A Drive in the Country
On October 23, Barbara and I were fortunate enough to be able to take a day and half drive out into the Texas Hill Country, southwest of Austin, and northwest of San Antone. The plan was to have a nice hike through the Lost Maples Preserve area, look for turning leaves, kick a few rocks, get the cobwebs and Wall Street worries out of out heads and breathe some fresh air. On a beautiful Thursday afternoon, we fired up the GPS in the Honda and headed that general direction.
After several miles and a little over an hour or so, we found ourselves almost lost (I swear that woman whose voice is on the GPS is Republican…she lied to us more than once) somewhere around Blanco, Texas. Therefore, what ensued was classic: I wanted to follow the map and my gut, Barbara wanted to stop and ask directions. My ego was completely against the “asking directions”thing (I had fallen for that Republican voice by now and of course knew what was best), but Barbara prevailed and we stopped at a local feed/hardware store. Barbara went inside and charmed the socks off of two “very nice young men”, and we wound up turning left, anyway. I think we both agreed not to disagree about that fracas any longer and on we went.
After another 25 miles or so we had gone from “OK” about food to Barbara needing a serious protein boost and I needed something more substantial than Gatorade and cashews. And we both needed a bathroom. Right about then, we entered Boerne, a quite little hamlet in the rolling hills of Texas, where we gambled on a left turn, not only to get us to the next highway we needed, but also in the hope that we might find a place to have dinner. As matters like this develop in Texas, we found a place for dinner before we had any reassurance about the requisite highway. “Y’all come back, y’ hear?”
What we found, on Main Street (marked “Haupstrasse” on the street sign) was the Cypress Springs Café. “Fine Dining”, it said on the sign. We parked the car on Haupstrasse and went in.
A deceptively attractive and clearly underage blonde hostess let Barbara see a menu and Barbara quickly zeroed in on the rotisserie chicken and the something-crusted eggplant. We decided to stay, just as soon as we determined that we might use the restrooms (there was one of those signs on the front door about “Restrooms not open to the public”)
Dinner turned out to be quite good, despite being accompanied by our waiter/server, Chris. First of all, the hostess had apparently alerted Chris to the fact that Barbara had let it out that we were “traveling”. This, in turn, turned Chris into a one-man welcoming committee, purveyor of fine advice and grand inquisitor. If we had not ascertained this before, we were clearly foreigners, outsiders, non-local disturbances. All of this was fine, except that I must tell you that Chris was a young man who had a Texas drawl which was probably being discerned as far away as the Maryland shore, looked like he just fallen off of a John Deere tractor and was horribly, awfully and visibly uncomfortable dressed all in black: shoes, trousers and a shirt painfully buttoned right up to the neck. Just looking at him made me wince.
After asking about which part of Austin we had come from, where we going and would we like something to drink besides water, Chris actually did more an able job of making is feel welcome. (When we were safely gone, however, Barbara revealed that when Chris had asked if we had a place to stay, he might have been setting us up to be whisked off to local Bates motel, where we would be stabbed to death in the shower. Didn’t happen.) Perhaps most important of all, Chris gave us explicit directions about how to get on highway 46, west, which would eventually get us to Tarpley, though “I can’t say I’ve ever been to Tarpley, myself” (later on, we would come to discover that our young friend had no reason, really, to have ever visited Tarpley, anyway, because Tarpley is little more than a gas station with a post office, just down the road from bustling “Utopia”...and I’m not making this up). More important (but learnt too late) was that the right turn onto route 46 that we sought, was right at “the third stoplight, I think, right there at the Wendy’s”. Had we known that, we would have had chicken nuggets and fries for perhaps $7.00 instead of rotisserie chicken and eggplant for $32.00.
At this point, I should mention that all during the trips’ daylight hours, we were seeing an increasing abundance of “McCain/Palin” signs on fencepost and driveway gates, and nary an Obama sign anywhere. But when we left the Cypress Springs Café, and went to the car, to find route 46 and go on, after I unlocked the door on Barbara’s Accord, we stopped to give each other a hug, and as I looked over her shoulder, I saw it:
In the two matching display windows, in a clothing shop on the “Haupstrasse”, two doors down from the venerable Cypress Springs Café. John McCain was staring at me. A photograph of his oddly shaped (and by now familiar looking) face was gazing at me, from atop a mannequin, where it had been affixed, next to another mannequin, this one female, sporting a photo on top of Sarah Palin. A banner sprawled atop both windows proudly proclaimed:
“Behind every good man stands a good woman.”
As I urged Barbara to slowly turn and see what I had seen, I worried that she might faint from surprise, and then, simultaneously, I realized I was a stranger in a strange land and that I had left my passport and my travel papers back in Austin. We pulled away slowly, heading toward route 46, and kept checking the rear view mirror and looking over my shoulder the entire time.
Throughout the remainder of our trip, which was delightful, by the way, I could not shake the notion that, not only were those poor lost maples of Texas turning, but since someone could actually so brazenly and honestly fill two entire store windows on “Hauptsrasse” with that “good woman” beside that “good man” also turning was my stomach.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
I know: Everybody hates it when I get like this
Here we are, two weeks away from election day, voting day, v-day, judgment day, whatever, and 2001 days after that W guy declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq. And it is only days away from the onset of a cold winter for many. But the boys on Wall Street, all those well-manicured and cared-for cronies of Hank “Santa Claus” Paulson, will all be warm and snug, and able, if all else fails (and it damn well might) to burn those piles of billion dollar notes that got handed out by Congress, recently. Oh, they will be fine. In fact most of them won’t even be on Wall Street: they will be offshore somewhere in the sun, with their (our) money. What does this have to do with the election? Funny you should ask.
Anyone worth his salt, and who has any inclination to read anything at all, knows that the several hundred page “bail-out” bill is full of crap…er, pork. It was bad enough when it was $700bn, but in order to get it passed, our public servants (those slimy bastards) managed to ratchet it up to something around $850bn. After I read some of the details, I of course felt better very quickly, knowing that lots of that money went to subsidize NASCAR and native American Indian Casinos. We all realize that these are essential mainstays of our economy, supplanting the beer, liquor and tobacco industries. I have yet to find the funding for the bridge to nowhere, but I’ll bet my last Ted Stevens dollar that is in there somewhere. Next to that tax subsidy for wooden arrows. Remember them?
Now since that bill was passed, the Most Lame Duck in Chief and Paulson and Bernanke and Pelosi and every other publicly funded non-managerially qualified idiot in Washington has made announcements, speeches and proposals, and held press conferences about it on some well manicured lawn or from behind a walnut desk somewhere And they all tell us how much good it is going to do for us. And every time they make one of these speeches, the stock market tanks again in the next hour or so. They should shut the f*%# up. They are not helping. And I think all of the children are being left behind, if for no other reason that to pick up the tab. Lord only knows what that will eventually look like, but the bill will be in Chinese. And it will be insured by AIG. With our money.
You know, don’t you, that the designated administrator of the bail out bill is a Paulson crony in his 30’s who has no freaking idea what the hell he is doing with that much money? We need a guardian angel and we got Rasputin with an adding machine. As Jon Stewart would say, “What the Pf*^@k?”.
By the way, the statistics say that this nation’s constituents (that’s you and me and Joe the Plumber) called and wrote to those public servants of ours, in a ratio of about 100 to 1 AGAINST the passage of the bill. Not only did the servants not listen, they went ahead and overspent way beyond what we didn’t want them to do in the first place. “Hi! I’m from the federal government and I’m here to help you!”. But I understand this somewhat, as well. They didn’t listen because they are lawyers. Logic and reason, despite their chosen profession, mean nothing to them, because they can only hear the sound of the cash register ringing in their office. They have selective perception: it comes with the job. They also know that once they have been elected, they are on the public dole for life, and they don’t have to listen to anybody.( Funny they didn’t mention that when they were running for office and needed our vote.) Besides that, they over-spent because not one of them knows how to balance a checkbook, much less the national budget. If a Senator or a Representative or Hank Paulson or W ever was forced to sit down and explain to a real accountant what they had just done with $700bn, it would be like hearing Sarah Palin describe what the Vice President’s job is. Doggonit.
Please remember: people run for public office and stay there because they are not qualified to do anything else. That's why we have the mess we do. This is the most obvious axiom in the world, and everybody misses it. Would you let Tom DeLay fix your car? Lieberman do your taxes? I don't think so.
