Since Henry Ford Apologized to Me

One of my fondest childhood memories comes from the occassional trips my family made to visit my grandmother in Iowa, starting back when I was about 8 years old. She owned a gramophone and lots of 78 RPM records from the early 1920s. I used to listen to them for hours -- it was fun and there was absolutely nothing else to do!

I recently discovered an Internet link to a song that I used to listen to (and still own) way back then. It's funny and odd and was once very topical (at the time). I didn't know the wealth of history behind it until recently. Here's some of it:

• Why would Henry Ford apologize to the Jewish tailor in this song? Ford was the consummate anti-Semite. For several years in the early 1920s he published a newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, (mentioned in the song). It was distributed to every Ford dealership in American and made available to customers. It was a nasty rag all about the "international Jewish conspiracy" that was trying to take over the world...you know, Jewish bankers and Jewish Communists...never mind the fact that THAT combination makes no sense. The newspaper articles were eventually compiled into a book titled The International Jew. It is still in print -- Google it!
• At one point, a group of prominent Jews pressed Henry Ford to apologize for the virulent hate-speech published in his newspaper. An apology was issued and then almost immediately denounced by his representatives as fraudulent This is the apology that the song refers to.
• The song says of Henry Ford, "He's got an aviator for his new machine / Instead of Charlie Lindbergh he's got Charles Levin." Sad to say, Charles Lindbergh was another prominent American anti-Semite. I recently learned from an NPR story that Charles Levin was the first passenger to cross the Atlantic; for this he enjoyed 15 minutes of fame in the middle of an otherwise rather sad life.
• The "Happiness Boys" sang this in what one archivist of Yiddish theater told me is known as "a thick sour cream accent." The song is pretty much equivelent to performing in black face.

I hope you enjoy this strange little bit of history:

For his full commentary, go to: Since Henry Ford Apologized to Me

Democrats: The Party of "Sex Chaos"

I have a lovely friend who will be attending my gay wedding this Saturday. She recently sent her family members in Iowa a link to the letter by Anne Kilkenny's giving insights into Sarah Pallin and her time as mayor of their small town. Here is what my friend got back from her sister.

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From: xxxx
Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008 7:49 AM
To: xxx
Subject: RE: Sarah Palin

Bob & I have read your email. Sounds like more of the same-sour grapes. The campaign trail is full of half-truths, out-right lies, fear and hope. Bloggers, like this message tend to only muddy the waters further. We have not seen any candidate like the Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ and we most likely never will. We all stumble, change direction, make the right decision, make the wrong decision. Man, woman, black, white or purple ... we have in common our humanity.

We intend to vote, as we always have, because it is our responsibility to do so. Our responsibility to choose the ticket that most closely resembles our beliefs. Jake has always been a Republican. When the Democratic Party left me, I became a Republican too.

One thing that Jake & I agree on is the Democratic Party has chosen to be the party of sex chaos. We refuse to participate in these Planned Parenthood advancement programs - to the point that we will become part of the obstacle in their path.

To that end, one can say that when they cast their vote, it may very well be a vote against one ticket verses a vote in favor of another ticket. A "lessor of two evils" if you will. Wouldn't you agree? Thankfully, for better or worse, in 6 weeks we can close the books on another election year. Hoping you and yours are well, and we are anxious to see you again soon.

Love xxx and xxx
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Wow. Now there's a great phrase: "Sex Chaos." What a terrific name for a rock group! (It's almost as good as "Sex Magick" which was a form of esotericism from the late 1800s.) I think it should be one word: "Sexchaos." I'm comforted to know that my little gay wedding this weekend will add just bit more of it to the world. I hope that you will create a bit of it in your corner of the world real soon!

By the way, this same friend recently spoke to her mom about the election. Here's the report on that conversation:

"I called my 85-year old mother yesterday. She is so excited about Sarah Palin “because she’s raised a large family, and she’s just like us, and we need someone just like us in the White House.” I said, “Gee mom, I don’t want someone like me in the White House. I want someone who is whole lot smarter and a lot more educated because we’ve got some big problems to sort out, and someone like me isn’t smart enough to know how to do that.” Are people really drinking the koolaid?

Bad News:Our System of Government is Consensual

I have recently come to a very disturbing realization: Our system of government is consensual and unbalanced. This flaw has been discovered by some very clever people and, if uncheckd, will have terrible consequences for every American.

