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TechnoratiThe Right Goes Insane
Evil overlords to flaccid clowns in the blink of Jesus' eye. Adorable!
Oh, but take that same vile leviathan and suddenly strip away all its power and influence and capacity for wickedness, and watch it deflate like a wheezing circus tent, quickly turning into a trembling caricature of its former self, a tiny, elfin thing small enough to fit into a shoebox of panic and pathos and residual Godspit.
Behold, this delightful rule in full effect with the once portentous, now pitiable Republican party. Watch in wonder as gaff follows gaff, astonishing pronouncement follows childish meltdown, ludicrous statement leads into pure comedy of errors followed by moderate 40-year veterans of the party splitting for bluer, less abusive pastures. What a scene.
There is much good news to be found in the ongoing GOP implosion; their obsession with Ôwedge issues' like abortion and gay marriage, along with hilarious claims of socialism and fascism are proving to be the absolute best news for the nation as a whole. Because as the GOP wallows in juvenile spectacle, Obama and the Dems are leaping headlong into one of the most ambitious, invigorating, nation-altering agendas in American history.
Of course, it ain't all flowers and candy. This much unfettered movement for any party, left or right, can also be just insanely dangerous, could theoretically result in a blowback for the Dems exactly as destructive and apocalyptic as the horrendous Bush Era proved to be for the once-temperate Repubs.
Is it already heading that way? Will it happen? Not a chance.
But before we see why, let us enjoy a bit of the comedy. Because really, who could've guessed that, for example, former drug addict and all around bulbous, cigar-chomping radio jackal Rush Limbaugh would turn into the most influential conservative in the country, more powerful than, say, the GOP's own chairman, Michael Steele, who was recently found kneeling to kiss Rush's fat, sweaty ring?
Ah, but even Rush can't match the genuine lump of crazy that is the latest bearded lady to step onstage at the Fox News freakshow, Glenn Beck, a truly insane hunk of weirdness who's fun to watch not for any attempt at genuine insight or O'Reilly-esque pseudo-intelligence, but because of how he endears himself to viewers by acting exactly like your crazy uncle Ernie, the one who eats Miracle Whip straight from the jar and hears voices in his armpits and stares just a bit too long at any 10-year-old within range. Weep on, Glenn!
But weep not for Miss California, who's happy as a Prozac clam to take on the title as the new face of Republican hetero marriage. Isn't she lovely? A skinny, fake-breasted blonde mouthful of air who does exactly as she's told and never questions her scary Bible and doesn't really like sex and you want to stick that thing where? Ewww! She's perfect.
What, too trifling? I understand.
Let's get serious. Let's talk about the economy. Let's take a look at the Republican's counter-proposal to Obama's stunning, comprehensive $3.5 trillion budget.
Did you see it? Their little blue pamphlet, all 18 pages of it, which contained not a single dollar figure and was filled with bizarre little diagrams and wacky clip art circa 1988, and looked like it was photocopied at a 24-hour Kinko's by a very stoned senator's aide, because it was? When the "Republican Road to Recovery" was passed around, reporters actually laughed out loud, thought it must be some sort of gag written by the guys over at The Onion. It wasn't.
Speaking of serious, what of those 17 Republican congressmen who seriously proposed a resolution to rename the Democratic Party the "Democratic Socialist Party?" So cute! Of course, the name they really wanted, "The Boogerbrained Party of Doodylicking Stupidheads," was nixed after they all rode their skateboards to John Boehner's' house and played Resident Evil V until their eyes bled and Boehner's mom made them some sugar cookies and they totally forgot.
But for sheer freakshow fun, nothing tops Fox News furiously masturbating itself raw over the biggest imitation news story it could possibly invent this year: the Great Tea Bag Uproar of 2009, featuring a few thousand very confused taxpayers protesting, well, they weren't exactly sure what, waving tea bags in the air and threatening to secede and then talking hotly about "teabagging" the president. Delightful.
The list, as they say, goes on. Witness every utterance of Michele Bachmann, see the new GOP promotional video featuring a burning Pentagon and Obama touching Hugo Chavez, or tremble in fear at a special Fox News report on how the Super Devil is currently terrorizing Christian children with adulterous marmalade. I am so not kidding.
Ah, but we must acknowledge the potential downside. Because it wasn't that long ago that the Dems were much like the Repubs are now, the meek, humiliated party of desperation and pathos, begging for scraps from the freakishly empowered GOP of 1998. Remember?
