Saturday, January 23, 2010

The People Are Revolting


I thought I felt the earth move last week, but it was only Teddy Kennedy rolling over in his grave. I wouldn't know Martha Coakley from Martha White of the Self Rising Flower, but how bad must a candidate be to go from being 20 points ahead a month before the election, and still lose by five? You would have thought they had found naked pictures of her posing for some cheesy magazine or something. I mean, look what happened to Vanessa Williams. I heard Coakley was "detached" from Massachusetts voters, so in their wisdom, they turned to Tea Party favorite, Scottie "The Body" Brown, to occupy a senate seat the Democrats had held since 1952. My Yankee cousins are going to have to explain to me how another haircut came to represent the people of the Commonwealth since this overnight transformation of Scott Brown from complete obscurity into Republican superstar makes no sense to me.

It should be no surprise that the party that elected George Murphy, Ronald Reagan, Sonny Bono, and Arnold Schwarzenegger to public office would look for another face out of Central Casting to put a handsome smile on obstructionism. The GOP always thinks that a pretty boy (or in the case of Palin; girl) is going to attract the young voters. Witness Mitt Romney, or Dan Quayle, or any of the frozen-haired fellows like Vitter and Ensign, currently embroiled in sex scandals while still remaining in office. Even Karl Rove's infatuation with George W. Bush falls into the category of first finding the head and then filling it with facts, as he similarly did with his latest creation; Texas Governor Rick Perry. So, good for the Massachusetts voters for finding another stud-hoss to send to Washington. It used to be said that "Politics is show business for ugly people." Now, it's just plain, old, show biz.

I know Ted Williams' head is somewhere up there in Boston, (except for that chip off the old block), in a cryogenics lab, and it was there that the original Tea Party took place, all hoping that one day, in some unforeseeable society, they might find the cure for death and taxes. So the only thing for certain anymore in this life is change. I understand that change produces anxiety, which in turn provokes strong responses, but attempting to resist inevitable societal change is as fruitless as trying to hold back the turning of the seasons. Sending one more "no man" to Congress will not affect any solutions, but putting him in Ted Kennedy's seat was most definitely a shot across the bow, both for the undisciplined and unprincipled Democrats, who continue to knit one, pearl one, on health care reform, and the president as well. There are some pissed-off people out there, but the wake-up call should be for progressives to realize that this is a philosophical war, and their opposite numbers are highly motivated. It will take equal motivation to protect the hard-earned gains already won and prevent a slippage back into Bushism.

The anger directed toward Obama after one year in office is baffling to me. The conservatives scream, "Slow down, you're doing too much." And the liberals cry, "You haven't done enough. Your campaign promises weren't accomplished in the projected time frame." I understood, and wrote, that Obama would spend a full half-term extricating us from the Bush-era political quicksand, but if electing more far-right, cultural conservatives (except for that centerfold business), is supposed to punish the president for arrogance or aloofness, or whatever you wish to call it, it's a losing strategy. Obama tackled health care reform first because it was the most difficult issue and required the most political capital. It has dragged on much too long with far too much drama, partly Obama's fault, and as a result, he has spent a good deal of that capital. People are frustrated that only now is attention being focused on job programs and they are angry at the perception that the White House is coddling Wall Street.

In the propaganda wars, the Obama administration is losing to the point where perception has overtaken reality. The Republican "NO" Chorus, assisted and abetted by Fox News, has successfully painted the president as culturally removed from mainstream America, if not outright attempting to subvert the capitalist system. They claim Obama has no accomplishments, despite their protestations that he's "trying to do too much." In reality, Obama has pulled this country back from the brink of Depression, and the government's deficit spending was necessary to save entire industries. Criticism was heaped upon him for the takeover of General Motors and the firing of the Chief Executive, but after six months, look what has happened. GM has retooled, begun manufacturing the vehicles that Americans want, and paid back the TARP money loaned by the government. We are finally at the dawning of the mass produced electric car. Do you think the auto industry would have made the shift on their own without governmental assistance and insistence on stricter CAFE standards?

Obama has in actuality been warring with corporate America, and the corporatocracy is fighting back with foot soldiers from the disgruntled Tea Party protesters, who don't even realize they're being used. In his first full year, the president has announced the prospective closing of offshore tax havens like the Cayman Islands; forced restrictions on credit card rate increases; provided mortgage assistance to millions of people; re-regulated the banks so they can't gamble with your money; introduced new infrastructure repair and high-speed rail programs; moved a shitload of new cars; and is on the verge of passing health care reform so people like me don't have to be afraid to go to the doctor because of the potential expenses that the insured need not fear. I'm a realist. We survived eight years of the most dangerously radical era in American politics. If it takes another year to correct our course, that is how wide was our detour. The election of one more beefcake, cretin Republican to the Senate does not deter my confidence in the president, only in the people of Massachusetts. There are still three years remaining in Obama's first term, and in the words of the old gospel song by Reverend James Cleveland: "Please be patient with me. God is not through with me yet."

54 comments:

Gregg said...

BO disappeared soon after he was elected. His election was based on his charisma, perceived integrity, perceived capacity to truly make contact with the people, and because he appeared to be a young strong leader who had the brains and balls to get us out of whatever hot water we were in then or that which we might get into later. Very few voted for him because of his policies, etc. Human beings vote with their small intestines and hearts, not their brains. He knew that. That's why every time he left the campaign trail for too long his numbers started to drop. Face time with large crowds in a large square anywhere galvanized the sheep (who most of us are) to be glued to his "possibilities". He had momentum not because of his monetary/healthcare/whatever statements but because he made sense and put force behind it. He was "the leader".

