Thinning The Herd

For a group of people who don't believe in evolution, conservatives sure do love social Darwinism.

You start with the young. Weaken--or take away entirely--their public schools, hot lunch programs, Head Start, after school activities. Close as many public facilities as possible. Make getting gunned down at school a distinct possibility. Living with that constant fear in the pit of their stomachs will get them ready for adulthood. If they survive to adulthood. Remember to repeatedly tell them that nonsense about pulling themselves up by their bootstraps!

Then there's the sick. Take away as much health care as you can. Make it impossible for people with pre-existing conditions to get insurance. Let the drug companies charge whatever they want. Encourage people to go broke from paying hospital bills. Hey, it's their choice: that expensive, necessary surgery or food and housing. And you have to make choices in this life!

Finally, the old. Gut their pensions. Starve Social Security. Plenty of greeter jobs at WalMart, you lazy old fucks!

If you're a heartless Republican (or Libertarian) prick, dreaming sweet wet dreams of Ayn Rand's river of bullshit and the glories of the Free Market, it's really not that hard to do these things.

Poor people are such a drag. They had every opportunity in this greatest nation on the face of the earth to make enough money to pay for private schools, gold plated healthcare, and a happy and long retirement. And they just didn't do it.

Better off dead, you know?

"First Man"

"First Man" is not a great movie.

It's full of good people, including Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy. It was directed by Academy Award winner Damien Chazelle, and it tells the story of Neil Armstrong, the 'first man on the moon.' The problem is that Armstrong was apparently so taciturn, so guarded emotionally, that there's not much to hang a drama on.

So, even with all of that talent involved, it's a slightly above average movie. Certainly nowhere close to "The Right Stuff", which is a classic. Not nearly as entertaining as "Apollo 13".

What is interesting, at least for me, is that the film is a stark reminder that as a nation, we used to do great things--or at least attempt them.

As JFK said about going to the moon, "we choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

We don't even attempt hard things anymore. Now all we seem to be able to do is tread water.

We give tax cuts to billionaires, keep Defense contractors fat and happy, make sure every nut has access to all the guns he or she needs, and meddle in women's private lives.

Massive infrastructure rebuild? Na.

Green energy program? Na.

Universal health care? Na.

These are all easier than going to the moon. But...na.

Let's not even think about a concerted national effort to curb the increasingly obvious effects of global warming.

For these things we'd need leadership on both sides of the aisle.

And one side has decided that nothing is as important as keeping their rich backers satisfied and their crazy base in a constant state of agitation.

Just like that, we've turned into a sad, empty husk of what we once were.

Standard Deviation

So Bruce Jenner has been a woman trapped in man's body all these years.

OK. Fine. I'm sure that happens more than we can guess. And it's not really the business of anyone who isn't directly involved. Even if they do decide to make it into a TV show...

I wish him peace and happiness and inner contentment after what must have been a lifetime of feeling "other".

But he's also announced that he's a Republican at heart.

How you can identify yourself with a party that has spent decades demonizing the "other", including you and people like you, is beyond me.

Hell brother, some of them want to kill people like you! And most of the rest wish you'd just disappear yourself.

Are lower taxes really worth all that?