Denial

“Witch Doctor,” who
“cleanses” money of evil,
makes off with $140,000.

Dick Cheney, lashing out at George W. Bush for turning “soft” during his second term, said, among other things, “He showed a streak of independence I had not anticipated” (or something close to that). This strikes me as terribly revealing. In other words, Cheney is admitting that Bush no longer just did his bidding as he had until then. This confirms what many people believed all along, Bush was simply a puppet President, following instructions from the “Prince of the Dark Side.” If this is true, it is probably a good thing (the only good thing Bush might have accomplished) as if he had not become more independent we would no doubt still be torturing on an even grander scale, and would probably be locked into another lost “war” in Iran (and maybe elsewhere as well), at a cost of who knows how many more innocent lives sacrificed for oil profits. Perhaps by the beginning of his second stolen term in office even his marginally retarded brain figured out that Cheney was always wrong and was, in fact, potentially damaging his Presidency. Cheney, who has never been right about anything, seems to believe that if we do not follow his advice faithfully (as he, and only he knows best), we are doomed. Why is this evil, evil man not in prison?

It appears the fascist tactics of the Corporate/Republican co-conspirators are working. At least they are in the sense that you don’t hear much of anything about the real issues involved in trying to work out health care reform. Now it’s just “shout down” time in the town hall and other meetings, and when it’s not that it’s talking about the shout down strategy. In either case we are prevented from having any serious discussion of the enormity of the problem confronting us. Those who are profiting from the dysfunctional system we now have, have no intention of allowing any changes. They do not care about the 47 million Americans without any health care insurance, nor do they care about how the Insurance companies are dishonestly making their profits (refusing to insure anyone who really needs it because of an existing condition, dropping people making claims whenever they can, and so on). Basically, these people are capitalist ghouls, making their obscene profits off the misery and death of those they are supposed to insure. Health care is far too important to leave to the private sector and the idea that the market itself will insure successful health care is quite, plain and simply, absurd.

Paradigm Lost. As I mentioned last night the paradigm that has informed all Western-European thought for hundreds of years has been shattered. Instead of picking up the pieces and trying to cope with this reality many are in a state of denial. Obama is not really President, he is an imposter from somewhere, anywhere else, Sotomayor is a Hispanic racist who will discriminate against white folk, the stimulus is not working, health care reform is not health care reform, it is socialism and/or a plot to kill old people and/or a plot to allow gays to take over the hospitals and/or a government takeover, Obama is going to take away everyone’s guns, and so on. Just denials, after denials, as far as limited brain can see. As no one is allowed to listen or seriously debate, some people actually believe this utter nonsense. They are not going to allow anyone to learn otherwise. They are neutering the messengers. This is shameful. It is not politics in a democratic society. It is fascism in the exact style of Hitler and Mussolini. All they need are the distinctive brown or black shirts and a suitable emblem (but this, of course, would be far too obvious). Rachel Maddow is by far the best newsperson to expose all this for what it really is. Unlike the bloated, lying windbags that command 90% of the airways, Maddow has the facts, and does not hesitate to reveal, explain, and debate them. Would there be many more like her.

LKBIQ:
Another possible source of guidance for teenagers is television, but television's message has always been that the need for truth, wisdom and world peace pales by comparison with the need for a toothpaste that offers whiter teeth *and* fresher breath.
Dave Barry

TILT:
The largest cat in the world, Hercules, is a liger (lion father, tiger mother). He weighs 900 lbs. and is 12 feet tall (when he stands on his hind legs, of course).