Of course, you might (rightly) understate that the current Obamafied agenda is just slightly different than the toxic plan the GOP vomited up under Bush back then, which was perhaps the most abusive, insular, self-serving hunk of political devastation in our short history, and therefore the GOP fully deserved to go from all-consuming, unstoppable force to adorable punch line in the blink of a Kansas creationist's eye.
But that's not really the key difference. No, this time the Dems just so happen to be blessed beyond human comprehension with something very unique indeed, a true golden ticket, a magic death-ray force field of intellectual virtuosity even they don't seem to fully comprehend or know how to keep up with. They have Barack Obama himself.
Truly, the man outpaces and outshines even his own party. At nearly every turn, Obama often seems to be merely tolerating the whole two-party system, the whole D.C. dance he's forced to waltz, all of it merely a distraction to getting things done. It's as though he's an entirely new political mechanism, and the Dems just happen to be lucky enough to be the party that's most aligned with it. Meanwhile, it's all apparently driving the opposition party -- quite literally -- insane.
And really, isn't that just that the most delightful thing to watch?
70 Comments so far
Show AllThe teabaggers, corporate Repubican stooges and neocons never unerstood Abe Lincoln. You can't fool all of the people all of the time. Calling medicare and social security socialism promotes leftist thinkig.
The teabaggers, corporate Repubican stooges and neocons never unerstood Abe Lincoln. You can't fool all of the people all of the time. Calling medicare and social security socialism promotes leftist thinkig.
erasing double post, once is enough
The jackass's in the Donkey Party have been carrying all the crap the repugs can pile on their backs for years. Obediently they continue down the same trail, never questioning, never veering, keeping to the right, just as they were trained.
rebelnow, You nailed it! The sad thing about it all is that it works. The public falls for this well-planned deceit by the duopoly every time.
I've been reading Morford for several years, and admire his style and angry wit, and unless I missed other articles by him, this must be his worse one to date. It's as if it was written by The Manchurian Candidate. Come back to reality, Mark!
The Republican Crime Family...yeah, they are like gangsters...still have plenty of support by the willful ignorant, and of course the wealthy, and without a doubt, enough Democrats in office, insuring by their votes, that the scales of egalitarian balance never tip too far to the left. (progressive legislation for common working people) Just enough crumbs, as BeForKids said, to save their heads from severance, as in the French Revolution. It's still comfortable for most folks, who readily season those crumbs to satisfy their taste buds and devour them with relish.
The party faithful (zealous Democrats) rationalize and justify, thus protecting, the same things that they criticized
the Bush/Cheney Crime Family for doing.
Today, on May Day (international worker day) we had marches and demonstrations in various towns and cities in the United States, but nothing like they had in Europe and other continents.
Imperialistic bloodshed is still perpetrated under Obama's watch, he said he won't push for single payer health care for all citizens, he's silent on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), and is watching the dismantling of the United Auto Worker's union, while stealing our money and giving it to the slimiest, but slickest bunch of swindlers and shysters the world has ever seen, the Wall Street banksters.
Oh, and of course plenty of money for the Dept. of War Making and robo cop equipment to handle We The People, when we march and voice our concerns in public gatherings.
Schoolteachers are being fired, schools closed, library hours cut...I can go on about the "hope" and "change" sales pitch, but these are my comments about a writer I admire and his adulation of the President.
C'mon Mr. Morford, you can do better than this.
Sioux Rose
PEACEMAN: Thank you for taking the time to demonstrate, and for not falling for the rhetoric, when the policies/actions derail REAL hope.
I agree with you Peaceman. This conjures an image of Morford scurrying into the office in an astrologer's black cape with renditions of the constellations, the mask of 100,000 year old shaman, and a hat from 'The Witches of Eastwick,' everyone looking up out of their cubicles, thinking they saw something out of corner of their eye. To their dismay it was the same old entertainment.
At 62 I am not required to suffer the mandatory 'enthusiasm' required for corporate employment. However, the increased skeptical tension kicks open the door of 'I will not suffer the impudence of inexperience, the arrogance of education, nor the blindness of his holiness.'
With that in mind, remember how everything of any importance is background noise, like a tv with a channel off air on.
DogLeg, I don't understand it. Morford is sharp as a tack, angry at the direction our government has been moving, and it's citizens as well, and wrote a piece like this. I didn't even mention Obama's "complacency" and casual position on torture and spying on the people
And I agree with you. Anything of importance is background noise, to be filtered out. The circus must go on.
I agree with you Peaceman. This conjures an image of Morford scurrying into the office in an astrologer's black cape with renditions of the constellations, the mask of 100,000 year old shaman, and a hat from 'The Witches of Eastwick,' everyone looking up out of their cubicles, thinking they saw something out of corner of their eye. To their dismay it was the same old entertainment.
