LOBOTOMIES FOR REPUBLICANS--IT'S THE LAW

I wrote this post a month ago in response to some rightwing ranter on one of the thousands of progressive lists I'm on:

It's like we always said, "Lobotomies for Republicans---It's The Law!" And you know they always obey the law; especially when they become CEOs.

What's really sad about that post is that their are lots of people (and I use that term advisedly) out there like him. Now that Bush has admitted there isn't, and never was, any connection between Sadaam and 9/11, ya think the almost-70% of Americans who believed that will stop believing it? I'm not taking any bets. Since when did truth change the mind of the teeming masses? Remember that book, "Hitler's Willing Executioners?" Bush's Willing Tools. There's been ample and incontrovertible proof that this administration has lied, dissembled and used innuendo and implication (quite masterfully) to win its vainglorious causes and further its neocon Leo-Straussian effort to bring back the "constitution in exile" (get rid of the New Deal, The Great Society, and all legislation and regulation that furthers the cause of human dignity or protects the public from the worst instincts of our species, and to bankrupt the govt so it can't afford any social programs). I think they'd actually like to return America to the way it was before Teddy Roosevelt, let alone FDR.

Jeesuz, these guys are attacking Head Start! And they're open about this! Some have called it a conspiracy. Well, if by conspiracy one means a secret plot, then the neocon agenda isn't a conspiracy, since Grover Norquist, right wing lobbyist and power behind the throne, has openly admitted their plan is to "Starve the Beast"--the federal govt. The tax cuts weren't simply a money grab for the ruling class--though they were that; they were the opening salvos in the battle to bankrupt the federal govt.. And they have to a large degree succeeded.

(Remember when Hillary referred to a vast right wing conspiracy? Remember when she was asked about that comment recently? She indicated she might have chosen some other words, not because it was impolitic, but because there was no conspiracy--it was out in the open!)

If the Bill of Rights has to go, so be it. They've been after that since--well, since it was written. Except for #2, of course. We'll have to pry that one out of their cold dead hands, a plan I won't protest. BTW, did you know the only reason we have a Bill of Rights today is because of horseflies? But that's another story.

They're open about this! It's their philosophy, and they truly think it's right and a good thing! Of course, they also want all the gold and the power for themselves, but hey, ideology isn't all their is to life. No one's perfect.

And to this idiot who thinks he can get away with his vapid comments by signing his post nicely, I say, If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. (Has a familiar ring, don't ya think?). I hear enough of that crap from the likes of Coulter, O'Reilly, and Spears, and all the other dead-from-the-neck-up zombies that this country has shamefully given a platform. (No just society would allow Coulter her day in the sun or O'Reilly to be on the cover of Parade magazine.) One of the ironies of our times is that these vile creatures--Bush, Ashcroft, Cheney, Perle, Wolfowitz, Norquist, Rice, Rove, and a handful of others, are pushing for a society that is just too similar to one very familiar to the whole world--The Sovet Union. So, ya see, they really all commies, and this eloquent poster is really a communist dupe. Ashcroft--head of the KGB. Could you tell the difference? So where's McCarthy when ya really need him? (oh--right, hiding out in Ann Coulter's pyongyang, where he apparently is oh-so welcome.)

And speaking of familiar slogans, Sydney Blumenthal ("The Clinton Wars") brought back another goodie: "By any means necessary." He was using that in referring to the Florida vote, when goons hired by the republicans actually were physically attacking and beating black people when they tried to vote. Didn't see that on CNN? Yes, I know, I'm shocked, shocked. But it's all documented in his book.

And remember when they removed information about condoms from the CDC website regarding STD's and AIDS? Condoms cause promiscuity and of course are not safe, they said. Remember Global Warming? Not if they can help it.

And these are the guys who promised $15 billion for fighting AIDS in Africa. Guess how much is allocated for abstinence programs.

1/3--that's right, one third. $5 Billion: "We now know what works: abstinence and marital fidelity," said Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women for America. "The passage of this bill may prove to be one of the greatest events in the history of Africa." Well, it’s not actually that bad, not $5 billion, because this fiscal year the government is spending about $1.2 billion for international AIDS programs. Despite its support for the five-year, $15 billion plan, the administration is seeking only $1.7 billion in fiscal 2004, $2 billion if related programs for malaria and tuberculosis are included. Congressional aides said Congress would probably agree to around $2.4 billion, but finding more would be “tough in a year when the budget deficit is ballooning.” That last sentence was written before the passage of the last tax cut. Anyone think there'll be any money left to fulfill this plan in the subsequent years?


By the way, I haven't too many good things to say about most democrats, either, though they couldn't possibly reach the levels of calumny of today's republicans. They still have hearts, if not always pumping as fast as they should be. (I'm being polite to those wimps.) Can ya dig it, no dem presidential contender has the guts to say what Ted Kennedy did the other day. Maybe now they will.

It's like this: My old pappy used to say, "Son, outside of Mother Teresa, there are basically two kinds of people: those who live their lives in an essentially selfish manner and feel guilty about it. They're called liberals. And those who live their lives in an essentially selfish manner and are proud of it. They're called conservatives. The first may be capable, on occasion, of responding to an ideal higher than their own self interest; the second don't even know such things exist."

Now, having said that, let's review Mother Teresa, that dear old lady, who's unswerving opposition to abortion, birth control or any reproductive rights for women in a country where fathers will kill a daughter who was raped because she brought shame to their house--well, she was surely worthy of something. As if these poor folks didn't have enough misery, she reigns down on them all the guilt and fear of a two millennia of hypocritical arrogance, and thinks giving them some food makes it all OK. Yeh, sainthood.

Oh, y'know, I'd like to go on offending but it's time for my evening dose of fulminating acid of blistergall. I have to prepare for Rosh Hashanah. I honor this holiday by reciting a famous story about Eddie Anderson, the black actor who played Rochester the chauffeur on the Jack Benny show. (Those who don't know about his role and that show, ask your parents). During a live radio interview in the 1950's he was asked what it was like working for Jack Benny. He said, in his best Uncle Tom accent, "Well, I likes working for the Jews cause they always blows the shofar."

Oh, Ok, if you insist, one more anecdote. In the 50's America was still the land of the puritans. Four letter words could not be printed, anywhere. When Norman Mailer wrote his masterpiece "The Naked and the Dead" back then, he had to substitute the words "fug" of fugging" for the real thing. While it was surreal for soldiers in combat to be saying Fug You, that was the law. Tallulah Bankhead, actress and personality of the times, a forties style blond, as well known in her day as Madonna is now, was also being interviewed on live radio, also in the 50's. (Do you see a theme here?) She was asked what she thought of Norman Mailer. She said, "Oh you mean that man who can't spell fuck?"

Thus spake Tallulahthrustra.

The seminal 60's rock-beatnik-acid-boho group The Fugs took their name from Mailer's book.
___________________