Jackasses on the Loose

In an op-ed piece in last Sunday's New York Times, titled "The Politics of Spite", the economist Paul Krugman said that "the modern conservative movement, which dominates the modern Republican party, has the emotional maturity of a bratty 13-year-old". That is true, especially if the 13-year-old was also named Damien. But I believe that it's much more serious than calling them juvenile. They're also vicious, mean-spirited, racist, homophobic, ignorant & dangerous. And crazy, especially these jackasses (my new favorite word) who go around waving signs denigrating the president, but can't tell the Constitution from 'Pat the Bunny'. And on Bill Maher's show on the Friday before last, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, whom I rarely agree with, was talking about the violent atmosphere that will undoubtedly cause some crazy, ignorant right-wing asshole (my words, not his) with a gun to go on a rampage that will end in tragedy. I mean, a poll on Facebook about murdering the president? Are you fucking kidding? What's the old adage about the lunatics running the asylum? That's the Republican party right now. Jeaneane Garofalo, whom I absolutely love cause she just always calls a spade a spade, said on the same show that these lunatics are basically white supremists, which I think is very true. That's the reason it's become so personal with all the shit about Obama. They just do not want a black president, & I believe will stop at nothing to try to eliminate him, not just his policies. I'm sure that they resent the fact that he's not only smarter than them, but more educated & sophisticated, too. Not that they actually respect any of those things; in fact, they seem to revel in their ignorance & stupidity. Go figure- I sure as hell can't (& don't want to).

Are the rest of us- the sane, relatively informed people who actually elected Barack Obama- really going to sit around & listen to & watch this bullshit any longer without doing something? I went to see Michael Moore's awesome film "Capitalism: A Love Story" the other night, & I didn't know whether to cry or take to the streets. He shows, in ways the average person who isn't well-schooled in economics can understand, exactly how Wall St. has fucked us, over & over. It's just part & parcel of this same kind of crap that we observe & say "somebody should do something about that". Well, guess what, folks? We are those somebodies. Nobody's going to ride in on a white horse, even the brilliant & talented President Obama, to save us. It really is up to us. It's not just almost too late to actually do something about global warming, but also all the other things that are JUST WRONG. In his movie, Moore compares our civilization to that of the Roman Empire, & we all know what happened to it. It's not just hyperbole to say these things- it's urgent to wake people up to all of the terrible things we seem to be getting used to. We really don't have to put up with all the bullshit about banks & other financial institutions being "too big to fail". That's just too bad if they've fucked things up so badly, but they knew there wouldn't be any real consequences for them, just for us. I mean, what kind of shit is this that the very people whom they've already fucked over & over are the very ones who have to pay for their incompetance & criminality? We are STILL the ones who are hurting, not the CEOs, who are still racking up millions in "bonuses". I'm sorry, but isn't the definition of "bonus" a reward, for doing something over & beyond the average? How does nearly bankrupting a company earn someone a bonus?

And I've just recently read something I guess I really shouldn't be surprised about, but have to confess made my jaw drop. Certain "conservatives" have decided that not only does the "left-wing media" write lies, but apparently so have the authors of the Bible. Yes, folks, all that liberal stuff about treating your fellow human beings as you yourself would like to be treated, & our obligation to feed & clothe the poor & take care of our less fortunate brothers & sisters needs to be cut out of the Bible. As does all that commie language about the rich finding it harder to get into heaven & Jesus throwing money changers out of the temple. Aside from the fact that these people apparently have no idea what a metaphor is (see the earlier comment about reveling in their own ignorance), there are some things that I guess SHOULDN'T be taken literally.

It's just exhausting to even think about all this. I sometimes feel like Rosanne Rosannadanna (Gilda Radner's brilliant character on SNL), who used to say, after a long diatribe against something or other, "Nevermind". But unfortunately, we can't afford to say that today. Our very existence is in jeopardy from ignorant people who actually bring guns to town meetings with the President. It's almost weirder than fiction.

It's been a while since I started this blog, so I just found out yesterday about President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. I love it especially because it's making the right-wing crazies practically explode. But seriously, one of them actually said that this was the"elite" Europeans' way of finally voting in the 2008 election. Fuck, yeah! What in the hell is wrong with that?