At 62 I am not required to suffer the mandatory 'enthusiasm' required for corporate employment. However, the increased skeptical tension kicks open the door of 'I will not suffer the impudence of inexperience, the arrogance of education, nor the blindness of his holiness.'
With that in mind, remember how everything of any importance is background noise, like a tv with a channel off air on.
Sioux Rose
DOG LEG: I resent your image of the astrologer. You think you're so glib chastising what you've never studied? Let me disabuse you of the notion, which resembles the leanings of the right wing authoritarianism of the early (and apparently being revived) church, that denigrating the learned astrologer makes YOU sound intelligent. Why do you suppose heads of states have always held sessions with masters of this craft while simultaneously being behind mass campaigns to disparage its content? Could they have feared what would happen if everyday persons got wind of these teachings? There are many paths to TRUTH, you do not own a monopoly, sir.
Honestly _ S I O U X _, he was just "using" the 'cape of an astrologer',
… although the undercurrent was clearly an indirect derision of the mystical truths,
so often denied by those tightly wedged 'as if whole' into merely their left brain hemispheres.
Do you realize how funny that is, that men COULD get to be almost twice as "smart" when they start to use their right brain hemispheres ?
Half-ass meets half-brain !
Namaste
"although the undercurrent was clearly an indirect derision of the mystical truths,"
Oh dear! Next thing you know someone might write something disparaging about RELIGION!
And the difference between followers of religion vs. followers of mysticism/spirituality/superstition/supermarket self-help books is...?
H O P E D U P,
Thanks for asking.
Perhaps the foremost distinction is that established religions are part of the establishment or institutional status quo,
… and their influence, power, and greed were prototypical centuries prior to the invention of corporations.
In fact, I submit that corporation were formed and modeled upon being just secular "religious" organizations, instead of dedicated to people's salvation, they're dedicated for profits -- with no morality at all to restrain them.
Of the other hand, spiritual practices significantly avoid the hierarchical mandate of one's salvation passing "respectively", through the manly and oh so RELIGIOUS chain of :
Masculine God
Paternal Pope
Paternal MInister / Bishop
Paternal family lead
Eldest son
Wife
male siblings
female siblings
Masculine Dog
Feminine Dog
Essentially religions clearly rank God, Priest, man … to dog hierarchy -- while spiritual practices see God expressed in every living thing, as well an inanimate ones ( Earth, Mts, Oceans, insects, … )
Spiritual practices are particular egalitarian and engender and empower: freedom of expression and thinking, while structured religions act is much the opposite manner : disempowering, enslaving only "accepted" conduct allowed, subservient thinking.
There is much more, but the above is a a good starting point of comparison.
Namaste
Prudence and desire do result in the ranking of 6 over 10 under all the systems of which I am aware.
Meanwhile, back to Morford, it seems to me that he is mocking rather than praising America's acceptance of Obama as being close to the 2nd coming. And I must agree with him that it is interesting to watch, though not delightful, and it is sickening to watch the continuation of business as usual but with a congenial face.
Perhaps the disgustingly brutal and connivingly deceitful bu$h!t & darth chainy
- - g r i m a c e _ a n d _ s m i r k - -
will start to light our way to understanding of that great ◎ ?
¿ Can his continence and deportment continue at this rate,
__ of _ p i l f e r i n g _ our _ m o r a l i t y, _ w e a l t h, and _ s e c u r i t y __
to maintain the illusion and farce of a " c o n g e n i a l _ f a c e " ?
Namaste
Speaking of insane...
For more evidence of Morford's idiocy/superstition, check out his column from last week-
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/04/29/notes042909.DTL
- in which Morford enlightens us about the nature of "psychic energy cords". In the article, he links to a site which explains what he means by "cords".
http://www.phoenixrisingbooks.com/pb/Articles/spiritualuniverse.htm
"Invisible cords of energy are formed between yourself and those with whom you interact each day, during conversations, through thinking of one another or through desire for a person or for something which belongs to another person."
"On an information level it can be used for telepathy. Telepathy is the act of sending or receiving information through thoughts or images directly from mind to mind. Telepathy occurs more often between close friends or between family members."
The site provides instructions for "cutting physic cords":
"1. Take a regular swim in the ocean.
