esSAy mcCOOL

Once upon a time, the Republican Party stood for something. It represented the rugged independence of frontier families, the self-reliance of the pioneer spirit. Its leaders valued the free-thinking rationalism found in the essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Natty Bumpo novels of James Fenimore Cooper. It stood for the ethical humanism of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. It was the political party that I admired as a child -- unfettered by unionism, religious fanaticism, or corrupt urban political machines.

Now, on the eve of the next decade of the 21st Century, I look back at the preceding ten years and wonder what happened to this once great political party. Once upon a time, the great Republican Senator from Connecticut Prescott Bush championed civil rights legislation, served as the first treasurer of Planned Parenthood, and helped to establish the Peace Corps. He motivated the Republican Party to stand up to the racist Democrats from the South and pass critical legislation. How ashamed he must be of his son who played a racist to get elected in Texas; and his grandson, who played an idiot to pander to the religious right.

Should Andrew J. Hall get his bonus? It all depends on whether you like paying $4 dollars plus for gas because some jackass artificially inflates the price of crude oil through speculation hype. Did you like paying $4.00 - $4.50 a gallon? If yes, give Andrew his bonus. If not, let's find the rat and send him back to the UK. Talk about an illegal immigrant - this guy screws the USA and then thinks American taxpayers are going to pay him a bonus.

So now we know --

Sen. Chris Dodd took $1.2 million and Rep. Barney Frank nearly another million in campaign contributions from Madoff, Standford, Thain, Lewis and other corrupt bankers and investors. Now we know that the SEC was emasculated purposely to thwart investigations of corrupt bankers, brokers and hedge fund operators. Thanks, Chris and Barney.

Yeah! Let's steal from the poor. That makes sense. Let's bail out the over-paid CEO's who stole our retirements, our homes, our communities, our cities. Let's give them bonuses for being so smart they ruined the world economy. Yeah! That makes sense! Go for it, Senator Reid. I love the idea. Let's give American Richmond a bonus for building shoddy, decrepit "California WannaBe" housing in Nevada.

My my, lookee, another smarter-than-thou investment banker goes belly up. Seriously: Lehman deserves to rot in the grave it dug for itself. Too many of its senior partners thought they -- fat old white men -- knew better than everybody else.

And, some just were con-artists, stealing from their clients. Con-man Richard S. Fuld especially deserves to lose his shirt. He lied to clients, to partners, to the media. And, he continues to lie about the financial solvency of Lehman. Who does he think he is? Oedipus?

I'm listening to the NPR story about Bruce Ivins and hopiing that the Ivins' family sues the FBI. It no longer amazes me that the news media can so easily be sucked into sustaining government propaganda. Nobody mentions how extraordinarily coincidental that the FBI speedily compiled a mass of circumstantial evidence a few weeks after losing a civil case ($5.2 million) to Dr. Steven Hatfill, another alleged suspect about which the FBI also had a mountain of circumstantial evidence.

That Christopher Hitchens had to experience water-boarding to report as a journalist that the practice is torture is dumb journalism, exploiting sensationalism over real journalism about a serious subject: The Bush Administration's war crimes. That his readers think he achieved some incredible revelation in reporting this experience makes them dumber. But then, his readers, or rather "fans," want to be entertained with sensational journalism and not substantive, meaningful news about world events.

As the housing market crumbles, the locus of disintegration is among poor homeowers. The reasons are numerous. Many are economic factors associated with the population -- homeownership can be a risky investment for those with low or modest incomes. The risk is especially high for younger owners who are mobile and cannot bear making a long-term investment in one location. Homeownership is risky for those frequently changing jobs or self-employed. Homeownership is especially risky if the investment is tied to lending that is predatory.

Why should the Democrats bother with referendums against the Iraqi war? Let W go ahead with his mindless, Ahab-like struggle against his Moby Dick (equals Iraq) conquest. It is sure to fail. We all know that. Even his own party knows that, and the Republicans facing relection in 2008 are already abandoning him. Republican considering Presidential campaigns are worried sick. Even the presidential candidates who support the war argue that Bush Jr. has mismanaged the Iraqi and Afghanistan campaigns and broader war on terror.

It's the end of May and the mornings are still cool and dry, weather perfect for running. My neighbor's irrigation sprinklers are shooting across his garden of weeds. The sky is cloudless and light blue the horizon still light gray and touched with the red-orange as the sun climbs over the Spring Mountains.