But back to the upcoming election. (You have probably guessed that I have this figured out, too.) The fundies, the Christian right (which is always wrong), the doomsayers and the far lefties have been predicting for decades that a Rapture of some sort was coming. The End of Days. Armageddon. Revolution. The skies would rain fire, Jerry Falwell would be President, everyone would get shit on except the chosen few, and sinners, muslims and other Jew-like non-believers would wind up on marshmallow sticks and there would finally be a worldly and universal reckoning. And we would all have lower taxes. Well, here it comes. (I always get a warm feeling in my heart when someone gets it right)
If McCain wins the election , and this is possible if the Republicans and their legions can be vile and crooked enough; (have you ever tried to vote Democrat in Ohio?; tried to get a straight answer from a retired Florida resident? Spent any time in rural Pennsylvania? Holy crap. They call that Pennsyl-tucky for a reason.) Now that the end is near (they can smell the brimstone) the Repblicans will no doubt play every dirty trick in the book and rig every voting machine that they can. It is already happening in early voting in TX and FL. At any rate, if that happens (and don’t tell me you haven’t thought of that? And why can't Democrats do that stuff?), the masses of Americans who have set their hopes and dreams on Obama and the Democrats and the new beginning and the housecleaning and all that…WILL F*%3king go Bananas! The backlash of the poor, the disenfranchised and the white, middle-class, hard-working people of Palin’s “real” America that she mocks, will stage such a revolt that no one in government will be safe. The millions from both north and south who are sick to death of lying, cheating and deaf/dumb politicians will rise up in a very loud voice. They will demand some form of justice. I don’t know if it will be a complete revolution, but there will be angry mobs in places you never dreamt of. There will, of course be a military government backlash and all of that combined will be a kind of Armageddon. The fundies will have been proved right abou the end of days, but their crummy little churches may get burned to the ground and their sanctuaries of selfishness and faux piety destroyed in the process. People simply will no longer be able to tolerate this blatant and obscene fraudulence. There could be a mandate for a national end to ignorance. Those of us who have thought this through will simply declare an end to the tolerance of stupidity. The mighty in government will fall and chaos will be the rule of the day until calmer heads prevail. Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich will look pretty good. Domestic spying will become illegal and we will regain the Constitution. But it will be ugly, first.
However, if Obama wins, there will be a short-lived groundswell of rejoicing and celebration, followed by an unholy, bitter, gun-slinging period of indignation by the polarized and angry right. This will happen because, despite their heart-felt convictions that they have been right all along, they will have just been told, at least somewhat resoundingly, that they were wrong. Oooo. That’s gotta hurt. The drastic and foul polarization of the citizenry, begun by Ronald Reagan and his trickle down bullshit, and cultivated and allowed to fester for eight years by this Bush/Cheney/Wall Street idiocy and greed (and a pliant and self-centered Congress), will be exacerbated beyond any ugliness we have seen in these latest Republican election rallies. There will be expressions and demonstrations of evil and hate incarnate. The South will rise again…in Omaha, Detroit, Cleveland, and every other unlikely place you never thought could hold so much backward thinking and racial predjudice. This, too, will be the end of days, Armageddon, the Rapture, but backwards and upside down. And the right will be scratching their head, asking, “How come this happened, Elmer?” and Karl Rove and the rest of the culprits will be in Paraguay, scratching their asses and drinking rum. Yes, they will get away. But let them go, be done with them. And the Democrats will apologize and promise that it will never happen again...in an attempt to save their scrawny asses. You wanna know here the whiners are in America? Here you go.
So the end is near, one way or the other. We will either get a purloined lily-white (but temporary) extension of the corruption and callousness that has put us where we are today, lead initially by a senile old fart, then followed by an insurrection that will stop just short of pulling out the guillotine, OR we will have an honest result from the honest efforts of the many, followed by a period of hatred and raging retribution by the masses (of racists) who have been foolishly waiting for Jesus to make everything OK. A black man as President will destroy their very foundations of self-righteousness and fanciful illusion. (That REALLY hurts). All of that will, of course, be financed by a frightened Wall Street. No one else will have the money to do it. And the golden parachutes will be floating down over Paraguay soon after the money is distributed.
I could quote with some erudite elan from the Book of Revelation (it isn’t one) or hint that the scientologists might have been on to something by promoting a new mode of self-delusion, but none of that and no other form of daydreaming is going to help when the shit hits the fan on November 5.
This is all contingent upon W not managing to start WWIII between now and then, in which all bets are off. And would someone PLEASE make Sarah Palin go away? I can’t stand that level of stand up comedy on the eve the apocalypse.
Life goes on in Texas.
Anyone worth his salt, and who has any inclination to read anything at all, knows that the several hundred page “bail-out” bill is full of crap…er, pork. It was bad enough when it was $700bn, but in order to get it passed, our public servants (those slimy bastards) managed to ratchet it up to something around $850bn. After I read some of the details, I of course felt better very quickly, knowing that lots of that money went to subsidize NASCAR and native American Indian Casinos. We all realize that these are essential mainstays of our economy, supplanting the beer, liquor and tobacco industries. I have yet to find the funding for the bridge to nowhere, but I’ll bet my last Ted Stevens dollar that is in there somewhere. Next to that tax subsidy for wooden arrows. Remember them?
Now since that bill was passed, the Most Lame Duck in Chief and Paulson and Bernanke and Pelosi and every other publicly funded non-managerially qualified idiot in Washington has made announcements, speeches and proposals, and held press conferences about it on some well manicured lawn or from behind a walnut desk somewhere And they all tell us how much good it is going to do for us. And every time they make one of these speeches, the stock market tanks again in the next hour or so. They should shut the f*%# up. They are not helping. And I think all of the children are being left behind, if for no other reason that to pick up the tab. Lord only knows what that will eventually look like, but the bill will be in Chinese. And it will be insured by AIG. With our money.
You know, don’t you, that the designated administrator of the bail out bill is a Paulson crony in his 30’s who has no freaking idea what the hell he is doing with that much money? We need a guardian angel and we got Rasputin with an adding machine. As Jon Stewart would say, “What the Pf*^@k?”.
By the way, the statistics say that this nation’s constituents (that’s you and me and Joe the Plumber) called and wrote to those public servants of ours, in a ratio of about 100 to 1 AGAINST the passage of the bill. Not only did the servants not listen, they went ahead and overspent way beyond what we didn’t want them to do in the first place. “Hi! I’m from the federal government and I’m here to help you!”. But I understand this somewhat, as well. They didn’t listen because they are lawyers. Logic and reason, despite their chosen profession, mean nothing to them, because they can only hear the sound of the cash register ringing in their office. They have selective perception: it comes with the job. They also know that once they have been elected, they are on the public dole for life, and they don’t have to listen to anybody.( Funny they didn’t mention that when they were running for office and needed our vote.) Besides that, they over-spent because not one of them knows how to balance a checkbook, much less the national budget. If a Senator or a Representative or Hank Paulson or W ever was forced to sit down and explain to a real accountant what they had just done with $700bn, it would be like hearing Sarah Palin describe what the Vice President’s job is. Doggonit.
Please remember: people run for public office and stay there because they are not qualified to do anything else. That's why we have the mess we do. This is the most obvious axiom in the world, and everybody misses it. Would you let Tom DeLay fix your car? Lieberman do your taxes? I don't think so.
But back to the upcoming election. (You have probably guessed that I have this figured out, too.) The fundies, the Christian right (which is always wrong), the doomsayers and the far lefties have been predicting for decades that a Rapture of some sort was coming. The End of Days. Armageddon. Revolution. The skies would rain fire, Jerry Falwell would be President, everyone would get shit on except the chosen few, and sinners, muslims and other Jew-like non-believers would wind up on marshmallow sticks and there would finally be a worldly and universal reckoning. And we would all have lower taxes. Well, here it comes. (I always get a warm feeling in my heart when someone gets it right)
If McCain wins the election , and this is possible if the Republicans and their legions can be vile and crooked enough; (have you ever tried to vote Democrat in Ohio?; tried to get a straight answer from a retired Florida resident? Spent any time in rural Pennsylvania? Holy crap. They call that Pennsyl-tucky for a reason.) Now that the end is near (they can smell the brimstone) the Repblicans will no doubt play every dirty trick in the book and rig every voting machine that they can. It is already happening in early voting in TX and FL. At any rate, if that happens (and don’t tell me you haven’t thought of that? And why can't Democrats do that stuff?), the masses of Americans who have set their hopes and dreams on Obama and the Democrats and the new beginning and the housecleaning and all that…WILL F*%3king go Bananas! The backlash of the poor, the disenfranchised and the white, middle-class, hard-working people of Palin’s “real” America that she mocks, will stage such a revolt that no one in government will be safe. The millions from both north and south who are sick to death of lying, cheating and deaf/dumb politicians will rise up in a very loud voice. They will demand some form of justice. I don’t know if it will be a complete revolution, but there will be angry mobs in places you never dreamt of. There will, of course be a military government backlash and all of that combined will be a kind of Armageddon. The fundies will have been proved right abou the end of days, but their crummy little churches may get burned to the ground and their sanctuaries of selfishness and faux piety destroyed in the process. People simply will no longer be able to tolerate this blatant and obscene fraudulence. There could be a mandate for a national end to ignorance. Those of us who have thought this through will simply declare an end to the tolerance of stupidity. The mighty in government will fall and chaos will be the rule of the day until calmer heads prevail. Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich will look pretty good. Domestic spying will become illegal and we will regain the Constitution. But it will be ugly, first.
