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Published on Friday, March 4, 2011 by CommonDreams.org
Wackos of the World, Unite!
"Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here."
Given the level of wackiness that seems to have afflicted this third planet from the sun, Jack Nicholson’s immortal line in the movie "As Good as It Gets”" (written by Mark Andrus and James L. Brooks), should become our worldwide slogan. Sure, it’s always a cuckoo fest here on Earth, but this week it seems the out-of-control dial has been cranked up way beyond 11.
There’s Muammar "Gunshots? What Gunshots?" Qadaffi, who blames rebellion in Libya on a bunch of crazy, mixed up, drug-addled kids, al Qaeda and for all we know, fluoridated water. Then there’s Charlie Sheen who, in the vocabulary of recovery, epitomizes the so-called "arrogant doormat," bragging of his Adonis DNA (oh, brother) while whining about the ill treatment that has given him an estimated net worth of $85 million -- a hubris reminiscent of the Emperor Caligula, if Caligula had a Golden Globe and unlimited access to cocaine.
Presidential candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee earned a place on the round the bend roster this week with his claim that President Obama had grown up in Kenya and his subsequent "what I meant to say" contortions, although he may have been outdone by cockamamie radio host Bryan Fischer, who told Huckabee, "What got lost in all the shuffle was the legitimate point that you were making is that we may have a president who has some fundamentally anti-American ideas, that may be rooted in a childhood where he had a father who was virulently anti-colonial, hated the British."
Wait -- anti-colonial, hated the British -- does that mean Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Franklin were un-American? I'm so confused.
Not as confused as Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and his Republican state legislators, who continue to stomp their feet and threaten to hold their collective breaths until they turn a very un-GOP-like blue if Democratic senators don't return to the capitol and create a quorum. That quorum would allow Republicans to destroy the collective bargaining rights of the state's public employee union members, despite major opposition from Wisconsin voters.
Violating the first rule of what to do when you find yourself in a hole -- stop digging -- Walker and his legislative pals have levied fines against the Democrats, attempted to withhold their wages and on Thursday placed them in contempt and ordered the Senate sergeant-at-arms to "take any and all necessary steps, with or without force" to haul the runaways in. They even tried to make illegal the kind of prank call that fooled Governor Walker into thinking he was discussing strategy with right-wing bankroller David Koch, and attempted to limit public access to the capitol building, despite a court order to the contrary.
In protest, like Peanuts' Lucy van Pelt and her psychiatrist stand, Democratic members of the state's lower chamber moved their desks outside to the capitol grounds. It's cold, but they're used to it -- as the old joke goes, when it's fifty below zero, Hell freezes over and Wisconsin schools start two hours late.
So who's the worst of all these foolish masters of denial? In some respects it's pretty much a dead heat on a merry-go-round, although Qadaffi has the definite lead when it comes to lunacy with hideous consequences. But challenging them all for the slippery grasp of reality prize is that maelstrom of madness, the US House of Representatives.
Two weeks ago, the House voted 244-179 to end American funding for the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), just their latest refusal to accept the legitimacy of manmade global warming. As astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson recently said, the great thing about science is that it’s true whether you believe it or not, but this crowd clings to the mantra that if they keep insisting that climate change isn’t happening the industrial pollution of the planet’s air supply can go on unabated.
They once again invoked the specter of "Climategate," the continuing canard that the contents of stolen e-mails from a British university invalidate a 2007 IPCC report reconfirming that human activity has "very likely" caused "most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century." But there now have been five investigations of this alleged scandal, including a February 18 report from the inspector general of the Department of Commerce, and none of them has found any evidence of "inappropriately manipulated data."
Not that it matters. Providing fact-based reporting and analyses for this House majority is tilting at hot air-driven windmills. Just look at their budget. TheFinancial Times quotes a report from a Goldman Sachs forecaster: "The Republican plan to slash government spending by $61bn in 2011 could reduce US economic growth by 1.5 to 2 percentage points in the second and third quarters of the year." Dana Milbank of The Washington Post interviewed an expert at the progressive Center for American Progress who calculated that the cuts "would lead to the loss of 650,000 government jobs, and the indirect loss of 325,000 more jobs as fewer government workers travel and buy things. That's nearly 1 million jobs -- possibly enough to tip the economy back into recession."