2. Take a bath or a swim at the end of a busy day to cleanse the emotions and the cords of the day.
3. Long distance (overseas) travel every year or two.
4. Meditation using a whirlwind of white light energy for more stubborn cords."
Is anyone else embarrassed that Common Dreams is still running articles by New Age sophists like Mark Morford? Perhaps they should have stopped running Morford after he wrote his infamous "Obama is a lightworker" article. Here's a taste:
"Barack Obama isn't really one of us. Not in the normal way, anyway. "
"Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment. These kinds of people actually help us evolve. They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul. "
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/06/06/notes060608.DTL
So, just out of curiosity, have Morford and the editors of Common Dreams succeeded in insulting your intelligence yet?
Sioux Rose
HOPE: I agree about the energy cords... and it's something FULLY understood in Pranic healing. WE are beings of LIGHT and we DO emanate energy fields. When I read, "The Sorcerer's Crossing" by Talisha Abelar who went through an exercise known as "the recapitulation" under the tutelage of her shaman teacher it was a wake-up call for me. When I attended a workshop on the power of Mantra led by two disciples of a powerful Indian Guru, it was explained that persons who do energy work (massage) take into themselves MUCH of the energy of those they work on. So do therapists, i.e. the contact need not be physical.
Please do not disparage what you have not studied, and do not understand. On the other hand, Mark is an idiot in this particular essay. He does have an amazingly glib wit and deft use of language, however.
My apologizes. Psychic energy cords DO exist, everyone knows that. And obviously, you are correct that "WE are beings of LIGHT and we DO emanate energy fields." Of course we are. Silly me. Did you know that if you channel your white light energy through the vortex of harmonic convergence you can learn to levitate and live 1000 years? I can't offer proof of this, but I assure you, it is the truth.
In any case, the advice for cutting energy cords usually involves bathing. So at least the New Age cultists are keeping clean.
Sioux Rose
Twisted HOPE: As Richard Bach once put it, "If you argue FOR your limitations, you get to keep them." I always wonder what persons who argue that they will merely return to dust, see all existence through the limitations of their already limited senses (in part by social conditioning) get out of so vigorously defending these earhtbound presumptions?
You remind me of someone named RON who used to post here. Wonder if you might be him...
Hey, _ S I O U X R O S E,
Please don't disparage the dusts !
I take that very personally, as in 'from dust to dust', and more crucially in that all matter initially existed inside of some star, which means that we are all 100% made of star stuff and that a/k/a dust.
The vast cosmos begin and ends with dusts, so please be careful not to grind the dust into the dirt,
… as the word human also is based and derived upon humus or composted earth, plant material, and soil -- those ancients sure knew and were well founded upon their ground.
Namaste
Thanks, Mark!
It was fun reading your comical review of the incredible shrinking Rethugs.
Their teabagging each other is hilarious!
Please stay in SF and continue writing movie trailers and celebrating the throes of purple prose!
Peace
Sweet, precious, merciful CRAP - can Morford BE more of a starry-eyed Obama-worshipping lemming?? Good LORD. Ironic, no, that even as he demonizes the right (rightfully so) for mindlessly following Bush and Rush Limp-dick like a bunch of evil zombies, he himself is doing the exact, same thing for Obama? Yet, he fails to see the hypocrisy.
I was an Obama-believer (yes we can!) once too. But actions speak louder than words. I have no idea what "fearless" agenda Morford is ranting about, but all I see is more of the same old shit from the new President, but with a shinier and more consumer-friendly packaging on it. Torture? "Oh yes, it is wrong and we won't do it anymore," but uphold the law and prosecute those who committed and ordered the torture? Nope. Movin' forward, by Gawd. Constitution, smonstitution. Illegally wiretap/spy on Americans? No comment. We're gonna keep on doin' it. "Gonna close Guantanamo!" Still isn't closed. Dozens of prisoners that have been absolved of any wrong-doing in a court of law and ordered released...still imprisoned there. "Gonna withdraw from Iraq!" Um..in a couple of years. And we're leaving 50,000+ or so "advisors" there until the end of time, that just happen to be members of the US Armed Forces. And we're not tearing down any of our 50 "enduring bases" either. Rendition? Lovin' it - gonna keep on doin' it. Restore Habeas Corpus? Nope, no can do. Signing statements? Issuing 'em like crazy. End the no-strings-attached giveaway of billions of taxpayer dollars to the corporations and banks that destroyed the economy that Bush did? Nope - in fact, gonna make it trillions.
And so on, and so forth, ad nauseum.
