Fustia

Everything you need to know to understand Republican politicians, and the way they manipulate people, was defined by Karl Rove.

“The aide [Rove] said that guys like me were “in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who “believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” … “That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued… “we create our own reality.”  - October 17, 2004, The New York Times Magazine

In short: they make things up. Death panels; President Obama’s citizenship; increasing taxes; health care costs;… every lie that ever came out of a Republican politician’s mouth; every appeal to fear, is, as Karl so accurately put it, created out of thin air.

What is so disappointing is that 25% of the people in this world are gullible enough to believe it.

Somehow I can’t help but think, with the problems we face these days, that having 25% of our population living in an admitted fantasy land isn’t helping much.

Thanks, Karl.

Irish
Indian
Hindu
Polynesian
Mexican
Filipino
Chinese
Japanese
German
French
Italian
Catholic
Atheist
Protestant
Mormon
Muslim
Jewish
Agnostic
brunette
blond
raven
bald
white
black
brown
yellow
skinhead
birther
smart
stupid
liberal
conservative
republican
democrat
independent
libertarian
extremist
blue-eyed
brown-eyed
blind
deaf
obese
skinny
fat
tall
short
pro women’s rights
anti-abortion
educated
ignorant
city dwelling
country folk
socialite
geek
hawk
dove
artist
brick-layer
union-member
management
cop
teacher
scientist
burger-flipper
rich
poor
middle-class
pro-government
anti-establishment
home-owner
homeless
single
married
divorced
retired
healthy
ill
dying
handicapped
young
old
gay
straight
lesbian
transgender
male
female

ALL of these people are Americans, and ALL of them have the same rights as you do. That is what makes America great. And, as much as you are some of these things, you’ll find others repugnant. But if you drop out one position on the list, then any position becomes vulnerable, and your rights could be the next to go. 

That is why being a good American citizen is so hard: to protect your own rights, you have to protect the rights of those you may hate.

Fail to do that, and you’re failing as an American citizen; you are undermining this country.

Not easy, is it?

There used to be the job of news editor; an individual whose task was to assign priorities to news stories – not only what got covered, but where that coverage landed on the page, above or below the fold, or whether it was “the lead.” The editor would see that the story was factually accurate, and assess it’s newsworthiness.

Editorials were left to the Op-Ed page and folks who saw little green men outside their windows were used for filler on slow news days, and were buried in Section D.

In the early days of television (which I’m old enough to recall) that same ethic and responsibility was inherited from the newspapers where it arose. It remained so until some point at which the news division became a profit center, and instead of fulfilling the primary responsibility of the fourth estate, the task became no different than that of the rest of the network: make money by pulling in viewers.

Today, the news editor is gone, replaced by a naive and childish notion that “equal time” is the same as editing. Space abductees are “balanced” by psychiatrists… instead of being ignored altogether.

The birthers; Sarah Palin; “death panels” and Michele Bachman… destroying Medicare “saves” it… tax breaks for billionaires… Citizens United…and the whole of Fox “news”….no self-respecting editor would have let these pass. Edward R Murrow is spinning in his grave.

Yes: the crazies are out in full force, but let’s place the blame where it lies: in the laps of those who foist this nonsense on us, for the sake of ratings: CNN, MSNBC et al.  It’s easy and cheap to call out Orley Taitz, or laugh at Palins latest nonsense.

But without editors to prevent this junk from hitting the airwaves in the first place, the rise of influence of the nutty fringe can be laid squarely on the media that exploit them for the cheap thrills and easy ratings.

Where would the Tea Party, the birthers, Donald Trump, Sarah Palin et al be without the constant support of the media? Relegated to the dustbin of history instead of elevated in the public consciousness.

I think this is dawning on Rachael Maddow at MSNBC (who may be the only journalist remaining on their staff.) Olbermann knew it. The self-righteous (and self-impressed) Larry O’Donnell pontificates sonorously, and is more interested in hearing himself speak than in hearing his guest’s answers. (Note to Larry: you’re not writing scripts anymore.) Ed Schultz is the bombastic, bullying, constantly interrupting rowdy in the bar – obnoxious instead of the “everyman” he purports to be.  Rachael is smart, and her interviews are great, but she constantly talks down to her audience, especially in her lead story.

She, however, is at least interested in facts and journalism, and with a few more years on her, may develop the skills and insight of Bill Moyers. She is the hope of MSNBC… the other two are just entertainment for the left.

I hate to see journalism in this state, not only for the loss it entails, but for the weakening of the core of our country it portends.

Rachael, Keith: you are the last bastions of the old fourth estate on television. Your responsibility is huge. The vast majority of us can think for ourselves; can understand the things you report and nuance of modern life. We don’t need advice… we need…

the news.