I came to this conclusion just a couple of weeks ago. I was pondering a tactic that Karl Rove and the Bush Administration have used so effectively to get away with just about everything. It's very simple and we all know about it from our years on the elementary school playground. It's called, "I double-dog dare you!" No matter how many times Congressional committees issue requests for Administration underlings to testify, they will refuse, invoking the Bush Administration's extravegant interpretation of executive privilege based on their novel doctrine of the Unitary Executive. (Simply put, all who serve in the Executive Branch are simply instruments of the President's power and, therefore, are protected by his freedom from Congress' oversight.)

Sometimes, when Executive underlings refuse to testify, Congressional committees issue subpoenas to compel testimony, but the underlings will again refuse. The subtext in all this is, "Make me!"

Then Congress must get the federal courts involved, triggering what is widely (and erroneously) consider a "Constitutional crisis." Few in office have the stomach for that, but if they did take the matter to federal court, the process would be torturous and slow thanks to this Administration's amazing ability to game the system.

What's left? Only the nuclear option of impeachment. And Nancy Pelosi has taken that option off the table. She understands all of this. She made her decision for purely political reasons, a fact that she tries to obscure by saying, "Well, if someone would demonstrate that the President has committed a crime, that would be a different story!" This is, of course, utter hogwash. She knows that impeachment does not require a crime; if it did, then Presidents could be as creative as they wished in wrecking havoc, always a step ahead of Congress' efforts to pass new laws to prohibit the latest Presidential abuse of power. Pelosi knows that "high crimes and misdemeanors" do not strictly refer to laws already on the books--it refers to a subversion of the government and of the Constitution. George Bush and Dick Cheney have done that in spades.

The simple fact of the matter is that if Congress fails to act against an over-reaching Executive, the Exec wins. Congress can expand its own power only by passing laws by a veto-proof majority and then, when the President refuses to enforce those laws (as by Bush's novel use of 'signing statements') Congress must go through a long and seldom trodden legal path to compel enforcement. Failing that, once again, Congress has only impeachment.

The sad conclusion is this: Our system of government is consensual. It is also unbalanced. If the Exec oversteps its traditional and accepted boundaries of power, and if Congress does not act to counter it, then the Exec automatically holds that new power. That is why Congress must maintain an adversarial role against any President.

YOU Aren't Qualified to be President

We've all been told that any boy (and in the past generation or two, any girl) can grow up to become President of the United States. And it's true in a very narrow sense, the same sense in which it's true that any boy or girl can grow up to be a brain surgeon. But guess what? Those kids have to be smart enough, study hard enough, and be good enough to be entrusted with sharp objects in the vicinity of someones brain!

Being President is a very demanding job. It requires judgement, wisdom, knowledge and respect for the Constitution--after all, the Presidential oath is first and foremost to defend the Constitution against all enemies, domestic and foreign. We've been reminded of all this again and again by both parties. But now we suddenly discover that the only real requirement is being an ordinary person just like you and me!

Get real people! YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED TO BE PRESIDENT! People who don't know anything usually think they can do anything. They look at the president and say, "Hell, ah could do that! That ain't so tough." For the past eight years we've had a stunning example of how NOT true this is! But no, Sarah Palin is qualified to be the President-in-Waiting (aka Veep) because she's struggled with the refining challenges of raising five kids, having a child with a disability, dealing with an unwed daughter....OH, GIVE ME A BREAK! There're a hell of a lot of women who have struggled with more but that doesn't make them qualified to be President!

We are now being treated to the complete democratization of American politics: The masses finally feel so insulted, so humiliated, so powerless that they are foisting 'one of their own' into the White House. It will truly be a dictatorship of the prolitariate, with the wealthiest people in the nation pulling all the strings to once again enrich themselves through the Republican's new religion of borrow-and-spend.

Essayist and social commentator H.L Mencken once described democracy as “simply a battle of charlatans for the votes of idiots.” Writing in 1937 for the Baltimore Evening Sun, Mencken theorized that by now “the incurable idiots may conceivably constitute an absolute majority of the population.” He also said, "People usually get the government they deserve, and they deserve to get it good and hard." (I would add, "right up the ass" to the end of that quote.)