages on quiet simmering and being bitchy in a blase way so as to keep people guessing.

I also write what it's like to be a proud political activist. But I never use the "C" word because, well you know, I'm in the political closet. What would my art history friends from NYU say!!!!!

Mainly I share deep thoughts like this one: "Am I lesbian? Yes, I am! But could Barack turn me straight? Yes, he can!"

I think it's that sort of searching for the really intense and indepth answers about modern sexuality that will lead to my book's historical importance. That and my pop cultural references which demonstrate that I'm "down" with my "peeps" and able to "shout out" as well as any Tweener. If you mised it, I name check The Jeffersons repeatedly in the book.

I learned more about Black people and the Black struggle from repeated viewings of The Jefferson than anywhere else. That saucy maid Florence cracks me up! And Mother Jefferson is so funny when she gets in those digs at Louise's expense. The Jeffersons, in fact, let to my first bout of serious activism Jews for Radical Living and George Jefferson and Dry Cleaning which I formed in March of 1979.

My initial burst of activism was a huge success. The following year The Jefferson's ranked number 8 out of all TV shows (up from 49!!!). And then they moved up to number 6 the next year, then 3 and then they slid back to 12. But the country had elected Ronald Reagan, so what could you expect? From 12, it dropped to 19 and then, in its final year, to 56.

I stood outside the White House denouncing Nancy Reagan who had contributed to the downfall of The Jeffersons by appearing as a guest star on the rival and watered down story of Black America entitled Diff'rent Strokes.

After the cancellation of The Jeffersons, I tried to throw my weight behind Gimmie' a Break but my heart wasn't in it.

I considered moving into the corporate world and faking it there but my good friend Barbara Ehrenriech shook me awake. "Les," she told me, "with your looks you can never make it in that world. But in the world of the underground, where looks and bathing are far less important, you might stand a chance."

With those wise and encouraging words to boost my morale, I decided I would fake it in the underground instead of the corporate world and I decided I would be a leader to fake vistas and faux horizons.

I am Lesley Cagan and this is my story.

Words

Words tumble
Words
fall

In the
end
all

Dreams and hopes
fall
fade

Dreams, hopes
sharp
blade.

Aunt Tess

Once upon a time, after third period, Angie was skipping on clouds as she headed to first lunch in the cafeteria. It was a great day, one of those break-out-in-song days.

And Angie might have sung if she'd made it a few steps more.

But there, in the hall, was Leah, her sister.

"They're dead now."

Angie knew it was bad news as soon as she saw Leah. But she had no idea how bad.

Both parents. Gone.

And Uncle Phil.

Dead.

A gas leak.

It was her. It was Leah. They'd been reduced to two.

There was Aunt Tess still.

And Tess was who they'd be staying with.

Their house was gone. The gas leak, the explosion. They'd stay with Aunt Tess for awhile. Then get their own place at some point.

Aunt Tess was family.

There were funeral details and estate details and other meetings. Angie pleaded I'm-only-16 to get out of all but attending the funeral. She knew that was shoving a lot off on Leah but wasn't that what older sisters were for?

And Aunt Tess had supported her decisions, encouraged them even.

It was that sort of thing that really made her appreciate her aunt. That and making a point to invite Bryan over. When Leah had told her the news, all she'd wanted to do was run into the school cafeteria and tell her boyfriend. But Leah was saying it could wait and they had to get going.

Aunt Tess had understood and had made a point to invite Bryan over to dinner.

A part of her was still in shock over her losing her parents and uncle. And that part just couldn't handle anything but routine. That part really needed Aunt Tess.

As the weeks went by and Leah tried to juggle college with managing the finances, she seemed to have less and less time for Angie. For anyone really. Leah had broken up with her boyfriend. It was a rough time and it would have been so lonely without Bryan and Aunt Tess.

It was fifth period. Study hall. And one of only two periods Angie and Bryan had together. She and Bryan were part of a group spending the period in the library to do research for a paper. She saw him talking to Lonnie and rushed over.

"Why doesn't Leah like me?"

Didn't she?

Angie had never thought about it. Never troubled over it. Angie liked Bryan and she just figured who wouldn't like Bryan?

Apparently Leah didn't.

Bryan was explaining that Leah had been saying that he'd been spending too much time hanging around Angie.

"She's just stressed."

Maybe so, Bryan agreed but he didn't want to be causing any problems.

"What are you saying?"

And they were cooling down, they were taking a breather.

She'd lost her parents and her uncle and now her boyfriend.

Angie had confronted her sister. Or tried to.

Leah insisted that if Bryan had broken up with her, it was something between the two of them.

Each day, she seemed to like her sister less and less. Each day, she seemed to have less and less in common with Leah.

Angie would talk to Bryan about it. He'd try to console her pointing out that at least she had Aunt Tess. Aunt Tess was someone you could talk to and trust.

And Bryan really had a point.

She did talk to Aunt Tess. She did trust Aunt Tess.

Three months later, Angie looked at everyone gathered for the funeral. She didn't realize so many people loved her. And were willing to show up for her funeral. Her funeral and Leah's.

That gas leak? Aunt Tess.

She'd wanted the insurance money.

First the parents and Uncle Phil. Then Angie and Leah.

Aunt Tess made sure to tell Bryan all about how she thought Leah needed to get her brakes checked. So when brake problems resulted in the car crash that killed Angie and her sister, it wasn't such a shock.

There was Aunt Tess sobbing so bravely. Everyone looking at her sympathetically.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Third Estate Sunday Review

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Truest statement of the week

Truest statment of the week II

A note to our readers

Editorial: Projection and distraction

TV: Visible to the naked eye?

Movement Mama aka Moving On Up preface

Words

Aunt Tess

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