However, if Obama wins, there will be a short-lived groundswell of rejoicing and celebration, followed by an unholy, bitter, gun-slinging period of indignation by the polarized and angry right. This will happen because, despite their heart-felt convictions that they have been right all along, they will have just been told, at least somewhat resoundingly, that they were wrong. Oooo. That’s gotta hurt. The drastic and foul polarization of the citizenry, begun by Ronald Reagan and his trickle down bullshit, and cultivated and allowed to fester for eight years by this Bush/Cheney/Wall Street idiocy and greed (and a pliant and self-centered Congress), will be exacerbated beyond any ugliness we have seen in these latest Republican election rallies. There will be expressions and demonstrations of evil and hate incarnate. The South will rise again…in Omaha, Detroit, Cleveland, and every other unlikely place you never thought could hold so much backward thinking and racial predjudice. This, too, will be the end of days, Armageddon, the Rapture, but backwards and upside down. And the right will be scratching their head, asking, “How come this happened, Elmer?” and Karl Rove and the rest of the culprits will be in Paraguay, scratching their asses and drinking rum. Yes, they will get away. But let them go, be done with them. And the Democrats will apologize and promise that it will never happen again...in an attempt to save their scrawny asses. You wanna know here the whiners are in America? Here you go.
So the end is near, one way or the other. We will either get a purloined lily-white (but temporary) extension of the corruption and callousness that has put us where we are today, lead initially by a senile old fart, then followed by an insurrection that will stop just short of pulling out the guillotine, OR we will have an honest result from the honest efforts of the many, followed by a period of hatred and raging retribution by the masses (of racists) who have been foolishly waiting for Jesus to make everything OK. A black man as President will destroy their very foundations of self-righteousness and fanciful illusion. (That REALLY hurts). All of that will, of course, be financed by a frightened Wall Street. No one else will have the money to do it. And the golden parachutes will be floating down over Paraguay soon after the money is distributed.
I could quote with some erudite elan from the Book of Revelation (it isn’t one) or hint that the scientologists might have been on to something by promoting a new mode of self-delusion, but none of that and no other form of daydreaming is going to help when the shit hits the fan on November 5.
This is all contingent upon W not managing to start WWIII between now and then, in which all bets are off. And would someone PLEASE make Sarah Palin go away? I can’t stand that level of stand up comedy on the eve the apocalypse.
Life goes on in Texas.
Monday, October 20, 2008
And Then the Mail Came
I previewed "Will somebody turn that damn thing off?" (next post below) for my friend RonnottheReaganOne (somewhere not in Texas), I got this back in the mail:
Is this the next post to your blog? I like it and agree. the sun has set on the good old USA--the credit card and car/boat loan mess is the next shoe to fall and it will land loudly.
I shared with my daughter Soros' notion that the age of consumption is over and that we will need to devote all resources to maintaining the existence of our species. Her reply was that we had been doing exactly that for most of our time as a species. Touche. Nothing new here to her mind.
Note from ed. By "car/boat loan mess" Ron doesn't mean just Hummers and yachts. It will also include all of those miserable little Hyundais being sold on every street corner and lots of flat-bottomed bassfishing boats that are sold on late-night TV. They were all sold sub-prime to people with mortgages from Fannie Mae. If you want to know what Soros said, I could tell you, but then you'd have to kill me.
Not being the one not to have the last word, I wrote this:
Yes, it is posted. Most of my teary eyed, overly devoted and naively optimistic Obama supporters will probably not speak to me again for weeks..or at least until after the election. Most have already scorned me for being a Doubting Thomas anyway. "That One" is not the Messiah and "That Older One' not only has a cancer but is one...and I am still not friend.
I was going to attempt to hold my breath until after the election, but that seems a little too masochistic and a waste of valuable energy when I could be typing something that might be incendiary, instead. Please send matches and kindling.
My son just voted early in Texas, and when he couldn't vote democrat he voted "libbie", as he calls it. He is more resourceful than I thought. Your daughter, it sounds like, has joined the choir we have been preaching to?
I have been invited to a costume party for Halloween. I think I will go in whiteface, as Colin "Uncle Tom" Powell. He must be a born-again type: he manages to say something to publicly "save"himself and try to make everyone think his past sins have all been washed away, every chance he gets. He is a Blackwaterhawk in virgin wool clothing. Or perhaps he is Tom Sawyer, hoping we will all whitewash his old fence? I wish he would go beat his feet on the Mississippi mud.
Re: On Bush buying 100,00 acres in Paraguay and what it might mean....
Not to worry:
The elder Bush will die soon. His lying no-tax lips will be sealed with CIA tape.
His ugly wife will soon follow, dead from terminal arrogance.
W will start drinking again (if he hasn't already) and his liver will fail and Laura will die from lung cancer ( all those cigarettes that the public is not supposed to know that she smokes).
Rove will be killed by an angry local tribal politician who loses a local election after taking Rove's advice.
Scooter Libby will become the regional Attorney General and declare Billy Graham the Archbishop of Latin America. The vatican will be pissed.
Cheney's heart will stop...again... after his lesbian daughter becomes pregnant...again... He will be too far from Walter Reed to get help.
The Saudis will then build a second Dubai paradise in the Paraguyan forest in order to lay claim to all the water (to replace the oil) which they will sell to the Chinese (to make won-ton soup) who will have invaded Canada by that time, because even they could not control the bitter red-neck American truck drivers with guns who will be patrolling the interstate highways, looking for nigger lovers to shoot, after Obama won the election. The 700 Club will only have 700 members left and Jerry Falwell will be the Secretary of Defense. Rush Limbaugh will be Whitehouse press secretary, and all of the foreclosed former homeowners who financed subprime will be given the old FEMA trailers to live in. Most of the Middle East will be glass: Israel will nuke Iran and Russia will nuke Israel and the UAE will all be back to riding camels for awhile The world will be a lovely place, and both Cuba and Serbia will be open to tourist trade.
I will be vacationing on beachfront property in Arizona that I bought from John McCain.
Life goes on in Texas.
Is this the next post to your blog? I like it and agree. the sun has set on the good old USA--the credit card and car/boat loan mess is the next shoe to fall and it will land loudly.
I shared with my daughter Soros' notion that the age of consumption is over and that we will need to devote all resources to maintaining the existence of our species. Her reply was that we had been doing exactly that for most of our time as a species. Touche. Nothing new here to her mind.
Note from ed. By "car/boat loan mess" Ron doesn't mean just Hummers and yachts. It will also include all of those miserable little Hyundais being sold on every street corner and lots of flat-bottomed bassfishing boats that are sold on late-night TV. They were all sold sub-prime to people with mortgages from Fannie Mae. If you want to know what Soros said, I could tell you, but then you'd have to kill me.
Not being the one not to have the last word, I wrote this:
Yes, it is posted. Most of my teary eyed, overly devoted and naively optimistic Obama supporters will probably not speak to me again for weeks..or at least until after the election. Most have already scorned me for being a Doubting Thomas anyway. "That One" is not the Messiah and "That Older One' not only has a cancer but is one...and I am still not friend.
I was going to attempt to hold my breath until after the election, but that seems a little too masochistic and a waste of valuable energy when I could be typing something that might be incendiary, instead. Please send matches and kindling.
My son just voted early in Texas, and when he couldn't vote democrat he voted "libbie", as he calls it. He is more resourceful than I thought. Your daughter, it sounds like, has joined the choir we have been preaching to?
I have been invited to a costume party for Halloween. I think I will go in whiteface, as Colin "Uncle Tom" Powell. He must be a born-again type: he manages to say something to publicly "save"himself and try to make everyone think his past sins have all been washed away, every chance he gets. He is a Blackwaterhawk in virgin wool clothing. Or perhaps he is Tom Sawyer, hoping we will all whitewash his old fence? I wish he would go beat his feet on the Mississippi mud.
Re: On Bush buying 100,00 acres in Paraguay and what it might mean....