So he disappears and tries to molify the Republicans and Lieberman and big Pharma and he tries to be the diplomat when we didn't want a diplomat...we wanted a leader. The leader would have said that he was taking a stand for the people against the moneyed interests. He would have called Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman and anyone else who didn't make any sense down and he would have done it on the big screen every two weeks...FDResque. He would have maintained his magnetism by talking to us about the problems, his solutions, the difficulty with this way out, the difficulty with that way out, the fact that these people don't agree with him but he thinks they are wrong because of this or that. He'd be right there in our faces. No pat solutions but a guy who was out there swinging. How else does some schmuck on foot with a spear go running into an opposing force on horseback that probably outnumbers him and his buds? He's got to see Napolean on his fucking horse on the hill in the wind and the cold pointing with his outstretched hand.

He needed to govern after elected. He can't get past the idiots and the thieves without the people. He had to keep his face in front of them, maybe in a way that had never been done before when not in a world war. But without the undying support of the "majority" he cannot govern. He can't make law. He can't change society.

He blew it.

Anonymous said...

Great commentary Gregg...maybe the best I have seen from you. You seem to have switched from being right-brained to being left-brained, at least this time. I was surprised to find out that you are a physician. I had thought that you were some sort of poet or stream of consciousness writer of some sort. But, you are right about Obama. He turned out to be an eloquent empty suit, but people shouldn't be surprised. The only thing that he wants to run is his mouth. He delegates everything to his subordinates and then lets them run things into the ground through incompetence while he is out playing golf, basketball, or posing for photo ops. We were forewarned that he had no credentials for the presidency. His administration has set a record for lack of business experience. They are mostly ivory tower Marxist intellectuals...admirers of Mao, Fidel, Che, Chavez, et al. He neglected to tell the American people that the change that he crowed about during his campaign was Marxist in nature. The American people are in revolt, because they have realized with horror that they had voted for a Marxist regime. This was NOT the change they were looking for. The problem runs deeper that the fact that he is all talk and no leadership. He is in the wrong field. He should have been a movie star. He would have been better received in the world of Hollywood. Randy, don't get your hpoes up for the future. It will be a long time before the public trusts the Dems again. Someone wrote an article which said that it is a good thing that the Democrats have been given such a free reign of power across the board. Now the public sees them for what they are without their masks on...they now know the Marxist nature of the Democratic Party and no amout of bullshit can change that fact. The Dems have been exposed. The populist revolt has just started. Hopefully, it will hit full stide by Nov. A people's 'machine' is being constructed all over the country. The people want a government that adheres to the Constitution, works for free market economic principles, and which leaves the private sector alone. The pundits say that Obama won't move to the center like Clinton had the good sense to do. It is thought that Obama and his team of hard core Marxists are going to continue with their agenda full steam ahead which will be suicidal. If he continues with his leftist, progressive agenda, the Dems are going to be steamrolled in Nov., then the people will reload, gain more momentum, and finish the job in 2012 by cleansing the government of Obama and the rest of the subversives in both the Democrat Party and the Republican Party (Rinos) . The bottom line is that the American people (all of those not on welfare, anyway) are not ready to transform America into the United Socialist States of America. We love our freedom and our private property (money) too much. The best hope for destroying traditional, conservative America is going to come from the Muslims, not the Democrats. Maybe you can become a jihadist. You could pass for a Muslim...just grow a beard and wear a turban.

Anonymous said...

There is a video clip being shown on tv in which a reporter asks Rahm Emmanuel what he thinks about the First Amendment to the Constitution. He replied, 'I think that it is over-rated'. Does that idiot not realize that that clip will be shown by Republican PAC ads someday? In a similar incident, Nancy Pelosi was asked about the constitutionality of some bill (I have forgotten which one). Her reply was. 'Are you serious, are you serious!?', as if to say, 'Do you think that we are hung up on the outdated piece of crap that is the U.S. Constitution?' This is the kind of thing that strikes terror in the hearts of the American people. The Democrats constantly show disdain for the Constitution. This will be one of the things that will be their undoing come election day. Also, now that the Supreme Court has politically untied the hands of corporate America they are going to bring out the heavy artillery during election season. For corporate America it is going to be payback time in regard to the Democrats. The Dems, and their accomplices the labor unions have not been very nice to corporate America. Can you spell 'karma'?

Yankee Cousin Bob said...

Randy,
For what it's worth, here is your "Yankee cousin's" take on the Scott Brown victory.
1) I said it when our current governor, the African-American Deval Patrick, was running against the female Kerry Healy, and I said it again when Barack Obama was running against Hillary Clinton: There are more men who will never vote for a woman than there are white people who will never vote for a person of color - especially in Massachusetts. This is not a hard and fast rule, as Coakley was elected Attorney General (the only woman ever to win a statewide election in my fair Commonwealth), and Hillary did win the Democratic primary; but in a straight-up, non-primary race, I stand by my opinion. Coakley, running in the Democratic primary against three men, won by 19 points, but what did that really tell us about gender bias?

2) While Massachusetts is an extreme case, I think the country in general, which has been People-Magazined and Entertainment-Tonighted into treating all things as celebrity/gossip fodder, also has this problem, which is why the thickness of Hillary Clinton's ankles is an issue with too many voters. Even if they represented the most responsible and voter-friendly policies, does anyone really believe that a Golda Meir or a Margaret Thatcher could be elected to national office in this country? Sarah Palin has gotten as far as she has in great part on her looks; but it won't be enough. (And by the way, the one thing I give the otherwise reprehensible Palin a pass on is her wardrobe expenditures. The media wanted to treat her like, and judge her as a celeb, then dumped on her for acting like one.)