ENOUGH of this PC, Political Correctness, bullshit. I’m fed up with this crap.

WAKE UP AMERICA!  YOU’RE BEING FUCKED out of your country. You must enjoy it, because your eyes are closed, and you’re letting it go on and on…

These people are dirt. They are thieves. They are crooks and criminals. They have no morals. They have no sense of honor. They are traitors. They smile and lie to your face as they pick your pockets; rob your children of their future; take your house from you; and they violate virtually every single right you have as an American citizen. They are scam artists who will use fear, lies, humor, false statements, flawed reasoning and everything else a con-man does while fleecing you.

If you are not too bright; if you are trusting or naive – they are counting on that. That’s how con-men, used-car salesmen, crooks and minions of the Devil work.

They are the current crop of Republicans in Congress.

They are stealing your country from you. They care about you only to the extent that you have money or some other asset. When that’s gone, it’s just tough luck for you, isn’t it? You should have been smarter, shouldn’t you? Too bad you lost your house; too bad you lost your job; too bad about that divorce. Living in your car? Tough shit.

This is unvarnished greed and corruption, and this is the single greatest threat our country has ever faced. Terrorists? Hah! Nothing compared to the on-going systematic dismantling of our Constitution by the Republicans and their simple-minded blind faith in nothing but money. It’s always about money for them; never about health, or morality, or ethics, or country.

It’s about corporations, and making a corporate state… just like Mussolini did in Italy. They are Fascists, pure and simple.  Oh, they will wave the flag; talk about patriotism; revel in self-righteousness and proclaim their favored status in the eyes of God… all the while lifting your life savings from your wallet. Any good used-car sales man does the same thing – like a magician or con artist- shifting your attention somewhere else, while the real action goes on behind your back.

Are you smart enough to know that 30% of this world stays alive by stealing from the other 70%? Don’t you recognize a con when you’re being taken? Don’t you know an outrageous lie when it’s told?

WAKE UP you dull morons – you’re being HAD! These people are laughing at you because you don’t live “in a reality-based world.” (That’s a quote.) You’re a sucker. You’re a rube. You’ve already lost your home, your retirement savings, and are about to loose your health care and Social Security.

You’re about to have Republican governors declare what amounts to martial law in your community (firing your elected officials, and taking control of your businesses. Really: look at the law Michigan is passing.)

Their technique is obvious: fear. Make you afraid… of anything – the economy, black people, white people, Mexicans, terrorists, food-shortages, gasoline prices, Muslims, and on and on.  Doesn’t make -any- difference -what- it is, as long as you’re scared. Rush Limbaugh; Glenn Beck; Fox “news”; your Republican Senators – they are lying to you because IT MAKES THEM MONEY. Who gives a shit about YOU? You’re a moron – you deserve to be fleeced.

You don’t see it?  Republicans are for “non-intrusive government” – right?  Yeah: like them telling you what you & your doctor can do; like doing away with unions; like defining who you can marry; like taking away your retirement funds; like reading your emails, and tapping your phones. THAT’S non-intrusive?

These people are liars and con-artists and TRAITORS to the American way.

And if you don’t see that, you truly are a moron.

Now: ask me what I really think…

… BRAVO!

Congratulations!  :-)

(Note to Americans: see? You don’t need guns to “protect yourself” from the government. You need courage.)

if this was Sarah Palin, would she have been on the air even 5 minutes after McCain’s defeat, much less to this day?

Conservatives believe that survival is a “me first” thing, and therefore that conflict, not cooperation, is the preferred state of being.

Ignorance is the normal state for all of us: it merely means “not knowing about something.” As babies we are ignorant of everything; as children we have learned a tiny bit more; as adults we are still more ignorant than knowledgeable. (I know about computers, photography and a few other things, but am totally ignorant about cardiac surgery, rocket science… and the list goes on.)

Stupidity is defined either by not being able to learn in the first place, or by not learning (changing your mind) when presented with overwhelming facts to the contrary.

Liberals have learned from experience that a huge group of people (a society) will do better by working together than by not cooperating. Conservatives believe that survival is a “me first” thing, and therefore that conflict, not cooperation, is the preferred route.

One can make intelligent arguments either way regarding the choice of cooperation or combat as a means for individual survival.

Although a generalization, the distinction “we first / me first” and “cooperative vs combative” seems to be quite obviously on display in the current Congress and in the public at large. (Have you ever seen a conservative suggest a cut in the military budget or not talk about reducing taxes? This combative, me-first stance is why appeals to fear work so well on them.)