But let's not mention ANY of that in our column, Mr. Morford, right? Because Obama is the Chosen Messiah and you've got your nose so far up his ass you wouldn't know objectivity if it bit you in your blinded eyes.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Sinclair Lewis, "It Cant Happen Here", 1935
Obama is conning somebody -- either the progressives or the corporatists and banksters. Odds are that he is not conning the people he put in his cabinet. Uh oh.
I must be on a different planet...
"The Right Goes Insane"
And some on the left.
ez,
Did you catch Bruce Fein on 'Bill Moyer,' Friday, May 1,09?
"Go Inane" might be better, but don't count the Republicans out until you can get the Demos to do something for their voters.
Is any of what people voted for back on the now-infamous table?
Single Payer Health Care? - Polls show strong majorities in favor. Both political parties are against it.
Iraq - The population wants to leave; the government wants to stay.
Afghanistan - Obama's escalation will take the shine off his popularity as civilian and service deaths escalate in Pakistan as well and the usual ties between US military and intelligence and the poppy crop leak and get publicized and the deficit continues to soar.
Education - Have you seen anything positive?
Economy - If anything good happens, the reasons will not be clear.
If the money going into party coffers were equal, a simple, rational plan for re-election would be to actually move towards solving these problems in the ways that are straightforward, those that already have popular support. Since this will not happen, and the Republicans can talk to lobbyists as easily as the Democrats, we will see all the old familiar faces next election.
And more fun to come - the author of "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big, Fat Idiot" will soon be anointed the junior Senator from Minnesota.
Note to MM - "former drug addict...Rush Limbaugh" should be alleged former drug addict. The smart money says he's just gotten a tad better at hiding it. Nothing some round the clock private detective work couldn't confirm...
Is this what you'd call a wet dream?
It's interesting to observe the behavior of the two parties when out of power. The Democrats cringe and whimper in the corner, lick the feet of their new masters, and beat up on their left wing, while stamping out third party uprisings like forest fires. The right wing Republicans go ballistic proclaiming the end of the world with the propaganda machine providing the bullhorn while moderate Republicans run for cover.
Meanwhile, the bankers are cleaning out Fort Knox with the assistance of Obama and his Treasury department and the citizenry is preoccupied worrying about jobs and housing. Bread and circus. More accurately, breadcrumbs and circus.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
"Darn, what drivel. Is it not possible to have different opinions any more without the constant demonizing and lies?"
I don't know, did you ask that question during the last eight years?
Or was it to your liking as to what was happening.
I remember quite well what phrases were being said, it went along the lines of:
If you don't believe in the President, then leave the U.S.
Anyone who didn't agree with the Rightwing Puppy Kickers, were Un-American, Un-Patriotic, didn't believe in God, and this one was really comical, Moron Bush Jr. was God!
I'm loving the melt down, it seems that the Reps. are trying very hard to hold on to what is left of the party, without realizing that they have given a new meaning to the letters GOP, Got "Old" Party!
The same old fear and scare tactics that well, are getting old. Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck is going to have a stroke if they keep foaming at the mouth like they do.
If they are now the voice of the GOP, god help you people.
Obama's bold new agenda involves boldly standing idly by as the same old banksters continue to rob the country blind from within and outside the White House.
And of course Barack has boldly increased the military budget and boldly sent tens of thousands more to die in Afghanistan.
And Obama has created bold new rationales for unleashing the police (see his effort to reduce Miranda rights to have a lawyer during questioning), and he's advanced bold new state secrets claims.
Obama boldly ignores Israeli war crimes and human rights violations while boldly pledging unconditional support of Israel.
I live in the SF Bay Area and have grown to really dislike Mr. Morford's snarky and facile commentary.
I find both sides pretty much the same myself. And I think there is a bit to much celebrating of "goods" triumph over "evil" at the moment.
Darn, what drivel. Is it not possible to have different opinions any more without the constant demonizing and lies?
This much we know: Hand evil a big, sticky gob of power, and it quickly becomes a feral monster, dangerous and cruel and willing to sell its own shriveled heart and the heart of its very remorseful mother for a shot at everlasting infamy, even more power and maybe some fresh, raw kitten blood, intravenously, just for the hell of it.
And this is just the Democrats being described here. What about the Republicans? For that you will need the dark, twisted psychological profiles of Glenn Beck, and the Two Michelles: Bachmann and Malkin. Those three are the future of the T-Bangers.
The Republicans say such fun things. Mitch McConnell was pontificating about what a terrible thing it is for the country if one party gains total control of government. How would he ever have thought of something that ridiculous!!! We may as well laugh at the clowns, it beats crying any time.
Sioux Rose
I look forward to Dave Bronstein tearing this nonsense apart. American idol worship goes political!
