Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments Let’s Put the Blame Where it Belongs Nirek, I also blame Tea Party voters and — just as much (if not more) — I blame people like the Kochs and Sheldon Adelson for supporting and financing them. Some gullible people hear inflammatory rhetoric about their “freedoms being taken away by a tyrannical government” and have a knee jerk reaction, then vote based solely on a fear that someone is going to come and wrench their six-shooter out of their cold and almost-dead hands. But it’s the people who are putting that rhetoric out there — on hate radio, on FOX “News” and even on more traditional MSM sites (Our local NBC affiliate aired a story on the 11 p.m. news last night that was an alleged “investigation” into whether or not the President was “acting more like a king than a president.” Really?)– who get those angry paranoid feelings cranked up. And there are corporations behind those “news” outlets as we all know so well. I’m hoping that more and more of the “Tea Potty” types will wake up. If it’s any consolation, here’s a brief and very well-written tale of a “Tea Pottier” who finally saw the light: » Posted By kesmarn On July 16, 2014 @ 8:46 am Cable News Channels Declare, “Sorry, There’s Not Really Any News Today!” Just wonderful, AdLib. Of course, as we all know, there’s a huge amount of real news out there that’s begging for coverage (arms dealing in the ME…drug cartels in Central America…the GOP voting for more tax breaks for corporations…Islamist extremist gangs in Africa), but investigating that kind of stuff might cause Bill O’Reilly to break a nail, or Sean Hannity’s hair to get messed up. Best to stick to Fantasy News. So much safer. » Posted By kesmarn On July 16, 2014 @ 2:36 pm The Sunday Funnies to Take a Brief Hiatus Dear Sally, your health matters more than anything. Please take care of yourself and take all the time you need to get better. You’ve brought the gift of laughter to the Planet. And that is such a tremendous contribution. Not just with the Funnies, but with your whimsical and witty sense of humor. I wish I could count the times when you’ve made me laugh out loud — even when I’m here all by myself. And sometimes at moments when I really needed to laugh! Even if you’re not up to doing the Funnies, I hope you’ll bring your wit and optimism to the Planet whenever you can. Even if there are days when it’s only for a little while, until you’re feeling better. Thank you so much for all those hours you put in. I know it was a labor of love, but that (like baby labor) is still labor! The Funnies may vanish for a bit, but we hope our Funny Girl will stick with us. All the best from “Kat”! » Posted By kesmarn On July 13, 2014 @ 8:00 pm Ted Cruz: A Thorn In The Side Of The GOP Establishment Great stuff, Mopshell! For a party that has always prided itself on keeping internal dissension private, this has got to hurt! But who could possibly feel sorry for the GOP now? As the final line of the old anecdote goes: “You knew I was a snake when you picked me up.” [Snake to dying human benefactor, after having bitten him.] When the GOP opted to work with the Koch-created Tea Party — viewing them as useful idiots — they should have realized they were making a huge mistake. Anything Koch-initiated and Koch-funded, including the Libertarian Party, is bound to have a fundamentally anarchy-based agenda. These people don’t want anything to work. They don’t build anything. Their job is to throw sand in the gears. Well now it’s in the gears of the Republican Party. And not all the oil that’s in Ted Cruz’s hair is going to get it out. We have a version of Cruz in local politics here in my area of Ohio. He’s wrought havoc in the local Board of Elections. Even the GOP Secretary of State got so fed up with him that he fired him from the BOE. A fellow “Republican”! (Although, he’s really stealth TP/Libertarian.) Now he’s going to sue the Secretary of State. (Lawsuits seem to be very popular these days.) He’s also managed to split the local GOP into two warring factions. Their most recent meeting made the local news because the police had to be called when debate got a little too “spirited.” But the Cruz types love this stuff! They love going into any environment and creating chaos. (The state that nihilists thrive in.) All I can say is that it seems somebody didn’t get enough attention from Mother as a toddler. And — after all the obstruction they’ve thrown in the President’s way — it couldn’t happen to a nicer Party. » Posted By kesmarn On July 13, 2014 @ 8:46 am PPO, I’m late to the party but just wanted to thank