The Post also quoted a similar report from Moody's Analytics that "the GOP package would reduce economic growth by 0.5 percentage points this year, and by 0.2 percentage points in 2012, resulting in 700,000 fewer jobs by the end of next year." According to Moody’s Mark Zandi, "Significant government spending restraint is vital, but given the still halting economic recovery, it would be counterproductive for that restraint to begin until the economy is creating enough jobs to bring down the still very high unemployment rate." And while Fed chair Ben Bernanke said he thought the Moody and Goldman estimates were high, even he admitted the cuts would lead to a "not trivial" loss of jobs.
With the Tea Party irregulars snapping at his rear end, Speaker John Boehner responded to reports with a dry-eyed, "So be it." That’s downright wacky for sure, and ignores the truth. But apparently, to paraphrase good old Jack Nicholson (as written by Aaron Sorkin), Boehner and his gang can’t handle the truth.
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53 Comments so far
Show Allstill no change then.
so say we all
Huckabee has nothing to complain about policy. With a "Buffalo Soldier" in the White House, all he has left to talk about are scurious lies concerning his upbringing.
While Winship has much to say about wacky Walker in Wisconsin, the reptilian Republicans in Congress and crazy Qadaffi in Libya, he has no criticism of the duplicitous Democrats or the odious Obama.
If I didn't know better, I would suspect he writes for Huffington Post or some other DNC rag.
I see nothing on here concerning the latest jobs reports -- maybe tomorrow. But I did hear Obama's noise on NPR -- all the credit goes to his policies. Really makes you want to gag. Funny, I can't think of one policy in these last two years that wouldn't tickle the repubs pink. In fact, I read today on the HuffPo rag that the Repubs are having trouble finding someone to run against Obama -- and they don't seem too concerned about it. Well, why should they be? Obama will continue to push through policies that a genuine named Repub would have a tough time getting away with.
How can you talk crazy without mentioning Afghanistan?
The Russians have got to be laughing their asses off.
Crazy, as in incompetent. Control of Afghanistan make perfect sense if you consider whoever controls that land controls the oil and gas routes from Central Asia south to Pakistan and India.
China will be the big winner with the USA failure in Afghanistan. But, our ruling economic elite will "win" regardless of the outcome. They have been moving their money and production to China and the East for decades.
"Like"
"Like".
I guess it didn't happen last week, but Hillary blabbing on about free speech in the middle east while Ray McGovern was being dragged out of the room for silently turning his back on her should rate a mention. You can't make these things up, unless maybe you are channeling Kurt Yonnegut.
"Given the level of wackiness that seems to have afflicted this third planet from the sun..."
Third planet? No, with the exception of Gaddafi, the craziness is largely limited to a small part of it called the "United States".
We do seem to be world leaders in crazy. And wherever crazy is on this tiny speck of a planet, you will find the omnipresent hand of the US stirring the pot. But let's not blame the Republicans, they were very clear that their goal was to destroy the economy so the Democrats would look bad, helping GOP prospects in 2012. Blame the stupid idiots who keep voting Republican and Democrat--they are the real loons, expecting change.
Don't blame the working class people for the actions of the ruling class, no matter the rationale for doing that.
What was Mat Damon's comment? "I no longer hope for audacity"
Out of all the comments, you hit a home run. Assuming that elections are minimally fair and free (which is questionable), it is the people who are stupid, lazy, and greedy for voting the way they have.
This is actually one of the poorer wide angle pieces I've read on the present state of politics in the crazysphere.
Also, Ben Bernanke has been consistently wrong in EVERY major prediction he has made concerning the economy since before he became Fed Chairman. He didn't believe a Housing Bubble was possible, let alone forming under his nose. It took him two years after the bubble blew to understand that it wasn't a "liquidity problem" but an obscenely over-leveraged (40 to 1 in some big banks) RISK problem. None of his numbers are trustworthy and he is the biggest neo-liberal imbecile next to Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.
And could he quit printing money long enough that a savings account can go from 0.3 percent interest to 1 percent?
Winship has been wildly uneven in the months since his "solo" essays have been published at CD-- I think this began after his professional association with Bill Moyers ceased when Moyers shut down his "Journal" program.