Thank you Sioux Rose for stimulating the post below.
Sioux Rose
Thomas: You are an exceptionally kind and polite man, although there are so many fundamental views you and I appear to hold diametrically opposed positions towards. Nonetheless, I don't think I have ever witnessed your being unkind to others (with ugly or angry words) in this forum. I have to admit, my lion temper sometimes gets the better of me.
Sioux Rose, even your lion temper is expressed with grace and dignity. And I agree with what you said about Thomas More. Although for me, I would say, some but not many differences of opinion. It's the Libertarian streak, which he acknowledged, where I part ways with him.
Someone did get under my skin recently, but fortunately, I'm back by myself in there. And you, as always, are a great influence to me.
Kathy
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
Sioux Rose
Thanks, Kathy. I do feel have on some occasions "lost it" on or with a few in the forum... my sense of justice is so intensely violated by current events, and my levels of empathy so high that sometimes I allow my emotions OUT of the box. Our local state park has been closed several weeks due to the rise of the river, and biking THERE is my therapy. My favorite (only) local jazz musician has been so depressed, he stopped playing at the one club I like to go to. And then deadlines, and the usual family stuff, added to the WEIGHT of all the things we read about in this forum and feel powerless to essentially change. And these are things that impact our lives, the lives of persons we genuinely care for (and that means the entire human family) and already threaten the lives of our children and grandchildren. It's a lot to NOT get bent out of shape about... but I give myself permission. What's the alternative? Implode from repressing personal truth? Hey, we ARE human beings and I don't think one has to be an astrologer to recognize THIS is a time of ENORMOUS testing!
I'm sorry to have to disappoint you, SR, but I'm just too busy barfing over this article, to feel ready to give it what it so richly deserves. Morford lines like this one:
"...No, this time the Dems just so happen to be blessed beyond human comprehension with something very unique indeed, a true golden ticket, a magic death-ray force field of intellectual virtuosity even they don't seem to fully comprehend or know how to keep up with. They have Barack Obama himself..."
- this is just nauseating. What could demonstrate more clearly that what really bothered liberals about Bush was not his policies, but simply the fact that he conducted himself boorishly? Take the same basic policies of war, bankster enrichment, & non-accountability for elites, and let them be articulated by a slick front-man who puts a nice gloss on the whole thing, & Voila! The libs who suffered so grievously under Bush are now thrilled to ecstasy with their new "magic death-ray force of intellectual virtuosity."
Speaking of intellectual virtuosity, why do so many people believe that Obama is so intelligent? I'm not claiming that he isn't very intelligent, because I don't know how intelligent he is, but I'd like to know what criteria people are using. I hope it's not the mere fact that he can speak English coherently, or that he won a presidential election.
Abso-freakin-lutely!!
I would go further and say we all have been so caught up in us vs. them that we don't notice that the substance has not fundamentelly changed, only that the 'side' we chose is 'winning'. Like a footbal game.
Sioux Rose
DUSTIN: That is a key observation! And sports DO play a role in socializing a population to answer on "party" cue just like Pavlov's dogs salivated when they heard the anticipated dinner bell. Unfortunately, David Michael Green for all his studious examinations of history misses this one ENTIRELY! As do a good many "liberal" writers.
THANK YOU Dave!
The Republicans are losing it and so are the Democrats. The right is losing it and so is the left. Humans evolved to live in small groups surviving with technologies that virtually all group members could understand. This gigantic group, composed of billions, with thousands of highly advanced technologies, none of which most people understand, may be overloading virtually every human's circuits.
kivals: This is something no one talks about but it is at the core of our social organization. There is such a thing as human scale and most of us require it. At the very least, we want to control the technologies in our lives. I think about how once upon a time almost everyone could tune a carburetor but now you need to spend a lot of money to replace an O2 censor.
I know. The technology of everyday consumer items was well within the understanding of the average college-educated adult when I was a kid in the 1960s.
K I V A L S,
I understand the torturous degree of ripping natural man out by his long established societal and mythological roots, the 21st century is accelerating "Future Shock" multiplied by "Disaster Shock".
¿ Perhaps that equation yields us as :
"F U T U R E _ D I S A S T E R _ E L E C T R O C U T I O N" ?
Although I agree that humankind has been stretched to breaking many limiting beliefs,
and our comfort zones have been _ 9 _ ! _ ! _ collapsed to mere toe-holds, … I believe you go too far in saying :
"This gigantic group… of highly advanced technologies … most people understand, may be overloading virtually every human's circuits"
Every culture sits upon the shoulders of those preceding it, with massively pent up desires for appropriate changes to occur. I believe as expressed by Abraham-Hicks, that our ever increasingly perceived stark contrasts of choice ARE required and crucial for future adaptation.