Not to worry:
The elder Bush will die soon. His lying no-tax lips will be sealed with CIA tape.
His ugly wife will soon follow, dead from terminal arrogance.
W will start drinking again (if he hasn't already) and his liver will fail and Laura will die from lung cancer ( all those cigarettes that the public is not supposed to know that she smokes).
Rove will be killed by an angry local tribal politician who loses a local election after taking Rove's advice.
Scooter Libby will become the regional Attorney General and declare Billy Graham the Archbishop of Latin America. The vatican will be pissed.
Cheney's heart will stop...again... after his lesbian daughter becomes pregnant...again... He will be too far from Walter Reed to get help.
The Saudis will then build a second Dubai paradise in the Paraguyan forest in order to lay claim to all the water (to replace the oil) which they will sell to the Chinese (to make won-ton soup) who will have invaded Canada by that time, because even they could not control the bitter red-neck American truck drivers with guns who will be patrolling the interstate highways, looking for nigger lovers to shoot, after Obama won the election. The 700 Club will only have 700 members left and Jerry Falwell will be the Secretary of Defense. Rush Limbaugh will be Whitehouse press secretary, and all of the foreclosed former homeowners who financed subprime will be given the old FEMA trailers to live in. Most of the Middle East will be glass: Israel will nuke Iran and Russia will nuke Israel and the UAE will all be back to riding camels for awhile The world will be a lovely place, and both Cuba and Serbia will be open to tourist trade.
I will be vacationing on beachfront property in Arizona that I bought from John McCain.
Life goes on in Texas.
Will Somebody Turn That Damn Thing Off?
I think I am like many other people, right now: I just want this damned election to be over with. McCain has called Obama a ninny black muslim terrorist nigger as many times as he can, and Obama has alerted us to the fact that McCain is a barnacled old fart who can't think, walk or talk well, anymore. McCain is not my friend and Obama has too much money. They have both lied again and again about the other and they have both promised to do lots of crap that neither will be able to consummate without the agreement and cooperation of a contentious, bigoted and money grubbing congress which is full of arrogant, bigoted, falsely zealous money grubbing, lying assholes. . Biden is a distinguished and sage, but just a DVR, who constantly replays "Rock of Ages", and Palin is, well, fucking useless.
So let's cut the crap and vote now, knowing it will all not make much of any difference because the United States of Greed and Insanity is so screwed up that all is mostly lost anyway. Get Bush the hell out of office before he shits on anything else, and move onward and downward. Geezus H Christ in a basket of camel turds, I'm tired of this.
So let's cut the crap and vote now, knowing it will all not make much of any difference because the United States of Greed and Insanity is so screwed up that all is mostly lost anyway. Get Bush the hell out of office before he shits on anything else, and move onward and downward. Geezus H Christ in a basket of camel turds, I'm tired of this.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Is there a Muslim in the House?
A few days ago, a friend (we’ll call her “Mary Jane Doe”), sent me the text of a speech ( you can read it here: http://jihadwatch.org/archives/o22867.php). , and a series of emails ensued, which I have decided to put together, here. The text was prefaced by this (I don’t know who wrote it; I doubt it was Mary, because of the grammatical and structural errors):
This is of critical importance for all Americans to read.... and to integrate. It is... essentially a call to arms... irrespective of age or religious preference. We are at war beyond Iraq and Afghanistan ... and Pakistan to be complete and throw in Indonesia if you will. Ignoring it can only lead to a blood bath that will dwarf what is happening to our ever-dear economy... not the same as life and threats against existence.
My first response was:
Knowing nothing about it, I looked up the Hudson Institute. It is a conservative think tank, founded in 1961 by a futurist, military strategist named Kahn. They seem to be somewhat xenophobic and care more for the concentration of money and power than the welfare of human beings. I think this speech is A )preaching to the choir of conservatives, and B) alarmist and probably a little paranoid and reactionary. It may be the pot calling the kettle Jewish, but I'm not sure. If you have a few grains of salt, it might be good to use them in reading this. Thanks.
Mary wrote back:
I wouldn't take the article so seriously if I hadn't met a middle age doctor several months ago who left a very successful practice in France as a prominent ultrasound doctor, dragged his wife and teenage twins to the U.S. so he can start over, becoming a medical resident again, because he feared for his family's safety in France because they are Jewish. He had a good life, was well respected, was a prominent physician in his area of specialty, having authored books on his specialty. If the article had not reiterated his story I would not have taken it so seriously.
I have spent all of my life bending over backwards being politically correct even before it was the popular thing to do. I think it's been a diservice to myself and is a diservice for my country to do likewise. It violates the basic principle that each of us needs to live by: to thine own self be true.
I am becoming a bleeding heart conservative, I guess.--
Not being inclined to let this issue rest, I got up in the middle of the night and wrote back, as follows:
Interesting story that could well be true. If it is, that's a shame, and I wish him and his family the best. But you should get your terminology straight: Bleeding hearts are, by tradition and defintion, liberals. True conservatives have no heart, therefore they cannot bleed. You can't have your cake and drink plasma, too.
It is possible, however, for you to be a sympathizer. Both liberals and conservatives can do that without fear of losing any blood, at all. On the other hand, people who have sympatized in the past, with communists, African Americans, the disabled, war vets, the poor, the oppressed and the disenfranchised have been jailed, harrassed and spit upon. Many of them have become "community organizers", and the McCain/Palin campaign has gone to great lengths to make sure we know what awful people (like Obama) they are. In Mississippi and Alabama we just shoot them and leave their bodies by the side of the road. In Russia, they get sent to Siberia along with the Jews. In other parts of the world, symapthizers get hung or have burning tires hung around their necks. No matter where it is, as long as it is called genocide or ethnic cleansing, and the non-liberals wind up with most of the money and the tanks, conservatives have no problem with it. Their non-hearts lose no blood. But you can sympathize if you like.
Many sympathizers tend to be young, liberal or Democrat or all three. They are dealt with (and those with whom they sympatize) by making it hard for them to vote, throwing out their votes, rigging their voting machines and under-funding or eliminating the programs they represent or count on. The heartless, bloodless conservatives wish they all lived in Ohio, where it appears they are easiest to control. That particular movement is called 'compassionate conservatism" and we all know how well that has worked out. A team of medical experts are, as we speak, researching the improbablity that someone can be compassionate and have no heart, all at the same time. I hear their funding has been cut again.
Also, however, Mr. Kahn and the other founders of the Institute (who mostly came from the Rand group) was at least sympathetic to Jewish ideas and both radical Jews and radical Islamists have a knack for speaking in especially vile and foreboding terms about one another. The Hudson group (you can read this stuff on Google or Wiki) is admittedly a "think tank", where they worry about concentrations of money and power and do what they call "future think". I.E., they contemplate whose views will get to dominate those of others in the future. They like to make big decisions for people they consider little. It is the neo-con version of the rapture or getting to have sex with 70 virgins in heaven. "Think tanks" by the way, as I heard them described recently, are places where people learn to "think tanks". They are visionary only insofar as they look foward to and plan for a future when it will be (they think) necessary to blow up or dominate the next deserving segment of the world's population. There are certain places in the US where your Dr. friend could have moved and felt just as fearful as he was in France, for instance, anywhere there are Southern Baptists or members of the religious right who refer to Jews as "Jesus killers". Or there is always Argentina, where he could have the chance to work in a hospital alongside Dr. Mengala.
Come to think of it, radical Islamists and Nazis have much in common, but the radical Muslims are moving to Europe and the European Nazis are moving to Latin America. Then the latinos move to the U.S. and buy from the Arabs who run the 7-11 stores. It all works out except for middle class Amrican whites, who lose their jobs because the Husdon and Rand groups, and the bankers, have helped move their jobs to Asia, where they can build tanks more cheaply. (You probably didn't know I had this figured out, did you?) WWIII will be fought on the ground with guns and tanks made in China, the airplanes will come from Brazil or Argentina, but the sophisticated missiles will come from GE (but made in Indonesia), whose advisors are the Hudson and Rand groups. And the Paulsonites and Bernankes and other neo-cons. And before you ask, neo-cons do not have neo-hearts.
