Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Sex & The Suburbs: How The GOP Played 'Slam, Bam and Thank You Ma'am' With the Religious Right


Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell got with the GOP in the 80s and formed the Master Plan of a long-standing marriage between the deeply faithful conservatives and the Republican Party.

Their plan actually succeeded as now we have experienced close to ten years of Fundamentalist Christian-friendly politicians including all three branches of government being under GOP control.

The only problem: George W. Bush.

They allowed an utter buffoon and his gang of corporate grifters to head up the culmination of all their hard work and planning and he has proven himself to be the anti-Reagan in every way. He's a no-nothing, vapid, clueless, stubborn dullard who said all the right things but did all the wrong things and as a result the American people have a horrible taste of what a Conservative America would be like.

George W. Bush is the best thing to happen to the Democratic Party from 2006 on.

What will likely happen is that the religious folk will un-gel and their vote will be scattered like it was in the days before Falwell and Robertson leaving the playing field open for more Liberal ideas to take hold i.e. Roe v. Wade.

I feel bad for many of them, though. They were sold a bill of goods by the Republicans regarding bringing God back into the public sphere and they got NOTHING. They were played for suckers by a neocon oligarchy only interested in manipulating world oil prices and relaxing tax burdens on the rich.

As far as the religious Right is concerned, the GOP is that tall, flashy stranger who blew into town and it's now the morning after and all they have to show for their devotion and hard work is an empty bed.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

The Jena Six: Not Exactly Rosa Parks But We'll Take It


Don't get me wrong. I fully support coordinated African-American efforts to see justice done with regard to six young men in Jena, Louisiana who were facing trumped up charges for what amounted to a schoolyard fight. I get that. I certainly don't condone their actions but I understand their frustrations.

African-Americans who criticize themselves as being culturally disorganized and out of touch with the original message of Dr. King came out in force to march on Jena to take a stand and make a statement. Shout out the 'Bad Boy Michael Baisden' who was key to organizing the day's events via his nationally syndicated radio show.

But I just wish we were defending actually INNOCENT kids here and not a pack of young dudes who took justice into their own hands.

The irony here is that their actions were the exact opposite of Martin Luther King's nonviolence message yet we support them unconditionally just the same.

Do I believe that Mychael Bell and the others should receive new, fair trials as juveniles???...yes

Would I hold them up or hold their actions up as anything to emulate???...certainly not.

Such a shame. Maybe we, as a people, should gravitate slowly away from the Michael Vicks and Mychael Bells and actually find those people who are being discriminated against who don't drown dogs or kick white people in the head when they're unconscious. Maybe this is the first awakenings of a new black consciousness that is long overdue in appearing amid a culture awash in spinning rims, iced out cell phones and wholesale self-disrespect.

But that's just me.

For The Love of Money: Inside George Bush's Leaking War Machine And Why Victory Is Out Of Our Hands


Slowly but surely, the pro-war crowd is growing more and more silent. Their shouts of defiance to peace are now whispers against 'traitors' who sit on the Democrat side of Congress. To the pro-war crowd, victory means a stable Iraqi government and a functioning and efficient Iraqi military/police force to provide for their own defense.

One problem.

Those two things are completely out of our hands. They have to WANT a functioning multiethnic government and the their troops have to WANT to endure and risk kidnapping and murder to protect their own streets.

We're spending approximately $3 billion dollars a week sitting on our ass waiting for them to pull their country together and I don't like that. It's like handing a $5,000 a week welfare check to someone and waiting for them to get a job.

Not likely to happen. We've done all we can do but now 'victory' is in their hands. In fact, if I were a particularly subversive Iraqi, I'd sit back and glean a small moral victory knowing that not only are my invaders dying slowly in my backyard and their national bank account is being drained. Much like the fate that befell, and eventually ruined, the Soviet Union's incursion into Afghanistan.

I support a phased but SPEEDY withdrawl from Iraq.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Common Sense is SO out of fashion: Obama keeps shoving this "hope" and "peace" nonsense down our throats


Have we become so Bushized that we, as a people, truly feel that might makes right and if you have a disagreement with someone who is weaker than you that it's perfectly acceptable to kick their ass until they see your way of thinking???

Have we really devolved to the level of a schoolyard bully in our foreign policy???

My support for Barack Obama aside, a presidential candidate has stepped forth who is proposing...hold onto your garters...that we actually TALK WITH our enemies as opposed to gassing up the planes and bombing them to the Iron Age.

My God. Have we come this low that a man with diplomacy and peace in mind as a first option is seen as naive and 'a dreamer'? Shouldn't that be par for the course. Have we normalized the PNAC/neo-con 'shoot first...ask questions never' approach to world affairs?

Remember, this is the guy who thought we should have restraint and wait until all the evidence was verified before we launched strikes on Iraq. Obviously, he is a man of some wisdom and vision.

The fact that a man like that with the idea that we can resolve our differences with a handshake as opposed to a cruise missile is lambasted is truly sad and an indicator that for all the talk of 'values' in our society, that we've truly lost our moral direction. I guess it's a good thing that Bush, Jr. wasn't alive during the Cuban Missile Crisis or else I'd be writing this from the radioactive wasteland that used to be America.

Hopefully, we can find our way soon.