First there were a few sentimental, sententious "feel-good" pieces in the manner of a liberal-lite Peggy Noonan. But recently he seemed to take it up a notch with more serious analysis.
And now here he is trying to construct something profound by stringing together lines from lame Amerikan "blockbuster" movies.
Unimpressive, to say the least.
Dear:
readbetweenthe_lines
Obedient Servant
Metal
I take it back you all are confused. Get some professional help. Please
Put me on your list.
since the last "technical difficulties and upgrades", DC has turned into a huffington post of a smaller scale, overrun by fakes.
I am so confused...do you care to elaborate?
"So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth. "
(Galaxy song, Monty Python - last verse)
The Dems had both f*cking houses and the WH and did nada. So whose surprised @ the chaos that is now presenting itself?
Mr. Winship -
You have your movies confused. You mentioned "As Good As It Gets" but then you quoted Nicholson as saying "You can't handle the truth!" That line is from "A Few Good Men" directed by Rob Reiner. His memorable line from the first movie is "You make me want to be a better man." However, nothing going on in U.S. politics leads me to conclude that anyone (especially the Rethugs) wants to do that.
Astronomical sized metaphors cannot comprehend.
the imploding black hole of US failure to mend,
Its not cognitive mass that attracts all fate,
but a vacuum of sense sucks to compensate.
To much mercury burned from the coal mines.
Toxics spread far have produced mental declines.
Generations of chemicals withered growing minds.
In this depleted environment ideas pull down the blinds.
The entire government system needs to retire,
to an old peoples home, to safely expire.
No more to rule the world with desperate measure,
No different will be their isolated dreams pleasure.
Lets all just take some days off until we come up with something that works for all of mankind. All it needs is a lot more kindness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spJCUM5EzE8
"I saw the destiny of Nations on TV. I didn't want to miss it so I didn't go to sleep. It really was exciting to watch the whole world turn to rust. But I wouldn't be human, made out of this dust. If I thought that I knew, that the way to get across to you, was this high and winding stair, I'd be there." -~Arlo Guthrie from Stairs on Mystic Journey from 1996.
Serious award for the Wisconsin staties and their fearless leader, Scott Walker, for taking a Democratic state representative to the ground. He had moved his desk out onto the lawn because his constituents couldn't visit him inside, and he came back inside for some clothes in his legislative office. That's when Sergeant Joe Friday (that's a retro TV reference, kids) saved the Capitol Building from a possible terrorist attack. The takedown was caught by a local TV station cameraman.
Whacko? No. Worse.
It's descending into madness. You're like a wounded, trapped animal, eating it's own entrails.
Every man for himself. Full speed into the abyss. Race to the bottom.
It's all collapsing around you. The Empire rots from within, like all the rest. All of them.
Our hope is that, in your desperation, your lunatic fundamentalism, your greed, your selfishness, your endemic violence and your collective stupidty, you won't take the rest of us down with you. That you won't commit some act of breathtaking violence and insanity, that Iraq and Afghanistan are just the dress rehersal for.
Do us all a favour, and just go quietly- hunker down with your religion and your guns, your primitive conservatism, your corrupt politics, your racism, your weapons of mass destruction, and peer out at a world leaving you all behind in the dust.
Too bad. You had such early promise.
-Bill
I guess it's let's all dump on Ghaddafi now. You fell for 9-11. You fell for Obama's promises and are now kicking yourselves for it. Yet here you are falling for another psy-ops. Ghaddafi may be a lunatic but he has given Lybia the highest place in the human develoment index for all of Africa. He has provided free medical care, free higher education and high wages that make Lybians shun jobs that come to be done by foreigners. He has done more for his people than the US does for its people and used the oil wealth to improve the lot of Lybians. But the empire says he's a bad guy, makes claims without proof and you fall for it. AGAIN! I see noone defending Gaddhafi whom this author maligns without explanation.
And you're supposed to be the smart ones.
umm...so why are these well-treated Lybian citizens revolting against him then? Why they must be collective bargaining union members!?!?
No...no...no....no...no....THESE ARE NOT CITIZENS.....Haven't you been listening to YOUR media news.....THESE ARE REBELS. What the hell is wrong with you? You cannot take oil from citzens, but you can take the OIL if they are REBELS. Ta da!