Most non-Jews, in America at least, have no problem with Islamists: Latinos know that they run every 7-11 in the US, at which they and the disenfranchised blacks do business at prices approachin usury (see above). I (we) do have a problem with radical Islamists, everywhere. But it is the same problem I (we) have with right-wing, fundmentalist, bible-beating, snake handling evangelicals who think it is quite all right to murder doctors and nurses who do abortions. Radical right-wing anybodies (anti-bodies?) are dangerous and belong locked up together in a colony on an island somewhere. They are harmful to children and other living things, sort of like (but worse) than Sarah Palin. And far right-leaning Jews can be just as anti-social and militaristic and can maintain as high a disregard for life as anyone else: the hawkish side of the government of Israel, aided by "thinkers" from places like the Hudson Institute, are all hunkered down and ready to use their US made weapons to blow up Iran, and nobody really understands why. Some in Iran would be happy to visit Israel the same destruction, but GE, the Hudson group and the neo-cons won't sell them the firepower. There are skunks in every kind of woodpile. Literal "scriptural" believers of any ilk or faith and are equally dangerous. They just wear different garb. I'm guessing St. Paul would approve across the board, as long as no women can have a say in what happens (see below).
Speaking of scripture, while we are at it, as a scholar of said stuff myself, the next time you ponder sending me a biblical quote or reference involving the "apostle" Paul, you should know that history has proven quite convincingly that Paul was a right-minded political fund raiser for the early Catholic church, who was a complete chauvinist pig who thought strongly that all women should stay home, barefoot and pregnant and kiss their husband's asses. It is quite posible that Karl Rove is his direct descendant. Somehow, I don't see yo travelling with this crowd.
You are my friend, and I care about you deeply, but your latest emails have me concerned about how your thinking has changed. Lord knows I don't want you to be politically correct, but if you are going to let your heart bleed, donate the blood to the right (not THAT right) causes.
And I got out of bed to say this? Sheesh.
I went back to bed but awoke still troubled and questioning. After some more research ( and yielding ot the urge to release of at least small amounts of skeptical indignation), I sent this to Mary:
Addendum to Thoughts about Wilder’s Speech, the Hudson Institute and the Spread of Radical Islam.
Still not being able to sleep or leave this conversation alone, I went back to Google and Wikipedia and searched out Gert Wilders. I am sending this along, because after I railed at you the last time, after you told me about your French doctor friend, I thought I owed it to you to make sure I had my facts and suspicions straight.
Gert is a Dutch parliamentarian, born in 1963. As it said in the preface to the speech you sent me, he was speaking as the Chairman of the “Party for Freedom”, and as a member of the “Alliance of Patriots”, prior to speaking at the “Facing Jihad Conference”, which was held in Jerusalem.
Right off the bat, I’m hearing Donald Rumsfeld, a torture approving, Lazarus-like, neo-con conservative Republican, presenting the virtues of the Patriot Act to a group of Pentagon military advisors, who are preparing to invade Iraq (and any place else where they think they can use tanks and guided missiles to create chaos and cause death and destruction. George W Bush is seated in the front row, and Dick Cheney is watching electronically, from an undisclosed location.
Gert, bless all of his flowing white hair, is a rabid anti-Islamist and ethnic bigot, having made countless speeches on the subject, attempted to push through legislation in the Netherlands that would impose great restrictions on any Muslim and ban the Quran. He has made a very controversial film (it is on YouTube), written extensively on the subject and has had numerous threats made on his life, and they were not all by Islamists. His "Freinds" list on MySpace is apparently very short.
Wikipedia says he could be genberally described as a Dutch version of an American Libertarian: smaller government, lower taxes, reductions in welfare and conservative economics. As the speech states it, his main premise is that “our political correctness is costing us our freedom and our future”. He is very single-minded in his view of the world, clearly xenophobic and protectionist and prone to over-statement and at least some exaggeration. I think there are many specific sectarian groups in America who would welcome him. I don’t happen to belong to one of them, and I don’t think you do, either.
In this country, he has been publicly interviewed only by Glenn Beck of CNN (who is being welcomed with open arms to Fox Noise, very soon). Other than speeches to groups like the Husdon Institute, he has not been welcomed in many other places in the US.
When I first responded to you about the speech, I recommended taking it with a grain or two of salt. This morning I am changing that recommendation to a large box of Morton’s Course Kosher Salt that you can get at the HEB. See ya.
I am not altogether certain what all of this means, but I do know that an election is coming up, everyone’s extreme urges and desires to believe anything that makes them feel both smart and empowered are running high and this is not the time for anyone to be sidetracked or high-jacked by over-the-top rhetoric about anything from anybody. If that is too subtle, let me put it this way: urge nervous white people not to vote white just because the McCain campaign has played the race/ethnic/9-11 fear card.
My thanks to Mary Jane Doe for pouring (kosher) salt in a wound I didn’t know I had.
Life goes on in Texas.
This is of critical importance for all Americans to read.... and to integrate. It is... essentially a call to arms... irrespective of age or religious preference. We are at war beyond Iraq and Afghanistan ... and Pakistan to be complete and throw in Indonesia if you will. Ignoring it can only lead to a blood bath that will dwarf what is happening to our ever-dear economy... not the same as life and threats against existence.
My first response was:
Knowing nothing about it, I looked up the Hudson Institute. It is a conservative think tank, founded in 1961 by a futurist, military strategist named Kahn. They seem to be somewhat xenophobic and care more for the concentration of money and power than the welfare of human beings. I think this speech is A )preaching to the choir of conservatives, and B) alarmist and probably a little paranoid and reactionary. It may be the pot calling the kettle Jewish, but I'm not sure. If you have a few grains of salt, it might be good to use them in reading this. Thanks.
Mary wrote back:
I wouldn't take the article so seriously if I hadn't met a middle age doctor several months ago who left a very successful practice in France as a prominent ultrasound doctor, dragged his wife and teenage twins to the U.S. so he can start over, becoming a medical resident again, because he feared for his family's safety in France because they are Jewish. He had a good life, was well respected, was a prominent physician in his area of specialty, having authored books on his specialty. If the article had not reiterated his story I would not have taken it so seriously.
I have spent all of my life bending over backwards being politically correct even before it was the popular thing to do. I think it's been a diservice to myself and is a diservice for my country to do likewise. It violates the basic principle that each of us needs to live by: to thine own self be true.
I am becoming a bleeding heart conservative, I guess.--
Not being inclined to let this issue rest, I got up in the middle of the night and wrote back, as follows:
Interesting story that could well be true. If it is, that's a shame, and I wish him and his family the best. But you should get your terminology straight: Bleeding hearts are, by tradition and defintion, liberals. True conservatives have no heart, therefore they cannot bleed. You can't have your cake and drink plasma, too.
It is possible, however, for you to be a sympathizer. Both liberals and conservatives can do that without fear of losing any blood, at all. On the other hand, people who have sympatized in the past, with communists, African Americans, the disabled, war vets, the poor, the oppressed and the disenfranchised have been jailed, harrassed and spit upon. Many of them have become "community organizers", and the McCain/Palin campaign has gone to great lengths to make sure we know what awful people (like Obama) they are. In Mississippi and Alabama we just shoot them and leave their bodies by the side of the road. In Russia, they get sent to Siberia along with the Jews. In other parts of the world, symapthizers get hung or have burning tires hung around their necks. No matter where it is, as long as it is called genocide or ethnic cleansing, and the non-liberals wind up with most of the money and the tanks, conservatives have no problem with it. Their non-hearts lose no blood. But you can sympathize if you like.
Many sympathizers tend to be young, liberal or Democrat or all three. They are dealt with (and those with whom they sympatize) by making it hard for them to vote, throwing out their votes, rigging their voting machines and under-funding or eliminating the programs they represent or count on. The heartless, bloodless conservatives wish they all lived in Ohio, where it appears they are easiest to control. That particular movement is called 'compassionate conservatism" and we all know how well that has worked out. A team of medical experts are, as we speak, researching the improbablity that someone can be compassionate and have no heart, all at the same time. I hear their funding has been cut again.
Also, however, Mr. Kahn and the other founders of the Institute (who mostly came from the Rand group) was at least sympathetic to Jewish ideas and both radical Jews and radical Islamists have a knack for speaking in especially vile and foreboding terms about one another. The Hudson group (you can read this stuff on Google or Wiki) is admittedly a "think tank", where they worry about concentrations of money and power and do what they call "future think". I.E., they contemplate whose views will get to dominate those of others in the future. They like to make big decisions for people they consider little. It is the neo-con version of the rapture or getting to have sex with 70 virgins in heaven. "Think tanks" by the way, as I heard them described recently, are places where people learn to "think tanks". They are visionary only insofar as they look foward to and plan for a future when it will be (they think) necessary to blow up or dominate the next deserving segment of the world's population. There are certain places in the US where your Dr. friend could have moved and felt just as fearful as he was in France, for instance, anywhere there are Southern Baptists or members of the religious right who refer to Jews as "Jesus killers". Or there is always Argentina, where he could have the chance to work in a hospital alongside Dr. Mengala.