you for your good-humored article on the Land of Oz. I have a dear friend who lives in Australia. She was born in the USA but married an Australian fella and has lived there for over 30 years. So she thinks and feels like a citizen by now. Like you, she’s very frank about the foibles and quirks of Aussie culture and politics. But she also loves the place and — as far as I know — plans to spend the rest of her days there happily. High prices and all, she seems to feel that the overall stress level is lower in Australia. I think she may be right. We always enjoy your input on Vox on Friday evenings, because it’s so refreshing to get a different take on US politics from the eyes of someone outside the country. So — thanks for the article. Or should I say: “Good on ya, mate!” » Posted By kesmarn On July 14, 2014 @ 8:35 am Keep dreaming, Homie! » Posted By kesmarn On July 14, 2014 @ 7:14 am Homie, this piece is so wonderful on so many levels. It’s so very well written — with a powerful, clean simplicity. And it’s so beautifully frank. So candid. You make no excuses or apologies for where you are or where you have been. And why should you? (Then — there is the fact that I do love thunderstorms. I always have. To me they feel energizing and exciting. And I’m (foolishly) never afraid during them.) I live in a very blue collar, very working class area too. If people only knew what gems — what treasures — there are in these neighborhoods. I have the most amazing neighbors. They’re smart, kind, generous. When people drive past lower income areas, they never realize that there may be artists and deep thinkers there. Remember our bito? He was in a neighborhood touched by poverty. And he’d worked as a carpenter — but a carpenter who had studied philosophy at Indiana University. And there’s a Marine-Taoist-Poet there in an anonymous neighborhood in Ohio. 😉 There’s a mathematics professor a few blocks away from me here too. The world is full of wonder. Full of surprises. From the sudden storm to the discovery of a new friendship to the realization that neighborhoods many people ignore have a rich and creative life just below the surface. All you have to do is be open to it. And you were! » Posted By kesmarn On July 13, 2014 @ 8:22 pm Coalition Of Church And State: Destroyed From Within. That is one brilliant paragraph. Perfectly worded. No doubt it’s both alarming and somewhat depressing, but it sure sounds like reality-speak to me. » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 5:36 pm And our own Choicelady has had personal experience too with being harassed by them, as you know Sue. Even just the number of candidates in the GOP recently who have claimed that “God told them to run” is very worrisome. There are a lot of other countries in the world where saying that would be a prime reason for a total loss of credibility. But not here. » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 5:01 pm Sue, at the moment I’m about 2/3 of the way through Emmanuel Ringelblum’s “Notes From The Warsaw Ghetto.” It’s just stunning. I’m not sure it’s in print these days (I got an early edition — 1958 — from the library) but if you get a chance to have a look at it, it’s well worth the time. » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 4:27 pm And sadly, the feature that FOX News, Rush Limbaugh, the NRA, firebrand RW preachers , the Tea Party and the White Supremacist movement all have in common is that they all communicate rage. And — paradoxically — people seem to find that comforting. I think it must somehow resonate with the fear and anger that they suppress every day of their lives, but aren’t allowed to express — or maybe have pushed down so deeply that they barely recognize its existence themselves. But they know it when they hear it. They recognize it. And they say: “Hey, that guy gets it!” Maybe the left needs to find a way to tap that anger vein without exploiting it. Respectfully. Because — really — people do have a lot to be mad about. But at this point a lot of them are blaming the wrong people and/or institutions. Elizabeth Warren seems to be one person on the left who’s pissed off and I think that’s one reason she’s so popular. But the good thing is that she’s putting her anger-based energy into constructive activity. It would be great if that would catch on. » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 3:06 pm Exactly, Nirek! If Christ came back in person, he’d be horrified at what these people are doing in his name. Perversion of religion is a totally accurate description of what they’ve done. » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 1:26 pm Many thanks, Monica! Sort of an equivalent to Dubya’s “Bring it on!” Great. And then that III% video — Good grief… if they weren’t so dangerous, they’d be laughable. The background music. Really? The flaming skulls? The melodramatic and highly paranoid verbiage. How old are these people? 