3) Obama has blown it with the middle class and many progressives by seeming less concerned with their well-being than that of Wall Street and entrenched interests. Another of my personal cliches for the past year has been that the only difference between Henry Paulson and Tim Geithner/Larry Summers is the investment banks that once employed them. And after pledging to curb lobbying, health care reform has been swamped by industry-driven (or at least vetted) proposals and back-room payoffs.

4) This leaves the "independent" voters, hoping for if nothing else a chance to vent, with little choice other than taking it out on the status quo. And in Massachusetts, where Democrats held (prior to Brown) all Congressional and Senate seats at the federal level and 90% of them at the state level as well as all state-wide offices, with "anyone but a Democrat, especially one currently in office" as the feel-good vote. Coakley did not help matters by the clueless way she conducted her campaign. When questioned during the race about her obvious lack of effort, she replied something to the effect of "What do you want me to do? Stand on a street corner and shake hands?"

5) Brown presented himself as a common man, and never fully embraced the Tea Party faction (which for once seems to have decided that it could swallow hard and favor a guy whose record indicates he is pro-choice if it meant defeating health care). In his acceptance speech, I heard Brown use the word "independent" countless times, but never once utter the word "Republican."
6) It appears that Brown's strategists were all Mitt Romney veterans who were paying attention when Obama won the Iowa caucuses and ran Brown's campaign accordingly - i.e., forget the "base" (which, for Republicans, is non-existent in Massachusetts) and make sure that the independents feel compelled to vote.

But what do I know? The weekend before the election, I was telling all of my old friends that the polls had been rigged by Fox News, and that they could bet the nest egg (pace Albert Brooks) on a Coakley victory by at least five percentage points.

7) Almost forgot the Gore Vidal explanation: The American people are stupid.

As always, your blog is the best. The same to the rest of the Memphis wing of the family./Bob

Gregg said...

Sorry it took me a while to get back to the computer. I worked 13 hours today. My comments were not represented nor understood correctly by Anonymous. Yes, I believe that BO blew it. But, I believe that he is also the only hope we have. I'm upset and discouraged because he let slip the hold he had that would allow him to change the stupidity that runs roughshod over the decencies that we need to have here in our country, in our states, and in our homes. You can't have a bunch of flag waving idiots who are elected because they're white, drink your kind of beer, and look good in secretary glasses because they have a nice ass and big brown eyes.

He's no Marxist. That's blatant pap. This country will only be what it can be if it is as humane to it's neighbors as it is to itself. Obama could have started the process of getting rid of the criminals who own all of your lunches and let you eat them when they want you to. You just are too stupid to see it. All the talk that the "government will run health care into the ground"....get serious!! Anyone saying that and who is also paying $1000/month to cover the 35% overhead for a private insurance company to make its profit so its stock can rise on higher quarterlies instead of the 2% overhead for the GOVERNMENT'S (your government, for God's sakes) Medicare system which does the exact same thing as the insurance company...has got to be the biggest pushover anywhere. Boy, you are just the one who we need in our card game. The Republicans stay in partial power because they control the guys who are the fish in all the card games all over the country. They live on losers.

I'm upset with Obama because he didn't take the initiative and tell all the good ole boys and girls who are on the take in the Senate, or who need to be in the elite for as long as they can by keeping their "constituents" in the dark about what's really best for them...to go straight to hell. He should have done it on the big screen.

"Good people of the United States, I am here as your President to do something unheard of but something that has to be done. I'm going to tell you the truth about the Insurance Industry, and the Tobacco industry, and a lot of industries that are killing you all and your loved ones because they can't seem to get enough of your money. And I'd like to point my finger directly at a few Senators and Congresspersons who are holding hands with them. Could you hand me that list over there, Mr. Vice President."

That's what I'd like to see. And so would most of the good people who live in this country.

We want our own billing company which only has an overhead of 2% to pass the goddam paper to make sure the providers and the hospitals that keep me and my loved ones and you and yours healthy are paid. I don't need any of my money to go to "private insurers" if all they do is piss it away by putting it in their pockets. And I don't.
And nobody does. And they are sucking your blood.

Marxist? Please. Am I a Marxist if I want the American citizens who come into my ED to all be treated the same. They are all Americans. Who's stealing their rights to good health? You are, Mr. Anonymous.

You never want to lose your job, old man. It happens, you know. And then, boy oh boy, you'll become much more decent. Yes, you will.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure that you are a good guy Gregg, but you need to cleanse the doors of your perception. After the coming political cleansing of the Dems in Nov. are you going to diss all of the Americans who see things differently than you? You must be one of the elites who feel that the rest of us who see things differenty just need the benefit of your superior intellect and wisdom. Well, we stupid, misguided red necks are going to set things straight this Nov. Many people just don't like the current health bill. We want everyone covered, but not by the current monstrosity. So quit making us out to be knuckle-dragging cretins, just because we want a different type of health care bill that is not run by our feckless, increasingly socialistic government. Who wants the same neanderthals who work for the government everywhere else handling our health care? If you trust the government that much, how could you have been bright enough to be a doctor? The government is just the Keystone Cops written large. Wise up, become a freedom-loving American! Marxism has never worked anywhere.

Steve in DC said...

Anonymous, I am interested to know what constitutes your definition of "Marxist".

Does Obama, or anyone in his administration, advocate atheism, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the abolishment of capitalism, the violent overthrow of the existing government, or the eliminitation of the middle class?

Lacking any of these key attributes being associated with his approach to government, exactly what is it, then, that inspires you to continue to insist upon waving about this ridiculous canard, that he is a Marxist-Leninist, out to destroy America, again and again, ad-infinitum?

Anonymous said...