Come to think of it, radical Islamists and Nazis have much in common, but the radical Muslims are moving to Europe and the European Nazis are moving to Latin America. Then the latinos move to the U.S. and buy from the Arabs who run the 7-11 stores. It all works out except for middle class Amrican whites, who lose their jobs because the Husdon and Rand groups, and the bankers, have helped move their jobs to Asia, where they can build tanks more cheaply. (You probably didn't know I had this figured out, did you?) WWIII will be fought on the ground with guns and tanks made in China, the airplanes will come from Brazil or Argentina, but the sophisticated missiles will come from GE (but made in Indonesia), whose advisors are the Hudson and Rand groups. And the Paulsonites and Bernankes and other neo-cons. And before you ask, neo-cons do not have neo-hearts.
Most non-Jews, in America at least, have no problem with Islamists: Latinos know that they run every 7-11 in the US, at which they and the disenfranchised blacks do business at prices approachin usury (see above). I (we) do have a problem with radical Islamists, everywhere. But it is the same problem I (we) have with right-wing, fundmentalist, bible-beating, snake handling evangelicals who think it is quite all right to murder doctors and nurses who do abortions. Radical right-wing anybodies (anti-bodies?) are dangerous and belong locked up together in a colony on an island somewhere. They are harmful to children and other living things, sort of like (but worse) than Sarah Palin. And far right-leaning Jews can be just as anti-social and militaristic and can maintain as high a disregard for life as anyone else: the hawkish side of the government of Israel, aided by "thinkers" from places like the Hudson Institute, are all hunkered down and ready to use their US made weapons to blow up Iran, and nobody really understands why. Some in Iran would be happy to visit Israel the same destruction, but GE, the Hudson group and the neo-cons won't sell them the firepower. There are skunks in every kind of woodpile. Literal "scriptural" believers of any ilk or faith and are equally dangerous. They just wear different garb. I'm guessing St. Paul would approve across the board, as long as no women can have a say in what happens (see below).
Speaking of scripture, while we are at it, as a scholar of said stuff myself, the next time you ponder sending me a biblical quote or reference involving the "apostle" Paul, you should know that history has proven quite convincingly that Paul was a right-minded political fund raiser for the early Catholic church, who was a complete chauvinist pig who thought strongly that all women should stay home, barefoot and pregnant and kiss their husband's asses. It is quite posible that Karl Rove is his direct descendant. Somehow, I don't see yo travelling with this crowd.
You are my friend, and I care about you deeply, but your latest emails have me concerned about how your thinking has changed. Lord knows I don't want you to be politically correct, but if you are going to let your heart bleed, donate the blood to the right (not THAT right) causes.
And I got out of bed to say this? Sheesh.
I went back to bed but awoke still troubled and questioning. After some more research ( and yielding ot the urge to release of at least small amounts of skeptical indignation), I sent this to Mary:
Addendum to Thoughts about Wilder’s Speech, the Hudson Institute and the Spread of Radical Islam.
Still not being able to sleep or leave this conversation alone, I went back to Google and Wikipedia and searched out Gert Wilders. I am sending this along, because after I railed at you the last time, after you told me about your French doctor friend, I thought I owed it to you to make sure I had my facts and suspicions straight.
Gert is a Dutch parliamentarian, born in 1963. As it said in the preface to the speech you sent me, he was speaking as the Chairman of the “Party for Freedom”, and as a member of the “Alliance of Patriots”, prior to speaking at the “Facing Jihad Conference”, which was held in Jerusalem.
Right off the bat, I’m hearing Donald Rumsfeld, a torture approving, Lazarus-like, neo-con conservative Republican, presenting the virtues of the Patriot Act to a group of Pentagon military advisors, who are preparing to invade Iraq (and any place else where they think they can use tanks and guided missiles to create chaos and cause death and destruction. George W Bush is seated in the front row, and Dick Cheney is watching electronically, from an undisclosed location.
Gert, bless all of his flowing white hair, is a rabid anti-Islamist and ethnic bigot, having made countless speeches on the subject, attempted to push through legislation in the Netherlands that would impose great restrictions on any Muslim and ban the Quran. He has made a very controversial film (it is on YouTube), written extensively on the subject and has had numerous threats made on his life, and they were not all by Islamists. His "Freinds" list on MySpace is apparently very short.
Wikipedia says he could be genberally described as a Dutch version of an American Libertarian: smaller government, lower taxes, reductions in welfare and conservative economics. As the speech states it, his main premise is that “our political correctness is costing us our freedom and our future”. He is very single-minded in his view of the world, clearly xenophobic and protectionist and prone to over-statement and at least some exaggeration. I think there are many specific sectarian groups in America who would welcome him. I don’t happen to belong to one of them, and I don’t think you do, either.
In this country, he has been publicly interviewed only by Glenn Beck of CNN (who is being welcomed with open arms to Fox Noise, very soon). Other than speeches to groups like the Husdon Institute, he has not been welcomed in many other places in the US.
When I first responded to you about the speech, I recommended taking it with a grain or two of salt. This morning I am changing that recommendation to a large box of Morton’s Course Kosher Salt that you can get at the HEB. See ya.
I am not altogether certain what all of this means, but I do know that an election is coming up, everyone’s extreme urges and desires to believe anything that makes them feel both smart and empowered are running high and this is not the time for anyone to be sidetracked or high-jacked by over-the-top rhetoric about anything from anybody. If that is too subtle, let me put it this way: urge nervous white people not to vote white just because the McCain campaign has played the race/ethnic/9-11 fear card.
My thanks to Mary Jane Doe for pouring (kosher) salt in a wound I didn’t know I had.
Life goes on in Texas.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Cognition Negligence
I am going to watch the vaudeville act again tonight, and I will not hold my breath for anything meaningful. But I have been watching and reading closely for days now, and I think the whole country has got it wrong.
Everyone is getting told by the media that Obama is 14 points (?) ahead and the Dems are already "measuring the drapes", as they say. But we have three weeks to go and I am hearing several things that lead me to believe that the Dems are living in la-la land.
First off, Bushco can start another war. Or they can keep de-engineering Wall St. to the point where everything collapses. Paulson will be made CZAR.
States like OH, FL and MI are ripe for voting fraud and rigged voting macnines.
Lots of folks who speak Obama-ese in public will slip behind the booth curtain and vote white because most of America is very racist.
Some one will shoot Obama. McCain will get sick. Cindy MCcain will shoot John for screwing Sarah in the back of the bus.
The results will be contested and go to court for months while the market tanks some more and we start another war.
The Supreme court will declare the whole election bogus and we will start all over again.
People will riot and cities will burn and W will declare martial law. Israel will attack Iran and the mid-east will explode
The repugs will steal the election in some way and everyone will just say "OK" and everything will go to hell as we bomb.bomb,bomb Iran.
Beyond that, I am very optimistic but I think the bulk of the country is stupid and numb. We should just pass out beer at the polling places. It worked in Chicago.
Everyone is getting told by the media that Obama is 14 points (?) ahead and the Dems are already "measuring the drapes", as they say. But we have three weeks to go and I am hearing several things that lead me to believe that the Dems are living in la-la land.
First off, Bushco can start another war. Or they can keep de-engineering Wall St. to the point where everything collapses. Paulson will be made CZAR.
States like OH, FL and MI are ripe for voting fraud and rigged voting macnines.
Lots of folks who speak Obama-ese in public will slip behind the booth curtain and vote white because most of America is very racist.
Some one will shoot Obama. McCain will get sick. Cindy MCcain will shoot John for screwing Sarah in the back of the bus.
The results will be contested and go to court for months while the market tanks some more and we start another war.
The Supreme court will declare the whole election bogus and we will start all over again.
People will riot and cities will burn and W will declare martial law. Israel will attack Iran and the mid-east will explode
The repugs will steal the election in some way and everyone will just say "OK" and everything will go to hell as we bomb.bomb,bomb Iran.
Beyond that, I am very optimistic but I think the bulk of the country is stupid and numb. We should just pass out beer at the polling places. It worked in Chicago.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Habitual Liars or Just Sick?
Pseudo Populists, Politics and Legitimized Immorality
I try never to engage in conversations that have anything to do with morals. The biggest reason is that these exchanges usually wind up not being conversations at all, but highly opinionated and animated harangues, defiant, judgmental outbursts which preclude logic, ignore history and insist that God has had something definitive to say about it. Trust me, here, God did not invent or create the concept of morality: man did it, and he probably did it in order to get the upper hand in some awkward situation. He/she wanted to put something over on his/her brother/sister-in-law, to save some money, to get out of an obligation or to justify why he/she slept with his/her bother/sister-in-law/neighbor’s wife/husband and should not be prosecuted. But God had nothing to do with any of it and should be left out of the discussion. God has bigger fish to fry, or to create, depending upon your perspective. And please do not try in any way claim that any of the above reasoning had anything to do with intelligent design. Creative marketing? Maybe. And if morality was not treated so irrationally, we would not have racism, sexism or homo-phobia. You can tune in later, for that.