¿ Perhaps the vector that propels our direction of manifesting change, IS the unresolved angst and dissatisfaction of the past, which elucidates our alignment to something unprecedented and wonderful ?
¿ Perhaps the force of this collective unconscious drive
_________ I _ S ______________________________
the subtle mechanism that has always been at work shaping our human progress ?
¿ Perhaps the most salient and important aspect of EVERYTHING, is about accepting this 'force of change that seizes us' and welcoming it whole heartedly as our savior from otherwise courted disaster ?
¿ Is it not true that the harder we resist, the greater the denial and ultimately
that the huge damn of intention MUST collapse -- for us to move on ?
I believe that the " h u m a n _ c i r c u i t s " are a combination of physical ( form-based ) and spiritual ( form-less based, or ineffable ), and that the source of all existence never provides us stimulation beyond our abilities to withstand it.
¿ Perhaps we are saying the same thing, in that " every human's circuits" are currently undergoing a massive re-wiring metamorphous, that will leave behind the childish things of collective cultural youth -- in order to grow into the fully human experience of a balanced, harmonious, and truly fulfilling life of love, joy, and happiness for all ?
I am smiling, celebrating, and embracing that positive aspect to enfold and cradle my future.
Please do join with me.
Namaste
Anything resolved out of angst will lead to yet greater angst, lest it be used to destroy angst itself. We must go beyond the same old means, if we are to achieve a different end.
I know that my point is not a new one, as many wrote of similar concerns back in the 1960s, but it has been at the back of my mind for decades. These concerns come to the forefront in this 21st Century, as change is accelerating, both technological and social, at such a rate that I believe few humans will be able to successfully adapt to it. And for those humans who can adapt to it, what other abilities and attributes are they sacrificing to achieve such remarkable adaptability (I believe there are always tradeoffs)? Will they be able to survive or prosper for long without those abilities and attributes?
I wish you well and I hope that you can continue to smile and celebrate, but at this juncture I am not ready to join you in that.
Considering the choices, I understand your reluctance and that the halo affect of optimism is extremely challenging ( and hardly seems to fit very well ).
Yes, We have trade-offs always -- and adaptation is evolution's molding of our clay -- as making choices is the essence of what we must do to thrive and survive.
What I'm suggesting is that we have a choice at a much higher level of interaction with our futures, and similar to Pascal's Wager, are we not better served with empowering optimism ( and later being shown to be wrong ) than pessimism and sinking into despair and disempowerment ( and being proven to be "right" ) ?
¿ Perhaps this is at the level of pure FAITH, with no evidence available, nonetheless we choose ?
I wish you peace as well
Namaste
But as with the response of progressives with TATA to the neoliberal approach based on TINA, maybe there are more alternatives than (1) attempting to adapt to the overwhelming changes; and (2) despair. Certainly there are back-to-nature communes where the simple life is sought, though I am not sure that is the answer for me or for most others. Possibly some regimes (maybe Cuba or some leftist governments in South America or elsewhere?) will be able to limit the speed of change that the individuals in the nation must face (requiring a rethinking of the value and meaning of "freedom" for most in the so-called "liberal democracies"), and immigration to such a nation might be worth considering.
Though I agree with you that an optimistic attitude is generally preferable, I do find it impossible to be too hopeful about the US.
What's either TATA or TINA ?
TATA = There are thousands of alternatives (to neoliberal capitalism and corporate capitalism)
which was the progressive answer to the neoliberal
TINA = There is no alternative (to unbridled neoliberal corporate capitalism).
TINA was trumpeted by Reagan and Thatcher in the 1980s and only gained steam under Clinton and the neoliberals at the World Bank and IMF in the 1990s. Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" details the results. In the last few years TATA has been gaining acceptance, and the economic downturn surely will give TATA more momentum.
K I V A L S,
Thanks. Elsewhere I discussed exactly this idea of many other alternatives, besides " attempting to adapt to the overwhelming changes
despair. "
First, the precept of "overwhelming changes," is by definition outside of nominal human existence.
Second, I suggest that the contradictory propaganda machinations -- if ever they relinquished their hold on Americana -- the situation would be much as a self-healing wound.
We don't fully comprehend how that occurs, but that doesn't preclude the usually process of injury, pain, blood, inflammation, guarding, scabbing over, and return to functioning skin.
