Ever heard of the washed potato theory? Ken Keyes Jr. wrote about it
in his book "The Hundredth Monkey." Keyes studied the monkeys on
Japan's Koshima Island. In 1952 Keyes observed one little monkey who
suddenly took her sweet potatoes down to the water and washed them
before she ate them - greatly improving the taste. Then the monkey
taught her parents and other family members to wash their potatoes and
soon a large number of monkeys were enjoying a grit-free meal.
Maybe in their business lives, conservatives are the stern, unforgiving masters of capitalist lore. But when it comes to politics, oh, do they love a whiner!
Hypocrisy, thy name is James Inhofe when it comes to prosecuting terrorists.
Sarah Palin's heavily publicized book tour begins in earnest this Monday, but weeks before, her ghostwritten memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life,
had already vaulted into the number one position at Amazon.
The dead at Fort Hood had not even been laid to rest when their
massacre became yet another political battle cry for the
self-proclaimed patriots of the American right.
Understanding and Combatting Terrorism, USMC Major S.M. Grass, 1989:
Terrorism is a psychological weapon and is directed to create a general climate of fear.
As one definition cogently notes, "terror is a natural phenomenon,
terrorism is the conscious exploitation of it." Terrorism utilizes
violence to coerce governments and their people by inducing fear.
Take a look at a video
of George W. Bush speaking to the nation five or six years ago.
Like a pop single from
1962 (or 2002, for that matter), it didn't age very well.
It's astonishing that
this transparently frightened man was the leader of the free world for
eight years, and was given so much license to commit so much destruction.
But, then, nothing seems
to define our era quite so much as license.
Last Thursday there was a rally outside the U.S. Capitol to protest pending health care legislation, featuring the kinds of things we've grown accustomed to, including large signs showing piles of bodies at Dachau with the caption "National Socialist Healthcare." It was grotesque - and it was also ominous. For what we may be seeing is America starting to be Californiafied.
Glenn Beck, the popular Fox News host, has a red telephone on his
desk that never seems to ring. Every now and then, in a moment of acute
frustration, he will pick it up and give the camera his trademark
pleading-puppy look.