But the current political milieu in America is trying my patience. As much as I would rather not talk about morals, I am finding it much more difficult right now to avoid the issue. In order to continue this exercise, I need to ask you to agree with me on just one definition: Any acts, or deeds, or the thoughts that may precede them, are immoral if the end result is that another human being is hurt, harmed or suffers. Now I know that this can describe a wide range of both hurt and suffering: you may just get your feelings hurt or you may suffer financial loss. Or you may wind up being unjustly imprisoned. Or worse. Perhaps you might get blown up by a terrorist, or some “maverick” in an F-16 could napalm your village? Or perhaps it is a lesser crime, like having a drunk driver total your car or some foul degenerate rapes your daughter? Or a priest fondles your son or a right wing fundamentalist blows up an abortion clinic( killing three doctors and two nurses in order to “save a life”… it is amazing what people can talk themselves into). Immorality comes in all shapes, sizes and disguises, to be certain, but some of it we can stop, some it we can prevent and some it we can eliminate in it’s infancy before too many more people get hurt or suffer. Generally, we refer to that as a process of education. Generally that requires the dissemination of information.
Let me give you now, three elements of contemporary life to consider, both together and separately. These are 1.) the concept of “talking points”(one form of information dissemination), which has become 2.) the art of lying and deliberate deception, and then 3.)the acceptable parameters of mental illness in our society. Before you ask me how in the world I managed to hook these three items together, let me just say that if it were not for the electronic media and the challenges and intellectual fire alarms that were set off for me by two close friends, I would never have managed this conflagration on my own.
I have become increasingly annoyed and nauseated by the incessant, droning use of talking points to further the ends of political campaigns. I was recently reminded that this repetitive practice was originated by a man named Frank Luntz, and it has been a round since the 1960’s. While indeed everyone seems to employ the strategy, it is most commonly used by the non-thinking, regurgitative sect of the conservatives. These I call “pseudo populists” and are usually Republican office seekers and their surrogates. This strategy involves repeating two or three points over and over again, whether they have a grain of truth or not, in complete concert with your fellows (or girls), in the hope that if they are heard often enough, someone will accept them to be true. On Sunday, Oct. 5, Gov. Pawlenty (R-MN) and Rep. Mel Martinez (R-FL) appeared on a panel on the ABC weekly program, hosted by George Stephanopolous, and gave (almost) the best demonstration of talking point technique I have seen lately. Speaking from separate locations, speaking almost word for word, they both repeated the same mantra about John McCain: He is 1) a maverick (he is not, and everyone knows it now), 2) a populist (he is not: he is an erratic opportunist who owns too many houses and cars and has lost touch with anything down to earth), and 3) he is a “straight-talker”: that might be the case if you can figure out which side of his mouth he is talking from at any one time. He may have been once, but he has zigged and zagged and flipped and flopped so often that nothing is straight, any longer. Dare I say, the man lies?
As Joe Biden would say, “Let me say that again”: both Pawlenty and Martinez repeated the same three point message, nearly word for word TWICE. These three statements were all lies, and if accepted as fact, they will all surely hurt someone or cause suffering, somewhere. At issue for me is whether or not they actually believe what they said, and as lies, do the statements themselves constitute immorality? And what does it all have to do with what we will accept as permissible and acceptable levels of moral human behavior? More on that, later.
Putting aside, for just a moment, at least, the fact the DJ average is down 539 points as I write, and America’s financial crisis (which seems to have been brought on by copious lying and deception on Wall Street, which was seemingly enabled by copious lying and deception in the halls of government) is spreading to markets around the world at an alarming rate, let’s talk about Sarah Palin for a moment. Hell, the rest of the world is.
Sarah Palin came from relative obscurity and exploded onto the national scene largely because, lacking any substance, poise, intellectual acumen or inherent skills, she could read and memorize talking points. She can lie well and consistently. Pundits, critics and analysts have dissected her (somebody’s) every word for days. And they have worked hardest (especially on SNL) to cull (without result) any important and salient points from her debate performance. Everyone seems to agree that Ms. Palin can fluently repeat that she and McCain are both mavericks, she can display herself and speak (if crudely) as a populist, and has no trouble repeating the claim that John McCain is a straight-talker. Now does all that sound familiar? And the RNC expects us to accept her as legitimate. Be serious.
Clearly the use of talking points has reached a new peak. And clearly those using the points mentioned here are counting on the success of repetitive lies and then the deception that they hope will result. Which brings me to the subject of mental illness.
Also very clear is the fact that these pseudo populists will say virtually anything to get elected, and will say it over and over again. I am still mulling over what this may say about in what manner of regard they hold their fellow man (Palin speaks of Eskimos as “Arctic Arabs”?). But these talkers are like a Greek chorus in a tragedy that is playing out before us. In all the instances I have cited here, Pawlenty, Martinez and Palin have all fallen exactly in lock step with the party line, in an amazing uniformity. Ms. Ptof-whatever-her-name- is, as a McCain surrogate and spokesperson (and another pseudo populist) even showed enough boldness to appear on the Rachel Maddow show this week, and perform exactly in the same manner. I.e., she repeated the same claims with as much bald-faced-ness as Pawlenty, et.al. (What I find curious, as do many others, is that McCain himself, as the party standard bearer, has not been so consistent: indeed, from day to day he seems unable to remember what he claimed, as chapter and verse, from the gospel of the day before. That really inspires confidence.)
While it was the urging of one friend that I was forced to remember that not only pseudo populist Republicans utilize the talk point strategy (Democrats can and do employ it, as well), it was another friend that urged me to acquaint myself with the concept of “anti-social personality disorder”. Much to my surprise, this is the point at which my thoughts about immorality and mental illness (or health) came together.
Among the other information I gathered from reading Wikipedia entries about anti-social personality disorder, I learned that persons so afflicted have a blatant or “high disregard for the welfare of others”. This would seem to imply, at least to my way of thinking, that this disregard for the welfare of others is a kind of immorality, just as is lying, if it leads to the harm, hurt or suffering of others (has Ms. Palin shown us that she holds any other human being in high regard except John McCain? I know she doesn’t care about polar bears, but…). Now I would be loathe to make any broad, sweeping generalizations about either all Republicans, or even all pseudo populist Republicans, BUT….and I know I already have the nations mental health practitioners seething…
What is it that you say about a group of Republican (or Democratic) lawmakers (and aspirants to the same positions) who deny extending unemployment benefits to the 159,000 newly unemployed in the American work force, when you must think about this as a possible disregard for the welfare of fellow humans? What might you say about this group, when they blindly give $700BN to bail out Wall Street CEO’s and do nothing to stave off the home foreclosures for millions of the rank and file and the middle class? What do you say about this group who stand so firmly behind a President who authorizes the deaths of hundred and thousands (in fact hundreds OF thousands) of military and civilian people around the world for oil? What do you say and surmise about this group of people who deny health care to millions of Americans who have none and then offer subsidies to big pharmaceutical companies? What do you say about this group when they send thousands off to war and then deny them health care when they come home without limbs and afflicted by PTSD? Does it make you wonder if they have managed some form of collective denial? Or have they in some way become affected by serious anti-social tendencies?
Which brings me to this: what are we to say and think about the Pawlentys, Mertinezes, Palins, Rices, Cheneys and the Bushes when they lie so uniformly and consistently and without pause or hesitation? Have they succumbed to habitual lying? Is their notion of morality diametrically opposed to that of the rest of us? Do they really believe what they lie about so consistently, or are they simply delusional in their approach to life? Do they want power and control so badly that they are willing to skew completely their view of humanity and disregard its’ values? Are they basically immoral?
Pseudo populists of any ilk are seeking to legitimize immorality. Such abundant, consistent and pervasive lying will surely lead to the hurt, pain, harm and suffering of the many that will fall victim to it. Do I need to say that again, or shall I call Joe Biden?
And don’t give me any crap about that Ayres guy, in Chicago.
