Hey, where are our jobs?

LMAO - call John Boehner and ask why the GOP hasn't fixed the economy yet. And while you're at it, demand a copy of his birth certificate.

The day after

The day before ?

Obviously, I can't keep a blog going for shit. I apologize. I really used to be good at this. Maybe it was because back in the early days of my bloggage it wasn't all about politics. Yeah, I think that's it. Since then, the political atmosphere is just so depressing/infuriating/terrifying/hopeless/hilarious that I can hardly form a coherent sentence about it.

Okay, onward...

So this is the day before the mid-term elections, and I wonder if it's the day before the end of democracy (some would say that's already happened), or the day before America got its act together.

Whatcha think?

Pass the Popcorn

Sarah Palin Tells Karl Rove Where To Go

Perfect!

Yes! This is what we need: The Rally to Restore Sanity!

Mark your calendar: OCTOBER 30th

The Crazy is Mainstream

I finally removed my Obama '08 bumper sticker. Not because I'm angry at Obama (annoyed, yes, but not angry), and not because I don't plan to vote for him again (I do), but because I am afraid. Of crazy people who are now emboldened - no longer by the silence of the Republican leadership, but by their open encouragement - to the point where insanity is reported as regular news, not a sidebar look at the fringe.

I'm aware that this has been happening for some time. But two recent incidents in particular made me afraid. (Let me just say that when I first got that Obama '08 bumper sticker, the minute it was available through MoveOn, my car was keyed once. And I live in Texas. I find that remarkable. But it's not the car I'm afraid for; it's my own personal safety.)

Incident 1

Republican Senatorial candidate Sharron Angle's threat of "Second Amendment remedies" to deal with the "tyrannical (which she pronounced "TIE-rannical") U.S. government" and to "cure the Harry Reid problems." She points out that people are quietly stocking up on ammunition in case they have to "fight for liberty." We knew the Teabaggers were nuts, but now the Republican nominee for Nevada is saying, in effect, People, if we don't win in November, start shooting! (Rule of thumb: Armed nuts are way more dangerous than unarmed nuts.) Although Angle's comments were made as early as January, I didn't learn of them until a week ago, on Rachel Maddow's story.

Incident 2

This occurred, for me, in two parts. First, there was Newt Gingrich's bizarre claim that Obama follows a "Kenyan, anti-colonial worldview," (neglecting certain facts in Kenya's history.) And second, it was the article that Gingrich cited, which he said was "the most profound insight I have read in the last six years about Barack Obama." The article was a cover story in Forbes Magazine (!) entitled, How Obama Thinks. As PZed noted in Pharyngula, the article's author "does everything short of accusing Obama of being a spear-chuckin', bone-in-the-nose savage — he paints a picture of Obama as being some kind of angry African tribesman using ritual magic at his father's grave to gain revenge against the colonial oppressors of the imperial West."

This "Kenyan anti-colonial" meme will gain momentum as we approach the November elections. It's clever, actually. They can't come right out and admit their racial bigotry. So why not do the next best thing? Frame it all in sociological terms, conjuring historical images of rabid, black, savages attacking those nice, innocent, white colonials.  And point out that the nice people need to arm themselves, and stock up on ammunition.

The Stupid is Spreading

The Stupid is Spreading. It's Approaching Critical Mass.

You've seen the statistics. More and more Americans believe the President was born in Kenya and is a Muslim. Billy Graham's son opined that the (Muslim) seed is passed from the father to the son (and which gene marker would that be, I wonder.) Glenn Beck is having a "Take America Back" rally today at the Lincoln Memorial on the anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech. Beck tells us this is an appropriate day for his rally because "we" brought Civil Rights to you, and "we" are going to "reclaim" it. (Huh?) And speaking of cognitive dissonance, sadly one of Dr. King's nieces will speak in support of Beck's rally to bring America back to God (she's an anti-abortionist.) The wingnuts want to know why the ACLU isn't leading the charge against the "Ground Zero Mosque" - the ACLU leads the charge against anything the Christians want to do, don't they? (Guess they missed that whole freedom of religion bit.) The phrase "Ground Zero Mosque" itself is part of the Stupid and was instantly taken up by the MSM.

 It's All in The Family

Republicans are saying that if they regain control of Congress, they are going to launch multiple "investigations" against the President. It doesn't matter what the charges are. What matters is keeping a negative focus on Obama for years to come. Meanwhile, they can put the country back in the shithole they got us into before (except for their dear upper 2%.) That this will hurt the country is apparently beside the point. Actually, it may BE the point. The people behind the Stupid, the ones who've been manipulating the sheeple, want to turn the country into a theocracy. Their theocracy's Chosen are those who head not just the three branches of government, but all the major corporations, the media, and the military. This movement has been operating since at least the 1930s, and they've made some impressive progress in all areas.  If you haven't already, read about it in The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, by Jeff Sharlet, a journalist who went on the inside.

Ignorance Can Be Cured, But Stupid's Forever

Combating the Stupid requires educating the sheeple. They are ignorant of the facts, so once they see the fallacies of their beliefs, their ignorance can be cured. Simple, right? I mean, that's what so many of us have been trying to do - get the facts out there. Wrong. Some sheeple (perhaps most of them) will cling to their spoon-fed convictions until their last breath (whereupon they'll get to meet Jesus or 70 virgins or whatever, which in itself is part of the problem - if you're already willing to believe nonsense despite lack of evidence, then it's not a great leap to accept even more nonsense.) It's no coincidence that critical thinking is denounced, that home-schooling is encouraged, and where possible (such as in my home state of Texas,) text books are changed to fit the Stupid.

Sorry You Got Mad When My Facts Collided With Your Beliefs

I don't know about you, but I run into this situation often when it comes to politics. Someone will say something Stupid and I'll counter with the Facts, and they'll get mad and attack me, alleging that I was the one who attacked them. Interesting that presenting facts counter to their beliefs constitutes an "attack." Their attack of me is never about the facts and always about "feelings." Again, interesting.

So, What To Do in the Face of Willful Ignorance?

Beats me. I'll continue to get the facts out there as best I can, and speak up (always politely) when I choose (except when, as was the situation yesterday, my highly-recommended fundie dentist put the ceiling TV on FAUX News right before he was going to put sharp objects inside my mouth.) But facts will not help change stupid people's minds. They have to be willing to look at the facts first, but too few will do so. Some say that hereditary religion must be stamped out. Granted, that would help. Even better, religion itself disappearing would help immensely, but that's not going to happen soon enough to make a difference, if it ever happens at all. The religious fundies will get us all blown up before we've evolved enough to stop believing preposterous fables and face reality. You know that saying, "I've never seen faith move mountains, but I have seen what faith will do to a couple of skyscrapers." Make no mistake, the rabidly faithful are multiplying and no amount of reason is likely to change them.

So, again, what to do? Because the Stupid is spreading.