The biggest thing is his fetish for 're-distributive justice'...his words. Surely, you must know that there are a number of self-avowed Marxists in his administration. Obama had to dismiss his Green Czar, Van Jones because Jones described himself as a communist revolutionary in a video clip. And there are others...a couple of them even declared their admiration for Mao as one of their heroes. I don't know if Obama is a classical Marxist, but he is in the camp. There won't be an outright Marxist revolution. The plan is an incremental one. I am not saying that it is 'his' plan. He is just the front man for forces that have been leading America away from free market capitalism toward an economy that is increasingly controlled and less free. The Dems are pursuing a long range plan of some form of modified Marxism. Maybe a better word would be progressivism or statism. But, the move is away from a free market to a controlled economy. Someone once said that there are a number of -isms that have a common thread which is command and control of the economy and through that...control of the populace. There is a steady trend away from freedom and toward ever increasing regulation and control of the people. This has been going on at least since Woodrow Wilson and some think even earlier.

Anonymous said...

Obama is proposing a debt reduction task force...right after the Dems approved increasing the debt ceiling by another 2 trillion dollars!! Does the guy think that the American people are completely brain dead. I have a suggestion for him. Rather than insulting the people's intelligence with a task force on debt reduction, why doesn't he just quit his binge spending? He could send out a mandate throughout the government to cut spending and set goals to do this. Why bother with window dressing? This will only fool those who support him. I am going to play the role of the Great Carsoni...he is going to bullshit about becoming more fiscally conservative and about creating jobs and it just won't happen. He is more interested in diminishing the private sector. Why would he bolster the private sector by creating jobs when his administration is all about a hostile takeover of the entire country by the government? They are coming after ALL of it. All of his talk about reviving the economy is just a ploy to buy more time while he continues to destroy America...fake right, then go left. Is he malicious or incompetent? Some folks believe that he is a clueless man-child and really doesn't know what he is doing. I think that that is giving him too much credit. I think that he is malicious and so does a growing number of the American people. Obama is a modern day trojan horse. Whether he is malicious or incompetent will be a moot point after the Nov. and the 2012 elections.

Lovin' it said...

Randy
Anytime something happens, you blame it in Bush. Every time any conservative comes on the scene you vilify them without any cause. It's all emotion.
Please don't change. Your attitude is exactly what will sweep the dems out of power.

It has begun.

Anonymous said...

To Steve in DC
I was wondering what a certain Congressman was thinking as he sat next to Representative Maxine Watters as she threatened to Socialize the banking system. When it became impossible to keep a stern face he quickly used her head to block his face from the camera.

Anonymous said...

Birds of a feather flock together. Cohen and Waters are socialist fellow travelers. Cohen thought that Water's gaff was a hoot. She inadvertantly admitted what everyone already knew, because she is as stupid as a brass pig. I don't think that it would offend anyone on this blog to admit the obvious, and that is that Cohen is a pinko. Randy would probably prefer the term 'progressive', though.

Anonymous said...

'Lovin' it', you hit the nail on the head. Randy is uber-left and hates anything that smacks of conservatism. He will not admit that conservatives have done, or do any good whatsoever. Randy is one of those people who grade out at an 'A' in terms of intellect, but gets an 'F' for wisdom. The answer to this riddle is simple. The Bible says that wisdom only comes from God. The further one is from God, the less wise he is. You do the math. The same applies to our entire government...to be godless is to be wisdomless. 'The fool hath said in his heart that there is no God'. If you keep this in mind, then everything that the government does makes sense. They are incapable of exercising wisdom, and we are left to live in a world of their unintended consequences. This includes such things as the Ft. Hood terrorist attack which the government insists is the work of a lone malcontent. Talk about wisdomlessness and abyssmal, lethal stupidity! But then, what do you expect from a godless government?

Anonymous said...

I have known Congressman Cohen for over 55 years and his is no socialist. Just a misguided sole that thinks he can help those less fortunate. Probem is his solutions are flawed and he has hitched his wagon to Pelosi and Reid. When he first got to Washington that looked like the smart move. Bad choice!

Anonymous said...

Many if not most do-gooders are unwitting socialists. By socialist, I am not talking about a textbook definition. As far as I am concerned anyone who is into 're-distributive justice' is a socialist. Some call it Robinhood socialism...take (under duress) from those who have, and give it to those who have not. This makes liberals feel righteous and assuages their guilt for not being born a minority. It is a subtle form of self-flaggelation. Why can't liberals form some sort of national fund into which they can pour all of their money and give it away to whomever they wish? Why must they drag all of us into their guilt-ridden neurotic behavior? Forcing everyone into their guilt-fest circumvents the free will of the individual and is a form of robbery regardless of what liberals want to call it. Leave us alone control freaks!!

Anonymous said...

Well, I knew this was coming. Remember when I said that Obamacare is actually about control and only secondarily about health care? There is a pending bill in the H of R called HR4452 and entitled The Lifelong Improvements in Food and Exercise Bill. This is an example of Cass Sunstein's 'nudge' ploy. It sounds innocuous for now. It involves a program of education and raising of awareness of the health issues relating to obesity. After a period of programming in which we will become inured to the government meddling in this most personal of issues, another bill will be passed. This future bill will impose a fine or tax for being overweight. Our medical records which will be put into a national database will allow the government to monitor everyone's weight. When you go over the prescribed weight, you will get a notice from the gov. that you will be assessed either a fine or a tax till you get your weight down. Of course, this will be for 'your own good' and the good of the collective. Over time there will be countless intrusions of this nature. Welcome to 1984. Big Brother beckons. You can thank a progressive for this state of affairs. These are the people who feel that the individual can not posssibly direct his own course in life, but must have massive assistance from an all-wise, elite governing class that will watch over you from cradle to grave with machines of loving grace. Come to think of it, don't thank progressives...whip their asses, at least at the polls. If these freaks are not stopped we will have no freedom at all.