In the same manner, I suggest that humankind's prospective healing will occur BECAUSE we are alive, and that is what LIFE does.
As to your preference or choice "to be [not] too hopeful about the US," that is merely a choice. I honor your choice as being perfectly in alignment with who you are being, at this time.
At every moment, you have the chance to choose again, the same or differently -- depending on updated information and your latest experiences. I hold you in the higher possibilities of eternal consciousness and undrstanding, although actual evidence of that is lacking -- it is a matter of faith.
Several centuries ago, the Dutch expressed that as :
"We do not need HOPE, in order to PERSEVERE "
Namaste
"Obama and the Dems are leaping headlong into one of the most ambitious, invigorating, nation-altering agendas in American history."
Yeah, right. All hail the courageous, noble Democrats.
S O R R Y,
I am not convinced that it is more than that carnival tent's outhouse door flapping in the breeze -- specifically and intentionally to create the illusion of :
a heroic white steed under ◎bysmal,
which really is a white Wall-eyed St. hog of banksters greed
the relative honor and progressive sanity of Dimocrats,
compared to what - the Israelis ?
the false hope of significant real change,
although token improvements camouflage the road taken
We are being cleverly played and lied to in falsely framing memes, manufactured consensus, and subtle PSYOPS agenda of subterfuge, deceit, and propaganda.
AWAKEN MASSES, and see the true face of evil, the clown faced ◎bysmal. Much like a ZERO or the letter "O" -- black on the outside -- while being fully white on the inside ( where it matters ).
THe rethuglicans are just playing the roles foisted upon them, by their owners -- do they look like unemployed clowns ?
Namaste
I understand where you're coming from. The same thing recently happened to me. Ok, first roll over, open your eyes, and realize the bad dream is over! By golly, I think I see a ray of sun.
Thanks for the smile! After the last eight years of having to join in the howling, it's great to have a break-- At some point, we've got to do more than condemn and mourn. At some point, we have to find our best path and take it; it might not (and probably will not) be utopia; it might just be a better purgatory than this one. But better counts.
Yep.
It's better alright.
A better daylight bank robbery.
But this is what we get when we settle for the lessor evil. But in OBomber's defense, he is only one man living with the 900 lb Republicrat party machine in the room and if he goes too far he becomes JFK. And he knows it.
So unlike the bushmonkey, he's smart.
The best part is, his intelligence irks the Neocons to no end!
And I love that!!!!!!
Religious Sects or Political Parties: a Mafia by any other name....
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
I really like your post, Thomas Jefferson. And I agree Obama could be risking his life to move too far too fast. But if enough people rise up, we could create change.
I'm working on a new bumper sticker, inspired by a quote from an article on CD. "We are many-they are few. Take our country back!" Actually the quote was "Ye", but I like "we" better, more inclusive.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
Note:
Ralph Nader, just like John Adams (2nd pres and voice of the dec of ind and constitution) refused to swear allegiance to any political party. This later cost Adams his re-election. These men maintained that big royal parties are bad for the nation. George Washington warned of the dangers of political parties as well and refused initially to join one.
Swelling, corrupt government power (including central banks) were advocated by the Federalists Party (Hamilton the Warhawk) when this country started. I want to introduce you all to a term used by Thomas Jefferson to describe these empire builders:
MONOCRATS
As much as he hated political parties, to oppose these monarchy builders and let the people instead run the government, Jefferson's Anti-Federalists started referring to themselves as: Republicans (the good ones two-hundred years ago) and endeavored behind the scenes to stop Hamilton's financial corruption of the government.
I like that term: Monocrat. It describes aptly the betrayal of Reid, Polosi, Clinton, Bush.... most of the modern politicians. And many are part of political family dynasties; which we should never accept in our system of government.
Please consider opposing these vile Monocrats and vote third party!
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
Good one!
wow. hagiography, thy name is Morford.
I live in Nebraska, of all places, and I felt that orgasm all the way over here!
I'm really surprised that such a dull-witted crowd has posted 59 deadly-serious challenges to Morford's piece, and especially his admiration for O'Bama. Apparently no one around here has a sense of humor. I expected better of CommonDreams readers.
Morford is young, he's liberal, and he writes entertaining, humorous commentary on current happenings for a San Francisco audience.
Most of the previous 59 commenters come off like Trots vs. Stalinists vs. Maoists bickering over ideological correctness. You're missing the point!
Lighten up! Enjoy the comedic spectacle of the fall of the Republican party and the neocons that so very recently thought they would rule the world forevermore.
Time for a cigarette? : )
… more smoke please,
to go with the carnival mirrors …