12? But sadly, no. They’re alleged adults and they have ridiculous amounts of fire power thanks to the NRA. » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 1:10 pm There’s a reason for those two simple words, no SLM? “Never forget.” » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 12:20 pm Terrific, Sue! Those quotations are absolutely chilling. Some of them sound like they could have come right out of the Inquisition. Talk about “forced conversions”! Just today I was reading an article about these militia fanatics who are gathering on the Texas border to protect us all from terrified 6 year-olds. One of their most visible leaders is “Chris Davis, a 37-year-old truck driver who was discharged from the Army in 2001 “under other than honorable conditions in lieu of trial by court martial,” according to a summary of Davis’ military service obtained by the San Antonio Express-News.” Here’s what Chris has to say about himself:”I believe in the King James Bible, The Constitution, and Bill of Rights! I am a Future Veteran of the Refounding. Molon Labe! III%! Spirit of 1776!” I have no idea what the III% and the Molon Labe mean, but I can pretty much guess what “being a veteran of the Refounding” is all about. Are these guys willing to resort to violence? Well, here are his instructions for what his militia boys are supposed to do if/when they encounter an “illegal”: he describes plans for “securing the border:” “How?” he asked on the video. “You see an illegal. You point your gun dead at him, right between his eyes, and you say, ‘Get back across the border or you will be shot.’ ” I guess if the border crosser doesn’t understand English that’s his bad luck. Granted, I think (well, hope anyway) that people this far off the rails are a minority, but there are many more people who fill the chairs in fundamentalist mega-churches every Sunday who are being taught that it has always been God’s will that this country be a Christian nation and it’s their mission to see that this happens. The purported “literal inerrancy” of the Bible is gradually being extended to include the Constitution. More and more the word is that God virtually dictated the Constitution to the Founders. And they’re now elevated to the level of the original 12 Apostles. Challenging their interpretation of the Constitution is — increasingly — considered as strictly taboo as challenging the literal accuracy of the Bible. In other words: heresy. Now, with the help of the Kochs, Capitalism (always with a capital C) is increasingly linked with America. The new holy trinity is Church-Constitution-Capitalism. Dare to challenge capitalism as being anything other than God’s own economic system? Once again: heresy. And we all know what happens to heretics. Like you, Sue, I’m hoping that Americans will soon start to connect the dots. (Not always easy, since they do love to operate in stealth mode, as you noted.) Because if we don’t, one of these nights some of us are going to wake up with a Chris Davis in our bedroom. In full body armor. And he’ll be packing plenty of holy heat. » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 12:17 pm Another Money Making Conspiracy Con by a Right Wing Huckster Sorry to hear this, Sally. Time to put the rock back down on this guy. 🙁 » Posted By kesmarn On July 10, 2014 @ 5:14 pm Monica, you’re right. D’Sousa is not only a liar. He’s a felon. » Posted By kesmarn On July 10, 2014 @ 4:09 pm I know we can — and do — Sally! 🙂 » Posted By kesmarn On July 10, 2014 @ 4:03 pm That is brilliant, KT. Thanks so much for posting. I feel for you, Murph. That’s 90 minutes of your life you’ll never get back again. 