We spend 1/2 of our national income on our military. If we simply cut that in half, we could dig our way out of this current mess without touching social security or medicare… but appealing to a conservative about the needs of society is fruitless.

So, if you define stupidity as failing to change your mind when present with facts that conflict with your beliefs, you understand why John Stuart Mill was right: “Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.”

I decided to just track what the Congressional Republicans and other assorted right-wingers do…

1/6/11

Perfect: the first day of Congress and the first thing the Republicans do is violate the Constitution (by allowing two members who were not sworn in, the right to vote.) Quickly they proposed a resolution to overcome that “little” problem.

Then the began their term by trying to make it possible for the health insurance companies (to whom you pay premiums) to refuse to pay your health bills at their whim; to refuse treatment to you and your children if you have pre-existing conditions; to let the insurance companies decide how much they will pay out each year (and if your bills exceed that amount, tough: you have to pay the rest out of your own pocket) to revoke the health care bill, and in doing so put 260,000 Americans a  year out of work, and ADD $280 BILLION to the deficit.

Republicans for the average American? HAH! Not a snow’s chance in hell.

On their FIRST day in Congress, they violated the Constitution; tried to raise our national debt; and put the burden of health care on YOUR back.

Jerks.

December 9, 2010

Senate Republicans block US health aid for 9/11 workers.

Pretty much says it all.

December 6, 2010

Well, all you brilliant folks who decided that Republicans would “trim the deficit.”  Right. The new Congress isn’t even in session yet, and the very same folks who brought you our financial disaster have today added an  other 1.4 TRILLION dollars (over 10 years w/ interest) to the deficit, by forcing the tax breaks for Billionaires down our throats.

I honestly don’t understand how the American public can be SO STUPID and GULLIBLE.  You want to know why “the elites” accuse you of not being the brightest bulbs? Well, here’s reason #1; you believed the Republicans, who have been lying thru their teeth for a decade; are far more interested in their own money than yours; and honestly don’t give a shit about you. You elected them because they promised to cut the deficit and show fiscal responsibility.  HAH! That’s like inviting Jack the Ripper into your house because “he promised to be nice.”

Wake up! Read a book! Try thinking: you might actually enjoy it!

Idiots.

December 1, 2010

Today, the Republicans decided to sacrifice the health and welfare of 2,000,000 Americans by declaring “Let them eat cake!” – and cutting off unemployment benefits to them all. “Too expensive” they claim. “$18 Billion added to the deficit. But… if you’ll let us add $760 Billion to the deficit to give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires, we might let the unemployed have something to eat tonight.”

These folks, all of them millionaires (so it’s their money they are protecting) are not Americans. Certainly they would fit in better in a dictatorship or an oligarchy, than in this country. It’s hard not to call them traitors to our American way. It’s a classic case of “I’ve got mine. Screw you.”

They are destroy our country.

Nov 18, 2010

Try to abolish the House Ethics Committee

Voted against unemployment benefits for the middle class (cost: $12B) while extending tax breaks for Billionaires (cost: $700B)

Glenn Beck accuses Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America of being a Communist front group.

After Republicans insisted that bailing out GM was “socialism” and that the govt was going to “run the company” and that GM and the auto industry should just fail, wiping out 1 million jobs…. GM had the largest IPO in American history ($20B) and over 1 million jobs were saved.

Dear Editor

I’m at a loss. I despair for my country. What can we do about ignorance and hysteria? Yet another letter comparing our President to Hitler. Yet another believer that that the earth is 6000 years old. A healthcare insurance bill that -prevents- the insurance companies from being (as they were) actual “death panels” and the hysterical Right, which literally screamed at our elected representatives, now wants that bill killed, so that health insurance death panels can return.

The bill that -lowers- the deficit, they now want repealed. In Texas, they have literally written Thomas Jefferson out of the history books. They have museums showing people cuddling up to dinosaurs. They don’t understand the difference between “weather” and “climate.”

And worst of all, they don’t understand how they are being manipulated in the name of personal greed. An aid to Carl Rove famously called the rest of us foolish for “living in a reality-based world” smugly confirming that the Right is easily manipulated by fantasy-based ideas.

So the Congressional Republicans (who are supposedly against government deficits) have negotiated a tax bill that provides them (millionaires one and all) and their buddies a tax break that will cost $800 billion… added to the deficit. Greed and self-interest, pure and simple. Nothing more… and certainly not “country first.”

The net result of all this is massive unemployment; a world on the brink of economic collapse; ignorant  masses easily swayed by appeals to fear and demagoguery and foolish, greedy, self-interested representation in our capitol.

The only solution is education, but how do you educate people who see education as the problem, and belief in fantasy as the solution?