Father Farken said...

Anon my brother! How can you be a Christian and not be a DO GOODER! According to the Apostle Paul you were saved to do one thing... do good. Christians use to get their ass kicked for being DO GOODERS. Now we are just proud to be acceptable political assholes! Isn't it funny when the Scriptures list the fruit of the spirit... love, joy and peace are mentioned but conservatism and/or liberalism are not. When listing the sins of the flesh...gossip,lying,lusting and murder are mentioned but liberalism nor conservatism are not.
And please refrain from calling others that think differently from you as Godless. Sputnik surrenders his all to the the Living G*d of grace daily. It is you that comes across as G*dless when you say such things.
A lot of us on this blog are a bit weary of those who want to cleanse society to our personal purity codes. Remember Germany? By 1933 all the Communist were kicked out! The People were not Commies so they went along with it. then the Nazis cleansed the Land from the Social Dems! What the heck! We are not social Democrats so we go along with it! Then all the Jews are being gathered up.... murdered but most Christians hold their tongues and do nothing about it...after all...they were not Jews. We are born anew! Then the handicapped...the gypsies...The gays...the 7th Day Adventists....Then they finally took You...me away and put us in a concentration camp...there was no one left who could cry out on our behalf or do anything for us. There is only one way of protecting every single one of us: solidarity with the first victims, solidarity with the weakest among us. What affects them today will affect us tomorrow. So their skins are our own.
Anyone who puts himsef on the side of the handicapped in our society is defending his own health. Anyone who puts himself on the side of the oppressed is defending his own liberty. Anyone who resists the isolation of his own opponent is acting out of love for his own life. The Peace of the Lord! FFF

Randy Haspel said...

Fr, Farken,
Thank you for your eloquent defense and saving me the time to remind Mr. Anon, once again, that his comments are welcome but his vitriol is not.
It's funny that we have been reacquainted just a few years but you know me better than our friend who claims he is so close to God.
Mr. Anon should understand that Jesus was a leftist, liberal, "progressive," who believed in clothing the needy and feeding the hungry.
Also, have you noticed that, not just with our conservative friend, but with the whole anti-Obama, Tea Party, neoconservative uprising, there is a real and ugly mean streak underlying the whole thing. Call it what you will, but it is not any closer to God than any other angry, gun-totin', self-righteous militia.
"Sound and fury, signifying nothing." Keep hope alive. Somebody has to.
Randy

Randy Haspel said...

and just while I'm thinking about it....It's never wise for any armchair freedom fighter to argue medicine with a doctor, or quote scripture to a minister.

Anonymous said...

I was speaking of 'do-gooders' in the busy body sense, not the spirit-led type that do the work of God. And, I don't want to purge society of anyone, not even progressives. I just want a return to a government which adheres to the Constitution and common sense. Being a reformed hippie and currently quite conservative, I react badly to what I perceive as the liberal mindset. It is like a puddle of vomit that I walked away from many years ago. Admittedly, I come across as imbalanced, much like reformed alcoholics can be extremely intolerant of alcohol. I never discourage acts of mercy. Belive it or not, I used to go to a hospital for indigents, mostly minorities, and would shave their faces because they were unable to do that for themselves. I also used to go with some others to the ghetto to clean houses for elderly minority folks. Some of you are as guilty as I am of misreading between the lines (angry,gun-toting, red-neck, self-righteous militia). Much of what I say is to needle. Randy and most people on this blog are probably not as liberal as I make them out to be. I like to spar and stir things up to stimulate discussion. If there was more discussion (and a tiny bit of balance), I would probably not be as provocative. I do not understand the progressive mind set. Though I was a hippie, I was never political. Another thing, I am a victim of liberal enablement and have been weakened by it. One of my biggest beefs about liberaldom is that it can be so enabling. It can play into human weakness, in an attempt to help, and leave the people that they are trying to help even weaker. It takes great discernment to be helpful without being enabling. This was a constant issue in the classroom. I was serious about wisdom coming only from God. The caveat is that the Bible is speaking of the God of the Bible...God the Father, and Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior. Many people worship other gods, hence a lack of wisdom. That comment was mainly directed at our dysfunctional government. I don't know where Randy stands and I admit that I stepped over the line on that one. In my heart I don't want to be offensive, but like I said, I guess I suffer from the reformed alcoholic syndrome and in that way I am as unbalanced toward liberals as Randy is toward conservatives. I really don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I have had remorse over some of the unkind things that I have said about Randy in the past. So, if I get out of line, keep that in mind and forgive me. I just have some aggressive tendencies. That being said, let's get ready for the next round, Sputnik. And, God bless you, even if you are wrong...especially if you are wrong.

Anonymous said...

It will be a hoot watching Obama pretend to be pro-business and fiscally conservative during the State of the Union speech. I heard that he is going to cut his multi-trillion dollar budget by .0000001%over the next couple of years. I would respect him more if he just announced that he is going to press his progressive agenda come hell or high water no matter what kind of shape the economy is in...so grab your ankles America. What progressive has ever been pro-business and fiscally conservative?

Anonymous said...

