If You Have To Talk To A Republican...

I mean if it's absolutely, positively, unavoidable, like if you're related to them or something, ask them the following questions:

What would Lincoln think about voter suppression? Or political campaigns based entirely on hatred and fear?

What would Teddy Roosevelt think about "corporate personhood" and "corporate religious beliefs"? Or "too big to fail"?

What would Eisenhower think about starting a war based on lies? And then cutting taxes in war time?

What would Nixon think about getting rid of the EPA? Or basing your economic policies on the writings of a quack philosopher/novelist?

What would any of them think about putting the Second Amendment above and before all the others?

Ask them these questions and then brace yourself for an avalanche of dissembling bullshit...

God's Chosen People, or: 100-1

It is a simple, easily understood ratio: For every Israeli killed, at least 100 Palestinians must die. Think back to World War II...remind you of anyone?

Now, the Palestinians breed faster that the Israeli's, so we better make that ratio 1000-1. And continue to provoke whenever and wherever we can.

Until there aren't any Palestinians left.

Then all of ancient Judea will be ours!

Which has been the plan all along. Forget that nonsense about separate states. From the first Zionists in the late 1800's to the partition of 1948 and onward until today it has been a case of how soon can we get rid of these people? They are on our land. Doesn't matter how long they've lived here. It is ours! God gave it to us! What, would you argue with God?

Obviously, to the folks running Israel, the only good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian.

Couching it in any other way and pretending otherwise does us all a disservice.

My Religion

Since we're apparently headed into the "my religion says I don't have to obey your laws" era of American History 101, I might as well lay out what my religion says:

My religion says your religion is based on an invisible, unprovable, sky God who is deaf and blind. When you pray to Him you are essentially just talking to yourself, for all the good it will do you.

My religion says His son is a mostly fictional amalgam of whatever the earliest "christians" thought they needed to convince the ignorant masses to enlist in their cause.

My religion says any religion should be a deeply personal matter, and it is oafish to force your religious beliefs on others.

My religion says you shouldn't meddle in the personal lives--with particular emphasis on reproductive issues--of other people, especially women.

My religion says that people who, prima facie, hate other people because of the color of their skin or their sexual preferences have voided their membership in humanity and should be ignored until they see the error of their ways.

My religion says politicians who start unnecessary wars should be hung from trees in public display until their rotting carcasses are picked clean by birds. Ditto for the pundits, intellectuals, clergy, radio/tv hosts, etc. who act as cheerleaders for said wars. Obviously we're going to need to plant more trees.

My religion says corporations are not people, money is not speech, and hatred is not a family value.

My religion says that organizations that don't pay taxes get to have no say in public policy.

My religion says if you elect idiots to govern you, you will be governed by idiots.

My religion says everyone is entitled to their own beliefs--however loopy--but not their own facts. This is 2014, not 1014. We should not have to go through the Dark Ages and Enlightenment more than once in an eternity.

My religion says cookies good, Nazis bad.

So it is written, so it shall be. Amen.

John Huppenthal Is Just One Of Many

I suppose I should be all in an uproar over John Huppenthal's no longer secret life as a blogger.

His posts are indeed ignorant, offensive, racist--you know, the whole right wing Tea Party Republican grab bag. You can just about taste the hatred behind his every word.

The fact that he is my state's Superintendent of Public Instruction only adds to the joke--and to his awfulness.

But guess what? A lot of people will still vote for him. Because he speaks for them, doncha know? They are stupid, bigoted, reactionary, antediluvian racists and he's their guy.

I should be pissed off about this, but...

The other day Ben Jr. and I went to a fund raiser for Fred DuVal, the Democratic candidate for Governor. He's a nice man, a good man, an intelligent man. Not exactly charismatic, but you can't have everything. I hope he wins. But even if he does, he'll still have to deal with a legislature that is controlled by sadistic, nihilistic, hillbillies. And that means nothing much changes.

Hey, this is Arizona:

Land of Governor Jan Brewer and Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Attorney General Tom Horne. Trent Franks and Rick Renzi and Ben Quayle. John McCain and Jon Kyl and Jeff Flake. Paul Gosar and Matt Salmon and David Schweikert. Oh my God, the list is never ending! One empty suit replaces another empty suit, and the beat goes on.

So, let's be fair and give ol Hup a break. After all, he fits right in.

How Many Catholic Male Supreme Court Justices Does It Take To Ruin A Country?

Oh, just a simple majority.

That's all.

The More Things Change

As the neocons rage about a "lost" Iraq, some of us remember how we were lied into that war by Cheney-Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld, McCain and the gang, including The New York Times, and some of us obviously don't.

Before we go all goofy with the USA! USA! chant, and more stupid country songs about how tough we are, perhaps we should pause and consider the events of June-August 1914.

A whole bunch of smart people, many of whom were related to each other, somehow managed to get their countries into a war that none of them anticipated, killed off a generation of Europeans, started the Russian Revolution, created random boundaries throughout the Middle East, and sowed the seeds of Fascism.

Which led directly to the Spanish Civil War, and World War II.

Other than that things worked out pretty well.

When I was a mere youth, there was a best selling book entitled "The Best and the Brightest". It was all about the really smart people who initially got us mired in Vietnam. Because they were so sure of their superior intelligence, they arrogantly ignored history and every single warning sign. No matter what, they were certain they could think their way out of trouble. Think and/or bomb...

Now, no book about the Cheney-Bush years could possibly be called the best and the brightest--not even in jest. But the results were the same.

And so we find ourselves in what looks like a lose-lose situation, with no clear solution. Partition Iraq? Okay, that would make the Kurds happy, but who gets the oil? What about Iran and Saudi Arabia? They'll have something to say about it. And what about our "friends" in Israel and the Palestinians? Most of us would probably be happy to sit back and watch the Shias and Sunnis kill each other off. After all, they've been doing it for over 1000 years. Why not finish the job? Of course, that could easily spill over into Egypt, Turkey, and all of the 'stans'. And that means Russia and China and India all conceivably have skin in the game.

Considering everything, I think we are very lucky that we have a cautious, intelligent man in charge, and not a hair trigger cowboy nitwit.

 

Please, Just Go Away

Dick Cheney, aka The Dark Lord, and his daughter, Liz, who isn't a lesbian, and, truth be told, not much of a sister either, but who was a laughable failure as a senatorial candidate, have spoken out, for the umpteenth time, about what they perceive to be the abject failure of President Obama's foreign policy.

By failure they mean ol Barack hasn't gotten us into any wars. Indeed, he's gotten us out of the Cheney-Bush wars, and not gotten us into wars with Iran or Syria. And for an old chickenhawk like Dick Cheney, that's a sign of weakness.

It's strange, you know, a guy who got so many deferments, the infamous "other priorities", to avoid service in Vietnam, being such a cheerleader for war. But then, most of those neo-cons are like that, aren't they? Where's dear old Freud when we really need him?

Dear Dick (and Liz), it's time to face the facts. No one who matters cares what you think. About anything. God knows you had your chances. With numbnuts in the White House you and your buddies got to run the country for a few years. And you were wrong about everything*. You fucked it up completely. So, shut the fuck up, OK? Take the big Halliburton payout, load up the old Holland and Holland, and go shoot something. Or someone. But please, just go away.


*wrong about everything is a registered trademark of the Cheney family.