Why don't you answer those questions? Why would they do that if they are well treated? How about things more important to them like being against Gaddhafi's desire to treat black and white as the same. Not only whites are racist. How about money? How about not wanting to contribute to society and wanting to keep all their money? How about a hatred of socialism and the pan Afican concept? How about a desire for power to build a society in which the rich get richer? How about those who want to be more like the US where socialism is a dirty word and you can be as rich as you can, if you can? If you want just one answer I'll settle for the usual:MONEY.
these are anything but smart.
Winship's wackiness report excluded the newly-elected Republican member of the House of Representatives who when asked if she (and her colleagues) actually knew what they were cutting responded, "O, we don't have to know. We were elected to cut spending".
The Palin-Beck-Limbaugh wingnuts multiply like crazy!
If you sit by the river long enough you will see the body of your enemy float by.
This could perhaps be an elegant way of saying that if you give your opponent enough rope, he will hang himself.
Like many others, I've been bitterly disappointed by the performance of the Obama administration so far. It seems it has been largely a dismal failure and an affront to those of us who voted for the change that was promised. However, there is another possibility, however unlikely, to consider.
With their gains from the midterms, the radical right is now making an all-out effort to virtually eliminate the democratic party. As pitiful as the dems may be, things will get a lot worse, a lot quicker, without them. With no viable third party in the picture we would be confronted with an unadulterated, single party kleptocracy. We're not very far from it now.
What happens if the far right succeeds in their current assault? Can you say complete deregulation, unfettered laissez faire capitalism, goodbye social security, unemployment insurance, public education, and any and all public programs put in place to promote the general welfare? Will you enjoy living in a third world country? Will you welcome the return of child labor, the elimination of the minimum wage, the reinstatement of segregation, the repeal of all laws governing the treatment of workers and safety in the workplace? How will you feel about the complete revocation of all environmental protection and the removal of all restrictions on the exploitation of any and all forms of fossil fuels and nuclear energy? This is just a brief, partial and spontaneous summary of what would likely be in store should the neofascist right come to full power in 2012. Maybe this is the catastrophic event being predicted for that year.
Now here's the sixty-four thousand dollar question. Is there even a remote possibility that Obama may be sitting by the river? Is he giving the right all the rope it needs? Has he been thinking ten moves ahead all this time, waiting for the opportunity to deliver checkmate?
Will things get so bad, thanks very obviously to the extreme right, between now and 012 that even the puppets who voted for them last November, even the loyal, registered republicans and the democrats who decided not to vote in protest, will recognize the real enemy and turn upon them en masse in the next election?
Ignorant, malicious, arrogant and fanatically ideological people tend to become over-confident if they can be led to believe they have an overwhelming advantage. Are they being lured into committing mass political suicide?
Overall, those at the far right extreme tend to be dumber than a box of rocks. They seem to be under the impression that the vast majority of the public is similarly afflicted. Whether or not this is the case, there is a point beyond which people simply can't be pushed. We've seen the beginning of the push-back already in Wisconsin and other states where the move is on to deliver the coup de grace to the working class.
Is it utterly impossible to conceive that Obama is working toward completely turning the tables? Could we see the republicans become so marginalised in 2012 that they might be effectively eliminated from at least several election cycles? Could we possibly see all the change we were promised and a whole lot more in a second term for Obama?
I'm certainly not counting on it, but it is something to think about.
Yes, Obama is sitting by the river, watching us float past.
”Absolute certainty is a privilege of uneducated minds and fanatics”
C.J. Keyser
"Did you ever have to make up your mind?
Pick up on one and leave the other behind?
It's not often easy, and not often kind
Did you ever have to make up your mind?"
Lovin' Spoonful
Obama is not playing three dimensional chess, no.
To answer your three questions: YES, NO, & ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!
Please come down out of the clouds to reality as Obummer is no 50 dimensional chess player.