Recently some political talking heads reminded the American people that prior to FDR and the New Deal the Democrats were a sober, responsible, and sane political party. Ever since then, the Democrat Party has been infiltrated by Progressives which have completely morphed the character of the party. The talking heads said that there is a life/death struggle for the soul of the party between the Progressive element and those who embody the true spirit of the party. In other words, not all Democrats are villains...only the Progressive element within it. Here is some proof of that contention. Alfred E. Smith was a four term Democratic governor of New York. He was a presidential candidate in 1928, but lost to Herbert Hoover. In 1932 he supported FDR for president, but by 1936 he was so shocked by what he saw happening within the Democrat Party that he felt the necessity to warn his party and the American people. On Jan.25, 1936, he gave a speech in Washington, D.C. to warn his party and the American people that the Democrat Party was being betrayed by the Progressives. The full text of the speech would probably stun modern day Democrats. It is about as severe an indictment as can be imagined coming from an old-fasshioned, dyed-in-the-wool Democrat. It did not come from a conservative, but from one of their own who was attempting to save the integrity of his beloved party. You can read the full text of the speech as an appendix to a book entitled 'The Naked Capitalist' by Cleon Skousen, a constitutional attorney. I share this information because it corroborates what the current talking heads are saying: the Democrat Party has been highjacked. It wasn't always composed of subversive, anti-capitalist radicals.

Anonymous said...

Eureka! Google 'Alfred E. Smith The Betrayal of the Democratic Party' and you will see the full text of the speech.

G*d said...

My dear precious Anon! I love you with all my heart. I really do. However, I have been reading your multitude of comments on THE BORN AGAIN HIPPIE blog and...well...I understand your concerns for your country and your country's leadership and I'll be the first to admit that things could be be better. As my friend Will Rogers use to say, "Their is no trick being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you!" and to quote little Albert Einstein "the hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax'" A billion here. a billion there; the first thing you know. your talking about real money!
With all this said, I do want you to know if you really want my wisdom as I think you do...try this! SHUT THE BLEEP UP! PLEASE! YOU ARE NOT MY ANSWER TO EVERY THING! YOU ARE EMBARRASSING US! WHEW! Had to get that off my chest! I say this because I love you! Here's the thing! I am seriously contemplating seeking out some good New York Jewish lawyers because...with some of the things you have said on the BAH...I feel like I have been grossly misrepresented. OK! OK! OK! All is forgiven! For your penance try embracing the values and attitudes of my Son! Now go out there and seek justice...love mercy and walk humbly with me... and give this blog a rest! Love always! G*d

Anonymous said...

My wife worked all of her adult life in banking. About 10 years ago she came home upset, because her bank was forced to make loans to people with very bad credit histories because of the Community Re-investment Act. Being a non-political, non-economic type, I really couldn't appreciate what she was taliking about. I have learned a little since then, and almost wish I hadn't bothered. The financial buzzards are going to take advantage of any and all opportunities to make money. That is the way that they are, and nothing short of Armageddon is going to change them. The problen started when the government forced the banks to make unwise loans. This opened the door for the vultures. I am currently reading 'Architects of Ruin' by Peter Schweizer. Out of countless examples of unwisdom, here is one that illustrates the fundamental problem. A non-English speaking, Hispanic couple who were migrant farm laborers with three children, and who had a gross annual income of $14,000 were approved for a $720,000 home loan. You know how that turned out. Over a nine year period, 4.2 trillion dollars were poured into this type of loan. Somebody famous once said that if you shield people from the folly of their actions, you will have a world of fools. I think that we are currently living in that world. The State of the Union is not good, and this has nothing to do with the hard-working common people. It has everything to do with our politicians.

Anonymous said...

Who pretends to speak for G*d? Talk about ignorance combined with arrogance!! You have to be a Democrat.

Anonymous said...

Again Mr. Anon. is being the lonely asshole that he is---- who's suprised? I know you live in Eureka Springs and it scares the shit out of me to think you are up there with all those old hippies and no one has set you straight. I bet you have no wife or children that care about you, hence the lonely part. Anyway why don't you kick back smoke a fattie and fucking relax. We don't want you in here saying mean things about Sputnik , yes make a comment about the subject, not Sputnik.We would all really like it if you would just go away. It's not like you have anything smart to say . GET A LIFE, Dude. ps. I'm not a Dem either but I'm smart enough to know a smart man when I see one.Please for all of our sakes find somewhere else to be.

Anonymous said...

Whos pretending ??

Anonymous said...

I did apologize to Sputnik. I said that I stepped out of line. I really don't mean to come across as mean spirited. Believe it or not it grieves me when I hurt someone's feelings. Political differences are fine, but mean spiritedness is not. I will try to take the edge off of my comments. I apologize to everyone. By the way, I have visited Eureka Springs a number of times and am familiar with the place, but I live quite a bit further away where liberals are practically non-existent. A buddy of mine from Memphis turned me on to this blog and I am having trouble tearing myself away from it. I can sense that Randy has a good heart and we would probably get along well after doing a doobie, as long as we stay away from politics. If I were to meet him anonymously, he would probabaly describe me as a big pussy cat...completely non-threatening. I respect the fact that he has not censored me. That is very un-liberal of him. Most liberals tend to shut opposition down, but not Sputnik. I also feel that we could find a lot of common ground as long as we stay away from politics. I almost feel like I know him. I tend to be culturally liberal which I think that he would like. The downside is that I am a Constitution-loving, small government, low tax conservative who thinks that too much government is a liability in that it weakens the very people that it purports to help. I saw so much of this after 36 years in education that it sickens me. I could write a book on the subject. Again, I am sorry for disaffecting you folks.

Flat Sinatra said...

Doobie Doobie Doo......

Anonymous said...