😉 I think there’s much to be said for treating this odious person the same way we do Glenn Beck here. We ignore him. » Posted By kesmarn On July 10, 2014 @ 3:43 pm Internal GOP Rift Widens With Cuccinelli’s Call To Defund The NRSC You’re so welcome, Mopshell. It really is fascinating to watch this whole schism in the GOP play out, isn’t it? I sure hope you’re right on the potential for some critical thinkers to emerge from this situation. Because they’ve been few and far between on the right lately, that’s for sure! » Posted By kesmarn On July 10, 2014 @ 8:08 pm Mopshell, thanks so much for an excellent article. And believe me, the reaction to it here is anything but “meh”! This kind of reporting matters! Wow… what does it say when the candidates in a GOP race consist of a guy who seemed to be clueless to the fact that Eric Cantor lost in a huge upset (and who brags about what indecent things he’s done to farm animals), and a flaming extremist whose operatives think it’s okay to illegally photograph a poor woman with Alzheimer’s in a nursing home? Can a contest possibly get any lower than that? Well, maybe with Cuccinelli’s help other contests can — and will. This GOP civil war is — more and more — looking like the very crazy vs the very, very crazy. The Morally Bankrupt vs The Anarchist Nihilists. But the real losers in this war will be the American people — if they fall for the sales pitches of any of them. Please keep the reporting coming, Mopshell! Well done. » Posted By kesmarn On July 10, 2014 @ 10:25 am Could Hillary Clinton Become the Next Republican President? I ran out of room down there, TresL, but I just have to say that your last sentence summed it up in a nutshell. It doesn’t get more logical than that! » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 4:10 pm That is so interesting, TresL — to learn about the various options that were considered and the changes of opinions that happened over the course of that campaign. It was truly a gripping era in American history. It was my son who really introduced me to Barack Obama back then. He was such a relative new-comer that I hardly knew a thing about him. But I’ve never regretted my vote once. He has seemed to have the hand of destiny on him. The man of the hour to help to undo the very significant damage that Dubya had done. I think there are probably barely two dozen humans on the planet who could have handled all that he’s had to handle over the past six years. We’re fortunate to have him in office. » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 12:41 pm You’re very welcome, TresL. And I’m totally with you on the issue of complexity. Only lazy thinkers rely on stereotypes, no? » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 12:32 pm I was just thinking of that recent election in Detroit! So true. It took a lot of black votes to elect that white mayor. And the black Detroit population is also savvy enough to recognize when a white GOP Governor plugs in a puppet black “manager” to carry out the Koch agenda there and they do not like it one bit! Nobody is fooling anybody there in Michigan. A similar situation just happened in Toledo, Ohio — a city with a large black population. A black mayor was just made a one-termer because he campaigned in “stealth mode” and then went full-on Tea Party once he got elected. (GOP Gov. John Kasich was a crony of his.) It didn’t take the black community long to figure out whose interests he had at heart. They tossed him and elected a white guy with some ethics and a heart for the poor. » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 9:03 am TresL, thanks so much for such an eloquent comment. And even more thanks for all the hard work you’ve put into turning your (and others’) ideals into reality over the last few years. That’s a lot of labor (and probably very little sleep) there! And not just for a day or two, either. You’re a valuable and very welcome addition to our Planet community and we hope to hear much more from you! » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 8:45 am Sally, well said. If a big section of the population were inclined to vote for/against a candidate based solely on race or gender, don’t you think that tendency would have shown up when Sarah Palin and Herman Cain were being seriously considered? Virtually no black person I know thought Herman Cain was presidential material. They wouldn’t have voted for him even if he’d somehow managed to secure the nomination. And that same with Palin. Women aren’t silly enough to vote for a person as obviously mentally challenged as she is just because she’s a woman. American voters may not always be the sharpest knives in the drawer, but they’re not that stupid. » Posted By kesmarn On July 11, 2014 @ 6:37 am It’s probably going to be even harder for the electorate to swallow the GOP/TP message of “Nihilism Forever!” and “I’ve Got Mine. You Get Your Own, Loser.” » Posted By kesmarn On July 10, 2014 @ 9:01 am It sure feels that way, doesn’t it, NoMan? And many thanks for your very kind words! » Posted By kesmarn On July 9, 2014 @ 3:47 pm They all do have major baggage — that makes Hillary’s look like a small carry-on. » Posted By kesmarn On July 9, 2014 @ 2:55 pmComments Posted By kesmarn
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