Nice fantasy but no cee-gar! As one who voted for Obama and has been profoundly disappointed and increasingly angry at his betrayals I would guess that your conjecture will not come to pass. I also find the idea that a strategy of selling out millions of the people you are supposed to be representing and giving in again and again to a right-wing agenda that will only cause long lasting pain in the hope that the Rethugs will hang themselves in their overreach is pathetic. He has shown himself to be very comfortable with the Republican agenda. Remember when the Demos lost big time last November and Obama pledged to work in a spirit of bipartisanship with the Rethugs? What did they say? The ever odious Mitch McConnell said the very next day that the first objective of the Republican party was to make sure that Obama was a one-term president. I don't see much bipartisanship there! To Rethugs politics is now a blood sport and they will do anything necessary to advance the agenda of their corporate leash holders.
Don't expect Obama to come flying out of a phone booth with a big "O" on his super hero outfit and turn back all the loathsome legislation that has been passed and is being proposed by these lackeys of empire. He is one of them.
One last thing. Right-wingers are dumber than a box of rocks? Then how come they play the political game so much better then Demos?
So how do you stop people like the Koch brothers? How do you stop people that have no conscience, no sense of responsibility for people, land, seas, or animals of the world?
The majority of the tea party is corrupt.( Rep, Special interests, Corp.)
The majority of the republican party is corrupt(Corp. and Special interest).
The majority of the democratic party is either completely inept or corrupt (Special Interest and Corp.).
The NEWS is corrupt (by government and Corp.).
Advertising is corrupt. (Corp, and the all-mighty $$$$)
The EPA has been infiltrated. (Corp. Special interest)
The FDA is corrupt. (Corp, Special interest)
Nearly every avenue we have for protection of citizens, protection of the environment is completely corrupt.
We have no upper government. (See corruption above)
Our Local and municipal government has started it's corruption. (See(but not limited to) Wisconsin Governor, New Jersey Governor, and Ohio Governor.)
Why aren't we DOING something about this?
Investigations get stonewalled or bought. The Supreme court has been bought.
Our government does not and CANNOT work for us anymore.
We can't get justice or answers UNTIL WE DEMAND THEM.
"Wackos of the World, Unite!" Yep.people and the thoughts they espouse are getting more surreal everyday. Very very goofy.
So we declare an undeclared war on Libya, bomb them to save them, make our merchants of death here in the USA richer, take Libya’s oil away from them, make the banksters richer, and we get the cheapest blood for oil scheme once again, all the while bending over as far as we can grabbing our ankles so that the Republican wacko elite, and the blinded by bribes Democrats can screw us all ….to death. Did I miss anything?
The truth of over-extended Amurkan/EU imperial ambitions re Libya will be determined by whether or not the U.S. and NATO invade Libya or just impose a no-fly zone to give its internal revolution some protection from aerial strafing and bombardment. I don't think Obama can justify the cost of another invasion, though he may impose a no-fly zone and run guns into Libya to some sub-sets of the revolutionaries. Much of Libya's oil already goes to Italy and elsewhere in the EU, while a small portion of it goes to the U.S., so the West already had its share of the Libyan oil pie prior to the recent Jasmine Uprisings.
The real hypocrisy is that even if the U.S. limits itself and NATO to imposing a no-fly zone plus some degree of naval blockade, by the same international rules (that they scoff at when it comes to their own behavior) they should impose a no-fly zone in Israeli aircraft in the Occupied Territories to prevent jet strafing and bombardment in densely populated civilian areas there as has occurred repeatedly in the last decade.
FUNNY? MAYBE IF IT WASN'T TRUE!...12 cookies are set down in front of a CEO, a Tea Partier and a Union guy. The CEO takes 11 cookies, looks at the Tea Partier and says "That Union guy wants ...to take yours." Paraphrased. By: Patricia Watson.
Wonder how much more we will take before we pack up our sleeping bags & crayons and march to go get our country back.
There are people in the world who proclaim a hatred of the U.S. For the most part, however, they are not in a position to do deep harm to the U.S. The Republican Party and its minions proclaim a deep love for the U.S., but they are positioned wonderfully to commit deep harm to the U.S., and they seem hell bent on accomplishing this harm. For those who delight in irony, this must be delicious.
I once heard a radio commentator talking about U.S. politics. She said that this country suffers from an "irony deficiency". I couldn't agree more.
The clinical term for this ill is "your fu**ed".
Treatment is not advised.
The prognosis is negative.