I hate to burst the bubble of those of you who pre-judge me and think that I am a bigoted racist, but I am a HUGE fan of conservative minorities, black, hispanic, whatever. In fact, I think that it is imperative that Fox provide a time slot for a conservative minority talk show. If it were up to me, I would be willing to forego any of the current prime time hosts for such a thing. This would accomplish two things at least. The first is that it could change the stereotypes that many whites have of minorities. There are lots of brilliant and wise minorities. This is something that I learned from my career in education. You won't learn this from watching the evening news that's for sure. I have often wondered why they always start off the broadcasts with all of the minority crimes. That in itself could be construed as racist. Secondly, it could educate dependent minorities and motivate them to escape from their white, liberal masters and enable them to get off of the nanny state plantation. There could be countless Star Parkers. I say that Fox should provide the venue, because conservative minorities are the liberal establishment's biggest nightmare. They would never give them a public forum. In fact, liberals won't give conservative minorities the time of day. This is shameful, hypocritical, and a subtle form of racism in itself. Look at how they tried to lynch Clarence Thomas for instance. His crime in their eyes is that he is a conservative black and to them this is unforgivable. More and more minorities are waking up to the scam, though. The better educated and properous they become, the more conservative they become...they have skin in the game. I hope that no one finds these opinions offensive. I am just trying to stimulate some thoughtful discussion.

Flat Sinatra said...

Doobie Doobie.....

Lovin' it said...

Hey Anon
You are falling into their trap. When a liberal doesn't want to acknowledge the facts they change the attack. They want you to focus on feeling bad for offending Randy because they don't want to address the truth you speak.
Apologize to no one.
Don't go away.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a very smart, or politcal person. I worked for, voted for, and donated for Obama. Right now, I'm starting to question his ability, or willingness to ACTIVELY get down and dirty to effect the change he espoused, and that he knows we expect. I'm dissapointed, but not despondent yet...... It all looks like so much plain ole class struggle to me, and nothing, and no one person is going to fix this. I fear for our country, our Democracy, our ability to govern, and make wise choices. We really haven't crawled very far out of the mud in 10,000 years. AMF

zephyrman

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the encouraging word 'Lovin' it', but I was serious about not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings. I made a big mistake by quoting scripture on this blog and making reference to Jesus Christ. Progressives will lynch a man for that. Randy and probably most people that participate on this blog are proud, dedicated, commited progressives. I don't want to be counter-productive. My hope is that I can plant a useful seed in the mind of someone who may not be completely sold out to progressivism. It is tough to deal with progressives because their war cry is, 'the end justifies the mean'. This is why they have to resort to lies, half-truths, spin etc. To the extent that a conservative does this, he/she is just as wrong. If the true purposes of the progressives were stated to the public there would be a revolution for sure. But the public is thankfully beginning to wake up to their designs...even blue-blood, liberal Mass. folks. Progressives must be opposed for the sake of the free world. To them freedom for the common folk is unacceptable, because they believe that the common folk must be led by those who are more enlightened...top down management. This is what the founding Fathers referred to as tyranny. Like I said before, you can't have both freedom and equality. To establish what they see as a 'just' society, freedom must go. A good example of this is the school bussing issue, bit there are countless other examples. Now they are mounting an attack on the chioces that we make in eating and it won't stop there. It won't stop till we are all wearing black pajamas and riding bicycles. It's all about evolution.

Anonymous said...

Obama may someday regret dissing the Supreme Court in front of the entire nation and world. Incredibly, he told a bold-faced lie about foreign corporations being able to contribute to American campaign ads. The law against this issue was not changed. That is why Alito shook his head and said that Obama was wrong when Obama made that contention. The fact that he is going to push for a legislative bill to oppose the Supremes decision lends creedence to the concern some have that Obama has dictatorial tendencies. That amounts to a direct attack on a co-equal branch of the government and is a stunnung development. Also, he blamed the Republicans for being obstructionist, and up until the Brown election the Republicans didn't have the numbers in either house to stop anything. However, after the Nov. elections it will be pay back time. Obama will be skewered. Americans are going to take their country back from the socialists. We can start calling him One-Term Obama. He can go back to working with the criminal enterprise called ACORN.

Anonymous said...

Hillary Clinton has announced that she will resign her position as Secretary of State at the end of Obama's first and last term as fledgling dictator. Even she is eager to distance herself from the man-child Obama.

Anonymous said...

Progressives accuse those who oppose Obama's policies of being racist. This is ludicrous. Obama is more of a dark-skinned white man than a light-skinned black man. Think of it...since he is hybrid the situaion could be considered either way. I have always wondered why hybrids are always considered to be black. They could just as well be considered as being white. I think that this is a subtle form of racism. It's just another example of the old 'one drop' position which is virulently racist. In fact, Obama is 'whiter' than 99% of the white people in this country. He has absolutely nothing in common, and no way to identify with the struggles of true blacks in this country. He is a blue-blood all the way. Parenthetically, Chris Matthews said today that for one hour he forgot that Obama was black. I think that that is insulting. Some blacks should call him out on that one, but liberals never get called out when they say the wrong thing.

Anonymous said...

Obama displayed the scorn that progressives have for the Constitution in front of the entire nation and the world. The Constitution is an impediment to their un-American agenda. FDR black-mailed the Supreme Court during his administartion when the Supremes (in the beiginning) stonewalled his unconstitutional New Deal agenda. He threatened to stack the court with liberal justices and they caved in. Progressives have trashed the Constitution ever since, and look where that has taken us... to the brink of being the United Socialist States of America. Alfred E. Smith tried to warn us back in 1936.

Anonymous said...

I live about 1600 miles from Memphis in the boonies, on top of a mountain, and a few miles from a tiny town. I was surprised to find that the patriot movement had reached even here. There is a Patriot group in this town that is very active. They have classes on the Constitution, explain the history, philosophy, and true nature of progressivsm. They are networked with the other countless such groups that are springing up all acros the country. If the Dems knew the extent of this movement, they would be terrified. These people are pledging thier lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor toward the rescue of the Republic. It amounts to the equivalent of a conservative ACORN organization. They are working from the ground up to replace every progressive from mayors, to town councilmen, all the way up to the federal level. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I don't think that America has seen the likes of what is happening in this regard since 1776. And believe me, these people mean business.