Life goes on in Texas
I try never to engage in conversations that have anything to do with morals. The biggest reason is that these exchanges usually wind up not being conversations at all, but highly opinionated and animated harangues, defiant, judgmental outbursts which preclude logic, ignore history and insist that God has had something definitive to say about it. Trust me, here, God did not invent or create the concept of morality: man did it, and he probably did it in order to get the upper hand in some awkward situation. He/she wanted to put something over on his/her brother/sister-in-law, to save some money, to get out of an obligation or to justify why he/she slept with his/her bother/sister-in-law/neighbor’s wife/husband and should not be prosecuted. But God had nothing to do with any of it and should be left out of the discussion. God has bigger fish to fry, or to create, depending upon your perspective. And please do not try in any way claim that any of the above reasoning had anything to do with intelligent design. Creative marketing? Maybe. And if morality was not treated so irrationally, we would not have racism, sexism or homo-phobia. You can tune in later, for that.
But the current political milieu in America is trying my patience. As much as I would rather not talk about morals, I am finding it much more difficult right now to avoid the issue. In order to continue this exercise, I need to ask you to agree with me on just one definition: Any acts, or deeds, or the thoughts that may precede them, are immoral if the end result is that another human being is hurt, harmed or suffers. Now I know that this can describe a wide range of both hurt and suffering: you may just get your feelings hurt or you may suffer financial loss. Or you may wind up being unjustly imprisoned. Or worse. Perhaps you might get blown up by a terrorist, or some “maverick” in an F-16 could napalm your village? Or perhaps it is a lesser crime, like having a drunk driver total your car or some foul degenerate rapes your daughter? Or a priest fondles your son or a right wing fundamentalist blows up an abortion clinic( killing three doctors and two nurses in order to “save a life”… it is amazing what people can talk themselves into). Immorality comes in all shapes, sizes and disguises, to be certain, but some of it we can stop, some it we can prevent and some it we can eliminate in it’s infancy before too many more people get hurt or suffer. Generally, we refer to that as a process of education. Generally that requires the dissemination of information.
Let me give you now, three elements of contemporary life to consider, both together and separately. These are 1.) the concept of “talking points”(one form of information dissemination), which has become 2.) the art of lying and deliberate deception, and then 3.)the acceptable parameters of mental illness in our society. Before you ask me how in the world I managed to hook these three items together, let me just say that if it were not for the electronic media and the challenges and intellectual fire alarms that were set off for me by two close friends, I would never have managed this conflagration on my own.
I have become increasingly annoyed and nauseated by the incessant, droning use of talking points to further the ends of political campaigns. I was recently reminded that this repetitive practice was originated by a man named Frank Luntz, and it has been a round since the 1960’s. While indeed everyone seems to employ the strategy, it is most commonly used by the non-thinking, regurgitative sect of the conservatives. These I call “pseudo populists” and are usually Republican office seekers and their surrogates. This strategy involves repeating two or three points over and over again, whether they have a grain of truth or not, in complete concert with your fellows (or girls), in the hope that if they are heard often enough, someone will accept them to be true. On Sunday, Oct. 5, Gov. Pawlenty (R-MN) and Rep. Mel Martinez (R-FL) appeared on a panel on the ABC weekly program, hosted by George Stephanopolous, and gave (almost) the best demonstration of talking point technique I have seen lately. Speaking from separate locations, speaking almost word for word, they both repeated the same mantra about John McCain: He is 1) a maverick (he is not, and everyone knows it now), 2) a populist (he is not: he is an erratic opportunist who owns too many houses and cars and has lost touch with anything down to earth), and 3) he is a “straight-talker”: that might be the case if you can figure out which side of his mouth he is talking from at any one time. He may have been once, but he has zigged and zagged and flipped and flopped so often that nothing is straight, any longer. Dare I say, the man lies?
As Joe Biden would say, “Let me say that again”: both Pawlenty and Martinez repeated the same three point message, nearly word for word TWICE. These three statements were all lies, and if accepted as fact, they will all surely hurt someone or cause suffering, somewhere. At issue for me is whether or not they actually believe what they said, and as lies, do the statements themselves constitute immorality? And what does it all have to do with what we will accept as permissible and acceptable levels of moral human behavior? More on that, later.
Putting aside, for just a moment, at least, the fact the DJ average is down 539 points as I write, and America’s financial crisis (which seems to have been brought on by copious lying and deception on Wall Street, which was seemingly enabled by copious lying and deception in the halls of government) is spreading to markets around the world at an alarming rate, let’s talk about Sarah Palin for a moment. Hell, the rest of the world is.
Sarah Palin came from relative obscurity and exploded onto the national scene largely because, lacking any substance, poise, intellectual acumen or inherent skills, she could read and memorize talking points. She can lie well and consistently. Pundits, critics and analysts have dissected her (somebody’s) every word for days. And they have worked hardest (especially on SNL) to cull (without result) any important and salient points from her debate performance. Everyone seems to agree that Ms. Palin can fluently repeat that she and McCain are both mavericks, she can display herself and speak (if crudely) as a populist, and has no trouble repeating the claim that John McCain is a straight-talker. Now does all that sound familiar? And the RNC expects us to accept her as legitimate. Be serious.
Clearly the use of talking points has reached a new peak. And clearly those using the points mentioned here are counting on the success of repetitive lies and then the deception that they hope will result. Which brings me to the subject of mental illness.
Also very clear is the fact that these pseudo populists will say virtually anything to get elected, and will say it over and over again. I am still mulling over what this may say about in what manner of regard they hold their fellow man (Palin speaks of Eskimos as “Arctic Arabs”?). But these talkers are like a Greek chorus in a tragedy that is playing out before us. In all the instances I have cited here, Pawlenty, Martinez and Palin have all fallen exactly in lock step with the party line, in an amazing uniformity. Ms. Ptof-whatever-her-name- is, as a McCain surrogate and spokesperson (and another pseudo populist) even showed enough boldness to appear on the Rachel Maddow show this week, and perform exactly in the same manner. I.e., she repeated the same claims with as much bald-faced-ness as Pawlenty, et.al. (What I find curious, as do many others, is that McCain himself, as the party standard bearer, has not been so consistent: indeed, from day to day he seems unable to remember what he claimed, as chapter and verse, from the gospel of the day before. That really inspires confidence.)
While it was the urging of one friend that I was forced to remember that not only pseudo populist Republicans utilize the talk point strategy (Democrats can and do employ it, as well), it was another friend that urged me to acquaint myself with the concept of “anti-social personality disorder”. Much to my surprise, this is the point at which my thoughts about immorality and mental illness (or health) came together.
Among the other information I gathered from reading Wikipedia entries about anti-social personality disorder, I learned that persons so afflicted have a blatant or “high disregard for the welfare of others”. This would seem to imply, at least to my way of thinking, that this disregard for the welfare of others is a kind of immorality, just as is lying, if it leads to the harm, hurt or suffering of others (has Ms. Palin shown us that she holds any other human being in high regard except John McCain? I know she doesn’t care about polar bears, but…). Now I would be loathe to make any broad, sweeping generalizations about either all Republicans, or even all pseudo populist Republicans, BUT….and I know I already have the nations mental health practitioners seething…
What is it that you say about a group of Republican (or Democratic) lawmakers (and aspirants to the same positions) who deny extending unemployment benefits to the 159,000 newly unemployed in the American work force, when you must think about this as a possible disregard for the welfare of fellow humans? What might you say about this group, when they blindly give $700BN to bail out Wall Street CEO’s and do nothing to stave off the home foreclosures for millions of the rank and file and the middle class? What do you say about this group who stand so firmly behind a President who authorizes the deaths of hundred and thousands (in fact hundreds OF thousands) of military and civilian people around the world for oil? What do you say and surmise about this group of people who deny health care to millions of Americans who have none and then offer subsidies to big pharmaceutical companies? What do you say about this group when they send thousands off to war and then deny them health care when they come home without limbs and afflicted by PTSD? Does it make you wonder if they have managed some form of collective denial? Or have they in some way become affected by serious anti-social tendencies?
Which brings me to this: what are we to say and think about the Pawlentys, Mertinezes, Palins, Rices, Cheneys and the Bushes when they lie so uniformly and consistently and without pause or hesitation? Have they succumbed to habitual lying? Is their notion of morality diametrically opposed to that of the rest of us? Do they really believe what they lie about so consistently, or are they simply delusional in their approach to life? Do they want power and control so badly that they are willing to skew completely their view of humanity and disregard its’ values? Are they basically immoral?
Pseudo populists of any ilk are seeking to legitimize immorality. Such abundant, consistent and pervasive lying will surely lead to the hurt, pain, harm and suffering of the many that will fall victim to it. Do I need to say that again, or shall I call Joe Biden?
And don’t give me any crap about that Ayres guy, in Chicago.
Life goes on in Texas
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