Anonymous said...

P.S. Liberals can call them names and make fun of them all they want. That just adds fuel to the fire. They are no longer capable of being intimidated by name calling. They are going to reclaim their country at ALL cost. They are much like the blacks were at the beginning of the civil rights movement...no turning back. They are watching everything that comes out of Congress. No more sleepy-headed conservative citizenry. It could get rough.

Anonymous said...

Where did Obama learn his economics? Practically all of the new jobs that are being created are government jobs. Government workers are paid by money generated by the private sector. As the private sector shrinks, there is less money to run the government and pay the government workers. Can't he see the logical conclusion of the course that he is taking? He is killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Parasites always wind up killing their host thereby commiting suicide in the end. If he succeeds, we all lose in the end. The fundamental problem with socialism is that the socialists eventually run out of other people's money to spend. Then the game is over. So why do they persist with their lethal game?

Roy Orbison sez said...

Oobie Doobie

Will Shakesphere sez said...

Doobie or not Doobie? Datz the Question! Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings & arrows of outrageous Anon while under the influence of...Wait a minute... datz not a doobie.... datz Horny Goat Weed! Doo Wah! Doo Wah! Doo Wah!

Anonymous said...

Will Shakesphere and Roy Orbison, get an educaton and then we will talk. Are you guys even employable? No wonder you are liberals...probably looking for the nanny state teat, or living in your parent's basement.

Anonymous said...

Haiti is a picture of America one hundred years from now if the progressives are not stopped. For that matter, Haiti is a picture of what progressives will make of the entire planet.

Anonymous said...

The progressive war-cry: Hey!, Hey!, Ho!, Ho!, western civ has got to go!! Why don't you make this the name of a new blog? It should draw lots and lots of like-minded subversives. Obama may catch wind of it and make you one of his czars.

Anonymous said...

The poor habitually elect Democrats, yet they remain poor. The explanation: 'You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently BY DOING FOR THEM WHAT THEY COULD AND SHOULD DO FOR THEMSELVES...Abraham Lincoln

Anonymous said...

Peter Singer, a Princeton professor and progressive, has advocated interspecial sex...that is, sex between humans and animals. If you don't believe this, google it. What tolerance and anti-bigotry! Carried to its logical (per progressivism) conclusion, if there could be offspring from such unions these 'children' would be enrolled in public schools and qualify for human(?) resource subsidies and welfare. If one of them were to run for president someday, you can bet your bottom dollar that he/she/it would be overwhelmingly supported by progressives.

Anonymous said...

Remember the progressive-backed Ebonics movement that occured about 20 years ago. I was scared to death that they were going to pull this travesty off. I lost all respect for Jesse Jackson when he got behind this movement. It was proposed to teach ghetto street lingo as a legitimate language for full credit along with English, Spanish, French, etc. Back then I envisioned this scenario after a vocabulary assignment: "No Jimmy, the word is muh-fuh, not mother fucker. I'll give you some help on this. Write the following sentence 20 times...'I cut yo muh-fuh haid, dawg'". We would see class valedictorians who majored in Ebonics giving the commencement address...'Yo muh-fuhs! What up dawg! Get down and jiggy wit it..we be be gradyatin.' We dodged a bullet on that one. If pulled off, Obama probably would have given the State of the Union address in Ebonics. The rest of us would be feverishly looking up the words that he used with an Ebonics dictionary.

Anonymous said...

I didn't fully portray the Peter Singer interspecial sex scenario. If it were possible for viable offspring to come from these unions (let's called them animoids), the progressives would push the public schools into mainstreaming these creatures. The animoids would have to be led from class to class on a leash by tecaher aides. Since the animoids would not do nearly as well on tests as the rest of the students, the progressives would proclaim that this is proof that testing discriminates against the animoids and would insist that testing be eliminated for everyone. The animoids be graded on effort and given the same diplomas as anyone else. The progressive agenda would force colleges to admit them and after college, due to affirmative action businesses would be forced to hire them. Of course many would be hired as teachers who wouldn't have to take the discriminatory teacher's exam (which only proves that you have the equivalent of an 8th grade education). Many of America's teachers can't pass these tests, so one has to infer that they don't have the education of the average 8th grader...and, they are teaching your kids!! You can extrapolate the rest of the scenario. This is satire, but it does describe progressive thinking. Public schools now have to mainstream everyone no matter how severe their physical or mental handicap. At one of my schools, we had to mainstream a full-blown psychotic schizophrenic who had auditory hallucinations. He was as crazy as seven hells and might have been sitting next to your daughter. His parents finally had to institutionalize him because they found him eating thunbtacks one day. One day a severely emotionally disturbed student went psycho and cause his entire class with their teacher to stampede down the halls to escape from him. I saw a teacher that was so drunk in class that he had to be wheeled out on a guerney by EMT's. Do you think that he was fired. Hell no, he was a minority and minorities are never fired. I could go on and on with these stories because I lived in a progressive educational environment for 36 years. In spite of all this, progressives want to spread their dysfunctionality to the entire world.

Anonymous said...

The real reason that the Ten Commandments can't be posted in a courthouse or in Congress is that you if you post 'Thou shalt not steal', or 'Thou shalt not commit adultery', or 'Thou shalt not lie' in buildings that are full of lawyers and politicians, this would create a hostile work environment for them.

Father Farken said...

I commend you brother Anon on your bipartisan joke! The Peace of the Lord! FF

Anonymous said...

It wasn't a joke...Both parties are full of whores. The Dems are only slightly more reprehensible than the Repubs. George Bush gave us Obama and for that he can never be forgiven.